Video: Oktibbeha County Looking to Utilize East and West School Buildings

OKTIBBEHA COUNTY, Miss. (WCBI) — East and West Oktibbeha have been consolidated for an entire school year, but their old homes are still hanging around.

“These buildings have a lot of history. They were educational learning centers and they still have a lot of functional life left within them,” says Board of Supervisors President Orlando Trainer.

He says there are lots of opportunities left in these old buildings, and says transforming them will probably be a partnerships between different organizations and cities.

” You’d be surprised how the community will grow and thrive around something that has some lifeline and something that has some activity in in. I think it will be nothing but positive things,” says Trainer.

For now options to bring these buildings back to life are wide open.

“Community based programs, having the facility available for community use, voting centers, training centers, boys and girls club, all other recreational type things that can be, two gyms that are functional, and relativity pretty good facilities,” says Trainer.

Those options won’t be tied down till the board approves moving forward.

“If the board is favorable about getting on board with it, we can sit down ad look at some kind of lease or perhaps agreement so that we can actually remove the responsibly away from the school and just put it underneath the responsibly of the supervisors,” says Trainer.

Their next meeting is June 6th.

A few possible partners for the projects have already been talked to, that includes the city of Maben, and the East Oktibbeha Education Association.