Brooks Elementary Reunites 5 Times Since Closing

When April Cunningham Parker walks into her old elementary school building, she calls it hallowed ground.

Brooks Elementary may have closed, but its community refuses to let go. Parker and fellow alumna Danielle Odom Killingsworth have organized five reunions that bring former students, teachers, and staff back together to celebrate what made their school unforgettable.

"When you attended Brooks Elementary, it was something very special," Parker said. "We were a very close knit group. More like a family than a school."

The spring reunion drew generations of the Brooks family back to the building, now home to Liberty Tech Charter. Students who spent kindergarten through sixth grade together walked the halls alongside the educators who shaped them.

Wayne Stone served as principal for 29 years. Carol Green worked as secretary for 35 years. Zan Yarbrough spent three decades as the school librarian before driving over three hours to attend the reunion.

Yarbrough told Parker why the journey mattered so much. "Never having children of her own meant all of these students were like her children," Parker explained.

Sunny's Take

The reunion shows how deeply educators can touch lives when they stay long enough to become family. Stone, Green, and Yarbrough didn't just work at Brooks Elementary for a few years. They built a legacy across decades, teaching multiple siblings and creating stability in a world that often feels temporary.

These students could have scattered and never looked back. Instead, they keep coming back because something rare happened in those classrooms. The teachers didn't just teach. They loved.

The organizers are already planning the next gathering. Parker says former students still call their old teachers legends, a title earned through years of showing up and caring deeply.

"It's hard to describe how special growing up at Brooks Elementary was," Parker said.

For the Brooks family, the school building may have changed hands, but the bonds formed inside those walls remain unbreakable.