Tucson Region

Charity will be new occupant of Keen School building

The building that housed the base-area Keen Elementary School will soon be home to a charity, TUSD governing board members voted Wednesday night. The building, at 3538 E. Ellington Place, will be leased to World Care, a Tucson-based charitable organization that among other things provides blankets to the homeless and computers and school supplies to needy students. The charity will lease the building for $1 a year but pay all utilities and insurance costs, about $250,000, said president and founder Lisa Hopper. That's a saving for the Tucson Unified School District. Keen Elementary was shut down by the board last summer out of concern that the flight path of Davis-Monthan Air Force Base presented unsafe conditions for students. The decision caused a community uproar. "This is very good match for the neighborhood," said TUSD Board President Bruce Burke. "This is a very happy ending to a very difficult period for the neighborhood." Judy Burns was the only member to vote against leasing to World Care, since she disagreed with the original decision to close the school. The building will be used mostly as administrative offices and as a storage and warehouse facility, Hopper said. World Care will move into the old school as soon as possible, she said.