BETHEL -- Nothing is decided yet, but school district and Bethel Native Corp. officials are negotiating to make a temporary home for the town's fire-ravaged Yup'ik immersion school in the corporation's largely empty Kipusvik retail center.
A long-term lease would solve some of the Lower Kuskokwim School District's classroom space needs and provide Bethel Native Corp. with a tenant. But it would also prevent the corporation from opening its proposed Bethel Spirits liquor store in the building just as prospects have improved.
"At this point we are just looking," district Superintendent Dan Walker said in an email Friday evening.
The school board, in a special meeting earlier in the week, directed the administration to negotiate a lease with Bethel Native Corp. to house Ayaprun Elitnaurvik, its Yup'ik immersion school, for up to four years. School Board President Susan Murphy said Saturday that the retail space is just one option and the price will be key.
Ayaprun was destroyed in the Nov. 3 fire in the Kilbuck building, which also housed the Kuskokwim Learning Academy, a boarding school and alternative high school. Some of the Kuskokwim academy part of the building is still standing but the district hasn't yet gotten inside to evaluate the damage. It's awaiting an environmental analysis of the site, which contains asbestos.
"I don't believe the KLA side will be usable, but until an analysis is done, I can't say for sure," Walker said.
The school board also directed the administration to work on a lease for an unspecified period of time with Yuut Elitnaurviat, a regional training center, for Kuskokwim Learning Academy classrooms and dorm space. KLA already is housed at Yuut temporarily and is using classrooms at the Kuskokwim campus of the University of Alaska Fairbanks. The school board has agreed to pay Yuut $44,000 to use its space for November and December.
State Sen. Lyman Hoffman, chairman of the Bethel Native Corp. board, said that BNC's chief executive was approached by the superintendent.
"Our board is interested in seeing what we can do to help," Hoffman said Friday evening.
The Kipusvik retail space has been empty since March, when the Swanson's grocery store shut down less than nine months after opening. BNC owns the building but initially leased the store space to Omni Enterprises Inc., which now is in bankruptcy.
The building also includes a movie theater. If the school moves in, not only would the liquor store proposed for the second floor have to find a new home, it's likely that the first-floor theater would as well, Hoffman said.
"The preliminary discussion was they wanted the whole building," he said. He said if that happens, the theater would shut down until a new one could be built.
Murphy, the school board president, said the theater might be able to stay. It could have a separate entrance.
On Tuesday, the Bethel City Council agreed to drop its protest against the proposed liquor store. The state Alcoholic Beverage Control Board is scheduled to take up the Bethel Spirits application at a special meeting Nov. 19 in Anchorage.
State law prohibits a liquor store within 200 feet of a school.
"Obviously there could not be a liquor store in the same building as a school if there is a way forward with this temporary option," Walker said in the email.
The Native corporation has been trying for months to find a new tenant for the empty grocery space. Alaska Commercial Co., which runs the competing grocery store in town, flew in its board to look at it, Hoffman said. Carrs, Fred Meyer and Three Bears all have been talked about it as well, he said. A liquor store in that space, with profit-sharing potential, would be a big draw for a grocery store, he said.
If the school moves into the retail space and the corporation secures a liquor license, it would look into transferring the license to another location, Hoffman said. The ABC Board would have to approve any transfer.
"At this point I don't know if BNC would open up a temporary store or wait until a new one is constructed," he said.
In the store, temporary walls would be erected to define classrooms. There is a commercial kitchen and large freezers, which the district could use to store food being shipped to villages, Hoffman said. The kitchen is a plus, but overall most of the space isn't ideal for elementary school classrooms, Murphy said. The ceilings are high and a grocery store just isn't warm and cozy. Limited bathrooms also are an issue, as they are in most temporary spaces, she said.
But the window-lined upstairs, where clothing and fabrics were sold, would work well for some of the Ayaprun students, she said.
BNC president and chief executive, Ana Hoffman, is working on the negotiations, Hoffman said. Both the school board and the BNC board would need to approve the arrangement.
For now, the Yup'ik immersion school, with 175 students, is split between space in the district office and classrooms in Gladys Jung Elementary.
The cause of the fire remains under investigation.