Students celebrate the closing of Dean Elementary School

BROWN DEER (WITI) -- Students, parents, and staff marched proudly through the halls of Dean Elementary celebrating the legacy of a building where countless children began their education.

"I`m a little bit sad, I actually went to school here myself a million years ago and it`s an end of an era but we`re excited," says Dean Elementary parent Katie Perry.

In November 2011, a referendum was passed to move the students of Dean Elementary into the middle school and move the 7th and 8th graders into the high school.

Brown Deer school district officials say Dean Elementary was one of many schools built for the baby boomers.

"Those schools have a 50 year useful shelf life. So it`s either put $10 million in or take them down. It's at its sell by date and we've chosen to just take it down," says Brown Deer School District Director of Finance Emily Koczela.

Renovations on the middle and high school began last year, as for Dean Elementary it won't be standing much longer.

"The building will be demolished in the fall and then it will become an athletic field and that will occur shortly after the demolition," says Dean Elementary School Principal Kortney Smith.

To pay tribute to the school before it's gone, the children held a parade and released balloons into the sky to always remember Dean Elementary.

But many of the students say they're looking forward to the change.

"When we go over to the middle school we`re going to have a huge gym and we`re going to have a new rock wall and we`ll have a bigger gym for us to do more things,' says 2nd grader Sincere Nash.

These students will begin attending their new school come fall.

Dean Elementary School opened in 1958.

It will still be open for summer school.