SALEM One day, Perry acreage will be new-school site

Officials try to keep the old house secured, but it still gets broken into.
By NORMAN LEIGH
VINDICATOR SALEM BUREAU
SALEM -- City school officials plan to one day convert an eyesore and target for vandals into an attribute for the district.
The school district owns nearly 80 acres in Perry Township that it eventually wants to use for a new school building, schools Superintendent Dr. David Brobeck said Monday.
Right now, however, the property, known as the Whinnery farm, occasionally gives school officials trouble because it includes an abandoned house that is sometimes vandalized or broken into.
Police called
Perry Township police were called recently by an area resident who expressed concern that people are able to get inside the home, located off Whinnery Road.
Brobeck said school district officials try to keep it secured, but vandals still sometimes break into the two-story farmhouse even though the property is posted with "no trespassing" signs.
The district keeps old desks and other items in the house.
The property also features several outbuildings and a barn that the district would like to have torn down in the next few years to help clear the land, Brobeck said.
Much of the rest of the property is leased to a farmer who plants crops.
The land is part of the school district but lies just beyond the city limits and is not far from Southeast Elementary.
Eventually, the district would like to build a school on the site, Brobeck said.
School officials are considering constructing at least one school building in the next decade.
Old buildings
Several of the district's schools were built more than 50 years ago and no longer are large enough or possess all the attributes of new buildings, such as energy-efficient utilities, Brobeck said.
Prospect Elementary, the district's oldest school building, opened in 1897.