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KIRKSVILLE, MO. -- A vacant building on Jamison Street in Kirksville could be the first non-rental Head Start building in town.

The old Northeast Missouri Community Action Agency building is empty now that they've relocated to Elson Street.    

NMCAA plans to use federal funds to renovate the facility into a Head Start Center.  There are three centers in Kirksville but each is rented.
    
Officials say they don't know which program would move to the new location but it has room for three classrooms of 20.

“We're extremely excited about this.  This is an opportunity for us to have a Head Start Center that should better accommodate parents because it will be over near the school complex,” said NMCAA Executive Director Penny Miles.

Miles says it's also conveniently located next to the Adair County Health Department, the Adair County Family YMCA, and K-Life.
 
A concerned parent called us because they're worried kids won't be safe because the facility is right next door to Preferred Family Healthcare.

“All our children are never outside left alone, they're in fenced in areas of the program.  Everything's on a timeline and the doors are locked,” said Head Start Director Rebecca Rollins.

Rollins and Miles said the decision to move the Head Start to the Jamison Street location was voted on by the policy council and the NMCAA Board of Directors.

Members of the policy council are parents of Head Start students and are elected by parents.

The project is still in the planning stage but the first part of renovations is out for bids.