Maplewood’s Legacy in Cary

REFLECTING ON MAPLEWOOD SCHOOL’S HAPPY MEMORIES AND KEEPING THE SCHOOL’S SPIRIT ALIVE LONG AFTER THE DOORS CLOSE.

In 1929, students at Cary Public School on Main Street celebrated the opening of a brand new gymnasium. Located down the road at 422 W. Krenz Ave., the children walked daily to Maplewood Gym, under clear, sunny skies (or less accommodating conditions) for physical education classes, school assemblies, plays and other special functions. In 1948, eight modern classrooms were added to Maplewood Gym.

And on one chilly October morning, right in the middle of the school year, the kids emptied their desks and packed up their books and belongings, lined up in single file, and marched with their teachers, class by class, those two familiar blocks one last time. This time it would be forever — or for 61 school years, anyway.  At the new Maplewood School, centerpiece now to the newly consolidated School District 26, they would continue on, leaving their old schoolhouse behind.

Once a Mustang, Always a Mustang
That Maplewood School excelled in its mission of educating Cary’s children is a matter of course. More than 90 percent of its students met or exceeded state standards, it earned multiple Academic Excellence Awards from the Illinois Board of Education and it was named in 2006 one of the Top Five Suburban Schools by Chicago Magazine. Beyond the report cards and the test scores, however, what was perhaps most uniquely accomplished at Maplewood — the thing that kept alumni coming back to a grade school for years, even decades, after graduation — was a true sense of community. Indeed, it’s a lifelong identity: Once a Mustang, Always a Mustang.

It is a hot summer day, mid-July, 2010, several weeks after the final bell has rung, yet Maplewood School is not empty. The air conditioning unit chugs away, struggling to cool the old building. Boxes and bins full of materials and memories still line the halls, posters, plaques and the occasional child’s art project still occupy the walls, and the Cary Park District is there, too, running summer camps. In ones and twos, former teachers stop by to wrap up one last bit of business.

‘Something Special’ Happened There
“It’s nice to drive up and see cars in the lot, some classrooms full of kids,” says Judi Spizzirri, who devoted 30 school years as a teacher at Maplewood (1979-2010). Spizzirri has moved scores of boxes of books and supplies from her old classroom at Maplewood to her new one at Briargate Elementary, where she will start teaching this fall.

“We loved our old building,” she said. “We lived with its quirks — usually — like the boiler alarm that chose to go off whenever it wanted. And we had our share of animal adventures: deer in the playground, bats in the belfry, pigeons in the entryway. I remember the children once asking, ‘can we go pet the deer?’ Hah! That was not encouraged.

“One of my favorite memories was when Jim Valley of Paul Revere and the Raiders came out one day with his guitar and, together with the students, composed our school song. The kids loved that, because they were so involved. Maplewood was a wonderful place, more than just ‘the neighborhood school’ — something truly special happened there.”

“It was a sense of community,” Stacy Nordengren added, yet finds the words difficult to find. “I cannot capture it in a couple of sentences.” Nordengren, a former student-turned-teacher at Maplewood, is a second-generation Mustang.

“My mother was among the first class to attend in 1948,” she said. “And before that, my grandmother used to go to the old gym building when it was used for movies and socials.

“It was a family. When one of us got ill, it was like a family member was ill. So, yes, the last day was hard. In fact, the last three or four months … it was the ‘last’ everything — the last field day, the last variety show, the last assembly — that really hit you. That final day of class was a bit subdued, a little somber. Usually, kids run out of the building ready to tackle the summer. Not that day.

“I taught at Maplewood School from 1985 through last school year, and I’ve never been anywhere else,” Nordengren added. Nordengren, who will join Judi at Briargate this coming fall, laughs and thinks out loud: “I’ll have to make sure I show up at the right building!”

Lasting Impressions
“The thing I remember most about Maplewood,” says Lisa Cummings, a student at Maplewood in the ’70s, “was that it was full of new experiences.” For Cummings, looking back, it was all about the teachers who provided these experiences.

“My 6th grade music teacher, Mrs. Ward, was very influential in sparking a lifelong interest in music as a hobby,” she said. “In class, everyone learned to strum a few chords on the ukulele, which inspired me to learn to play the guitar. I received a guitar for my birthday and joined the Guitar Club. Mrs. Ward also formed a chorus, and we did a few concerts and went Christmas caroling. Mrs. Ward taught us a harmony to ‘Silent Night’ that some of us probably still add to the song to this very day!

“Mr. Toomey was my 6th grade Social Studies teacher. He was a very hands-on teacher, and we learned a lot from him. During our archeology unit, each class had a plot staked out in the woods behind the houses on Krenz Avenue. During this make-believe archaeology dig, each student made an artifact, placed it in the plot and buried it. Then each class dug up another class’s plot. We roped it off into nine sections, dug up our treasures and mapped them.”

“What struck me most,” says Thom Gippert, who after a teaching stint at Maplewood School in 2003-2004 returned to serve as the school’s final principal (2007-2010), “was how far Maplewood reached.”

Gippert, who becomes the new principal at Deer Path Elementary this fall, is convinced that alumni must reside in all 50 states.

“Last year, a guy from that inaugural 1948 class, now living in Denver, just walked in off the sidewalk to see his old school,” Gippert recalled. “Each year I met or corresponded with people like that, from all over the country. Maplewood really was a centerpiece to so many lives. I received one letter from a former student living in Joplin, Mo., just a few days before the decision was made to close the school. I had to write back with the sad news. That gentleman actually drove round trip — 12 hours in a single day — to attend our End of Year Assembly and to say his own goodbyes to Maplewood.

“We are leaving a building,”  was the principal’s message to those assembled that day. “Not the people in that building.”

Always Growing
“On my first day on the job,” recalls Kevin O’Connor, who for 17 school years was principal at Maplewood (1989-2007), “I was given a hard hat and a shovel to pose with for the picture of the ground breaking ceremony.” O’Connor, now residing in Florida, speaks of new additions being made to Maplewood to help support the growing Village of Cary as it headed toward new millennium.

“Over the years, we added playgrounds, thanks to PTO efforts, installed new roofs, installed carpeting, painted continuously and upgraded with furniture, signage, indoor murals,” O’Connor said. “In 2006, we worked with neighbors and the Village of Cary to coordinate the complete reconstruction of Krenz Ave in front of the school. As a result we had to say goodbye to the 50-year-old maple trees that had been planted when the school opened and replace them with new trees. Through each of these changes, the ‘core’ remained, reminding me over and over that a building is just a building. It’s the people in the building who make the difference.

“When I first heard about the closing, I initially felt like I was hearing about the death of a family member or very close friend,” O’Connor added. “I spent one third of my life as an employee of Maplewood and District 26. I felt a loss, even though I was removed both in the three years I had left and in the distance in which I now live. I was able to attend the celebration of Maplewood on May 15. It was a bittersweet, but very special and positive day. Through the years, Maplewood has experienced many changes. The closing can be viewed as the ultimate change. However, I take solace and pride in knowing that all the spirit, energy, support, education and camaraderie that Maplewood created and maintained in 62 years can now be spread to further enhance the other District 26 schools.

“Even though the school is now closed, this spirit will not fade,” O’Connor continued. “Maplewood is much more than a building. It is a history and a people that will continue for many years.”