Lansing Sun

The Lansing School District Board of Education received an update from its administration during a meeting held on Dec. 15, which can be viewed on YouTube.

Superintendent Ben Shuldiner, Deputy Superintendent of Schools Jessica Benavides and Chief Operating Officer Kristina Tokar gave a presentation on the district as a whole and how they want to redistribute and improve the schools within it.

Many older buildings are operating at half capacity and, while they meet all necessary codes, are not considered as welcoming and bright as the newer buildings. Shuldiner shared his plans to tear down Willow Elementary School and redesign and rebuild it, instead of abandoning it and constructing a new school elsewhere, as the district has done in the past.

The plan will extend to many of the older buildings, which are less than five miles away from the newer buildings. Shuldiner wants to move students from the old buildings to the new ones so that the old buildings can be renovated. He also wants to move some of the preschool students, potentially from Willow into Kendon Elementary School, to have a continuous K-3 education system in the building while also partnering with the federal government program Head Start.

A benefit of the school consolidation is that, by putting more grades into one building, families with multiple children can spend less time on transportation, as they can all attend school in the same building. The change is expected to keep more families in the district, as it is based on a model focused on community building.

"Since I've gotten here, 16 , 17 months ago, I've been talking to parents," Shuldiner said in the meeting. "We did surveys. A lot of these are not direct quotes -- I want to be very clear -- but it is very much what they are saying to us. 'We want the seventh and eighth graders out of the high schools.' 'We want the buses to be more reliable.' I think that one actually is a direct quote. 'I hate sending my children to three different schools.' 'It's hard to manage the many bell times.' 'We want more access to arts, music and physical education.' And you can tell this is reality. I don't think anybody's going to kind of dismiss these things from parents."

Shuldiner talked about moving forward based on what parents have shared they would like to see changed.

"So how can we think about that?" Shuldiner said in the meeting. "If this is what parents have said and we want to listen to parents, if these are the things that we want to have a more robust school experience and we want to align with our framework for grade schools and our strategic plan, then we've got to think critically about the kind of schools that can accommodate this vision."