Skamania Elementary School

My children attended this school, and now my grandchildren are attending this school. I have the highest regard for all that the staff does to help my grandchildren get a good education, they are very supportive and easy to work with!
--Submitted by a parent

We were so sad to leave this school to return to Vanc. where the classes are overcrowded, the teachers care more about test scores than kids, and discipline seems to be a bad word. My kids are now home schooled because they were so far ahead of the other students, due to what they had learned at Skamania. My oldest learned a style of math that isn't taught here and even though he finished much faster than any other student(100% correctly)he was graded down because the teacher didn't understand the method. My kids miss the staff very much and we have considered moving back just for this school. Parks&Rec have many options if you are concerned about sports; here we have no art or instrumental music courses where as Skamania does. This school's small size allows it to focus on the important things. As I said we miss it greatly.
--Submitted by a parent

Skamania Elementary School is a great little school in a rural community. What it does not have in extracurricular activites it makes up for in its personal attention to each student. The staff knows all the parents, grandparents and other family members that visit the school. There are many former students who have moved back to the area so their own children can attend the little school. When the students graduate from eighth grade and go on to Stevenson High School. Most of them do very well and many have been on honor roll, received scholarships to colleges, and in 2006 three of the eleven graduating seniors who received the prestigious Gates Achiever Scholarships had received their elementary school education at Skamania Elemenary School. There is a wonderful parent group which provides a fall carnival, a book fair and a fund raising auction every year. The new landscaping is a result of their efforts. It is refreshing to have children remain children for a few extra years and that is one reason I like the Kindergarten to eighth grade configuration. The older kids help the younger ones and it creates a real sense of community.
--Submitted by a parent

Terrible school. Teachers are not interested in teaching. School seems to be only interested in 'special' students that they can get more federal dollars for teaching. Too much money per student for such a small school.
--Submitted by Susan, a parent

My daughter was so unhappy with the extreme small classrooms with the 'small town' mentality that we decided that driving all the way into the Vancouver School District was a better choice. She had been 'educated' in Skamania for three years and had quite a bit of catch-up to do but has thanked me over and over again for getting her out of there. It is a great school for K-4 because of the student/teacher ratio, but it really lacks in the above grades. It seems like the students are overly punished for every minor infraction. My guess is that even the teachers are bored with the small school. One of the school board members even pulled his three girls out and put them into Washougal School District. I'm not the only one doing a bit of driving to get a better education for my daughter.
--Submitted by a staff

My two children attended Skamania Grade School and now are having to relearn how to do multiplication because they were taught a system that no one else seems to understand. The school went from 98 students in 1997-1998 to 55 students in 2003-2004 with most parents opting to pull their children out and send into other districts. The budget has $17,869 per student for the 2003-2004 year. The standardized test scores are going down and the excuse is that there are too few of students taking the tests. They should be doing really well on these tests, not failing. Problems are not answered by the School Board, principal or teachers.
--Submitted by a parent

If you live out there it is a good school a little small but over all a great place to grow up.
--Submitted by a former student