House on AUSD property on Deer Valley Road in Sand Creek area to be torn down
Used for storage, vandalized, Board declared it “obsolete”
By Allen D. Payton
The house owned by the Antioch Unified School District, located at 6600 Deer Valley Road south of Dozier-Libbey Medical High School and southeast of the Antioch Kaiser Medical Center, will be torn down after years of sitting vacant and being “terribly vandalized” according to AUSD Superintendent Stephanie Anello. The board voted to demolish it.
In a recent comment on Facebook, Cambria Dejesus wrote, “Rant… Demo to be done on the school property on Deer Valley Rd. A beautiful home built in the late 80’s or early 90’s, remodeled for use for the school board, which they no longer use, voted to be destroyed due to vandalism. It has permanent seating in the yard for at least 100 people, gazebos, and it’s an absolute shame that it set to demo. I lease property from AUSD and offered to lease it so it can remain to possibly introduce FFA or some agriculture program to the curriculum but was told the board already voted to demo. There is minimal damage to the home from vandalism but something that would stop if occupied. I think it’s a crying shame it’s going to be destroyed. Shouldn’t the money be spent on the students, some use planned for the property that will give Antioch’s students a place to get away from it all and perhaps save a few from taking the wrong path. Country heals. Rant over.”
Questions were sent to AUSD Superintendent Stephanie Anello asking, “is this true? If so, has the district been using the home? If so, how? If it’s not being used why hasn’t the district been renting it out to someone to create a revenue stream? What are the plans for the property and how many acres does it include?”
According to Anello, “The Board declared the home on the property as ‘obsolete’ at a Board Meeting, as the home has not been used or occupied in decades and has been terribly vandalized over the years. I am not aware of any money being used in the past to renovate the property as stated” in the comment. “To clarify, it has been used for storage, just not used for staff or students.”
“Right now, it is being leased for grazing and we have no immediate alternative plans,” she added. “Our plans will, of course, change depending on the development of the area.”
The property consists of 20.98 acres.
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