Peoria District 150 School board, the City of Peoria and the Moss Bradley Neighborhood Association are going back to the drawing board when it comes to finding a new purpose for the retired, historic Washington School building.
The trio of municipal groups have been working together for more than a year to find a new owner for the building. District 150 School Board Member Chris Crawford says the Montessori School Group decided against using the property for its new school a few weeks ago:
“Hopefully we can work the city and find another buyer similar to what we had before and see if we can have Moss Avenue not be our responsibility anymore and have it back on the tax roles.”
The School board voted unanimously to renew its intergovernmental agreement with the city last night. The agreement specifies a minimum 150-thousand dollar sale price for the 30-thousand square foot school building in the 800 block of Moss Street in Peoria.
The school board and District 150 administration also now have a new memorandum of understanding with the Peoria Federation of Teachers. District 150 Superintendent Grenita Lathan says the document lays out the boundaries the parties consider fair for the annual Reduction In Force notices that come out every Spring.
“This is just annually what we go through to make that decision and then we bring that to the board. I want to thank the union leadership. I think it’s taken us several months.”
The district is also still looking for ways to reduce an 11 to 16 million dollar deficit for the current budget year.