Lansing School District unveils new Wexford Montessori Academy
LANSING − Sporting new outfits and shoes and lugging along new backpacks, students started their first day of school at Wexford Montessori Academy in Lansing and other schools across the Lansing School District on Monday.
Some returned to a school building that they didn’t recognize.
Woodcreek Montessori merged with Wexford to make a new, combined K-8 school that opened for the first time since the merger. Principal Elizabeth Bishop expects the school will have an enrollment of about 365 students. Like many schools in the Montessori model, older children will be relied on as mentors and leaders in the school, but even more so during the transition.
“We are going to incorporate the middle school program as role models,” Bishop said. “They’ll be doing a lot of learning with younger students.”
With the merger came a freshly paved parking lot and outdoor basketball courts with bright white nets waiting for the students to try out.
Inside, students will notice a series of renovations and upgrades to the building, including simple, hard walls that replaced sheets of plastic that were used to separate rooms. New flooring and fresh paint topped off the latest improvements.
The upgrades include renovated classrooms to better space out pods of students, an outdoor walking track and a pavilion to act as an open-air classroom.
“This is a new year, the masks are off, people can smile and see the smiles, there’s just this really wonderful sense of belonging, a sense of wanting to be here,” said Superintendent Benjamin Shuldiner as he walked through Wexford. “You can feel it. Walking down these hallways, the students are happy, the teachers are happy. We’re really just so excited for this year.”
Other Greater Lansing school districts return to school throughout this week, while other districts have already begun classes.
The Lansing School District closed its schools and moved completely to remote learning for the entire 2020-21 school year amid COVID-19 concerns. Students returned to their schools last year but were required to wear masks.
Free of masks, smiles could be seen throughout Woodcreek as teachers greeted familiar students.
Teachers covered typical first-day-of-school business, from introducing themselves to students to sharing classroom rules and expectations.
Kristan Small stressed to her class the importance of getting to know each other.
"Knowing peoples' names gives you power," she said. "Knowing peoples' names gives you power to make relationships."
Some students have been returning to their school without permanent teachers.
The Lansing School District was still looking to hire about 45 teachers when classes started on Monday, according to Chief Operating Officer Kristina Tokar. Shuldiner said isn’t worried. Though the district is still hiring teachers, and it has staff in other positions, like specialists and substitutes, who are trained teachers who can fill teaching vacancies until the district can hire full-time replacements.
Contact Mark Johnson at (517) 377-1026 or majohnson2@lsj.com. Follow him on Twitter at @ByMarkJohnson.
This article originally appeared on Lansing State Journal: Lansing School District unveils new Wexford Montessori Academy
