SCHOOL IS IN

Opening of new Longfellow Elementary School building is celebrated at event

The ribbon-cutting ceremony on Sept. 14 for the new Longfellow Elementary School in Eastlake almost ended without one important detail.

After all of the guests speakers were finished, WilloughbyEastlake Schools Superintendent Steve Thompson invited everyone in attendance to go inside and tour the new elementary school at 35200 Stevens Blvd. in Eastlake. But moments after he made that announcement and audience members began heading for the front door, School Board members assembled behind the superintendent leaned toward him and began whispering the word “ribbon” and gesturing with scissor-cutting motions.

Then it hit Thompson. “Oh, we actually have to cut the ribbon, don’t we?” Thompson said with a chuckle. “That’s the reason we’re here, right?”

Perhaps Thompson’s oversight was understandable, being that he had plenty of people to thank and details to remember for ribbon-cutting ceremonies on Sept. 14 at three new Willoughby-Eastlake schools.

In addition to the event at Longfellow, the district held celebrations to mark the openings of new buildings at North High School in Eastlake and South High School in Willoughby. Voters in Willoughby-Eastlake School District approved a bond issue in 2015 that generated

funding to construct all three new schools.

The new Longfellow Elementary replaced a school with an identical name on the same Stevens Boulevard property. While the original Longfellow Elementary opened in 1928, the newest incarnation of the school held its first day of classes on Aug. 15.

At the Sept. 14 ribboncutting ceremony, Thompson predicted that people

touring the building for the first time would be impressed with what they saw.

“While I believe you will find Longfellow Elementary to be stunning, the real beauty lies in the architecture,” Thompson said. “Longfellow is designed to foster meaningful student and staff engagement, cutting-edge 21st century learning, team teaching and an environment where kids want to come

to school.”

The new school is set up so grade levels are grouped together in “pods,” and classrooms have garage doors that raise and lead to an open, collaboratively learning area that’s equipped with tables and chairs.

“Kids (who are in same grades with different teachers) get to interact a lot more with each other and do projects together,” said

Patricia Lapuh, a first-grade teacher at Longfellow. “It’s working out really well.”

Longfellow Principal Megan Watson said it’s been “smooth sailing” so far in the new building, which is attended by about 465 students in kindergarten through fifth grade. Willoughby-Eastlake School Board President Margaret Warner said the ribbon cutting wouldn’t have been complete without

recognizing the hard work and dedicated staff at Longfellow Elementary.

“The school is wonderful, but without an excellent staff to go in it, nothing will happen,” she said.

BILL DEBUS — THE NEWS-HERALD Megan Watson, principal of Longfellow Elementary School (center, facing camera) holds a door open for people entering the Eastlake school to take tours following a Sept. 14 ribbon-cutting ceremony. A new Longfellow Elementary building was constructed and opened at the start of the 2018-19 academic year, replacing a 90-year old school on the same Stevens Boulevard property.