Iva Meairs

History of Iva Meairs Elementary School

Iva Meairs Elementary School was opened to students in the 1950-1951 school year, initially named Sun Garden Village School because of its proximity to the neighborhood of the same name. The post-war population boom of the late 1940s and 1950s meant the Westminster School District needed more schools to meet the influx of families moving into the new neighborhoods being developed. The first school, Midway City School, was opened in 1949 at the intersection of Newland and Hazard. Sun Garden Village School would be built a year later at the intersection of Newland and Trask, being the first school constructed outside of Westminster’s city limits.

When Meairs opened, there were only two buildings: a kindergarten room and a single wing containing four classrooms from kindergarten through third grade. The staff consisted of five teachers for each grade level, with one class being a second and third grade combination class. The school was expanded further in 1956 to include three more class wings to accommodate more students and grade levels, in addition to a front office and multipurpose room. With these additions, more students also meant new programs. For example, Meairs was home to one of the district’s first Special Education classes for visually impaired students in the 1959-1960 school year. ”

Sun Garden’s first principal was an experienced educator, Iva Meairs. In addition to her administration duties, she taught third graders for a few years until more teachers could be hired during the school’s expansion. In 1959, she assumed different positions throughout the district including a period as one of the district’s Master Teachers, the principal of Webber School, and finally as the first principal of Schroeder School where she remained until her retirement in 1965. In honor of her work in the Westminster School District, her old school, Sun Garden, was renamed Iva Meairs School in 1965. In a letter she wrote to Meairs students in that year, she reminded them to be “Good School Citizens.” Even after her retirement, Mrs. Meairs would come back occasionally to check in on the school and its students.