Guest Author: Kevin Clark ’75
I grew up in Painesville Township Park. Most of us in the family went through Hale Road School, six boys and one girl. I was a twin. My poor mother really had her hands full with us twin boys, “Mom’s Angels.” What a fun time in our household – never a dull moment.
Things I remember fondly of Hale Road Elementary School, 1963-1968 include:
Fallout shelter, storm and bomb drills: We would hear the bells continue to ring, and we would line up and walk in an orderly manner to the dark and dingy basement hallway and line up along the wall – no talking and backs to the wall until the all- clear signal was given. The no talking part was the most difficult part of the drill.
Cleaning the erasers just to get out class. A lot of fun that was!
Playground – northwest corner of the school. I loved the teeter totter – cherry bumps or just jumping off. Ouch, that hurt.
May Pole Dance: Lots of fun and we always had a May Day Queen.
Merry-go-round: Around and around until you were so dizzy you could not stand up.
Monkey Bars and how high I could climb.
The Huge Slide: At least I thought it was huge, and how fast I could slide down. Sometimes we would use waxed paper to rub on the slide to help us go faster.
The area behind the school was another playground down the big hill for big kids only. I could not wait until I was old enough to go down to the big kids’ playground. Once I reached the age to be on that playground, it was not all that big after all.
Remembering some teachers: Mrs. Snodgrass, Mr. Braylor, Principals Ms. Patriarca and Ms. Ponterero.
I grew up on Fairgrounds Road. I attended Hale Road Elementary School from 1979 (1st grade) and I graduated from 6th grade in 1985. I originally attended Buckeye Elementary in kindergarten in 1977. I have some struggles in learning and understanding things. I wound up getting sent to Maple Dale Elementary (which was closed down in 1982 and is torn down) in the 1978-1979 school year in a diagnostic class where there were teachers to help me overcome my struggles. I went to Hale Road when I was in first grade in 1979. I was mostly in regular classes but also in special ed classes when I needed extra help with my school work. Special ed teachers like Miss Blizzard, Mrs. McIntyre, and Mrs. Frashier helped me throughout my years of attending Hale Road Elementary. My regular teachers were Mrs. Alexy (1st grade), Mrs. Snodgrass (2nd grade), Mrs. Percival (3rd grade), Mrs. McIntyre ( 4th grade, I was in special ed but was mainstreamed in regular classes such as reading, Mr. Janco, math Mrs. Lang, and English Mrs. Collister.). In 5th grade I had Mrs. McIntyre again, I stayed in special ed that year because of my struggles in 4th grade and I had Mrs. Frashier in 6th grade and was mainstreamed in regular classes. My memories of Hale Road school were the Christmas programs we would perform for our families to attend, gym class,- some of the games we played in gym were cool, recess when we would sled ride down this big hill behind the first set of swings on the back playground in the winter, field day, square dancing I learned in 3rd grade and we actually had a square dance recital at the school for our families to attend and watch us, the Christmas and Halloween parties in our classrooms and when we paraded on the front playground (which turned into a parking lot) in our Halloween costumes, playing kickball, swinging on the swings and playing on the wooden seesaws giving each other cherry bumps and just simply being kids. I also remembering jump rope and double-dutching like it was noone’s business. Other memories I had were my story I wrote in 6th grade being an honorable mention, almost making the spelling bee regionals (I missed it by two words I misspelled), and my art work getting good compliments. Those were my greatest accomplishments. Most of all the memories I held dear and still do are the friends I made at Hale Road. They never made me feel worthless or unliked. I was bummed out when I first heard that Hale Road was being closed down for good, but I will always have the memories I made there. As you can see I had quite a journey at Hale Road and it was a good one too and my teachers were good and patient with me when I struggled. If it weren’t for my teachers here at Hale Road, I wouldn’t be where I’m at today. It was definitely a learning experience for me.
Michelle McGeever
Class of 1985