AUBURN – Eight years ago, Sharon Wood and her husband bought a house on Lake Street because of the neighborhood school.

The couple believed their future children would be safe walking to Lake Street Elementary in the tree-lined neighborhood. They thought the small school would provide safety, individual attention and a community for their kids.

All of their expectations have come true.

“My kindergarten daughter is able to walk five houses down, past concerned and interested neighbors, to school,” said Wood, who chats with neighbors every morning while her older child waits for the school bell to ring and her younger one plays on the school’s playground.

So Wood was sad to learn Tuesday that her beloved school would not expand as planned. It would have to leave its cozy spot in the center of the neighborhood.

“It’s a vital part of the community,” she said.

A day after school officials said the state would not support their plans to dramatically renovate and expand the 77-year-old elementary school, neighbors and parents remained passionate about the little school and the big expansion plan, with reactions that ranged from Wood’s disappointment to other neighbors’ cheer.

“I’m very happy,” said Sissi Ventrone. “The gully was going to be filled in. Trees were going to come down. The neighborhood would have changed.”

Too much money

Lake Street Elementary School has no art or music room, no cafeteria or gymnasium. Outdoor play areas and parking places are limited.

School officials planned to double the size of the school with state funding. But the project has been plagued with problems, including costly land purchase agreements.

In a letter recently sent to the school system, Education Commissioner Susan Gendron said the city’s plan was ultimately too expensive, the site was too small and the project had too many constraints for the state to support it.

Auburn school officials said Monday that they will forget the expansion and concentrate on building a new school on a new site in the Lake Street area.

Many parents and neighbors had mixed feelings about that.

“This is the center of the community. It’s the hub. And to have it here in the center of the community is rare,” said Jeff Soifer, a parent and member of the Lake Street Building Committee, as he walked home with his son Wednesday. “On the other hand, it’s very expensive to have the school here.”

Others felt betrayed.

“They had said they would buy the house, and the school was going to go through,” said Donna Applegarth, who has lived in the area for 30 years and had signed a purchase agreement with the school department to buy her property.

She called the situation “dirty pool.”

“I could care less if the project goes through now,” she said.

Others were elated that the expansion was called off.

Harming its charm

“The whole lifestyle of the neighborhood would have changed, not for the better,” said Ventrone, who has lived in the Lake Street neighborhood for nearly 30 years.

She believed that the proposed expansion would have come at the expense of the area’s natural charm. If the expansion had gone through, she would have considered moving.

Many other neighbors refused to comment, including Rachel Feeley and Robert Thorpe, owners of the two largest parcels of land involved in the proposed expansion project. In a letter to the editor in today’s paper, Thorpe said he continues to question why the school department is spending so much money on a Lake Street neighborhood school when officials could simply expand other elementary schools.

Pamela Larouche, whose Holly Street home was the only one purchased outright by the school system, said only that she agreed with the state about the high cost of the project.

“I think the state made a wise decision,” she said.

But whether they were happy or upset, many people said they would deal with the situation and were hopeful that a new school in a new location would be the best solution to the Lake Street situation.

Sharon Wood said she is already “coming to terms” with her disappointment.

She said she understands why the state wouldn’t support the expansion. She’s started getting excited about the possibilities that come with a larger space and a fresh building.

“Sometimes we all have to make compromises,” she said.

ltice@sunjournal.com

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