Subscribe
Jobs
Cars
Real Estate
Apts
Classifieds
Shop
East Allen County Schools will let the owner of a community arts organization keep the former Village Woods Middle School as long as he doesn’t turn it into a charter school. Otherwise, district officials will exercise their right to buy the building back for $1.
Attorneys for East Allen stipulated this in a letter sent to Ralph White, founder of White’s School of the Arts Community Developmental Programs, who wants to sell the building to Imagine Schools so it can open a charter school.
East Allen officials are hesitant to take back the building, 2700 E. Maple Grove Ave., because more than $500,000 of debt is associated with it, Superintendent Karyle Green said.
Green believes there are tax liens on the building, that White owes money through a lawsuit against him and that he has secured a mortgage on the building. The building had a clear title when it was given to White in 2006, she said.
"They entered into an agreement 3 1/2 years ago in good faith and handed over a piece of property to Mr. White because he had a vision," Green said. "Now it has accumulated more than $500,000 debt and he’s seeking a way out of that, and he wants us to forgo that agreement."
According to the letter, "nothing in the grant would obligate EACS to assume any security interests or liens attached to or otherwise affecting the property upon the exercise of its first refusal."
Ongoing maintenance costs, environmental liabilities or the cost of razing the building would be another matter, it states.
White did not return a call seeking comment. Don Willis, president of the Imagine Bridge Academy board, would not comment. Willis and employees of White’s School of the Arts attended the EACS board meeting Tuesday night but did not address the board.
The letter is a continuation of negotiations between the two sides. Nothing is final unless the agreement between White and the district is changed, which would require board approval, Green said.
Board President Janice Witte said last week she would be hesitant to pave the way for Imagine to open a school in the district because it would compete against East Allen.
Charter schools are paid from tax dollars and are free from some of the regulations imposed on public schools and therefore have more flexibility.
East Allen would allow White to keep the building as long as he doesn’t conduct any illegal activity; allow the sale or consumption of alcohol or tobacco products on the property; or turn it into a public or charter school.
District officials also want to extend their right to buy the building back until 2014.
White said last week that he signed both a three- and a five-year agreement with East Allen and wants the district to forget the contract and allow him to do what he wants with the building.
He’s also looking for some help with the utility bills, which he said amount to about $15,000 a month and expects the building would need $3.5 million to $4 million in renovations before it could become a charter school.
White’s organization includes a 24-hour child-care center, numerous education programs and martial arts for children. The child-care center is the primary source of revenue, but White used to rely on revenue from a casino that his non-profit operated in Fort Wayne.
State legislators, who noted White’s operation was not illegal, amended a bill this year in order to put casinos like his out of business.
Willis told the Imagine board last week he was looking at three locations to house Imagine Bridge Academy but had his mind set on White’s building.
Willis had been interested in buying Village Woods Middle School in 2006, when East Allen was figuring out what to do with the building.
Imagine Schools, a charter school-management company based in Alexandria, Va., already operates two charter schools in Fort Wayne and is looking for a place to house Imagine Bridge Academy, which is scheduled to open next fall.
Imagine MASTer Academy is at the old YWCA campus at 2000 N. Wells St., and Imagine Schools on Broadway is at the old Emmaus Lutheran Church at 2320 Broadway.
