Car after car passed through the front driveway of Park Avenue Memorial Elementary School on June 16, giving students and staff a chance to say goodbye to each other after three months of distance learning. The school hosted three “reverse parades” that morning, one each for fourth, fifth and sixth graders.

In addition to the COVID-19 pandemic impacting the end of the school year, it is also was the rare circumstance of two grades leaving Park Avenue at the same time. A reconfiguration of the district for September means both fifth and sixth graders are headed to Edmund W. Miles Middle School. The drive-up parades also served as moving-up ceremonies for those students. Principal Robyn Santiago and Assistant Principal Melissa Wiederhold were joined by teachers and staff to wish them good luck and celebrated their accomplishments.

Fourth graders, who will remain Park Avenue students for another year, also got the chance to come through to say “see you later.”