The Niles Charter Township Board and the Brandywine Community Schools Board of Education just completed a trade of properties.

The land right across from the Township offices on Bell Road will go from the school district to the Township. For years that property was the home of Old Bell School. The school was destroyed by fire in the summer of 2009. In exchange, Brandywine will own Independence Park, which is the site of the softball field and practice football fields, on the Bell Road and 17th Street corner. So, Niles Township gets property right near their headquarters, and Brandywine expands its own property at the Middle/Senior High School.

This is a great example of two public bodies working together for the betterment of everyone. In order to accomplish the land swap, it took the school district time to gain title to the Old Bell property. This was a long time coming. The Old Bell property was donated to be used as a school in 1924, with conditions stating it could revert to the donor’s heirs.

Brandywine’s first superintendent, Mr. Norm Weinheimer, first sought legal help in getting full title to the property in 1959. Due to complications in getting legal signatures to agree to the district getting full title, that first attempt and several others over the years were unsuccessful. With determined effort by the present board and administration, and legal help, we were able to secure full title in 2013.

We are not certain what kind of changes will take place at our newly acquired property at the Middle/High School, nor do we know what the Bell Road property will eventually look like. What we do know is that it’s great when two governing boards can cooperate and potentially improve the community for everyone here.

John Jarpe is the superintendent of Brandywine Community Schools. He can be reached at (269) 684- 7150.