The St. Johnsbury School District has a chance to sell the underutilized Portland Street School property, but we agree with some members of the school board - any sale now would be premature.
The school district wasn't even looking for a buyer when Roger Joslin of Concord spoke up at a school board meeting Monday night and said an investors' group was willing to pay $350,000 for the property.
At first glance, $350,000 looks pretty good for the school district, especially at a time when it's seeking support for a new K-8 consolidated school. Also, of the school buildings in the district, the Portland Street School is no longer used for elementary education.
In a small way, the property is being used. Cornerstone, an educational opportunity for area students with emotional and behavioral problems, is occupying the building.
The Cornerstone program's usefulness is not disputed. It's the fact that there are only 25 students involved, and 25 students do not maximize the space or value of the Portland Street property. The Cornerstone program should continue, but it shouldn't be the reason to prevent bigger and better use of the Portland Street property.
The property's current use is no reason to prevent a sale to Joslin's investors. It's the possible uses for the future that should be considered. In-town property is prime
real estate. When it comes to town property, the aim should not be to sell for a fast buck (or a fast 350,000 bucks). Any sale should be well-thought out for its future implications.
Here we have a situation where the proposed buyers are masked behind the label of investors. Who are they? Also, are there no other town uses for the building? If a consolidated school at the middle school site isn't supported, does the Portland Street School mean more to the district?
We're certainly not against investments in our community. We're happy Joslin and his group of investors are interested in the area. But in this case, is the money in hand now worth the future costs of lost real estate?
Copyright 1998
The Caledonian-Record
A subscription opens up access to all our online content, including: our interactive E-Edition, a full archive of modern stories, exclusive and expanded online offerings, photo galleries from Caledonian-Record journalists, video reports from our media partners, extensive international, national and regional reporting by the Associated Press, and a wide variety of feature content.
Success! An email has been sent to with a link to confirm list signup.
Error! There was an error processing your request.
Submitting this form below will send a message to your email with a link to change your password.
An email message containing instructions on how to reset your password has been sent to the e-mail address listed on your account.
Thank you. Your purchase was successful.
| Rate: | |
| Begins: | |
| Ends: | |
| Transaction ID: |
A receipt was sent to your email.
(0) comments
Welcome to the discussion.
Log In
Keep it Clean. Please avoid obscene, vulgar, lewd, racist or sexually-oriented language.
PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CAPS LOCK.
Don't Threaten. Threats of harming another person will not be tolerated.
Be Truthful. Don't knowingly lie about anyone or anything.
Be Nice. No racism, sexism or any sort of -ism that is degrading to another person.
Be Proactive. Use the 'Report' link on each comment to let us know of abusive posts.
Share with Us. We'd love to hear eyewitness accounts, the history behind an article.