Quincy School District purchases property

QUINCY — The Quincy School District’s Innovation Academy and distance learning programs will get a new home sometime this fall.

Quincy School Board members approved the purchase of five acres of property at the regular board meeting Tuesday. The purchase price is $1.225 million.

The property was the home of the Quincy Valley School, a private school, until the end of the 2019-20 school year. Quincy Valley School officials announced on the school website that it is permanently closed. The property is located at 1804 13th Ave. SW, Quincy.

Quincy School District Superintendent John Boyd said the facility will house Quincy Innovation Academy, which is an individualized district program for seventh- and eighth-graders and high school students. Quincy’s credit retrieval program and remote learning services will be housed in the buildings as well.

Currently, Quincy Innovation Academy is in downtown Quincy, in a district-owned building. “It is in an old converted bowling alley,” Boyd said. While the current facility is adequate for the purpose, the new space will be a better fit, he said.

The district is scheduled to occupy the former Quincy Valley School property sometime before the end of the year. Boyd said occupancy depends in part on the course of the COVID-19 outbreak.

District officials decided earlier this month to start the school year with all classes online. The timeline will depend in part on how long the district conducts online classes, Boyd said.

“The building is in marvelous shape. It’s move-in ready,” Boyd said.

The property has a main building and other buildings. Some technology will have to be reconfigured, but Boyd said the work shouldn’t take more than a few days.

Boyd said the property was purchased from Heather Morgan, one of the founders of Quincy Valley School.

“It was really important to her that it be used for children,” Boyd said.

District officials learned the property was for sale “right in the middle of our facility planning work,” Boyd said. The facility study was delivered to the school board at its Tuesday meeting.

The study recommended new facilities for Quincy Innovation Academy within the next two to three years. “We’re excited to be able to deliver for that program,” Boyd said.

The fate of the Quincy Innovations Academy’s current building will be up to the school board, Boyd said, but right now district officials are glad to have extra space. Restrictions on class size and social distancing rules have been imposed due to the coronavirus, so the space could be used to spread out students when in-person classes resume, he said.

Cheryl Schweizer can be reached via email at education@columbiabasinherald.com.