READING — Reading Elementary has closed the doors on nearly 150 years of education in northeast Lyon County.
Built in 1875, the school had its last official day of operation Friday. Reading becomes the second USD 251 school to close this decade, following Admire in 2010. Community leaders and the district are working on a plan to repurpose the building and property, although those discussions just formally started earlier this month.
Teachers and staffers have stayed positive from last month’s decision to close the school to the closing bell Friday afternoon. Most students will stay in USD 251 and head to Americus Elementary or North Lyon County Junior High, and teacher Amy Crawford says the transition should be smooth.
Reading’s future has been cloudy for at least the past 20 years, according to staffers. The high school closed in 1981, so over the past almost 40 years Reading has had either an elementary-junior high or, most recently, an elementary school.
Ultimately, declining enrollment and increasing education costs per students were the deciding factors as the USD 251 Board of Education voted just over a month ago to close the school — a move that could save the district around $225,000. There was some hope renovations after the 2011 tornado, which many said made Reading the most structurally sound school in the district, could have averted last month’s decision.
After district voters decided against approving three separate bond issues over the past three years — two for a K-12 facility and one for a K-8 building — a late push developed to turn Reading into a charter school specializing in dyslexia education. However, several board members said there was no guarantee out-of-district parents would take students with dyslexia to Reading if the board agreed to keep the school open and change the curriculum.
Crawford says she will always have fond memories of her time at the school.
Photos by Chuck Samples/KVOE News
{gallery}Last Day for Reading Elementary USE{/gallery}
