More space, much cheaper rent if Walsh School moves from Armory
PAWTUCKET - The Valley Breeze has learned that the financial terms of two lease proposals for the Jacqueline M. Walsh School for the Performing and Visual Arts differ by at least $117,000. School Committee members say they've been informed that a bid from the Pawtucket Armory Association to keep the school in the Pawtucket Armory at 172 Exchange St. is in the $225,000 range. They've indicated though that a tentative offer from the Armory to lease outside space for the school could push that number higher. Meanwhile the pastor of St. Leo the Great Parish has made an official lease offer to accommodate Jackie Walsh at the former St. Leo School for $108,000 a year. Representatives from the Armory Association are declining to discuss their latest lease offer, but the Rev. Giacomo Capoverdi of St. Leo's was eager to share his hopes for luring the arts school. He told The Breeze he is open to negotiating an even lower lease agreement, a move he says would save city taxpayers big money and be the best option for the students of the Jackie Walsh School. What better place, said Capoverdi, than to move this "treasure" of a local school than to a place where Jacqueline Walsh herself attended many years ago. School Committee Chairman James Chellel Jr. had stated as recently as last week that the former St. Leo School at 723 Central Ave. appeared out of the running in the sweepstakes to lure Jackie Walsh away from its first and only home. Then came a "surprising" vote last Tuesday to turn down a resolution asking state education officials to take over the public arts school and turn it into a regional center of learning, said Chellel. After that money-saving measure was defeated, he added, all bids are again fair game. "St. Leo's is back on the table; it has to be back on the table," said Chellel. After learning the amount that Capoverdi has offered as part of an annual lease proposal, said Chellel, School Committee members will have a hard time making the case to keep the school at the Armory on Exchange Street. Sweetening the pot still further, he added, is Capoverdi's offer to continue negotiating the asking price. Capoverdi said he is offering more space than the Jackie Walsh School is currently afforded, a well-lit parking lot, and cheaper operating costs. While the Armory is offering a new campus-like school as part of a new lease agreement, Capoverdi said the St. Leo facility could satisfy the needs of all staff and students under one roof. Either way, said Jackie Walsh Principal John Haidemenos, the students and staff at the school would like to know soon what their future is. "We just need to know one way or the other," he told The Breeze during a visit to the school last Friday. "If we're going to be moving, there's a lot we'll need to do before it can happen." Yvonne Seggerman, executive director of the Pawtucket Armory Center for the Arts, declined to comment on the ongoing bidding war. Four years after it was founded as part of that blossoming arts center, the Walsh School's current estimated $200,000 lease with the Armory Association is set to expire this summer. Many of the 100 students at Jackie Walsh say the school continues to feel overcrowded, with various spaces serving more than one function. One classroom at the school doubles as a cafeteria and lockers are packed into the foyer just outside that "cafeteria's" doors. "Our building would be better for the students, and it would be better for the taxpayers," said Capoverdi. "The School Committee should do the right thing for all involved. "I understand that they (Armory staff) have some pretty heavy duty lobbyists with the city, but I have God on my side," he added, laughing. School Committee members have indicated that they could take up the Jackie Walsh lease matter and other topics at a special meeting this week or next. Chellel said that while the School Committee's decision on where to send Jackie Walsh will be a difficult one, the question before the body couldn't be a clearer one. "I'll have to decide, do I want to take a vote to destroy what's happening with the arts in the downtown or save the taxpayers money," said Chellel. "I'm not looking to spend an extra dime of taxpayer money but do I really want to tell the mayor, 'we're going to destroy everything you've been trying to do with the arts.'" Capoverdi countered that School Committee members should not be so focused on location when discussing Pawtucket as a vibrant arts community. The St. Leo is just about 1.5 miles from the school's current location, he said, making the argument that a move would hurt the arts movement in Pawtucket a "weak" one at best. Founded four years ago as a specialized arts school meant to one day rival such schools across the country, the Jackie Walsh School is an integral part of the Pawtucket Armory Center for the Arts and the The Sandra Feinstein-Gamm Theatre, owned by the Pawtucket Armory Association. In February of 2002, the Armory Association retained Taylor & Burns Architects, of Boston, known for creative, community-based reuse projects, to design the future layout of the new Pawtucket Armory, one that is one day planned to house a number of arts-based tenants. On April 24, 2002, the Pawtucket City Council voted to sell the building to the Armory Association for $1, allowing the new owner to retain the capital it would need to revitalize the 40,000-square-foot historic structure and to begin transforming it into a new arts center that city officials said would function as a cornerstone of an arts renaissance in the downtown. Still to be completed is a new 340-seat theater in the Armory's drill hall. At a well attended meeting of the Pawtucket School Committee last week, Leon Boghossian III, a member of the Gamm Theatre Board of Directors told committee members that board members are prepared to offer more space as part of a new agreement to accommodate the school. But with more space will come added costs for the Armory. Boghossian told those in attendance at the meeting that board members are in discussions with designer Morris Nathanson and Morris Nathanson Design to lease additional space across the street from the Armory. There are also other space options, said Boghossian. About 26 Jackie Walsh students were in attendance for last week's School Committee meeting, according to one student who counted. Several parents and students in attendance emphasized a desire to have more spacious surroundings.
