As the School Board considers the future of Machado Elementary
School, the question of who actually owns the property could shape
the decision.
As the School Board considers the future of Machado Elementary School, the question of who actually owns the property could shape the decision.
“It’s like peeling an onion,” Deputy Superintendent Bonnie Branco said at a recent board meeting. “There are so many layers, so many things coming to light as we go further into this.”
The school, located at 15130 Sycamore Ave., is the district’s oldest school at more than 100 years old. It was closed Jan. 31 due to a failure of the well pump. The school’s 40 students, first and second graders, were moved to two vacant portables on the Paradise Valley Elementary campus to complete the school year.
Now the board is considering, as a part of budget cuts necessary to reduce an estimated $3.4 million shortfall, closing the school for good.
The recommendation to close the school was on a consensus list of cuts compiled by the district’s performance-based budget committee and presented to the board. Closure of Machado was one of the items pulled off the list for further consideration before it was approved by trustees.
Closing the school would reduce the general operating budget by an estimated $30,000.
Parents of Machado students have appealed to School Board trustees to fix the pump and reopen the school. Members of the Machado Heritage Society pledged to work with the district to reopen the school.
And the latest twist is ownership of the property. When questions arose, the district did some research and found it does not own the parking lot on the site, the current school building, the pumphouse or the land the restrooms are on.
“The district only owns a small slice of the property,” Branco said. “Most of the property is owned by Mr. Ward.”
Paul Ward, president of the Machado Heritage Society, told Branco he thought the property had been deeded to the district by his father.
The parking lot on the property is owned by a neighbor, Branco said, who has said the School District can use the lot.
When Machado was open, students did not attend class in the actual old building on the site, although it is maintained by the society and used for community events, such as scout meetings, birthday parties and weddings. The students are housed in a classroom building built in the late 1960s, according to Branco.
Branco said closing the school is not just a budget issue or a pump issue.
“The pump is a problem, but so are the copper pipes on the site,” she said. “The well is a shallow well, and there is continual contamination … But the building itself is in an extremely deteriorated state. There is lead in the building, dry rot, termites … If we kept the school open, it would not be in that old building. We would tear it down and build something new.”
The school is eligible for approximately $113,000 in renovation money from the state; it must be matched by School District funds in an 80/20 match and used only to renovate Machado, or the money reverts back to the state.
Ward said in February, when the school was first closed, that according to the original deed from the Machado family to the School District, the property reverts to the heirs of Machado unless classes are held on the site.
