Manchester charter school eyes ex-Nathan Hale building
Odyssey proposes renovating facility to gain more space
MANCHESTER – A local charter school has outgrown its space and is seeking to renovate and move into a former public school that closed in 2012.
The board of directors is to hear and discuss Odyssey Community School’s proposal at its meeting Tuesday at 7 p.m. in Lincoln Center.
Leaders of the kindergarten-to-eighth-grade school propose sharing renovation costs and entering a longterm partnership with the town to reuse the former Nathan Hale School on Spruce Street. Odyssey now leases a building on West Middle Turnpike, not far from the East Hartford line.
“Currently located at the edge of the community, we are seeking to relocate to a more central location so that our school, our families and our educators have a stronger connection to the community we serve,” the Odyssey proposal says.
Under the proposal:
Renovating the school would cost $10.5 million to $12.6 million. Assuming a cost of $12 million, the town would pay $4 million; Odyssey would contribute $3.5 million (annual payments of $250,000 for 15 years); $2.85 million would come from federal and state funds; and most of the rest through foundations and other private sources. Beyond the initial investment, town taxpayers would not fund the school’s ongoing operations, General Manager Scott Shanley said.
The town would retain ownership of the property, and the building and grounds would be used for recreation, art exhibits, summer camp, adult education and other community programs when school is not in session. Planned upgrades also would make the school suitable as a polling place.
Local organizations that could be additional partners include the Police Activities League, Big Brothers/Big Sisters, Manchester Early Learning Center and the local Latino and African-American affairs councils.
The board of education closed the 59,000-square-foot school about six years ago, citing the high cost of repairing the aged heating system. Since then, repairs have been made to maintain heat, but there are no programs or activities held in the building.
In 2014, directors began gathering ideas on other uses for the shuttered school, intending to bring “renewed energy, vitality and pride to the neighborhood.” In 2015, they rejected a conversion to apartments, saying that the building should be an anchor in the low-income neighborhood and that apartments would not suit that role. Other ideas — including a community health center and leasing space to nonprofit organizations — were floated, but went nowhere.
If the board of directors approves the charter school’s proposal, Odyssey leaders say Manchester would be the first community in the state to transform a vacant neighborhood school into a public charter school. The building, according to the proposal, would once again fulfill its role as a neighborhood anchor, returning pride and vitality to one of the town’s poorest sections.
Started by former Manchester High School teacher William Jawitz, Odyssey was one of 12 charter school proposals approved for state funding in 1997. Focused on media studies, the school at first was located on the lower level of an Oakland Street commercial building, but moved to its current location, the former quarters of Allied Printing, in 2003.
Of Odyssey’s 329 students, 266 — or 80 percent — live in Manchester. Forty percent of the students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch. The student body is 29 percent African-American, 37 percent white, 16 percent Asian and 19 percent Hispanic.