After 50 years of students walking the halls of North Elementary, located in the Highland Park community of Elkins, the school closed its doors for good on June 5. The Randolph County Board of Education voted last year to close the school.   

Leading up to the final day, students gathered and sang an emotional farewell song to classmates and staff members, and the North School Polar Bear mascot made one final appearance. 

North School has been a big part of the Elkins community since its opening in 1976. During that time many teachers and students have graced the halls of the school, which served children from the Montrose and Kerens area of the county, along with Highland Park.

One former teacher at North School, Donna Hamrick, taught there for 37 years, from the school’s opening in 1976 until her retirement in 2013. Hamrick recalled North Elementary’s first school year, and how the school transformed into being a huge part of the community.  

Submitted photo North School  Elementary students get an up-close look at a butterfly while enjoying an outdoor project at the school about 15 years ago.

“When we first opened up it was a combination of several smaller elementary schools that consolidated into North School,” Hamrick told The Inter-Mountain. “It was a busy year, with the kids getting used to one another and the changes that were being made. But as time went on, it became more of a community school. It made it a place where it was a culture, and an environment where the kids really succeeded.”       

Hamrick said that many of the staff members she worked with at North were long-term employees, who ended up being more like family.     

“There wasn’t a lot of turnover for the most part. People liked it there because we were more like family,” Hamrick said. “It wasn’t like a workplace, it was like a work family at North School. And until you are in that type of environment, it’s hard to understand. And we had parents who were supportive of everything that we did and they became a part of our family.”     

Students who attended North Elementary School in its last year are being transitioned to Jennings Randolph Elementary School for the upcoming school year. The Randolph County Board of Education plans to auction off the school building and its property.     

“When I was there, we saw second and third generations of families come through North School,” Hamrick said. “And I’m sure it was still like that today… Once you were a North School student, you were always a North School student.”

Submitted photo Multiple generations of some families attended North School Elementary. Former North teacher Donna Hamrick, standing at left, poses with her former students, Shanna Scarberry Parlock, top right, and her children Emma Parlock and Isiah Parlock.

Submitted photo Former North Elementary teacher Donna Hamrick stands alongside one of her former classes at the school. Hamrick taught at North for 37 years, from its opening to her retirement in 2013.

Submitted photo Two former North School students from 2013 play with a yellow chick while in class at the school. North Elementary School closed for good at the end of the school year earlier this month.