Hank Williams remembers the aroma of fresh breads and cakes baking in the kitchen as it rose to his third-story classroom at Pasadena Elementary School when he first became a teacher.
“In the early days in the ?70s, they used to bake food in here, and the fragrance used to go all through the building,” said Williams, a fourth-grade teacher who?s taught in the 53-year-old building for 35 years.
Now food is brought from Severna Park High School.
And the school?s 323 students and staff will leave these familiar hallways and classrooms for a new facility across the street in January.
A baseball field will replace the Spruce Avenue school that officially closes next week and will be demolished in the spring.
Through the years, renovations were needed for electrical work, a computer lab and media center, but the school has remained largely the same, teachers said.
Williams? class size, though, has changed from about 40 to 26 students.
“The kids are always funny and very talented,” Williams said. “They always make you laugh.”
His favorite activities were the Halloween celebrations, ice cream socials and skating parties.
Williams? daughter, Kim Reightler, who attended the school, is now a special education aide there.
“It?snice getting to see him every morning,” she said. “A lot of the kids like the fact that he?s my dad.”
Mary Davis, a second-grade teacher who has taught at the school for 31 years, said she finds particular joy in teaching some of the children of her former students. “I always say to them, ?Oh, you?re smart, just like your mom,? ” she said.
“You always find the best part of that child and focus on that.”
She said she?s excited for the amenities of the new, state-of-the-art school, including a wireless computer network, a kiln in the art department and new furniture.
“I think it?ll help with morale,” she said.
“With an old building you can clean it, and it?ll never look clean.”
TO HELP
Pasadena residents can buy books from a suggested list to help fill the new media center. A special bookplate will be placed in all donated books to recognize the contributor.
For more information, call Media Specialist Ann Dahlheim at 410-222-6573.
