After 80 years, it's the final bell

Low enrollment, test scores force school's closure

Grover Cleveland Middle School was a quiet place yesterday afternoon.

The halls were empty, and so were the lockers. The blackboards had been wiped clean. A fat, black trash can stuffed with old documents sat in the center of the school's main office.

But these were not the obvious signs of a school out for the summer, recuperating from a year of papers, art projects, and homework. When class was dismissed yesterday afternoon, it was dismissed for good.

The closing - coincidentally, on the 100th anniversary of the death of its presidential namesake - concluded more than 80 years of history for the Fields Corner school.

"It's a strange feeling," principal Andy Tuite said as he surveyed his cluttered office after the final eighth-grade class of nearly 95 students had gone. "I couldn't talk to people today without crying. . . . I feel like that was the same dance a lot of people were doing today."

The Boston School Committee voted to close Cleveland in late 2005 amid declining enrollment, which had dropped from 750 in 2000 to 350 in 2005, and low test scores.

The school lost a grade each year, and remaining students were allowed to continue until they finished.

After a year of renovation, students from Patrick O'Hearn Elementary School will move in. The Harbor Pilot Middle School, which shares the building, will remain.

Tuite was relatively new to the school as principal; still, the roots grew fast and deep, he said. "I'm two years in, and I'm upset about it.

A number of factors seemed to collide to pull down enrollment, Tuite said. "As much as anything, we're truly the victims of circumstance."

The pool of middle school-age students in the area was small, and they had a number of schools to choose from, he said. Parents favored the others.

Over the years, the Charles Street school had also gained a reputation as a rough-and-tumble place.

Between 2001 and 2004, three students were stabbed on or near school property.

But at a small gathering yesterday to say goodbye, administrators said the image was not warranted.

"It's our reputation on the outside," said Marybeth Bernard, who served as assistant principal and has been at the school for 30 years. "If one or two kids cause a problem, then it's the whole school."

Those on the inside know better, she said.

Bernard spent part of the afternoon filling the small cardboard boxes that littered the office floor. Little pieces of tape clung to her office window where she had torn down pictures of students.

Like the rest of the faculty, she is assured another job, although she did not yet know where.

"To say it's not easy is an understatement," she said. She paused for a second, her lips quivering. "I think we all worry about the kids that we service."

Martin Ngo, who just finished the eighth grade, is one of those students. He said he has collected his teachers' phone numbers. He will be in touch.

"I love my teachers, and they love me," he said as he waited in the school office after class was let out. "They take care of me like I'm their family."

Ngo ran his fingers down an electronic piano keyboard the staff gave him, a leftover from the closing school.

"I'm not really good at it, but I'm going to try," he said.

Without the staff's support, Ngo is not sure he would have finished middle school

Now, he's off to high school.

"I'm going to try my best," he said.