Tears, Excitement Mark Closing of Clapp School

A few students and a teacher got teary on the playground.

But students in kindergarten through grade five who left the for the last time Friday afternoon and their parents seemed generally to be looking forward to going to a new elementary school in the fall, be it the new or the .

After the final dismissal bell rang at the Clapp-Goodyear School at 2:40 Friday afternoon, student Kelsey Ficociello was really sad, she said, her eyes tearing as she hugged some friends tightly.  Kelsey will be going into third grade at the Goodyear School in the fall. Some of her friends won’t be going there with her.

The Clapp School is closing in a few days as a public school, in anticipation of the new Goodyear Elementary School opening.

Clapp teacher Shannon McDonough, who has taught kindergarten there for 10 years, squatted down to look one of her students, Rylee Mazzarella, in the eye. She’s going to the Goodyear School; he, to the White School. Rylee is OK with the change, said his mom, Melissa Mazzarella. It was McDonough whose eyes moistened as she said good-bye to Rylee.

Sadness is part of the end of school every year, according to McDonough. This year two more layers of emotions sit on top of that, she said: another layer of sadness because the school is closing and, on top of that, a layer of excitement about what’s coming.

Woburn Patch also talked randomly to half a dozen adults waiting to pick their children up at the Clapp-Goodyear School after the final bell.

“All of us (have) mixed emotions,” said Terry McCabe, picking up a first-grader and a second-grader. Students are excited about going to the new Goodyear School, McCabe said, but also disappointed that some of their friends won’t be there with them.

Dad Gaston Ruiz, whose son spent kindergarten and first grade at the Clapp School, said he son was looking forward to attending the Malcolm White because his second-grade teacher from the Clapp School will be there, too.

Dorothy Cayton said her grandson will be happy to return to the Goodyear, with his cousins. Next year, he’ll be able to walk to school, she pointed out, instead of needing a ride.

Mom Katie Marshall said kids “are not phased” by changing schools next year. She was picking up a kindergartener and a first-grader who never attended the old Goodyear School, she said. When she was in fourth grade, Marshall said her school closed. She went to a different school and “it was no big deal.” As a driver, she said,  “Parking here (at the Clapp School) is insane.”

Dot McBride was “feeling very sad” herself Friday as she waited for her grandson, who completed fifth grade this year. “A little of my heart is here,” she said, identifying herself as a former Woburn teacher about 30 years ago. McBride’s daughter always wanted the Clapp to be a neighborhood school, McBride said.

Susan Sutton saw four children through the Clapp School. Her last child finished fifth grade there Friday.  “I lucked out," she said. Sutton said she did not want to see the Clapp close. Students from the Clapp and the old Goodyear School mingled well, she said, while the new Goodyear was being built.

Clapp-Goodyear Principal Christopher Heath offered this perspective. “We just completed a wonderful school year with our students,” he e-mailed Woburn Patch Thursday. “I know the skills attained and the friendships made over the last few years here at the school will have a lasting impact on the students. Though this school community has had some transitions over the last few years, we all feel confident that our efforts to work as a family and school team has made this year one of much growth and success.”

Out on Hudson Street, crossing guard Harold Magee experienced a memorable moment himself Friday afternoon. He held up his red “stop” sign to a vehicle traveling down the street for the last time. He’ll be going back to the Goodyear, he said.  Magee came out of retirement in 1992 to become a crossing guard, after working, he said, for 40 years in the Woburn Police Department, the last 22 of those years as traffic sergeant. For Magee, crossing students at the Goodyear is a better fit than at the Clapp. He lives, he explained, five houses down from the Goodyear School.