“[The Sports Academy] will suffer irreparable harm for which there is no adequate remedy at law if [Northeastern] is permitted to demolish the Unused School Facility without first offering it for sale ...” the lawsuit states.
On March 29 this year, the sports academy entered into a charter agreement with Richland Academy of the Arts, a school in Mansfield, as its sponsor to allow the sports academy to operate.
At the end of last year, the district partnered with GovDeals to auction off Rolling Hills Elementary School and Northridge School, which were no longer needed after the district completed two new pre-K-12 buildings for Northeastern and Kenton Ridge students.
Rolling Hills, located at 2613 Moorefield Road, is a 52,428-square-foot school building with 29.39 acres of land. It was originally constructed in 1974 with additions in 1997.
Northridge, located at 4445 Ridgewood Road E., is a 75,454-square-foot school building on 29.49 acres of land. The one-story school was originally constructed in 1961.
However, Superintendent John Kronour said in February the auction sales had to be voided because GovDeals failed to provide legal notification.
“Despite all the publicity we carried out around the auction, including sending out a press release, articles run in the Springfield News-Sun, and postings on our website, a paid advertisement was not placed in the legal notices section of the newspaper. As a result, everything we did became null and void,” he said at the time.
He said then the district planned to redo the legal sale process in the near future for Rolling Hills and the Northridge properties.
According to the lawsuit, Rolling Hills is scheduled to be demolished soon.
The sports academy previously sent a letter to the district and Clark County Prosecutor Dan Driscoll, asking for the demolition to be stopped and the building put up for sale, or for updates on the status of the demolition.
The case went in front of the Second District Court of Appeals last month, and the sports academy’s request for a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction were denied, with the court “declining to assert jurisdiction under the Ohio Constitution.”
According to the lawsuit, the sports academy intends to use the Moorefield Road building as its community school if it is allowed to purchase it. A copy of the contract between the charter school and Richland Academy of the Arts names the building as the intended location.
Northeastern declined to comment on the lawsuit, “as we are working through the process,” a statement read.
The sports academy could not be reached for additional comment.
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