WESTMINSTER : Closure Urged for Midway City School

Saying that it would be better for students and less expensive, Westminster School District officials have recommended that Midway City Elementary School be shut down and that Dr. Jessie Hayden School be reopened.

“The question is, which school can best house and provide a good facility for 600 students,” district Supt. Gail Wickstrom told the Board of Trustees last week.

A district study shows that Hayden, built in 1961, is in much better condition than the aging Midway City campus and would be less expensive to renovate, Wickstrom said.

Midway City School was built in 1950, and would require major renovation to keep it usable. Hayden, located at 14782 Eden St. in Midway City, has been closed since 1978, when the board decided to move its students to Midway City School.

Wickstrom recommended that the district modernize Hayden at a cost of $1.3 million and reopen it by the fall of 1993. The modernization project would include adding a wing of portable classrooms, refurbishing all classrooms, making the site more accessible to the disabled and removal of asbestos.

The Hayden campus would be safer for students walking to school because it is in a residential area away from busy streets, Wickstrom said. In contrast, Midway City School, at 8521 Hazard Ave., is near the busy intersection of Hazard Avenue and Newland Street.

Midway City School should be closed in June, 1993, and declared excess property, Wickstrom told the board. The site is worth about $3 million.