Barbara Lawlor, Nederland. Gleaming but old.

The Nederland Elementary School bell was made over 100 years ago, but it still is finely tuned, rich voiced and eager to do its job. The bell was put to work last Wednesday at the NES opening day of school when all of its students had the opportunity to ring it, to pick up a bell hammer and see what kind of a sound they could get from the old metal.

In 1953, Nederland resident Danny Glasser, a third grader when the old NES was demolished, responded to the call of the bell. Last Thursday, he was at the school, over half a century later, once again answering the call of the black bell.

When the new school, what is now the Nederland Community Center, was built, the bell was put into safe storage, a closet off the gymnasium. It was purchased and moved to a couple different locations until it was given to Danny Glasser.

In 2005, the Glassers decided the bell should return to the school, to be accessible to the community. The Glassers refurbished the bell and mounted it on a mobile wooden frame. It slept in the Nederland Mining Museum until three years ago when Boulder County purchased the museum and the bell returned to the school.

On Thursday, every student at NES had the chance to ring the bell, a peal of the present marking the beginning of a new school year.

Boulder Valley School District’s new superintendent Dr. Rob Anderson was on hand to share in the celebration. Anderson was appointed to lead the BVSD Board of Education in March. He has been an educator for 21 years, most recently as the Deputy Superintendent of Academics for Fulton County Schools in Atlanta, Georgia. He took over the position on 2018 and has been engaged in visiting the district schools over the summer.

NES fifth grader Ruby Gustafson greeted the superintendent and told him she was starting a school newspaper and interviewed him before the ringing ceremony took place.

Anderson then welcomed the students, the teachers, the staff and the bell back to school. And then, everybody got to give the bell a whack.

NES principal Laurel Reckert then sent the students off to their classes and Danny and Linda Glasser put the bell back to bed until it elderly presence is requested at another community event.

The 2018-2019 school year has officially begun.

(Originally published in the August 23, 2018, print edition of The Mountain-Ear.)