Muncie Schools Renews Lease For Northside Middle School

Muncie Community Schools will remain a district with two middle schools for another year.  IPR’s Zoe Dwiggins reports on the immediate future of Northside Middle School.

In 2017, when Muncie Community Schools was facing a state takeover and needed to raise money to fix a large budget deficit, Ball State University purchased Northside Middle School, which is adjacent to its campus.

The contract stated that MCS could continue to operate the middle school for the next five years from that date, leasing the building back for $1 per year.  That lease has to be renewed each year.

Despite conversations about what the “right size” for the school district is in a city projected to shrink in population, the school board approved the lease for another year  on Tuesday night.

MCS board president Jim Williams says the district has no intentions of closing Northside in the near future.

“There are no plans for that right now at all.  In fact, we are looking to grow the district in terms of student population.”

Read More:  More Than 2,000 Muncie Students Go To School Elsewhere

As part of the Northside sale, Ball State would help pay for maintenance of the building each year it was leased.  At the school board meeting, there was no discussion of changing details of the lease now that Ball State is responsible for the district by state statute.