MARYSVILLE — Former teachers, students and staff members at Liberty Elementary School in Marysville took one last walk through the hallways of the 74-year-old school on Thursday.
Marysville School District’s board of directors voted in January to close the elementary school, along with Marysville Middle School, in an effort to cut costs amid serious budget difficulties. The closures will go into effect at the start of the 2025-26 school year.
The board also voted to move Legacy High School, an alternative high school in the district, to a different campus, but walked back that decision in March.
Because of the closures, the district held an event this week, along with another at Marysville Middle School, to give community members a chance to look through Liberty Elementary one more time.
For many who showed up at the event, being back in the school brought back fond memories of their early childhood.
Brian Murril attended Liberty Elementary starting in 1963. He grew up just a block away. His wife also attended the school; so did their three children and three grandchildren. Murril’s daughter now works there as a paraeducator.
During Thursday’s event, Murril recalled a story from when he was in kindergarten. He had to make a show-and-tell presentation, but he forgot his item — a special toy hat with a spring inside — at his home. So, he snuck out of the school, went into his home through his backyard, and came back, all without his mother or teacher noticing, Murril said. His show-and-tell presentation still went over perfectly, he said.
“I was king for the day,” Murril said. “Everybody wanted to wear my hat.”
When Tammy Torrence, who started attending Liberty Elementary in 1965, walked into the school on Thursday, it was her first time being in the building in over 50 years. She brought along her class photos showing her and her classmates in kindergarten.
“The absolute best part was in fifth or sixth grade, and we had to learn how to square dance,” Torrence said. “They made the boys hold our hands.”
Liberty’s principal, Travis Hammond, called the closure “bittersweet.” Although it will be “hard to say goodbye to it,” he said, the school’s staff will remain intact, moving into the Marysville Middle School buildings just a few steps away from the elementary school. The move will give the elementary school more space for family events, he said Thursday.
The closure hit some former students harder.
“It’s tears, yeah, it’s solid tears,” Torrence said. “It’s heart-wrenching, my heart is palpitating. I’ve been here for half an hour taking pictures so I don’t forget.”
Janette Hendrickson, a secretary at the school for almost four decades, also came to visit during the event.
“I am sad that they’re closing the building down, but I understand the reasons why they’re closing the building down,” she said.
The district has faced financial challenges for years. Declining enrollment over the past decade, combined with a double levy failure in 2022, led to the district entering binding conditions with the state in 2023 after it failed to submit a balanced budget.
A year later, the state superintendent placed the district under enhanced financial oversight — the final step the state takes before dissolving a school district — after a 2024 audit questioned if the district would be able to keep operating for another year.
Those financial difficulties forced the board to take action on school closures as enrollment numbers continued to drop.
This year’s audit from the state, however, did show improvement. The district still faces serious financial challenges, but its spending cuts and the state oversight have put the Marysville School District on the right track, state auditors said.
Liberty Elementary is set to be kept intact and maintained by district staff while it’s closed. But the school’s closure still affected some who attended Thursday.
“It’s just really tough to see such a fixture in Marysville go away,” Murril said.
Will Geschke: 425-339-3443; william.geschke@heraldnet.com; X: @willgeschke.
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