Lafayette Journal and Courier article about closing - note mention of Oakland Elementary needing a new roof
Lafayette Journal and Courier article about use of closed schools - note mention of church use
- Durgan Elementary (1840 South 18th Street, N 40.397882 W 86.877413)
- Linnwood Elementary (1415 Ball Street, N 40.432964 W 86.882416)
- Oakland Elementary (611 South 21st Street, N 40.410769 W 86.872451)
- Washington Elementary (1100 Elizabeth Street, N 40.423881 W 86.884097)
(Kyler Laird, 2005-04-26) Durgan and Washington Elementary will close at the end of the academic year. Oakland and Linwood will close in 2007. Oakland needs roof repair/replacement.
(Jeffrey Lusk) I took a brief look at the Oakland School property on my way to work this morning. The building is 2 stories, so there are plenty of rooms for offices and RE classrooms. If there isn't a fellowship hall aside from the gymnasium, it might be possible to knock down a few walls to create one. Given two floors of classes, this would leave plenty of room for RE classes. The playground is nicely apportioned, too; there's relatively new "monkey" bars and such.
Alanna reports that Durgan Elementary might be turned into a community center or something(?).
(Jeffrey Lusk) I drove by the Durgan School today on my way to work. The building is one story and it looked like there were temporary classroom trailers in the back. For some reason, this building looked much smaller than the Oakland school and possibly older. Although Durgan was situated in a wooded area, there didn't seem to be much green space on campus, at least as viewed from the street. There certainly wouldn't be any access problems (single story), but I didn't notice a gymnasium...could be a problem if there isn't any place to put the sanctuary.
(Jeffrey Lusk) The age of the buildings started me thinking about asbestos, so I went to the LSC website and found the following-albeit a bit dated- information about asbestos remediation at Durgan and Oakland (Linnwood and Washington were also listed). It appears that as of 2003 the LSC was monitoring asbestos levels at these schools, implying that there is asbestos still there. This should be a consideration if we plan to renovate; asbestos removal will add to the bill.