By Dakota Antelman — [email protected]
As the town prepares to unify middle school students at a gleaming new building on Old Marlboro Road, thrifty residents flocked to the Peabody and Sanborn buildings last weekend to find useful new items — and relive old memories.
Anne Remington had two children go through middle school in Concord. She said she was surprised at how sentimental she felt as she strolled Peabody’s nearly 60-year-old halls.
“[It’s] a walk down memory lane,” said Pam Howell while visiting with her husband, Select Board clerk and Middle School Building Committee member Mark Howell.
Last Saturday’s “Surplus Day” gave the public a chance to take free items staff left behind.
With the first day of classes at the new Ellen Garrison Building at Concord Middle School rapidly approaching, officials had already moved some furniture and most technology out of the old schools.
Either town interim procurement manager Gail Dowd or Schools Superintendent Laurie Hunter had the final say at each school’s doors before current students, alumni, and other visitors brought goods to their cars.
As they browsed, people ticked through their wish lists — and reflected on the end of an era.
Peabody memories
Devon Brown grew up in Concord and returned to Peabody for scientific materials. They found a spectroscope, which uses light to help determine an object’s molecular makeup.
Brown said the school was smaller than they remembered. “It’s a little bit like walking into an alternate universe,” they said.
In a teacher’s lounge, magnetic letters on a refrigerator spelled out “Goodbye Peabody.” In the gym, students left their signatures on a whiteboard. Artifacts, including a newspaper from the day the space shuttle Challenger exploded, lay in closets and cabinets.
Hannah Polakoff and Christina Stetson collected mementos for friends. Polakoff, who now lives in Holyoke, was in town to celebrate “Galentine’s Day” with CMS graduates including Stetson, who said “there were some moments where I wanted to cry” as memories of beloved Peabody teachers flooded back.
“It’s nostalgic, for sure,” Polakoff said.
Sanborn mementos
With the new CMS opening, the School Committee has voted to hand Peabody over to the town. The building’s long-term fate is undecided.
At Sanborn, which will soon meet the wrecking ball, Sebastian Moore focused on the proscenium curtain in the auditorium.
Moore, a freshman at Concord-Carlisle High School, has fond memories of CMS performing arts programs. He said he hoped to give pieces of the curtain to friends and fashion some of the fabric into clothing.
Andy Smith worked with several other people affiliated with the Concord Scout House to retrieve a ceiling-mounted projector from the auditorium.
Smith said the Scout House is “in desperate need” of audio-visual equipment for its various events. “This was a great opportunity to stop by and get some free things,” he said.
In the school library, parent Don Batsford noted what others passed over.
He pointed to a clock. “How many times have people looked at the clocks in these classrooms?” he asked. “Yet they remain there almost as a permanent fixture even though these walls won’t exist in a few weeks.”
‘Ready to roll’
Hunter greeted visitors in the Sanborn lobby. “I think the community is enjoying themselves,” she said.
After some anxiety about delays, Hunter announced last week that officials had secured the necessary permit to fully open the new middle school. The approval means CMS is on track to welcome students on February 24, as planned.
“We’re ready to roll,” she said.
