Las Animas School Board discusses potential uses for old Bent County High School
Las Animas School Board discusses potential uses for old Bent County High School
A previous meeting about options for the old Bent County High School was discussed at the Las Animas School Board Meeting on Oct. 20.
Members of the Bent County Commission, Las Animas City Council, Las Animas Public Schools, State Historical Fund, Department of Local Affairs, the Governor’s Energy Office and Colorado Preservation Inc., met earlier to discuss options for the building with Lisa Trigilio from the Bent County Development Foundation.
“I really did not see a lot of potential uses,” Superintendent Scott Cuckow informed the school board.
Board member Bryan Simmons, who attended the meeting about the old high school, said his take was that the old high school will never be part of a community center.
The Colorado Historical Fund has expressed interest in preserving the Bent County High School, Simmons said.
“They’re really adamant about wanting to save the old building,” he said.
Feasiblility studies have been done to try and discover an end use for the building, but Simmons said the secret of a feasibility study is to study the feasibility of something.
“The secret of a feasibility study is what are you studying the feasibility of,” he said.
A previous School Board passed a resolution to give the community up to one year to come up with a plan for the building, or the process of demolition would start, the board learned.
Board member Jace Ratzlaff asked to see a copy of the resolution and Cuckow said he would provide one to each board member.
“We’re being a poor neighbor for allowing that thing to sit there,” Simmons said.



