After school closes, nonprofit group to move in
By Bobby Bryant
Editor
editor@newsandpress.net
A Darlington County nonprofit agency will take over a Hartsville elementary school’s building after the students move to a new school opening this fall.
The Darlington County Community Action Agency will be given the deed to Washington Street Elementary School for the token fee of $1 after the school is no longer in use, the county school board decided during its March 9 meeting.
“I’m really happy they made the decision last night,” the group’s executive director, Jacquelyn Slayton, said after the vote. “We had been approaching the school district about this for the past couple of years.”
The Community Action Agency, now based at 904 S. 4th St. in Hartsville but also operating at two other locations, plans to consolidate its services at the soon-to-be-vacant elementary school.
The group’s Head Start program aids preschool children and their families. Slayton said 200 children are served by that program. Its Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program helps families with energy costs. Its Emergency Solution Grants help the homeless. The agency also has a Youth Leadership program.
The Community Action Agency offered the school district a detailed plan for how it would use the elementary-school building for its programs, Slayton said.
The school board voted 7-1 to transfer the property to the Community Action Agency. Board member Connell Delaine cast the dissenting vote.
