EPISD to explore options to re-purpose or sell elementary campuses shutting down

Beall, Schuster, Alta Vista and Burleson Elementary schools will all shut down once this school year is over, but repurposing or selling those properties won’t be quick.

The students enrolled at the schools will be moved to other campuses around the district. Once the schools are empty, it will be up to district officials to determine what will be done with the properties. The desks, books, and furniture inside will be redistributed to the schools taking in extra students or other parts of the district that need the inventory.

“The schools that are being consolidated is because they have room as well. So, some of those receiving campuses have empty classrooms to receive the students so they may need those desks, chairs, and materials,” said Melissa Martinez, an EPISD spokesperson.

The board will then look at the buildings and land left over to mark them as surplus and explore options to use or sell the properties.

“We’ll look at, is there a way to repurpose it within the district. Since we are having to vacate our central offices, is there a use that way for employees? And the other option is to sell the property. If we’ve gone through all those and we’ve determined that there is no use for repurposing it, there’s not a community partner that would like the property, then we would go through the process of listing it for sale,” Martinez said.

This wouldn’t be the first time EPISD ends up with surplus properties. The school district had eight properties for sale in 2018: six vacant lots, one custodial house, and one alternative school. Four of those properties have already been sold, the remaining four and in final contract negotiations. The district expects to make around $11 million from the total sale of the eight properties.