NORFOLK, Va. — More than three decades have passed since Brandon Harris walked into a kindergarten classroom at Lindenwood Elementary School, but he can still picture it.
He remembers his teacher, Miss Wise. He remembers taking naps, decorating Christmas sweatshirts with handprints and even his first crush.
“I went to kindergarten at Lindenwood Elementary School, and it was just a school that, you know, really gave me a lot of core memories,” Harris said.
Those memories are taking on new meaning as Lindenwood Elementary is set to close next summer.
The school is one of four Norfolk Public Schools scheduled to close in June 2027 as part of the district's consolidation plan. Tarrallton Elementary, Granby Elementary and P.B. Young Elementary are also scheduled to close.
The district says the consolidation effort is aimed at addressing declining enrollment and making better use of its resources. Norfolk Public Schools is now working through the redistricting process to determine where students from the four schools will attend beginning with the 2027-28 school year.
For Harris, learning Lindenwood would eventually close came as a shock.
“I was very, very, very, like, shocked,” Harris said. “I was like, why would they do — like, what's going on in Norfolk? You know what I mean? Like, are we at the point where we're shutting schools down?”
Lindenwood Elementary's connection to the community stretches back more than 70 years.
The school was constructed in 1953 for Black students in Lindenwood, a historically African American neighborhood whose development dates to the late 19th century, according to information from the Virginia Department of Historic Resources.
The school arrived during an important period in the neighborhood's growth. Historic records say its construction helped draw new residents to Lindenwood and contributed to the neighborhood's second-highest period of home construction. Many homes surrounding the school, particularly along Summit Avenue and Ludlow Street, date to that period.
The one-story, Moderne-style school became a physical anchor for the neighborhood, sitting near the Lafayette River at its northeastern edge.
For Harris, though, it was what happened inside the building that left the biggest impression.
He attended Lindenwood for kindergarten while his father and grandparents lived nearby on East 26th Street. The school was within walking distance.
Harris particularly remembers his classroom.
“The classroom at Lindenwood was like an art studio, and I just remember, like, feeling like I wanted to be in art all the time,” Harris said.
That experience stayed with him.
Harris now lives in Atlanta and has worked in education for about 15 years. He is an artist and teaches dance to middle school students.
He believes some of the seeds for that career were planted inside his kindergarten classroom in Norfolk.
“It was something very foundational about how our classroom was structured, what it looked like, you know, what it felt like every day that made me want to go into the education field,” Harris said.
He said the experiences children have during those early years can stay with them long after they leave the classroom.
“Elementary school is a very tender, fleeting time, and like it's very impressionable on who we are as kids and who we grow up to be as adults,” Harris said. “So I'm just very grateful that Lindenwood like still sticks with me and is a part of who I am as an educator.”
Lindenwood's closure is part of Phase II of Norfolk Public Schools' consolidation plan.
Along with Lindenwood, Tarrallton, Granby and P.B. Young elementary schools are scheduled to close at the end of the 2026-27 school year.
The closures follow the district's previous phase of consolidation, which included the closure of Willoughby Early Childhood Center and Norview Elementary.
Norfolk Public Schools is planning another series of community redistricting meetings in September for families and other stakeholders affected by the next round of closures.
A meeting at Lindenwood Elementary is scheduled for Sept. 15 at 4 p.m. The district says there will be an open discussion and an opportunity for stakeholders to ask questions about the closures and upcoming redistricting changes.
Students affected by the changes will begin the 2027-28 school year at newly assigned schools and will receive advance notification, according to the district.
After learning Lindenwood was slated for closure, Harris eventually returned to the neighborhood.
It had been roughly 30 years since he had been back to the school.
“A wave of nostalgia hit me, and I just walked out there,” Harris said. “I drove up to the school. I walked around the campus. I took videos and pictures, and I just, like, was overrun with, like, a wave of emotion.”
Walking around brought back pieces of a childhood Harris said continue to influence how he approaches art and his own students.
“As an artist, we always pull upon or pull from the things, the emotions, the struggles, the things that we've gone through as people, as children,” Harris said.
For him, Lindenwood is one of those places.
“I just have so many core memories from Lindenwood,” Harris said. “I think it's just like ingrained in me.”
More than 30 years after Harris left his kindergarten classroom, the school remains part of the teacher and artist he became.
“Lindenwood has been such a foundational part of that for me,” Harris said.
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