Final bell tolls for elementary school
Posted by Webmaster on 08/17/06

As printed in the Asbury Park Press:

NEPTUNE TOWNSHIP BUYS PROPERTY; ADOPTS REDEVELOPMENT PLAN

BY MICHELLE SAHN
COASTAL MONMOUTH BUREAU

NEPTUNE — Edythe Douglass stood in front of Ridge Avenue School on Wednesday, clutching a brick from the old building.

One of her daughters, who lives in California, was upset when she heard about plans to tear the school down. So Douglass asked a member of the crew demolishing the school this week to give her a brick, so she could tell her daughter she salvaged something from the place that held so many memories.

Douglass, 83, of Shorebrook Circle was one of a handful of township residents who stopped by the school Wednesday morning. Its demolition began Tues-day, and work was expected to continue Wednesday afternoon.

The school, built in 1924, will be replaced by Midtown Community Elementary School, which is under construction a few blocks away, near Route 33 and Embury Avenue. Meanwhile, Neptune Township has struck a deal with the school district to purchase the Ridge Avenue School property for $2.26 million.

The township's governing body already adopted a redevelopment plan for the property, in the Midtown section, and plans to seek proposals from developers interested in building housing there. Under the deal, the school district is paying for the demolition work.

Township officials initially suggested 76 homes be built there; however, Mayor Thomas J. Catley said, officials heard residents' concerns about density "loud and clear," and they do not anticipate the final project will be as dense.

While the replacement school is being built, students are taking classes in modular rooms nearby. Construction is expected to be complete by the spring, said Kevin McElroy, a spokesman for the New Jersey Schools Construction Corp.

Meanwhile, for the past two years, the state leased Ridge Avenue School for $335,000 a year, so students from nearby Asbury Park could take classes there while their own school, Thurgood Marshall Elementary, underwent renovations. Those students are scheduled to be back in their own school in September.

As for Douglass, all five of her children attended Ridge Avenue School, and she was active in the parent-teacher association. Teachers were friendly and good role models, recalled Douglass, who lived on Heck Avenue when her children were young.

She said her four living children, who range in age from 61 to 55, are successful. One owns a human resources business, another is a budget analyst for the government. Another works for a radio station, and the fourth is retired.

"It all started with the education they got here," she said.

Gail Oliver, 54, of West Lake Avenue attended kindergarten through sixth grade at the school. When she was 3 years old, her mother brought her to a recital there, she said.

"It's where I got started with dancing," she said. "She put me on the stage (when the show was over), and I've been dancing ever since."

Arden R. Thorne, 82, of Myrtle Avenue remembers when the huge trees at the edge of the school property were tiny.

Nate Cave, 62, also of Myrtle Avenue, said in his day, when teachers gave instructions students followed them. If they did not, they would be tapped with a ruler, said Cave, a member of the Ridge Avenue eighth-grade class of 1957.

"The biggest fear was teachers sending a note home to your parents, because you knew you were in a world of trouble," he said. "They taught self-respect and pride."