MAHANOY CITY — The rectory of the former Assumption BVM Roman Catholic Church will be put up for sale in the near future by the Mahanoy Area School District.
The school board approved retaining Anthony Matsell, Pottsville, for appraisal services for the church rectory at a cost of $300 at its Feb. 25 meeting.
The school district purchased the church building, rectory and land from the Roman Catholic Diocese of Allentown in April 2010 for $110,000, according to diocesan communications director Matt Kerr. The church was closed in 2008 when the diocese consolidated and merged parishes throughout its five-county area. The parishes in Mahanoy City and Maizeville were merged into a new parish, Blessed Teresa of Calcutta Church.
School district Business Administrator John J. Hurst said sale of the rectory had been part of the plan from the beginning.
“The plan was always from the get-go to sell that rectory off,” Hurst said. “The district was more interested in the church building and the vacant lot next to the church.”
Hurst said the property purchase in 2010 was for future use, though no specific plan was in place.
“The reason they (school board) bought that was for future expansion,” he said. “We’re pretty much landlocked here. The board had thought that it was a good idea to acquire that property now.”
Hurst said the current high school building was constructed on property that had been the site of the Eagle Shirt Co. factory. He explained that in the early 1990s the school district had considered purchasing that property when it was in the $150,000 to $200,000 range.
“At that point they didn’t do anything with it, but in 2000 when they bought the building, they paid $1 million for it,” Hurst said. “So the thought was that here was a vacant property next to our existing campus and that we should buy it so that we’re not in the position five to 10 years down the road when we need to expand and now we have a private landowner owning that building and wants to sell it for something exorbitant when we could have got it for something reasonable.”
The decision to sell the rectory now is due to a recent subdivision of the property.
“The rectory and part of the church was on one deed, and then the land and part of the church was on another deed,” Hurst said. “We had to have the land subdivided so we could get the rectory on its own property so we could sell it. That subdivision was finalized this past year.”
The school board acted on the following agenda items:
• Approved an agreement with Gillingham Charter School to provide transportation services.
• Approved a proposal from Antz Heating and Air Conditioning, Shenandoah, to replace the hot water heater in the athletic building for $5,458 to be paid from the Capital Reserve Fund.
• Approved participation in the Schuylkill County Schools Heating Oil Consortium for the 2016-17 school year and authorized Hurst to enter into a contract for purchases of heating oil with the successful bidder for the consortium for the next school year.
• Accepted the resignation of James Burns as a high school special education teacher, effective Feb. 8.
• Approved a professional employee contract with Amy Wislosky who has obtained tenure through three years of satisfactory service under a temporary professional employee contract and is now eligible for the new contract.
• Approved medical/family leaves of absence for Leann Hall, Bridget Pollack and Wislosky.
• Approved the resignation of Elmer Davidson as the head boys’ baseball coach, effective Feb. 19, and his appointment as a volunteer baseball coach.
• Appointed Ian West, Pottsville, as head boys’ baseball coach at a salary of $3,861.68.