For the entirety of her 25-year career in education, Pam Johnson has watched her students grow up at Fairview Elementary School.
She has taught some of them in second grade, and then years later, taught their children too. Johnson has watched the same students who once walked down Fairview’s hallways each morning cross the stage at their high school graduations. She’s greeted many of them when they come back to visit.
One former student, who always “looked for ways to be helpful in the classroom,” returned to visit Johnson just this week with a gift to celebrate her retirement.
“You’re one of the best teachers I’ve ever had,” she told Johnson.
Johnson said it didn’t hit her until later that night. She couldn’t help but tear up at what Friday really meant as the last day any students would walk out of the double doors at Fairview.
“It’s just helped me grow as a person, as a teacher,” Johnson told The Dispatch on Wednesday. “There’s love here, and I think that’s made a huge impact on our students.”
It’s that “love” – the kind that sends a former student to a teacher’s home with a gift, brings parents to every school event and pushes neighbors with no connection to the school to contribute their own time – that makes Fairview a true “community school,” Johnson believes.
It’s the same characteristic Principal Leborian Troupe refers to when talking about the “generational” impact Fairview has had in East Columbus. And it’s what has brought volunteers across the street from Fairview Baptist Church each week to tutor students.
“It’s a full-circle moment,” Troupe told The Dispatch on Wednesday. “I went to this school, and now I’m the principal here. … It’s always been a family-centered school and families are always involved.”
Fairview, which opened in 1957, is the second and final elementary school to close as Columbus Municipal School District shifts from a magnet school model to grade-span learning. Franklin Academy shuttered last year as part of the district’s strategic plan.
The decision, made in response to aging facilities and a declining student enrollment, was decided after years of discussions and data-driven considerations, Superintendent Craig Chapman told The Dispatch.
“There is a place for history and tradition in education,” Chapman wrote in an email to The Dispatch. “We must respect that, and we have, but we must be responsible with the resources entrusted to us by taxpayers.”
Fairview becomes the third vacant facility owned by the district, joining Franklin Academy and Union Success Academy, which closed in 2008. All of the facilities remain without a clear repurposing plan.
“We still need to determine the feasibility of some of the buildings to determine if some department within the district can use them or relocate to those facilities,” Chapman said. “What I want to make sure of is that it is the best use of resources before moving them.
“In addition to that, I’m sharing ideas with board members about the potential use of the buildings to see what direction the board would like to go,” he added without elaborating what those ideas entail.
A true ‘community school’
Preparing for the last day of school this year, Johnson said, has been bittersweet. Parents of Fairview students have felt it too, she said.
“In the beginning, some of the parents … were upset because they love having a close-knit community school, where they feel welcomed, where they feel loved, where they feel like the teachers are making a difference,” she said.
It’s a sentiment shared across South Browder Street at FBC, which has been a cornerstone partner to the school for at least 15 years.
“They are partners with us in every activity that we do,” Troupe said. “Everything that we need, they’ve helped us to get it. If our children are in need or our families are in need of something, they’re just a call away.”
Whether it’s opening facilities to host pre-K graduation when the school couldn’t hold all the parents or sending church members over to cook hot dogs for field day, Director of Media Ministries Mitchell McElhenney said the partnership with Fairview has been a natural extension of the church’s mission in the community.
“We want to help different schools in our area, and we do from time to time but this was just right at our back door,” McElhenney told The Dispatch on Thursday. “And we’ve seen great results from it, from the kids knowing us and … building those relationships. We hate to see it end for the children but understand it seems to be what’s best in the life of the city school district.”
Church members Angela Davis and Jennifer Caldwell are among those who volunteer at the school regularly, particularly with a Wednesday night tutoring program that specifically targets third-graders preparing for the state reading assessment.
Seeing the school close, Davis said, has been sad, but she’s grateful for what the partnership has created, especially when thinking about the students who were impacted by it.
“It was just a sweet time, and I’m so sad that they’re closing,” Davis told The Dispatch on Thursday. “But I’m so glad that we’ve been able to do it, that we’ve got those sweet memories and … that our people were able to give of themselves.”
Caldwell said she hopes whoever ends up with the building puts it to good use for the community that has long surrounded it.
“There’s so many needs in our town,” she said. “I hope that it’s used for something good.”
‘We’d hate to see it just sit empty’
Robert Smith, president for the CMSD Board of Trustees, said the board plans to meet with Chapman in the coming weeks to discuss ideas for what’s next at Fairview, whether that would be repurposing the building or selling it.
There’s some interest in Fairview, Smith said. He’s spoken to developers about possibilities for the school, like converting it into a day care, for example.
“What I would hope that would happen after the board and the superintendent meet, is that we form a committee with a couple people from the roundtable, couple people from the school board and some people from within the community in that area and let them put out some feelers as to what they would like to see happen in Fairview,” he said.
Naturally, the church has been mentioned as an interested party in the school, though McElhenney said there are currently no set plans for that.
“Should we grow and need other space, we might look into that,” he said. “… I don’t think we would be opposed to anything. We’d hate to see it just sit empty.”
Johnson shares that sentiment, though she’d especially like to see the facility continue to be used for educational purposes. Whatever direction the district takes, she said it’s important for the district and the Fairview community to set expectations for how to move forward successfully.
“Some of them are afraid of the change, but I think with change, you just have to set high expectations, make a plan to reach those goals and continue to work together to make an impact, not just for the students but also for the community,” she said. “We all need to strive for excellence.”
McRae is a general assignment and education reporter for The Dispatch.
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