Wanted: Perry Hill School Information

Changes are coming to .

But when the school welcomes a slightly different student population this fall _ switching from pre-K to grade 2 to pre-K to grade 1 _ it won’t be the first change at the school.

At one time, NGES had an annex school: The Perry Hill School.

And Ann Lasoskie, whose three children attended NGES, wants to learn more about it.

She serves on the NGES yearbook committee and has been asked to put some research together about the school’s history.

As she was digging into town history, she learned about NGES’ predecessor, Perry Hill School. The school was located at Perry and School streets.

She knows the school was closed in 1969, because of antiquated conditions, including the lack of a cafeteria _ students went home for lunch or brought their midday meal with them _ and bathrooms in the basement.

She also knows that the building met an all-too-common fate for landmark town buildings: It was destroyed in a fire in the early 1970s.

But neither she nor president Linda Casey knows when the building was built. The building was likely constructed in the late 1800s, but that is not certain and nothing more specific is known, Casey said.

And Lasoskie is reaching out to community members who might be able to fill in the blanks about Perry Hill School as well as provide more information, including anecdotes.

She also hopes they will add to the history she is piecing together about North Grafton Elementary School. She has already spoken to former teachers and students of the school who have enriched the work she is putting together for the school yearbook.

“There’s a colorful cast of people and a wonderful spirit of North Grafton Elementary School that should be shared with the community,’’ she said.

Casey is also hoping that the public will fill in some of the blanks about Perry Hill School. And she is grateful for Lasoskie’s help.

“We have a number of resources, but we don’t have a lot of people to pull it together,’’ she said.

She described the project as “terrific.’’ In the course of research, “we’ve learned a lot of things, and it’s fun,’’ she said.

Anyone with information to add about the history of Perry Hill or North Grafton Elementary schools should email Lasoskie at amlcror@charter.net or call 508-864-3699.