Early in my teaching career, the guidance department placed a new kid in my seventh grade social studies class, a child who turned out to be a delightful little girl and a pleasure to add to my class list.

They told me that she was hard of hearing, had a tutor, had learned lip-reading, and that my class was chosen because I lived near the Oral School.

While I’m not sure their criteria for classroom placement would stand up to educational scrutiny, they were correct in the fact that I had and did live near the Oral School. In fact, the front yard of the school faced my backyard.

The swing sets are still there. It is a big area, and occasionally I would see a softball lofting over the fence. That would be a foul ball, not a home run. I’d retrieve the ball and throw it back. (Bear in mind, I was 60 years younger then!)

When I was in junior high, the girl who lived next door was an Oral School student, and the lady across the street from her taught at the school. When I was in high school, a boy from Mystic, an Oral School student who was a little older than me, finished his senior year at Fitch. This fellow was a Scout, though not in my troop.

A friend of his told me that once the Scouts were riding in the back of a pickup truck. Following them was a car containing a man and lady. Apparently the lady turned to the man and said something, at which point this senior Scout looked at his watch and shouted out, “Two o’clock!”

The Oral School was closed in 1980, leaving the American School for the Deaf as the only school in Connecticut dedicated to deaf and hard of hearing students; at that establishment, students learn American Sign Language rather than the oral method.

The buildings and grounds have seen many uses over the years since, ranging from day care to state police academy training. I was still active in the Navy Reserve when the state police were there and my daughter and I used to go up and run their obstacle course in the evening so that I could prepare for my semiannual PT test.

In front of the buildings is a large grassy area that was used as a playground. The swing set is still there. There were also basketball courts.

Behind the building is a large field that has been used for a number of athletics, including lacrosse and adult soccer. It is also host to a variety of wildlife ranging from rabbits to deer to coyotes.

And, if the Groton Planning Department has its way, despite serious opposition in town, that field, as well as the playground in front, will be home to several large apartment buildings housing over a thousand occupants. If that happens, it will probably be the end of most of the wildlife, except possibly the coyotes, which seem to adapt well to an urban environment.

Robert F. Welt of Mystic is a retired longtime teacher in Groton Public Schools.