Broad Street Elementary School will reopen in a few weeks after a six-year hiatus, and its new principal, Vanessa Boyd, likes ships.

Ships, as in relationships, partnerships, fellowship and friendship, are some favorites of Boyd, who has many positive ideas to educate students and make Broad Street an anchor of the community.

Boyd, a native of Trinidad who attended high school in Philadelphia and college in New York City, most recently worked as community services manager at Pittsburgh Public Schools.

She is a beacon of energy and positivity whose plan is to connect with Broad Street families to make learning a priority for Broad Street students.

“The school is in the Butler Area School District, but the community plays a very integral role regarding what we're doing in this building,” Boyd said. She explained that students can be enriched by the community through nutrition, parenting, counseling, day care, early childhood education, fun activities, a parent-teacher organization, community resources and more.

“We want to remove any barriers to classroom instruction,” Boyd said. “We would like to utilize resources of the city of Butler to effectively support our families and our school.”

Talk to families

She plans to determine what Broad Street families need by asking all parents and guardians to fill out a survey and by talking to families and neighbors.

“We have knocked on doors, gone to homes and will visit bus stops,” Boyd said of her mission to learn what students need. “We're not going to assume everyone needs the same thing. We're treating every family as individual.”

Boyd expects about 150 students in kindergarten through fourth grade to arrive at school on Aug. 26.

For the six years the school stood empty, children in the neighborhood attended Emily Brittain, Center Township and Northwest elementary schools, she said.

Boyd said she and her staff and faculty plan to establish relationships with those 150 “scholars,” as she calls the students, to discover their interests and desires, so they can be incorporated into the school day.

“You build up a trust, and once you have trust, it is easier to take care of the education piece,” Boyd said.

She said in addition to teachers, the custodians, secretaries and nurses working at the school will work to build relationships with the students.

“We will have a joyous atmosphere,” Boyd vows.

Another goal is to encourage students to connect their current grade to the process that leads to graduation and the penultimate walk across the high school stage to receive their diplomas.

To do that, Boyd plans to hang senior caps and gowns at Broad Street Elementary.

“Dropping out is not an option for a Broad Street Elementary scholar,” Boyd says with deadly seriousness.

Innovative ideas

She worked with Brian White, Butler Area superintendent, and a team of educators to develop the fresh, innovative ideas to be used at Broad Street.

“I'm really thrilled with Vanessa Boyd's leadership as the new principal,” White said. “She has been engaging parents, students and community organizations, and I just think she brings a vibrancy to the school. It's going to be wonderful to see how it grows.”

He appreciates Boyd's focus on developing relationships with parents and community organizations to best serve her students.

White looks forward to those resources being extended to the students who need them.

“I'm really excited about Broad Street reopening,” he said.

Boyd said she will keep track of her scholars and will not ignore it when one is absent.

“We need to know where they are and what we can do to get them in the building,” she said.

In the community-based education model, Boyd said teachers will engage in project-based learning; science, technology, engineering, art and math; urban agriculture; and especially fun and acceptance at school.

“They are amazing and they want to be here,” Boyd said of the nine classroom teachers at Broad Street. “They are the foundation right now, and they are poised and ready to go.”

Parents to feel welcome

Boyd also wants all parents to feel welcome at the school building and a part of the school community.

She hopes to achieve that through parents walking their students to and from school and getting to know one another and the school staff.

Boyd said the school's retired teacher and principal volunteered to sort and shelve the dozens of boxes of books that were donated to the empty library or purchased through donations by community organizations.

“That is the Broad Street model right there: the community working together for the scholars to win,” Boyd said.

Many volunteers also helped renovate the playground and add a sensory garden, stenciling, picnic tables and a “gaga pit,” where students cooperate to bump a ball back and forth to one another without allowing it to hit the pit's wall.

Tom Bowser of Fishbone Ministries in Butler is one of many community group leaders who collaborated with Boyd to prepare Broad Street Elementary for the upcoming school year.

Bowser said teams from Fishbone Ministries in Michigan came to Butler to work on the Century Garden at the school, build picnic tables and perform other tasks.

Backpack giveaway

Before school starts, Fishbone Ministries also will hold a backpack giveaway for students and their families.

Bowser is also trying to get iPads for the students to use for academics.

“Having met Principal Vanessa and hearing her share her passion and vision for Broad Street, it just really got me excited,” Bowser said. “She has a passion for the students and the community as well, so we really felt that we wanted to partner with her.”

He believes that Boyd's ideas match his vision of children in Butler growing up with a strong education and confidence, so they can in turn help other children as adults. “Vanessa is all about serving the community as well,” Bowser said. “I believe that school is going to be a catalyst for change in the West End.”

Linda Peifer retired two years ago as an elementary principal in the Butler Area district.

She served 18 of those years at Broad Street, and believes that Boyd has the right idea for the students.

“She brings a lot to the table,” Peifer said. “She's enthusiastic, energetic and interested in getting the community put back together around that building.”

Peifer spent time talking to Boyd, and believes she will do her best to create a school building and atmosphere the neighborhood can take pride in.

“She just seems to have the right personality for Broad Street,” she said.