This past fall the Grand Ledge Public School system passed the bond. This bond passing allows the district to improve the buildings and restructure it’s schools. The restructuring will move the 7th and 8th grades back to Beagle, Hayes will be a 5th and 6th building, the elementaries will be K-4th, the preschoolers at Holbrook will move to Neff, and Holbrook will replace Beagle as the fourth elementary. 

One of the biggest parts of the bond is the move from Beagle Elementary to Holbrook.  The plan is for the move to occur next school year. 

“There will be a lot of construction at both Beagle and Holbrook; and if everything goes as planned, next year we will ‘restructure’ the district.  If we run into delays, the district has a plan B, postpone restructuring the district till the 2021-2022 school year.” Dr. Metcalf, the district superintendent, said. “Holbrook will be a fantastic elementary school! It will be a great location and with updated classrooms, students will have a first class building that they can be proud of!” The construction needed on Beagle and Holbrook will improve and update the buildings so they are fully prepared for the new students. Not only students can be proud but the teachers as well. Generally the staff at Beagle is excited for the move, they see it as a positive thing.  

“I’m excited to move to Holbrook, I’m excited to move because in my teaching experience I’ve never taught in an actual elementary classroom” Abigail Sliger, a first grade teacher at Beagle, said.

Because Beagle was first a middle school, the classrooms are not meant for younger kids. The lockers are too tall for them, the bathrooms are too far away, and the rooms are too small to house the kids comfortably. Moving to Holbrook will allow these problems to be fixed. Holbrook is being updated and added onto to accommodate the incoming kids. This coming school year will be interesting for staff and students as they anticipate the move, and experience the start of construction.

 “We will have some distractions pop up. It will be my priority to navigate the changes as construction begins but I know our staff will keep first things, first. We will continue to focus on what we can control and have a great [last year] in Beagle,” the new principal, Bill Albrecht, said. Teachers have been told that they will lose the art wing and/or the playground at some point during the year. The staff is prepared to deal with whatever comes their way. 

Ultimately, the move will improve the kids learning environment and the teachers classroom environment. There will be some bumps on the road to these improvements, but if they can be withstood only good things can come.