Lakeside Junior/Senior High School

Lakeside Junior/Senior High School is a public school located in Downs, Kansas, serving grades 6-12 with a total enrollment of 135 students. The school is part of the Waconda school district. Over the past 10 years, Lakeside has had a mixed performance, ranking between 102 and 272 out of the 314-326 high schools in Kansas, with a current ranking of 215 out of 332 schools and a 2-star rating from SchoolDigger.

Lakeside's proficiency rates in English Language Arts, Mathematics, and Science are generally lower than the state and district averages, particularly in the 10th grade. For example, in 2024-2025, only 28% of 10th-grade students at Lakeside were proficient in ELA, compared to the state average of 37.93% and the district average of 28%. The school has had a mixed performance in graduation rates, ranging from 88.1% to 100% in recent years, and relatively low dropout rates. However, Lakeside has had high chronic absenteeism rates, ranging from 10.3% to 19.7% in recent years, which is higher than the state and district averages. The school also has a high percentage of low-socioeconomic status students, with 50-57% of students qualifying for free or reduced-price lunch in recent years.

In comparison, Osborne Junior/Senior High, located about 9 miles from Lakeside, has consistently outperformed Lakeside in academic proficiency, ranking much higher in the state (28th out of 332 schools in 2024-2025). Osborne also has lower chronic absenteeism rates and a lower percentage of students qualifying for free or reduced-price lunch compared to Lakeside. This suggests that Lakeside may face challenges in supporting and addressing the needs of its student population, particularly those from low-socioeconomic backgrounds, in order to improve its academic performance and consistency.