With the hiring of K-6 music education teacher Lacee Johnson, Cleveland elementary students will once again have a formal music program starting this fall.
It will be the first time in two decades.
“We are excited to have hired Mrs. Johnson to build our program from the ground up,” said Principal Scott Lusk. “She comes to Cleveland Public School with a plethora of knowledge in music and education. We are excited to have her as a part of our Clipper Family.”
Back in 2000, the school was in statutory operating debt, and music was an unfortunate casualty.
“We were always hopeful to bring music back to our elementary students one day,” said Superintendent Brian Phillips.
But music in the elementary didn’t go entirely by the wayside. With classroom teachers taking over rehearsals and directing, the school’s most attended event has typically been the elementary Christmas concert. In recent years, the students put on their performance twice in order to accommodate what had been an overflowing crowd.
“The elementary teachers stepped in and did a wonderful job teaching music to our students,” said Lusk, “but the administration knew through surveys that an elementary school music program was a want of the community.”
So the trio of Lusk and Phillips and social studies teacher David Cink worked in harmony to put the elementary music program back in place this year.
“It allows all students to be exposed to music and for students who have a high interest in music to extend their knowledge,” Lusk said. “We know nearly everyone enjoys music, whether by listening to it, singing or playing an instrument. When music education is sustained throughout the elementary years, children continue to learn better through the clear connections between music and other areas.”
Those areas, Lusk said, include communications skills, reasoning, creative thinking, memorization, hand-eye coordination, pattern recognition, imagination and curiosity and teamwork. Besides all of that, music helps bolster self-confidence, provides a sense of achievement and fights stress.
Johnson is a native of Ogilvie, MN. She earned a Bachelor’s Degree in K-12 Music Education from the University of Minnesota, Morris. For the past 11 years, she taught K-5 Elementary Music at Gibbon-Fairfax-Winthrop.
“I have always wanted to be a teacher for as long as I can remember,” she said. “I love working with kids and helping them grow. My high school band teacher helped instill a love of music in me that helped me gravitate to teaching music.”
Her favorite teaching method is to have students play instruments and perform.
“Music is something that should be learned by experiencing it, and participating hands-on in music is the best way for students to learn it,” she said. “My proudest teaching moments have been when I have challenged my students to tackle difficult music, and they have risen to the occasion and done great things.”
Johnson chose Cleveland school because her husband Kevin Johnson graduated from Cleveland, and his family still lives in the area. He will commute to GFW while two of their three children, boys age nine and seven, will attend Cleveland elementary. The Johnson’s youngest son is a year old.
“We are excited for the opportunity to move closer to family,” she said. “Also, I have only heard how awesome Cleveland school is and how great the students are, so why wouldn't I want to teach here?”
Johnson also studied business management and sign language at Morris. When she is not teaching, she enjoys camping, traveling, hiking, gardening and cooking.