|
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
|
The world was a different place in 1958. Gas was 24 cents a gallon, houses cost $30,000, and the 680 freeway didn’t exist. October of that year marked a new beginning of sorts in the Danville School District with the opening of the brand new $600,000 Montair Elementary School.
Montair is celebrating its 50th anniversary this month. It opened Oct. 5, 1958, replacing the former Danville Elementary School, which closed down when the student population outgrew the facility. Around 400 students going to Danville were bused from throughout the district to attend the new school.
Alamo resident Bruce Marhenke was a teacher at Montair when it first opened and said the school today is a little different than it was back then.
“Well, we didn’t have the big building there where the library is,” he recalled. “And there were walnut trees everywhere. The whole grounds were loaded with walnut trees.”
Marhenke, who had been living in Berkeley at the time of his hiring, had to make some adjustments to the slightly more rural lifestyle of Danville.
“This one day there was an airplane coming low and this stuff started coming out…. I made the kids get down because I thought something was happening and one of the kids said, ‘Mr. Marhenke, that’s just a crop duster.'”
The first principal of Montair was Maevis Wood. She, along with her sister Charlotte, carved out names for themselves in education here in Danville.
“Maevis Wood is someone I would genuinely call an educator,” Marhenke said. “A lot of times in this day and age when we’re teaching for tests and things like that, a lot of principals have become administrators instead of educators.”
Current Montair Principal Matt Hermann said that while education has changed over the years, Maevis Wood’s guiding principles remain.
“It’s different now. We’re trying to understand the needs of all our learners,” he noted. “We use a lot of different forms of instruction – audio, video, kinesthetic. But we are dedicated to seeing all our students succeed.”
When Montair opened, classes would have 30-35 students, compared to now when kindergarten to second grade classes have 20 students and third to fifth grade classes are at 30.
Another difference is in how schools are funded. Changes in the property tax funding formula over the years have affected how much money schools receive. In 1958, fundraising was not an issue widely discussed, whereas in 2008 many programs wouldn’t exist without the benefit of funds raised through a variety of means.
During a day off school in early October, students at Montair scoured the streets of Danville on an information treasure hunt. Given clues by Principal Hermann, the students, accompanied by 70 parent chaperones, went to locations around town to find the answers to questions. Those answers would speed them on to the next clue.
“This was a fundraiser for our PTA,” Hermann said. “Kids either got a flat donation or pledges based on the number of clues found.” He added that the idea of the treasure hunt is based on a similar annual event held in San Francisco’s Chinatown each year.
Kelly McKenna and Kerry Morone are sisters living in Danville and alumni of Montair. Now their children go to school there. McKenna said there are some big differences between when she attended the school 30 years ago and now.
“The main difference is things like technology, the kids all go to computer classes,” she said. “It seemed so much simpler. You had one teacher in one classroom. And now as early as kindergarten they go to computer class.”
Morone said her memory of the school is one of happiness. “It’s still a happy, friendly environment. Kids walking to school, riding their bikes. That’s still happening. It hasn’t changed much and it has a nice feel to it.”
McKenna agreed. “I think it’s really the comforting feeling. The down-home feeling. Not a lot of bells and whistles, everything’s still pretty much the same. It’s that home feeling.”
Hermann said that while they are excited to be marking their 50th year as a school, their celebration will be fairly low key.
“We thought it would be fun to incorporate the anniversary with something else school related so what we decided to do is get the word out and invite the alumni to our carnival,” he said. “We thought it would be nice to invite the community and see if we can get as many of our former students as we can to come for a visit.”
The carnival is set for noon to 4 p.m., Sunday, Oct. 19. It will have games, food, prizes, an obstacle course, cake walk and other activities – plus a chance for alumni to reminisce about school days 50 years ago.
-
Montair students look on as workmen install tiles with their artwork around the drinking fountains in 1958. Teacher Bruce Marhenke said he liked the tile idea so much he used it when he became principal at Vista Grande Elementary. -
Members of Team Pink Panther point to their final clue at the Museum of the San Ramon Valley during a downtown scavenger hunt. Members of the team include (l-r) Avery Huver, Megan Ravin, Kacie Donaldson, Brooke George, Anvitu Sharma, Makena Shilich, Cathy Sigamony and Alexis DiPaola, all second-graders at Montair. -
Tiles created decades earlier and decorating the drinking fountains were removed and installed as part of a “memory garden” dedicated Oct. 19, 2007. Photo by Geoff Gillette.
Congratulations to Montair School. I had alumnae/i of Montair in my classes at San Ramon High in the 1970s, back when computers were main frames and no one had e-mail accounts or My Space pages.
Once in a while, I’ll run into a former student. Many of them have children of their own. I hope they sometimes remember their teachers–from Montair or any school–as they help their own kids with homework and imagine what the world will be like for their offspring in another fifty years.
B. Lynn Goodwin
http://www.writeradvice.com
Oh, I am sorry I missed the carnival. I would have loved to have brought my kids. I went to scchool at Montair in the 70’s and it was a great time to be a kid. Someone hit the nail on the head when they said their memories of Montair were of a happy place.
I think I remember most of my teachers… Mrs. Buckley, Mrs. Hanson, Mr. Kelly, Mrs. Mecario, Mrs. Bishop, Mrs. Henzie, Mrs. Pauslitch, Mrs. Vasquez, Mr. Donhert and of course, the school secretary, Mrs. Davis and Principal Mr, Deffenbaugh.
I hope all of them continued in teaching as they made an impact on me, if I can remember all of those names after 30+ years.
Happy Birthday, Montair…
Was the previous school on the same campus? I began kinderg in 1959. We had just moved to Danville from Illinois for my dad’s job with Kaiser.
Fellow Montairians and I were recently reminiscing on FB about our blankets
in Mrs. Randall’s kindergarten. One special child got to be the fairy who
woke everyone from their naps. One child would get to sleep in the cradle!
My first kiss (definitely a quicky) was in a barrel on the kinderg playground.
My other teachers were Mrs. Hogan, Mrs. Burkett, Miss Harrison (who later married teacher Mr. Lowery, much to our titillation), Mrs. Ledger, Mrs. Hartley, and Mrs Bryant. Yes, Mrs. Davis was the ever-present secretary. Mrs Wood seemed pretty old to us. It also seemed weird (at the time) that her sister was principal of Charlotte Wood. I have some very strong, good memories of Montair. I now teach third graders in Gilroy. My dad (age 92 and pretty healthy) lives in Rossmoor, now, and my sister-in-law lives in Alamo. I always miss Danville when I drive through. Many things still stand, but boy, are many things different. I had a great childhood there, roaming the hills, climbing trees, fence-walking, and wading in the creek.
I sure wish there was a way to know where these teachers are now. I attended Montair from K-6th in the 70’s and have many fond memories of many teachers. Dueplante (spelling?), Donhert, Bishop, Davis, Hansen, Buckley and Isola. Where are they now? I’m sure most if not all have long retired as I’m now a 45 year old dad myself. Ahhh the days of Montair, sure do miss them.
Montair School has been a real family affair for our family. My brother Sean and I attended Montair when it first opened in 1959. It was such a wonderful neighborhood school. We walked to school with all of our friends. I still remember playing jscks and jump-rope at recess!! My 5 daughters all attended Montair school and I hope someday some of my grandchildren will be able to go there also!! Congrats Montair!!