Fate uncertain for now-closed Sylvanite School

The closed Sylvanite School has been turned over to the McCormick School District, whose board will decide the fate of the one-room schoolhouse 17 miles west of Yaak.

A rummage sale to get rid of school items, books and electronics will be held from 9 a.m.-3 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 26, at Sylvanite School, located at the 12-mile marker on Yaak River Road.

“We’ve got lots of books and some office supplies and then everybody will bring household items,” said McCormick School District Clerk Peggy Harrell.

The McCormick School Board planned to meet this month to begin discussing what to do with the school, which was open for 110 years. The school closed nearly two years ago because it had no students.

The law allows schools to remain non-operational for three years. Once schools take on that status, they tend to close. During the third year without students, assets are assigned to a neighboring school district.

Nearby Troy and Yaak school districts were not interested, so McCormick stepped up to the plate, said McCormick School Board Chairman Truman Langton.

“There will be a lengthy discussion,” Langton said. “We’ve talked about renting it or selling.”

The school has struggled with enrollment since its final eighth-grader was promoted in May 2006. For the next school year, Sylvanite had three students, who later moved. Three more enrolled for the start of 2007-08, but then transferred and the school closed.

Because Sylvanite was a public school, it was open to students in kindergarten through eighth grade. Parents outside the district did not have to pay tuition to send students there but were responsible for transportation.