The Rowan-Salisbury Board of Education will discuss granting their current office building to a charter school organization at their Dec. 14 meeting.

The board will be meet in the Long Street Board Room at 110 S. Long St. in East Spencer at 3 p.m.

The board will hear a presentation from the Paul L. Dunbar Charter School organization, which hopes to open a charter school in East Spencer. The organization hopes to obtain the school system’s central office building on South Long Street after Rowan-Salisbury Schools moves its offices to the Wallace Educational Forum early next year.

“There is no school and there is no community center in East Spencer,” Paul L. Dunbar Charter School Board Secretary Nan Lund said.

East Spencer hasn’t had a school since the 1980s, Lund says, and its only community center burned down last year. Kenneth Muhammed El, board president of the charter organization, says that the charter organizations hopes to launch after school and pre-school programs in advance of a planned charter school. They hope that the building will serve not just children, but the community as well.

“Right now, there’s not really a place in East Spencer for people to rally to,” he said.

The charter organization hopes to create wraparound services for the community and provide a place to gather and seek help in addition to providing programs for children. Board Secretary Nan Lund says that the organization hopes to offer programs for parents and employment training programs for young adults.

“We see that building as being really the hub that could start to renew East Spencer,” Lund said.

Lund says that the group’s plan to acquire the building has received a lot of support from the larger Salisbury community, and they are anticipating several people to speak during the open comment section. Muhammed El will make a formal request for the building Monday. Lund says they plan to ask the board to grant the building free of charge or at minimal cost. They invite anyone who wants to offer support of the project to attend Monday’s meeting.

The board will also discuss:

• An estimate for the construction of a desk for the board at the Wallace Educational Forum will also be reviewed. At last month’s meeting, the board discussed purchasing a desk for the new school central office using leftover funds. Board members voted to hear an cost estimate before making a decision.
• November’s financial summary and budget resolution
• A second reading of gang-related activity, child abuse reports, and theft and trespassing policies.
• First readings of policies regarding reduction in force, family life education program, student surveys and community use of facilities.
• The proposed 2016-17 school calendar
• Bids for a school psychologist