Celebrating Davis Elementary

A breezy, bittersweet Tuesday evening marked the first day of March as well as the end of an era, as students, teachers, parents, and Centennial staff congregated on the grounds of William W.H. Davis elementary. 

They gathered there to bid a fond farewell to the institution that has served many Southampton families since its construction in 1957.  They were also there to look towards the future.     

Lifelong Southampton resident, Sandy McGorrey, was on hand for the festivities and it was apparent she was doing all she could to keep the tears from coming. 

“It breaks my heart,” she said.  “I had four kids go through here and two grandchildren.  I can remember walking my kids down here every day, dragging their bags, their instruments.  It was a wonderful school.”   

McGorrey served as a crossing guard for both Davis and Stackpole over the years and had been voicing her wishes to keep the wrecking ball from Davis to anyone that would listen. 

“All of us old codgers fought to keep it open,” she continued.  “It was the ideal school.” 

Children ran about the area, from the edge of Maple Avenue to the chain-link fence that now surrounds the campus grounds, blowing horns and whistles, making sense of their school’s imminent demolition any way they knew how.  A sign being held on the edge of the road prompted motorists to give one last blow of their horn in honor of the venerable institution.   

Principal Kelley O’Leary grabbed a megaphone and spoke a few words before the informal gathering. 

“I didn’t prepare anything to say,” said O’Leary as she tried to put the memories on hold for just a few minutes.  Long enough to say a couple things before the flood gates opened.  “I knew it would happen, that I would get up here and I’d start to cry.” 

O’Leary paused for a moment and gathered her thoughts. 

“We have to put a positive spin on this,” she said.  “Many of us will be back here in a beautiful new building with a lot of promise.  But it isn’t really about the building - it’s all about the community.  We need to be together and we need to experience together and we will do all of that.  You are an amazing community.” 

The assembled crowd erupted with applause and cheers at their beloved principle’s words.  

Vicki Francis, a member of the Home and School Association was another one of the fighters that tried to keep Davis from closing its doors. 

“This school has heart,” she said.  “When I first moved here, I never thought I’d send my kids to public school.  But there’s something very unique about this place.  Anybody you ask would say the same thing.  They bring you in and they include you in the process of educating your kids.  Not many schools do that."

“What the school did for my son, well, I don’t want to get into all of it right now.  But, everything they did for my son really transformed him into an amazing young man,”  said Francis.

Scheduled to open its doors in the fall of 2012, the new building will serve as the elementary school for Centennial's region one.  In effect, the new school will bring together students from the original Davis and students from Stackpole. 

“I know many members of the community are saddened by this,” said Mark Miller, a member of Centennial’s school board.  “But the truth of the matter really is that this building is just not up to today’s standards.  It’s not energy efficient.  The big thing though is that it wasn’t ADA compliant and it would have been more expensive to make this building compliant than it will be to bring it down and rebuild it from scratch.” 

Miller said that when you at it from a long-term perspective, the district’s overall plans appear fiscally sound.   

“The total cost of everything, consolidating from six elementary schools to three will be about $86 million,” he said.  “But by combining staffs and being more energy efficient, we’ll be saving four million dollars a year.  So everything will pay for itself rather quickly.” 

Superintendent Foight-Cressman had a few words as well, remembering the good times that came before and looking forward to the ones ahead. 

“It really is a sad time,” said Foight-Cressman.  “We all know what it’s like to lose something special but I have a lot of hope for the future.  It’s sad to close an old school down, but it will be really exciting when we open the new one.”  

Demolition of the school will take place throughout the week. 

Bricks from the old building will be available for those wishing to keep a piece of their beloved elementary school.  Residents are encouraged to take a piece of Davis home with them, although the district asks that people kindly take only one brick per family.  

For more pictures from the celebration, or to share some of your own Davis memories, check out our picture gallery.