Meet New Glencairn Elementary School Principal Justyne Richardson

Justyne Richardson has been an educator for as long as she can remember. She recalls setting up a classroom for her cousins and leading them in daily lessons as a child, long before her professional career commenced.

“I was one of the oldest of 20 cousins, so when we were kids, we used to play school,” Richardson said. “I was the teacher and my little cousins were in my classroom. So I always thought it might be a passion of mine, and when I got to do an internship at St. Thomas, that really solidified its form.”

This fall, Richardson will start her first school year as principal of Glencairn Elementary School. 

Richardson was born and raised in Lansing’s Groesbeck neighborhood. As a student at Lansing Catholic Central High School, she participated in a pilot program that allowed students to intern at other schools part time.

“When you had enough credits to graduate from Lansing Catholic, they did a work release,” Richardson said. “They piloted this program that year. I think it was three or four of us who went to school part time and then the other half of the day, we did an internship at one of our sister schools.”

Richardson did her internship in a first grade classroom at St. Thomas Aquinas Parish School, which strengthened her love for education. 

Richardson graduated from Central Michigan University with a bachelors degree in elementary education. Shortly after, she moved to Arizona and attended Arizona State University, where she obtained a masters degree in educational leadership. 

In Arizona, Richardson worked as a fourth grade teacher for three years and then became the assistant principal at Madison Elementary School District in Phoenix, a position she held for six years. 

“I loved the impact that I made on my kids in my little fourth grade classroom,” she said. “We had this program that we partnered with to get our kiddos into private high schools and pay for college if they were of a certain socioeconomic status and extremely smart, to help their future.”

Richardson made the change to work in school administration in part because she wanted to impact more students.

“I just wanted to broaden that impact that I could have by not just supporting kids, but creating really strong teachers who loved kids too,” she said. “So, I was like, the only way to really do that was to further my education and change from just impacting 28 kids a year to impacting a whole school.”

Richardson previously had an internship at Holt Public Schools, where she was able to see the work and leadership of then-principal and now-superintendent David Hornak. Richardson credits Hornak as being a role model.

“I just found him [Hornak] to be a phenomenal leader, so I just knew I wanted to pursue higher education so that I could be a principal and lead like he did,” she said. 

Richardson prioritized relationship building when working as an assistant principal in an elementary school with 600 students. 

She estimates she knew the names of 70 to 80% of the students and made sure that each family felt like the staff was taking care of their kids. 

“It does make such a difference,” Richardson said. “I had such a different experience growing up. I couldn’t even tell you the names of the principals I had at my schools growing up, and I never wanted to be that person who was just stuck in their office all day and no one knew who they were.”

Richardson sees it as crucial to get to know school staff on a personal level.

“I really pride myself in getting to know my teachers and my cafeteria workers and our custodial staff and our paraprofessionals and everyone that works at our school,” Richardson said. “And not just knowing them, but knowing their families and their siblings. I just really pride myself on forming strong relationships because I feel like that’s the foundation of providing the best support that I can and making them all feel like they belong and are a part of our little family.” 

She plans to continue this relationship building in her new role as Glencairn Elementary School principal. 

“Just in my first year, I would like to take the time to get to know the staff and the kids and the needs of the campus so that we can develop goals as a group collectively for the future,” Richardson said.

Since moving back to East Lansing in June, Richardson, her husband and 14-month-old daughter have attended one of the playdates hosted by the Glencairn Parent-Teacher Organization to get to know members of the community. 

She plans to host the Glencairn staff and their families in August to meet them in person, rather than just over email.

Once the school year starts, Richardson also plans to host one-on-one meetings with each member of her staff to “get to know each other a little bit and make sure that I know what their goals are and what they expect of me during their first year and beyond.”

Richardson said she aims to carry on the strong culture that was created by previous Principal Lorraine Ware, and foster a strong sense of community and family at Glencairn Elementary School.