Prospect Elementary School

East Cleveland's Elementary Schools

There were six elementary schools in the City of East Cleveland, which explains the name of the regular column, which appeared in the East Cleveland Leader, “The Six Sixes”.  That column was written by Charles Cassil Reynard, a teacher of English, Latin and Math at Shaw high school.  He and his family were our neighbors, when my family moved to Nela View in 1952.  His son, David Reynard, was my best friend throughout Junior High and High School.  However, before I even met David, I attended the elementary school, which I knew best, Prospect Elementary School.  I’m sure the experiences my peers at Kirk and Shaw had at their East Cleveland elementary schools were quite similar to mine. 

Prospect Elementary School - The Building

Prospect School received its name from the street, which ran in front of it.  That street ran between Shaw High School and Prospect Elementary School.  Prospect Street was later named Shaw Avenue even though it was not a clear extension of the Shaw Avenue on the other side of Euclid Avenue.  There was a significant offset at Euclid Avenue.  Traffic wanting to continue North or South on Shaw Avenue needed to make a right turn and an immediate left turn at Euclid Avenue.  Pedestrians were not permitted to cross Euclid from the East side of Shaw.  The crosswalk and crossing guards were on the West side of Shaw Avenue.   The entire time that I lived in East Cleveland the street was named Shaw Avenue.  It should be noted that the street no longer exists after the demolition of Shaw High School early in the 21^st Century.  There is no street between Euclid and Terrace at that point now.

Prospect Elementary Original Building

The Prospect school building, which I knew from 1945 until 1952, remained relatively unchanged until it 

was replaced by a new Prospect School in a different location late in the 20^th Century.  The current Prospect School is located on Stanwood.  In 1945 Prospect School included several buildings, which were built at different times and interconnected with each other.  The original building was almost identical to the Superior and Mayfair elementary school buildings. Those were the first three elementary schools built in East Cleveland.  The three other elementary schools were built later.  Chambers and Rozelle, built during the 1930s, looked quite similar to each other.  Caledonia School was built last and looked different from all the others. 

Prospect School from Euclid Avenue circa 1941

As Prospect required additional space through the years, new buildings were attached to the old school.  Two of those buildings were built behind and to the west of the original school.  They included classrooms a boiler room and a gymnasium, which was also used as an auditorium.  The newest addition was on the North or Euclid Avenue side of the original school.  Most of these additions matched well with the original school.  The exception was the newest building on the Euclid Avenue side.  The levels on that building did not match exactly with the original school.  Therefore, you could not reach the old building from the new building on all floors.  For a little kid that was sometimes confusing.  However, once I figured it out I was quite proud of myself.  As I recall, my first years at Prospect were spent in classrooms located in the new building.  The fifth and sixth grade classrooms were in the old building. 

Prospect School Administration

Prospect was managed by a Principal whose name was Everett M. Preston.  Mr. Preston was a somewhat remote figure, sort of like the Wizard of Oz.    He was very mild mannered and friendly to the students.  Although most students had few opportunities to deal with him, it was clear that he was the ultimate authority.  It was his voice you usually heard on the PA system.  Mr. Preston managed a staff of approximately thirteen teachers, a school nurse and a custodian.  As far a I could tell, he did a fine job.

 

Day to day discipline at Prospect was delegated to Miss Woodruff, one of the sixth grade teachers.  She was also in charge of the Safety Patrol, a select group of students known by the rest of us as Safetys. Those Safetys were stationed at various points in and around the school and were charged with maintaining discipline.  Members of the Safety Patrol got to wear badges and those, who helped Officer Jack Baker at the Shaw and Euclid crossing, also wore white Sam Browne belts and carried a STOP sign.  One of the duties of the assigned Safety was to ring the school bell at certain times each day.  The bell button was located in the main hall of the old building.  I believe it was rung at the beginning and the end of school, the beginning and the end of recess and at the lunch hour. 

Any student, who violated some school regulation and whose behavior could not be controlled by the classroom teacher was usually referred to Miss Woodruff.  Only the most extreme cases were sent directly to the Principal.  Safetys also sent miscreants to Miss Woodruff.  Because her classroom was located on the top floor of the old building, such referrals were known as being “sent up to Woodie”.  That room on that floor was an awesome place.  Most students didn’t see much of the old building until the fifth grade.  The whole time I was at Prospect I tried to avoid being sent up to Woodie.  I felt sorry for those who suffered that fate unless, of course, I thought they deserved it.  When I finally met Miss Wooodruff, who was my sixth grade teacher, I found her to be a real pussycat.  I even became a Safety and sometimes got a chance to ring the bell. 

My Prospect School Experience Kindergarten - Fourth Grade

Afternoon Kindergarten - 1945  Mrs. Lowry

 Robert Dreifort is the kid in the middle of the picture wearing glasses.  Note: two sets of twins.

My class at Prospect was among the last before the post war baby boom.  The actual baby boom children started Kindergarten in 1951.  In spite of that fact, it was necessary for Prospect to have two grade teachers for each grade.  That was not true for Kindergarten where Mrs. Lowry was the only teacher.  That was because children only went for half a day.  I was in the afternoon class and there was also a morning class.

 

My first grade teacher in 1946 was Miss Marcine Pierman. However, she didn’t stay with the class for the entire year.  Part way through the year she told us that she was getting married and would be going to Germany to teach children in the American school over there. I guess she had married an American soldier on occupation duty.   Some of those soldiers had dependent children in school over there.   She was a nice person and I was sorry to see her go.  That was a time of great hardship for the recently defeated German people.  It is a sign of the American character that we almost immediately did everything we could to relieve the suffering of the citizens of our recent enemy.  I clearly remember bringing certain non perishable items to school, such as soap, toothpaste etc., for sending relief packages to Germany.  This was only one year after the end of the war.  I should add that our sympathy did not extend to Nazis and other war criminals.  We did, however, successfully bring Germany into the family of Western democracies partly due to efforts such as my first grade class project and later the Marshall Plan.

Prospect Elementary 1st Grade 1946/47 - Miss Pierman

Robert Dreifort middle row with glasses.

Note all the suspenders

We must have had a particularly large first grade class that year.  Sometime early in the year they decided to promote some students by a half year.  I assume they made some attempt to determine, which students could afford to miss half of the first grade.  One interesting result of that decision was that my cousin, Linda Dreifort, who started first grade in the same class as me, was one of the ones promoted.  Linda’s family lived on Hastings Road and included older twin siblings named Jack and Jill as well as a younger brother Tom, and sister Kristina.  All of them went through Prospect, Kirk and Shaw.  I also had three other cousins, who lived on Savannah and attended East Cleveland Schools.  My sister, Janet only spent 2 years at Prospect before we moved to the Caledonia neighborhood in 1952.  In any case, the promotion of my cousin, Linda, meant that she was always a half grade ahead of me.  I always assumed that she was probably smarter than me. 

 

I was a small kid and wore glasses, even before Kindergarten.  I was born with strabismus and amblyopia usually thought of as crossed eye.  I had an operation to correct the problem, when I was one year old.  The operation was not entirely successful.  The danger with that condition is that children learn to look at things with only the dominant eye.  The treatment was to wear a patch on the good eye to force the kid to use the weaker eye.  It seems that I resisted that therapy.  The result was that I wore glasses my whole life.  My left eye tended to turn in and I had a slight squint.  I was quite self conscious about that most of my life.  When I got older, I resisted wearing my glasses as well.  At that time my sight wasn’t too bad without glasses and I didn’t want to be a four eyes.  I finally realized sometime in junior high that I couldn’t really see well without glasses.  By then it was too late.  I am essentially blind in my left eye except for some peripheral vision.  I had an operation when I was in my 20s to correct the crossed eye cosmetically, but it was too late to save my sight. I’m now blind in one eye; but very handsome.  The reason I mention this is that I usually sat in the front of the class so that I could see the blackboard better. It also may help explain some of my personality traits such as shyness.

My second grade teacher was Mrs. Mary Visconty.  I enjoyed her class and liked her.  At some point one of the kids in the class said that Mrs. Visconty was a widow.  As a result, the talk of the class was that she was a “black widow”.  That must have seemed funny to a bunch of seven year olds.  It kind of reminds me of the kids on “South Park”.  I’m afraid Mrs. Visconty got wind of that and there were probably some repercussions.  One incident that I remember clearly was the day she disciplined one of the students by hitting his hand with a ruler.  In retrospect, I thought that only happened in Catholic school.  I think the kid was one of the Barbey twins.  If I am wrong, please forgive me.  That happened 65 years ago.  It’s a wonder that I can remember any of this. 

Prospect Elementary 2nd Grade 1947/48 - Mrs Visconty

  Robert Dreifort 4th row middle

Note size of class

Prospect Elementary 3rd Grade 1948/49 - Miss Rice

 Robert Dreifort 3rd row right side

My teachers in the third and fourth grades were Miss Rice and Miss Flegie.  Nothing much happened to me those years.  I sat in my front seat and tried to keep a low profile.  That was the case for most of my elementary school career through the fourth grade.  I did what was expected and for the most part as little as I could get away with.  I did not excel.  I guess I was a little shy and introverted as well.  One of the things I remember from those years is learning how to write in cursive.  It seemed as if we were drawing circles for hours, which I thought was both messy and boring.  It meant using ink pens, which were dipped into the little ink wells on our desks.  Ball point pens were forbidden.  Sometimes some of us would have to go down to the custodian in the basement of the old building to refill our ink wells.  The Custodian, Mr. Valenti,  was a friendly man and his room was a workshop near the boiler room with lots of interesting tools.  Even though I found cursive training messy and boring, I am appalled that the current education theory is that cursive skills need not be taught. We already graduate too many students who can’t read.  Now they won’t be able to write either. 

Prospect Elementary 4th Grade 1949/50 - Miss Flegie

 Robert Dreifort 3rd row left side

Note:  Picture taken inside for first time

We also did a lot of craft projects including pictures and paper cutouts that were often displayed on the windows and walls of the classroom.  Those were usually things based upon the current season or holiday, such as leaves, ghosts, turkeys, Christmas trees etc.  Speaking of Christmas, the entire school participated in a Christmas pageant each year.  Each class would perform a skit of some sort.  The sixth grade always did the Christmas story as told by St.Luke with kids playing Joseph, Mary, the Wise Men etc.  We practiced as a class and then did a dress rehearsal in the auditorium followed by a performance to which our parents were invited.  By the time I reached sixth grade, I had seen the St. Luke Christmas story six times.  I don’t remember my exact role that year, but I was not one of the stars.  I wonder when political correctness demanded that those performances be stopped. 

 

One class project I remember well was a Christmas present we made for our parents.  It was a wishing well planter.  We used coffee cans as the well.  Each planter had a roof supported by two pieces of wood about one inch square and six inches long.  We wrapped the can, the roof wood and the upright sticks with heavy twine.  We then painted the twine covered pieces with shellac.  When all of that was completed, we went to the custodian, Mr. Valenti, who helped us nail the uprights to the can and the roof to the uprights.  It was really a nice project.  We kept mine in the house for a long time.  The one major flaw in the plan was that the coffee can bottom eventually rusted and fell apart.  Every once in a while I have considered making another one of those planters.

 

Another Christmas present we made was an incense ball made with an orange and cloves.  We took an unpeeled orange and covered it with cloves.  That meant pushing the pointed end of each clove into the orange.  After a while my fingers really hurt.  Somehow I managed to complete the project and It turned out great. The fragrance of orange and clove was quite pleasant.  I also have thought about doing that again, but I don’t think my fingers are up to it.

Prospect School Memories

There are some things about the school building that are quite memorable.  The main entrance to the school was on the Shaw Avenue or East side of the old building.  There was a main entry hall with the entrance to the principal’s office at the northwest corner.  There was a picture of Abraham Lincoln and of the Gettysburg Address on the wall.  I often stopped at the address and read some lines.  There was also a picture of George Washington and an American flag.  I might add that each classroom also had a flag and we said the pledge of allegiance each morning.  To the left or South side of the entrance hall was an open stairway, which went down to the basement, where the Custodian, Mr. Valenti, had his office and up to the second and third floors, which held classrooms.  The main bell ringing button was at the base of those stairs under the master clock.  That clock gave official Prospect School time.  Another object I’ll never forget is the life size statue of a naked Greek throwing a discus.  I’m sure it was a copy of a classic Greek athlete.

Off of the main entry hall were two corridors.  One led right or North to the new building.  The other led straight ahead or West to the two additions, which included some classrooms and ended at the gym/auditorium.  Also on that corridor was the office of our school nurse.  I can remember three reasons that I had to go to the nurse’s office while attending Prospect.  The main reason was if you were sick and may need to go home.  I don’t remember that happening often.  The other reasons affected all students.  First, we were required to take iodine pills to preclude goiter.  This was a problem in those days and it was the policy that all school children be given those pills.  We would go as a class to the Nurse’s office and be given a pill, which tasted like chocolate but contained iodine.  That element was apparently missing from our diets back then.  I do seem to remember that Morton’s salt contained iodine.  “When it rains, it pours”.  Finally, I can remember one or two occasions, when our entire class had to go to the nurse, who would inspect our heads for lice.  I don’t remember ever having lice, but they were very careful to prevent the spread of them through the school.

Most students went home for lunch.  For me that was no problem.  I lived only a five minute walk from school.  My walk took me past the Abel Funeral home on the northeast corner of Shaw and Euclid.  At the back of Abel’s were the garages, where the hearses were kept.  Behind those garages was an area where Abel’s piled up their raked leaves in the fall.  My friends and I would often stop there to play in the leaf pile on our way home.  One time my friend, Tony Gildone, had his clarinet with him, when we stopped to play in the leaf pile.  When Tony got home, he realized he didn’t have his clarinet.  He and his Dad went back to the leaf pile looking for the clarinet.  They never found it; one of life’s mysteries and another life lesson.  Another thing about the area behind Abel’s garage was the flowers discarded after a funeral.  I brought many great bouquets home to my mother from behind Abel’s garage.  Another favorite stopping off place on my way home was the gasoline station of the northwest corner of Shaw and Euclid.  I stopped there to get a bottle of cream soda from the pop machine after school sometimes.  As I recall, that would cost a nickel, big money for me in those days. 

 Abel's Funeral Home - Shaw High School  circa 1944

 

There were some exceptions to going home for lunch.  I think they may have been made for the older kids.  The exception was that you could eat at the Shaw High School cafeteria with parental approval.  I can remember times when I would eat at Shaw, perhaps because my mother would not be home that day.  Since Mom was a stay at home housewife, that happened rarely.  The nice part of eating at Shaw was that you could buy things like hamburgers and French fries.  For a small fee you could also attend a movie in Shaw’s auditorium.  Each day they would show one reel of a feature film.  If you ate at Shaw all week you would eventually see the entire movie. 

The Prospect School Gymnasium/Auditorium

At the far western end of the school was a large room used as a gymnasium and auditorium.  I can remember having gym class there, but I’m not sure in which class year we got that opportunity.  There was a gym teacher, who traveled to all six elementary schools on a schedule.  I don’t believe that allowed all classes to participate. 

The most common use of the room was as an auditorium for school and community events.  That is where parents attended PTA meetings and school programs such as the Christmas Pageant.  It was also used for assembly meeting of the entire school.  These were called whenever Mr. Preston had a message that all of the students needed to hear.  Sometimes a program would be put on by some outside resource.  I can remember someone bringing exotic animals to one program.  My favorite program was presented by the children’s librarian from The East Cleveland Public Library.  Her name was Miss Dorothy K. Grout and her program was a dramatic reading of Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey.  I’m not sure whether all grades attended, but I can remember it being presented for at least two of the years I was at Prospect.  The program was presented over a period of a few weeks.  Each week Miss Grout would recite from memory a section of the Homer story.  One year she did the Iliad and the next she did the odyssey.  Her reading was so gripping I couldn’t wait until she returned for the next segment.  Miss Grout gave me an appreciation for great literature at a very young age.  I later got to know her better as I became a faithful user of the East Cleveland Public Library. 

The Prospect School Playgrounds

Prospect School had two playgrounds.  One was located on the North side of the school between the new building and Euclid Avenue.  I believe it was used primarily by the younger children, whose classrooms were in the new building.  The second playground was located on the South side of the school.  When I attended Prospect, there was a wooden barracks style building on the South side of Prospect facing Shaw Avenue.  That building was the Shaw High School band room.  Our playground was behind the band room.  We often could hear the band practicing while we were in the playground.  That whole area later was used for the Korb recreation center; but that was after I graduated from Shaw High School.  I never got to use that building. 

 

I believe all classes had a 15 or 20 minute recess each morning and afternoon.  As I said earlier, each playground had at least one Safety assigned to it.  I also think that a teacher may have been assigned playground duty.  Playground recess was a time to let off steam and relax from the pressure of school work.  Most of the play was unorganized such as pick up softball games and games of tag and other chasing games.  Most of the play was fairly tame, however sometimes it could get out of hand.  Groups of kids would sometimes pick on certain kids or other groups.  Some kids didn’t know their own strength.  I can remember getting the wind knocked out of me one time.  Mostly, I was able to avoid such situations.  I either tried to affiliate with the strong group or avoid conflict if possible.  That in itself was a great life lesson. 

One of the most popular playground games was flipping baseball cards.  Kids would bring baseball cards to school.  Several kids would stand about ten or fifteen feet from a wall and flip a card toward the wall.  The card closest to the wall won all of the cards thrown.  There were sometimes “leaners”, which led to a play off by the kids with the “leaners”.  At least we weren’t flipping quarters.  I’m sure most of us didn’t have any quarters; and it would have been stopped soon anyway.

The playground on the South side of the school contained a wooden shack known as the Paper House.  That building was used to hold the old newspaper and other paper collected by the school as a fund raising activity.  It may have been started as a wartime activity.  However the Paper House was used the whole time I attended Prospect.