HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 2000-06-21, Page 11THE CITIZEN, WEDNESDAY, JUNE 21,2000. PAGE 11.
Walton ’s school with a heart opens Dee. 1962
By Paul Carroll, former
Principal, Superintendent and
Director of Education
I went back to visit Walton PS last
month. It was a trip that brought
back many memories. I remembered
my first ‘official’ visit to the school
in 1981, when then-Director John
Cochrane appointed me as the prin
cipal of the newly-twinned Seaforth
& Walton Public Schools. At the
time I was proud to be ‘on the road’
travelling between the schools - but I
never did regret my own decision to
‘de-twin’ the schools and return a
full time principal to Walton PS in
the middle 1990s, when I got to sit in
the director’s chair as the final role
in my own career.
Walton was just too important to
share a senior administrator with
another school. It knew how to stand
alone. It did so for 20 years before it
was twinned. And it is certainly
standing tall - on its own - as its final
weeks of operation are upon us.
When I first worked at Seaforth
Public, I learned that Walton PS was
a proud entity. It took care of its
kindergarten to Grade 3 population
quite properly. The principal, Marie
Toll, called the shots, but she called
them extremely well. The curricu
lum was delivered efficiently and
according to the Ministry expecta
tions of the day; the pedagogy was a
reflection of the parental values in
the school area.
And the school knew how to par
ticipate with the larger community.
With a population drawn from three
different townships, it was necessary
for Marie and her staff to head in dif
ferent directions to ensure that the
school gave support to each separate
community with equity and with
equivalent enthusiasm.
Such was the challenge of alternat
ing on a biennial basis to participate
in the Brussels and Seaforth Fall
Fairs. One of the biggest mistakes I
ever made while I was administering
the school was to think that life
would be simpler for me and the
staff if we focussed our efforts in
only the Seaforth direction. It took
only one year to remember that
our school community had more
than one component. I soon learned
to pay heed to the whole communi
ty!
And quite frankly, there seems to
be a little bit of that cross-communi
ty vision to be sorted out at this time,
as the Walton PS doors are closed
and the kids head off to their new
home at Seaforth Public.
It is clear to me that Walton PS has
‘class’. Reading the history of the
school told me that the element of
‘class’ was present that first
December, in late 1962, when
Wilfred Shortreed, board chair and
Jim Kinkhead, School Inspector, led
the student parade that short distance
from one of the former schools, still
standing across the road at
McGavin's, to the spanking new
building which now forms the core
of the current facility.
No doubt that ‘class’ continued as
the bubbling and excited kids cut the
ribbon at the fresh and shiny door
way, and as ‘LP’, Larry Plumsteel, a
former principal from Seaforth DHS
delivered the celebratory remarks at
the official opening ceremonies a
few days later.
Throughout the years, the ‘class’
continued. You could always see it
in the twinkle of Marie Toll’s eyes as
she spoke proudly about her school
and the children when the new crop
of grade three graduates made its
annual trek to SPS for orientation in
preparation for grade four. The
‘class’ was there in the commitment
of the school’s first reassigned prin
cipal, Helen Crocker, as she attempt
ed to ensure a balance between the
academic and hands on components
for learning.
You can hear it today in the com
ments of Alice McDowell, current
principal, as she relates detailed
plans for the several special events
planned to celebrate the life and
times of Walton PS, as the school
and the community move forward to
the last school day.
Opening snip
On hand to officially open the small school with the big heart, Dec. 5, 1962 were, in back, from
left: chairman Wilfred Shortreed, Seaforth principal P. Plumsteel, Rev. A. Higginbotham, school
inspector J.H. Kincaid. Front: Randy Miller, Barbara Bryans, Cathy McDonald.
During my recent visit to the
school, heads were held high. It was
a sad time. But if this was to be the
reality then, “we’ll do it with style”
seemed to be the modus operandi for
staff, for the parents, the kids and the
community. There is no point (and
the staff and parents seem to recog
nize it) in looking back, pointing fin
gers, or lamenting "If only we had
done this or that.”
The doors for Walton PS will close
at the end of June in the year 2000.
The event will also close an era
where small schools thrived in small
and close knit communities and
where family connections were
uppermost as the school struggled to
fulfill its educational and social
roles.
Walton can turn the key proudly.
The school board can lock the door,
but it will only create a storehouse of
fond memories, and a treasure chest
of sound traditions. The community
members can use these trophies as
the springboard for moving forward,
to continue the convention of strong
support for the children and young
people from McKillop, Morris and
Grey, and for upholding all of those
things that have been important for
the proper education of these chil
dren.
Travel forward to nurture them -
and continue to do it with ‘class’!
| Si Mil