Ashland School Board

2 schools interested in Lincoln

Siskiyou, Lithia Springs want part of old building

By Jennifer Squires
Ashland Daily Tidings

The Ashland School District will pursue negotiations with Siskiyou School to lease a portion of the vacant Lincoln Elementary School building so long as the school caps its enrollment and adheres to three other conditions.

The school board members outlined the four stipulations to those talks at their Monday night meeting: that the lease charge 65 cents a square foot, the school pay all utility costs and the agreement be a triple-net lease, which would eliminate any school district responsibility for the safety of those at the site or for damage caused by tenants. The private Waldorf program must also close its enrollment at a to-be-determined number so as not to compete with public school offerings in the city.

“I don’t feel we should in any way subsidize Siskiyou School,” board member Amy Amrhein said. “Either they can afford to move in or they can’t.”

Public school teachers and some community members have come out against the idea of leasing Lincoln to a private school, although no one spoke at the Monday’s meeting.

“It’s not that they’re stealing our students. By all the cuts we were making ... parents were dissatisfied,” board member Ruth Alexander said. “In my view, renting to Siskiyou School makes a lot of sense.”

The 18-month Siskiyou School lease proposal asks to occupy the historic building by January 2006 and would pay $6,000 a month on top of some utility costs. The school wants to use the gymnasium, hallways, bathrooms, the teacher’s lounge and a small administrative area.

Another prospective tenant

While talks with Siskiyou School representatives occur, district staff will continue discussions with Community Works about a proposal that would accommodate a second school at Lincoln.

Community Works wants to house its Lithia Springs School — a coed program serving troubled middle and high school students housed at two resident facilities in Ashland — at Lincoln for five to 10 years.

The offer hinges on remodeling some classrooms to create private counseling areas for Lithia Springs School. The school wants to occupy 10,000 to 15,000 square feet of the building within 18 months, although district officials did not report a solid time frame.

“The opportunity for a five- to 10-year lease is — I think for me — a great opportunity to at least pursue,” Amrhein said, adding she likes the existing financial relationship between Lithia Springs School and the school district. The district receives state funding for the students, then funnels the money — except for a small administrative fee — to Lithia Springs.

Board member Amy Patton, who is the board liaison to the Bond and Facilities Planning Committee, noted the plan for the future of district facilities will not be complete until the spring. Patton said signing a long-term lease agreement before then would be short-sighted.

“I think we need to wait until March, April until we make a five-year decision,” Patton said.

Continued discussions with Lithia Springs School will generate more definite timelines, terms of the contract and the rent the school will pay.

If and when solid agreements are reached with either organization, district staff will present those proposals to Mike Broomfield, the city building inspector, to determine if they qualify as continuous use of the structure.

Questions about the age and number of children who would have to occupy Lincoln School to maintain the conditional use permit for education went unanswered at Monday’s meeting. If too much time passes — although Broomfield has not stated how much is too much — Lincoln School would have to meet current building standards in order to be used as an educational facility.

The former school board voted to close Lincoln School in February 2004 after projected school district enrollment dropped below 1,050. When it closed in June, Lincoln was the second Ashland elementary school to be shuttered in three years. The school board requested lease or sale proposals, which were first reviewed in April. Later, the option to sell the 80-year-old building was eliminated. To date, the school board has rejected proposals from the City of Ashland, Southern Oregon University and a consortium of local art and fitness instructors.

Staff writer Jennifer Squires can be reached at 482-3456 x 3019 or jsquires@dailytidings.com.