Seward’s shuttered middle school will reopen as a community center. That’s after the proposal got final approval from Kenai Peninsula Borough Assembly members last week. The idea came from the City of Seward, which envisions the space as a sort-of hub for community recreation programs.
Seward Middle School was one of four schools Kenai Peninsula school board members voted to close earlier this year to save money. The school district faced an $8.5 million dollar budget shortfall to implement status quo programs and staff.
Seward City Council members already signed off on the proposal. But it needed approval from the borough assembly as well. That’s because the borough owns and maintains school district facilities.
Under the 5-year lease agreement, Seward will pay the borough one dollar per year to use the facility. The city will pay for utilities, insurance and general maintenance costs. The borough will repair the facility’s boiler system and roof.
Aaron Hughes is the borough’s land management officer. He says the borough will function as a landlord, with the option to take the facility back when the lease expires.
“In the event that the Kenai Peninsula Borough identifies a future use for this property within the next five years, the City of Seward wants to renew that lease, but we have another need, we can then have that decision at that point in time,” he said. “It's not an automatic renewal.”
The assembly vote comes as communities around the peninsula mull next steps for their shuttered school buildings. In Kasilof, where the K-8 Tustumena School closed this year, residents have voiced their support for maintaining the facility as a community space. And Sterling’s community center has floated raising taxes to expand programming after the nearby K-6 school closed.
Earlier this year, the assembly sold the shuttered K-12 school in the Russian Old Believer community of Nikolaevsk to a community nonprofit, which reopened the building as a charter school this year.
Borough Mayor Peter Micciche says Nikolaevsk is in a different situation than Seward. He pointed to the planned expansion of the U.S. Coast Guard’s operations in Seward as one reason the borough may want to retain the ability to use the facility as a school.
“We don't know what that future looks like,” he said. “(It’s) pretty clear in Nikolaevsk, a little foggy for Seward. So we wanted to retain ownership in case that has to go back.”
Seward officials say it will take time to prepare the middle school for new programs, but hope to reopen the building in 2027.
