School property sale becomes an issue for 2010 town meeting
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By Josh O'Gorman STAFF WRITER - Published: October 13, 2009
SPRINGFIELD — If some school officials have their way, voters at town meeting in March will be asked if they want to sell off some of the School District's properties.
The Springfield School District Property Committee has recommended that the School Board ask voters if they would like to sell four school properties — Park Street, North, East and Southview.
"We've looked at the four buildings and we don't think any of them are worth saving or investing in," said Larry Kraft, who heads the School Board and serves on the Property Committee. "It doesn't make sense for us to keep the four buildings if they're not being used for educational use."
At the most recent School Board meeting, the board voted unanimously to close Park Street School entirely. In 2008, residents voted to cease using the building as an elementary school and this year is the last it will house K-5 pupils, but plans to keep the building for administration were scrapped by the vote, and instead the district's central office will relocate to Riverside Middle School.
The move did not spark much controversy, nor did discussion of selling Southview School, which houses the Springfield Community Players. The theater group is in the middle of a 10-year lease and Kraft said any sale of the property would require the owner to honor that lease.
The proposed sales of East School and North School have proven more contentious. East School is home to the Gateway Program, an alternative education collaboration between Springfield and other regional school districts. Kraft said that while the building itself is of little value, the property it sits upon is the most marketable of the four.
Gateway Program Director Nancy Weiss asked what would become of the program, which serves about 30 students in second grade through 11th grade, including 16 from Springfield, and noted the potential expense of having to transport those pupils if the program relocates to another town. Board member Marilyn Thompson suggested they have a plan for what to do with Gateway before they propose selling the East School, while Kraft argued the board would have months to make arrangements for a new Gateway location.
The most impassioned reaction is the recommendation to sell the North School. The building itself hasn't been used for education for more than 20 years, but it sits on 4.6 acres of land donated to the town in 1946 by Carl and Harriet Parker that is now home to a playground, ice skating rink and soccer field. The Parker's daughter, Judy Parker Turmail, isn't happy about the proposed sale.
"I know that my parents had no intention that the land would be used for anything other than recreational use," Turmail said, noting the covenants restrict the use of the land for recreation.
However, the covenant also contains language stating it "shall not be amended without the affirmative vote of the Town School District of Springfield, Vermont," and this clause is what Kraft believes will allow the School District to put the property up for sale.
"All we want is the ability to sell them. A vote in March might not change anything," he said.
josh.ogorman@rutlandherald.com
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