Lazaro Aleman
ECB Publishing, Inc.
School Superintendent Eydie Tricquet recently presented the Jefferson County School Board with a list of the district’s properties and leases, hoping to spark a conversation on how best to maximize these assets.
The 16 listed properties, identified by parcel and property ID numbers, comprise a total of 232.002 acres – ranging in sizes from 0.26 to 74.05 acres, and having an assessed value of $7,270,776, according to the property appraiser’s records.
The listed properties include everything from the School Board building on Washington Street, to the K-12 school campus on David Road, to a wet pond and mixed timberland on Phelps Road.
Of the 16 listed properties, several are on lease to the Jefferson County government (Building-A), community groups such as the Police Athletic League (old gym), and an individual who leases 40.12 acres of wet pond and mixed timber near Drifton Road.
The figures the district collects on the leases is at least $25,652 annually, with some of them paying as low as $1 a year.
Whatever Tricquet’s purpose for presenting the list, the matter was never discussed.
The only comment referenced to the two sheets came from School Board Member Shirley Washington, and she largely dismissed the handout.
“This is not something I would worry about now,” Washington said to Tricquet. “You’ve got too much on your hands now. You need to put your energy into your commitment to get the schools back. This is not urgent. We need to roll up our sleeves and get serious about doing what we want to do with the schools and what the people expect of us.”
At the time, Washington and School Board Member Sandra Saunders were pressing the superintendent to focus on developing a plan and budget to get the schools back.
None of the other School Board members commented on the handout. Nor did Tricquet specifically say why she had handed out the two pages. The discussion pretty much ended before it even began.
Queried by email as to her purpose for passing out the handout, Tricquet responded that her aim had been to start a conversation on what the district should do with its properties.
“We need to be better stewards of the properties,” she emailed. “I would like to begin discussions to see how the properties can best serve the (district) by either surplusing the buildings to the county or selling some of the buildings that are not under lease.”
It may be that the issue returns at a future meeting. If nothing else, however, the list gives a picture of the district’s assets, in terms of real estate.
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