WARWICK — The first day of school is always a momentous occasion, but for Warwick Community School, Thursday marked an important milestone years in the making.

Students walked the hallways of Warwick Community School for the first time since 2020 on Thursday, with residents having spent countless hours to form an independent district to reopen their elementary school.

“There have been a lot of happy tears over the last few days, ” said Carole Learned-Miller, superintendent of the Warwick School District. “This was really a community-led, completely grassroots effort to open the school.”

Amid declining enrollment and increasing costs, the Pioneer Valley Regional School District School Committee — of which Warwick was formerly a member — voted in January 2020 in favor of recommending that state Commissioner of Elementary and Secondary Education Jeffrey Riley close Warwick’s elementary school, a decision that Riley upheld in May. Since then, Warwick has withdrawn from the Pioneer school district and formed its own Warwick School District to educate elementary-age students. Students in grades seven through 12 can attend Pioneer through a tuition agreement.

Warwick Community School welcomed 30 students in kindergarten through sixth grade to three classrooms on Thursday. With 14 children in the combined classroom for second and third grade and eight in each of the rooms for kindergarten to first grade and fourth to sixth grade, students were ready to learn.

“I feel like this year we will be building community back,” said Director of Operations Jessica Marshall. “The school will be a place where families feel welcome again.”

Community members spent the weeks leading up to opening day getting the school ready by repainting the crosswalks, landscaping and cleaning the building.

“We have been working toward this for so long,” said Principal Jen Smith. “Seeing kids in the space is pretty heartwarming.”

The school will follow a project and nature-based curriculum that is individually tailored to the students, teaching a love for nature and a sense of place. Learned-Miller described the curriculum as “deeply engaging.”

Smith explained the school uses Massachusetts standards anchored in a sense of place to guide its teachings. About one-third of the students need special education services, but Learned-Miller hopes those numbers will decrease as students learn using the reading approach that the school uses. Four full-time teachers will carry out this curriculum.

“We have a special set of teachers. I am calling them unicorns because they are magical and bring a passion for nature,” Learned-Miller said. “We were able to find teachers that shared our vision with the school.”

Chef Gail Beauregard works in the kitchen serving students “local and wholesome” breakfasts and lunches. Beauregard said the kids got yogurt, granola and smoothies for breakfast and tacos for lunch on their first day.

The school also employs two art teachers who specialize in fiber arts and pottery to teach the students a variety of artistic mediums. Learned-Miller said the school hopes to eventually have an artist-in-residency program. They plan to have a muralist be the first artist to come to the school and make a mural on the building with the students.

Learned-Miller explained the students will learn throughout the year how to be respectful citizens and community members through the responsive classroom approach used by the teachers.

“The students will learn how to behave cooperatively in all the different areas of the school,” she said.

The campus is directly across the street from a state forest, which the teachers plan to use to take students on hikes. Learned-Miller said the faculty likes to think of it as a 25-acre campus.

“Opening the school is amazing,” Marshall said. “One of the pieces of the roots of the Warwick tree is back and centered again. This is a place for generational connection.”

Bella Levavi can be reached at 413-930-4579 or blevavi@recorder.com.