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Two closed school properties may be under new ownership soon.

The Hawkins County Board of Education Thursday voted 6-0 to enter into negotiations with two churches regarding the purchase of the two school buildings and property. Board members Kathy Cradic and Hannah Winegar were absent.

The old North Fork School, which was closed in the 1960s, is set to be purchased by North Fork Baptist Church, located next door. Burem Missionary Baptist Church submitted a bid to purchase Keplar Elementary School, which was closed two years ago. These were the only bids on the properties.

“We’ve discussed (the purchases) informally with them,” Director of Schools Matt Hixson said. “They’ve had questions of maintenance with our department as they have looked at the properties.”

BOE Chairman Chris Christian called the offers by the churches two “really, really good proposals.”

“Let’s take a deep breath, make sure we’re doing things correctly in moving forward,” Christian said. “What’s another couple of weeks to make sure we’re doing everything we’re supposed to do so someone can’t come back and say, ‘You all didn’t do this right.’”

North Fork Baptist Church has utilized the North Fork School property in the past for special events, such as Vacation Bible School and other community events.

“Our main goal is to secure our parish,” Deacon/Trustee Eddie Mowell, of North Fork Baptist Church said. “Our food pantry is being run out of our parsonage. If we have to get another pastor and they need a home, we lose that. If we can acquire this old school building and property, that secures the pantry, care center and we’ll be able to continue to help the less fortunate. That’s what it’s all about. Through our church, I believe how we serve our fellow man is how we serve The Lord.

“We really enjoy serving and helping others. That’s what our goal is. We’re just a small church,” Mowell said.

“But you’re big in the community,” Christian said.

The church has funded improvements on the building, such as installing siding, placing gravel on the parking lot, providing water service to the building.

“It’s been beneficial for us,” Mowell said.

Jonathan Carver represented Burem Baptist Church in explaining his church’s goals for the Keplar Elementary School building.

“Our church has been interested in the Keplar School property for 25 years,” Carver said. “Our church has been a stationary church since 2000, but we were a branch off of Keplar Baptist Church (located across the road). We want to see a Keplar Community Center come together.”

Carver said some of the short-term goals of having the Keplar School property include a community food pantry, clothing exchange, student tutoring programs, a farmer’s market and small-group youth worship. The church would also like to perform renovations to the school gym for use for Upward Basketball League games to add to the Upward league in Church Hill.

“Through all of those things, we would love to see the community come together and allow expansion of the property,” Carver said. “We would like to have a daycare and a pre-K program. A long-term goal is to see a private Christian-based school in the community.

Burem Church has a community garden at its church property, in which a farmer’s market at the Keplar School property would be a logical next step.

The church also has a KOZ (Kids Outdoors Zone Group) program for boys who are fatherless in the community which would also make use of the Keplar property, Carver said.

“Whether they’re fatherless because their dads are in the military, just not part of their lives, the reasoning is not important,” Carver said. “Fatherless boys are far more likely to commit suicide. Fatherless boys are 85% unlikely to finish high school. Having a male mentor in these boys’ lives is important. There is a great need in our town for this.”

The program was started a year ago based off a program in Texas, Carver said.

“That plug is this: we’d like to work with the school board on that, in reaching to the schools to the fatherless young man,” Carver said. “We teach everything from how to change oil in a car, to fish, hunt and to treat women with courtesy and respect.”

The program is held one Saturday a month from 8 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at no charge to the child. The program meet at Burem Church, but would probably move to Keplar should the purchase be finalized.

As the meeting closed out, the board voted to issue a quitclaim deed to allow a new deed for a 15 feet by 126 feet long deed of property purchased in 1961 from the Hawkins County School System adjacent to the now Church Hill Middle School to replace a deed that was destroyed.