World Photo by Lou Sennick
After closing the Jefferson School due to declining enrollment, the Coquille School District has sold the building to recent transplants from Hawaii. Kale and Sun Galanto completed the purchase earlier this month.
COQUILLE - For decades the Jefferson School building in Coquille was a spot to educate kids, but it could be homes in the future.
The Coquille School District has sold the Jefferson Elementary School property to Kale and Sun Galanto of Hawaii, who recently relocated to the area, district business manager Eileen Harrington said. The district finalized the sale earlier this month.
Harrington said the couple isn’t sure exactly what they will do with the structure, but that they intend to make upgrades - maybe residential units.
“We are very excited about it,” Harrington said. “They are a very business-like couple. I am hopeful they will do something with it and not let it go to ruin.”
The district sold nearby Washington Elementary School in 2003, but the new owners have since let it fall into disarray.
Jefferson closed in 2003 due to dwindling enrollment, sending students to Lincoln Elementary, which offers grades kindergarten through second with 177 students.
The building remained open as the district office until 2008, before shutting its doors for good. District offices are now housed in the lower wing at Lincoln.
The school board placed the Jefferson property on the market in January 2008, listing it with county realtors, and online, which is where the Galanto’s came across it. Total sale proceeds will come to $295,000.
The relocation of the district office will save about $40,000 a year in maintainance fees. While, Harrington said, there is nothing specific planned for the savings, there are a few repairs and technology investments being considered.
One on the docket is the replacement of the outdated air conditioning system at the Coquille Valley School. But about 25 percent of the money will be put toward new computer lab equipment.
“We don’t want to just nickel-and-dime this money away,” Harrington said. “Which is hard to do when there is so much need.”
The comments below are from users of theworldlink.com and do not necessarily represent the views of The World or Lee Enterprises. Participation Guidelines
Note: There is a maximum of 200 words per comment. If you wish to post more, please visit our forum.
Comment Policy
The World welcomes your comments about stories, and we encourage a robust dialogue on this site. All comments must meet reasonable standards of decency and civility.
Please follow these basic rules:
No defamatory comments about individuals or businesses.
No deliberately false information.
No obscenity or racially offensive language.
No harassment, verbal abuse, threats or personal attacks.
No information that invades another person's privacy.
No business solicitations or charitable solicitations.
Comments that violate these standards will not be posted. Users with repeated violations may be banned from future posting.
Comments will be approved throughout the day during business hours. After hours and weekend comments may not appear until the following business day. It may take a couple of hours before comments are approved.
The World generally does not edit comments, but we reserve the right to edit any comment that does not meet our standards.
What are the odds that these people have barely, if ever, spent a significant amount of time in the area?
It seems that a lot of people have no problem forking over a lot of money to start businesses in this area, and it seems many of them lose their hats because they expect people on the south coast to be a lot more wealthy. Maybe if this becomes apartments, at affordable rates, they'll make a profit and there will be one less empty building, but I won't hold my breath.
The World welcomes your comments about stories, and we encourage a robust dialogue on this site. All comments must meet reasonable standards of decency and civility.
Please follow these basic rules:
- No defamatory comments about individuals or businesses.
- No deliberately false information.
- No obscenity or racially offensive language.
- No harassment, verbal abuse, threats or personal attacks.
- No information that invades another person's privacy.
- No business solicitations or charitable solicitations.
Comments that violate these standards will not be posted. Users with repeated violations may be banned from future posting.Comments will be approved throughout the day during business hours. After hours and weekend comments may not appear until the following business day. It may take a couple of hours before comments are approved.
The World generally does not edit comments, but we reserve the right to edit any comment that does not meet our standards.
Close Guidelines