By LESLIE COLLINS
Northeast News
September 11, 2013

Despite attempts to seek interested buyers to repurpose the former schools, nothing came to fruition.

As McCoy waited for a buyer, the site continued to deteriorate as a result of vandalism. Vandals routinely broke inside the building, tearing out walls to steal pipes and other fixtures. In 2012, several homeless individuals took shelter inside the building and started a fire to keep warm. That fire burned out of control and caused fire damage. Graffiti also cropped up on the property, adding to the blight.

“It was just terrible for a lot of us,” said Jacky Ross, former president of the Blue Valley Neighborhood Association. “A lot of our members went to McCoy and to watch it go down like that, that was very hard for us.”

Residents and members of the neighborhood association were tired of watching the building that once stood as a pillar in the neighborhood turn into an eyesore, she said.

During neighborhood association meetings, residents discussed what to do with the building since buyers failed to step forward. Their solution, and one that received overwhelming support, was to demolish McCoy. Blue Valley Neighborhood Association then approached the school district to request demolition.

“I think it’s a shame that we weren’t able to get a developer or someone willing to come out and make it into a community center or perhaps a senior citizens place, but since we wren’t able to do that, I think our best option was this,” Ross said.

Since May, KCPS has been working with the neighborhood to discuss demolition options and open space plans. ThreeSixty Architecture offered to work with the neighborhood pro bono and create design plans for the site. ThreeSixty also created a budget sheet of estimates for different elements, like trees, playground equipment, a walking trail, among others.

Ross said the neighborhood association canvassed the neighborhood, including the nearby Police Athletic League Center, and residents overwhelmingly voiced support for a community park.

Toward the end of August, Kaw Valley Wrecking began the demolition process at McCoy, 1524 White Ave., and will finish demolition by the end of December. All steel, metal, brick, concrete, stone and asphalt will be hauled off site to be recycled. Re-usable chalkboards, trim, doors and hardware will be removed prior to demolition. Several elements of the school will be saved to use in the community park, like the school nameplate above the main entrance, terra-cotta, brick, a decorative star and map, among others. Fencing and the rock retaining wall will also be retained.

KCPS will pay for demolition, grading the site, re-seeding and will continue to mow the site every two weeks.

Proposed features of the community park include a playground area with interactive pavement (spray painted four square, racing tracks, etc.), walking trail, landscaping, benches, picnic tables, a seasonal shelter, among other elements. Blue Valley Neighborhood Association will be in charge of fundraising for those additional features. Currently, the neighborhood association is seeking out grants and applying for city Public Improvements Advisory Council (PIAC) funding and the Community Capital Fund.

“In my personal opinion, I think it will benefit the neighborhood,” Ross said of creating a community park. “They’ll have a site where they can go, where the kids can go and play as well as the adults can go and relax, just sit or use the walking trail, just something the whole community can use.”

Thacher’s future became more bleak when KCPS officials voted to reinstate the district’s middle school system. Located at 5008 Independence Ave., Thacher shares an 8-acre site with the former Northeast Middle School. Northeast Middle will once again become a fully functioning middle school in the fall of 2014. Thacher sustained fire damage in 2011 and continued to be a target of vandalism. As a result of vandals, Thacher is no longer mechanically functional. Due to concerns regarding student safety, KCPS is moving forward with demolition.

KCPS officials met with the Indian Mound Neighborhood Association on Aug. 19 to provide an update on the site and its plans to demolish the structure.

One Northeast resident proposed demolishing the addition that suffered fire damage and mothballing the rest of the site.

“It’s not something that we’re currently considering,” KCPS Repurposing Initiative Director Shannon Jaax told Northeast News. “At this point we haven’t seen anything as far as a proposal or interest in the site that would warrant us looking at a direction other than where we’re going.

“With Northeast Middle School opening up next fall, we’ve got to make sure that’s a safe facility that’s attractive to students; we’ve got to make sure we’ve taken care of the entire site, including Thacher, before school starts.”

Like McCoy, some historical elements of Thacher would be saved, she said.

KCPS issued an RFP for demolition of Thacher on Sept. 1.

Once the site is demolished, KCPS plans to use the site for parking and additional sports field space.

“Our sites are very urban. Some of them don’t have the same type of outdoor athletic fields that a lot of suburban schools do,” Jaax said. “One of the things we’re trying to do is provide more of those facilities for our kids.”