On and Up, With a Longing Look Back

It was the first day of summer and the last day of school at Kate Waller Barrett Elementary in Arlington County. It was, in fact, the last last day of school for the Washington region. Beyond the drawn blinds of Donna Barnette's classroom, blue sky beckoned.

Inside sat 25 students who were about to become sixth-graders. But they weren't quite done with fifth grade.

Ahead lay 10 weeks of summer. That, certainly, posed no problem. But then these students, like thousands of others in the area, would scatter to different middle schools to begin lives as adolescents, a daunting world with complicated class schedules, imposing eighth-graders, raging hormones and maybe even intimidating teachers who assign more homework than anyone could fathom.

"These kids are listening to the clock ticking," Barnette said. "Because they don't want to leave."

For this class, there would be no more colored pencils from the principal on birthdays, no more class guinea pig, no more nap time, no more Skittles from the resource teacher, no more hugs from worshipful kindergartners. And no more Ms. B.

All this sank in toward the end of an award ceremony yesterday morning. The entire school was singing "Each of Us Is a Flower," a particularly unpopular chore for the fifth-grade boys. Out of nowhere, 11-year-old Carla Siangas broke down in tears. Carla never cried. Classmates watched in amazement. A few girls collapsed into each other's arms. Then some of the boys. Soon, the entire class was crying.

"I'm going to miss you," sobbed Floren Martinez, 11, smothering a first-grade girl who wandered over to offer consolation.

"You have to go. You have to," someone wailed.

"I've got a tissue box," cried Erika Balmores, 11, running through the crowd. "Anyone need it?"

Fiona Hickey, 11, stood against a wall, watching.

"We don't want to leave," she said. "I've been going here for six years. Are you kidding me? This is my life."

The end of school, which arrived in Arlington after rippling across the region over two weeks, is a joyous release and gateway to idle summer hours. But it can also be sorrowful, particularly for students who leave a school and will not return, passing from elementary to middle school or middle to high school. At such times, even a worldly child of 10 or 11 can feel the pang of something slipping away.