By Keith Lawrence

Owensboro Public Schools took the first step Thursday to sell the old Seven Hills Elementary School at 2401 McConnell Ave. to Audubon Area Community Services for its Head Start program.

Superintendent Nick Brake said Audubon Area is applying for a federal grant for the proposed expansion and should know by January if it will receive the money.

The Owensboro Board of Education voted Thursday to declare the building, which now houses its Gateway Academy, as surplus property and begin negotiations with Audubon Area.

Brake said if the sale goes through, it includes a provision for OPS' Gateway Academy to remain in the building.

"The building is larger than we need for 50 to 70 students," he said.

Brake said there are already other school districts in Kentucky with preschoolers and alternative school students sharing a building.

And they have had success with the plan, he said.

If the deal goes through, Brake said, the school system would continue to offer its preschool program at Hager Preschool, 1701 W. Seventh St.

Students on the city's west side would still go there.

Those on the east side of town would attend the Audubon Area Head Start program at Seven Hills, Brake said.

He estimated that 200 to 250 students would be at each location.

Both centers would offer all-day preschool -- something that city schools have been hoping to offer for years.

"Elevating preschool to an all-day program has been a dream for a long time," Brake said. "It's a long-standing goal."

He said the school system would get the Seven Hills property, which includes 15 to 20 acres, appraised.

And the board would sell the property at that price -- if it decides to sell.

The board has only agreed to begin negotiations so far.

The Seven Hills building opened as an elementary school in 1957. When the elementary school closed in 2004, the alternative school moved there from the old Longfellow School building a year later.

Brake said one of the big concerns statewide is that preschool program money was cut in Frankfort earlier this year.

OPS lost $200,000 for the program, he said.

Because of that, Brake said, "We're looking for a partnership with Head Start."

Last August, the city schools created an Early Learning Academy at Estes Elementary School -- integrating 4-year-old preschool students with 5-year-old kindergarten students and targeting at-risk students.

Now, it's considering opening a second Early Learning Academy at Newton Parrish Elementary School when an expansion of that school is completed in a couple of years.

The Estes model has 20 preschoolers and 20 kindergartners in a "play-based inquiry" program.

In other business, Brake said 95 to 96 percent of the students who attended the school system's year-old Owensboro Innovation Academy last year are returning in August.

And he said more than 100 students are expected for the new freshman class this fall.