Words and photos by Linda Conner Lambeck
WESTPORT–On Nov. 2, 1926, the Roaring 20’s were in full swing. Calvin Coolidge was president. And, in the town of Westport, with the help of local philanthropist Edward Thomas Bedford, a brand-new school opened on the Post Road.
The stately brick building with columns and a distinctive cupola served for the first 32 years of its existence as Bedford Junior High, serving grades 7-9 graders.
In 1958, when the district was shifting priorities–and growing–a new Staples High School opened, freeing up the old Staples for Bedford and leaving the Bedford site to be transformed a year later into what is now Kings Highway Elementary School.
Caretakers of the century-old building are not about to let the anniversary pass unnoticed.
There will be banners, a weeklong celebration, a drone-captured shot of the entire 474 K-5 student population, shaped into the number “100” on the fields behind the school.
That, and as much nostalgia and cheetah pride that can be mustered.
“It’s an opportunity to celebrate,” said Kings Highway Principal Tracey Carbone, who has spent all but three years of her 30-year career at the school, starting as a third-grade teacher. She has been principal at Kings Highway since 2021.
Carbone is not alone in having a history with the place.
Ursula Malizia, now a second-grade teacher, was fresh out of college in 1992 when she got a job at Kings Highway. She has taught just about every grade and was there during the building’s second expansion. Malizia has repeatedly resisted suggestions from her husband to perhaps transfer to Long Lots, which is much closer to their home.
“I’m staying here,” Malizia said she told him. “People make the place.”
She and other faculty at the school compare Kings Highway to the book “The Little House,” by Virginia Lee Burton about a quaint little structure that stays true to its character and mission as the world around it changes.
“There is something about a classic school,” said Ali Ritter, a Spanish teacher at Kings Highway for 22 years. “I’m never leaving.”
There are numerous kids at the school whose parents are also alumni. Some will offer video reflections of their experiences for the celebration.
For all its quirks, the teachers say, they just don’t build schools like Kings Highway anymore.
There are 1934 frescos, entitled “Comedy” and “Tragedy” by artist John Steuart Curry that flank the auditorium stage.
“I don’t think anyone has an auditorium like ours,” said Malizia.
In hallways there are lockers–thanks to the school’s birth as a junior high. Classrooms have tall ceilings which art teacher Tim Soper suspects helped with ventilation in pre-air condition days. And the durable infrastructure remains sound even if the plumbing sometimes gets cranky.
Much of this week’s celebration will be about paying homage to the past while giving students an appreciation for the present.
Outside the office there is a bulletin board to remind students what life was like for students in 1926.
Back then there were chalkboards. The few that remain at Kings Highway help hold up Smartboards. To write, students used pencils and paper, not computers. Penmanship was a big deal. So was memorizing multiplication facts.
Students with questions turned to textbooks, encyclopedias or the school librarian for answers, not Google.
Girls wore dresses or skirts. Boys wore collared shirts.
Students who didn’t brown-bag it, walked home for lunch, even if it was a two-mile hike.
By 1959, when elementary students filled the school, high-tech involved film strips on a cart being wheeled into classrooms. Hand-crank, wall mounted pencil sharpeners were classroom fixtures. There’s one still in Malizia’s classroom and it fascinates her students.
During spirit week students will wear school colors–blue and white–on Monday. The student-run television studio will sing “Happy Birthday.” On Wednesday, students will talk about things they are grateful for. On Thursday, students will write words of advice for future KHS students. There may be a day where staff wear headbands and hats representing 1920’s styles.
Then there are the bulletin boards. In addition to fun facts about the school and the past there is one with Artificial Intelligence-generated pictures of the staff designed to represent the number of years they have been at the school. Carbone and her administrative team, for instance, have been together for four years. So, the AI-picture of them imagines what they would look like as four-year-olds.
When the school opened 100 years ago, no one, it seemed, thought to imbed a time capsule into the corner stones. That may or may not be rectified with this week’s celebration.
“They have talked about the kids doing something like that next week,” Carbone said.
Other Fun Facts about Kings Highway
● The distinctive cupola that sits atop the building opens.
● There have been two additions to the building. One in 1966, the other in 1984, making its current size of more than 74,000 square feet.
● Kings Highway’s first principal was Dorothy Sleep, who served from 1959-1975.
● Look hard enough at the brick façade above the front entrance and one can still see the word ‘Bedford’ etched into the stone, although Principal Tracey Carbone says she has never been able to make it out.
Linda Conner Lambeck
Linda Conner Lambeck covers education for Westport Journal. She was a reporter for more than four decades at the Connecticut Post and other Hearst publications. She has covered education throughout Fairfield and New Haven counties. She is a proud member of the Education Writers Association.
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