‘Homegrown’ former teacher leads Lansing School District

Exactly one year of Jessica Benavides’ career was spent out of the Lansing area.

“I applied to Lansing my very first year out of college, because I had subbed in Lansing during my internship and different things,” she said. “And then I hadn’t heard back, so I applied to other school districts because, of course, I was young and needed a job.”

She got a call back from Lakewood Public Schools and accepted a job teaching middle school science — just a week before the Lansing School District called her back. She finished the year in Lakewood, but when the next year started, she was at Wexford Montessori Academy in Lansing.

That was 28 years ago. She continued to rise through the Lansing ranks, eventually becoming the principal of Sheridan Road STEM Magnet School, a role she loved. Four years ago, she became deputy superintendent.

Now, after former superintendent Ben Shuldiner left at the end of January, she’s leading the school district for the next year as Interim Superintendent Benavides while the district figures out the next steps.

Benavides told City Pulse her focus will be on building a greater sense of community in the district and in Lansing, keeping community partnerships going and making sure students have all the experiences they want and need for life after high school.

“I really want to focus on what a wonderful community this is and how much we care about our students and families, and bringing that unification together to really benefit the entire city is going to be a huge focus of mine,” she said. “We have phenomenal community partners, so I want to make sure that we keep those partnerships going, and if there’s people in the community that want to come and mentor or tutor, we would welcome you to do that.”

Benavides’ roots run deep in Lansing. On a shelf in her office is her grandmother’s diploma from Eastern High School, signed by J. W. Sexton and Dwight Rich, both of whom now have local schools named after them.

Her history with the district has already resonated with many locals, contrasting with to her predecessor, a Harvard graduate who moved to Michigan to accept the job. While she said the district has had a great run over the last five years, with some “phenomenal” things such as establishing universal Pre-K, reducing chronic absenteeism and raising graduation rates and student achievement, she acknowledged that being a Lansing native appealed to residents.

“I think that homegrown is something that resonates with people, because I think we all care about the community we live in,” she said.

Benavides is coming in at a difficult time to run a multicultural district, as fears of immigration enforcement arehaving a chilling effect, especially with Hispanic families, activists told City Pulse last week. Benavides said she understands those fears and knows that outreach to families has been key.

In addition, the district’s special populations department “kind of keep their ears to the ground to make sure they’re supporting families.”

“If we see families not coming to school, we reach out proactively to say, ‘Hey, what’s going on?’ she said. “We try to quell their anxiety around things, and we try to let them know that, really, school is the safest place you could have your child.”

She said Sergio Keck, deputy superintendent of special populations, is “really connected to the community, and we have worked very hard on creating those connections with our families and making sure that they feel safe and supported.”

Asked how she would define her own success at the end of her tenure, Benavides said she wants to see good trends continue, alongside student happiness, “a pride in the Lansing School District that will be palpable in the city.”

How do you measure happiness and pride? Part of it is increased enrollment, she said, with more families choosing to enroll their children in a well-loved district. But part of it is a feeling.

“Having been a principal of a school and having been a teacher,” she said, “when kids are happy and families are happy, there’s a feeling to that.”