Principal's Message

Here at Leonard Elementary, we believe in teaching the whole child. We know the best way to accomplish this is through a strong partnership between home and school. We encourage parent involvement and want our school to be a place where all our families know they are valued. We view ourselves as a school family and strive to extend that warm welcome to all who enter our doors.

We pride ourselves in “growing good kids” at Leonard. Character education is at the heart of all we do. We believe that a strong character education program is the foundation for all other learning. We live by our core values of kindness, respect, responsibility, perseverance, and integrity. We spend time intentionally teaching these core values in our classrooms, cafeteria, on the playground, and in our hallways. We believe that it is our responsibility as educators to model, teach, and reinforce the character traits that nurture empathy.

We are experts at literacy. We value the power of reading, writing, speaking, and listening in all parts of our day. We believe in the importance of teaching all children to be critical consumers of information and expert communicators of their thoughts. Instructionally, all children are met at their level and are challenged to achieve more. Through our workshop approach to literacy instruction, children participate in a rigorous and relevant curriculum that includes authentic reading and writing. Teachers work with children in a whole group setting, in small groups, and individually to best meet everyone’s needs.

We action our character education, literacy, and critical thinking in meaningful mathematics, social studies, and science learning throughout our day. We nurture curiosity and offer solutions for real-world problems. Learning across the content areas is authentic, student-centered, and appropriately challenging. Leonard children not only know they can make a difference in this world, they do…each and every day!

Sincerely,

Erin L. Detmer, Ph.D.
Principal, Leonard Elementary School