Old Lynn school lies in limbo

LYNN – Some of the Lynn Public Schools’ most tenured employees got their start there, as did generations of elementary school children, but for nearly a year now the old O’Keefe School on Franklin Street has sat vacant, aging at a seemingly rapid pace.Former students and neighborhood residents alike have inquired into the status of the old building, which sits fenced off from the banks, bars and supermarkets that have popped up on Franklin Street in the years since the school was first built at the start of the 1920s.Now under the city’s umbrella thanks to a September School Committee vote to relinquish control of the building, it seems the O’Keefe is destined for a lonely future as a budget crisis and floundering real estate market has limited the city’s options in trying to make use of the space.”It is in poor condition,” said Mayor Edward J. Clancy Jr. “That is a major reason I think they moved those kids out of there. The building needs work, it probably needs to be gutted.”The O’Keefe’s tenure as a useful school effectively came to an end last spring when the School Department moved the Welcoming Elementary School program to the newly renovated Washington Community School on Blossom Street.The start of the 2008-09 school year marked the first time since it opened in 1921 that the school was vacant.Making the best of a bad budget situation that forced the department to move traditional students out of the Washington, former Superintendent Nicholas Kostan took the opportunity to move the Welcoming School, an alternative program for special needs students, along with other special education programs to the larger and newer building.While the move was a huge improvement in facilities for the Special Education Department, it shed light on the structural problems at the O’Keefe, which had created an almost unworkable environment for students and teachers.”We really felt it was better to get those kids out of there,” said Clancy, who also serves as School Committee chairman.There has been no shortage of ideas as to what the city should do with the building since it officially gained control and it even appeared on a list of “shovel ready” projects in the city released last month.The estimated $1.9 million renovation would hinge on funds coming into the city as part of an over $50 million wish list sent to the state earlier this year, but that money is contingent on payouts from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, something that has been about as unpredictable as New England weather.In an interview with the Item last month, Clancy made it clear that he was not holding his breath for the project payouts and said Tuesday that selling the building in this market would be nearly impossible.”Right now we don’t have any present plans for the building,” said Clancy. “To try and sell it, especially in this present economy and real estate market, doesn’t seem like something that would work to our benefit.”