By Kathy Brown.
Haddam Elementary School is holding a celebration on Saturday, May 18, 2019 from 12:00-2:00 p.m. There will be three speakers (Brienne Whidden – current principal, Ed Lewis – former principal, and Cathy Brutzman – former student). According to Brienne, after the opening speeches, there will be self-guided tours of the building. Highlights will include a timeline in the main hallway, pictures and artifacts in the library, a time capsule in the art room, a slideshow in the gym and All Purpose Room, student memories on classroom bulletin boards, a photo booth in the music room, and an opportunity to sign and leave messages on classroom doors. Following the tours, visitors will have the opportunity to enjoy cake in the All Purpose Room and ring out on the school bell for one last time.
The staff at HES are currently in the process of gathering photos, videos, and audio messages from community members to include in the slideshow. Anyone interested in submitting items for the slideshow can email them to Brienne Whidden, HES Principal, at bwhidden@rsd17.org.
My own three children rang into and out from HES, which is one of the unique things I think about when looking back at my own experience with HES.
“Haddam Elementary School has a long and cherished place in the lives of many Haddam families,” said RSD #17 Superintendent Howard Thiery. “I hope that community members can join us to share their stories and look back on the history of the school. I am looking forward to seeing the present and former members of the HES community who will be in attendance and sharing a day of fun and celebration.”
People who have a past with HES see it in different ways. We spoke to some former students and staff at HES. “I will be attending the celebration, but I really don’t look at it as a celebration,” said Carol Zanelli. “I started school at the Higganum Union School and watched HES being built across the street. [I] started second grade at the new HES. Since that time there have been two additions to the school. In 1970, [I] started working at HES and stayed there for 47 years. Staff, students and parents were just like one big family. It is really sad to see HES being closed.” Jay Granucci, current Art teacher at HES said, “This idea has been talked about right from the beginning by staff members because we didn’t want to close the school without letting [the] town’s people and former staff come one last time. We are trying to keep it as positive as possible. It will be a celebration of HES.”
Bryan Kerachsky, former principal of HES 2014-2017, said, “What a special place. The Staff. The Parents. The kids…ah, yes, the kids. The kids were just phenomenal. Every. Single. Day. Who knew that this ‘little school, with a big heart’ would change my life forever? Starting at Central Office in 2009, I would have the opportunity to work a few days a week, if not more at HES, until I had the privilege to call HES home in 2014, as the principal. I need to say how amazing the staff was for those years. In education, we always talk about putting students first and at HES, we lived this mantra. There were a lot of innovative changes to the work we were doing at HES to make sure each student could thrive as a whole-child learner. From our makerspace work, our professional learning time block, coding, Project Lead the Way, and all the work with our literacy workshops, teachers did it with energy, passion, and enthusiasm. I felt very lucky to work with this staff and it was a great honor to come to work each day to do the very best we could for each student. Just an amazing group of people! As for the memories . . . I believe the Veteran’s Day assemblies will always live with me. When you heard Lee Greenwood and then saw all the pictures of our Veterans who were part of our community, there was never a dry eye in the audience. Any time we could have our parents in for our Halloween Parade or a grade level celebrations was special to me because connecting our community was a big part of what we did at HES. Finally, the ringing in and out ceremonies. What else is there to say? One of the best traditions ever! To have our kinders ring in and then to see our fourth graders (and their kindergarten pictures) ring out was always memorable. I learned a lot over my time at Haddam Elementary School and it will always hold a special place in my heart. Thank you to the whole school community! I’m very proud to be a part of HES History!”
Cathy Brutzman, former student, remembers being transferred to the newly built HES in 1949. She said, “We were friends . . . we were safe.” She will be speaking at the Celebration on May 18th, alongside her childhood friend, and another HES alum Florence, who has been the crossing guard at HES for many years.
Ginnie Greene, former teacher at HES, had many memories. “I was hired in November if 1976. I was 21. I graduated from Hartt College of Music, U of H in June. I found there was a K-6 music position open at HES. They hired me. I couldn’t even believe it. Ed Lewis was my principal. He was like a second father- I worked for him at HES for 18 years. He was my mentor and finally my friend, who I talk to even now. He is 83. He visited everyone’s room every day. He’d leave notes in our mailboxes about something we did well. He was at every lunch wave. We performed at least four shows a year. These were by grade level in 1, 2, and 3. Grades 4-6 performed a major show. These shows were school inclusive. The nurse was in charge of costumes, Laura Porter made props and scenery, the art teacher made props and scenery, the custodian was critical – he worked every show night, climbed ladders, and hung extra stage curtains and then saved everything in case we needed it again. The teaching staff acted as chaperones for shows and concerts.”
“My first 6th grade class of 1986 started the school newspaper, The HES Press with an Apple IIc and two Apple IIes and a program called Newsroom that was published every 2 weeks for 4 years,” continued Ginnie. “They won a state award for that paper. When I was pregnant with my daughter in 1992, I was very morning sick. The cooks in the cafeteria made breakfast for me and fed me around 10:00 a.m. when I could eat something. Who does that? They were awesome. Our faculty was small, but close. We helped each other and worked together. The Copper Beech, the small stage, borrowing risers from the high school, documenting the nature trail, making imprint fossils, and studying acid rain are all amazing memories. I grew up as a teacher in that school. I was the school’s teacher of the year in 1990. It was my start. I am grateful.”
Nancy Scory and her husband Jim were both employed at HES for over 30 years. “I entered the doors of Haddam Elementary School as a first grader the year in opened in 1947,” said Nancy. “I returned in 1973 as the School Nurse, a job I held for 32 years. HES had not just been a school or a job, it was a family. My husband Jim was the Gym Teacher from 1976-2006. We are still in touch with many of our former students and they have become our extended family.” She went on to say, “It is so sad that a school that was so loved and gave so much love will be gone forever.” She explained that they put a time capsule under the plaque near the front office at the 50th anniversary of the school. “[It was] to be opened at the 100th anniversary in 2047. Now that celebration will never happen. Our HES Family will just be a memory.”
“With all of the work that has been done over the past two years on restructuring, we are now at the most important part of the process, namely the transitioning of our students and staff and merging them into Burr and the Intermediate School,” said Joanne Nesti, Chairman of the Board of Education. “Howard, Holly [Hageman], Eric [Larson] and Brienne have done a wonderful job of creating a timetable for this transition with an attention to detail that addresses not just the practical aspects of the changeover, but the emotional ones as well. This celebration is in keeping with that as we pay tribute to a school that has served our District well for decades. I am looking forward to being part of that celebration as an expression of the Board’s gratitude for all that HES has given us.”
Ed Lewis (HES Principal 1971-1995) reminisced about his time at HES. He said one of the things that made HES unique was its atmosphere of love and caring, that HES was “a nice place to live and work.” He said that with the staff, the children were #1, and that their safety and happiness were always the most important thing. He said he couldn’t wait to go to work every day. He said that HES was a focal part of the town, that the town put on movies every Saturday night at HES. He also said that HES closing “is not a sad thing. We should all accept it. It’s positive because we have all these memories. It is time to put her to rest.” He will be speaking at the HES Celebration on May 18, if you want to hear more of his stories and memories and participate in this celebration of Haddam Elementary School.
All photos by Ginnie Greene, except ringing out, which was by Michele Wytas.
