Ramsey School District continues to make progress toward the purchase of a property that will house key support services that currently take up valuable space on our land-locked high school campus. Known as the Eastwick School, this property includes a recently renovated building with new and upgraded mechanical and electrical services. It already complies with ADA regulations, etc. It includes a home that will be demolished to create enough space for the district’s buses, trucks and maintenance garage. The main building will be outfitted for administrative offices.
Currently, all those support services operate from the cluttered high school campus. Shifting them will free up space for safer drop-off and pickup, and it will increase parking so they district can stop leasing space for that purpose. The district forged an agreement to buy the entire property for $2.090 million — $35,000 less than the value set by an independent appraisal.
The advantages of consolidating support services off-site was more attractive than the alternative: An estimated $1.7 million to modernize the current Board of Education office, with no solution for buses and maintenance vehicles.
Ramsey School District is grateful for the partnership with its Community School, and the ways both entities can work together to serve residents in different ways. Both focus on education: The district manages a traditional Kindergarten-through-Grade 12 program while the Community School offers child care and related services for youngsters and a full range of practical, interesting, and social programming for adults.
The Community School is a self-sustaining, non-profit organization that operates under the Ramsey Board of Education. This town treasure has provided enriching and stimulating courses and excursions for more than 50 years. Historically, the partnership has enabled worthy use of publicly funded facilities beyond a typical school day. Demand helped the Community School grow out of its Ramsey High School location, and in 2017 it relocated to the Dater School.
This beneficial partnership will continue in 2019 when the Community School plans to offer some programming at the district’s new Board of Education office. The Board plans to use money from its Capital Reserve Fund to purchase the property for $2.090 million, and to commit approximately $700,000 for renovation work including demolition of a home that stands where buses will be parked. The Community School will provide a donation to offset costs to taxpayers. That donation comes from years of small budget surpluses that accumulated to make a meaningful impact on the services the Community School provides.
