The Gloucester County School Board is asking the community how it would like to see the T.C. Walker School campus utilized now that it has closed the K-5 elementary program that operated there.

"The campus offers a multi-use consideration," school division superintendent Ben Kiser said of the 64,000 square foot facility that includes a gymnasium and auditorium.

Kiser said school officials will accept ideas from the public through July 6. "The question is, what would you like to see the school board put in the T.C. Walker building? It has to be a relocation with no cost to the board," Kiser said. Those with suggestions can visit the school division website for submission information.

The full list of suggestions will be vetted by the board and staffers, who will compile a short list of possibilities for the board to consider during its Aug. 14 meeting.

One potential occupant for the building is the school division administration and related staff, which now occupy 16,000 square feet of office space in County Office Building 2. County supervisors approved a resolution June 5 recommending the school board relocate its administrative offices.

County administrator Brenda Garton formally presented the resolution to the school board Tuesday. Garton said county supervisors respected the school board’s right and duty to makes its own decisions about its facilities and their use and were only recommending that schools officials consider the move.

"There’s been discussion for quite a while of the county taking over that space and putting the school board somewhere else," Garton said. School staffers have occupied the county space rent free since 2001 when their former offices in the old Botetourt High School were demolished. Garton said the county would now like to relocate its staffers working in the deteriorating County Building 3 into the school administration offices.

Previously, the school board had planned to convert Page Middle School into a school division administration center and had paid for preliminary design work for the change. That project was to occur following the construction of a new middle school.

Last year, the county’s capital improvement advisory committee recommended borrowing $25.9 million to renovate Page instead and providing $2.25 million to add school administration office space at the site to free County Building 2 space.

That plan was derailed when a tornado destroyed about a third of Page and damaged the remaining structure. Planning for a new middle school on school board property along T.C. Walker Road is now underway, with its opening expected in December 2014. The school board presently has $26 million available for that project.

The board did not take action on the request to relocate its staff. "Whatever we do, it can’t cost us any more money," Kiser said. "If we move administration, it will require a cost for retrofitting that’s not in my budget. We’re going to have to come back to the county and say we’re going to need some help." While a decision on the Walker building use is pending, Kiser said the school division will continue to maintain the building and its campus.

In a related matter, assistant superintendent John Hutchinson reported that work to demolish what remains of Page is underway, although much of it is out of sight from passersby. He said the effort to remove hazardous materials from inside the building began May 22 and is continuing. Increased activity at the site will likely be observed next week, he said, and the expected completion date is still Aug. 1.