By CRISTINA JANNEY
Hays Post
The Hays school board voted to close Washington School at its meeting Monday night.
The school board has entered into a contract with Overland Property Group to purchase the school for $500,000. The developer plans to use tax credits to remodel the school into apartments.
The school was shuttered as a grade school and repurposed in 2015. The school is more than 90 years old, is not ADA compliant and younger students could not be housed on the second floor because of government rules.
Early Childhood Connections had been located in the school, but the program was moved to its new location on 13th Street in fall 2019. The Learning Center has been temporarily housed in that building. It will move to Hadley Center temporarily.
The district hopes to move the Learning Center into a remodeled space at Rockwell Administration Center within the next year.
When the board originally entered into the contract with OPG, members discussed using the $500,000 purchase price to pay down the lease purchase agreement for the ECC remodel project.
Superintendent Ron Wilson said if the $500,000 was used to pay down the lease agreement, $229,000 could be saved in interest.
Board member Craig Pallister said he had received feedback from the community members who were concerned the district needs a strategic plan to address the facility needs of the K-5 students.
"We don’t need to just jump with that $500,000; we need to make a plan," he said.
Board member Allen Park and former principal of Washington Grade School raised several concerns about the closure of the school. He voted against the closure.
He said he was concerned an appraisal was not obtained on the property before the school district entered into the contract with OPG.
He too was concerned about the future of K-5 education in the district.
"K-5 is the most neglected group in the district and that is a concern," he said.
Wilson said by closing Washington, the district will also save about $40,000 per year in insurance and utility costs.
Park said in the 10 months he had been on the board, it had not had any serious discussions about facilities.
Board President Mike Walker said the board had decided during the COVID pandemic was not the right time to take a bond issue to the community.
"I don't think we are going to unsell the building and put the kids back in," Walker said of Washington.
No one from the public spoke during a public hearing Monday on the school closure.
The motion to close the building passed on a vote of 6-1.