Duluth school plans to take learning outside with its Forest School

DULUTH — Marshall School is taking advantage of its 40 acres of woodland-, stream- and trail-rich property with a nature-based school for kids age 4 through fourth grade next fall.

The longtime private school in the center of the city added grade four to its fifth- through 12th-grade offerings a decade ago but has never taught younger students. Jamie Steckart became head of the school in July and immediately started talking about the idea, which he said had been in the "ether" for a while.

Prekindergarten through fourth grade will be offered at the Forest School in the fall, and about 40% of the school day is expected to be spent outside.

"This area is hungry for this kind of programming," Steckart said. "Outdoors and Duluth go together like peanut butter and jelly."

Marshall School was built for 1,000 students and can easily handle several new grade levels with its current enrollment of 365. The only investments necessary to make room for the new school include some classroom modifications for younger children.

Instruction has stayed on campus throughout the COVID-19 pandemic because of the vastness of the building.

Marshall expects about 60 new students to enroll at the start. With equity in mind, the school is cutting its tuition in half for the K-4 portion of the Forest School, charging $9,743. Beyond that, Marshall ties the cost of attendance to household income, making it more affordable to more families, Steckart said.

Dave Gunnarson, president of Marshall's board of trustees, said the board is "committed" to making nature-based programming accessible.

Matt Whittaker, principal of the Forest School who has both taught and been an administrator at Marshall, knows firsthand the demand for nature-based learning. His wife owns Wind Ridge Schoolhouse, a nature-based preschool in Duluth.

That school and others like it have waiting lists, he said, and families want that type of learning to extend beyond preschool.

"The amount of trails the COGGS [Cyclists of Gitchee Gumee Shores] team has been building and the access to so many different parts of green space in the city is something families are valuing," Whittaker said. "They are showing that by enrolling in these preschools."

School officials tout the critical thinking skills and social, emotional and learning benefits of an outdoor educational setting, but also the context it can give students about the health of the planet.

Kids will learn in multi-grade groups — pre-K through first grade and second through fourth grades — with instruction tailored to their ages. Steckart, who spent years abroad as head of a traveling boarding school and has a home in Cornucopia, Wis., has long been drawn to Lake Superior. Living overseas he realized the scarcity of water resources and the effects of climate change on the economy, he said.

"We need children to learn they have to be part of the solution," Steckart said.

Scott Kylander-Johnson was teaching sixth-graders how to press apples for cider outside Marshall on Thursday. It's an example of things teachers already do to bring learning outdoors, along with tapping trees for syrup and testing water in streams, he said.