Committee to study options for Iowa City's Roosevelt Elementary

A committee will spend the next year trying to come up with ideas for what to do with the Roosevelt Elementary School building after the school closes in two years.

The school board endorsed the committee proposal after a brief discussion Tuesday night.

“The community has an asset and we're trying to figure out the best way to re-purpose that asset, and we want the community involved,” said board member Mike Cooper.

The committee will be made up of representatives from the school district, the Roosevelt neighborhood and local governments. It will report to Superintendent Stephen Murley.

A timeline calls for the group to meet over the next 12 months, with the school board making the final decision on what to do with the building, which is at 611 Greenwood Dr. in Iowa City.

Some initial suggestions have included using it for preschool programming or relocating the district's central office there.

Controversy surrounded the school board's decision one year ago to close the school, effective in the fall of 2012. Board members said the school, which was built in 1931, was too small and had too many deficiencies to keep open and that building a new school would be better financially.

Roosevelt is to be replaced by a new school a few miles to the west.

Parents and residents of the area around Roosevelt decried the loss of their neighborhood school. They also accused district administrators and school board members of making the decision with little regard for public input.