MANSFIELD — Springmill Elementary School’s STEM designation was renewed by the Ohio Department of Education and Workforce’s STEM Committee in mid 2025.
Building Principal Cara Will wants to take the school’s designation even further, a proposal that didn’t sit well with six of her staff members who spoke after her Tuesday night at a Mansfield Board of Education meeting.
Her proposal is to expand the STEM school into seventh and eighth grades, and eventually all the way to 12th grade.
STEM is an acronym for science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, representing a curriculum and career focus aimed at fostering innovation and technical skills.
It emphasizes fields like computing, engineering, and the sciences, often with a focus on preparing students for future job markets.
Will said enrollment at Springmill Elementary is at 222 students and is projected to increase to 257 next school year.
Mansfield’s Spanish Immersion School is already designated K-8th grade, and Will wants the STEM Academy to catch up.
She proposed implementing STEM school in seventh grade to start, beginning in the 2026-27, school year, and eventually adding eighth grade.
“There really is no STEM pathway from there [in middle school] to the CTE programs at the Mansfield Senior High School,” Will said. “There are some courses that they can take and there are some CTE programs that are pushing down into the middle school, but there’s no clear pathway that’s aligned with the STEM program that we do.”
But her presentation to the school board on Tuesday evening largely focused on the challenges implementing a seventh- and eighth-grade program would present.
They include building modifications, transportation struggles, scheduling conflicts and the state requirements for a middle-school program, which are different from elementary schools.
Will said the building would need two to three more classrooms to accommodate another grade level, and would have to incorporate a second kindergarten class with expected enrollment increases.
She said the two science galleries would be lost to make room for those classes.
Other modifications would include making larger toilets and drinking fountains to accommodate older students, as well as purchasing larger furniture.
Transportation challenges would arise from students coming to the STEM school from the middle school, or potentially the high school, if middle-school students are taking advanced classes.
As for scheduling issues, the school would need to expand lunch time to accommodate an increased traffic flow and more requirements of kitchen staff.
Specials classes would also need adjusting, with the staff in the building from 8:20 to 11:30 a.m. before heading to the Spanish Immersion School.
“That is just barely squeaking out enough time at our school to cover our specials and their specials. So another hurdle we have to overcome is trying to figure out how to cover all the classes in both buildings with that staff,” Will said.
The middle school STEM requirements are also more “stringent,” Will said, with a heavy focus on career awareness and readiness through mentorships and internships.
Seventh-grade STEM also requires at least one computer science course. The school does not currently have a licensed teacher able to teach that course.
“They have a lot more expectations on the kind of projects that the kids are doing, the things that they’re doing with technology. We don’t have access to that right now,” Will said.
The designation process alone is a hurdle, requiring resupplying evidence of meeting the requirements, which the school just did for other grade levels.
“Another big thing is onboarding this new staff, because there is a huge increase in requirements there,” Will said.
Will recognizes the challenges expanding the program would create, but she sees it as a long-term benefit to the students by creating a STEM pathway from kindergarten to eventually high school.
Teachers say the problems outweigh the benefits
The pictured people above, in order, are: custodial head Jennifer Vanderpool, teacher Cindy Rice, teacher Emily Woodmansee, teacher Hallie Cramer, intervention specialist Jade Harner and paraprofessional Shannon Oakley.
Not everyone agreed with Will.
In fact, when school board member Leslie Ward asked Will if her school staff was on board with this plan, several members of the crowded boardroom murmured “no.”
During public comment, six women, all teachers or staff at Springmill STEM Elementary, shared why they think the plan is a bad idea.
Shannon Oakley, a paraprofessional at Springmill, said she was told the addition of seventh grade is to prevent the district from losing students in the transition to middle school.
Oakley said a recent survey of 24 of the sixth grade parents found 88% of parents planned to send their students to Mansfield Middle School next year, with the other 12% being three students attending other schools.
She said the additional designation is not worth the staffing requirements and financial burden the expansion would cause.
“If the only reason we are going to add seventh grade to our building is based on losing students from the district, then the real reason for losing students is not even being addressed,” Oakley said.
“And that reason is the middle school. Why are we not investing directly and strengthening the middle school experience?
“Does it make sense for the district to potentially hire multiple teachers and restructure an elementary building for approximately 20 students when those same funds could strengthen programming at the middle school for hundreds of students?”
Springmill Intervention Specialist Jade Harner said her students are nervous for the transition to middle school, but the necessary change promotes growth and development.
But allowing for a class at the elementary school during seventh grade could hinder important milestones, Harner said.
Harner also said 19 of 24 surveyed students are interested in participating in sports at the middle school, and the transportation conflicts could prevent students from participating.
“Our students want to experience middle school, and they have the potential to be successful there,” Harner said. “They do not need their growth to be stunted by staying in the same building with limited support and even more limited opportunities.”
Springmill teacher Melissa Vogt echoed Harner’s words with tears in her eyes. She said 18 of the students surveyed also shared their reasons for wanting to go to the middle school, which include wanting to be somewhere new, wanting to play sports and wanting to meet new people.
“[Middle schoolers] are at a very different stage physically, socially and emotionally. They benefit from increased independence, exposure to larger peer groups, access to extracurriculars, new teachers, the chance to discover new interests as well as better preparation for high school,” Vogt said.
Springmill kindergarten teacher Cindy Rice said the school is not ready to add another grade level when there is still room to grow and improve in the existing grades.
“What is already in place and getting stronger needs to be fully supported before more grade levels should even be considered being added. Hard work has been put into receiving STEM designation; hard work that needed polished, and improved to get us there.”
Cindy Rice
“What is already in place and getting stronger needs to be fully supported before more grade levels should even be considered being added. Hard work has been put into receiving STEM designation; hard work that needed polished, and improved to get us there,” she said.
Teacher Emily Woodmansee said the planning of the expansion was rushed and not data-driven, asking why the expansion needs to take place over the next five months.
“This isn’t building positive relations with students or staff. Pushing this change before we are ready is setting Springmill STEM up to fail,” she said.
Head custodian Jennifer Vanderpool said she feels “pressure” just thinking about the reconfiguration, which requires her to fit in more freezers and furniture when the building is already at capacity.
“The amount of work it will take, not only hard work, but financial work, I don’t see how we can actually make our building bigger,” Vanderpool said.
Third-grade teacher Hallie Cramer suggested the STEM expansion is not the best enhancement to middle school education, but rather more fine arts, extracurricular, and social activities.
“My concern is not about growth, but about ensuring that any expansion truly benefits our students and provides them with equitable opportunities,” she said.
Other business
- The board approved updated language in the district’s due process policy, allowing for 10 days of appeal time for a suspension and 14 days of appeal time for an expulsion.
- The board approved reducing the payment amount in a contract between the district and Gary George through Richland County’s Board of Developmental Disabilities. The payment was reduced from $10,000 to $2,600 as a result of budget cuts.
- The board approved the purchase of a new maintenance truck, which will replace one of the three vehicles, all of which are older than 20 years. Superintendent Stan Jefferson said the purchase was necessary because maintenance on the existing vehicles is costly. Board member Leslie Ward voted against the plan.
- The board reapproved the district’s contract with North Central Ohio Educational Service Center, which went down by $15,000, Treasurer Tammy Hamilla said.