Ancient-arts academy wanted W.R. Frose School

A proposal that would have seen Fawcett's vacant W.R. Frose School converted into an ancient-arts academy has been rejected, leaving an Edmonton-based, not-for-profit organization seeking answers.

At Pembina Hills Public Schools' March 2 meeting, trustees opted to take steps to demolish the shuttered school after hearing a report from director of facilities and transportation Tracy Tyreman - in doing so they rejected the only proposal they had received.

All Saints Medieval Fellowship Rev. Dan MacMullin confirmed last week that it was his proposal, on behalf of the St. Kardec Ecclesiastical Foundation, that was rejected.

The 54-page proposal obtained by the News (download the document here) entitled W.R. Frose Sustain Centre & Ancient Arts Academy outlines their vision for the 10.91 acre site, which culminates in a living-history village. Income sources listed include government grants, personal investments, rental of facilities, donations and fundraisers.

'We were going to use that school to set up an ancient-arts academy to teach unemployed oilfield workers a brand new skill of green building, timbre framing, blacksmithing and numerous other things," MacMullin explained.

'It cost us a lot of money ... we prepared a professional proposal for the school board and we jumped all their hoops, did everything they wanted us to do."

MacMullin figured that had a done deal, calling their takeover of the former school 'a fait accompli."

'We would have used hundreds of thousands of dollars of our own money to repair the school and turn it into something that Alberta can be proud of. It would literally be the first school of its kind in Canada," he said.

Pembina Hills chair Jennifer Tuininga wouldn't confirm the proposal they received was from MacMullin, but said they couldn't, in good faith, turn over the building in its current condition.

W.R. Frose School has sat vacant since the start of the 2014 school year when students from Fawcett and Jarvie School were moved to the new Pembina North Community School in Dapp.

In 2015 Pembina Hills advertised for a non-profit organization to take over both closed schools.

In December, trustees voted unanimously to sell the vacant Jarvie School building for $1 to the Jarvie Community Council to convert it into a community centre.

'The building is in a bad state of disrepair and because it poses a significant risk to health and safety, we decided we weren't going to hand it over to a third party," Tuininga said.

According to Tyreman's report, the building's condition deteriorated badly over the winter - a section of the roof has collapsed and they've found black mold. MacMullin says he's a 30-year veteran of the construction industry and refuted the report.

He countered that the reported damage is exaggerated and said he and partner Peter Zuurdeeg, an engineer, found no signs of structural damage.

'There is nothing wrong with the school. I checked the boiler, I checked the furnace and it was actually us that pumped all the plumbing pipes full of anti-freeze so none of the pipes or ceramics broke," he said.

'We also know about the roofs and we were going to solve that problem with living roofs. (PHPS) had some estimate of $100,000 to tar and gravel again. For $20,000 we could fix this entire school and put living roofs up there. There is no collapsing roof, that is a complete and utter fabrication. There is no structural damage at that school. Period."

Tuininga said by going through with the request for proposals process, they are simply following directives.

'The first step in disposing of the building is we invited the public to propose alternate uses for the space," she said.

'Since that initial call for expressions of interest our facilities department had re-inspected the building and advised us of the need of repairs and health and safety risks."

School namesake Werner Frose was contacted by the Westlock News, but declined comment.