By Maria Hickey, KWMU
St. Louis, MO. – Students at Cleveland High School will be moved to Pruitt Middle School next year, but it could be a temporary move.
The St. Louis School Board voted Tuesday night to remove the more than 600 students from the run-down building but also to maintain it.
Board member Bill Purdy sponsored the resolution, which passed 4-3.
"The board recognizes that we cannot allow it to just sit there and decay and not maintain the property and let it become subject to vandalism and destruction, so that if in time the building is needed again, and we hope it will be; that we know that it is protected," Purdy said.
Purdy says the district will also work with community organizations to find out the cost of repairing the building and raising private funds to do so.
John Chen with the group Alliance to Save Cleveland High says they were pleased with the board's decision.
"We see this as a major first step for the community to be involved with saving Cleveland and finding comprehensive, sustainable solutions down the road," Chen said.
Chen says the group hopes this will be a blueprint for dealing with run-down schools in the future.