OCEAN GATE – The closing of the Ocean Gate School saddened residents who grew up in its classrooms, but the night they said goodbye was a celebration of its small-town feel where everyone knows you.
The tour started in the former one-room schoolhouse; it was appropriate to begin at the beginning. It was not only the first school in the borough, built in 1914, but it could be the first building a student sees, since it’s used for kindergarten classes.
The school’s website notes that the two-room schoolhouse was built in 1940. A third building opened in 1968, followed by an expansion in 1994. But times have changed, and state aid dropped drastically. A district that kept needing more space now has about 150 students. A referendum in January asking voters for more than $600 a year to keep it open was voted down 393 to 186.
Ocean Gate kids will now go to Berkeley schools. One thing that hasn’t changed is that they will still attend Central Regional Middle School and High School.
In the months leading up to the closure, residents said how much they love the small class sizes which let everyone get to know each other, and help those in need.
One misty night in spring, the district held an event called the Final Bell, inviting the public to walk through the school one last time. There was a bittersweet feeling as people bade the building farewell. It was full of activity – and loud – as people watched a slideshow of school photos, looked through yearbook-like booklets for their classes, and caught up with fellow students as if it were a high school reunion.
Some people, like Aileen Alonzo, had generations of family that went through this school. She pointed out family in black and white photos on display.
“I still live here in my family’s home,” which is near the school, she said, so she would put out signs supporting the kids during times like graduations.
“It’s sad because I love the school and the kids,” she said.
She and another local, Geoff Barger, started pointed out who they knew in the old photos. Barger said his daughter works in the school’s office.
“It’s just a shame to see this,” he said of the closure. “It’s a great place to go to school. It’s a casualty of the times.”
Some people had left their mark on the school. Green handprints from students were on the walls amid the decorations. The murals were painted by students over the years, and they are a bright memory for those who painted them.
Emma Haug helped paint four of these murals.
“I really, really loved this place. Genuinely, the teachers were the absolute best,” she said, noting that her brother, father and cousins also attended. “I’m sad to see it go.”
Interim Principal Irene Marousis said the Final Bell program was created with alumni and staff so that the residents can get to walk through the school one more time “and say a proper goodbye.”
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