Capitol News

The Lansing Public Schools Board of Education heard a presentation from Superintendent Ben Shuldiner at their May 4 meeting, which included information about programs and events going on at the school and ended in the vote to adopt J-Dubbs Bulldog at Sexton High School.

The former mascot at Sexton High School was the “Big Reds,” which is a derogatory term relating to the Native American Community. Like many schools around the nation, the former mascot was switched over to a mascot without negative connotations and being offensive. There was also a video shown at the movie to promote the change.

“As we all know, we've spent a lot of time, a lot of meetings, a lot of conversations, recognizing and understanding the past that was Lansing and the future that is to become Lansing,” said Shuldiner. “And I think an incredibly symbolic and incredibly important moment was when this board, this community, moved forward with leaving a moniker that had inordinately negative connotations behind and been able to create something really special and really new for this community.”

Shuldiner is in his second year as superintendent, and he said that one of the major things he has noticed and loved is the diversity of the school community.

“What I've been just so amazed by is how diverse Lansing is,” Shuldiner said. “But in so many different variations of that word, not only are we talking about race and creed and ethnicity and religion, but we're talking about languages and we're talking about spaces and we're talking about programs. You know, I would posit that in a district of our size, about 10,000 kids in a city of about 115,000-125,000, nobody around the country has this kind of diversity."

Shuldiner spoke about expanding programs and other opportunities to meet the wide range of needs and interests of the student body and community as a whole. He applauded the expanded outdoor education center and what is a growing athletic and academic tutoring program that he has discussed in the past.

He also addressed the issue of transportation in the district, which has been a major struggle over the past several years. This was exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. The district has been finding ways to improve school attendance and access for students, while encouraging multiple methods of transportation or working with families to find a good way to get students to school every day. The district has created after school programs and transportation to help with the issue and allow the children to be able to get involved in extracurricular activities.

Shuldiner said attendance numbers are up and the total district has 2,874 children with gas cards, 743 children with CATA cards and 3,174 children on busses with 154 on a wait list.