Staff photo / J.T. Whitehouse Poland Schools Superintendent Craig Hockenberry has been visiting Poland North School often lately as the building is being prepped to be put back in use in a couple of months. The school building will be leased to three entities that will use it as a school for students with disabilities. Here, Hockenberry points out the spot where a 1960s time capsule was dug up recently as the building is being prepared for tenants.

POLAND — The Poland Board of Education approved a lease for classrooms at Poland North Elementary School with Community Behavior Consulting and Turning Point-No Limits. The lease will see the school reopen for business as early as March.

The lease was approved in a 3-1 vote at the Wednesday board meeting. Superintendent Craig Hockenberry said Michelle Elia was not present at the meeting and Dr. Laurent Dinopoulos said he voted no because of a promise he made almost 10 years ago about closing the school and wanted to keep with that promise.

Hockenberry said the board had three options for Poland North. The first option was to reopen the building and use it for upper grades, but that wasn’t a logical move.

“North and Union were designed only for elementary grades,” Poland Director of Operations Matt McKenzie said.

The second option was to tear it down and sell off the 16 acres the district owns. Hockenberry said that option didn’t make sense as it would cost a lot of money to tear down, and it would take away a valuable asset from the district.

The third option was to lease it out, which brought on another set of problems.

“The property is zoned for a school,” he said. “It is not zoned to be rented out as a business or to bring in tons of profit.”

When the proposal to lease it to entities dealing with students with disabilities presented itself, it was a no-brainer. According to Hockenberry, Community Behavior Consulting deals with students whose needs can’t be met in a traditional school setting.

Turning Point-No Limits needed more space for their programs, which handle more adult-aged students with disabilities. Both will use North for classrooms for their programs. Hockenberry added it will be a savings for Poland Schools.

“We have students attending the CBC program and we have to bus them to a Niles location,” he said. “This will save valuable bus time and I am sure other local districts having a bus driver shortage will like the closer location.”

CBC will lease 11 rooms, and Turning Point will lease seven rooms and will be subleasing a few of those rooms to the Mahoning County Board of Developmental Disabilities.

The lease will bring in $70,000 a year, which is the cost of running the closed building. It also comes with a maintenance agreement. Hockenberry said normal daily maintenance and minor maintenance will be handled by the leasing entities. Major maintenance issues will be handled by the district.

On utilities, the gas and electric will be paid by the district over the next three years. Hockenberry said those years will develop an average for utilities and at the end of the three years.

“We will pay it until an average is established,” he said, “then we will true it up.”

The district will maintain the gymnasium and will be able to rent it out for various events. The old wooden floor has been removed and the floor prepped for a new wood floor.

The district will retain the ownership of Poland North and can use it as a school if enrollment grows. He said right now, the future forecast could see an increase, but nothing that would require opening North.

“If we do end up needing more classroom space, we still have Union,” Hockenberry said.

In the meantime, the district will be looking for possible tenants for Union.

Back at North, the center courtyard was overgrown and equipment was brought in to clear it out for use again. In doing so, a 1960s era time capsule was located in the southwest corner of the courtyard. It was pulled out and is presently drying out.

“We are not ready to open it just yet,” Hockenberry said.

One other point he made regarding North is the fact Poland Schools will be sharing the school resource officers by adding North to the rounds they make. The school also will include safety upgrades and already has an operating camera system in place.