Dear Editor,
It was the first day of fourth grade. A day I will always remember. We all have our own stories about where we were during the flood, but we don’t really talk about how scary it was for the students at OES. I was one of those students.
It became clear that there was an issue when the phones were ringing and the announcements were going off continuously. The next thing that I noticed, students were being picked up by frantic parents.
Teachers finally announced that anyone left in the classroom would have to ride the bus home early. I froze, my body felt tense all over. Will I get home safely? To get to my house there is a bridge. Would it still be there? Would we be able to cross it?
As we were getting on the bus my bus driver said, “We need to be quiet because I need to get you all home safely.” As I was walking onto the bus all I could think about was if I would be able to find my sister on the bus and thinking about getting home. I knew it was raining but I didn’t think the entire town would be under water, which made me realize the first day of fourth grade was the last time I would ever step foot into the Owego Elementary School again.
A week later, kindergarten through fourth grade students were transported to Linneaus West in Endicott and fifth grade students were put in the middle school. I thought Linneus West was scary until I was put into the middle school with kids who were 13 years old. Unfortunately we were all unfamiliar to Linneaus West, especially only being nine years old.
The school wasn’t air conditioned, and there weren’t enough rooms for band, teachers, and the art was downstairs – which was hotter because it’s closer to the heaters. The school was nothing like the damaged school that everyone loved.
It all started when the flood of 2011 severely damaged the Owego Elementary School. The Old School was only a one floor but a spacious building and was considerably smaller than the new school. Yes, the school is bigger and that’s been a big issue during the rebuilding process, but the students and teachers were in a school that wasn’t even big enough to accommodate all the grades.
The new school is bigger because there are two floors and there is an auditorium, but the classrooms are roughly the same size. The new school has a lot more space, which is used for three meeting rooms for one specific grade at a time, an auditorium, and rooms for kids that need help with their speech, hearing and even with their math and reading.
The students deserve to come back and go to school in their community instead of having a 30-minute bus ride to Linneaus West everyday and getting home much later in the day.
The excitement is building for the students and teachers who have returned to the new school. The return to the new school represents a fresh start as well as bringing closure to the event of the 2011 flood.
Five hundred and thirty-seven students in the Owego Elementary School all deserve a great school. The biggest complaint that is going around the community is the money and having to pay more taxes, but even if we do, it’s for
students to have an education. However, before you judge this new school, you should go check it out for yourself. You could become a volunteer or you could just go to their open house that they have and see for yourself that this new school is a good thing for the students and teachers.
I went to the old elementary school and that was a great school, unfortunately a tragic event happened where that school isn’t here anymore.
As a community it is important to show our support so that the teachers and the students feel welcome as they return back to our school district. I would encourage you to now say something positive the next time you drive by the new Owego Elementary School.
Sincerely,
Sarah Haskell
Student, Owego-Apalachin Middle School
