A farewell to Russell Elementary
Aging Moscow school stages final carnival before closing its doors
MOSCOW — Parents, children and teachers filled the halls of Moscow’s Russell Elementary school on Friday evening during one of the last community events to be held in the century-old school.
The annual carnival organized by the Russell and West Park Elementary parent action teams featured games, prizes and food for all community members who wanted to visit.
The carnival raises funds for school events as well as the grants that the parent action teams award to teachers, said Russell Principal Marianne Sletteland.
She said the funds will be applied to West Park Elementary now that Russell is being shut down after this school year. The Moscow School Board voted in March to permanently close Russell Elementary for financial and facility needs.
Sletteland and parent action team member Alexis Bailey said the closure causes mixed feelings.
“I totally understand why we need to close the school because it’s definitely falling apart in certain ways,” Bailey said. “But it’s a lovely school, so it’s sad, too.”
Bailey believes the carnival will continue at West Park.
This is always a bittersweet time of year for Russell fifth-grade teacher Katelynn Lyons. She has to say goodbye to her students, who will move on to middle school.
“I love the carnival because they come back and I get to see the students that I made such good relationships with,” she said.
Lyons said the carnival will never be the same if it moves to West Park, but she still believes the Russell closure will “end up being a really good thing for our district.”
She just hopes the old school is not forgotten.
“Russell’s an amazing school and it served a lot of people for a lot of years and I hope that it’s remembered for all of the amazing things that happened here,” she said.
In Lyons’ classroom Friday, students participated in the classic carnival game of trying to knock down milk jugs by throwing a ball. A foam ax throwing competition was taking place in a nearby classroom, and the ever-popular cakewalk drew a crowd in the Russell gym.
Mani Kuan’s 5-year-old son, Alex, a West Park student, was able to experience his first carnival at Russell. Kuan said he told her about this event weeks ago and would not let her forget to take him
“He kept reminding me every single day,” she said.
Russell fifth-grader Morrissey Clinger said her experience at Russell has been “really fun overall” and has enjoyed the numerous field trips and activities like the carnival.
She also shared mixed feelings about Russell’s closure.
“It’s sad but it’s probably what’s needed because there’s a few things that could be better here in terms of construction,” she said.
Clinger was joined by her father, Jordan Clinger, who appreciated how the school district administration is handling the big change, but understood the emotions that come with it.
“It’s sad to see places go that have memories,” he said.
Kuipers can be reached at akuipers@dnews.com.
