Milroy public school: end of an era
There are last days of school, then there are LAST days of school. In Milroy, the thrill and excitement that usually comes with the big moment was overshadowed on May 22 when the bell rang for the final time after 128 years of educating children.
MEditor’s Note: This is the last of a four-part series reflecting on Milroy's public school, which has closed and will consolidate with the Tracy Public School District.
IKE WELU SHARED MANY MEMORIES ABOUT HIS TIME AS A STUDENT AT Milroy High School at last Friday's Milroy Public School graduation ceremony — the very last commencement ever at the school. Truth be known, he could've talked all morning.
Mike is one of four generations of Welus to graduate from the school, which is consolidating with Tracy Area Public Schools, starting with the 2026-27 school year.
At the end of his trip down memory lane, Welu raised a glass (in this case, a coee mug) and gave a toast to the school and all the students who made it their seasonal home for matriculation — a nostalgic nod to its rich history that dates back to 1898.
“For a lot of years, a lot of generations, this has been a great school," Welu said. "A lot of people worked to keep this place going, kept it open. The school is not about the building, it’s about the people, just like the church.”
Welu graduated from Milroy High School in 1980 with 23 others. He shared memories about Mary Jo Miller, whose father, Joe, painted the roof on one of his 100-foot-tall silos blue and white — the school’s colors. And of his brother, the late Melvin, whose “Spartan Storage” building was blue and white, another homage to his school.
“Melvin said the best years of his life were at this school,” Mike said. “We had fun at this school, we learned in this school. We learned the three ‘Rs’ … we learned about romance … we learned problem-solving, thinking outside the box … we learned about survival … we learned about nutrition … we learned about English, we learned about sarcasm … we learned about ethics … we learned about science … we learned that life is precious, life is short.”
Milroy’s high school closed in the late 1980s, when it paired with Tracy; it would eventually become a charter school (K-8). The district later shifted to a K-6 setup.
While the school is closing its doors for good, Welu said, that doesn’t mean those memories will fade away. The school’s legacy will live on through those who have graced the halls over the last century-plus.
“I would like to propose a toast to all the people who graduated from here,” Welu said. “To all the people in photos of past graduates, all the way down to the kids who graduated today.”
After the final class of Milroy Public School took their seat in the gym, school board member Ashley Christensen addressed the crowd to begin Friday’s ceremony “This is both a celebration and a milestone in the history of Milroy Public School,” she said. “This is a graduation unlike any other. Since opening its doors in 1923, Milroy Public School has been more than a school building. For over a century, it has been a place where children have come to learn to read, solve problems, make friends, attend concert, play at recess and discover who they are.”
Students became parents, and then grandparents of kids who would follow in their footsteps, Christensen said. And former students returned as volunteers, creating even more memories. And this year was even more special than others.
“Knowing this would be our final year as Milroy Public School, our students and staff built many memories,” she said. “We gathered for traditions like Community Game Day, Muffins for Moms and Donuts for Dads — moments that reminded us what made this school so special. We didn’t simply complete a school year, we honored a legacy.”
The consolidation with TAPS, she added, marks the end of the school’s longrunning chapter. Change, she said, can be difficult, especially when it involves so many memories, moments and traditions.
Christensen closed by thanking MPS Supt. John Willey and Tracy Area Public Schools Supt. Chad Anderson for their work through the long and complex consolidation process.
“Schools have never been defined only by buildings,” she said. “The heart of a school is its people — the teachers who encourage children, the families who supported them, the community that showed up year after year, and the students whose energy, curiosity and joy filled these classrooms every day. Those things do not end today.”
