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Head Start eyes Whiteaker Elementary - The Register-Guard, Eugene, Oregon, USA Page 1 of 2 <br /> www.registerguard.com I ©The Register-Guard, Eugene,Oregon <br /> November 7, 2003 <br /> Head Start eyes Whiteaker Elementary <br /> By Anne Williams <br /> The Register-Guard <br /> The Eugene School District appears to have an eager buyer <br /> waiting in the wings for one of the half-dozen old schools it <br /> wants to unload. <br /> At a community meeting Thursday on the fate of Whiteaker <br /> Elementary School, David Piercy, board chairman of Head Start <br /> of Lane County, said the organization has its eye on the much- <br /> loved, 76-year-old brick schoolhouse. <br /> "We are very interested in thinking about acquiring the <br /> property somehow," Piercy told the crowd, whether it be <br /> through an outright purchase or a lease option. <br /> Faced with state funding cuts and sagging enrollment, the <br /> district closed both Whiteaker and Bailey Hill elementary <br /> schools in 2001, and Santa Clara Elementary the following <br /> year. Willard Elementary closed in 1999. <br /> While some neighbors ardently opposed the school's closure, <br /> members of the Whiteaker Community Council like the idea of <br /> selling to Head Start, a national education and social service <br /> program for low-income pre-schoolers and their families. It <br /> serves nearly 800 children in Lane County in scattered <br /> locations. <br /> "Head Start or a similar organization that emphasizes the <br /> education and social welfare of children and families, especially <br /> those that live near the school site, would be a perfect fit," <br /> community council President Majeska Seese-Green wrote in a <br /> letter distributed at the meeting. <br /> Seese-Green, a former Whiteaker parent and one of the most <br /> vocal opponents of the closure, said the council plans to take a <br /> formal position on the district's plans for the school, but that a <br /> vote to support seems likely. <br /> Whiteaker is one of seven schools the board deemed "surplus" <br /> after real estate consultant Hugh Prichard's report last year. He <br /> recommends that Whiteaker be sold on the open market with <br /> its public lands zoning intact, thus reducing the chances it <br /> would ever be developed for housing. A long-term lease that <br /> 4„, minimizes school district costs and risks is another viable <br /> option, his report says. <br /> http://www.registerguard.com/cgi-bin/printStory.py?name=c 1.cr.whiteaker.1 1 07&date=2002... 11/12/03 <br />