Trustees will ask county rec department to repair school at Academy Street site
By SCOTT POWELL Ledger Staff Writer spowell@gaffneyledger.com

School trustees will ask the Cherokee County Recreation Department to repair the Blacksburg Academy Street school.

The county recreation department is leasing the property through October of 2010, using it primarily as a sports fields and recreation center site. The property has fallen into disrepair since the district stopped using it for storage in the late 1980s, prompting school trustees to demand it get more attention.

Under the terms of the lease, superintendent Dr. Bill James said, the recreation department is required to keep the Blacksburg Academy Street property in good condition.

"The ball field is in good shape," James said. "The rest of the property has been allowed to fall into disrepair over the years. We are real concerned somebody might get hurt on the property."

Blacksburg Academy Street opened in 1956 as an elementary school for black students.

After schools were integrated in 1968, the Academy Street School became an annex to Blacksburg Elementary. The annex housed sixth grade classes for several years in the 1970s and then became a kindergarten school until Blacksburg Primary opened in 1985. It was later used just as a district storage area.

Blacksburg school trustees Donnie Lee Smith and Barry Bailey expressed their support for going further than just repairing the Blacksburg Academy Street building. Both school trustees said they would like to see the building demolished.

School trustees will first ask the county recreation department to clean up the Blacksburg Academy Street property.

The district will then look into taking further action at the site. Those options could include demolishing the school building or possibly selling the property.