Closed junior high school faces new life with KSU

No price for the old junior high school was discussed.
By D.A. WILKINSON
VINDICATOR SALEM BUREAU
SALEM -- Salem closed its junior high school at the end of the 2005-2006 school year, and a sign outside thanked people for the school's run.
But it appears the school is headed toward a new life.
The school board met in executive session for almost an hour Monday to consider, among other things, the sale of the school. The board had agreed at an earlier meeting to enter into negotiations to sell the building to Kent State University. No price was set.
School Superintendent Stephen Larcomb said after Monday's meeting that an agreement was a matter of "wrapping up the details."
A spokesperson for the Kent campus earlier Monday had declined to comment on the status of the negotiations or to comment on how KSU would use the building.
Board thanked
During Monday's school board meeting, Karen Carter of the Salem Preservation Society thanked the board for its support of the proposed sale and the involvement of the building in the arts.
Carter said later she was speaking in general terms about the proposal.
For several years, the school board had debated whether to repair the aging junior high school. When the district ran into financial difficulties in 2005, it decided to close the junior high and the Prospect School, an older elementary school.
Elementary students will go to three other schools, and the junior high students will attend the high school starting this fall.
Carter also asked the board to consider any efforts to preserve the Prospect School.
The preservation society earlier had considered turning the closed junior high into condominiums.
wilkinson@vindy.com