That's me, standing under the flag. Written on the bottom of the blackboard: "June 16, 1960 Happy Birthday Burt" (My birthday is in July, so we had this party early). To the right of the blackboard is the reflection of the camera flash, bouncing off the steel wall. The next 6 pictures were all taken in my classroom that day.
Cherrywood School 1st grade - 1960
Mrs. Andrews' 3rd Grade - November, 1961, (she seems to have noticed I'm not paying attention)
Click the icon below to download and view a 30 sec. home movie clip of Cherrywood School opening day - 1958.
NOW - Updated including music!
I've heard from many "kids" who grew up in and around Wantagh, LI and went to Cherrywood Elementary School. This page remembers our alma mater, which was brand-new when my class started kindergarten in 1958, but is long since gone.
Cherrywood School 1st grade - 1960
Cherrywood School 1st grade - 1960
Cherrywood School 1st grade - 1960
Cherrywood School 1st grade - 1960
I'm from a family of savers. For some reason, we kept this Cherrywood PTA Newsletter from June, 1960. Click on the icons below to view readable files of the entire issue, (maybe you're in it).
The school was closed in the late 1970's and razed about five years later. A townhouse development called Stanford Court was built on the site. That's progress. You can see my old street, Deep Lane slightly up and to the right of the star that marks the former location of Cherrywood. It took me five or ten minutes to walk to school, depending on what kind of exploring I did along the way. (You can click on the map to zoom in and out.)
Cherrywood School 1st grade - 1960
Cherrywood School Construction
The walls of the school were green enamel prefab steel panels, assembled like a big erector set. I would imagine the school was designed to be built quickly to accommodate the growing classes of Baby Boomers that crowded Levittown Schools. The steel construction made the school feel like an oven during the warm months. By around 1960 they finally took out an upper section of windows in each classroom and installed big exhaust fans to give us some relief.
