Nancy Leedy, co-founder and teacher at The Island School, will retire at the end of this academic year.

She will be honored at a retirement party from 3 to 5 p.m. at the school Sunday, May 20.

Nancy Leedy, Dave Leedy and Kelly Webster started The Island School with 11 students in a Rolling Bay garage in 1977.

Nancy Leedy, a certified teacher and Stanford graduate, began as both a classroom teacher and the educational director and continued in those roles at the school.

A success from the start, The Island School initially expanded to portable classroom space at St. Cecelia’s Catholic Church before acquiring property on Day Road in 1983. The school has continued to grow through several major building projects. Today, the school educates about 100 students each year in kindergarten through fifth grade.

“When we started this school, I thought I’d graduate when my own kids did and move on to other things,” she said, looking back at her 34 years at the school.

“A funny thing happened along the way. I fell in love with other people’s kids. And I found I wanted the same things for them that I wanted for my own: a safe, secure environment where they could gain belief in themselves and what they could accomplish with some support, guidance and a little bit of help from their friends.”

Jennifer Osburn, who is currently a first-grade teaching assistant/teacher at The Island School, will succeed Leedy as the third-grade teacher.

Osburn holds a master’s degree in education and has 11 years of experience teaching and/or working as a counselor.