Hinsdale School closes

WINSTED — The last day of school for students of the Winchester School District was Monday, June 13.

Three days earlier, on Friday, June 10, a closing ceremony was held for The Mary P. Hinsdale School.

Travaglini’s plan

The school building is closing as part of School District Receiver Robert Travaglini’s budget for fiscal 2016-2017.

According to the school’s website, Hinsdale currently has 240 students in second, third and fourth grades. Students will be moved to Batcheller Elementary School.

At a public hearing on March 31, Travaglini said that closing the school would save the school district $2,020,321.

According to Travaglini’s budget figures the savings will all go back into school district operations.

Over the years, members of the Board of Education debated whether or not to close one of the district’s three school buildings.

Hinsdale has had several building structure problems throughout the years.

In August 2011, the Hinsdale building suffered an estimated $80,000 in damages due to Hurricane Irene.

According to then Superintendent Thomas Danehy, the damages occurred due to intensive flood waters.

Danehy said that the district had to undertake an extensive cleanup of water from the flood that damaged floors and hallways throughout the building.

In October 2011, mold problems were discovered throughout the school.

In November 2011, Danehy submitted a list of repairs needed to Hinsdale which included emergency lights, roof repairs, hall tiles, cracked kitchen tiles, a fire door, boilers, curbing and broken windows.

In August 2012, several fire code violations were discovered at school.

In December 2012, the school district awarded Cheshire-based Diversity Construction a project to replace and install new doors and wiring to the school building.

Principal reflects

Teachers, former students and current students all attended the June 10 closing ceremony, which was held outside the school building.

Students from both the third and fourth grades sang songs outside the building, and members of the school community spoke about memories of their time at Hinsdale.

School Principal Debra Grainsky, who will be serving as the principal of Batcheller Early Education Center next year, said she has mixed emotions about the school’s closing.

“Of course, I’m sad because I’ve been here for three years and I feel like we’ve built a wonderful school setting,” Grainsky said in an interview before the ceremony. “I have wonderful staff and wonderful children, so I’m sad to see this close. But I’m looking forward to changes that we’re all moving toward in Winchester. I believe we’re all moving in the right direction and we’re all proud of our school system.”

Grainsky said she thinks that the students and teachers at Hinsdale feel the same way she feels about the closing of Hinsdale.

“It’s hard because we have all become our own little culture,” she said. “We work well together. People who have worked together for 25 years are all now being split, so there’s some sadness in that.”

Grainsky said that the faculty and staff from Hinsdale will be divided between Batcheller and Pearson during the next school year.

Community reflects

Former Hinsdale art teacher Bonnie Boyle, who taught at the school from 1976 to 2007, was one of the many community members at the closing ceremony.

“Some of the murals that are painted in the school building are from some of my students,” Boyle said in an interview before the ceremony. “It’s a very sad day because I think this school, of all the school buildings, has the longest history. It’s a tough day. This is also such a prime location because the school is right by the library and it is within walking distance from Gilbert and Pearson.”

One of the speakers at the ceremony was Receiver Travaglini.

“Everything has a beginning and an end,” Travaglini told the audience. “But I don’t look at this situation as an end to Hinsdale. As far as this building is concerned, Hinsdale is a structure. What makes Hinsdale is all of you sitting in front of me, along with the community and parents standing and sitting in the back. It’s this community, the people who are part of this school, that is Hinsdale. It’s the spirit, the dedication and everything that you bring to this school, which you will take with you over to Batcheller and Pearson.”

Travaglini said that he did not see Hinsdale ending, but “growing and evolving into something different and something very exciting.

“As you begin the next school year, you will be entering into a school district redesign and you will have some special opportunities going into next year,” he said. “Every one of you students sitting here will have an electronic device in your hands. Our staff will have devices in their hands. So we are bringing all of you into the 21st century. You will have a lot of opportunities when it comes to science, technology and engineering. To me, you are Hinsdale. Hinsdale isn’t going away. You are carrying it with you.”

A look into the past

The next speaker at the event was Town Historian Milly Hudak.

“You had insight into the future, now I’ll give you a picture of the past,” Hudak said. “There has been a school on this property on Hinsdale Avenue for 219 years. Since 1797, there has been a schoolhouse on this property. Being a historian, it is a sad day for me to see the closing of a school on this property.”

Hudak spoke about what school was like back in the early days of Winsted.

“There were two sessions of school back then,” she said. “The boys went to school in the winter time and the girls went in the summer session. This was because the boys were needed at home on the farms during the summer for planting, weeding, growing vegetables and fruits. In the winter time, the girls at home were helping mom put up the preserves to feed the family during the winter.”

Hudak said some of the children in town did not attend school back in the early days of the town.

“Winsted back then had many factories,” she said. “Some of the children worked in the factories and couldn’t go to school until Mary P. Hinsdale opened a night school in her home to educate the children in the evening who had to work in the factories during the day.”

Hudak said that she wants everyone to remember Mary P. Hinsdale.

“I’m hoping that when the school closes that her name will not disappear from the records of this town,” Hudak said.