New Pima Butte principal is well-qualified for her job

Maricopa’s newest school, Pima Butte Elementary, will open its doors for the first time on July 25. Waiting to greet the kindergarten through sixth grade students enrolled there will be their brand new and highly qualified principal, Janelle Lowey.

Pima Butte Elementary’s new principal Janelle Lowey.

No stranger to the district or to education, Lowey, who is originally from Las Cruces, New Mexico, holds a bachelor’s degree in language arts from New Mexico State University. She also received a master’s degree in educational administration from Arizona State University.

Lowey’s philosophy of education centers on the idea that education should produce well-balanced individuals. “In this way, students enter the rest of their lives with the valuable lesson that they can make a difference. Thus, the student . . . will take those ideas into the larger community, whereby the improvement of self is translated into the improvement of all,” reads a portion of her philosophy.

In her 12 years as an educator, she has taught grades 5 – 8, been an assistant director of an inner city charter school in Phoenix and spent two years as a national reading specialist consultant. Most recently she was a third grade teacher at Santa Rosa Elementary School in Maricopa.

“I believe highly in the power of community to teach little ones,” she explained. “It is necessary not only to teach academics as measured by the Arizona standards but also to teach lifelong learning through modeling, character education and strong programs.”

Recently Lowey received the district’s Leading the Way Award. The citation reads, “Janelle has been a strong leader in bringing change to Santa Rosa with their reading curriculum and practices. Mrs. Lowey tackled a challenging group of young people and helped them to achieve far beyond their beginning level. Her dedication and commitment have extended outside her classroom as she served as a mentor and observer in other classrooms helping new teachers improve practices in their own classrooms.”

Lowey’s husband James facilitates and supervises the ASU super computer for Translational Genomics Research Institute. The couple has two children, Jacob, age 13, and Jenna, who is 9. The family resides in Gilbert.

Lowey loves reading and spicy foods. She swims a lot and spends as much time as possible on family camping trips. “I am a little addicted to reality TV,” laughed Lowey. “I only watch Survivor and The Amazing Race though.”

During the past few months since she was named Pima Butte principal, Lowey has been busy setting up the calendar for the school year, finding approximately 10 or more certified teachers and building a website accessible through the Maricopa Unified School District site. “Hopefully Pima Butte’s website will be up and running by June 1,” said Lowey. “We hope to have possession of the building itself by July 1,” she added.

School officially opens on July 25 with a Meet the Teachers night scheduled for Friday evening, July 22. After that all Pima Butte parent and community nights will be on Tuesdays. Events such as Skate land, Curriculum Night, book fairs, movie nights and ice cream socials are being planned to help generate money for classroom supplies. Character Counts will be the character education program at Pima Butte.

Currently 270 students are enrolled for the coming school year with more registrations arriving daily. The building’s capacity is 440. Lowey said she hopes there will be interest in starting a parent teacher organization.

“I’m looking forward to parent involvement in the every day running of the school and in individual classrooms,” stated Lowey. “Even if you can’t come in to the school to help, there are always other things you can do.” Anyone interested in forming a PTO group or willing to volunteer at Pima Butte should contact Lowey at 568-6154.