The Lenoir County Board of Commissioners has no interest in Sampson School property, bringing the building’s possession up for discussion during last week’s Board of Education meeting.
As a result, the Sampson School is now on the market.
Brent Williams, Lenoir County Schools executive director of operations, presented a recommendation for the board to declare Sampson a surplus and begin the bidding process.
A prominent Kinston native and Sampson product has been interested in the property since learning the alternative school was relocating and the building would, in turn, close.
Lin Dawson, a retired professional athlete and current minister who often visits the community, said he’s talked with Williams and has designed proposals for how he plans to use the school, which will be a community center if he wins the bid.
“We would love to have the Sampson school, (but it’s) not a do or die,” Dawson said in a phone interview Friday. “I’m only interested in the building in terms of running it as a nonprofit to benefit the residents that live in a one-mile radius.”
Dawson, who grew up in East Kinston, said Sampson was a positive link in the community because people knew they were safe on school grounds and the teachers made a lasting impact on his class.
“It was lifeline to us,” he said. “We knew if your future was going to be bright, it started at Sampson School.”
The closing process began with the Board of Education offering the property to the county commissioners. Vice Chairman Jackie Brown said giving it back to LCS was the best decision.
“If we took the property, we’d have to maintain it,” she said. “We would have to try to dispose of it.”
Although a previous projected cost to repair the entire facility was $581,426, Dawson said much of the school is still ready to use — such as the complete downstairs wing — and the property has potential.
“We believe that Sampson still has a lot of life left in her,” he said. “It would be a shame for her to just sit and decay and become another eye sore … in our community.”
Two of his former schools, Harvey and the Adkin Middle Schools, were shut down, funneling his 500-member class to Rochelle Middle School in the ninth grade.
After graduating from Kinston High School in 1977, he was awarded a football scholarship to N.C. State and was later drafted by the New England Patriots, playing in the NFL for 10 years. Since, Dawson has become versed in a number of arenas, including ministry, athletic departments and cooperate consulting, which is his current career.
“A lot of … experiences I’ve gained, I hope to bring back and implement them into Sampson,” said Dawson, who plans on various types of economic and education development to come from the future center.
If he acquires the property, he said it would take $750,000 to bring it to full life, and that it’d take a year to raise the money. He said in the first year, he can have 50 full-time employees working at least eight of the 25 programs.
Jessika Morgan can be reached at 252-559-1078 or at jessika.morgan@kinston.com. Follow her on Twitter @JessikaMorgan.