A standing-room-only crowd of more than 25 attended Monday's meeting of the Mt. Jewett Borough Council in the borough building on Center Street. Many who attended are members of the Mt. Jewett Charter Coalition, which is planning to open a charter school in Mt. Jewett for the 2008-09 school year. Photo by Ted Lutz.

MT. JEWETT - The vacated Mt. Jewett Elementary School apparently won't be immediately available for the Mt. Jewett Charter School Coalition.

The Coalition plans to open a Charter School in Mt. Jewett beginning with the 2008-09 school year.

The Coalition had hoped to hold classes in the vacant Mt. Jewett Elementary School, which was closed by the Kane School Board at the end of school last month.

However, the Mt. Jewett School building will not be available for "sale or lease" for at least two years, according to a letter the Coalition made public Monday at a meeting of the Mt. Jewett Borough Council.

"The Mt. Jewett Elementary School is being utilized for storage purposes in anticipation of upcoming and extensive building projects," attorney Christopher Byham said in a June 28 letter to Thomas A. Pendleton, the Erie attorney who represents the Coalition. "It is currently estimated that the building projects will not be completed for a period of approximately two years."

Byham, a Kane native, is associated with the Warren law firm of Stewart and Stapleford. The firm, which includes attorney Arthur Stewart of Warren, represents the Kane Area School District.

The building projects mentioned in Byham's letter refer to the school district's plan to consolidate and reduce the number of school buildings from four to two. The plan calls for the construction of a new elementary school as an addition to Kane Middle School on Hemlock Avenue. The plan also calls for the renovation of the middle school.

When these projects are complete, the Chestnut Street Elementary School will be closed and join the Mt. Jewett Elementary School as a vacated school. Meanwhile, about 40 Mt. Jewett elementary students will be shifted to the Chestnut Street school for the next school year.

A future project calls for renovations at Kane High School.

In his letter, Byham said the school board also is "considering making use of the Mt. Jewett Elementary School for other purposes" during the proposed building projects. He said "some" of the proposed uses for the Mt. Jewett school are "educational in nature." "However, no definitive decisions have been made," he said.

The Mt. Jewett school reportedly sits on property once part of the Kane estate. The property deed reportedly calls for the site to be exclusively used "for the purpose of a school lot," Byham said in his letter.

According to Byham, the Kane School Board has "instructed our office" to contact the Kane estate heirs to remove the school-only restriction from the deed.

"The board feels that it is in the best interest of the district to have this restriction removed so that the spectrum of potential buyers is increased and all avenues of sale or lease are available to the board" when the district "no longer has a need for the property."

Skye Ognen, a leader with the Mt. Jewett Charter School Coalition, said the letter infers that the school district would be willing to sell the vacant school "to anybody" except the Coalition.

Ognen said the school building in Mt. Jewett is "rightfully ours" and should be used for the proposed Charter School. "We want this building," she said.

Ognen was one of more than 25 Mt. Jewett residents who jammed the borough building for Monday's borough council meeting. Many in the standing-room-only crowd are members of the Coalition, which plans to meet tonight at 6 o'clock at its office at 24 W. Main St. The office space has been donated, it was pointed out.

Jeff Swanson, another member of the Coalition, said the organization is seeking assistance from the borough council as it makes plans to open a Charter School in 13 months.

"We can't do it alone," Swanson said. He is a former member of the borough council.

Dick Danielson, president of the Mt. Jewett Borough Council, said he is willing to draft a letter to the school board in support of the Coalition.

However, he first wants to meet with representatives of the Coalition to receive input for his "comprehensive letter" to the school board.

He claims the borough council is "totally supportive of the issue" involving the Charter School plan.

"It's one thing to take our kids," Danielson said in reference to the busing of all Mt. Jewett school children to Kane schools. "It's another thing to take our school building."

Ognen called for council to "help us in any way."

"We have our plate full," she said.

Councilman Brett Morgan said the Charter School is "a big issue for everybody."

"We'll see what we can do," he added.

Although the Mt. Jewett school building apparently won't be available next year, Swanson vowed that a Charter School will open as scheduled in 2008-09.

He said the decision by the school district to use the Mt. Jewett school for storage for at least two years will "force us" to look for new locations for a Charter School.

He said it is "most likely" that Mt. Jewett will have a "new school" site next year.

He said the "sad part" is that the Mt. Jewett Elementary School will "sit there empty" or "turned into who knows what."

Swanson believes the Kane estate heirs will oppose the school district's request to remove the school-only restriction clause from the school property deed.