CALUMET — When Calumet-Laurium-Keweenaw (CLK) Schools purchased the former Aspirus At Home building, at 311 Sixth Street, in the village in 2020, it was not with any intension of interfering with zoning, marijuana ordinances or buffer zones around school buildings. In fact, recreational or medical marijuana businesses within Calumet Village, or Calumet Township, had nothing to do with the school district purchasing the building that was, decades before, Pat Campioni’s grocery store.

Superintendent Christopher Davidson said if anything, it was an afterthought.

“I didn’t think of it at the time,” he said, “but then as conversations were going, the focus of our conversations was on our main campus and the proximity to certain buildings within the village limits, then I said, kind of like an ‘Oh! Geez, by the way: we just purchased this building — that may or may not factor into it.'”

The reason CLK Schools purchased the building, was to provide a permanent home for the school’s virtual programs.

With the overwhelming increase in online, virtual students, because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the new building will provide students a facility in which they can receive mentoring, tutoring, along with hands on learning activities to supplement their virtual learning.

“We shopped around for a long time for a space.” said Davidson. “We looked all over for something, and that was almost turn-key ready for what want to do. We had very little to do on it.”

Aspirus had done a lot of work to the building, he said, and when they vacated the property, it was in excellent condition.

“The marijuana ordinance had absolutely nothing to do with it,” said Davidson. “It was an afterthought.”

After the snow the snow has melted in the spring, the school will begin to install signage on the property, which will house the CLK Virtual Programs, Davidson said, but the name of the center itself will be the Campioni Learning Center.

“Because of the pandemic, the timing was absolutely essential to get a space our virtual program,” Davidson said, “so it had zero to do with marijuana ordinances. It was 100 percent for the education of our students.”