A fond farewell to Pine Valley School

When Sharon Rice arrived as principal of Pine Valley Elementary School in 1985, 635 children were under her wing.

This year, only 148 students are enrolled.

With numbers projected to continue declining, past and present students, parents and staff gathered at the school Friday to begin the farewell to an Academy School District 20 institution that will not see what would have been its 50th anniversary next fall.

Pine Valley's doors will close at the end of this month.

"If you think over 49 years, several hundred each year, there are tens of thousands of children that have gone through here, and this has been a part of their education," said Rice, who, as principal from 1985 to 1998, was one of only six principals to head the school in its 49 years. "These people go all around the world after they leave here and before they came here. It is a big network. Big influence."

Students and staff shared memories of the school at an assembly Friday afternoon. Afterward, parents dressed in fatigues sat on the cafeteria floor with their children, eating cake and swapping stories of what has been and what will be next.

"She's had a lot of great memories here," said Stephen Chen, whose daughter, fourth-grader Caitlyn, has attended Pine Valley since kindergarten. "She's loved all of her teachers and everything that she's done here. It has just been a wonderful school."

The Chen family is being transferred to Florida before next school year.

Tucked on Air Force Academy grounds behind Air Academy High School, Pine Valley, built for 500 students, opened its doors in 1958, when the academy was at the preschool age of 4.

Since then, the school has seen its fair share of military families come and go.

While most involved agree it is strange for these families to have to say goodbye to a school - when they are used to schools saying goodbye to them - the transitory nature of the military will help students adjust.

"He is very sad, but he knows it is necessary to close the school," said Miguel Duran, a Spanish instructor at the academy whose son, Miguel Jr., will attend first grade next year at D-20's other elementary school on academy grounds, Douglass Valley Elementary. "We have tried to explain to him that the other school will be very good, and probably most of his friends will be with him at Douglass Valley Elementary."

Ninety-five percent of Pine Valley's staff has been hired by other schools in the district, and principal Chris Hain said he is working to get the remainder placed soon.

What will become of the school building is unknown, Hain said. The school district owns the building but leases the land from the academy.

The academy plans to demolish housing in the Pine Valley neighborhood.

Although D-20's last day of school is May 28, all public schools on academy grounds will end one day early due to security concerns connected with President Bush's commencement address at the academy.

Pine Valley students can view it as a parting gift from the commander in chief.