Board Tentatively Approves Boalsburg Elementary Sale; Catholic High School Planned

With a 7-0 vote, the State College Area school board approved a tentative agreement Monday for the sale of Boalsburg Elementary School to Saint Joseph’s Catholic Academy.

Board President Ann McGlaughlin and board member Gowen Roper were absent.

The sale price is set at $750,000, and the deal is expected to close by July 1, 2011, at the latest. The academy is required to pay a portion of the cost — $25,000 — immediately, according to the sale agreement.

In an e-mail message, Saint Joseph’s board Vice President Samuel Malizia said the nonprofit academy plans to remodel and expand the Boalsburg building, then reopen it as a Catholic high school for fall 2011. It would be the first Catholic high school in the State College area.

Scott Etter, solicitor for the State College school board, said Saint Joseph’s board members approached the district with interest in Boalsburg Elementary some months ago.

Etter said the school board discussed the issue in closed-door, executive session and contacted a real-estate appraiser to assess the value of the building, 901 Boalsburg Pike, Harris Township.

Its assessed value is $1.179 million, though school buildings, because of their nature, can rarely sell for their full assessed value, district executives said. The former Matternville Elementary School, for instance, sold for less than 50 percent of its assessed value, which was more than $800,000 several years ago, they said.

Under school code, the district is required now to seek two written opinions on the value of Boalsburg Elementary and to advertise the anticipated sale, Etter said. He said court approval also will be required for the deal, as it involves the sale of public school property.

Likewise, Etter said, the board will be open to hearing any other interest in and bids for the real estate.

According to the tentative sale agreement with Saint Joseph’s, the transaction is contingent upon Harris Township’s approval for a new gymnasium at the property, among other routine stipulations.

The district has planned to vacate Boalsburg Elementary at the end of the 2010-2011 school year, anyway. Starting in fall 2011, students from Boalsburg Elementary and its sister school, Panorama Village Elementary, will be united in the new Mount Nittany Elementary School, now under construction near Mount Nittany Middle School.

Bishop Joseph V. Adamec, of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Altoona-Johnstown, has already approved the creation of Saint Joseph’s Catholic Academy, according to the academy website.

The academy will start out with only ninth and 10th grades, then grow to include 11th and 12th grades within one or two years, the website says. Enrollment is projected to reach more than 400 or 500 students within two years of the academy’s opening.

The school will be open to Catholics and non-Catholics, the website indicates. Tuition will be about $5,000 a year per student, but aid will be available. ‘We believe that no child, regardless of their financial situation, will be denied a Catholic education,’ the website reads.

‘Saint Joseph’s Catholic Academy will serve our community with an educational system that stresses strong moral values,’ the site reads. ‘Students graduating from Saint Joseph’s Catholic Academy will venture out in the world with a clear sense of what is right.’

StateCollege.com will post more information in this developing story as it becomes available.

Related coverge: State High Improvements To Be Discussed Anew