Original Research by School Decision on Oakdale Elementary
Oakdale Elementary serves prekindergarten through first grade in Tomah, a small city in Monroe County that sits at the junction of Interstates 90 and 94. Tomah functions as a regional transportation and service hub, with a mix of residential neighborhoods, industrial parks, distribution centers, and healthcare campuses. The school is one of seven elementary schools operated by the Tomah Area School District, a geographically large district that also includes a middle school, high school, alternative school, and a Montessori public charter school.
The enrollment is small, with the prekindergarten class making up the largest portion. The student body is predominantly white, with small shares of American Indian or Alaska Native, Hispanic, and multiracial students. A substantial share of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, indicating significant economic need among the families the school serves. Data on students with disabilities and English learners was not reported; a parent who wants to understand special education or language support offerings would need to contact the school directly.
State testing data is not available for Oakdale Elementary, and that is expected for a school with no tested grade levels. Wisconsin’s state assessments begin in third grade, so Oakdale’s PK‑1 students are not included in those results. The school’s academic focus is on early childhood foundations: preliteracy, early math, social‑emotional development, and the routines of formal schooling. Without test scores, a parent evaluating academic quality would want to ask about curriculum, class size, teacher experience, and how the school prepares children for the next grade.
The school does not serve upper elementary grades, so it has no graduation rate or chronic absenteeism data to report. Those metrics are not applicable to this grade band. The Tomah Area School District’s most recent publicly reported change is a reduced property tax rate for the 2024‑25 budget, a financial shift that may appeal to families weighing long‑term costs.
Housing in the Tomah area is moderately priced relative to the state, which tends to be more expensive. The city’s economy is anchored by the Tomah VA Medical Center, Tomah Health hospital, several industrial parks with manufacturing and distribution employers, and nearby Fort McCoy and Volk Field military installations. The interstate junction produces a broader range of restaurants and lodging than typical small towns, and the city has eleven parks, a recreation trail, and an aquatic center. Residential streets radiate from a traditional downtown along Superior Avenue, where the public library and city hall sit. Walkability is concentrated downtown; the wider community is more auto‑oriented.
For a family considering Oakdale Elementary, the school offers a small, early‑grades setting within a district that covers a large geographic area. The high share of students from lower‑income households means the school likely has experience addressing a range of family needs, though specifics on support programs were not available in the data. A parent may want to ask about breakfast and lunch programs, family engagement resources, and how the school connects with the broader district’s elementary pathway. The next step after Oakdale would be another Tomah elementary school serving grades two through five, so families should understand the feeder pattern and how transitions are managed. This is a school for the earliest years of a child’s education, where the focus is on building a foundation rather than on academic accountability metrics.
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