HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 2000-06-28, Page 10PAGE 10. THE CITIZEN, WEDNESDAY, JUNE 28, 2000.
Community celebrates school’s closing with class
Emceeing the festivities
Though the day brought sadness with the impending closure of Walton Public School, former
school board trustee Graeme Craig, right, principal Alice McDowell and community member
Neil McGavin, added fun and laughter to the celebration of the past and hope for the future.
Entertaining the children
Ms Fizz told jokes and performed magic for the children as
part of the activities held to celebrate Walton Public
School’s past and the great community spirit. Nicole
Williamson assisted.
Past principals
Walton Public School’s first principal Marie Toll chatted with
former principal and director of education Paul Carroll dur
ing a break in the entertainment Sunday afternoon.
Family bids farewell with fiddles
Jamie Mitchell, grandmother Phyllis and school mascot Gus were accompanied by Ken Scott
as they serenaded the crowd of over 500 gathered at Walton Public School for the closing cer
emonies, June 25. Photos by Janice Becker
Walton school community’s Christmas present
By Paul Carroll
Former Principal,
Superintendent and
Director of Education
Note: For a more complete review
of WPS history and the educational
highlights from the village of Walton
and neighbouring townships, see:
Grey Township and Its People by
Marilyn Engel, and Morris
Township Past to Present, by Jeanne
Kirkby.
On Wednesday. Dec. 5, 1962, then
school board chair, Wilfred
Shortreed, and Public School
Inspector, J.H. (Jim) Kinkhead,
proudly led a parade of school chil
dren to the spanking new Walton
Public School (WPS). It was a great
Christmas present for the Village of
Walton and the children from
Morris, Grey and McKillop. It was a
special treat for trustees like the late
Don McDonald who spent a lifetime
of service for the education of chil
dren.
The young students housed in the
former Walton School - Morris,
Grey, McKillop, USS # 11, just
across the road, and from three other
buildings in the townships, marched
solemnly but proudly to their new
quarters.
Barbara Bryans, a delighted stu
dent, cut the ribbon with the assis
tance of Randy Miller and Cathy
McDonald at the official opening
held a week later on Dec. 12.
The new four room. Grades l to 8
school, marked a triumphant conclu
sion to months of planning and nego
tiation by the five-member school
board - and a three-month delay
resulting from the 'shortage of con
struction materials’.
It was a 'state of the art’ facility
with a ‘folding’ wall between two of
the classrooms, which could be
moved to create a larger assembly
space or playroom if needed.
Modem washrooms, a contemporary
furnace, a good well, and even a staff
room completed the facility.
The spacious playground ensured
an abundance of space for energetic
pupils to play and to participate in
physical education activities.
The 1962 building cost of some
$84,000 - even with its $ l(),(X)() cost
over-run was less than the almost
$ 10(),()(X) budget for adding only two
classrooms to the facility in 1989
and certainly much less than the cost
for a library addition and kinder
garten upgrade in 1993 at a cost of
some $I7(),(X)().
The building, supported fully by
the community and the school
boards over the years, served its
pupils well.
Walton PS opened in 1962 as a
Grades I-8 school, one of the grow
ing number of consolidated central
schools which were replacing the
older one room schools across Huron
County and rural Ontario at this
time.
It remained to serve the full ele
mentary grade range until 1971
when a decision was made to trans
port Grades 4-8 to the newly reno
vated and expanded Seaforth Public
School (SPS).
This action was one of the early
consolidation measures undertaken
by the newly created county board of
education. Kindergarten was added
at this time, and the school became
the only primary school in the juris
diction of the fledgling Huron
County board.
Ten years later, in 1981, the school
was 'twinned' with Seaforth Public
School. The principal, and teaching
staff for French, music, library and
special education, were shared
between the two schools.
In the mid-1990s, with the advent
of school councils and a desire for
closer connections with the commu
nity the school was de-twinned. once
again being assigned its own princi
pal. In the meantime, to till up space
as the result of declining enrolment,
steps were undertaken to add Grade
four to the school’s population. If
the wistful dream of overcrowding
had become a reality at SPS, Grade
five would also have been added.
With changes in school board
structure yet again - the amalgama
tion of Huron and Perth into the new
Avon Maitland District School
Board - with changes in government
funding for education, and with fur
ther decline in the rural population,
steps were taken to close Walton
Public School and relocate the pupils
to Seaforth Public. The proposed
new location, along with pupils
moved from the Seaforth Public
School, would be the planned-to-be-
former Seaforth District High School
(SDHS), also slated for closure by
the new Board.
At this time, with the closure of
SDHS stalled by a court order, the
children will move to SPS in its cur
rent site. The new school will be
'full' once again - to a level even
higher than its heyday population of
more than four hundred in the early
1970s. (The student population from
Egmondville - presently attending
Huron Centennial - will also be
added to the rolls.)
The first principal at Walton Public
School was Marie Toll. It was truly
her school. She established the cul
ture, the community connections and
the special place that Walton has
always been for its children.
Following a failed initiative to
close the school in 1979, and in
response to a decision to leave the
school open, the principal assigned
was Paul Carroll who shared the
administrative responsibility for this
building along with SPS. The justi
fication for leaving the school open
with only a small enrolment was the
cost saving said to be achieved by
sharing a principal and certain staff
with another school.
Principals Gary Jewitt and Don
Tremeer continued the twinning
arrangement until the new director,
Paul Carroll determined that Helen
Crocker be assigned the full princi
pal role in about 1996. She was fol
lowed by Maggie Crane and the cur
rent principal, Alice McDowell.
When Walton PS is officially
closed at the end of June 2000, it will
mark the demise of the only special
ized primary elementary school in
the Avon Maitland board. The build
ing will be one more tombstone in
the graveyard of small community
schools.