By Josh Mitchell/Corinth Today
An Alcorn School Board member’s motion to allow a Christian academy to use the former Rienzi Elementary School for classrooms died Monday night when it failed to receive a second, he said.
The school board member who made the motion to let Pathway Christian Academy use the building was Daniel Cooper.
Cooper made the motion in a closed session of the board and said no one seconded it.
Alcorn School Board Attorney Arch Bullard would only say that no action was taken in closed session and declined to say whether a motion was made.
Cooper said he made the motion to let Pathway Christian Academy use the former elementary school because he thought it would be good for the town of Rienzi.
Furthermore, Cooper said he thought it was a good idea to have the building put to use rather than it “sitting there” with nothing in it. He does not want to see the building get run down, he added.
The former elementary school was transferred to the town a couple of years ago after the school district closed the school.
Rienzi Mayor Walter Williams said he wanted the school district to modify an agreement between the town of Rienzi and the school district. The agreement states that the property cannot be used as a school and will be turned back over to the school district if it is used as a school.
Williams proposed changing the agreement to state that the building cannot be used as a charter school, but only for a Christian academy. The school board apparently did not see it that way.
Students from the Christian academy currently meet in a gym next to the school, and Williams said this is not the ideal situation. He said it would be better if they could use the school building so they could have their own classrooms.
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