Last month I wrote about the neighborhood schools for those who grew up in Fulton in the mid-1900s. We Baby Boomers had six elementary schools in our city: Walradt, Oak, and Phillip Street were on the west side of Fulton, and Fairgrieve, State, and Erie were on the east side.
Paul McKinney attended Erie Street and he started his memories by naming the advantages of neighborhood schools. “First, you spent up to seven years with the same group of kids, most of whom lived and played right around you. Second, we all walked to school fall, winter, and spring. It was darn good exercise, and it gave us time to chat with friends before and after school.”
Paul not only remembered all his classroom teachers but also other adults who worked with the schoolchildren. “Miss Turner was our school dental hygienist and Mrs. Quick was the school librarian.” And Paul’s opinion about his teachers? “[They] obviously chose teaching as a lifelong mission…and a mission it was. Those teachers seldom shared stories of home and their families. All we knew was their names and that each day they greeted us in the morning and bid us goodbye in the afternoon. It just seemed like they lived right there in school morning, noon, and night.”
Also attending Erie Street was Diane Sokolowski, who remembered the outfit she wore on her first day of kindergarten. “It was a green and white plaid dress with small red stripes in it. My hair was in a ponytail with a red ribbon. I had a nametag around my neck [that] said Diane Baldwin.”
Diane’s excellent recall described how Erie Street School looked inside. “I [walked] in the front doors of the school and saw what looked like a large circular empty space with classroom doors around it. I think there were four classrooms on that level. On each side were big dark wooden steep stairs that took you to the second floor where more rooms were and another set of big wooden stairs that took you to the principal’s office. I recall it being very dark in the school because of all the dark wood, but classrooms had windows and were lit well.”
Diane also remembered another important part of school that took place outside the building. “Erie Street’s play yard had a great hill for running up and down and sledding during the winter. I would play at the playground and basketball court during the summer. The school had black metal fire escape stairs [and] I would hate when we would have a fire drill and had to go down them. The stairs had holes in them and I felt like I was going to fall through.”
Anthony Leotta started his education at Walradt Street School in 1939. A farm boy from the Chase Road in Granby, Anthony’s father transported him to school for three years and then on to Phillip Street School for another five years. (Phillips Street went to the eighth grade.)
In sixth grade Anthony remembers passing classes for different subjects. “Ms. Schneider was the Social Studies teacher [and] was extremely nice and very compassionate with students. Ms. Ellen Frawley was the arithmetic teacher and, in my opinion, probably the best teacher in the entire school. She taught ordinary arithmetic as well as mental arithmetic. Ordinary arithmetic is computed on paper and mental arithmetic is when computations are done in the mind without writing them down. Ms. Frawley stressed mental arithmetic and rapid addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, fractions and all other facets of arithmetic. She laid the foundation for my knowledge of math.”
Numbers were to become important to Leotta later in life and he is thankful that he had Ellen Frawley. “I attribute my Syracuse University Engineering Degree and successful career as a Civil Engineer for the City of Oswego to Ms. Frawley,” Leotta noted. “God bless her soul.”
Indeed, teachers often make a profound difference in a young person’s life. Many of us have memories of a special teacher who contributed to our education and well-being. Some of those teachers possessed a natural talent to lead students, but all of them required training to get started. Every teacher in modern times begins as a student teacher, working under a master teacher. Here’s how John Mercer, who taught 32 years in Fulton’s school district, explained his start in teaching.
“I was so fortunate to have landed at Phillip Street, with so many wonderful teachers who made such a big impact on my career. Tom Brown took me under his wing when I began. He looked out for me and was always there when I had questions or situations I needed to discuss. He had the ability to connect with his students and was always quick with a word of praise or humor that put smiles on the students’ faces.
“Anne Casey was a huge help to me when I first got into my classroom and really helped get me get organized. And I always appreciated the kindness and encouragement of Mary Konowich. She would often check in on me to see how I was doing. I also had the pleasure of working with Anne DeBlois, our resource teacher at Phillip Street. I learned a lot by watching her interact with kids who had a different approach to learning.”
John then mentioned his Master Teacher, Joe Leo, who oversaw his student teaching experience. “Mr. Leo was a gifted teacher and I learned so much from him. When I walked into his classroom everything ran so smoothly and he made it look so easy. It wasn't until I was able to observe him that I began to realize the subtle complexities that he masterfully wove into everything the students did.
“Perhaps the thing I am most grateful for was Joe's willingness to let me make mistakes. He could have told me the path to take, but instead his classroom became my laboratory. He let me explore, experiment and struggle sometimes. If a lesson didn't work, I'd have to try it another way, and not necessarily his way, but another way until it was successful.”
John had more to say about Joe Leo. He also introduced me to several of Joe’s former students. In next month’s column, we’re going to look at how unique Joe was as a teacher and how special he was to young people in Fulton.
Phillips Street School, one of six elementary schools in Fulton, where lots of neighborhood kids learned and played together.