Better Than Ever

originally published March 26, 2008

I forgot about the Grand Opening of Chase Street Elementary School on Thursday evening, Mar. 20, and thereby missed seeing a lot of old friends as well as the new building. Thanks to the hospitality of Chase Street's Principal, Dr. Bonnie Jackson, I did get a personal tour of the new building the next day, and what a fine building it is. The old part is beautifully restored, and the new part is organically designed with good flow and bright classrooms. Dr. Jackson confirmed that the Chase Street staff had a lot to say about the design, and the result is a pleasing environment for teaching and learning. In addition, the two large cedars seem to have survived the construction and appear to be thriving.

When we moved from the country into town, we assumed any children we had would go to Oglethorpe Avenue School. Then we found out we were just over the line into the district served by Chase Street. What a shame, everybody said. Oglethorpe Avenue is a great school. Chase, well, too bad. We didn't think too much about it until we did have a daughter and she began to approach school age. One evening Priscilla Webb, who lived down the street and had kids at Chase Street, stopped by to invite us to an open house, saying it would be a good idea to see the school for ourselves rather than judging it by what others said.

What we found at Chase Street was a lot of people who made us feel at home in the old 1920s schoolhouse. We liked the school and the people, and we had a great five years there under the direction of Principal Harold Horton, and later June Martin. Teachers like Madge Edens, Carole Holmes, Joan Benton, Teddy Johnson, Mary Beth Gates, Verna West and Calvin Cosby remain friends today.

"Coach" Cosby was the soul and spirit of Chase Street. He did everything, and it's difficult to imagine the school without him.

Carole has retired but is back working halftime as an early intervention teacher, and the day I visited she was working in the Pre-K classroom taught by her daughter, Lillian Holmes.

Carole intervened early when I was president of the parent-teacher organization and showed me what needed doing, which, it turned out, was a lot. We had great festivals in the spring and the occasional cake auction to raise money. The parents baked some incredible cakes, and so did Mr. Horton - at least he always claimed to have baked his, though I think a suspicious supermarket cake wrapper was found in his office one year. I had the easy job of auctioneer, and the parents and students had the hard job of bidding on the cakes. You might even say we had a kind of carney shill going on, because one of the parents - whose name I can't call for fear of having his grown son teased now - would up the bid by raising his young son above his head, while I worked the crowd to a frenzy by screaming, "Cake Baby bids 10 dollars! Do I hear 11? Eleven once… Wait a minute: Cake Baby bids 12!" The crowd went wild. "Cake Baby! Cake Baby!" Cake Baby raised more money for Chase Street School than anybody other than the board of education. He is a local hero walking around among you in anonymity, but that's the way he prefers it.

Those memories came back as I toured the new Chase Street and saw all the computers and the sunny classrooms and inviting playground equipment. When we were there the board of education had to use busing to achieve racial balance, and since then, the student body has become half-Hispanic and most of the rest African-American, with a small percentage of other and white kids from the neighborhood. Parents have more options now that they are not forced into one district. Many are looking at Chase Street as a neighborhood school and wondering if it would be right for their children.

I'm sure they're attending open house evenings the way we did, and I know they can't help but be impressed with the building, equipment, teachers and students at Chase Street. Seeing what I saw this week, I wouldn't hesitate to do it all over again, although I would miss Coach Cosby and Cake Baby.

Pete McCommons

editor@flagpole.com