The Village of Hebron will not buy the historic Hebron Elementary School building after the village council rejected a proposal to purchase the property on Aug. 28.
Their decision comes after months of discussions, a public survey of community members and a now-forfeited $25,000 deposit.
The public survey asked community members what they would like Hebron to do with the building. According to Hebron Mayor Valerie Mockus, around 75% of the respondents wanted the village council to purchase Hebron Elementary to use as a community space.
Despite that, the council voted during their Aug. 28 meeting to not purchase the Deacon Street property, which has sat empty for more than a year.
“I think that the overall investment required was of concern,” Mockus said on the council’s two-thirds decision to not purchase the school. “I think council also felt that some of this was just nostalgia.”
Read more: Hebron hopes to breathe new life into historic school building
The nostalgia around such a building — built in 1914 and the school for Hebron’s students for the past 100 years — is palpable in the community.
At one point in the school’s history, the building housed all grade levels. Generation after generation of Hebron’s families attended school in the building, which former dean of students Scott Coffey called “Frankensteined” because of its many additions over the years.
“It’s who we are,” said Josh Coy, a Thornville resident, while indulging in a snack from Hebron Dari Bar. Sitting on the stone picnic tables outside of the ice cream shop, he continued, “It’s part of the town’s history.”
Josh Coy’s wife, Samantha Coy, agreed.
“I would like to see them do something with it,” she said. “Make it into a rec center… something for the kids.”
Lakewood students even had an opportunity to weigh in, and Mockus said local middle school students presented ideas to her and the village’s economic development director for how to use the building if the village purchased it
“Lakewood kids presented on everything from using it for multi-functional areas, including like a laundry, a clinic, or a pet daycare, to one group presented turning it into a casino for revenue generation.They were all in,” Mockus said.
Mockus was disappointed by the results of the vote.
“I would say, if we had talked last week, I would have been really sad and disappointed and frustrated with my inability to articulate in a compelling way why we needed to move forward,” Mockus said.
The council’s decision came after the village had already made an offer on the building.
During the village council meeting on Aug. 21, Mockus said, “the village offered $375,000 for the acquisition of the elementary school with a $25,000 deposit, and it was accepted.”
Such an offer presented the Village Council with four options:
- Don’t acquire the property and forfeit the deposit
- Acquire and demolish the entire building
- Acquire and demolish part of the building and renovate the rest, or
- Acquire and fully renovate the building
The council chose the first.
With a $25,000 deposit forfeited, the building passed back into Lakewood Local Schools’ court.
During a Lakewood Local Schools Board meeting on Sept. 11, the board decided to try to sell the school again, said Coffey, now the interim superintendent of Lakewood Local Schools.
Read more: History-filled Hebron Elementary School building hits the auction block
“That process is just beginning,” he said this week. “The board had to go into executive session to discuss. The decision has been made to try again to sell the property through a realtor.”
The school district initially tried to auction the building in December last year, and set the starting price at $650,000. The district received zero bids, and turned to discussions with the village.
These decisions have left Hebron Elementary in limbo. So it sits, devoid of the life which used to fill its halls. The sound of children laughing has been replaced by silence.
“It’s disappointing,” said Luke Aleshire, another Hebron resident. “I would love to see it utilized.”
Aleshire said the facility would be a great location for the Hebron Historical Society — something the village considered during purchase discussions. In April this year, Mockus told The Reporting Project of plans to convert the building into Hebron Village Hall, a library, the historical society or a community center.
“And you know, maybe the Council will change its mind,” Mockus said in September. “Maybe, you know, something can be worked out in the future with the Lakewood School District for the building. But if not, that doesn’t change the mandate that I heard from the residents, which is, we need these things in our community. And so if that means we have to find a different space, if that means we have to find ways to pay for it, some other way, instead of reutilizing or reenvisioning this existing space, so be it.”
In short, the Village’s desire for recreational and community spaces is recognized.
About $100,000 of the funding that would have been spent on the building comes from the American Rescue Plan Act fund. According to Mockus, these funds need to be appropriated by the end of the calendar year.
“So there is, you know, an urgency to it,” she said.
“Acquiring nine acres in the heart of the village, most municipalities would instantly recognize that control over that is imperative. But I don’t know that our council sees it that way,” Mockus said. “There are so many external forces headed in our direction that we’ll have fewer opportunities to control our destiny that way in the future.”
It is clear that there is still a great desire to see Hebron Elementary utilized within the Village. How and when that will happen is certainly up in the air.
“If we don’t do something, what’s going to happen to it?” Mockus asked.
This story was updated Saturday, Sept. 14 at 11:20 a.m. to correct information about how Lakewood students presented possible use ideas for Hebron Elementary. The Reporting Project regrets the error.
Andrew Theophilus writes for TheReportingProject.org, the nonprofit news organization of Denison University’s Journalism program, which is supported by generous donations from readers. Sign up for The Reporting Project newsletter here.