Harbor Springs ready to welcome students to new Shay Elementary School

HARBOR SPRINGS — A crowd gathered in front of Shay Elementary School on Friday afternoon for a ribbon cutting at the brand new building.

“It’s great to see kids back in the building, to see their faces and be excited about coming back after summer,” said Elementary Principal Nathan Fairbanks.

Shay Elementary School was rebuilt as part of a $41.85 million bond project, approved by voters in May 2022. The school was torn down in fall 2022, and construction began in spring of 2023.

Finishing touches are still being added before the start of the school year, but the public was welcome to view the building and classrooms during Friday’s open house.

The 2024-25 school year, which kicks off Sept. 3, will allow elementary students in the district to settle into their new school home. For the last two years, grades K-4 were split with some grades staying at Blackbird Elementary School while others were housed at Harbor Springs Middle School.

In the new setup, Shay Elementary will house grades K-4, Harbor Springs Middle School will have grades 5-8 and Harbor Springs High School will still have grades 9-12.

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Throughout the new school, there are lockers set aside for third and fourth graders, and small communal areas where students and volunteers will be able to work and visit outside of a classroom setting. Each classroom has a unique setup as well, with different desks and seating options.

Fairbanks said when purchasing flexible seating options, different samples were brought in and children were able to test the seats and share their thoughts with the staff before purchases were made.

“We were able to test it all out to see how it worked and what the kids thought of it before we purchased it,” Fairbanks said. “That’s been a change from the traditional desks in rows … There’s more of that flexibility in learning styles, flexibility in the classroom.”

In addition, teachers in special classrooms — like music, art and physical education — had a lot of say in what their classroom setup would look like in order to best suit their needs, Fairbanks said.

“Everybody having their own unique space has been awesome with the new build,” he said.

While a lot of things are standardized in the classrooms, Fairbanks said it’s exciting to see how teachers have personalized their space with artwork and bulletin boards, for example.

— Contact reporter Karly Graham at [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter at @KarlyGrahamJRN.