Dayton Daily News education reporter Scott Elliott writes about schools, kids, teaching and learning.
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Saturday, November 18, 2006
The fate of Patterson(s)
(Patterson Career Center)
Hmm. School officials seemed a little perturbed that they were out of the loop on the city’s plans for a development project near Fifth Third Field that, oh by the way, depends on the school district selling the Patterson Career Center so it can be torn down.
The city-school district relationship could be headed down another bumpy road, much like when the district bought the Reynolds & Reynolds buildings for a new headquarters four years ago over the vehement objections of the city.
The city has long been interested in the Patterson property, a riverfront site close to the ball park. But the district has not been interested in selling or swapping it. Built in 1981, the school is the newest building the school district owns (outside of just-constructed schools) and is in better shape than any of its other buildings. The working plan right now is to develop Patterson into a Montessori school in hopes of attracting parents who work downtown after a new techinical high school opens in 2008 next to Sinclair Community College.
John Carr, the distirct’s construction chief, said if the district were to give up the Patterson site, it would want another good downtown site for its Montessori school.
Which got me thinking about the “other” Patterson.
Let’s step back in time about five years ago. Back then, most of the city’s career tech programs were located at the old Patterson High School on First Street, with a handful of program a short distance away at the career center on River Corridor Drive — the site now in question.
The district was in financial crisis and then-Mayor Mike Turner offered a cash-generating idea — close the First Street building and sell it to the city. At the time Turner said the city considered the First Street site prime downtown real estate that had high potential for redevelopment. (At the same time, downtown businesses supported the deal because of their perception that Patterson kids contributed to unruliness on the city streets, a suggestion school officials hotly disagreed with.)
In the end, a deal was struck — the city would pay $5 million for the building over five years. The district closed the school and moved the kids out.
There was just one small problem — the city reneged on the deal.
About two years later, city officials said they didn’t have the money and backed out, leaving the district holding the bag. The school has since sat empty.
And that’s why it comes to mind now. The First Street building is not conducive for use as an elementary school. But it is a pretty large site. Perhaps the school could finally be torn down and the site, which both sides once agreed was prime downtown space, redeveloped as a showcase Montessori elementary school?
Such a school would be just blocks from Riverscape, Fifth Third Field, the downtown library, Victoria Theatre, the Schuster Center, Memorial Hall and the art museum. Plus, it would be closer to downtown office buildings than the River Corridor site.
What would it take to pull that off?
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