Lazaro Aleman
ECB Publishing, Inc.
Howard Middle School (HMS), which has been shuttered since 2008, may soon get a new lease on life and a new tenant in the way of The First Bethlehem Baptist Missionary Association, Inc., (FBBMA).
On Monday evening, Oct. 12, the Jefferson County School Board and the church group came to an understanding for the latter’s lease of the former middle school on Second Street in the southeast part of town.
The tentative agreement, which the board is expected to approve formally at its next meeting, entails the lease of the buildings and campus to the FBBMA for a period of three years at no charge. During which time, the group is expected to make improvements to the property.
If, however, at the end of the three years the church group has still made no effort to upgrade the property, then it reverts to the school district.
The verbal agreement came after a lengthy discussion that ensued when School Board Attorney Tom Reeves presented a contract that was intended to address concerns that had arisen at an earlier discussion of the issue by the board and FBBMA.
In the version of the lease agreement that Reeves proposed, no later than six months after the contract was signed, the church group would have had to present a plan to the board showing what alterations it planned to make to the property.
The intent, Reeves explained, was to mitigate the language in the original contract stating that either party could terminate the agreement with a 90-days notice. Which situation, he said, could prove detrimental to the church group if it had invested money in improving the structures and the school board then decided to pull out of the deal.
His proposal, Reeves said, would accomplish two things. It would give the board foresight into what the group planned to do with the buildings, at which point it could affirm or reject the changes. And secondly, it would give the church group assurance that the changes had the consent of the school board, and hence it could proceed with confidence that the latter wouldn’t simply pull out of the contract.
“With this agreement, if they want to invest money in the property, you can see what it is that they want to do,” Reeves told the board. “And they get assurance that we won’t exercise the termination clause without cause. It gives both sides assurances.”
Reverend Dr. Isaac Manning Jr., the moderator for the church group, questioned the changes, saying it was totally different from what had been discussed earlier. He wanted the group’s attorney to review the revised document before he would agree to it, he said.
Dr. Alisha Bradley-Nelson, president of the Women’s Auxiliary, said what the group wanted above all was clarity, so that everyone understood exactly what the agreement entailed going into it.
School Board Chairman Bill Brumfield proposed that the board give the group two years to improve the property, and if it didn’t do anything within that time, then the property reverted to the district. He also didn’t think that the group should have to submit a plan of proposed improvements to the board. Any changes were bound to be an improvement, given the present condition of the facility, he said.
School Board Member Shirley Washington agreed. But she suggested that the time period be extended to three years. She also questioned why demands were being put on the FBBMA that she said hadn’t been put on other groups making similar requests.
School Board Member Sandra Saunders also questioned the added requirements for FBMMA, along with the suggestion that other bidders should be sought. Given the condition of the school and its long abandonment, it was her position that if any other group had been interested in the buildings, it would have stepped forward long ago.
School Superintendent Marianne Arbulu suggested that for the sake of clarity, given that improvements could well be in the eyes of the beholder, the planned improvements should be written down and made part of the agreement.
“That way, nothing will be subjective,” Arbulu said.
Brumfield also insisted that the group must show proof of insurance as part of the lease, so that a situation similar to the one at the elementary school wouldn't repeat. In the latter case, a group leased the school, only to have it seriously vandalized, in effect, nullifying the agreement.
In the end, the board and the group came to an agreement on the discussed terms of the lease and Reeves indicated that he would so revise the contract.
The only other public comments, aside from the church group's, came from Dr. Vivian Royster and Karen Purser, who formerly ran for the District 4 School Board seat.
Dr. Royster gave a brief summation of the historical significance of the school, and the importance of preserving it.
Purser expressed that Washington should recuse herself from the vote, as she was the parliamentarian for the church group that was seeking to lease the school.
Washington’s response was that she had done her homework and she was covered under the Code of Ethics. Therefore, she would not refrain from voting on the issue, she said.
According to a historical marker at the site from the Florida Department of State, Division of Historical Resources, the school was originally called Howard Academy Elementary/Junior High School. It later was renamed Howard Academy High School and ultimately Howard Middle School when the school district implemented desegregation in the 1970/71 academic year.
Built in 1957, the facility served as an elementary and junior high school for Black students until 1961, when it was expanded to accommodate grades 1 through 12.
“The establishment of this school resulted in the closure of many of the two-and three-room schools in rural areas,” states the Department of State's marker. “In addition, children had better and safer accommodations, including a spacious library, work areas for specialty classes, such as home economics and choral music, facilities that were not always available at the school on Chestnut Street. The new school also had a gymnasium and football field.”
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