A historic Oakland County elementary school is now slated for demolition after an explosive school board meeting.
On Monday night, Keego Harbor residents pleaded with the school district to save the 104-year-old Roosevelt Elementary School building, but the board voted to move forward with demolition.
There's been a lot of passion about keeping this building. The community has been fighting for months to keep it standing.
The crowd booed loudly at the meeting Monday night, reacting to the dcision to tear down the building.
"I have memories of Roosevelt Elementary School . It brought joy to walk by," Krista Nelson, an Oakland County commissioner, said.
"Dr. Suess said it best. Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, othing's going to get better, its not. There's no denying this community cares as demonstrated by our voices and our solution oriented actions," another person said.
One of the most popular repurposing proposals for the board came from architect Joseph Notisky, who offered to buy the building for $1.7 million and turn it into apartments.
"Think about that one just for a minute. Each classroom is a perfectly sized apartment. It makes a wonderful apartment for somebody," he said. "The reality is we're short on students, but also affordable homes. If we keep this building up and keep it temporarily, we think the students are going to repopulate this building with public school attendance once again."
The district's response is that the school building is not safe, and even after being offered millions for it, it's financially irresponsible to repurpose it.
After hearing hours of pleas from community members, the board voted 4-2 to move ahead with the demolition.
The district says they will begin preparing the property for demolition next month and it's scheduled to be demolished in June.
Community members are not giving up the fight. They're calling for the AG to step in.
