About 25 years of little hands raised, alphabets sung and colors learned were behind Frances Noble as she packed up her kindergarten classroom at Edison Primary School.

While other Kankakee schools were welcoming back students into their halls this week, Noble and her colleagues at Edison ended their winter break with cardboard boxes and packing tape.

On Dec. 30, the Kankakee School District 111 Board approved the emergency closure of the 70-year-old school due to structural issues in the building’s 1958 addition, which has a sinking foundation.

The estimated costs for needed repairs and maintenance exceed $6 million.

District administration already had proposed the closure of Edison by the end of the school year.

A follow-up architectural assessment done over the break revealed that the condition of the building has been getting progressively worse, and the 1958 addition is no longer considered safe for occupancy.

So, the decision for closure came sooner than expected.

Edison’s staff and students are being relocated to other buildings, including Kennedy Middle and Steuben Elementary schools.

That meant a brief timeframe to get learning materials packed up and sent over to alternate classrooms. In-person learning is set to resume Monday for former Edison students in their new locations.

For some Edison teachers and staff, it’s an emotional time.

They worry how the midyear transition will affect students, and they are sad to part ways with the feeling of “family” at Edison.

But, the teachers said, they understand safety is the top priority.

“I ain’t gonna lie, I’m heartbroken,” Noble said. “But I do appreciate the transparency [from the district]. ... I do appreciate that they are looking out for the best interest of us.

“If something was to happen to a kid, I could not live through that.”

Noble outlook

Noble has worked in District 111 for 31 years, the last 25 of which have been at Edison.

“It hit me hard,” she said of the closure.

While meaning to drive to Steuben to check out her new classroom earlier this week, she automatically, without thinking, drove to Edison.

That’s the place she’s called home as a kindergarten teacher for the past quarter century.

Noble admitted that she is going to miss her classroom – a large room at the end of the hallway she finally was able to move into 10 years ago.

The prospect of packing everything up was “overwhelming,” she said. Some tears were shed.

“When I walked in here, I’m like, ‘What do I take? What don’t I take? Where do I start? Where don’t I start?’” Noble said.

Teachers can accumulate lots of materials over the years – from books to bulletin board decor.

Noble came in over the weekend to get a head start, but she was having a difficult time deciding where to begin.

Then, Superintendent Teresa Lance came through the building, talked with her and suggested she get started with a shelf labeled “math.”

“Once she just gave me a starting point, then I was able to focus,” Noble said.

So, Noble packed up the math shelf and went from there.

By Monday, she was getting things wrapped up, including gathering art supplies from the cabinets in the classroom.

She was glad to see some of her former kindergarteners were among the football players and student workers who offered to help with the move this week.

Noble said the goal is to set up her new classroom in a way that lets students feel in charge of their learning, despite having to adapt to some new routines.

“Kids are more resilient than adults, to be honest with you, so they’ll be OK,” she said. “We are the ones who’ve gotta fake it till we make it.”

Noble plans to have a “welcome to the new school party” with her kids and take them on a tour to show them where to find everything at Steuben.

“We just know kids who are gonna struggle [with the change], and we hope to just minimize that as best as possible,” she said.

‘We’re a family’

Aside from the logistics, Noble also is sad to part ways with colleagues.

“We’re a family, and that’s what’s hurtful,” she said.

Along with Noble’s kindergarten room, Edison’s first- and second-grade classes and special education room will be moving to Steuben. All four of Edison’s third-grade classrooms are going to Kennedy.

“It’s not like we’re dying, but imagine seeing somebody every day, and then you don’t see them anymore,” Noble said. “That’s tough.”

Jeff Cox, a retired teacher and part-time math interventionist, spent 24 of his 34-year career at Edison.

His connection to the school runs deep, having attended Edison from kindergarten through third grade and getting his first teaching job there in the early 1990s.

This week, Cox packed up his classroom at Edison and got his things ready to be set up at Steuben.

“It’s emotional, because this building is a family,” Cox said. “That’s why I wanted to come back here. We always have each other’s back.”

Kids feel the family atmosphere too, he noted.

“As I look back over the years, this has been a good place to be,” Cox said.

Rick Neufeld, Edison’s head custodian, has worked in the building for 16 years and in the Kankakee school district for 38 years.

He said signs of the building’s gradual movement have been appearing for years but notably worsened this year, with wall cracks growing and floors becoming uneven in some areas of the 1958 addition.

A December windstorm also appears to have had an impact on the building.

“It escalated since the summer,” Neufeld said. “There was always a sign of [the foundation sinking], but over the summer, things started moving more.”

The building had a similar problem with a sinking foundation in the 1990s; architects and engineers got involved and raised it at the time, but the problem is recurring.

Neufeld now will be working at Kennedy, but he expects he’ll still be keeping an eye on Edison and maintaining the boiler.

“You never know what they’re going to do with this building,” he said.

Neufeld said he already misses the Edison routine. However, he’s glad he’ll be following the third graders over to Kennedy.

“So I’m still going to see them, they’re still going to see me,” Neufeld said.

Silver linings

Edison Principal Cale Kuester, who’s been in the role for five years, will support Kennedy, Steuben and Mark Twain schools.

Kuester said the schoolwide move was going as well as could be expected.

“It’s been a lot, but the district has been really helpful and doing things that make sense, so that’s good,” he said.

Beyond the stacks of books that needed to be hauled, Kuester said he could see some silver linings.

“There will be good that comes out of it; it’s just hard to imagine right this second,” he said.

Like the others, he likened Edison to “a family,” so he said it will be tough to see some staff and students departing to different places.

“We’re still Edison,” Kuester said, “because Edison is more than four walls – even if one of those four is falling down.”