LAUREL — The Laurel community is bracing for the tearing down of 74-year-old Fred Graff Elementary School building at the conclusion of the school year.
The last day for the Fred Graff will be June 5, with the demolition beginning the following week.
Watch this video for a final look inside the halls:
The building is being torn down due to structural problems and old age. A new three-story facility is being built near the middle school as a replacement.
"The building is old, and it's falling apart," said Fred Graff Interim Principal and Laurel Curriculum Director Charla Wetsch on Tuesday. "The memories are always still going to be here, but the building is definitely on its last legs."
Those memories are why many are saddened by the end of Graff elementary. On Monday, residents were given the chance to walk through the halls one final time, and many signed a wall in the gymnasium with their name and a note.
"It is emotional a little bit because people's lives were tied to this space," Wetch said.
Longtime para-educator Larae McGee said she'll always have fond memories of the school building. In total, she spent 23 years helping at Fred Graff, starting in 1986 with a small break to raise her family.
"It was a special place to be, plus incredible people to work with," McGee said. "It's where I started. It's where all three of my daughters went to school."
McGee said those memories are why she was a little saddened by the news of the building, but she said it makes sense given the current condition.
"You just really get to know your building," McGee said with a laugh. "So, yeah, I was pretty sad, but we're all pretty excited because it's going to happen and it needs to happen."
Part of that excitement is brought by the promised upgrade of the new building. Construction is underway, with the expectation that the facility will be open by the start of next school year.
Both Wetch and McGee are confident there won't be any issues creating new memories there — knowing it takes more than four walls to make a classroom.
"It's the people," Wetch said. "It's the teachers and the community that the teachers build within the space that creates those types of memories."
