Town’s commitment to education celebrated at the Batchelder School’s centennial

Published in the September 28, 2017 edition

By MAUREEN DOHERTY

NORTH READING — Regardless of how many decades of life one has experienced, be it less than one or more than eight, everyone attending Saturday’s centennial celebration of the L.D. Batchelder School felt just like they did as a kid attending grammar school when everything is new and the possibilities are endless.

For within its walls lies 100 years of the hopes and the aspirations, the triumphs and the failures, and the multitude of firsts achieved by every student who has walked its halls and occupied its desks on a daily basis in each of those decades.

Grammar school is where students master the basic building blocks that create the foundation to their education. And it’s where a lifelong love of learning is instilled by generations of mentors known as teachers. That mentoring continues to this day. Through the decades, the methods of instruction may have changed — the slates, inkwells and blackboards of yesterday have been replaced by tablets, Smart boards and computers — but the desire to learn and the instinct to mentor remain unchanged.

You could hear the love of learning in the words spoken by fourth-grader Josie Lambert, who recounted from the podium in front of the audience of several hundred guests that her favorite place to visit in the Batchelder School is its fabulous library — a space that for generations prior to the school’s latest expansion and remodeling served as the school’s gymnasium and which once boasted a gallery from which spectators peered over railings from high above to watch the games being played down below.

You could experience it the Pledge of Allegiance, as led by fourth-grader Alex Gamer, and in the songs sung by L.D. Batchelder School Chorus, from the National Anthem to the upbeat traditional round “Sing in the Morning,” which Chorus Director Christine Larsen proudly told the audience her students mastered in just two rehearsals.

You could see it in the effort made by the members of the last year’s fifth-grade class, each of whom created a single tile in art class that became a mosaic of the L.D. Batchelder School as their class gift to the school. This mosaic, pieced together by art teacher Gretchen Shaw, is now proudly displayed on t-shirts, water bottles and beach towels sold by the Batchelder Parents’ Organization to fund enrichment programs for current students. And so it goes that each generation lays the foundation to benefit and improve the one that follows it.

According to a history of the school’s namesake researched by teacher Bill Cassell and his third-grade class of 2003-04 along with the Murray family, and written by Samantha McGoldrick, Leland Dennis Batchelder (1855-1919) was a simple farmer and market gardener who together with his wife Mary (Putnam) Batchelder, raised a family of two sons and two daughters on the Sunset Hill Farm not far from the school that now bears his name.

L.D. Batchelder placed a high value on education and was a respected member of his community. Having served on the School Committee for 30 years, he was the driving force to create a “central school” for the town’s children to replace three small schools, two of which were one-room schoolhouses. Two months after his death and just a year after the school had been dedicated, the town’s selectmen voted to name the “new building” in his memory on March 24, 1919.

Current Batchelder School Principal Sean Killeen noted the impact the L.D. Batchelder School has had on the lives of those present. Since his arrival at the school 17 years ago, he said it has been the people in this community who have made the Batchelder School such a special place. This unique school community has “flourished” for over 100 years, Killeen said, beginning with that generous donation of land by Leland Batchelder to make the town’s first centralized school a reality.

Recalling the controversy that developed more than 20 years ago about whether the town should build a new elementary school on land at Swan Pond and convert the Batchelder School for other municipal uses, Killeen noted that “the conflict was always where to build, never why. This community never wavered on providing our students with what they need to have every opportunity to succeed.”

“At the time, I did not have a strong feeling” about where the school should be located, Killeen said. “I just knew our students needed better.”

“But in our 13th year of the new renovated Batchelder School, I am excited about being in the center of town,” he said, adding how enjoyable it is to see the students playing outside at recess when he drives through the center.

“As we celebrate the building’s 100th year, on behalf of the school, please let me thank all of you, now and tomorrow, for keeping your eyes on the prize — our students, our future,” Killeen said.

Superintendent of Schools Jon C. Bernard noted, “It is remarkable for a school to have thrived over the course of a century. The Batchelder School — and all of our schools — enjoys tremendous support from parents and the larger community and the many contributions have been vital to the continued success of the Batchelder School.”

“While we are celebrating today a school that has been an integral part of this community for a century, it remains a lively and forward-thinking school,” Bernard said.

He added, “The emphasis on the development of the whole child, the promotion of digital learning and other 21st century learning skills, and a tight-knit school community that strongly values education are just a few examples of how the Batchelder School has been able to move with the times to ensure that its students are well-equipped to success in their life pursuits, for it is here that the students of the Batchelder School are given a solid foundation for both formal and life education placing them on a path to gaining what they need to be successful in their life pursuits and thus realize their dreams.”

“I know that Mr. Batchelder would be very proud to have his name long associated with this school and all of the wonderful people who have passed through its halls and classrooms over the years,” Bernard concluded.

Looking good at 100

School Committee Chairman Mel Webster took a more lighthearted approach in his remarks. “When I looked around this school this morning, I said to myself, I hope I look this good at 100,” he quipped, and quickly added, “Mr. Killeen has been beaming all morning and it is no surprise. In case you didn’t know, Sean has actually been principal of the school for all 100 years, despite the fact that he doesn’t look a day over…40.”

Webster also took the opportunity to let newer members of the school community know that “this day almost didn’t happen.”

“About 20 years ago, there was a move afoot to build a new Swan Pond elementary school to replace the rapidly decaying Batch. There was a long, drawn out and often ugly battle with a group in town that opposed the new school. After several votes, some of which were extremely close, the Swan Pond plan was abandoned and we turned back to how to fix the Batch,” Webster recalled.

“I never thought the day would come that I would thank the group that vigorously opposed the Swan Pond project and cost the town an additional several million dollars, but today is that day,” Webster added.

More than a decade has passed since that decision was made and Webster said, “I still am amazed at what the building has become. If you did not have the fortune to see the old school, it’s a shame, because the transformation was amazing.”

One example of that transformation was the aforementioned gymnasium.

The gallery overlooking the gym was bricked in decades ago, most likely for safety’s sake, but it was in this unique space, with its 18-foot high ceilings, that Webster recalled coaching his children’s youth basketball games in a gym with such tight dimensions that “there was no out-of bounds,” he said. The players simply bumped into its paneled walls of storage closets behind which were stuffed all manner of equipment essential to elementary school gym classes — balls, nets, ropes, cones, bats, hula hoops, and even pillow polo sticks.

The fact that the town fulfilled its obligation to revitalize this school, despite the fact it meant the entire student body had to be bused to an old elementary school in Stoneham for two years “is an indication of the incredible support for education in North Reading. The town had to make a huge leap of faith, and had to approve the total cost of the school without any guarantee of any reimbursement from the state,” Webster said.

After its completion the town won a historic preservation award for revitalizing the Batchelder School.

Even better, the state subsequently “made a retroactive decision to reimburse the project by more than $7 million,” Webster said.

“It is just amazing to be here at the school’s 100th anniversary,” said North Reading’s State Rep. Brad Jones, whose son and daughter both attended the Batchelder School. He recalled being a member of the Board of Selectmen when the debate began about whether to build a new school at Swan Pond or renovate and expand the Batch. “It proved to be worth the wait,” he said, in spite of the sacrifice endured by the students who had to be bused daily to Stoneham during the construction.

Jones also brought an official greeting to the school in a joint resolution of the state legislature to commemorate the achievement.

State Senator Bruce Tarr also brought a resolution from the state Senate and a special birthday card signed by Gov. Charlie Baker and Lt. Gov. Karyn Polito.

“We are so lucky to come here today to celebrate a school community that has endured a lot of challenges, a lot of question marks about where the future of the building was going to be, and along the way maintaining a sense of energy and commitment that has never lost focus on the primary goal of educating students and keeping them enthusiastic about learning,” Tarr said.

A town that cares about its students

Tarr added, “When you think about the things that define a community, one of them has to be the commitment to education. And as Principal Killeen said, when you drive down the street and look at this building, it answers a lot of questions about North Reading, doesn’t it? It says this is a town that cares a lot about its students, but it’s also a town that cares a lot about where it came from and the people that got us here, and the legacy that every time something has been needed for the town and for its students, somebody has stepped up to the plate. And in many cases, everyone has stepped up to the plate.”

Following the formal presentations, students provided tours of the school building to the many guests, including members of the NRHS Class of 1967, which was holding its 50th class reunion over the weekend. Another group of student pianists and instrumentalists entertained guests in the cafeteria while refreshments were served.