Lazaro Aleman
ECB Publishing, Inc.
The homeschoolers’ group that was recently evicted from a school district building may have found a new home with the county.
Tammy Brookins, founder and head of the nonprofit Jefferson County Homeschool Association, Inc., made a lease proposal to the Jefferson County Commission on Thursday evening, Jan. 21.
Brookins asked if the commission was amenable to her group leasing the building on West Dogwood Street that had formerly served as the Supervisor of Elections’ headquarters before the latter operation moved to West Washington Street.
“We can make do with almost anything,” Brookins said. “We’re pretty flexible.”
Commission Chairman Stephen Walker offered immediately that he was for granting the request, suggesting that $25 monthly seemed a reasonable amount to ask for the building’s rent.
Which suggestion the board quickly converted into a motion and unanimously approved, even though the item wasn’t formally listed on the agenda.
The commission next instructed County Attorney Scott Shirley to draft the appropriate lease contract for review and approval at the board’s next regular meeting on Feb. 4.
Commissioner Gene Hall asked about the county’s liability in the arrangement, should an injury or other mishap occur?
Shirley said the issue of liability would be covered in the lease contract that he would be drawing up. Brookins added that her group had insurance.
The question of the utilities also arose, with the commission deciding that the group would be responsible for paying the water, electric and other such bills. The board left it to county staff to determine the exact amount to be charged, based on a review of the building’s past billings.
It was also decided that whatever the length of the contract, it should be structured to terminate summers, so as not to interrupt with the homeschooling services.
Brookins was asked how many students participated in her programs. She said the exact number wasn’t readily available to her in that moment, but the program had 34 member families, each of which had between one and 11 children of varying ages.
The group is currently conducting its classes in a portion of the building at 575 Water St., which formerly served as the school district’s administration offices. (The News incorrectly identified the building as the old gym in a previous story.)
On Monday, Jan. 11, however, the Jefferson County School Board asked the group to vacate the building after the two couldn’t agree on the amount that the association should pay for the building’s utilities.
The district was asking for $512 monthly, based on an average of how much it paid in utilities for the entire building. The association, meanwhile, was willing to pay $100 monthly at most.
Unable to reach an agreement, the school district gave the group until Feb. 10 to vacate the building.