“This is the only place I ever wanted her to go to school,” said Ribianszky, who just finished a doctorate in history at MSU.

Of the roughly 250 students enrolled at Red Cedar, the children come from 49 countries and speak 46 different languages. Flags from dozens of countries drape the walls, and the lunch menu is printed in pictures to overcome the dozens of language barriers.

Teachers continuously cope with classes where many children speak little or no English, attaching vocabulary words to images so the students can understand at least pieces of each lesson.

Located just off Harrison Road near a remote southwest corner of the MSU campus — far from the day-to-day bustle of the dorms, accompanied only by the occasional rumble from a nearby set of train tracks — Red Cedar has ties that run deep with the student body here.

But as the university and East Lansing Public Schools, or ELPS, change with time and monetary tides, the long-term future of the school is growing increasingly uncertain — shaping a murky future for the hundreds of current and future student parents who rely on the school’s proximity and diversity.

An unclear future
The East Lansing Public Schools K-8 Citizens Facilities Committee completed their final report on May 9, after more than six months of studying the infrastructure of all the buildings in the district.

The committee was tasked with proposing new, more cost-efficient building configurations as the district faces monetary constraints.

The board likely will make a final decision on the fate of the schools around Labor Day, School Board President Rima Addiego said.

Two of the three final proposals involved closing two elementary schools, and some parents fear that Red Cedar will be on the chopping block.

At the school board and city council’s joint discussion of the facilities review in May, MSU Director of Community Relations Ginny Haas asked the school board to spare Red Cedar. She said many MSU students with children rely on the school, especially international students who do not have cars to drive their children.

“They do walk to school; their parents can’t drive them,” she said.

Jean Bronson, who has been working part-time on a horticulture degree since 2005, said she repeatedly wrote letters to Superintendent David Chapin and rallied others for letter-writing campaigns as well. She also made a Facebook group called Save Red Cedar Elementary.

“Even though my children are graduating from Red Cedar, I was really upset when I heard (the school could be closed) last year for the first time,” she said. “There were a lot of people that were upset.”

Still, Bronson said she found it hard to organize efforts, as many parents are busy going to school and working other jobs.

Ribianszky said she felt Red Cedar was at a disadvantage because of this factor.

“I feel like a lot of the outrage and sense of urgency died down because Superintendent Chapin keeps emphasizing that nothing is going to happen, we haven’t made any decision,” she said. “But I can’t get it out of the back of my mind that Red Cedar is still in jeopardy of being closed.”

The final decision as to what action the district will take ultimately comes down to the school board as a whole.

A melting pot
About 150 children live in Spartan Village alone, Haas told the school board at a joint meeting with the city council in May.

Two hundred fifty-five students attended the last week of school, though that number fluctuates more than normal schools throughout the years as children arrive from and return to their respective countries, said Joan Boylan, who teaches English to non-English speaking students.

Though there is no concrete percentage, the vast majority of parents are tied to the university in some way, whether they are students or visiting scholars working on advanced degrees, Boylan said.

Yu Zhen, whose husband is a visiting scholar at MSU, said Red Cedar has helped her third-grade daughter Lily since their family moved to Spartan Village from China about six weeks ago.

“The teachers here are very kind,” she said, noting her daughter did not receive as much hands-on help in China.

Also, she said, the international qualities of the school are a beneficial element.

“I think that’s important to open her mind, and let her get along with others,” Zhen said.

In addition, there are long lines for school of choice, Boyland said, as parents from other parts of East Lansing want their children to experience the international dynamic.

Elizabeth Marazita, a 1984 MSU alumna and co-owner of Wanderer’s Teahouse, sent her daughter Sophie to Red Cedar after she spent the first years of her life in Switzerland.

“You can’t be more international than living close to Michigan State, and Red Cedar is a very international school,” Marazita said. “It helps her with tolerance, diversity (and) respect for international relations.”

Each morning before class, the students crowd into the gym for morning celebration, a ritual where they hear a different country’s national anthem while two students hold that country’s flag.
The students had a familiar country for their last day of school on Friday: the United States.

But as the Red Cedar’s doors shut for the year, many parents continue to worry that they may remain that way permanently in the near future.

A pending decision
Nichole Keway, a graduate student in the English department and member of the Little Traverse Bay Bands of the Odawa group of American Indians, said the possibility of closure still is a source for apprehension among parents in the Red Cedar community.

But members of the K-8 Citizens Facilities Committee emphasize that the possibility of closures still are up in the air.

Julie Bungard, the Red Cedar liaison to the commission, said the status of Red Cedar, along with the other schools, is uncertain, but not any more than other elementary schools in the district.

“To be frankly honest nobody knows,” she said. “There may be grounds for concern, but there’s no decision that’s been made.”

Bungard said based on internal talks within the committee, she was “very positive” that Red Cedar would not be closed.

But Addiego emphasized that the board is not limited to the committee’s recommendation, and that no formal action has been taken in regard to any of the buildings. She said it would be impossible to say which schools, if any, would be closed.

“Everyone is concerned about the school in their community,” Addiego said. “There are going to be unhappy people if we close schools.”

Cherry Lane and Faculty Bricks apartments are slated for demolition in July, after being vacated earlier this month. Haas said at the joint school board and city council meeting the Spartan Village apartments are slated for demolition around 2017, which would cut off another large supplier of Red Cedar students.

“I feel like this is the last bastion or international families,” Ribianszky said. “I just think it would be a terrible loss.”