Rankin Elementary School will reopen next week as a community center
For more than five years, Rankin Elementary School has sat empty, but now it’s transformed. In less than a week, it will officially reopen as a community center.
“This will create another common area for students to come, a little more intimate space where they can do homework, maybe have tutors and things of that nature. Plus books on the shelves, we will be adding more that are in boxes get those on the shelves,” said Brian Johnson with Woodland Hills School District.
Room by room Channel 11 got an inside look at the shuttered elementary school turned community center with even more space to grow.
“I actually met with a lady and she does skating rinks. She actually cried because she thought that this space was so amazing,” said Glenn Ford, the community center liaison.
Complete with full-time security, the center will be open to residents on weekdays from 3 to 9 p.m. with other opportunities outside those hours if needed.
“It allows kids to, one, get off the streets and have somewhere to go, and I can’t stress enough, a safe space around adults who love and care for them and want to do well. Those hours in this area have proven to be some deadly hours or hours where things go on with kids,” said Lee Davis, director of violence prevention at CURE.
It allows the kids to have supervision and instruction. Different community groups will call the center a home plus adult learning classes and the district’s social services resources.
The key reason behind the school district wanting to make this change is opportunity in the neighborhood, a place where residents may not have the means to travel and get this type of programming.
“Any school district in our area has empty elementary buildings that are eyesores, get vandalized, they become liabilities for the district. So I think we can develop a model here where we can create pockets of community resources where we can take our school districts programs to,” said Dr. Daniel Castagna, Woodland Hills superintendent.
The goal is to have this gym filled with community members and kids for the official ribbon cutting and opening at 6 p.m. on Oct. 12.
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