The Greenwood School Board approved a lease proposal on Tuesday in which the former site of Dickerson Elementary School would be used as a Head Start facility.
Mississippi Action for Progress (MAP), which operates Head Start programs, has been negotiating with the school district on the lease. MAP's board has not voted on it yet.
The building, on Martin Luther King Drive, was vacated over the summer. Starting this fall, students who would have attended Dickerson now attend Threadgill Elementary. Seventh- and eighth-graders who would have attended Threadgill Junior High School now go to the new Greenwood Middle School.
Attorney Richard Oakes told the school board he had been in contact with the lawyer for MAP.
The former school site occupies 28 acres of land, but MAP would lease only the portion inside the fence. The group has expressed interest in adding another building between the two existing buildings, Oakes said.
MAP will be responsible for maintaining the site and securing insurance on it, Oakes said.
The lease also calls for a monument to Stone Street School on the property. Alumni of that school, which used to be on the site, have expressed interest in the monument.
Representatives from the group also will come to the school board with any changes they plan to make, he said.
Oakes was asked what would happen if MAP accepted the lease and then abandoned the Head Start project. He responded that, in case that happens, changes in the building will have to meet the specifications required for an elementary school.
Board member John Aldridge asked how the asbestos removal for the Dickerson building was progressing. James Mattox, assistant superintendent, said the deadline for completing the work is Nov. 6 but added that he didn't know when it would be done.
