Gunther community leaves its legacy

By the end of the week, all Gunther Elementary School students will know what school they will attend next September. Though the students will no longer spend their days learning and bonding at Gunther, their legacy will be a permanent one left on the school. That was the hope that Principal Marie Testa had when the school developed the idea to literally mark the building’s walls with a lasting memory.

Students and faculty members gathered at Gunther on Tuesday morning to add their names and handprints in blue or yellow paint to a display being arranged in the building’s gym. Though the day was meant to mark the school’s closing, it was a happy and joyous moment for both the children and adults. “This is a celebration of what they’ve accomplished,” Testa said as she watched a group of second-graders add their handprints to the growing mural.

When it was announced in December that Gunther would close its doors at the end of the school year, the North Bellmore School District began to brainstorm ways to make the transition as smooth as possible. Most of the 239 students will be transferred to Dinkelmeyer or Saw Mill Road elementary schools; special education students will be transferred to Martin Avenue. Testa said that the collaboration between the other schools’ principals and staff could not be going better. “We’re really working together to create a smooth transition,” she said.

Aside from making the transition easier for her students, Testa, who has been the principal for seven years, wanted to ensure that the Gunther community would have the time and means to celebrate their years together. Before becoming the third principal in Gunther’s 54-year history, Testa was a teacher at Martin Avenue when it reopened in 2001 after a period of closure. To bring the new community together, the sixth-grade class placed handprints on a wall in the school’s entrance; the experience was one that Testa said stayed with her.