Outdoor school has room, reason to grow

When the Riveredge Outdoor Learning Elementary School opens its doors next fall, there will be 20 more students taking the jump outside, school officials hope.

Enrollment at the 5K to fifth grade school, known as ROLES, will jump from 88 this year to 108 next fall.

“We’re pretty confident that we’ll have the numbers,” Principal Mike Mullen said. 

The school uses the outdoors as a year-round classroom and has been in high demand, drawing families from 10 different school districts, with some families driving up to 45 minutes to get their kids there, Mullen said.

It is a charter school of the Northern Ozaukee School District, follows the NOSD school calendar and is free to attend. 

The state open enrollment period, during which families can enroll their children in school districts other than the one in which they live, began Monday and ends April 30.

Returning students, their siblings and children of ROLES staff and the school’s governance council are given preference. If more students apply than there are available seats, a lottery will be held on May 6. 

“We’ve had a number of calls already,” Mullen said. “I just got a call from some parents who live in California and are interested in moving to Cedarburg.”

Another family moved from Illinois so their special needs daughter could attend the school.

While inclement weather, such as recent heavy snowfalls, limit traditional school activities, ROLES staff and students see it differently.

“For us, heavy snowfall is an opportunity for learning,” Mullen said. “They’re snowshoeing and skiing and learning about weather changes and activities. The weather is part of our classroom.”

Last week, the entire school learned about the Iditarod dog sled race in Alaska and incorporated it into their curriculum.

Lynn Schanen, who is active in dogsledding and whose husband teaches biology at Ozaukee High School, gave presentations on the sport, and students were given books to read and assigned papers to write.

Students also wrote cards and letters and drew pictures to send to some of the race participants.

The school currently has a combined fourth and fifth grade classroom and those students share a teacher. 

Next year, fifth graders will have their own dedicated space and their own teacher, Mullen said.

That will expand the ROLES full-time staff to 13 — five teachers, five paraprofessionals and three front-office staff.

While school officials previously discussed the possibility of eventually expanding the school through eighth grade, on Monday Mullen said an enrollment of 108 is probably tops for the school, which utilizes the 379 acres of the Riveredge Nature Center north of Newburg and in the Town of Saukville.

“That’s really capacity. We’re really sensitive to how many students we’re comfortable having here on campus,” Mullen said.

For younger children, Riveredge Nature Center also operates a 4K program in association with the Kettle Moraine YMCA and the West Bend School District. 

Enrollment for that program, which employs the same outdoor-based learning approach as ROLES, begins on Monday, Feb. 8.

Virtual information sessions are planned for both programs at 6:30 p.m. on Feb. 22, March 18 and April 20. 

For more information, visit theriveredgeschool.org/enroll and www.riveredgenaturecenter.org/nature-based-4k.