County vexed on what to do with Quay School

A constituent voicing concerns during a Quay County Commission meeting last week revived a longstanding issue: What to do about the historic Quay School?

During the public comment portion of Thursday's meeting, Benton Greer said the long-vacant building owned by the county needed "immediate" attention.

He said a fence was down, allowing cattle to roam about the grounds. He said one back window also needed to be boarded up.

After the meeting, Greer said he held an interest in the site. Not only does he live part-time in the area 15 miles south of Tucumcari, but his grandmother also was a teacher at the school.

County manager Daniel Zamora pledged to send maintenance workers to the site to address the fence and window.

But he acknowledged other maintenance issues at Quay School, including stucco that has flaked off on one side of the building.

Quay County has been a reluctant landlord of the school for more than 20 years.

Quay School remains one of the last school buildings from the homesteading era in the early 20th century, when the county had more than 80 school districts.

According to the "Quay County, New Mexico, 1903-1985" history book, the school opened in 1929.

Due to declining enrollment, Quay School's last graduating class was in 1941, though the building continued to be used for elementary students. Middle-school and high school students funneled into the Forrest and Tucumcari school districts.

The school closed in 1955, and it was deeded to the Quay Community Center two years later so it could be used for reunions, local clubs and even church services.

The Quay Community Center deeded the schoolhouse to the county in 2001 so it could obtain grants to make needed repairs.

According to a 2004 story in the Quay County Sun, then-county manager Paula Chacon (now Tucumcari's city manager) landed a $109,000 grant for the project.

However, because Quay School was on the New Mexico's historical register, improvements could be done only in the style of its historical significance. That made the repairs more expensive and time-consuming.

Jeffrey Lewalling, a county commissioner at the time, said Quay residents became frustrated by the project's costs and delays.

"We just wanted to help," he said, "and things just got more and more complicated."

The county tried to deed back the building to the Quay Community Center about 10 years ago. State officials nixed that.

Selling the building would require an appraisal and pricing it at market value - constraints set up by the state's anti-donation clause.

Zamora wondered aloud whether Quay School could be deeded back to the nonprofit. New Mexico Secretary of State records, however, indicate the Quay Community Center's status has been revoked.

Zamora said another option would be for Quay to incorporate as a village. That would allow the county to transfer the building to another municipality.

However, the already-sparse population of Quay has ebbed away over the years. The U.S. Census has lists no population for the area. Quay itself has few buildings left except for a firehouse and several residences.

Making matters worse, a suspicious fire in 2021 destroyed a century-old residence that once served as the village's post office, gas station and store.

County commissioner Jerri Rush said later in the meeting that perhaps the schoolhouse deed to the county contained a reversion clause, where the community center could get back the schoolhouse under certain conditions.

However, a check of property documents at the assessor's office showed no such clause.

"How do we fix it?" Rush said. "How do we make it right?"