It appears that the old Dwight School is about to become a new Achievement First school. Deputy Economic Development Administrator Chrissy Bonanno said the city is negotiating the sale of the Dwight building on Edgewood Avenue to the charter school organization. The deal may be done this month.
“The city feels this is a great use for the building,” Bonanno said. “Schools stabilize a neighborhood and Achievement First’s charter schools are doing great things. The Dwight building will allow them to consolidate, and it’ll be good for all parties.”
Click here for a story on the evolution of the deal and on Achievement First’s relationship with the local community.
Bonanno said she could not reveal any details of the negotiations, including the sale price. However, she expected the deal’s details to be concluded in time to be submitted for approval to the Board of Alderman on April 20.
Due to the recession, the Dwight School was one of the projects dropped last year from the citywide school reconstruction master plan; its students were sent ot the rebuilt Troup School.
The Board of Ed surplussed the building, which means it turned it over to its owner, the city, to dispose of. The city in turn is relying on the sale of Dwight as a one-time revenue infusion to help balance the city’s 2009 – 2010FY budget.
Bonanno said it was her impression that Achievement First would be moving the students from its James Street Amistad Academy building to Dwight as well as its elementary students to form a single K‑8 school.
“They’re working with the state,” Bonanno said, meaning that Achievement First, like the Board of Ed, is participating in the state’s school construction program, and the lion’s share of renovations will likely be born by Hartford. The organization plans a $31.5 million renovation of the building, largely state-funded, supplemented by money the organization raises itself, according to this report in the New Haven Register.
When the Dwight surplussing and sale was announced, Greater Dwight Development Corporation, whose membership helped develop the schools’ adjacent new gymnasium space, felt blindsided. The community building, created with the partnership of Yale University, is a soaring space developed by the corporation and about which local people feel proprietary, and they have a legal claim.
The corporation, led by the area’s alderwoman Gina Calder, had been hoping to buy the school themselves, as well as continue in the use of the gymansium/community builidng.
Although that is not going to be the outcome, it may still have a happy ending, according to Bonanno.
“The memorandum of understanding that the board had with the Greater Dwight Corporation for use of the school and the community building, said Bonanno, “is being taken up by Achievement First.”
She did not have any details on that negotiation either, except to say that Achievement First and the community had formed a community-based committee to work both on the school project and on a revision of the memorandum pertaining to the gymnasium to reflect, she said, “the current needs of the school and the community.”
In related developments on what appears to be a more active relationship between the city and Achievement First, the Board of Ed’s Administration and Finance Committee Monday approved renewal of a lease between Elm City Prep and the BOE for use of the Welch Annex building in the Hill.
Elm City Prep, which is also operated by Achievement First, also signed a first-time lease with the BOE for use by Elm City Prep of the Prince School building on Gold Street, near to Welch.
Will Clark, the BOE’s chief operating officer, said Achievement First would use only portions of the old Prince School for Elm Prep, in particular the gymnasium. The one year’s rent is $5,543 per month.