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Livonia Finds Uses for 3 of 7 Schools It Plans to Close: District to Rent Sites, Shuffle Programs

Posted on: Monday, 12 June 2006, 06:00 CDT

By Zlati Meyer, Detroit Free Press

Jun. 12--Livonia Public Schools officials have plans for three of the seven elementary schools closing permanently later this month.

The Adolescent Day Treatment Center, run by Redford Union School District, will rent the Nankin Mills building in Westland, said district spokesman Jay Young. Plymouth-Canton Community Schools will be using Washington Elementary to house some of its K-5 students while renovating one of its buildings. Livonia's adult education classes -- and possibly some overflow Franklin High School classes and a Japanese day care center -- will move to McKinley.

The closures are part of the district's controversial, cost-cutting Legacy Initiative, which also calls for separating grades 5-6 from the lower elementary grades. But district officials say this plan preserves the neighborhood-schools feel and reinstates classes, like music and foreign language, for fifth- and sixth-graders.

The rental revenue to be gained by the district was not available Sunday.

"We cover our costs at the very least, but potentially it brings in some revenue beyond costs," Young said last week. "But we're not in the business of having to rent our buildings. We're not into commercial real estate."

He said Livonia Public Schools' finance director, Lisa Levesque, has a folder full of inquiries about the available properties.

More school districts are becoming landlords, said Michael Addonizio, a professor of education policy at Wayne State University. Some districts choose compatible tenants, such as private education centers, or at least renters who won't diminish the possibility of reusing the buildings for the district later on, he said.

"For a long time, up until the 1980s, this notion of renting schools didn't occur to school districts. Then, they realized it's a good source of revenue," Addonizio said.

The school district will continue the upkeep of the four remaining empty buildings. "It's safe to say, most people would prefer a building to have occupants rather than seeing a building being closed," Young said.

Brenda Jaynes, whose two daughters attend Roosevelt Elementary,doesn't buy it.

"I don't know what would become of those," said the 39-year-old marketer for a Birmingham investment company. "I'm sure they'll turn into a hazard, an empty lot where kids wind up hanging out, and it's not good for kids. I hope they reconsider reopening the more centralized ones and not closing seven schools."

An ad hoc parents group, Citizens for Livonia's Future, is trying to recall five school board members who voted for the Legacy Initiative -- Robert Freeman, Daniel Lessard, Cynthia Markarian, Kevin Whitehead and Lynda Scheel.

The school-closure plan sends Washington students to Randolph; Taylor students to Hoover; Tyler students to Coolidge; Adams students to Roosevelt; Hull students to Kennedy; McKinley students to Grant, and Nankin Mills students to Hayes.

Contact ZLATI MEYER at 248-351-3291 or meyer@freepress.com.

photo

Instructor Carol Janowski, 49, of Livonia, left, watches as Sara Marone, 19, of Westland injects an orange with water to practice giving shots during a class on basic medical procedures Saturday at Franklin High School in Livonia. The district is moving the program to McKinley to save money. (Photos by ERIC SEALS/Detroit Free Press)

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Copyright (c) 2006, Detroit Free Press

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Source: Detroit Free Press

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