Since 1952, the Jordak Elementary school building has been a staple in the Cardinal School District. It will now become a distant memory as the School Board plans to auction off the building on March 31.
“It was difficult for sentimental reasons but the only logical thing to do for the school district,” School Board President Linda Smallwood told The Weekly Villager.
Smallwood added that the School District has yet to have the building appraised but will so before the auction.
Before the building is auctioned off, the School Board will hold an online auction beginning on Nov. 1 and running through Jan. 31, auctioning off all of the personal property inside the building.
“There are so many things in there,” Smallwood noted. “Appliances, desks, chairs, cabinets, and everything that the employees decided they did not need in the new elementary school. We also will have materials from the bus garage that we won’t be needing. I think there are some really old bus parts.”
She also said that the Board has already donated a few items to the Jordak family, including the sign on the front of the building.
“They have walked through and picked out four pieces, which includes the Jordak sign on the building that they would like to have for their family, so we are giving this to them,” she said.
In addition to auctioning off all of the personal property in the building, Smallwood said that the School Board planned to initiate a lot split. The building currently sits next to 5.5 acres of land and the School Board will initiate a plan to split the lot in half, with 2.75 acres standing alone and the other half residing with the building.
Before the beginning of the school year, the School Board decided to close the Jordak Elementary building and transfer the students to the middle school building, located on the same campus as the high school and moved the middle school students into the high school building.
Smallwood said that due to the decreasing enrollment numbers in the Cardinal School District over the last several years, it was not sustainable to continue having Jordak open with each elementary grade averaging a class size of only 13 students.
In accordance with the State of Ohio laws, if there is no school curriculum being administered in a school building, then the School Board is obligated to auction off the building to the community.
Although the building has stood for 74 years, Smallwood said that it still carries value independent of any sentimental feelings, with remodeling having taken place only 10 years ago.
“The bathrooms were renovated as well as the office spaces. There is new flooring in quite a few of the rooms as well as paint, new ceilings, windows and a roof,” Smallwood noted.
After selling the former Communities in Schools building several years ago for $600,000, Smallwood said the School Board is optimistic it can receive a higher price for the former Jordak building just based on all of the recent renovations.
In order to accommodate transferring students to the middle school and high school., the School Board implemented a remodeling project for those two buildings.
“There was not enough room without remodeling anything,” she said. “Our maintenance staff did an excellent job and worked almost around the clock getting the two schools ready. I think that the elementary children are now happy in their new building. It is our most modern building, it was built in 2001 and is fully air conditioned.”
According to Smallwood, the transition thus far has been successful, and it has helped unify the school district by having the elementary school students on the same campus as the high school.
“They have access to the track if they went to run around,” she said. “Putting the fifth and sixth graders back into the elementary school allows them to have recess every day which I think is important for children that young.”
Once all of the personal property is auctioned off, the School Board will hold one final walkthrough for the community before the public auction, allowing all who attended Jordak to say one final goodbye to the building where they began their education.
