PROVO — Maybe the students got the last word.
At the last student-faculty baseball game at Farrer Middle School, the students won 26-23. But the game did go into extra innings — and faculty members are quick to point out that they won a basketball game against the students a couple months ago.
"So we're 1-1," Farrer principal Stephen Oliverson said. "That's fitting. We're even with the kids."
The traditional athletic competitions between the faculty and students ended with the Thursday game. It also was the last day of classes forever at the middle school.
Students spent Friday at Lagoon amusement park, and the school will be transformed into Farrer Elementary by the fall.
In the 1990s, Provo School District administrators anticipated a need for a third middle school, in addition to Farrer and Dixon. But the student population never rose with projections, and district administrators decided to realign school boundaries.
More middle-school age students live closer to Dixon and Centennial, so the board decided to close Farrer as a middle school and use the building as an elementary.
Farrer students will attend either Centennial or Dixon middle schools. The new Farrer Elementary will accommodate some students from Joaquin Elementary, which also closed for good on Friday, and former Maeser Elementary students, who were bused to another part of Provo when that school closed three years ago.
Before Thursday's baseball game, students, faculty and staff dedicated a granite and bronze monument on the school's southwest corner, facing Center Street.
"We feel it adds to such a beautiful street," said Oliverson, who will become principal of Provost Elementary next year.
The monument features the original student creed and recognizes the thousands of students educated there since 1931. At that time, school district officials spent $126,918 to open it. Farrer students have received honors for the school newspaper, orchestra, chorus, athletics and the "posture parades," which Oliverson said were akin to drill teams.
"Over the years, students enjoyed barn dances, field trips, the Farrer-run cultural assemblies for the war effort (World War II)," the monument states. "Farrer's students and staff over the years logged thousands of hours in service. Farrer's graduates have left an indelible mark on Utah and the nation."
Teachers have started packing up their classrooms. Most found jobs at other Provo middle schools.
Parents were angry when the decision to close the middle school was discussed in November. They worried about the sizes of the schools. They also worried that the neighborhood in downtown Provo would be depleted of nearby schools for children and were unhappy with school-boundary realignment decisions.
Student Keisha Molyneux will be attending Dixon Middle School next year.
"Most of my friends are going to the same school," she said.
Jarel Chapman and Mario Santana also will attend Dixon.
"Some of our friends are going to Centennial," Chapman said.
Both boys said they are a little worried about crowding at their new school. They don't want Farrer to close.
"They should keep it," Santana said.
E-mail: lhancock@desnews.com