Red Cedar School to reopen as East Lansing's sixth elementary school

EAST LANSING — Red Cedar School will reopen as East Lansing's sixth elementary school in the fall of 2020, according to school district plans released Friday. 

Since the fall of 2018, the school has been a temporary home for elementary students whose school buildings are being rebuilt. It is housing students from Pinecrest Elementary this year. 

The plans call for Red Cedar to offer two Great Start readiness classes, two Young 5 classes, early childhood special education and classrooms for up to third grade next fall. A fourth-grade classroom will be added in 2021 and a fifth grade classroom in 2022.

East Lansing Public Schools Superintendent Dori Leyko planned to send a letter to all of the district's elementary school families Friday announcing the plans. 

Those offerings are based on the number of current students at each grade level with the boundary of the school, which is located at 1110 Narcissus Dr.

East Lansing's school board first voted to close Red Cedar in 2011, a decision that divided the district and lead to a federal civil rights complaint that was ultimately dismissed. The school actually closed in 2014. 

Following a successful $93.7 million bond campaign in 2017, the district is rebuilding its other five elementary schools. Red Cedar was remodeled. 

The new Donley and Glencairn Elementary Schools opened this school year after the two $16 million builds came to completion.   

Next summer, construction of the new Marble Elementary School will start while the Whitehills and Pinecrest projects are expected to be completed. 

Marble students will go to the old Donley school until their new school building is finished. 

"There are many factors that informed this decision — the primary factor being that we will not have enough elementary classrooms in the district to house our current classes if we demolish and complete Phase 2 at Donley this summer," Leyko wrote.  

Families in the Red Cedar district can still request to send their students to schools outside of their elementary school boundary through the permeable boundary process. 

Administrators plan to send surveys to staff members to begin planning for Red Cedar staffing, according to the letter. 

"Our administration worked diligently and in collaboration with the Red Cedar Programming Committee to decide the programming for the school," said Erin Graham, school board president. "I am excited that in future years we will be looking to expand both early childhood and elementary programming."

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Contact Mark Johnson at 517-377-1026 or at majohnson2@lsj.com. Follow him on Twitter at @ByMarkJohnson.