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Warsaw school board has until Sept. 1 to decide what to do with the three closed elementary school buildings, the board decided Monday.
However, one offer to lease one of the buildings has an earlier deadline.
Clay, Prairie and Lake township boards met last week to vote on whether or not to accept the school properties into the townships.
Clay Township declined ownership of Claypool Elementary.
Lake Township asked for the baseball diamonds behind Silver Lake Elementary but said they had made no definite decision on the school building.
Prairie Township accepted two parcels of land adjacent to the school and asked for the opportunity, after determining the 2006 budget, to take possession of Atwood Elementary School if the board doesn't dispose of the building by then.
For the buildings to be sold, McGuire said, state law requires the board to take the average of two appraisals. "We can't sell for less," he said.
Board member Deb Wiggins asked if the board could extend time to the townships so the board could have more time to study the options available. She made a motion that the board set a deadline of no later than Sept. 1 for a final disposition decision, and directed McGuire to see that the board is provided with the various options available "to reach an informed decision between now and Sept. 1."
The motion was unanimously approved.
Ivy Tech is interested in leasing Claypool Elementary, said representative Jim Jovanovic, because, while Ivy Tech is experiencing "significant growth," they will be losing 4,000 square feet of the building they are now leasing.
"The new owner won't let us re-lease that space," he said of the former Sprint building on U.S. 30.
He asked that Ivy Tech be allowed to lease Claypool Elementary for continuing education courses and, later, for general education courses. Offerings also would include business and industrial training and a pre-apprentice construction program in partnership with Habitat for Humanity.
"The college is concerned that we have not done a good job of expanding our services to other parts of the county," he said.
The school is in move-in condition, he said, and the lease would probably be for at least eight years.
The proposal already is approved by the Ivy Tech chancellor and by the Warsaw campus advisory board, he said. The Clay Township trustee and board would be included in any discussions with Ivy Tech about the building.
Ivy Tech instructor Jo Lemon called the proposal a "win-win situation." Ivy Tech advisory board member Jean Northenor asked the school board, "As you deliberate (what to do with the closed schools) in the next few weeks, put Ivy Tech in your thought pattern."
Jovanovic also said Ivy Tech would not be interested in using the school's gym or playground equipment. He said if the Boys and Girls Club or the YMCA wanted to use the gym for a satellite program, there would be no problem as long as the clubs provided their own supervision.
Board member Cathy Folk made a motion to start a dialogue between the board and Ivy Tech at the local level, and the motion was approved.
Ron Yeiter, WCS board president, appointed Folk and McGuire to join him on a task force to investigate the proposal, and to have an answer for Ivy Tech by the April school board meeting. The task force will report back to the board each month.
