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Valley View Superintendent Andrea Cook has requested a “retraction” to the original statement in this story about the Valley View Junior High Site Committee. Scroll down for the updated content.
After Farmersville Mayor Nick Lamb visited the January Valley View Board of Education meeting to share proposals on the sale of the school land, Board President Tim Rudd used an agenda item in the February meeting to respond.
For information on the January meeting, see: School Demolition Slated for March
In January, Lamb told the Farmersville Village Council that the appraisals Farmersville has received for the school land are in the range of $100,000-140,000, which is lower than the estimated $275,000 he said the school may want for the property. The Board of Education ended its January meeting in executive session “to consider sale of property,” according to its agenda.
BOE Responds
The February Board of Education meeting included agenda item 7E. Board discussion regarding Farmersville and Germantown buildings.
Superintendent Andrea Cook kicked off the agenda item, “So this is a follow-up to our last board meeting, whereby Mr. Lamb spoke to us regarding the land that the former junior high school sits on and the interest from the Farmersville folks to obtain that land for the process of developing housing.”
Board president Tim Rudd appeared to address the discrepancy in land estimates, saying, "So my thoughts are that we have an obligation to the people of all of the community, all of the Valley View community, to maximize the value to the district for that piece of property. I don't think that it would be right to have the rest of the Valley View community subsidize taking a haircut on a deal for the people of Farmersville."
I don't think that it would be right to have the rest of the Valley View community subsidize taking a haircut on a deal for the people of Farmersville.
“At the same time,” Rudd continued, “I think that I would like to see the Village of Farmersville have it because I think they're the highest and most incentivized people to make sure that it gets handled right in the best interest of everybody else. And if they are able to develop it the way that I hope that they would develop it, that would, I would think, generate some tax revenue for the district in the future.”
In a statement to the TWIN CREEK TIMES on Feb. 23, Superintendent Cook said, “The school district is engaging in abatement and demolition of the building in Farmersville. We are able to do this as part of a 75/25 grant. Once that has been completed, we intend to get an updated commercial appraisal of the land. Such an appraisal was completed back in 2022, however, property values in Farmersville have increased 50% in that time period.”
Zoning Question
Lamb noted in his remarks to the School Board in January that the Village had received appraisals from developers for the land value based on the site’s zoning for low-density residential. This zoning dates back decades, he said.
In the February Board meeting, Rudd took issue with the land’s zoning, "One issue that I think is significant to maximize the value and to attract the most people would probably take some adjustment of the zoning restrictions. I would like to think that the Village of Farmersville would not use that as a negotiating factor and refuse to do it unless we sell to them," Rudd said.
I would like to think that the Village of Farmersville would not use that [zoning] as a negotiating factor and refuse to do it unless we sell to them.
No other Board members participated in the discussion during the February meeting. To view the statements, watch the Board of Education video (starts at 37:24).
"It is important for our district to have an accurate, timely appraisal of the land,” Cook said in her Feb. 23 statement, “in an effort to have fiscal transparency to all of our municipalities who have contributed via tax dollars to our school district. Once the appraisal has been completed, we will have a better idea of what the land is truly valued, and be able to make decisions on next steps.”
Future Uncertainty
Reached for comment, Mayor Nick Lamb politely refused to make a statement for this story.
Feb. 27, 2026. Valley View Superintendent Andrea Cook has requested a “retraction” to the statement below about the Valley View Junior High Site Committee.
The Superintendent wants to make it clear that the decision to dissolve the committee was made by members Mayor Nick Lamb and Jon Schade. (Schade retired as Jackson Township Police Chief.)
From a public records request, the TWIN CREEK TIMES has accessed the full message from Mayor Lamb to the committee, where he lays out his decision to disband.
In a September 29, 2025 email to the Superintendent, Director of Operations Erik Depew, Treasurer Valorie Hill and board members Tyson Dillon and Stephanie Smith, Nick Lamb wrote: “Instead, we find ourselves sitting on a committee where decisions are made elsewhere and announced to the public while Jon and I are left in the dark. That is not partnership. That reduces us to bystanders.”
The TWIN CREEK TIMES did not intend to create a “materially false public understanding of the actions taken by the Board of Education and its legal counsel.”
Mayor Lamb’s full message to the committee will be featured in the March 4 issue of the TWIN CREEK TIMES.
Original statement in this story:
He did say in the January Village Council meeting that a working committee with the school to discuss the land had been dissolved after board members were advised by legal counsel not to speak about it.
Beyond her statement, Superintendent Andrea Cook did not respond to questions about the school’s zoning requirements for the sale of the land, or if the agenda item was designed to communicate with the Village.
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