Category Archives: History

Dr. Houseknecht’s First Year

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When Dr. Houseknecht was hired as principal at Edgewood Elementary in the summer of 1990, he rented a house on Lyons Road near Davis Park. He only lived there a month, but it gave him insight into the tight-knit community where he would spend the next twenty-nine years. Dr. Houseknecht, who now lives in Greenwich, recently announced his retirement.
 

At his first Edgewood Picnic, a tradition that was already in place, he made a point of being visible to parents and students — and accessible. He tried to meet as many members of the community as he could and approached students to ask them about themselves. “The kids always told me I was all over the place trying to be everywhere at once, and it was true,” he says.

A young idealist in his mid-30s, Dr. Houseknecht says he didn’t want to get caught up in a principal’s administrative duties all day. He’d earned his doctorate in education so he could spend time with kids and make a difference in their lives, so that’s what he tried to do: He walked the school hallways, stopped into the library and gymnasium, sat with students and asked about what they were learning. He began organizing more assemblies to promote school spirit.

During his first year, he also started what would go on to be one of his proudest achievements: the Student Involvement Council, a student government program, to help develop students’ leadership skills and give kids a say in school decisions and policies. “Teachers didn’t seem to care if I pulled kids out of the classroom as long as it wasn’t during lesson time,” he says, “so we decided to meet during lunch.”

He says that the Student Involvement Council has had as much of an impact on the Edgewood faculty as it has on students.

“It keeps us honest and balanced,” he says. “It encourages us to check in with kids and reminds us that this school is about them.” Student Involvement Council still meets during lunch about eighteen times during the school year, and over the years, Dr. Houseknecht says he uses it to test ideas and gain feedback from the kids.

At the end of his first year at Edgewood, he asked students on the Council to list the twenty best parts of their school year. He was surprised what turned up: a fourth grade science test (this shocked him), activities where the kids were able to manipulate objects, field trips (less surprising). He’s gone on to ask kids to talk about the best parts of their school year every year since. He finds it helpful when it comes to informing his job and those of his colleagues. “It helps us see the school day from the child’s point of view,” he says. “We often take what we hear and consider how to incorporate more of it into the school day.”

Is There An Edgewood Ghost?

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Edgewood kids love to spook each other about the ghost that allegedly roams the halls of our 100-year-old school. Some report that they’ve gone into the bathroom and closed the door behind them, only to come out of the stall and find the bathroom door wide open. Others say they’ve seen the water fountain turn on by itself as they walk by. One third grader recently reported he saw a ghost in the bathroom mirror. Standing behind him.

Cue the screams.

Dr. Houseknecht, who has roamed the halls himself for 28 years, says there’s absolutely no such thing as a ghost in the building. Has he seen flickering lights? Spooky sounds or ghostly shadows creeping along stairwells?

“No,” he laughs, sitting in his office, which, he says, isn’t haunted either. “Kids just love to tell these stories. We’ve had kids talking about an Edgewood ghost for at least 20 years.”

He chalks it up to how old the building is, and how some of the nooks and corners in the halls can make a child’s imagination run wild. “Plus, they just love the idea of ghosts,” he says. “It’s fun to tell those stories, even if the kids believe deep down that there is no such a thing.”

At Edgewood Academy, some students are studying the Edgewood ghost, and two years ago, Edgewood News published a spooky story involving the ghost and former Edgewood student (and current fourth grade teacher) Mr. Reilly.

Still, at least one second grader has reported that some kids are so scared about the idea of the ghost that they’re refusing to go in the bathroom alone. So the myth of the Edgewood ghost lives on.

Before Edgewood Was a School

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Did you know that Edgewood School is built on the site of an apple orchard? The school’s technology teacher Mr. Tomizawa documents this piece of history on his own blog, Edgewood Snapshots. Here’s what he writes:

Edgewood’s Orchard
By Paul Tomizawa

Edgewood School opened its doors 100 years ago in an apple orchard on the Cudner-Weed estate, pictured above. 

How fortunate for the teachers — an endless supply of apples! But according to Edgewood’s first principal, Mary Piedalue, the kids may have enjoyed life in an orchard the most. She once recalled that “when the apples fell into the children’s hands, they made wonderful ammunition.”

Carl Schorske, one of Edgewood’s first students, also remembered those apples. When he visited Edgewood in 2008, he told us that students gorged themselves on the Russet apples, also known as “rusty coats” for its skin texture and brownish color.

By the late 20th century, these apples were gone from the Edgewood campus. But a few years ago, we started a comeback. A team of Edgewood historians and environmentalists, made up of staff and students, gathered in front of our school and planted a tree. An apple tree.

This post first appeared on Mr. Tomizawa’s blog, Edgewood Snapshots.

Check Out Edgewood School in Miniature

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Have you seen the 3D model of Edgewood School? It sits outside the library, encased in Plexiglass. The model is a miniature, true-to-scale replica of the school.

Mr. Fitz first came up with the idea to build it almost two years ago, envisioning it as a learning tool for students. The pieces of it come apart and can demonstrate the step-by-step process of Edgewood being built through the years.

For example, here’s what Edgewood looked like when it first built in 1919…

And here’s what it looks like in 2019:

What’s more, many parts of the model are being built by the students themselves, mostly fourth and fifth graders, using the school’s new 3D printer and a program called Tinkercad. Each of the windows and the cuppola were designed in Tinkercad and printed out on plastic. A very detail-oriented student recreated the United States maps that’s painted on the blacktop in the courtyard. All the trees were made by students using Model Magic. The pieces of the building itself were cut out of Styrofoam, and the roof is made of cardboard (with the shingles painstakingly drawn in by a student).

The model isn’t finished yet — nor will it ever be. Mr. Fitz envisions it forever being in a state of flux, just as the real Edgewood building is. Some goals for the near future include drawing a blueprint of the inside of the school on transparencies to fit on top, so when you lift off the roof you can see where all the classrooms are.

But in the meantime, you can admire what’s been built, right in front of the library. It’s already very impressive, and we can’t wait to see what’s to come!