Local School Gets a Classroom Overhaul

Since U Been Renovated Columbus charter school gets nationally-televised classroom overhaul

By Brandon Klein

Before Kristen Muenster went on The Kelly Clarkson Show for the unveil of her revamped classroom, it was a two-year process to make the dream a reality.

During that time frame, Muenster, who has worked as intervention specialist at the Academy for Urban Scholars in east Columbus for 10 years, wrote as many as four times to Brittany Jeltema, a national classroom flipper, with a request to redesign her resource room.

The hard work eventually paid off.

“When I was looking through applications to choose the most deserving teacher and group of students for the classroom makeover, Kristen really stood out,” Jeltema says. “It was clear through her writing that she was an extremely dedicated teacher who goes above and beyond for her students.”

The resource room Jeltema flipped is for special education students. Muenster wanted it to have flexible seating that allows students to work in groups or independently.

“I just wanted it to feel special,” Muenster says.

At the beginning of the new semester in January, she told staff that her biggest goal 18 was to get the academy’s story out to the public. A week later, she received an email from Jeltema.

Events unfolded quickly in February. Muenster and school founders were interviewed by Kelly Clarkson Show producers multiple times. Multiple packages for the project were sent to the school and, while the redesign was under way, nobody looked, Muenster says.

Following its completion, Muenster and colleagues flew out to Los Angeles for the show.

A scheduled family vacation meant Muenster had to wait a little longer to see the new classroom in person.

“All I thought about was getting back to the school,” she says.

In addition to flexible seating, the classroom features a quote from the late Nelson Mandela, a green velvet couch and local artwork donated to the school.

“It was just breathtaking,” Muenster says.

The room became a point of pride for students. The students are different when they come into the room to get work done.

“And then the pandemic hit,” she adds. “It was really sad. … We got to enjoy it for a month.”

Now in her 15th year of teaching, Muenster has become the director of curriculum and instruction at the academy. She connected with the academy by a ran

dom chance encounter after moving from Cleveland to Columbus.

On a night out, an academy representative heard her talking about her career as intervention specialist at other alternative schools. The representative encouraged her to apply for a position at the school.

She met with academy Founder John Gregory and joined to help to launch the charter school in Columbus.

“It’s really a grassroots effort,” Muenster says. “This is the greatest place you can work.”

Teachers are not pigeonholed into one way of teaching, she says, and are encouraged to seek out different opportunities. In the decade she’s been teaching there, the school has only told Muenster “no” once.