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Head Start eyes Whiteaker Elementary- The Register-Guard, Eugene, Oregon,USA Page 2 of 2 <br /> Head Start has long leased space at Whiteaker, and currently <br /> serves 80 children there, most of them from the neighborhood. <br /> Piercy, a retired assistant to the district superintendent, noted <br /> that another 34 children attend a Head Start program at <br /> Westmoreland, which will close at the end of this school year. <br /> The program needs space for those children, he said, so the <br /> school board's decision "is going to have a real impact on Head <br /> Start." <br /> While the Head Start board has yet to decide anything yet, <br /> Piercy said the agency is assessing its finances and analyzing <br /> the building to see if the plan makes sense. <br /> A couple of district programs are located at Whiteaker, along <br /> with four other agencies that lease space: Centro <br /> LatinoAmericano, which runs medical outreach and parent <br /> training programs there; the Early Education Program, which <br /> serves preschoolers with developmental delays; and Emerald <br /> Valley School, a private alternative school that serves mainly <br /> kids who have been home- schooled. <br /> Piercy doubts Head Start would need the whole school, and <br /> guessed there might be three or four classrooms available to <br /> rent. <br /> Several parents and staff from Emerald Valley said they worry <br /> what will happen to their school. Melinda Sellers, who has two <br /> children there, said she hoped that the buyer or the district, in <br /> whatever purchase or lease agreement it may eventually <br /> reach, would give priority to existing tenants. <br /> Several of the 30-some audience members underscored the <br /> school's importance in the community, home to many low- <br /> income and Latino families. Very few supported the notion of <br /> housing on the site, and many said they want to ensure the <br /> building remains available to the community. <br /> Alison Halderman, who has lived off and on in the <br /> neighborhood since childhood, recently returned to Eugene. <br /> "I'm ready to settle down and it would be a shame to lose what <br /> I came home for," she said. <br /> Piercy, a Whiteaker neighbor himself, said community use <br /> would be a "natural fit" should Head Start acquire the building. <br /> a <br /> L <br /> http://www.registerguard.com/cgi-bin/printStory.py?name=c 1.cr.whiteaker.1107&date=2001.. 11/12/03 <br />