Stroll into one area and you find students brushing up on their cosmetology skills.
In another room, band students beam about their recent success at a competition. Kids in the technology wing are being certified to repair computers.
Down the hall, aspiring culinary artists are flourishing (the cinnamon rolls were really good). And in the day care center, young women learn child care certification skills.
During a tour of A.P. Leto Comprehensive High School in Town 'N Country on Tuesday, it was easy to find eager students, dedicated teachers, interesting programs and $15-million in recent renovations. But those who look at Leto from afar, even when the sun is shining and a fall breeze is blowing across the campus, see only the dark cloud of the school's low state achievement test rating.
Once a teacher at Leto, Dan Bonilla always dreamed of becoming the school's principal. He grew up in the community, and his children attended the school. When Bonilla took over the top job six years ago, the task at hand might have been best described, be careful what you wish for.
In 1998, the grade point average for ninth-graders was 1.35, the graduation rate was 51 percent and attendance was 87.5 percent. Students earned $280,000 in scholarships, low by most school standards.
The school's socioeconomic background spoke to the low numbers. Leto has the district's second largest number of students who receive free or reduced lunches (about 60 percent). It has the highest population of English for Speakers of Other Languages students (23 percent).
Still, Bonilla and his staff have managed to improve the numbers. In 2004, the freshman GPA was 2.35, the graduation rate was 81 percent, attendance was 92.9 percent. Leto grads received $1.8-million in scholarships.
Bonilla argues these are some of the real indicators of improvement, but the school's grade, based on results from the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test, was a D for the past three years.
While Leto is the only Hillsborough County school to receive a D for three consecutive years, it is not the only school to struggle. Three other schools received D's this year and 11 received C's. Only one, Newsome High in Lithia, received an A.
But other schools, particular those considered urban, have magnet programs or special academies like International Baccalaureate or aeronautical engineering to boost its image.
Leto doesn't have the magnet programs, but Bonilla says that while attractor programs may help improve test scores at other schools, they don't put those high schools in a position to play a key role in the community.
Town 'N Country residents can get day care, auto mechanic and salon styling services at Leto. Its courtyard plays host to community events and its classrooms educate adults at night. Its enrollment of about 1,800 consists largely of neighborhood kids who want to be there.
"We have a seven-period day so students can have more opportunities to learn, more career opportunities," Bonilla said. "We're putting our students in a better position to meet society's needs."
By no means is Leto perfect, but it has its examples of success. The computer repair kids graduate to jobs that pay in excess of $30,000. The cosmetology students start working as assistants before they even leave the school.
That doesn't mean FCAT efforts are going ignored. At the beginning of the year, faculty members met with students in small groups to talk about the FCAT grade and what needs to be done to raise it. Posters around the school tout the improved statistics, and now the kids have a few tools to defend its image.
And they do have to defend. From sporting events to just hanging out at the movies, they hear the teasing from kids who go to other schools.
While the FCAT grade isn't sparkling, Leto's underdog spirit is shining. A kind of bond has formed among the traditional cliques you find in any high school.
The knowledge their school is better than people think has them believing in the school - and themselves.
