The Community Christian School signed a lease agreement to take over the former Granville Village School building. (WNG File Photo)
GRANVILLE – The Community Christian School of Westfield signed a lease agreement with the Town of Granville on Monday night at the Granville Town Hall. The lease allows the Community Christian School to legally use and operate in the building that was the former Granville Village School. The 409 Main Rd. school will be ready for its students for the upcoming 2018-19 school year.
The agreement is a five-year lease that requires the Community Christian School to pay $51,000 per year. While the school will be paying for items like phone and cable, the Town of Granville will still be paying for utilities that includes electricity and heating.
“The town is going to hopefully benefit very well from having a school in there,” said Granville Select Board member Dave Ripley. “We’re excited to have the building continue to be used for educational purposes.”
The Community Christian School, opened in 2005, is a private, independent, college preparatory academy currently located on 39 South Broad St. The school provides schooling for three days a week while the students get home-schooled for two days.
The Southwick-Tolland-Granville Regional School Committee voted 5-2 in February of 2017 in favor of closing the school.
The Southwick-Tolland-Granville Regional school district allowed the Granville Village School to remain open until the end of the 2016-17 school year. Granville Village School students in grades k-6 relocated to Southwick for the 2017-18 school year. Kindergarten through second grade went to Woodland School, while grades three to six attend Powder Mill School.
The Community Christian School has student enrollment of about 100 and the former Granville Village School had 92 students, the parity of student capacity is seen as a perfect fit for the building.
“There’s a cost to the town for having a vacant building,” said Granville Town Administrator Matt Streeter. “There’s a benefit to having somebody in the building every day.”
In March of 2017, the Town of Granville instituted a seven member re-use committee for the Granville Village School and for more than a year the committee brainstormed ideas for re-use of the school.
“The re-usage school committee is really psyched,” said committee member Jess Ripley. “It was important to us to find a school to put in there and we’re hoping that it really works out.”
According to the Town of Granville, the Community Christian School was the only party that responded to the town’s Request for Proposal.
The Community Christian School did not return requests for comment by press time.
