Looking Good For 100: Fort Lee School No. 4 Celebrates Centennial

Months of hard work on the part of a dedicated group of teachers and PTA members—the School No. 4 100 Year Birthday Committee—paid off Friday, when students at Fort Lee School No. 4 celebrated the 100th anniversary of their school with the unveiling of a commemorative statue and a plaque marking the occasion, as well as burying a time capsule.

The entire student body started Friday morning’s festivities in the school’s steamy gymnasium, where the time capsule was filled with their various contributions.

They then headed out onto the school’s front lawn en masse, where they were joined by PTA members, their teachers and principal, local government and school officials and some very special guests—now locally famous graduates of the school from the 1930s and 40s.

A proud Fort Lee Councilman Harvey Sohmer told Patch that both of his daughters graduated from School No. 4 and in fact went through the entire Fort Lee public school system.

Fort Lee Mayor Mark Sokolich, a proud graduate of the school himself, began his remarks to the kids by rattling off a list of teachers’ names.

“You know who those people are?” Sokolich asked the kids. “Those are the teachers that I had at this school 40 years ago from kindergarten through sixth grade and my gym teacher. And the reason why I remember them? It’s because they had such an incredible impact on my life. And you don’t realize it now, but you’re never, ever, ever going to forget your teachers for the rest of your lives.”

Sokolich, who garnered a rousing round of applause from his young audience, went on to tell them that “in this crowd” there were future mayors, council members, school board members, superintendents and teachers.

“I’m here to tell you—proof positive, 40 years later—that a day doesn’t go by that I don’t think about my time here at School No. 4,” he said. “I also want to tell you that we in Fort Lee love each of you so, so very much.”

Fort Lee Superintendent of Schools Raymond Bandlow followed Sokolich on the microphone, striking a somewhat different note.

“How many of you think that you’re getting a day off from learning this morning?” Bandlow asked the students. “Well, I’ve got news for you: you’re not. But that’s okay because what you think of as being a day off from learning just means a day off from being in the classroom. Actually being out here and being part of this with everyone—your teachers, the wonderful people who’ve come back to be with us today—this is a really important part of your learning. We’re helping you to understand how important it is that this school is part of the community, and that what you do here is so very, very important to your lives.”

Those wonderful people Bandlow referred to who came back to their old school to join the celebration and even help unveil the statue were sisters Paula Bongardino, Bessie Arensman and Josephine Apricena, the subjects of a previous article on Fort Lee Patch, who graduated from School No. 4 in 1938, 1940 and 1942 respectively when their last name was Salto. Joining them in the VIP seats up front was their dear friend since their days at the school, Hilma Orr, who also graduated from School No. 4 in 1938.

Orr told Patch she later taught reading and math ["more than 20 years ago"] at the school, where one of her students was current Fort Lee Board of Education vice president Linda McCue.

School No. 4 PTA president and one of the chairs of the 100-year committee, Ada Garcia, said the PTA raised the money for the statue and plaque through various fundraisers—most of it coming from the sold-out, PTA-sponsored dinner dance in March commemorating the anniversary. Garcia also said the kids were going to be treated to a surprise carnival later that afternoon featuring giant slides, an obstacle course, bouncy houses, carnival games, cotton candy, popcorn, ice cream and more.

“Each child is decorating a picture frame, and they’re going to get a picture in front of the statue so they can take that home next week,” Garcia said.

Garcia gave specific credit to Mike Maresca of the Fort Lee Department of Public Works for setting up and installing the statue, time capsule and plaque, or what another 100-year committee chairwoman, Christine Sargenti, called, “this lasting tribute to the school.”

“It’s taken months of planning and the cooperation and help and generosity of many, many people,” Sargenti said.

Yet another planning committee chair, Barbara Schwartzfarb, read to the students the inscription on the plaque, which would ultimately be placed atop the buried time capsule:

“We as a community of learners are honored to celebrate the past, participate in the present and help shape the future.”

After the ceremony on the school’s front lawn, the students returned to their classrooms, where they were treated to cupcakes before taking part in the carnival later in the day.

According to Garcia, the time capsule was filled with some of the following items:

• Each grade wrote an essay about what life would be like in 100 years; teachers selected one essay from each class to be represented
• A fifth grade teacher wrote an essay about "A day at school 4”
• A copy of Friday’s Bergen Record
• A #2 pencil
• A glue stick
• A pop up Post-it note pack
• A CD-ROM
• A current school yearbook
• Pictures of every child at the school this year
• Pictures of all the teachers and staff

The time capsule also included a last minute addition: Mayor Sokolich’s card and pencil.