FOREST PARK -- Like most schools nestled in the neighborhood they serve, Forest View Elementary is a walking school.
Kids walk together in groups to school. Parents stroll over to the school to see teachers.
For 30 years, the school has been the nucleus of the neighborhood, around which relationships were made and a neighborhood identity was forged.
But that ends this week when the school bell signals summer break and the closing of Forest View -- the victim of failed levies and resulting budget cuts in the Winton Woods City Schools district.
Neighbor James Robinson, 39, sees it as a profound loss to the students and the tree-lined middle-class neighborhood of modest homes.
"There have been many times my daughter has forgotten a book or left her homework here. She could run out the door of that school and get her book," said Mr. Robinson, whose daughter, Rosalyn, 9, is a third-grader.
The school, which Mr. Robinson can see from his Smiley Avenue home, "was kind of personal to us with it being so close."
After two attempts to pass school levies in 1997 failed, the district was forced to make $1.2 million in cuts. Closing Forest View Elementary was among them.
About 170 students will go to Waycross, 50 to 70 students to Cameron Park and the rest to Winton Forest, said Forest View Principal Jonathan Brown.
"It's going to be sad not walking in there next year," said Deanne Richards, whose daughter Dorian, 6, attends kindergarten. "When you dropped a kid off at the school, you knew they were safe."
When Forest View opened 1968, the neighborhood was full of youngfamilies. "When we started out, we had 700 students -- four classrooms in each grade level," said Barb Fohl, a fifth- and sixth-grade social studies teacher who has taught school at Forest View for 26 years.
Recently, the neighborhood has changed. Home buyers without children are moving in, and the number of Forest View students is dropping. So, when cuts had to be made, Forest View was one of them. "It's like being in your own home and having to move -- and it's not your choice," said Mr. Brown, who is transferring, too. He'll be principal at Waycross Elementary next school year.
"We've done a good job of not showing much emotion in front of the kids," he said. "I'm seeing parents, and I'm saying goodbye to them."
With only about 300 students, Forest View's low enrollment yielded a host of benefits.
Classes are small and the principal accessible.
"I am able to go to a student's home because it is right across the street or around the corner," Mr. Brown said. "We are right here in the hub of the community."
Parents liked the school's setup, which assigns students to the same teacher for third and fourth grade, and programs like "donuts with Dad," and "muffins with Mom."
It's been like home
Teachers and staff also feel the loss.
Pam Barone, a second-grade teacher, who has taught at Forest View for 24 years, said it has been like her home.
"I felt like I almost grew up here at Forest View," Ms. Barone said. "Many of us walk around and say we can't believe it's really happening."
Ms. Barone will go to Waycross and teach second grade. "It's like starting a new chapter in your life," she said.
She'll miss the sense of community.
"We have been a close-knit family at Forest View Elementary," she said. "There was always a lot of laughter here, a lot of hard work. There is such a caring group of people. We all worked together to help the children."
Neighborhood tries to cope
As a homeowner, Mr. Robinson is worried the school's closing will affect property values.
"I think the school was a selling point and now that selling point is gone," Mr. Robinson said.
It's the first phase of the fallout when a neighborhood school closes, say experts.
"You have the physical capital and social capital which result when people interact and work together," said Frank Smith, associate professor of education at Columbia University's Teachers College. When you close the school, people lose their sense of community. "It does destroy whatever social capital a neighborhood has," Mr. Smith said.
Thomas L. Richey, Winton Wood schools superintendent, said the district is exploring other uses for the building.
"We will probably lease it to another educational agency," Mr. Richey said. "It will create another revenue string for us. The money will go into technology."
No matter the use, the closing is emotional.
Mr. Robinson said he'll miss the sound of laughter coming from Forest View.
"When I cut the grass, I can hear the kids playing," Mr. Robinson said. "It's become a part of my life that's kind of pleasant. Now, that's going to be missed."
