TOLEDO, Ohio — The holiday weekend started on a bittersweet note for former students of Wernert, Shoreland, and Jackman Elementary in west and north Toledo.
On Saturday morning, just days after the schools let out their last students for the summer, people were invited out for one last look at the schools, all three of which are being retired from service as Washington Local Schools builds two replacement schools.
Former Wernert student Tom Hillabrand remembers the concerts, plays and school assemblies held in the buildings auditorium and wanted to sit in the built-in seats one last time.
He also remembered how hot the century-old building got at the end of the school year.
“We didn’t have any air-conditioning here, so if we had a hot May, it was miserable. They opened the windows, but I think that made it worse you know,” said Tom.
John Christen, who went to school at Wernert starting in 1952, hasn’t been back in the building in all the decades since. He remembers the younger grades having three recess periods through the day and buying lunch at the school for just twenty-five cents.
“I used to buy my lunch every day. Back then it was a quarter,” said John. “Everything was home cooked. There were no microwaves back then.”
Students who previously would have went to school at Jackman or Wernert will now attend the new Silver Creek Elementary on Northover Rd.
RELATED: Washington Local students, staff break ground on second new elementary school for the district
The school will be home to about 700 students.
Check out a time lapse video of the construction of Silver Creek Elementary here.
Farther east and serving students from the Point Place area of north Toledo, the now former Shoreland Elementary building has been welcoming students through its doors for 58 years.
The need for a replacement building eventually became too great however.
Students and teachers there are excited about the bigger classrooms, massive gym and cafeteria at the new building.
In April, Shoreland Elementary Principal Kim Dedo decribed the old building as “crammed”.
“We use every possible space,” she said at the time.
The new Shoreland Elementary sits right next door to the old Shoreland school on E. Harbor Dr.
Both new schools will welcome new students in the fall of 2022.
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