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ShareTime running out on Chandler
Published: October 08, 2008 8:00 AMUpdated: October 09, 2008 3:47 PM
While the Smithers Family Resource Centre (SFRC) has moved on, Chandler Park Middle School still sits vacant, costing the school board money for security and insurance.
The SFRC is now Smithers Community Alliance, a not-for-profit organization that helps to fund programs for people with disabilities.
“We have our building now,” Earnie Harding, spokesperson for the SFRC said. “But there are still a lot of uses for that building.”
However, the only recent development was a sign posted that states, “playing field closed.”
Stephen Richards, School District 54’s secretary treasurer, said details and status of school’s sale by the district are not public information and declined to comment on the specifics of the property.
“It’s pretty much status quo,” he said.
The school was closed in 2004, saving the school board $600,000, along with $70,000 in annual maintenance.
The closure allowed the board to stay within the budget for 2005-2006 without making cuts.
The school board decided to sell the property for $2.5 million in 2005, but there were no takers.
Harding said the school building belongs to the taxpayer and any information about the sale should be readily available.
“It seems that the people down at the School Board aren’t very community-minded,” he said.
In January, Richards told The Interior News that getting grants to improve the school was unlikely.
“It’s a very unfortunate situation... the best answer for that building now is a D-8 cat,” he said.
Harding said it is a shame that no one will get use of the building after all the work special interest groups in Smithers spent on it.
“We made grant applications, joined with other groups and put together presentations,” he said. “It was a lot of work.”
