Tampa Day School turns 40

Good things come in 40s at Tampa Day School.

At least, they do this year.

The small private school on Henderson Road is celebrating its four decades with monthly charitable donations and other events themed around the number 40.

Students, parents and staff have given 40 bags stuffed with books to a different charity each month. In November, homerooms collected 40 canned goods each to give to Metropolitan Ministries. Plans are to deliver at least 40 gifts to St. Joseph's Children's Hospital for the holidays.

The school recently chose 40 professionals to honor and plans to raise money for diabetes research by asking students to walk 40 miles during the school year.

Tampa Day School serves students in kindergarten through eighth grade who need a smaller environment than a typical public school. Many of them have mild or moderate learning disabilities, attention deficit disorder or anxiety, said Lois Delaney, head of school.

The school's longevity is due in large part to the personal approach it takes with its students, Delaney said.

"It's all about finding the best fit," Delaney said. "We understand very much that kids have all kinds of learning styles."

The student-teacher ratio is low. Students are placed at their grade level, not behind, but can be pulled out for one-on-one instruction or accelerated. Teachers meet and talk about what individual students need to improve. The school also involves parents as much as possible.

"Parents are the experts on their own kids," Delaney said.

Most students enroll for a few years until they have improved academically or feel ready to move into a larger school.

Blake Turner, who attends Saint Leo University, attended Tampa Day School from fifth to seventh grade to tackle a reading problem that was causing him to slip in public school.

Turner, now 19, could barely read. The older he got, the harder his class work at Schwarzkopf Elementary became, and he struggled to keep it a secret. He felt like he didn't fit in at school. Tests showed he had a learning disability. After trying medication, his parents moved him to Tampa Day.

"They basically re-taught me how to learn to read," Turner said.

He worked individually with teachers and learned new skills, such as matching sounds to letters by looking at pictures of how the mouth should be formed when saying words. Teachers praised and rewarded him for improving.

"You wouldn't get in trouble if you got it wrong," Turner said. "They would just push you to get it right."

In eighth grade, he moved to Martinez Middle. His reading had gotten dramatically better, and his parents wanted to prepare him for entering Sickles High by attending a larger school.

A baseball player at Saint Leo, Turner said he probably would not have gone to college without Tampa Day School. He also would not have had time to pursue baseball if he had to spend time getting tutored or would have risked academic ineligibility if his grades suffered from his reading.

Delaney said one of the rewarding parts of the 40th anniversary celebration has been hearing from alumni. Delaney, who is in her 14th year at the school, met former students at a picnic earlier this year who now are enrolled in college. She said many still feel a bond with the school and the friends they made there.

The classes were so small - some with just six students and others with a dozen - that everyone knew everybody, Turner said. Teachers were tuned into what each student needed.

"They can see how each kid needs to be treated and what they are excited about to get rewarded," Turner said. "The teachers were awesome."