Schools
Mableton principal, organizers planning day to exchange elementary school’s memories
Organizers are planning "Remember Mableton Day" for Mableton Elementary School.
Mableton families spanning at least two generations have attended , a historic community cornerstone.
Former Gov. Roy Barnes was one of the school's most recognizable attendees, but there are thousands of others.
While a new school is slated for construction, Principal Kym Eisgruber and other community leaders are planning a celebration allowing former students to say their goodbyes to the 59-year-old building.
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Eisgruber and organizers, Eddy Barber and Joe Daniell, are planning “Remember Mableton Day” tentatively scheduled for April 28, 2012. The celebration will be open to the public, especially those with connections to the school.
Sharing stories and showing pictures of daily life at the school should allow the alumni to share nostalgic moments and reawaken childhood memories.
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The celebration also will be a way to document the gathering for those who hold the elementary school dear.
“We hope to get as many community members together to send in old photos and try to display them and have activities and memories,” Eisgruber said. “They can tour the existing school and have their last goodbyes.”
According to the Mableton Elementary website, Mableton Elementary was built in 1952 after the first school burned down in 1948. Mableton Elementary is located at 5220 Church St.
Construction of the new school is slated for June 2012, Eisgruber said, and is funded by Cobb County’s 2004 Special Local Option Sales Tax.
Barber, 60, vividly remembers moments he had experienced while a student at the school in 1956.
“I started first-grade there, and Mrs. Cleo Capps was my teacher,” he said. “I learned to read there with her. She was one of the first teachers to teach reading by phonics.”
During the celebration, people will have the opportunity to tour the old building for the last time.
“We’re trying to get folks to go as far back as we can and offer any memories – maybe pictures and annual yearbooks – that they may pass to the new school,” Barber said.
In addition to sharing memories, Eisgruber is hoping that a few of the community’s prominent leaders will talk about the school during the celebration.
“We want to take memories from the old school into the new [school],” she said.
