Advocates of Mosquito Lake School will meet Monday with borough manager David Sosa.
The school’s supporters acknowledge they don’t have 10 students required to open the building as a school next year, but say they want the structure off the borough’s “for sale” list and want Sosa and school superintendent Ginger Jewell to help chart a path for the school’s future.
They see use of the building as a community center or rented space as a “bridge” between its current closed status and reopening of the school. They say they’ve identified 16 potential students for the school, and there are creative ways to reopen it.
A half-dozen school supporters testified at Tuesday’s assembly meeting. Dana Hallett, facilitator for Friends of Mosquito Lake School and Community Center, expressed frustration with borough officials.
After the meeting, Sosa said he has asked the group to present a plan to the borough for operation of the building that would be considered during the discussions of next year’s budget.
But Hallett said in an interview that only the borough can start negotiating with organizations that might want to use the building for setting rents or fees.
Hallett also said that Sosa has implied that operation of the building even, a requirement not in place for other borough facilities likes the Chilkat Center or swimming pool.
“We want the borough and the school to come to the table and brainstorm ideas for how we get from here to there. If they wanted to be helpful, they could say ‘This is what you need to do.” They haven’t done that,” Hallett said.