New school marks Fairview renaissance
By Kevin Kelley
Fairview Park
Published Aug. 29, 2007

Sarah Mayhew got a head start over her classmates in getting ready for the new school year. The fourth-grade student attended the open house for the new Gilles-Sweet Elementary School Sunday and took the opportunity to visit her new classroom and drop off school supplies.

Her mother, Beth, said Sarah has been excited about attending a brand new school building.

“It’s a beautiful building,” Beth said while touring the school at the open house.

Joining Sarah at the Gilles-Sweet this year will be her younger sister, Jill, who will be attending first grade.

“It’s neat that they’re going to be together in the same building,” their mother said. “They thought that was going to be fun.”

Gilles-Sweet will be home to students in kindergarten through grade six. Last year, kindergarten classes were at the Coffinberry Early Education Center, grades one through three were at Garnett Elementary School, and grades four through six were at Parkview Intermediate School.

Peg Fishell, Sarah Mayhew’s fourth-grade teacher, is also glad the early grade classes are under the same roof.

“I like the fact that we’re all together — kindergarten through six,” she said, adding that she’s looking forward to being able to have conversations with colleagues teaching all elementary grade levels.

Fishell, who noted that the classrooms are painted in colors that researchers have said are conducive to learning, said she was grateful to Fairview Park residents for passing the Gemini Project levy that funded the construction of the new school.

“This is really a great learning environment that they created,” said Fishell, who is beginning her 36th year of teaching and has taught several children of former students.

Fifth-grade teacher Raymond Warofka, who is beginning his 31st year of teaching, taught sixth grade in the original Gilles-Sweet School that was torn down in 2005 to make way for the new building.

“It’s completely different,” Warofka said of the new building. “It’s unbelievable.”

When asked what was the biggest difference, he answered, “Technology.”

“The gym is unbelievable,” he added. The classrooms are bigger, and the basement doesn’t leak like it did in the old building, he said. And, of course, teachers won’t be smoking in the teachers’ lounge like they did in the old Gilles-Sweet, he said.

David and Sharon Seeh stopped at the open house following their son Jacob’s  soccer game to visit his new classroom.

“From what I’ve seen so far, it’s great,” Sharon said of the new building.

Jacob, who will be in Donna Kempton’s fourth-grade class, said he was most excited about the school’s new lockers.

“I finally get my own locker for once,” he told West Life. Last year, he had to share a locker, an arrangement he didn’t particularly care for.

Principal Barb Schutte said she’s looking forward to welcoming students from kindergarten through grade six together in a new school building.

“We’re going to be able to create a new community — a new community of learners,” she said.

Schutte said the faculty and mountains of boxes of learning material moved into the school in mid-August with the help of staff members, their spouses and dozens of volunteers.

“People were here 10 to 15 hours a day getting it ready, and that’s what made the difference,” she said.

In a dedication ceremony held in the cafetorium (combined cafeteria and auditorium), keynote speaker Anthony DiBiasio said the old Gilles-Sweet building, where he once worked, could not compete with the new facility.

“The Gilles-Sweet that stood here before was a traditional old school building, but it had a very proud history,” said DiBiasio, whose career with the Fairview City Schools continues as a counselor at the new Gilles-Sweet. “The building that we dedicate today is a school for a new age, with an exciting and an unlimited future.”

But some principles remain, DiBiasio said, that will link the old Gilles-Sweet with the new.

“Inside those classrooms, quality education will occur,” he said. “And it will be administered by a competent and caring staff.”

In remembering former teachers from the old Gilles-Sweet, DiBiasio said they would likely be overwhelmed by the amenities of the new classrooms. But they would also advise today’s teachers that to be effective they must do three things — care about every student, be fair in all matters, and teach the children to share.

“The accomplishment of these tasks will ensure the success of our students here at Gilles-Sweet,” he said. “It was an effective formula back then. It will be an effective formula now.”

DiBiasio said that the opening of the new Gilles-Sweet Elementary School is a cause for excitement for the entire community.

“Fairview Park is undergoing a mini-renaissance sparked by the Gemini Project,” DiBiasio said. “And the opening of Gilles-Sweet School is a big step in the rebirth of this community.”