LAURINBURG — During its Monday meeting, the Scotland County Board of Commissioners discussed the future of the former I. Ellis Johnson Elementary School building.
“In essence,” said Commissioner Darrel “BJ” Gibson Jr., “we decided to ask the school board to refrain from disposal of the school building and decided as a board we would coordinate the efforts to organize community and governmental entities for a collaborative effort of support, resources and assets to repurpose the IEJ property.”
Gibson said these efforts are to provide support for the people of the community.
“Our aim is to help raise the economic, educational and social levels of the low to moderate-income families of Scotland County,” said Gibson. “We intend to do this by offering various programs that provide a holistic approach to serving the family.”
Gibson, along with Commissioners Tim Ivey and John Alford, has been charged to lead the effort.
“We are reaching out to other elected bodies such as the Laurinburg City Council, Board of Education, Rep. Garland Pierce and Sen. Tom McInnis to see if they have interest in partnering financially to make this happen,” said Gibson. “Thereafter, we will reach out to others to include but not limited to Richmond Community College, St. Andrews, Scotland Health Foundation and others. It is impossible to make this vision realized without complete partnership.”
The three commissioners, according to Gibson, recognize there are needs within the confines of that particular community and see this as an opportune time to repurpose this facility to uplift the citizens of that particular area.
“We will, in the near future, also look to develop a grassroots community group to join forces as we develop the vision for the building,” said Gibson. “This building is a landmark of our community and we see an opportunity for us to utilize this building to continue lifting the residents of our community.”
Many options have been discussed as to what the building can be used for, but Gibson said this will be determined once the group sits down with other stakeholders.
“We anticipate county services being provided in the building, like DSS, Health Department and others,” said Gibson. “Hopefully the city and schools can find abilities to offer the same. We hope our Sheriff and Laurinburg Police Chief will find benefit by providing police to set up a satellite there to build their relationships within the community as well.
“The conversation is fluid but we want to join forces with others in the community to preserve the history of this building and repurpose the people’s building for the people,” added Gibson.
JJ Melton can be reached at [email protected]. To support the Laurinburg Exchange, subscribe here: https://laurinburgexch.wpenginepowered.com/subscribe.
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