RACINE — Volunteers spent their Saturdays helping transform a historic Racine school building into a new home for students with disabilities.
About 30 volunteers gathered at the former Jefferson Lighthouse Elementary School on West Sixth Street to clean, sanitize, and prep the space for its new chapter.
Sonnenberg Schools parent Lisa Packard said the goal was simple.
"Make sure these teachers have a clean slate when they come in here in the late summer," Packard said.
WATCH: Volunteers help prepare a historic Racine school for its second life as a new Sonnenberg Schools location
Jefferson Lighthouse Elementary School closed in the spring of 2024. Sonnenberg Schools bought the building from the Racine Unified School District in May, and in just a few months, the hallway will be full of students.
"This is really exciting that we're going to be able to move into this big space," Packard said.
Sonnenberg Schools, which serves students with disabilities, currently operates one location at 2015 Franklin Street in Racine. The new site at 1722 West Sixth Street will be their second.
"The school they have now is great, but you can tell that they're outgrowing it," said Josh Vaughn, a Sonnenberg Schools parent who was volunteering Saturday with his wife.
The expansion comes as enrollment grows. Sonnenberg enrolled 208 students in the 2025-26 school year, and the organization expects that number to jump to 284 students in the next school year.
"We were excited to see and come and tour the new school and have a hand in helping out, clean it up, and get it ready," Sonnenberg parent Dinora Metcalf said.
Metcalf and her husband, Tony Metcalf, spent their volunteer shifts "removing staples, and picking stickers off of walls," Dinora Metcalf said.
"Just wiping stuff down, sanitizing, just chipping off old paint if we need to. Whatever it takes to make it perfect for the kids," Vaughn said.
While the parents TMJ4's Lauren Sklba spoke to Saturday will not have students at the new location this coming year, they said they are invested in Sonnenberg's future.
"Because we want Sonnenberg to be his home for schooling and his academics," Vaughn said. "So we know that this is his future here."
"This is what I would want to do on a Saturday, is give back to this school community," Packard said.
The new West Sixth Street site will serve students in fourth through 12th grades, as well as students in the Sonnenberg Schools Applied Academics Program. That's expected to be about 180 students this fall. Younger students will remain at Sonnenberg's Franklin Street location.
For more information about Sonnenberg Schools, visit www.sonnenbergschools.org.
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