Oh sure, it was exciting at times. One of the school fundraisers was renting facilities out for filming of movies. More than one local teen made spending money screaming and running from invisible monsters at the school at night. In the playground, students also had to watch for rattlers, scorpions and tarantulas, which of course they thought was cool.
When we pulled up to Hustead Elementary School with its adjacent woods and land lab, picture windows with a rolling view of cornfields and classes that were not overcrowded, we were thrilled. It was like a private school on a nature preserve.
Our daughter Liz had the good fortune of having first-year teacher Lori Culp for fifth grade and Rosa Strong, who was the sweetest principal we’d ever met. It was a happy place and the perfect neighborhood school, near enough for parents to be involved and get there quickly if needed.
Our baby Erin attended Hustead from kindergarten through fourth grade, and we volunteered to help for a great Ohio History Day that only a small school could pull off. Erin loved it, too.
And so it was with great sadness that I went to the last Hustead Carnival on May 16. You see, the Greenon Local School District is reorganizing. After 50 years Hustead Elementary is being closed and all its classes will be merged with Enon Elementary at Enon and at Indian Valley. The seventh and eighth grades at Indian Valley will now go to the high school, which will somehow hold grades 7-12 without letting the middle school kids mix with the high school. I wish them luck.
I was not the only person who thought Hustead Elementary was a great asset to this district.
“It is like a big family. All the kids know each other and love it,” said Samantha Adducchio, who wishes her little girl could attend more than one year there.
I looked across the backyard and saw hundreds of students, former students and parents, many of whom were Hustead alumni. The large open area was full of games, including a dunk tank, a barrel train and a wide variety of games of skills. There were lots of volunteers and obvious community support for the school. The gym was filled with bouncy houses. A slide show of Hustead photos was projected on the wall. A group of teachers and former teachers stood watching and reminiscing.
Roxy Bartley is retiring after teaching at Hustead for what she called “30 wonderful years.” She was happy to not have to move to a different building.
“I feel like I could start my car and it could drive here on its own,” said retired teacher Kelly King, who loved teaching at Hustead for 33 years.
Culp enjoyed Hustead, but is looking forward to teaching first grade in Enon next year.
School secretary Carol Mathews called Hustead the “best kept secret of Clark County. It’s a sweet little school and one big family.”
Talking to parents of current Hustead students, I learned that most are not happy about the coming changes.
One father told me he blames the state for cutting school funding and making it necessary for our board to make these cuts.
Others like Rosemary Downs felt that things were not going to go as well next year.
“I’m worried about the long bus rides,” said Downs, who lives along State Route 68. As she explained, some students like those in Green Twp., will have very long rides to school. To pick up a sick child or meet personally with a teacher will take much longer than before.
“I think that there were a lot of other things they could do to save money,” said Downs, who would move from the district if she did not live in a house that has been in her family for many years. There are too many memories to leave, but she thinks the district is making a mistake. She knows others who are considering moving to private schools.
As I walked down one of the hallways decorated with brightly colored hand prints of students, I came to the same conclusion.
Shutting down the neighborhood school is not good for the eastern end of this school district. This school had been the heart of this rural area for years. Those long bus rides are expensive, and a waste of time. If this merger brings overcrowding of classrooms or services, any financial savings will be offset by less effective education and lower test scores.
Yes, the Hustead building needs repairs, but an effective community elementary school is so much more than a building and a line on the budget. A school does not need to be a modern showplace to have spirit.
We all know that someday, maybe in the not so distant future, a subdivision or two will be built near Enon. If construction brings the need for another elementary building, I sincerely hope that the Hustead building will be reopened and that the students from the eastern half of the district will be allowed to have a neighborhood school again. I personally would not vote for a new elementary that neglects the eastern side of the district.
As we learned at Hustead, when the residents, students and staff feel a closeness and “ownership” of a local school, good things happen and students thrive.
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