Geneva school board debates future of Coultrap

The Geneva school board is still not sure what it wants to do with the old Coultrap Elementary School and its administrative headquarters in the old Fourth Street Elementary School.

However, the board members agree that the historic portion of Coultrap should not be torn down, no matter what.

A task force, consisting of trustees Bill Wilson and Susan Shivers and Superintendent Kent Mutchler, presented three options to the school board Monday.

The first was to sell Fourth Street and move the administrative offices into Coultrap, as outlined in the district's master facility plan.

The second was to turn Coultrap into a district and community learning center. City officials have told the district it can't be used for a school attendance area if the nearby high school is expanded, because it wouldn't want to increase traffic in the neighborhood.

A third option was to keep both buildings and find uses for both, such as opening them up for human services agencies.

The facilities plan calls for tearing down additions made to the 1923 Coultrap building, which was first used as a high school, then a middle school, then lastly as an elementary school. That would make room for expansion of Geneva High School, which is directly to the north of Coultrap.

Coultrap students this year moved into the new Williamsburg Elementary, and Harrison Street Elementary is borrowing it for a year while its building is being remodeled.

Trustee Leslie Juby defended keeping Fourth Street, built in 1916 and situated in the city's historic district. "I would argue that it too is equally important," she said. "I don't know that demolishing it would be a very good idea ... (and) I think we would be limited, if we were to sell it, in what it could be used for." It is in a residential neighborhood.

Vice president Timothy Moran, on the other hand, noted that Fourth Street property is bigger than Coultrap and likely to fetch more money if sold for redevelopment. He also thinks administrative offices should be located near the district's largest school, Geneva High School.

No date was set for making a decision, but board President Mary Stith said it is likely to be discussed at the December board meeting when the board discusses high school expansion. The board has yet to decide whether to expand the high school and when to ask voters for money to do so. If it wants to put a question on the April 2009 ballot, it has to decide by Jan. 22.