GBAPS prepares to welcome students to new Starr Elementary

GREEN BAY – Just in time for the 2026-27 school year to begin, work is nearly complete at the newest building in the Green Bay Area Public School (GBAPS) District, Starr Elementary.

“School construction is difficult,” said GBAPS Chief Operating Officer Cale Pulczinski. “It’s very high-paced with a very quick schedule and quick turnaround. You need good partners and we have that in Somerville and Nexus Solutions. They helped step-by-step with our staff to make sure we can get in here on time… It was a push to get everything ready, but everyone’s excited and looking forward to the first day of school.”

Located at the former site of Kennedy Elementary, Starr Elementary will welcome more than 500 students in grades K-5 from the recently closed Kennedy, Keller and MacArthur elementary schools.

“We’re really bringing in three communities to this one school…” Pulczinski said. “From an efficiency standpoint, for a district with declining enrollment this is really important for our community and our taxpayers to just be more efficient with our facilities and put students in a building that fits them… From a staffing standpoint, we’re bringing those resources into one location rather than having to outfit three buildings — that goes from facility staff to teaching staff to administrative staff. And then from the physical plant, we have just one building with less square footage [than the previous three buildings] and more efficient square footage with our geothermal and our photovoltaics (solar).”

The new building was built with efficiency and practicality in mind, featuring a one-story layout ensuring easy accessibility for all and with individual grade levels separated out into pods, each with their own locker area, breakout spaces, mindfulness room, storage and bathrooms. For security, each pod can also be closed off/locked down and has its own exit from the building.

In addition to the typical school fixtures — playground, gymnasium, cafeteria, library, art and music rooms — the building also features a dedicated maker space, outdoor classroom and the Bart and Cherry Starr Community Room with a dedicated entrance and restrooms for community access during the school day.

“It can be a classroom, it could be additional gym space or a community space for all kinds of things that can happen during the school day and outside of the school day,” Pulczinski said.