Community groups who might want to take over school buildings in Jarvie and Fawcett have been asked to let the school division know this fall after
At public meetings held in Fawcett and Jarvie on July 16, Pembina Hills school division officials and trustees heard there might be some interest in community groups taking on the buildings, but they would need more time to come to a decision.
The division has asked for community groups to let them know one way or the other by late fall or early winter, once the harvest work is finished in the two agricultural communities.
Westlock Libraries houses public collections in the two school libraries, and has been allowed to stay in the buildings until Dec. 31, 2014; the school division will continue to keep the lights and heat on until then.
In presentations at both schools, division assistant Supt. Wendy Scinski and facilities director Tracy Tyreman explained the process to divest the school properties.
If there is interest from a community group, a municipality or a not-for-profit organization, the division will sell the property to the group for $1.
If there’s no interest, the property will be appraised and put on the market through a realtor. If there’s no interest in the property at that point, the building would be razed and the site cleaned up.
At that point the land would be offered to community groups, and if there is no interest, it would be put up for sale.
Until a final decision is made on the fate of the buildings, Tyreman said the division would continue to keep the buildings in good condition.
“We’re going to treat the buildings very respectfully,” he said.
Tyreman said W.R. Frose School itself is need of some repairs, and has some ongoing issues with moisture due to a high water table.
“As we all know, there are many issues,” he said. “If the community does take it over, they would want to right-size.”
He did not provide figures on what the right-sizing process might cost.
The school is 25,471 square feet (2,366 square metres) sitting on 10.2 acres of land.
The school division’s operating cost to maintain the building during the 2012-2013 school year was $80,399, including the cost of caretaking and grass cutting. The portion for just water, power, heat and insurance was $28,191.
Dave Doke spoke on behalf of PACO, the ag society in Fawcett that runs the existing arena and community centre, and said while there have been some informal discussions about the possibility of taking over the facility it hasn’t been voted on yet.
“We haven’t made any motions about this because there’s no moola,” he said. “There’s lots of good ideas out there, it’s just who’s going to pick up the ball and run with it.”
Michelle Regan, a resident of the County of Barrhead, spoke at length about the potential to turn the school itself into a community hub that could provide a wide range of services — everything from daycare to mental-health services — although she conceded she hadn’t looked into the Fawcett situation at all prior to attending the meeting.
Werner Frose, for whom the school is named, said it’s unlikely a community group would take over the facility because it’s simply too old and needs too many repairs.
“If you gave me this building, I wouldn’t take it,” he said.
He added based on his understanding of the community, where other community facilities are maintained through volunteer work and the proceeds from bake sales, there’s simply not enough money to be able to take over the building.
Residents who attended the Jarvie meeting, roughly half of whom were from the Jarvie Community Council, seemed more positive about a takeover but by no means certain.
Gordon Lea, who was principal at the school for many years in the 1980s and 1990s, said he thought the community could handle it.
“I’m probably the most interested,” he said. “There are some people who think it’s too big a project to take on.”
He suggested the school could take over the roles of the current community hall and seniors’ drop-in centre, and if those two buildings were either sold or razed, the expense of maintaining the school might not be too severe.
Tyreman said the school, which occupies 12,071 square feet (1,121 square metres) on 8.6 acres of land, cost the division $44,261 to operate for the 2012-2103 school year. The cost of water, power, heat and insurance was $17,026.
Lea raised several concerns about possible liabilities on the property, including a fuel tank that had caved in at some point in the 1990s and urinals in the boys’ washroom that spent two years in the 1980s not hooked up to the sewer line.
The revelation about those liabilities was apparently surprising to division staff, who asked Lea for more details and committed to follow up.
Ultimately, Tyreman said all necessary testing would be done and whatever information the division came up with would be made public.
“Our information is your information,” he said.
Lea said he feels there’s good potential for the building to continue to serve the community, but shied away from making any firm commitments.
“We’ve got a lot of investigating to do before we can say yea or nay, and we’ve got a number of people in the community who are more nay than I am and need to be persuaded it’s a good idea,” he said. “Don’t take my enthusiasm, as limited as it is, to mean we want it.”
