The Lake Station Boys and Girls Club at the former Polk Elementary School is shutting down at the end of the school year after a three-year run.
However, there might yet be hope for families who need after-school care.
Boys and Girls Clubs of Greater Northwest Indiana President and CEO Mike Jessen said he’s open to the idea of providing services at a school still in use during the day.
And Lake Station Community Schools Superintendent Tom Cripliver said the School Board is looking for alternatives so families aren’t left in the lurch when the new school year begins.
“It really is quite an asset to this community, and to have them leave is going to be a very disruptive thing for our families and disappointing to me,” Cripliver said.
For Jessen, it’s simple math. The club’s 150 members pay $50 a year to participate. That brings in $7,500 a year, about what the club is paying in rent and utilities for a single month. And that’s not even counting staff and programming costs.
The School Board had asked the Boys and Girls Club to pay more rent, but the club balked. The utility costs are what’s killing the club, Jessen said.
But the school district can’t afford to pick up the cost of those utilities. “I said no, I’m not in a position to do so,” Cripliver said.
For the district’s two elementary schools, the utility costs are already $16,000 just for gas and electric, and that’s not even counting sewer and water. The secondary schools are even more expensive.
“We’re not watching the dollars. We’re watching the pennies,” Cripliver said.
The School Board offered to sell the Polk building to the club, but the club balked. After getting two appraisals, the board set the price at $1.4 million, the average of the two appraisals.
“We are willing to significantly reduce the cost of the building based on those appraisals,” Cripliver said. “At that time, he said, no we are not interested in buying the building and will never be interested in buying that building,” Cripliver said.
Now the building has been up for sale on the open market for three months.
“At this point in time, we have had not one serious offer,” Cripliver said.
Donating the building to the club or any other nonprofit is a nonstarter. “In my view, because of our low socioeconomic status as well as our status of funding by the state, I would be negligent to just give that building away to the Boys and Girls Club or any other nonprofit,” Cripliver said.
“We’re not kicking them out. I would love for them to stay.”
“I’ve sat on the Boys and Girls Club advisory board for Lake Station for over 15 years,” Cripliver said. “It’s going to affect not only Lake Station schools, but also River Forest schools.”
Jessen said he has reached out to both Cripliver and River Forest Community School Corp. to see if there’s room for the club in any of their schools currently in use. That would erase the problem of high utility costs.
“We haven’t heard back yet, so I assume they’re still considering that,” he said. River Forest responded and said someone would get in touch with Jessen, he said.
“We’re open to discussing it. It would have to be at the school locations, because that would be much more affordable for us,” Jessen said.
“We were in the River Forest schools prior to going to Polk Elementary in Lake Station,” Jessen said, but the club was forced out because the district needed the space.
Clubs hosted at schools sometimes have a dedicated space, but others use a classroom that is used for instruction during the school day. Ideally, access to the cafeteria and gym would be provided as part of the lease.
As for Polk, however, “it’s not a viable option for us going forward.”
Doug Ross is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.
