Avoyelles School Board to get appraisal for another closed school

Another closed school facility will be appraised for possible lease now that the Avoyelles School Board accepted a committee recommendation at the Sept. 3 board meeting.

The issue came up when a request from sweet potato farmer Paul Newton was discussed at the Building & Lands Committee meeting on Aug. 20. Newton had asked to lease the gymnasium of the closed Avoyelles Parish Vocational Training Center in the Bunkie area to store empty and full crates of yams.

Superintendent Blaine Dauzat told the committee the board would need to have a lease appraisal for the gym before it could advertise for bids from any parties interested in leasing the property.

The former special education school property is located at the corner of La. Hwy 115 and La. Hwy 29. It was last used as a parish detention center, which was closed in 2017.

SALE PRICE $300,000

Maintenance Supervisor Steve Marcotte said the entire site has been appraised for sale at $300,000. However, it has not been appraised to determine a monthly lease value.

State law requires that the board sell or lease public property for the fair market value.

Marcotte was told to have the property appraised to determine a lease value for the entire site and for just the gymnasium.

He said he would contact appraisers to get quotes on prices for the job, but also pointed out that the former school “is where we are storing all our stuff from all of the other schools.”

Loss of that storage area could create a logistics problem.

The district lost storage space when Red River Charter Academy leased the former Mansura High site, the Fifth Ward Community Center organization leased the court-closed Fifth Ward High property, and the Town of Simmesport leased the former Dunbar High/ Simmesport Elementary school property.