Edgewood Mayor Audrey Jaramillo recently weighed in on a current dispute regarding the old Edgewood Elementary School.
According to a Town of Edgewood press release from October of 2022, the Edgewood Town Commission took action to continue utilizing the old Edgewood Elementary campus site as a community center and pre-K facility by designating it as a historic landmark. The commission voted for this unanimously, and public commentators also supported this action in order to preserve the town’s heritage.
However, the Moriarty-Edgewood School District (MESD) representatives at the meeting disagreed with the historic landmark designation, as they want to demolish the building, an action that could cost $500,000 of taxpayer money.
Mayor Audrey Jaramillo
| AudreyJaramillo.com
Jaramillo believes the building is still usable, and Edgewood has offered to buy the property from MESD. Jaramillo also noted that the MESD is currently housed in a repurposed abandoned school building. She criticized MESD's proposal to demolish the building instead of preserving it.
"MESD's lack of cooperation and refusal to represent the public is causing a drain on time, energy and resources while denying taxpayers and children the use of the building," Jaramillo told the New Mexico Sun.
According to Jaramillo, the officials have proposed many uses for the building, including use as a community center and pre-K, sports, community events and voting center. The building could also serve as an emergency operations center, small business incubator and classrooms for higher-education classes.
The structure also has historical value. The elementary school is Edgewood's oldest standing school building and was once thought of as a hub of the community. The school became one of the best-performing schools in New Mexico.
"We want to preserve the culture," Jaramillo said. "EES campus was our school, then community center, and became integral for connections for people, so there is historical significance and community cultural significance (amongst) generations."
According to Jaramillo, MESD has stated that it wants to demolish this building to provide a progressive education facility in the place of the south building and has brought up the costs of maintenance, but she believes that the district could still build on the land while leaving the community center intact. She adds that the district could also lease some of the land from the New Mexico State Land Office.
Edgewood has offered MESD $400,000 for the purchase or lease of an alternative site to build its new facility, but MESD has refused the offer without providing an explanation.
"MESD's decisions to date are wasteful and not logical, nor in the best interest of taxpayers and children," Jaramillo said. "It is not logical to destroy a useful community center for the Edgewood people and surrounding area."
Jaramillo points out that the MESD is currently located at Mountainview Elementary (MTV), a repurposed abandoned school building.
"Rather than destroy Mountainview Elementary, MESD is utilizing that school," Jaramillo said. "We want the same here with EES. Part of MESD's administrative operations are in the repurposed Mountainview Elementary School, along with a pre-K. EES was also repurposed and used for a pre-K and community center and town hall. It should not be destroyed.
"We want to do the will of the people we represent, save taxpayer dollars, continue the use for the community and overall have a win-win situation through intergovernmental cooperation. We want to prevent waste and destruction of the Edgewood community center taxpayer-funded building and preserve it as a much-needed community center for the Edgewood people and surrounding area -- as promised by MESD."
The Moriarty-Edgewood School District consists of three elementary schools, two middle schools and one high school. It serves the communities of Moriarty and Edgewood, as well as much of the Estancia Valley.
Jaramillo has worked for federal, state and local governments, nonprofits and commercial entities for 20 years. She was previously a board member of the Moriarty-Edgewood School District.