**During a math lesson on breaking down large numbers, Grayson Howell, left, jumped up with teacher Kandice Childs' encouragement, to ‘break it down’ with his dance moves.** Photo by Azhae’la Hanson

By Azhae’la Hanson, Reporter

Now that JJ Legacy has settled into its new location, the school is determined to continue its pursuit of providing an education rich in resilience, justice, and self-love.

In July, the Montessori school was forced to move to their new location after a rental dispute with their landlord, Our Lady of Victory Catholic Church on Fremont Avenue North. A children's march ensued to demand accountability from the church, which school leaders said failed to fix maintenance problems that shut down entire classrooms and posed potential health issues with exposed asbestos. Immediately following the march, the school scrambled to find a new location.

Two weeks before the year started, they secured space at Family Baptist Church, 2201 Girard Ave. N.

“The night of the open house was chaotic, but we made it happen,” Angie Deleon, director of Enrichment and Engagement, said. “We told the teachers if we made it this long you can pick up some boxes.”

**Para-interventionist Marlisha Newell, greets a group of kindergartners as they exit the lunchroom.** Photo by Azhae’la Hanson

Staff say the move has been an adjustment, but they are settling in and glad to be in a building where they feel welcomed by their landlord. Sharmeen Rhine, Director of Operations served lunch to a group of students. She’s happy to note that there are no troubles so far. “

We have a working cooler,” Rhine laughed. At the previous building, the commercial walk-in cooler went out and was never fixed.

Nyree Ramzy was among the students who attended the children's march in July. She remembers disliking not being able to access rooms at their old location because of the conditions.

As she enters the fifth grade in the new building, she and her friend Jamila have made it a mission to peek their heads in every nook and cranny.

“If you don't [speak up], then people are not gonna know what's wrong, but if you do speak up, then people are gonna hear you,” Nyree said.

**Good friends Nyree Ramzy and Jamila Reed share a laugh as they try to create the perfect heart with their hands to symbolize their friendship.** Photo by Azhae’la Hanson

Speaking up proved to have positive and negative consequences for the school, where some staff feel the school was portrayed more as a payment-refusing tenant than a school that needed better conditions for their students.

“Standing up for what you believe in isn’t easy, but it’s what we do,” said second-grade teacher Kandice Childs.

**Staff at JJ Legacy hang the posters from their children's march in their lobby and on their hallway walls.** Photo By Azhae’la Hanson

JJ’s enrollment also took a hit from the move. School leaders did not have room for its Toddler House and some families, wary of the neighborhood, enrolled their kids elsewhere.

“We could be doing this out of someone's garage,” Childs reassured. “Our work is not gonna change. We can show them (that) wherever we are, it’s home for them and a safe space for them.”

With the challenge of moving behind them and the year underway, the school is hoping to push past the past and showcase a positive narrative.

“If you don't believe what we stand for is real, If you don't believe what we're doing is real, I invite anybody to come and see everyday life here,” Childs said.

During the class's scheduled relaxation time, Childs twists the hair of her student Carvion, who raves about wanting to look like his brother. Carvion smiled when we asked him what he liked about Ms. K [Childs].

“She’s nice,” he smiled and nodded when asked if she gets cool points for twisting his hair.

**Kandice Childs, known as Ms. K, twists her student Carvion Heard’s hair during class relaxation time.** Photo by Azhae’la Hanson

Students in her class answer her call and response which consists of phrases from their favorite music artists. Children point to a Black doll that sits on her desk and say it is beautiful. One flips through the pages of a book and points to the characters that look like him. A loud outburst is met with a soothing reminder.

She responds to “I can’t” with “Not yet”.

And Joy is not mistaken for disruption. It’s those moments when Childs can twist her students' hair, give words of affirmation, and instill confidence in her class, that the true legacy of JJ Montessori School is found.

Before Childs taught at JJ Legacy, she left a public school teaching job and vowed never to return. Thirteen years later, she enrolled her son at JJ Legacy during distance learning and entered the building for the first time in 2021.

She saw the staff photo on the wall and her jaw dropped at the majority of Black teachers staring back at her. She filled out the application to teach at JJ Legacy that night. “I've never seen a school like this. I've never seen teachers like this. I've never seen students being handled like this,” Childs said. “I remember just having this feeling when I left the building like I need to be here.”

She grew up with teachers who didn’t look like her, live like her, or act like her. A lack of cultural understanding that typically exists within the white-populated majority of teachers, and is at the expense of students of color, completely disconnected her from her teachers. She wants to give her students the education experience she didn't have. Of acceptance and understanding.

According to the MN Department of Education, only 5.9% of teachers identify as people of color. Most people of color in school buildings are disciplinary staff.

Fifth- and sixth-grade teacher Olutimilehin Olusanya remembered the first time he met students at the school. When students saw him, they lit up because he wasn’t a disciplinarian, he was the teacher.

In Minnesota, Black men are at an even greater disparity, making up only 0.5% of teachers. At JJ Legacy, 98% of staff including admin and teachers are people of color. He says JJ legacy is not just a place where students can be themselves, but where he can also be unapologetically himself.

“We are allowed to be ourselves as educators and bring in everything we know and experience to help our children,” Olusanya said. “So it's not just ‘ABC’s, it's how to navigate this world as a person of color.”

JJ Legacy School happy in new home