Farewell Fernway, May You Rise Anew

Snatched from WEWS News Site. 

Kinda of a sad day in Shaker Heights. 

Fernway Elementary School, built in 1927 caught fire and is severely damaged.  The School System is in disaster recovery mode because school starts in a little over a month and things have to be moved and changed. When the roof caved in, we thought it was a total loss.  But Shaker didn't build poorly constructed buildings, so we hope it can be salvaged and be reborn.

What was eerie in watching the video feeds from the stations in Cleveland, was how quiet it was as people watched.  At least seven different fire departments responded, from as far away as Lake County and the west side of Cleveland.  In the picture above, you see the finely manicured lawns, the trees in full leaf and flames coming out of the roof at the northwest corner. 

No photoshop this - its the real deal, and it's surreal.

Still, of the nine elementary schools that were open and full when I went through the system, Malvern is now assisted living, Sussex and Ludlow have other education programs inhabiting them, Moreland is the main library.

So that leaves Mercer, Lomond, Boulevard, and Onaway to either absorb the overflow or, one of the other two middle schools will have to yield space for the 300+ pupils in grades K-4 that attending the school.  And it was a lovely building in a beautiful neighborhood. 

And here is the kicker, next to Mercer, built around 1952, Fernway was the second newest building in the district as far as grade schools go.

I hope that they do the right thing and rebuild it.  I would hate to see another school get shut down or its student body dispersed.  Its a community, even if you don't have students in the school itself.

So, farewell Fernway, may we see you reborn, and soon.