Original Research by School Decision on Priest River Lamanna High
Priest River Lamanna High is a regular public high school in the West Bonner County District, serving the upper secondary grades in Priest River, Idaho. The enrollment is small for a school covering the full high school grade span. The student body is predominantly white, with small representation from Hispanic, multiracial, American Indian or Alaska Native, and Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander students. No Black or Asian students were reported in the enrollment data. A portion of the student body qualifies for free or reduced-price lunch. Data on special education populations and English learners was not available.
State assessment results present a real challenge for anyone trying to read this school's academic performance. The school serves the high school grades, but the available ISAT results cover middle school grades that fall outside the school's current grade range. This may reflect a prior grade configuration or a data attribution issue, but the data itself does not specify the reason. The results that are present are reported as ranges rather than precise proficiency rates, and most tested counts are suppressed. In math at one middle school grade, no students were reported as proficient. ELA and science results for the tested grades also show proficiency in low reported ranges. A multi-year ELA series across all grades shows a steep decline over several reporting periods, though the data does not provide enough context to explain the shift. The grade level where Idaho typically administers its high school ISAT does not appear in the available results. A parent looking for a clear read on academic performance may want to ask the school directly about current proficiency levels and how they have moved over time.
No graduation rate was provided. No civil rights data, discipline information, course access details, staffing figures, or attendance data was available. No information on program offerings such as Advanced Placement, career and technical education, or dual credit was provided. These are areas a parent would reasonably want to explore directly with the school.
Priest River is a small rural community at the confluence of the Priest River and the Pend Oreille River in Bonner County. It has a deep logging heritage and was historically known as "Little Italy" for the Italian immigrants who arrived in the late nineteenth century to work in timber. The town retains a working-class, small-town character. The economy depends on timber and tourism, with Schweitzer Ski Resort nearby serving as a regional employer and recreation anchor. Publicly reported sources describe the town's population as relatively stable but slightly declining, with slow growth tied to efforts to diversify beyond timber. US Route 2 runs through as the main thoroughfare. No public library branch or transit system was identified in publicly available sources. Community anchors include city parks, the rivers themselves, the Priest River Museum and Timber Education Center, and the annual Timber Day Festival.
The housing market in the school's zip code sits above both the Idaho state benchmark and the national benchmark for typical home values. Estimated monthly mortgage costs at current rates would exceed estimated local rents by a wide margin, which may make renting more accessible than buying for families moving into the area. No direct rent data was available for the zip code itself.
The West Bonner County District showed no parent-relevant changes in the publicly available material reviewed. The search found little of lasting impact to report.
What this school offers is a small, rural public high school experience in a community with strong timber roots and outdoor recreation access. The academic picture is difficult to read from the available data because the state assessment results do not align with the school's grade range, and what is present is reported in suppressed ranges rather than clear figures. A family considering this school would benefit from asking the administration about current ISAT performance at the high school level, graduation rates, course offerings, and support services, since none of these were available in the provided data.
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