MAC to house kindergartners next year

There is art in kindergarten, after all.

After balking at the idea at its meeting on June 7, Worthington City Council on Monday voted unanimously to permit the McConnell Arts Center (MAC) to sublease two rooms to Worthington City Schools.

For the next two years, overflow kindergarten students from Evening Street Elementary School will be assigned to classrooms at the MAC, which is located next door.

The schools will pay $8,000 a year rent to the MAC.

Both rooms are in the basement. One is already a classroom. One is a reception area that must be outfitted with blackboards and other kindergarten amenities. The school district will pay for all alterations.

The city had to approve the lease because it owns the building and leases it to the MAC. The lease states that the MAC has possession of the premises "for the purpose of constructing and operating an arts center, and for no other purpose."

The motion to permit the city manager and law director to sublease rooms to the school district was approved only after city manager Matt Greeson answered the many questions that arose at the last council meeting.

He told council that he could not identify any reason why the MAC cannot sublease space; that the cost of maintaining and operating the two rooms for a year would be $4,369; that the school use would have no net impact on the maintenance of the entryway; and that restrooms would not be modified for kindergarten use.

The fair-market rate for leased classroom space is not easy to estimate, Greeson told council.

The schools will pay approximately $8 a square foot per year for the space, which is about 1,000 square feet of the 24,000 square-foot arts center.

Short-term office space in Worthington can be leased for $8-$12 a square foot, Greeson said. On the other hand, schools in Groveport rent space for less.

Greeson said there is also not a definitive answer to the question of when the arts center would cease to be an arts center, and thus revert to control of the taxpayers. The situation would only arise if there was difficulty in running an arts center, he said.

None of the council members who raised questions at the earlier meeting spoke on Monday, but resident Bill Fallon, a long-time critic of the contract between the city and the MAC, had plenty to say.

"I think this agreement places a tremendous responsibility on the city of Worthington," he said.

Leasing space to the schools is a step in the wrong direction, he told council.

The school district approached the MAC about leasing space when spring kindergarten registration showed that enrollment would be up by 14-18 students next year.

Usually there are 52-56 kindergartners at Evening Street. This year, they are in two classrooms one for a full-day class, one for two half-day classes.

Next year, there is a need for four classrooms for the 70 kindergartners who registered, said district administrator George Joseph. There will be three full-day classrooms and one for half-day classes.

He expects additional Evening Street students and students bused in from other schools to fill out the classrooms.