Lowell Elementary School

Lowell is an amazing school that I feel lucky to have my special needs child in. From the paragon of a principal (I seriously love her & wish she were my family), to the teachers and the fantastic special needs staff they have been incredibly open, supportive, helpful and compassionate working as a team with me; I can't even imagine moving schools. My child is a handful to put it mildly. They have always done the best for everyone involved and been fair, non-judgmental and non-reactive when issues have come up. I am amazed at how strong the leadership is and things that I have a hard time with are handled with dignity and taken in stride with calm confidence. The only reason I didn't give them 5 stars is because the music program was seriously dull (their working on it) and availability or access to more qualified staff for special needs kids would definitely be helpful.
—Submitted by a parent

I would LOVE to give this school a '5' rating but cannot do so because of the leadership. The teachers are wonderful and the paraprofessionals outstanding! However, the administration is lacking in anything close to ethical behavior or practices. Unbelievable. The saving grace is that the children have such terrific teachers, it's not worth thinking about all the negatives. My son loves his teachers and is doing very well academically and socially.
—Submitted by a parent

We came to Lowell from a school in Los Angeles and the difference is night and day. In LA the school was just worried about getting their money from the government. My daughter has intermittent behavior issues and the principal, school pshyc., counselor and esp. her teacher are all committed to seeing her succeed. I cannot express our family's gratitude for having stumbled upon this school. It's near my work not near we live and we are so thankful that they allow her to attend. Ms. Salerno the 2nd grade teacher is amazing. She is calm and cool with the kids and you can tell she genuinely loves her job. LOVE THE SCHOOL and ALL THE PEOPLE.
—Submitted by a parent

LOVE LOVE LOVE this school!!! It's so impressive from the start. And seeing how my children both really enjoy going there is rewarding. They love their school too, which means the teachers are doing something right. My daughter has really started to excel in math, and my son's reading has gone well beyond the kindergarten level which is where he is supposed to be. The score that this website has for Lowell does not accurately display their current test scores, but maybe that's okay... so those of us parents who have children there have a little known secret of the best elementary school in Boise!!!! teehee!
—Submitted by a parent

We had a wonderful experience at Lowell. When I would walk down the hall with my son or daughter, every staff member we passed said hello to them by name. The school is able to offer a lot of differentiated instruction to help kids who are high, on-grade-level, or struggling. The multi-cultural aspect of Lowell is rare in Boise and is the best thing about it.
—Submitted by a parent

Having a struggling reader enter first grade from a private kindergarten I was quite nervous about how things would go. I have never seen such caring dedicated professionals. The two firstgrade teachers, who both worked with my child, the reading specialists and even the principal were committed to helping MY child. My first grader ended first grade a reader and on grade level. She had the same experience in second and third grade. I know these teachers went above and beyond and I would recommend this school to anyone.
—Submitted by a parent

I am very concerned that the test data is from 2008 when Lowell had a large influx of children who were new to the country and who spoke no English or had limited English. Without disaggregation of the data to show the growth of the majority of students, it is impossible to form an opinion of the school during that time period. I am not sure how you can be a reputable site without updating the data. If it was updated, the community would see that Lowell is competitive with other schools in the Boise School District. I would like to be contacted by the site creators to discuss this problem.
—Submitted by a teacher

HORRIBLE school!! Our childs teacher didn't let their class out for 15 minutes after school. Worried parents and unethical standards. Fowl mouth children everywhere. Little proper supervision on playground...Intimidating and BULLY type children there. Worst mistake to bring our kids to this school, that's why their rated only a '1' out of 10.
—Submitted by a parent

Lowell is an amazing school! It offers a real picture of the world we live in and brings more to my kids than I ever thought an elementary school could. It's a neighborhood school and many kids walk to school. It's so great to have neighbor kids in the same school! Principal Paula Bell is superb and was recently name administrator of the year! Go Lowell!
—Submitted by a parent

Lowell Elementary has been a blue ribbon school and was instrumental in giving all four of my children a great start!
—Submitted by a parent

Lowell is a Title Nine school with a strong ELL program and often an entry school for internationals. There have been up to 11 different languages represented there and the cultural diversity is celebrated and embraced. The staff is amazing.
—Submitted by a parent