Black Lake Elementary School

6345 Belmore-Black Lake Road

School District

Tumwater
Grade

K-5
Teacher/Student Ratio

1:14
Type

public

GreatSchools Rating

The school rating calculation is based on four ratings: the Student Progress Rating or Academic Progress Rating, College Readiness Rating, Equity Rating, and Test Score Rating each designed to show different facets of school success. Learn more about GreatSchools Ratings

Reviews

Submitted by parent on November 25, 2022

Fantastic teachers, I was a student and now my son is also enrolled years later. It's a fantastic place for a child to develop valuable skillsets!
Submitted by parent on May 31, 2018

Nothing but positive things to say about this school. all of my child's teachers have been caring about giving my child the best education possible. Administrators and leadership are all kind and very approachable too. As a parent, we have to take responsibility for our role in shaping our child's academic future and not just "ship them off" to school and expect schools to raise our children for us. We set the tone at home for our childrens' academic success.
Submitted by parent on May 10, 2018

Glad my son is in his last year at BLE.
Submitted by other on June 24, 2016

I have four children attending ble. One of them wither an iep. My experience has been nothing but positive the teachers in the life skills program are awesome. They attend to my child with care and compassion. My other child was delayed on his reading level and his teacher took extra time every day to work with him. Now he's all caught up and it's thanks to the teachers at BLE. My other two children had great teachers as well and loved attending BLE.
Submitted by parent on December 11, 2015

I have a 5th grader and a kindergartner at Black Lake Elementary. The kids LOVE the school, teachers are wonderful for the most part, and the families that fantastic.
Submitted by parent on October 18, 2014

If you have a child that needs an IEP or other accomidations do not send your child to Blacklake! I have yet to talk to a parent that has a professional experience with them. Not only was I flat out lied to on several occasions, they also by their own admission did IEPs wrong and incorrectly gathered data for evaluations. If you need to deal with the school or the district always bring witnesses. On several occasions I needed my witnesses to stand up and say what really happened. Protect yourself and your special child and find another district if you can. My experience has been devastating.
Submitted by other on January 04, 2014

I attended BLE for the full seven years. It's a great school; the teachers (well, most of them) are so kind, and so are the students. I had no bullying issues in my whole seven years. The teachers, principle, office staff ect. listen and help. BLE has wonderful band and orchastra programs. Students will most likely attend library and writing class once a week, and P.E. and music twice a week, with amazing and caring teachers. Two things this school should improve on are lunch and the physical structure of the school. They serve a lot of the same meals over and over again, and it just gets boring! Some lunches are bad quality, too. And, the walls of this school are rocky and tough. One of my classmates fell and the wall pierced right through their knee! They definelitely need to fix that. Other than that, this school is amazing! I recommend this school 100%!
Submitted by parent on February 26, 2012

I have three boys at BLE ranging from Kindergarten to 6th Grade and have been very pleased. My eldest moved here in the middle of third grade reading well below grade level (was NOT as thrilled with his old school!) and with their excellent reading program got the extra help he needed and was at grade level and beyond in a few months. Also really impressed with the writing program. Not as thrilled with the typical problem of elementary schools being geared more towards girls (how they learn...sitting still for long periods...not as much hands on learning...non-boy friendly books chosen, etc) but think that is a national problem, not a BLE problem. Have been pleased with all the teachers my children have had and think the principal is very approachable and willing to work with parents. The PTA is active and offers many fine programs. Wish the school offered ART in the curriculum (although they do offer an after school program for a fee, at least). Class sizes seem very reasonable (27 in 6th, 22 in 2nd and 17 in the K classes my kids are in). We love BLE!
Submitted by parent on July 03, 2010

I wrote the 2008 review below but a lot has changed. Since 2008, there has been a huge turnover in special ed staff. We have a new principal, school psych & director of special services. Since '08, were on our 3rd OT. 2 special ed teachers have left and they are reducing from 1.5 special ed teachers down to one special ed teacher. The speech therapist and a reading specialist are leaving this year. Some of the new staff are great, but the overall change has been horrible. My son went through a whole year of getting no work done due to his disability. The IEP team was not cooperative and it took us going higher and higher in the district before we got results. Meanwhile, a year passed with virtually no instruction. You have to fight for what your child needs. Hard.
Submitted by parent on February 21, 2010

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Submitted by student on April 22, 2009

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Submitted by parent on March 10, 2008

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Submitted by parent on January 23, 2008

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