Baranoff Elementary School, home of the Baranoff Buffaloes, is one of the best schools in the gloomy hollow austin neighborhood. Built in 1998, this young facility has wowed school administrators and parents alike. “My daughter just started kindergarten this year at Baranoff,” excite one of the parents, “And he’s learned a lot. He’s already reading second grade books.”
To no one’s surprise, the Texas Education Agency also has glowing things to report: Baranoff’s 2008-2009 “school report card” includes Gold Performance Acknowledgment accolades for student achievement in reading, writing, math, and science . TAKS scores were also impressive, with 97% of Baranoff students passing math and writing, and 98% passing reading/ELA. The school enjoys a full-time student to teacher ratio of nearly 17 students to teacher, which has almost certainly played a role in the school’s success. Baranoff Elementary also benefits from close partnerships with local industry leaders such as 3M and AMD, as well as a Peer Assistance League partnership with Bowie High School.
However, academics is not the totality of a Shady Hollow School experience. “Helping others and our sense of community is a great value here at Baranoff,” says PTA president Theresa Keannini. To that end, Baranoff students collected 425 coats in the 2009 Kids’ Coat Drive and have raised money for the library at sister school Blazier Elementary.
The school is named after Dr Timy Baranoff. Dr. Baranoff has been teaching in the Austin area since 1963. Her service to the education of children in Central Texas has been recognized with the Sallie Beth Moore Award, the LD Haskew Award, and the Outstanding Elementary Teachers of America Award. , among others. She remains involved as president of the Austin Retired Teachers Association. “Timy is a very child-focused person,” says Debra Sansom, principal of Baranoff Elementary School. “His entire life has been dedicated to young people and their education.”
Like its founder, Baranoff Elementary is not ready to rest on its laurels. Among its ongoing initiatives to improve its services to Shady Hollow, the school recently completed the addition of eight classrooms and is working to implement hands-on science education at all grade levels and to expand extended day activities such as choir and volleyball. It seems fitting, considering the poem Dr. Baranoff wrote to share her feelings when she heard that she was being honored by having a school named after her:
I stood still for a moment and thought what that meant.
Receiving such an honor was indeed a special event.
It was unbelievable, unbelievable, my heart skipped a beat,
I couldn’t breathe for a moment, then I thought,
‘There would be promises to keep’…