The Lima City Schools today unveiled its newest community engagement initiative, The Spartan Ride – an old school bus transformed into a mini-learning center and community resource.
With the tagline, “Engaging Our Community at Every Stop,” The Spartan Ride will bring learning, resources and much more to families throughout the city.
The bus, decked out in Spartan red and gray, is packed with learning materials, Take and Make kits for children, information about school and community resources, books for students and parents and much more.
The bus is a Wi-Fi Hotspot with computers. This will allow parents to use it to register students for school and to access job applications and other materials for themselves.
The district plans to have The Spartan Ride at school events such as Preschool and Kindergarten Registration in the spring and the Back to School Celebration in August. Residents will sometimes just see it out in the neighborhoods.
“The sky’s the limit for what we can do. And I am certain we will continue to come up with new things to do and places to go,” Superintendent Jill Ackerman said, adding that the bus is just one more way the district is trying to reach families beyond its school buildings.
The Spartan Ride is ready for its first stops. It will be visiting the district’s elementary school buildings next week at the end of the school day. Students and parents, as well as others in the community, are invited to come see the bus and enjoy cookies and hot chocolate.
Below is the schedule
Monday, Feb. 7: 3 to 3:45 p.m. at Independence Elementary School
Tuesday, Feb. 8: 3:15 to 4 p.m. at Heritage Elementary School
Wednesday, Feb. 9: 2:30 to 3:15 at Unity Elementary School
Thursday, Feb. 10: 3 to 3:45 p.m. at Freedom Elementary School
The district hopes to also bring The Spartan Ride to community events. Organizations and others wanting the Spartan Ride to be at an event should contact Beth Jokinen at 419-996-3411 or bjokinen@spartan.limacityschools.org.