Charter school is still looking

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May 02, 2007

By Paris Achen

Mail Tribune

The search for a home for Medford's first charter school has resumed after the Medford School Board indicated Tuesday it will not consider leasing out the former West Side School.

"I don't see leasing it as an option now," said Board Member Peggy Penland. "I would be very pleased if someone wrote us a check to buy it ... because we will not use that as a school again. It's too small."

Under a contract with the school district, founders of the Madrone Trail Public Charter School have just 60 days to find a location.

The Waldorf-methods school, nearly at capacity for enrollment, is scheduled to debut in the fall with grades kindergarten through 2.

Madrone Trail board member Daniele Anderson said she is confident the school will find a location in time. Negotiations are already under way with the owners of other properties. Anderson declined to name the properties because of the negotiations.

Since the inception of their charter in December, founders have expressed a desire to establish the charter school at the former West Side School, 3070 Ross Lane.

The main attraction was that the location would give the charter school room to grow as it added another grade each year through the eighth grade.

They proposed using just 3,500 square feet of the 18,000-square-foot building.

School board members had held off on making a decision until each had toured the building. That happened last month.

The building hasn't been used as a school since the 1980s. The U.S. Naval Reserve leased the structure until last October.

"I feel bad saying no," said Board Member Cynthia Wright. "I would rather see it used as a school rather than sitting vacant. It's just bad timing."

Board members said the building has extensive asbestos, a decaying ceiling and other problems. Under law, the district would be responsible for removing any broken asbestos materials before students could occupy it.

Improvements to the building were excluded from a $189 million school bond package voters approved in November.

The district's proposed budget also has no provisions for repairing the building. The board has not determined exact plans for the structure. Selling it or using it for storage during construction at other schools are possibilities, board members said.

"The perception of the public might be that we are spending money (at the West Side School) instead of what was included in the bond," Penland said. "It's a distraction from spending the $189 million wisely. We don't have enough already."

Madrone Trail founders proposed Tuesday paying for a survey of the building to determine necessary repairs and improvements and estimate the cost of the work. They proposed possibly paying for repairs with $50,000 from a federal grant meant to help establish charter schools, and fund the rest through a lease agreement.

"It may be that the work is over everyone's heads, but we don't know that yet," said Tom Bradley, Madrone Trail's real estate agent.

Board Chairman Larry Nicholson said it would be inappropriate to hand over responsibility for bringing the building up to code to the Madrone Trail.

"We are just not in the position to deal with the West Side School," Nicholson said. "It would be better to sell it."

Reach reporter Paris Achen at 541-776-4459 or pachen@mailtribune.com.

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