School’s demolition evokes memories

Demolition of the former Seaford Avenue School finished last week with the north end of the building torn down. From start to finish, it took less than four weeks to reduce it to rubble, with many graduates and neighbors taking pictures along the way.

Edward Esposito, who lives in the Wantagh section of the Seaford School District, went to Seaford Avenue from 1970 to 1976 and lives in the same house he grew up in. “For me, it hurt…another piece of my youth being taken away,” he said of the building being demolished. “It’s like a member of the family to me. I spent my most formative years there. It was more than just a school.”

Esposito said he understands that the building was no longer serving a useful purpose, but the corner of Seaford and Waverly avenues is now “like a hot dog without mustard. Something’s missing.”

The 5.6-acre Seaford Avenue School property will be the site of the Seasons at Seaford, a 112-unit senior housing complex. The developer, the Engel Burman Group, purchased the land from the district for $5.14 million.

Demolition began on Jan. 4 as the one-story wing in the back that housed the cafeteria was knocked down. The main two-story wing was taken down from south to north. By Jan. 26, all that remained was one wall along Waverly Avenue, and two days later, that was gone leaving behind the foundation and piles of concrete, bricks and steel.

Esposito and Susan Drucker, another graduate of the school, noted the significance of the last wall that remained. They explained that it was next to the bus loop, so the side door was where many students entered the building, which closed in 1981 due to declining enrollment. “That door knows me,” Esposito said.

“To see that one wall left, it was sad, it was upsetting,” added Drucker. “That’s part of your childhood.”

Upon seeing that last section left, she pulled her car over to take a picture, which she later posted on Facebook. Drucker lives on Waverly Avenue and she passes the school often to get to Seaford High School, where her daughter attends, so she saw the building’s demolition from start to finish.

Esposito said he went to the school a few times during the demolition process to take pictures, which he also shared on Facebook. Each time he went, he said, another large chunk of the building was missing.

“That was mind blowing how fast it came down,” he said, noting the sturdy construction of the 1938 building. “I though it would give them a little more of a fight.”

Bill Kind lives on Kenora Place, which faces what used to be the front of the school. He moved to Seaford in 1989 when he was 12. By then, the school was being used by Five Towns College, yet he still has fond memories of it. “That was the neighborhood football field where all the kids would play,” he said of the school’s front lawn. “We would have great games there.”

Kind, who bought his parents house in 2010, took pictures two or three days a week of the demolition and posted them on the Growing Up in Seaford Facebook page. He said in many of the comments, people lamented the school’s demise. “Change is hard, it always is,” he said, adding that people who went to school there but now live out of the area were appreciative to him for sharing the photos.

“I love construction and demolition,” he said about why he was regularly there taking pictures, often on his lunch break from work. “It’s just something I’ve always been fascinated with.”

Kind said while he was out taking pictures, he would often strike up conversations with neighbors about the school coming down in favor of senior housing. While people do have mixed feelings, Kind said he thinks the development will be good for the neighborhood and will help boost Seaford’s tax base.

Esposito said that whether or not the school is standing, the education he received there will stay with him forever. “All the teachers, they built me,” he said. They taught me all of my manners. They taught me how to stand up for the underdog. That I learned at the Seaford Avenue School.”