West Valley School
Photo courtesy of Laili Komenda | Hagadone News Network | UPDATED 11 years, 8 months AGO
West Valley School Principal Dan Anderson, center, talks to parents before school starts Thursday, while paraprofessional Dick Rapacilo, right, acts as a crossing guard greeting students with his “Good Morning” sign and directing parking lot traffic. Rapacilo has greeted students at the crosswalk with his sign for seven years. West Valley School will celebrate its 50th anniversary May 10.
ARTICLES BY PHOTO COURTESY OF LAILI KOMENDA
Prospect Park
Prospect Park was one of the five one-room schoolhouses that consolidated to become West Valley School. The original caption, date unknown, reads, “Prospect Park was a busy place Wednesday as the teacher and children prepared to move to the new West Valley school. Shown here are two boys going to fill scrub buckets for the clean-up inside. They are Creed Westphal and Bobby Otten. Standing with them is Roger Thompson, a board member when the consolidation of the districts into the new one was started; and Mrs. Grace Hansen, county superintendent of schools.”
West Valley School in 1962
The original structure of West Valley School, completed in 1962, had contained three classrooms and a basement, which served as a lunch room and community meeting center. The building cost approximately $42,000 to construct. The school would add on in the late 1960s, ’70s and ’90s as the student population grew.
West Valley School
West Valley School Principal Dan Anderson, center, talks to parents before school starts Thursday, while paraprofessional Dick Rapacilo, right, acts as a crossing guard greeting students with his “Good Morning” sign and directing parking lot traffic. Rapacilo has greeted students at the crosswalk with his sign for seven years. West Valley School will celebrate its 50th anniversary May 10.