APS - Windemere's 100 Year Birthday

by Marilyn Miller Paulk, APS Storyteller

June 4, 2025 -- Windemere CLC is said to be one of the best kept secrets in Akron Public Schools. The school is located at 2283 Windemere Avenue, not on a main road, but in a quiet, older neighborhood where many of the resident children have grown up and moved on. The bulk of the students are from open enrollment. Students come from all over the city of Akron, no school buses are used to transport students to and from the school. 

“You don’t hear much about us,” said Megan Lee-Wilfong. the principal for the past 12 years. “We’re still like in a lot of ways that good old fashioned school where everyone comes here who wants to learn and have a good time. We’re very close because we're small. You can’t really disappear over here. The staff is very solid. We don’t get much transiency, from staff or students.”

Windemere now offers pre-kindergarten classes, one full day and one half a day class.

This year is the 100th anniversary of Windemere CLC. The school recently celebrated with an open house at the school.

There were photo albums, slide shows, music and food catered by Ellet’s Hospitality students. More than 300 people showed up for the event. The honors choir and school band performed for the celebration.

“Our school is such a special place to be,” said Music teacher, Sarah Cooney. “Mrs. Lee is dedicated to our staff and creates a nurturing environment for everyone. Our students are some of the kindest children I have ever met.”

Cooney, who has taught for eight years, four at Windemere, said Windemere is the best school she has ever taught in. I think Windemere is a close knit school because of the culture that has been built here through the years,” she said. “We can celebrate all of our successes as a school. Our students strive to do their best every day and are always eager to learn. Our parents are a big part of our culture and want what's best for their children and encourage them to be their best every day.”

Parents are very active in the school.

Some of the activities include popcorn sales, family movie nights, yearly dances with the whole family or father/daughter, family game nights, Trunk or Treat, Christmas events and Teacher Appreciation Week.

“I try to volunteer as much as I can,” said Kristin Rummer, who enrolled her children through open enrollment. She currently has a second grader, Kate, and a fourth grader, Logan, in the school. “We chose to open enroll because we heard such good things about Windemere. The classes are small. It has a lot of fun family events to keep families engaged and informed. The teachers are phenomenal. Communication is great. Our principal sends weekly updates.”

She said her children have always felt welcome and safe at Windemere.

“My dad also attended Windemere, so it has been fun having my own kids attend as well, said Helen Zampelli, a former secretary in the new school said they had a warm, caring staff who were all very dedicated to the students. She said she mostly worked with the staff and not the children.

“It was a pleasant and positive experience working there and I am still friends with the teachers and keep in contact with them.”

Former students Olivia and Cassie Bomba, who attended Windemere from kindergarten through fifth grade, now 17, said they also keep in touch with the friends they made while attending the The identical twins, saying they enjoyed going to school there. “ It was generally a warm and welcoming place. It provided for an engaging and fun learning environment,” Olivia said. “I am still friends with a handful of classmates from Windemere. My sister and I never shared a class, they specifically kept us in different classes. Probably for the better too, the teachers would have never gotten our names straight.”

Cassie said the classes were small with about 20 students per class. She said her classmates were great and she got along with everyone. “I considered my entire class to be friends with me, even the quiet ones whom I went out of my way to include. I still consider some of my classmates to be among my closest friends.”

The twins reminisced as they walked the hallways and classrooms that seemed so much smaller than when they attended the school.Their tour guides were student ambassadors at the school.

When the new school first opened in 2012, the principal then, Patricia Durkin, affectionately called the Queen, said she worked at six different schools in her 38 years at APS. She was principal at Windemere for 13 years, eleven at the old school and two at the new. “The new school was like a gift to me, mainly because of the parents' involvement,” she said. “That’s what made the school unique from any of the other schools. Parents were always ready and willing to support the staff.”

She said the new building was air conditioned and had good heat. It had an elevator and all the kindergarten classes had their own bathrooms.

The old Windemere was located behind Betty Jane and Durkin recalled that all the students were bused.

Durkin retired from Windemere and also still meets with former staff members.

She and the current principal, Megan Lee-Wilfong, met for the first time at the open house. Both said the school is very special and dear to them. 

Lee-Wilfong said the building was more than just a school to her family because all three of her children attended school there. One, her son, attended school while she was principal. Both her daughters, now 27 and 23, had their high school graduation party at the school. Her son, a senior at Ellet, also wants to celebrate his graduation at the school. “That in itself is a testimony to the school.” she said.

“Our students strive to do their best every day and are always eager to learn. Our parents are a big part of our culture and want what's best for their children and encourage them to be their best every day,” she said. Our students and staff are Windemere stars and shine every day. “

Superintendent Mary B. Outley with Windemere CLC staff.

Windemere CLC students.