Officials disagree over purpose of vacant Jackson school during tour

JACKSON, Tenn. – A tour of Malesus Elementary School on Thursday was initially taken to see if the vacant building could be turned into something new, but it turned into a different kind of trip.

The tour turned into an unexpected disagreement between school board members and county commissioners. County Commissioner Jimmy Arnold proposed opening the building to expand into a Pre-K center.

Superintendent Eric Jones says if the vacant school is re-opened, then the building would have to be brought up to code.

“There are some significant work that has to be done in order to get it ready for children to occupy it,” said Jones. “If the board chooses to open it back up, we will need to have TLM involved, but they would really need to look at the HVAC for the entire school and the roofing.”

No final decisions were made Thursday.

The entire school board will vote on the issue of whether to re-open Malesus School in their next collective meeting on March 14.