Owners of Boys' School Plan Delphos, Kan., Girls' School
By Tim Unruh, The Salina Journal, Kan.
Mar. 8--DELPHOS -- The owners of Tipton Academy, a boys' school that opened last August in a former Tipton school, intend to expand operations to Delphos by June 1.
The former Delphos Middle School, vacant since 2003, is to be the home of Meadowlark Academy, a private girls' school owned by Kevin and Kaye Richey.
"Any jobs in a small community like this is a big help," said Arnie Alderson, mayor of Delphos, population 400.
Similar schools are planned in a number of other small towns, by other groups, said Dave Rose, a Salina real estate agent who is leasing the Delphos school to the Richeys. They have an option to buy.
"It's mainly because we offer a number of properties that are very inviting to people who are in these types of business," he said.
"They can get a lot of square footage for a very reasonable price, and they can locate dedicated and willing workers at a very reasonable wage."
Tipton Academy is home to 23 boys age 12 to 17, and the Richeys, who are from St. George, Utah, expect enrollment to swell to 50. The academy provides 31 jobs, with the possibility of growing to 40 or more employees.
The Delphos school building is larger.
"We have room for at least 100 there," Kevin Richey said.
Typically, such schools cater to parents and guardians of troubled teens. Tuition is $3,000 a month, and students generally stay about a year.
Meadowlark Academy will employ from 70 to 80 people.
Other deals are in the works at Esbon, where Ted and Tom Madsen, Cedar City, Utah, intend to transform White Rock Middle School into White Rock Academy, a private school for boys. White Rock Middle School will close in May when the White Rock and Mankato school districts are consolidated into the Rock Hills School District, said Bill Walker, superintendent of both districts.
He said the Madsens are under contract to purchase the Esbon school building for $120,000, with $20,000 going to the Esbon community and rest to the school district.
The White Rock Academy, which is awaiting state licensing, initially will employ 20 people and have 20 male students, Walker said.
"I think it's a great opportunity for Esbon," Walker said.
More deals are in the works. The Roses helped facilitate the sale of a former school building -- currently a community center -- in Beattie, north of Manhattan, to another Utah group. It will be operated as a youth academy, Dave Rose said.
Rose, a real estate agent, and his wife, Susan, market school buildings and other property through e-Bay and other methods. He said they've been contacted by an organization looking for five more school buildings in Kansas.
"These groups prefer small communities where students are safer and can be more involved in community-service projects, and a better quality of life," Dave Rose said.
To continue with plans in Delphos, the Richeys have backing from local investors, in the form of a guaranteed loan.
So far, Delphos Mayor Arnoldson likes what has occurred.
"Several of us have been over to their academy (at Tipton) two or three times, and we're really impressed with the program," he said.
"We visited with some of the boys and they speak pretty highly of it."
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http://www.redorbit.com/news/display/?id=420839Published: 2006/03/08 18:00:45 CST
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