My School Is Closing....

I was born in Columbus. My family moved to Northeast Ohio when I was five. I grew up here in the suburb of Berea, where I attended Parknoll Elementary School, Roehm Junior High, and Berea High.

Some of my very best childhood memories took place at Parknoll school. It is a public school neatly nestled in the woods of sorts, with a huge grassy field behind for kids to play. It sits off the road a bit, away from most houses near the Berea/Olmsted Falls line. I went there from kindergarten through the sixth grade, and can remember most of it very well. Well sadly, Parknoll school is closing along with all others in town and they consolidate all into one big new elementary school next year.

A few years ago I wrote an article about how deeply it can resonate with us when certain things are no more. Schools, theaters, amusement parks, stadiums, and places that brought people together for learning or fun, I think it can really affect us. Parknoll for me, is no different than your school elementary school was to you. And if yours has since closed, you know how that made you feel. It just kind of - hurts.

Parknoll school is the place I learned to read, write, add, subtract, multiply and divide. I learned about gym class, lunch lines, the Dewey Decimal System, and what happens at your first physical. It was the first place I went by myself, and was solely responsible for my behavior without my mom and dad around to straighten me out. I remember it was my school, my place, my corner of the world where I felt safe, secure and felt like I belonged to something that was not of the Wynn name.

Parknoll school was the first place I had to share things with those not in my family. Where I learned that the lessons my mom and dad taught me really did work. I learned that I was a good athlete there, and that I could be a good friend, and that other kids liked me, and I liked them. It was the place I watched "lift-offs" and "splashdowns" from NASA on the TV that was wheeled in on a huge cart. I was an audio/visual aid, learned first aid, and accidentally broke Becky Mercers wrist in a kickball game. It was a place I shouldn't have teased a kid named David as I did, and where I should have stopped that fight between Brian and Jeff. And afterward, Principal Kern made me apologize to David , then we were friends. And Mr. Hawthorne privately scolded me telling me to be the leader I could be and stop a fight next time if one broke out.

I walked to and from school every day, and went home for lunch most days. After school most of us would go home only to ride bikes back up to the school and play football, baseball or something. I went to camps there in the summer for t-ball, and baseball. Parknoll school was my childhood, and now it's being replaced and closed after 50 years of service. I know it's not the first school to close, but this one is mine. It has been here all my life, and now it will not do any of the above for one more child after this spring. I can't help but be saddened by it.

Things change I understand, but some are just harder to swallow than others. This ones going down rough. But I hope for those kids starting school next year at the new school, that in years ahead they feel for their school as I have always felt for mine.

So for Mrs. Poole, Mrs. Berger, Miss Bolander, Mrs. Emily, Miss Pihurko, Mr. Lapp, and Mr. Berry...thanks for everything.

Parknoll Elementary School 1961 - 2011.