The community got one last chance to say goodbye to the old Elida Elementary School that has served as a learning ground for students since 1963.
It was a bittersweet day to be a Bulldog. Former and current Elida teachers, staff, and students walked the halls for what will likely be the last time they’re able to before the building gets torn down.
A new elementary school was past due for Elida, but that doesn’t mean that old one wont be missed or forgotten.
Alix Stout, a former teacher at the school says, “A lot of memories, ones that I will not ever forget and a lot of very successful students have passed through these halls and I always will remember that.”
Stout taught as a 4th grade teacher for 36 years before retiring and eventually coming back for at least another 10 years as a substitute. She says she's happy to be able to say goodbye to the place she spent her career and sent her kids through school.
“I’ve been in many of these classrooms as a teacher in my own classroom as well as a substitute teacher and so I can say goodbye to them now," says Stout. "That’ll be closure.”
The former students wandering the halls ranged from all ages, and they all were just as excited to feel the nostalgia from walking through their old school and even seeing some of their old teachers.
Janet Smith-Rodden, who attended Elida schools as a kid says, “It’s fun to have to opportunity to come back and say goodbye and kind of reminisce, and get flashbacks of what is was way back when.”
It will take just a few short weeks before the building is ready to be demolished completely. Next school year will be the first year in the new building, and it took the passing of an 2.8 mill bond in Elida for it to happen.
The assistant principal at the elementary school, Jeremy Clark, says “The biggest celebration about the new building is the fact that the community got together and said ‘yes,’ so I think it’s so much more to celebrate.”
Although it was sad for some to say goodbye to a place that they had spent years either learning or teaching there, the new school will make for an environment free of some of the old obstacles they faced. This would include lacking air conditioning or having to teach in modular classrooms outside of the building.
Clark says, “The sweetest part is when you look out the backdoors and see that new building towering over this one. There’s just excitement.”
The school was also auctioning off a majority of the contents inside the old school building. The auction ends on May 10th, and you can bid in the auction here.
