09/10/09

School Board agrees to have new plaque made to mark Lunt School

A plaque honoring former Cape Elizabeth Superintendent Robert B. Lunt will once again grace the walls of Pond Cove Elementary School.

Part of the current building, a section that was once the "intermediate" elementary school and now houses the first- and second-grades, was dedicated in 1963 as the Robert B. Lunt School. Lunt, superintendent at the time, has been the head of Cape Elizabeth schools since 1948, and had the rare honor of having a building named for him while still in office.

As the memory of that occasion faded into numerous school building additions and renovations, so, apparently, had the plaque.
"We've looked everywhere under the sun, it no longer exists," said current Superintendent Alan Hawkins at the Sept. 8, 2009 School Board meeting.

The Cape Elizabeth Historical Preservation Society has numerous clippings and documentation of the dedication, but no plaque. A photograph of Mr. Lunt hangs in the conference room at the current Pond Cove School. But no plaque.

Officials were made aware of the oversight recently through a letter written by Robert B. Lunt and Harriet Lunt Duer, son and daughter of the late superintendent. "This is to question, respectfully, the removal of my father's name from the Cape Elizabeth Middle School building and to suggest an appropriate remedy," the letter says.

The letter does not suggest changing the name of the wing back to Lunt, "since a considerable amount of expense would probably be involved," the letter says. "However, I sincerely believe it would be feasible and appropriate for the town to have a new plaque made up and placed inside the Middle School, in the corridor that was once the stand-alone Lunt School."

The School Board approved a new plaque, to be placed in the conference room next to Mr. Lunt's photograph. The conference room is near the former entrance of the Lunt building.

Robert B. Lunt was superintendent of schools from 1948 to 1969, "a long time for a superintendent," Hawkins told members of the board.

The new plaque will say, "In honor of Robert B. Lunt, Superintendent of Cape Elizabeth Schools, 1948-1969" and, "Robert B. Lunt Intermediate Elementary School, 1963".

It may take a month or two for the plaque to be finished, Hawkins said. A formal ceremony may be held to re-install the plaque.