ROCKFORD — About five years after the idea of closing and tearing down Walker Elementary School first surfaced, the nearly 58,000-square-foot Churchill's Grove school has a date with the wrecking ball.

Well, not an exact date — but according to a seven-page agreement between the Rockford Park District and Rockford Public Schools approved by both parties — the building will be torn down by June 29.

If all goes as planned, the park district will take ownership of the land by July 27 and begin its conversion into a neighborhood park. The school's playground equipment will be left intact. Pavement will be removed.

Walker will be the first school the school district will demolish as part of its 10-year $280 million facilities plan. The park district approved its part of the deal tonight, and the Rockford School Board followed this evening with a 7-0 vote.

The school district will deed the land to the park district at no cost. The exchange is part of a multi-piece land swap. The park district is getting land from Walker, Thompson, White Swan and New Milford schools, and the school district is getting 20 acres south of Harrison Avenue between Mulford and Perryville roads to build a new elementary school.

Eight schools will be closed as part of the facilities plan, and school district leaders are doing what they promised they'd do with their unwanted schools: tear them down so they don't fall into the wrong hands, fall into disrepair and become neighborhood eyesores.

In recent months, several community members — including historic preservationist and architect Gary Anderson — pleaded for more time to explore redevelopment, but school district leaders stuck with the original plan, saying they tried the redevelopment route and there were no takers.

The 106-year-old school closed in 2016. Since then, there have been dozens of meetings to discuss the fate of the building, which is surrounded by homes on Rockford's near west side. About 70 percent of the school's neighbors would like to see a park. The rest were hoping the building could be brought back to life as loft housing, office and studio space or a community center.

Park District officials said they will assess the playground equipment that’s being left behind and hold a neighborhood meeting in the coming year to gather input from neighbors.

The school district expects to spend about $500,000 to demolish Walker.

Rockford School Board Member David Seigel suggested that the district host an open house at the school before the building is torn down.

"It would be an opportunity to bring people together over something that some people didn't want to see happen," he said.

Tuesday's vote came after a two-week delay. School board members were poised to approve the agreement last month but asked that more specific dates be added to the transfer agreement.

"The original agreement didn't have a specific date for the transfer of property," said Dan Jacobson, park district superintendent of operations. "The deadline was within a year of approval of the previous draft agreement, so this definitely moves their deadline up."

Staff writer Kayli Plotner contributed to this report.

Corina Curry: 815-987-1371; ccurry@rrstar.com; @corinacurry