[12/23/03]If public schools here return to a neighborhood plan for elementaries, city officials say they have the perfect spot.

North Ward Alderman Gertrude Young, a licensed Realtor, said the best place for a new elementary inside the city is the former Carr Central school property on Cherry Street.

Young said the city is willing to discuss possibilities at that site, but could not say exactly how that might work.

“I would love to have neighborhood schools, but you’ve got to have the land to build. I think (Carr Central) would be the ideal place,” Young said.

James Price, who has been superintendent of the Vicksburg Warren School District since July, sought and won a 3-2 vote last week to continue researching a shift to neighborhood school zones. The goal is to let children attend classes closer to home, Price said.

“I’m happy to hear the city administration is supportive of the city school concept,” Price said. “This is a bit of good news. After the split vote last Thursday night, it was disconcerting to realize some members of the board did not feel it was appropriate for me to ask the community, the teachers, parents, businesses and taxpayers what they felt would best serve our children.”

Trustees Betty Tolliver and Zelmarine Murphy voted against allowing Price even to continue exploring the idea.

In the informal plan, a school would be added inside Vicksburg to supplement Bowmar, the only elementary now operating inside the city limits.

Price would not disclose sites the school district is considering for the proposed city school, but he did not say the city’s offer would be out of the question.

“At this point, I wouldn’t rule out anything that would meet community and district needs,” he said.

Murphy was a board member when the public schools moved away from attendance zones to open admissions at elementaries with racial balances controlled administratively. Part of that was construction of north and south mega-elementaries that opened in 1999 and serve all the district’s fifth- and sixth-graders. There are two K-4 feeder schools in each half of the county. That year, school officials closed all but one elementary inside the municipal limits.

Mayor Laurence Leyens said neighborhood schools are the cornerstones in many communities and that he will support a plan to donate Carr Central to the school district. Leyens also said that people who grow up in communities with local schools feel more a part of that community.

“It adds strength to individual neighborhoods and adds to the fabric of the community,” Leyens said.

South Ward Alderman Sid Beauman said it’s something he also supports.

“I really wish it was were every student could walk to school, but I don’t think we’ll ever see that again in our lifetime,” Beauman said.

The Carr building, which was the city’s white high school for generations, was also used as a junior high and middle school. It has been vacant since 1980 and would require extensive work to be occupied again. When it closed, the deed did not stay with public schools, but reverted to the City of Vicksburg. Most likely, the 79-year-old structure would be demolished for new construction, Beauman said.

In 1994, the building was slated for demolition, but got a reprieve when declared a protected state historical property, meaning that any work there would require state approval. The structure also contains asbestos.

“That property has got some problems, but it’s nothing that can’t be worked out,” Beauman said.

Local businessman Robert Rosenthal bought the property from the city for $105,000 in 2000 with plans to convert it into an assisted-living facility for the elderly.

Under terms of that deal, Rosenthal had until December 2001 to begin work or the city could take the property back for $45,000. City officials have been reluctant to do that because of the amount of work needed, but say they are willing to if a plan can be worked out with the school district.

The building is on 11 acres and two adjacent properties are for sale. Young said there would be plenty of room there to build a new school if the district goes that way.

For the city, it would solve the long-time problems with Carr Central while making use of vacant land and putting another elementary school inside the city.

Vicksburg High School and both junior high schools are also inside the city. Private elementary schools in Vicksburg include St. Francis Xavier, All Saints’ Episcopal, Children’s House Montessori and Porters Chapel Academy.

No timetable was set for the study. Any changes would require federal approval.