Former teachers, alums visit Tallmadge Middle School
By April Helms Reporter
May 30, 2019 at 9:42 AM May 30, 2019 at 1:23 PM
TALLMADGE — They came in a steady stream May 24 to Tallmadge Middle School.
Former teachers, alumni and their families walked through the doors of the school for perhaps the last time. Several stopped outside the front of the building to take pictures of the entranceway. Once inside, one could hear the occasional shout of joy as an alum spotted a friend, a former teacher encountered a colleague, or a former student spied a favorite teacher.
"I left my homework out in the car," one man joked with a former teacher. "I'll have to go out and get it later." The former teacher laughed.
Stories were exchanged, pictures taken and memories relived in the halls of the middle school. Just outside the middle school, construction continued at the new middle school, which is scheduled to open its doors to the district's current classes of sixth-, seventh- and eighth-graders.
Steve Wood, the chief operating officer with the Tallmadge City Schools, said the district will turn the building over to the construction company June 10. The structure will undergo asbestos abatement and is scheduled for teardown this summer. The district will have some commemorative bricks from the building for sale.
"We are so happy we did this," Wood said of the open house. He added that they had a good turnout, particularly in the afternoon. "It's a nice event. It's been great hearing people's stories and having them share their memories."
When the current middle school building opened in 1960, it served as the district's high school, according to information from the district. It cost about $1.1 million to construct, and was funded through a bond issue and state assistance. It was converted to the middle school when the district's new high school opened in 2008.
Trip down memory lane
Cherie Wade, who graduated from Tallmadge High School in 1973 and taught special education for 10 years at the Tallmadge schools, said she remembered when "the stage was the kids' area," and the "bleacher bums" who were on the stage.
"You don't see that kind of camaraderie now," Wade said.
Wade also remembered the Devil Divers.
"We would run and five on the floor, and make a letter with your body," Wade said.
Sally Antonucci, who taught family and consumer sciences for 35 years, from 1976 to 2011, said she enjoyed seeing the generations of children come through.
"I think one of the best things was teaching in the family," Antonucci said. "When you would teach children, and then years later you would teach their children, and then their grandchildren."
Antonucci said she taught with Kim Carlson, who stood next to her. Carlson also was a Tallmadge High School graduate in the class of 1975, and is retiring at the end of this school year.
"Our staff is like family," Carlson said. "It is a very supportive group."
"What other job can you have where you work with the same people for so many years," Antonucci added.
Wade agreed. "When I left, I felt I left my family."
John Bozzelli, who graduated in 1973 and still lives in Tallmadge, said his children attended, "and now my grandkids go to school here." Bozzelli said he credits the education he received from the Tallmadge schools for helping him in his 43-year career in engineering; he retired from DuPont.
"I took drafting from Mr. Bliss," Bozzelli said of the class that helped him on his career track. He added that he had the opportunity to travel around the world.
Bill Zirke, who retired in 2004 after teaching math for 35 years, said the district "was such a great school system."
"This is the first time I've been in the building in 12 years," Zirke said. He added he was pleasantly surprised to have run into so many people he knew at the open house that day.
"I used to be assistant wrestling coach, and we used to have our practice in the basement of the Annex," Zirke said.
When the school first opened, it only taught 10th through 12th grade, said Patty Miktarian, who graduated in 1970. Miktarian said her graduating class gave the school a set of benches in the front of the building.
"We called it benches and hedges," Miktarian said. She added the joke came from a brand of cigarettes, Benson & Hedges.
Miktarian shared a memory of graduation that may surprise those who are used to the current indoor commencements of today.
"We graduated in the football field," she said. "We were dodging the rain."
Bond issue
Voters in November 2016 approved a 3.9-mill bond issue to construct a new elementary school building for the district's kindergarten through fifth-graders, and a new middle school for the district's sixth- through eighth-graders.
The cost of constructing the two schools is estimated at about $45 million. The bond issue will raise $31 million, and the remaining $14 million will come from the Ohio Facilities Construction Commission.
When the high school was first built, it included 28 rooms, including nine standard classrooms, a cafeteria with a seating capacity of 240, and a gym with a capacity for 1,000, according to information provided by the school. Today, there are about 900 ninth through 12th graders enrolled at the high school.
Wood said that the original building was 69,000 square feet. The school would see three expansions: one in 1965, one a few years later in 1968, and the last one in 1990. These three expansions added about 39,000 square feet of space.
Reporter April Helms can be reached at 330-541-9423, ahelms@recordpub.com, or @AprilKHelms_RPC