District 2 Supervisor Orlando Trainer said the county should explore options to take over the two high school campuses abandoned after consolidation and find public uses for the two facilities.
Since the state-mandated merger of Starkville School District and Oktibbeha County School District, county high schoolers are bused into Starkville High School. East Oktibbeha County High School, located between Crawford and the Oktoc community, and Maben’s West Oktibbeha County High School sit unused.
A relationship of convenience, however, could bring activity back to both campuses
Since the Starkville-Oktibbeha Consolidated School District has no interest in maintaining the two schools, Trainer said a deal could easily be worked out that would allow the county to assume nominal leases and transform them for a myriad of uses.
“You could have community centers that house different programs, use them as voting centers or have something like the Boys and Girls Club there — the options are wide open,” he said. “The county may need to look at East for another satellite (road crew) shop. That would be ideal.
“These are too great of public assets to just sit there dormant,” Trainer added.
While no specific deal between the county and SOCSD is on the table, Trainer said hopefully his fellow board members will broach the idea in a future meeting.
Additionally, Trainer said, the county should also take a look at acquiring the property at which the old school bus depot is located off Louisville Street, near the Greensboro Center.
While pitching ideas, Trainer said that structure could be demolished and provide a new home for a 911 center, which then would free up space at the former County Education Building for continued school district usage.
The County Education Building was constructed with Hurricane Katrina relief funds and housed the OCSD’s former administration. After the consolidation mandate came from Jackson lawmakers, supervisors split the building between the new school district and the Oktibbeha County Emergency Management Agency.
The board previously authorized about $300,000 in new equipment purchases to retrofit the top floor for emergency management and 911 operations. The equipment is still on order and has not yet been installed.
SOCSD Superintendent Lewis Holloway said he is willing to work with supervisors on a possible deal, especially if it frees up the County Education Building for district usage.
“If nothing happens with (the two county high schools), they will fall into disrepair quickly,” he said.
SOCSD and East Mississippi Community College previously worked on a deal to establish a satellite campus West High School, but Holloway confirmed that possibility has fallen to the wayside.
“Right now, it’s just not going to happen,” Holloway said of the EMCC deal.
Carl Smith covers Starkville and Oktibbeha County for The Dispatch. Follow him on Twitter @StarkDispatch
You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 41 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.