At Lowes Island Elementary, the home of the “Learning Leopards,” principal Bruce Shafferman said he has nothing but pride for his school.

“Our students do extremely well academically and extremely well behaviorally,” he said.

Specialists in art, music, technology and physical education work together with teachers to follow the school’s motto: “children first,” he said.

SOL test scores indicate that for the 2005-2006 school year, 90 percent of students in grades three through five passed all required portions of the exams. This is on par with the district-wide goal of a 90 percent pass rate. More data is available in the school improvement plan here.

“We try to differentiate education for all our children at all the grade levels,” Shafferman said.

Teachers use the school’s computer labs to enhance their instruction. They also have access to streaming Web video clips that they incorporate into their lessons.

“For example, if a teacher has a lesson about hurricanes or tornadoes, she would pull video clips to show students the destruction they can cause,” Shafferman said. Videos are frequently used in science and social studies classes, he said.

The arts are important at Lowes Island, Shafferman said.

“Before I became a principal, I was a music teacher so I like to incorporate music into activities,” he said. Students will sing at school assemblies and participate in evening music performances for parents throughout year. Student artwork is always on display at the school, he said.

“The art teacher does a fabulous job of exposing the kids to a lot of different modalities of art,” Shafferman said. Also, there is an annual “art night” where parents are invited to come into the school and see some of the creative projects the students have put together, he said.

“The parent involvement and support we receive at our school is just incredible,” Shafferman said. Parents have an open invitation from the school to spend lunchtime with their child and often work hard to be involved with the school, he said.

The Lowes Island PTO helps bring artists from around the state and nation into the school to present dances, plays and historical programs to the students, Shafferman said. The PTO also works with the school and parents to put together after-school activities three days a week. Activities include basketball, cheerleading, karate and hands-on nature activities, Shafferman said.

Although there is an ESL program at Lowes Island, students who need special classes usually go to nearby Algonkian Elementary, Shafferman said.

Looking to the future, Shafferman said he wants the school to be as open as possible for adults and children to come together and learn. He said he hopes to offer more classes for parents in the evening hours.

“The school should not be an entity that closes up at 4 p.m.,” Shafferman said.