LOXLEY — No doubt about it, Loxley Elementary Principal De Ann Ramey thrives on hugs.

“I have bus duty every day,” said Ramey. “Everyday, in the space of 30 minutes, I get more than 200 hugs. The kids are excited to be here.”

That excitement spreads over a lot of grades — Loxley Elementary serves about 375 youngsters from pre-K through the sixth grade.

“The biggest challenge,” said Ramey, who holds a doctorate in education, “is having eight grade levels. You have to take into account the needs of a 4-year-old and a 13-year-old. They need different things. We really have three different schools here. It’s a scheduling challenge to meet the needs of each child. It’s very different from when I was assistant principal at (Gulf Shores) middle school.”

While there’s a big range of ages, Ramey loves the school’s size.

“We’re small enough that everyone knows everyone, and we are still a family,” she said, “but we’re big enough to offer enrichment and other programs.”

But, no matter what comes, Ramey says, “School is fun in Loxley.”

A lot of students have been with the school since their kindergarten days, and there are a number of cousins and extended family members attending the school together, Ramey says.

“It’s a whole lot of fun, and we have a lot of community involvement and trust,” Ramey said. “Overall, that’s very positive. I look for any way to open up communication, and not discourage parental involvement.”

If fact Ramey points with pride that her school has. “five or six parents here volunteering everyday.”

Volunteers, added Ramey, are screened for safety reasons, and volunteers are not permitted to interfere with the 90 minute reading block that each student has every day.

While there is a “family feel” to the school, Ramey is tough on academics.

“We start the day with announcements,” said Ramey, “and then we dive right into academics. By 8 a.m. every child is involved in learning.”

With a lot of kids coming from a lot of different backgrounds, Ramey has her hands full trying to keep all the families on the same page.

“Our focus is on ‘BEAR’ character,” said Ramey, using the school’s mascot, a bear cub, as her example. “It stands for Being Encouraging And Respectful.”

“We try to be encouraging,” said Ramey. “We build up the positive. We respect differences, but we have to come together.”

Keeping up with a busy school can interfere with family life. Ramey and her husband, Doug Ramey, are the parents of Conner, 10, who goes to school in Spanish Fort, and Sandra Grace, 2, who was adopted from China.

“It can be hard,” said Ramey. “Our school schedules are identical,” so I miss things at Conner’s school. Fortunately, my parents in Mobile step up a lot.”

Having such a close-knit school can make moving up to middle school a challenge emotionally for some sixth grade students when they become seventh graders in middle school.

“It’s a big adjustment for our sixth-graders when they go to middle school,” said Lisa Hughes, a sixth-grade teacher at the school. “They are not going to be in the group they have been with.”

But, Ramey says, the staff works hard to make sure the youngsters are ready for the challenge.

“I’m not an advocate for retention,” said Ramey. “I am an advocate of meeting needs. We are in contact with parents if there is a danger of a child being retained at midyear.”

In this age of fast-paced TV and Internet programming, Ramey says, “In order to get a child’s attention, you have to be very creative.”

“The biggest academic challenge,” said Hughes, “is reading. If they don’t read well, it makes all subjects, like Social Studies, difficult.”

Part of the adjustment is the staff has had to get used to the changing roles of the boys and girls they teach.

“Girls and boys are now on an equal footing,” said Ramey. “There are no wallflowers any more. Things have changed. We want both boys and girls excelling.”

While youngsters can be high-spirited, Ramey says discipline at the school is “mild.”

“I favor consequences to each act,” said Ramey. “The punishment should fit something the child did. for example, if they were caught chewing gum, they should cleanup gum.”

But while it’s sometimes difficult, Huges says she wouldn’t have any other career.

“(Ramey) is wonderful. If you ask, and she can get it, she’s going to get it,” said Hughes. “This is the most rewarding job. I still have kids come back and tell me “I remember stuff we did in class.” It truly is as (Christa) McAuliffe said, “I touch the future. I teach.”