Windsor School’s 3 classes enter their final month in the 105-year-old building
By Lisa Zola-DeLibero
As the saying goes, when one door closes, another opens.
Such is the case for three classes of Kindergarteners in Robbinsville. After the winter break, this January, the classes currently held in the 105-year-old Windsor School will be moving over to Sharon Elementary School. The Sharon School building has undergone major renovations and additions over the past two years, including a new gym, major technological advances for the students and room for those three classes that had been in the cozy, checkerboard brick Windsor School.
Although Windsor School’s days of hosting Kindergarten classes for the Robbinsville school district are coming to an end, it will become home to a full-day, tuition-based Kindergarten program for students from districts who do not presently have full time Kindergarten. In particular, Robbinsville hopes to draw students from nearby West Windsor-Plainsboro and Hopewell. The district will offer as many as 66 seats.
In the meantime, Betsy Borsuk has been telling her Kindergarten class that their big move to Sharon will be just fine because the students will have lots of opportunities to meet new friends, and “you can never have too many friends.” Borsuk, who has been teaching Kindergarten for 36 years, said Windsor School fit her class well, especially the closet-sized library that formed a quaint nook for kids to read in and not feel overwhelmed. But, now that the time is here, she’s excited for the move to Sharon. In fact, her students have already spent time at Sharon School, attending assemblies there and even checking out the new playground.
“Transitioning from preschool to the Windsor School has been very smooth for the Kindergarteners,” Borsuk said. “The kids are coming from a small classroom environment to a small school with small classroom numbers of about 18 to 19 per class. It has been wonderful for everyone involved. But we know that the move to Sharon School is going to be wonderful because the kids have already spent time there.”
The two other teachers presently at Windsor School are Donna Sack and Kim Casto, both of whom have been teaching at the school in the village of Windsor for many years. The three teachers are working together to make the transition as smooth as possible for the students and their parents, and they are keeping everything consistent with the Sharon School. Although they will be leaving a school with classrooms consisting of pressed-tin ceilings that are light and airy for their students, they know that the new, bright classrooms and advanced technology will benefit all of their students.
“Everyone is working together,” Borsuk said. “It is a total community effort. The parents have been very supportive and so has everyone in the community. The move to Sharon School will make our strong team of teachers even stronger, with new members.”
Windsor School has been its own little community for more than a century now. Current school custodian Leroy Diefenbach has made students feel at home in the school by decorating it with bird figurines, Star Wars figures, model trains and aircraft, and other things that help tie into what the students were studying. He has also been helpful to all of the students with teaching them the art of tying their shoes to helping with homework.
“Everyone at the Windsor school has had an influence on the kids, including Mr. Leroy, whom the kids love, and who has been wonderful with the students,” Borsuk said. “He and all of the staff have taught the students that we are a community, and we are here to support and help one another. The kids will be taking this and all of the life lessons they have learned here over to Sharon School, where they are very excited about all of the new technology that has been incorporated into the new building.”
Robbinsville school district superintendent Steven Mayer said the three teachers at the Windsor School have created a wonderful atmosphere for the students.
“All three teachers at the Windsor School have been extremely nurturing to the students, and have taught them so much over the years,” Mayer said. “Although to some degree, the teachers at the Windsor school may feel some degree of loss, they are very positive about the future at a wonderful Sharon School.”
There are presently six kindergarten classes at Sharon School. The Windsor School classes will bring the total to nine after the move.
With the holidays here, and so much that needs to be done, some may say that a move like this may add stress to a time that is known to be stressful, especially for parents. But Borsuk said that is not the case here. In fact, for the teachers at Windsor school, the move is an opportunity to reunite with the other kindergarten teachers in their team, and all of the friends at Sharon School.
“We are looking forward to a new adventure, and the kids have a real comfort knowing that we, their teachers, will be with them during the move,” Borsuk said. “These are the things in life that teach us about new experiences. In life, it is great to know that, in everything, there is a silver lining.”
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