Crosby School To Go Up for Sale

Less than a week after , Town Meeting members on Monday authorized the Board of Selectmen to sell Crosby School.

The somewhat controversial article, Article 39, passed by the necessary two-thirds majority, 125-44, after just over an hour of debate.

Proponents of the article said it would help the current tenant, , stay in the space.

Ted Wilson, the president and executive director of Schools for Children, which oversees the special needs school, told Town Meeting members that his organization would be prepared to make an offer if the article passed. He said if the article failed, his organization would have financial trouble if it continued to rent out the Crosby School and would most likely seek a permanent home in another town.

Dearborn Academy has been located at Crosby School on Winter Street since 1983.

Residents, such as Eric Berger, vouched for Dearborn Academy. He said the school has been a great asset to the town and has put significant money into the building already.

“They need a long-term commitment,” he said, “and it’d be a shame for us to lose [Dearborn Academy].”

Those against the article said they thought selling the Crosby School would limit the town’s future options. They also said that the town would generate more revenue if it held on to the building and continued to rent it out.

“It’s not the time to be making a major donation to a private institution, no matter how worthy it is,” Town Meeting member Bill Kaplan said about the potential sale to Dearborn Academy.

Town Meeting member John Worden III amended the motion in an attempt to limit the subsequent sale of the property to educational use.