Lake Road is the largest elementary school in the Poplar Bluff District with approximately 330 students and 32 staff members. The school expanded its configuration in 2018 to include fourth grade students and has expanded since then to include 5th and 6th grades. At Lake Road, all staff understands, believes in, and lives the following mission each day: It is our fundamental purpose to develop students who are leaders of their own learning by creating a nurturing environment that promotes a growth mindset through problem solving and exploration in order to be successful in life.
Despite serving a significant proportion of disadvantaged students historically, Lake Road scored in the top 15th percentile of schools in the state on the 2017 Missouri Assessment Program test, and resultantly was named a 2017/18 Missouri Gold Star School and a 2018 National Blue Ribbon School, the highest honor an educational institution can achieve. The school’s accolades are due to the tireless efforts to constantly and consistently identify ways to improve. Lake Road has achieved multiple distinctions for their efforts in addition to the aforementioned including: Achieving and exceeding the state goal for attendance, being named a National Showcase School for Capturing Kids’ Hearts, and earning both the Gold Level of Excellence and the Dr. Mary Richter School of Distinction Award for Missouri School-wide Positive Behavior Supports.
As a result of full implementation of SW-PBIS, a learning environment to support the academic and social success of all students has been established. The theme is Lake Road ROCKS! This is based on the expectations that our students, staff, and families are Respectful, Outstanding, Cooperative, Kind, and Safe. Data is used to drive daily instruction and determine students who will benefit from the academic and behavioral interventions in place.
Lake Road Elementary School enjoys strong partnerships with community allies through its Bright Futures Site Council. The council supports an effort to bring activities to the school throughout the month. One popular activity includes Club Days, which allows students to be involved in extracurricular activities on and off campus twice a month. To increase attendance, the council developed the Rotary Good Habits Store, a monthly incentive program for students to enjoy.