By Heather Graves
Correspondent
GREEN BAY – Hundreds of current and former teachers, students, district staff, school board members and others in the community gathered Sunday, June 9, at the old Baird Elementary School to share memories and bid farewell before it’s demolished later this month.
“We wanted people to be able to come and reflect and have an opportunity to walk through the building one more time,” said Principal Michael Sheean.
The old Baird school opened its doors in 1969 as part of a three school addition to the district, along with MacArthur Elementary and Martin Elementary.
The 45,110 square-foot school was designed as an open-concept school – which included instructional pods with few permanent interior walls and a minimum of corridor space.
The building’s original design included portable chalkboard-bulletin board units that divided instructional space, carpeted floors throughout the building to reduce noise in the open-concept design and fewer windows to reduce heat loss in the winter and cooling loss in the warmer months.
As the years ticked by, changes came to the school to accommodate the teachers’ and students’ needs.
Walls were added and the carpet was replaced with laminate flooring.
For the two hour-long open house, the halls of the school were filled with people reminiscing, flipping through old yearbooks, looking at pictures and reconnecting with old friends.
Former student Tim Shay attended the farewell open house and crossed paths with his former kindergarten teacher, who he said gave him a great start.
“Walking through the building did bring back some memories,” Shay said.
Shay attended Baird from 1994 to 1999.
Judye Heimer was a part of the first class to attend all five years at Baird – she started kindergarten in 1969 when the school opened.
“I wanted to see it before it got torn down and see the changes,” Heimer said. “I have funny memories from here.”
Anne Van Ess was the co-chair of the referendum and is excited for the new school to open.
“I helped get the new Baird here,” Van Ess said.
As a former Baird student herself, Van Ess holds many fond memories of her time spent as a Baird Bee.
“When we were kids it was like an island here,” Van Ess said. “There was no where to go – farm all around us. We all ran around and played. We thought we were in no-man’s land.”
Some parts of the old school are being relocated to the new building – including the Sturgeon, which houses the time capsules, memorial benches and sculptures, the large Artscape tiles and the paper mural from the office.
According to the school’s open house booklet from 1969, the original Baird cost just over $1 million dollars to build.
When completed, the new Baird school will cost an estimated $25.8 million.
The project is being funded through the April 2017 $68.25 million facilities referendum.
The new school is being built directly behind the old school.
It will have a capacity of 600 and house students in grades 4K through fifth.
The existing school is scheduled for demolition beginning June 24, with the new school scheduled to open in August – ready for the 2019-20 school year.