© 2024 WVIK
Listen at 90.3 FM and 98.3 FM in the Quad Cities, 95.9 FM in Dubuque, or on the WVIK app!
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Final Open House at Ericsson School

WVIK Staff

People who attended one of the oldest schools in the Quad Cities are invited to walk the halls one last time. This afternoon, Ericsson Elementary in Moline will host an open house and fiesta, as it prepares to close, not just for the school year, but for good.

Principal Juanita Terronez says a school first opened on the site in 1873, and since then the neighborhood and school have hosted many immigrant families. 
Terronez has spent her entire 23-year career at Ericsson - starting as a student teacher. She became principal 7 years ago, and will retire next month. She also lives nearby. 

At various times, nearly 300 students have attended classes there, but in recent years the Moline district has gradually moved programs and grades to other buildings as it prepares to close the school. Currently there are just 100 students, with a staff of about 12.
The open house and fiesta will be held from 3:30 until 7 pm. When Ericsson closes, students from the neighborhood will attend Lincoln-Irving School.  

A native of Detroit, Herb Trix began his radio career as a country-western disc jockey in Roswell, New Mexico (“KRSY, your superkicker in the Pecos Valley”), in 1978. After a stint at an oldies station in Topeka, Kansas (imagine getting paid to play “Louie Louie” and “Great Balls of Fire”), he wormed his way into news, first in Topeka, and then in Freeport Illinois.