Grace Community Church to rent former Kings school building

WARWICK — As an overflow crowd awaited a decision, the Warwick Valley School District board voted Monday night at its regular meeting to rent the now-shuttered Kings Elementary School building to Grace Community Church.

In trying to get a sense of the board’s position early on, Superintendent of Schools Dr. Ray Bryant called for a straw poll.

The result: A nearly-unanimous decision, with all but one board member voting in favor of Grace Community Church’s proposal.

Both Grace and the Watchtower (a Jehovah’s Witnesses group) had appeared before the board in December, seeking to rent the space from the district.

Under the agreement to be drawn up by the district, Grace Church would rent approximately 55 percent of the Kings building, or 30,000 square feet, with the remaining space available for the community’s use.

The district would be responsible for outside maintenance, such as mowing and plowing.

Grace would rent Kings from the district for $163,721 per year, for five years guaranteed. At the end of that term, the church would return the building to the district in its current condition, allowing the district to use Kings as a school building again, should conditions warrant.

Watchtower bid voted down
The Watchtower group was looking for temporary quarters for 150 to 200 people to be housed on-site at Kings as it builds its new headquarters in Tuxedo (it expects the project to be completed by 2017).

As part of the Watchtower’s proposed plan, parked RVs would have been used to house the volunteers and be screened from view on Kings Highway.

The Watchtower had offered the district rent of $276,105 per year for three years, using 100 percent of the space.

Public reaction
Warwick resident Peter Hull addressed the board, saying that the “Grace Church decision is the right one; thank you.”

Regarding a concern about Jehovah’s Witnesses’ impact on the local economy, Reneé Basile said, that the board made “a great decision… They (Jehovah’s Witnesses) don’t really do a lot of shopping in the towns they live in.”

Bryant interjected that the board is “trying to respect everyone in our community,” adding that this decision is not about picking one religion over another.

Grace Church member Troy Doherty said that he’s a “proud resident of this community” and urged audience members to “turn around and look behind you – you see a great community.”

One member of the Watchtower group said that he “appreciated (the board’s) open-mindedness,” in terms of letting the group come in.

“Our purpose is to love our neighbor and leave the area green.”

School board president Dave Eaton praised the Watchtower group as “honorable people, and appreciated “how well you dealt with us.”

Board member Lynn Lillian said that the BOE was “really lucky to have had two viable tenants,” and added that the district “has been incredibly lucky to hang onto program in the midst of emotional turmoil for the past few years.”

'A building issue, not a religious one'

In a telephone interview, Eaton said he wanted the community to understand that “(Watchtower) people are already here,” and that “they’re not a cult moving up here.”

He added that this was “not a religious issue – it’s a building issue, period.”

“Both of these organizations are part of our community. Their positive energy was phenomenal…they really live their religion.”

Superintendent search update
The school board has met in executive session at least four times in recent weeks, as it looks to find a successor to Bryant, who retires at the end of June.

Eaton said that the board originally reviewed 11 candidates’ résumés, winnowing prospective candidates down from six to three finalists.

Of the three, one individual was offered the position then changed his or her mind; another candidate quit the search, leaving just one candidate remaining; one other has been drawn from the board’s short list.

At the time of the interview with Eaton, he expected the board to have made a decision by Jan. 15.

Next: The next meeting of the School Board will be Feb. 10, at 7 p.m. in the Dorothy C. Wilson Center.

By Abby Wolf