School district officials said Friday they'd reached an agreement with the Bethel Native Corp. to house the town's Yup'ik immersion school, which was destroyed in a November fire, in the corporation's largely empty Kipusvik retail center.
During a special meeting Wednesday, the Lower Kuskokwim School District Board approved a lease on the Kipusvik building for three to five years, according to a Friday statement from Superintendent Daniel Walker. The building will house students of the Ayaprun Elitnaurvik school until the school district builds a new facility, Walker said.
The retail center used to house Swanson's grocery and department store, and had been eyed as a location for a proposed Bethel Spirits liquor store. It's currently being used by the BNC as a movie theater.
Walker did not say in the statement how much the lease will cost the district. He said students, who are currently spread out at other school district buildings, are expected to move in sometime in late January.
"It has been a priority since the fire to find a way to keep the students together under one roof while considering all options for a new facility," Walker said.
The Kilbuck building, destroyed in the Nov. 3 blaze, also housed the Kuskokwim Learning Academy, a boarding school and alternative high school. The school board has directed the administration to work on a lease for an unspecified period of time with Yuut Elitnaurviat, a regional training center, for KLA 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.
Alaska Dispatch News reporter Lisa Demer contributed to this report.