WARWICK – The first day of class is always a momentous occasion, but for the Warwick Community School, it marked an important milestone years in the making. 

Students walked the hallways of the Warwick Community School for the first time in three years after residents spent countless hours creating an independent district to re-open their local elementary school, which closed in 2020. 

“There have been a lot of happy tears over the last few days, “ said Carole Learned-Miller, superintendent of the Warwick School District. “This was really a community-led, completely grassroots effort to open the school.”

The school welcomed 30 students in grades kindergarten through sixth to the three classrooms on Thursday. With 14 children in the combined classroom for second and third grade and eight in each of the rooms for kindergarten to first grade and fourth to sixth grade, students were ready to learn.

“I feel like this year we will be building community back,” said Director of Operations Jessica Mashall. “The school will be a place where families feel welcome again.” 

Community members spent the weeks leading up to the opening day getting the school ready by repainting the crosswalk lines, landscaping and cleaning the building. 

“We have been working towards this for so long—seeing kids in the space is pretty heartwarming,” School Principal Jen Smith said. 

The school will follow a project and nature-based curriculum that is individually tailored to the students, teaching a love for nature and a sense of place. Learned-Miller described the curriculum as “deeply engaging.” 

Smith explained the school uses Massachusetts standards anchored in a sense of place to guide the school’s teaching. About a third of the students need special education services, but Learned-Miller hopes those numbers will decrease as students learn with the reading approach that the school uses. Four full-time teachers will carry out this curriculum.

“We have a special set of teachers. I am calling them unicorns because they are magical and bring a passion for nature,” Learned-Miller said. “We were able to find teachers that shared our vision with the school.” 

School cafeteria Chef Gail Beauregard works in the kitchen serving students ‘local and wholesome’ breakfasts and lunches. Beauregard explained the students got yogurt, granola and smoothies for breakfast and tacos for lunch on their first day. 

The school employs two art teachers who specialize in fiber arts and pottery to teach the students a variety of art forms. Learned-Miller said the school hopes to eventually have an artist-in-residency program. They plan to have a muralist be the first artist to come to the school and make a mural on the building with the students.

Learned-Miller explained the students will learn throughout the year how to be respectful citizens and community members through the responsive classroom approach employed by the teachers.

“The student will learn how to behave cooperatively in all the different areas of the school,” she said.

The campus is directly across the street from a state forest, which the teachers plan to use to take students on hikes throughout the school year. Learned-Miller said the faculty likes to think of it as a 25-acre campus. 

“Opening the school is amazing,” Mashall said. “One of the pieces of the roots of the Warwick tree is back and centered again. This is a place for generational connection.” 

Bella Carmela Levavi can be reached at 413-930-4579 or blevavi@recorder.com

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