Kaleidoscope: Goodbye, old school

The 1891 bell was moved to storage from its base in front of the old building, and will be placed inside the new one.

Inside the original 1903 building, a mural painted in 2018 by artist Toma Villa and students will be knocked down this summer, along with all existing walls.

The fence between old playground and the new one was removed as soon as kids left school on Tuesday.

Then the mourning waned and the moving began.

“There has definitely been some remembering, some sadness, some tears and some laughter as people tell tales about this place they love so well,” said Principal Kelly Beard. “But there has been a shift, and now the focus is on the new and there is a real excitement about the new school.

“It’s an odd feeling, walking the emptying halls, but people are ready,” he said.

Teachers Emily Rowan and Elise Stenberg planned out how they will arrange their new classroom by consulting the architects’ drawings in the hallway of the old school.

So loosen the seams between past and present at May Street School.

Moving out

Crews started Wednesday loading up trucks to take furniture, boxes and equipment to the storage, to refurbishment, to public auction in The Dalles, or to discard. Some materials will be moved directly to the first finished classrooms in the new building.

One thing to be removed outside the building is the bank of solar panels; the panels and its supporting power generation system will be reinstalled at Wy’east Middle School, and a new system built at May Street.

“It’s a huge effort, to start the day after kids move out,” said Jose Aparicio of Weneha Group, the consultant overseeing all projects paid for by construction  bonds approved four years ago by voters.

Construction crews and, soon, those who do demolition, are in control of the place. While the new school is erected — mostly — attention also turns to tearing down the old.

“We have a lot of work to do,” Project Supervisor Mike Carter said. He carried out the bleacher boards, one by one, as a crew dismantled the gym seating — for use in the new gym, also to be called Teddy Webber gymnasium, its name since the 1980s honoring the late beloved teacher.

Teachers will have permission to go into their new classrooms on Aug. 19, about a week later than normal.

“It’s stressful to think about, but we’ll make it happen,” Rowan said.

Another teacher, Heidi Geraci, was a student at May Street — one of five alumnae to now teach at the school. That quintet includes Janice Webber, who expressed a resigned sadness to leaving a school where she grew up and where her father taught. (See photo, page B1.)

Geraci carried out her rocking chair for transfer to her new classroom, taking time to comfort her tearful daughter, Vanessa.

The basement storage space known was “the pit” was emptied of old books, art supplies, science kits and boxes labeled with the names of teachers who have retired.

One of those teachers, Joanne von Lubken, worked as an aide on the last day, just as she often does, and said she will likely help out next year.

The seams gently loosen, but hold fast.