The Clarksdale trustees are still looking to get rid of the old Clarksdale High School on School Street and want an answer from the charter school.
The Clarksdale Municipal School District board has attempted to open bids to the public, but Clarksdale Collegiate Public Charter School has first right of refusal and expressed interest in the building.
However, things have not moved any further since Clarksdale Collegiate Public Charter School expressed interest.
Options were discussed on how to move forward during the CMSD board meeting Thursday. Discussions will continue as the CMSD attempts to close the sale.
“I have not received any additional correspondence since the last report I made with the board,” said CMSD board attorney Carlos Palmer as discussion opened.
Board president Delores Harris entertained motion to carry over discussion to the next meeting, but mentioned other possibilities before a vote.
“Is there an option that we can just take it off the table?” Harris said.
“When you say take it off the table, what does that (mean)?” Palmer replied.
“Withdraw from the sale, is that something we could do?” said Harris in response.
Then Palmer attempted to lay out different options.
“I think what the district needs to do is follow up with a deadline for the charter school to make a decision on that,” Palmer said. “I don’t know if any representative of the charter school has been in contact with Dr. Nelson or has discussed any proposed price for the particular school to be sold. I know there was a conversation about that building being appraised. I don’t know if the building has been appraised or not.”
Multiple board members said they had no knowledge of an appraisal.
Superintendent Dr. Earl Joe Nelson mentioned how the CMSD was going to ask the County to appraise the building, but the County does not do that.
“Even if it were in a position to retain a reasonable offer from the charter school has first right of refusal, our district still needs to know what the appraisal amount of this building is,” Palmer said.
Palmer said the CMSD should be in a situation of knowing whether an offer is reasonable.
“We’ve had two groups that have offered us $50,000 for it,” said board member H. Clay Sandy Stillions.
“I think we should take it,” replied board member Joan Morris.
However, legally the Clarksdale Collegiate Public Charter School has first right of refusal.
Board member Dr. Bishop Zedric Clayton said if an appraisal is $15,000 and the building is sold for $30,000, that would not be a good way of spending money.
“It costs so much to do a fresh appraisal and we were trying to figure out if it was worth doing that,” Clayton said.
“Then it’s like, well, we just wasted money.”
Morris mentioned previous deadlines.
“Did we not give the charter school a deadline one time and they went past that deadline?” she said.
Harris said the CMSD asked for a response in December 2020, but Clarksdale Collegiate Public Charter School did not give a response until the spring.
“We just keep on, keep on,” Morris said.
“I think it’s more than 90 days since we got back the response,” Harris added.
Palmer said the CMSD may be comfortable selling the old Clarksdale High School for $50,000, but normally, a seller would know the market value.
“I think the district has to be in a position to say, ‘We are offering this building to the charter school for x amount of dollars’ and entertain that type of dialogue,” Palmer said. “And if they are willing to pay whatever it is, then we can go from there. I just don’t see how you would offer a building for sale without even knowing what the value of the building is.”
Morris and Clayton both asked if Clarksdale Collegiate Public Charter School offers less for the building than the $50,000 already offered, would the CMSD be able to turn it down.
“If they don’t want to match or can’t match, then we’ve got to move on,” Palmer said.
Clayton and Stillions expressed agreement.
“So we have to give them an opportunity to match and if they can’t match, then we can move on?” Clayton said.
“We need to get it off our board,” Stillions added.
Palmer said the CMSD must be proactive, but Clarksdale Collegiate Public Charter School has not been.
“I think a demand has to come from our district to get the ball rolling because the ball has not been rolling from the charter school,” Palmer said.
