WALES — As students left Wales Central School on Tuesday for summer vacation, three school department bus drivers drove an extra time in front of the school, honking horns in a celebratory fashion.

Children on the bus smiled and waved. The faculty stood out front, cheering and waving students off for the last time.

Wales Central School is closed for good. This year the school had 58 students in grades K-2. It was the only school in this small, tightknit farming community.

Shrinking enrollment and tighter budgets prompted the closing. In February, Wales residents voted 104-98 to close the school rather than face higher property taxes.

“It’s a very sad day,” said kindergarten teacher Barbara Mathieu as she put things away in her classroom. “We pretty much are packed up, getting ready to leave by the end of the month.”

The building will be turned over to the town. In the fall, a few students will go to Sabattus and a few are transferring to nearby districts, but most will go to the Libby-Tozier School in Litchfield, said Litchfield-Wales-Sabattus Superintendent James Hodgkin.

“We’re still looking at bus runs,” he said. “Some parents are struggling with that, that the youngest kids are going farther to school. We’re trying to make our longest bus runs be less than 45 minutes.”

Teachers will transfer to Litchfield, Hodgkin said. Initially, the school secretary and janitor were slated to lose their jobs. A job has since been found for the secretary, Hodgkin said.

Parents interviewed Tuesday said they were sad, but accepting of the situation.

“It’s too bad,” Dawn Ham said. “It’s a great school. The children all got individual attention. Everybody knows everybody. The eighth-graders were great for the kindergartners. We don’t get that where we’re going now.”

Daughter Maya Ham, 9, attended Wales for three years. “It was nice. I liked the teachers,” Maya said. “My new school is far from home.” Taking the bus to Litchfield takes 45 to 50 minutes.

“She gets bus sick,” her mother said.

This fall her children are transferring to Monmouth. It’s closer, Ham said.

Mother of three Shannon Pinard said she wished her children could go to Wales Central School “straight through the eighth grade. It’s such a close-knit community.”

She said she didn’t agree with the decision to close, but “you’ve got to adapt and go with it.”

While teachers were sad, the last day of school was happy for students, music teacher Gary Fuller said.

“We’re celebrating a school that meant a lot to a lot of kids.” Teaching there was “wholesome,” he said.

After students left, second-grade teacher Becky Ledger’s smile turned to tears. Wales was “a great community atmosphere,” she said. “My students are so special to me. I had a great group. I’m going to miss them a lot.”

Her students are going to the third grade at the Carrie Ricker Elementary School. “I’m going to be at the Libby-Tozier,” a prekindergarten to grade two school.

It was a tough year knowing the school was closing, “but we kept our heads up for the students,” she said. Students were prepared with a “step-up” day visiting their new schools.

There are some positives, Ledger said. “It’s going to be a fun year next year. We’ll have a lot of colleagues to work with and bounce ideas off.”

What becomes of the school building, with two floors, a gym, a library, a music room, a full kitchen and a cafeteria, is undecided. Wales selectmen are forming a committee to look into that, town Treasurer Sharon Siegel said.

bwashuk@sunjournal.com

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