Sunset School sold to Waterloo developer

Lakeside Alternative School will move to Ventura in the fall

The Clear Lake School Board has approved the sale of Sunset Elementary School, 408 Mars Hill Dr., to a Waterloo developer.

The Board finalized the sale at its Tuesday, June 19 meeting, however, the Dolly James LLC., of Waterloo, Iowa has agreed to not close on the property until the school district has completed an addition at Clear Creek Elementary which will accommodate preschoolers who have been attending classes at Sunset.

The district plans to start its building addition in September, with completion anticipated by the summer of 2019.  The tentative timeline calls for Sunset School to be vacant by the fall of 2019.

Dolly James has purchased the building in “as-is” condition for $150,000 and is responsible for its tear down, asbestos removal and any infrastructure work or rezoning which may be required for its future development plans.

“I believe their plan is to build nice apartments and condo units that will be affordable,” said Clear Lake Schools Superintendent Doug Gee.  “This is going to be great for young people to move to Clear Lake and get into an affordable place.  They have been a great company to work with.”

The Lakeside Alternative School, which has also been located within the Sunset School building, will move to Ventura this fall.  The alternative school program has been shared by Clear Lake and GHV for several years.

“The partnership with GHV has worked very well and both districts wanted to find a way to continue to work together and it makes great academic and financial sense,” said Gee.

At its June 11 meeting, the GHV School Board voted to combine grades five to eight in one building.  The former high school building at Ventura will become a middle school for grades 5-8.

The former intermediate school, which at one time was known as Ventura Elementary, will house the Lakeside Alternative School, as well as three and four-year-old preschoolers from the Redeemer Lutheran Preschool.  Redeemer will use two rooms of the school with access to the playground.  The alternative school will be located in another portion of the building.

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Redeemer Lutheran Preschool Director Kari Johnson-Markela said the school has outgrown the church and currently has a waiting list of students.

Children in Redeemer’s Daycare program will continue to meet at the church, while three and four-year-old preschoolers will be in classrooms at the school building.

Other business

In other business, the Clear Lake School Board approved administrative and non-union employee salaries and wages.

Gee explained that the length of the administrative contracts are all different; principals have two-year contracts and the superintendent is a three-year contract; directors contracts are one year; non-union employees are one-year (at-will). The raise was a 2.5 percent average among the group.  The total package, excluding the family insurance which the administrators and directors get paid by the district, was 1.9 percent, which is what district teachers received through their negotiation process.

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