My two children attended Har-Mer Elementary in Harrisville and are very proud to have gone there. When the building was renovated a few years ago, the Home and School Association had a fundraiser for new playground equipment. Anyone with an affiliation to HarMer could buy a commerative brick with their name engraved on it, then the bricks were placed in a part of the sidewalk near the playground, so as to always be there.

Fast forward 10 years and the Slippery Rock School District closed the school. I received a phone call from the current Home and School Assosciation president as to what I would like to do with the brick I’d bought with my children’s names on it. My first thought was to leave it there, that is where they attended elementary school.Other options were that it could be moved to Slippery Rock Elementary or reclaimed by the buyer. The final outcome was up to the school board.

Apparently there were some who took it upon themselves to go and get their bricks. It is now a hazard. What if a child going to the playground (which is still there) trips and cracks their head open, all because someone decided they had to have their brick.

Maybe the school district doesn’t always do what we residents feel is best, but removing the bricks was wrong. They are the school’s property no matter whose name is on it. The rest of the bricks have been gathered and the district will distribute them accordingly, but the real issue is the bricks should have remained in place.