SAGINAW, MI — Rachel Reid can’t wait until she can shed a little more light — in some cases, literally — on Saginaw Arts and Science Academy’s successes.
Since classes first went into session there nearly a quarter-century ago, SASA has educated sixth-through-12th grade students inside a repurposed Montgomery Ward department store built in the 1950s near downtown Saginaw.
Reid, SASA’s sixth-year principal, walks proudly through the campus that — despite window-less classrooms, limited space and aging walls — holds up academically as one of the region’s most esteemed academic institutions.
Pupils several counties removed from Saginaw enroll at SASA to study fine arts- and science-based programs. Classes there provide them more time daily to concentrate on a selected subject of interest — theatre, robotics, dance and math are among the popular picks — than most students elsewhere, Reid said. This semester, teenagers as far as Au Gres — 60 miles away — travel for an education at SASA.
“We have the only programming in the area where you can get two-and-a-half-hours a day focused in one area of study,” Reid said. “Our students are very academically focused, and we strive to push students to that next academic level.”
But, by this time next year, it is SASA as a whole that will advance to another academic level, school leaders said.
Plans for fall 2024 to move the school’s operations across town — to the facility that has hosted Arthur Hill High School for generations — means SASA will about double its square footage compared to its current site, Reid said.
Ongoing renovations planned at the school’s future home mean an institution already excelling academically will expand its capabilities further, Reid said. And, yes, it means SASA classrooms finally will have windows.
Report card
The sunny outlook adds light to an institution that regularly receives the spotlight from education industry insiders.
The latest rave review: SASA was rated high above its mid-Michigan high school peers in mid-Michigan, according to the U.S. News & World Report’s 2023 “Best High Schools” report.
Ranked No. 18 in Michigan, SASA’s next-closest competition on the list were Midland-based H.H. Dow High School and Frankenmuth High School at No. 43 and 44, respectively. No other regional institution landed in the state’s top 125.
“SASA, for so long, has been the premier academic program in this region, and it’s done that consistently for years,” said Ramont Roberts, superintendent of Saginaw Public Schools. “What’s amazing is that (SASA) has been able to do that in a facility that has not been on par with its academic achievement.”
History lesson
The plan to relocate SASA was part of the $100 million school bond Saginaw County voters approved in November 2020. The initiative involved shuffling the operations of several schools between existing buildings and constructing two new facilities, including one tied closely to SASA.
The site where SASA resides today previously housed Daniels Lifelong Learning Center and SASA’s institutional predecessor, known as the Center for the Arts and Sciences.
Saginaw Public Schools leaders created SASA in 1999, offering a full day of instruction there for students who — during the Center for the Arts and Sciences years, from 1981-99 — spent half the school day attending classes at either Saginaw High or Arthur Hill High schools while spending the other half day at the arts- and sciences-focused school.
That turn-of-the-century shift represented the last most significant shakeup of the institution known now as SASA which — like its CAS predecessor — offers classes for the region’s “gifted” and academically talented pupils. Students earn admission there in part via aptitude tests.
SASA’s status puts it in the same category as Handley Elementary School, which educates the district’s “gifted” students in grades K-5.
SASA’s move to the Arthur Hill High building next fall will add to its commonalities with the elementary school.
Handley Elementary last week opened its new building, a 60,000-square-foot facility built on what was essentially the backyard of Arthur Hill High, located at 3115 Mackinaw. The facilities are within about 300 yards of each other.
District leaders said part of the strategy behind moving SASA next door to Handley Elementary was to create a “gifted campus.” Officials said the neighboring schools’ proximity will allow for cross-facilities activity, shared resources and a more seamless transition for Handley Elementary students who plan eventually to graduate to the school literally next door.
Old building, new banner
The transition at Arthur Hill High’s campus already has begun, even as the last class of the 119-year-old school attends classes inside the building.
Construction crews are in the process of replacing the school’s pothole-ridden parking lot. New windows recently were installed. Plans to remodel other corners of the 60,000-square-foot building’s innards are in various stages of progress.
When SASA students attend the first classes there in fall 2024, they will swim in a pool that’s remained closed for years; study in a first-floor wing dedicated exclusively to STEM (science, technology, engineering and math); rehearse in a dance studio built on the second floor; assemble for theatrical and musical productions in a remodeled auditorium; and exercise in a weight room renovated as a fitness center.
SASA students also will inherit other Arthur Hill High athletics amenities, including a track and field site, soccer and baseball fields, basketball courts and a football stadium that hosted two Lumberjacks state championship teams.
With the exception of SASA basketball and volleyball teams, students enrolled there now compete in co-op arrangements on Arthur Hill High and Saginaw High sports teams.
“We will be going back to standalone teams at (the new building),” Reid said.
Passersby will notice some of the cosmetic changes to the Arthur Hill High building by next fall. The Mackinaw entrance for generations has featured the marble statue of a lumberjack meant to symbolize Arthur Hill, the 19th-century Saginaw lumber baron and namesake for the school.
Illustrated plans show the entrance next fall instead will include a tall, golden-plated sculpture that includes the acronym “SASA,” spelled out in stacked lettering.
A changing world
The move to the new facility also will coincide with an anticipated fine-tuning of SASA’s academic approach, Reid said.
By next fall, the principal said she expects SASA will receive “International Baccalaureate World School” designation from the same Switzerland-based organization that announced Handley Elementary as a designee in 2010.
Earning the status involves changing the curriculum to prepare students as global citizens and to challenge them to think beyond their place as residents of Saginaw or Michigan or the United States, Reid said.
“We’re always evolving,” the principal said.
So, what will happen to SASA’s current building after its students exit next year?
Construction crews will demolish much of the nearly 80-year-old building, officials said.
A few spaces will remain intact for the students who next fall will attend the new, neighboring facility being built to replace Arthur Hill High and Saginaw High Schools. The preserved SASA spaces will include the newest corners of the aging building, including an auditorium, a gymnasium and an atrium that features a rare sight in the old facility: Windows.
“The students are very excited about the move,” Reid said. “They’re excited to be in a facility that is a comprehensive high school and a comprehensive middle school. Probably, if you ask them, though, they’re most excited that they’re going to have windows.”
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