"Charlottesville's City Council is putting aside plans to market the Jefferson School to private developers, Mayor Blake Caravati and Councilor Maurice Cox announced Wednesday, citing growing community concern about the historic building's future.

The decision to delay action on the school, which Caravati and Cox said was made without a formal vote over the course of closed and open meetings in the last month and a half, will make room for the city to develop a 'community involvement action plan' for examining the school's fate, Caravati said.

The council's most recent discussion of the building, one of the last remnants of the historically black Vinegar Hill neighborhood, appears to have been Tuesday night at a closed meeting. Virginia law allows city councils to close discussions to the public that relate to the disposition of public property.

The council avoided a formal vote, Caravati said, because votes were prohibited in closed meetings.

The city School Board, staff and councilors have been debating the school's future for years. The issue began to take on greater prominence in recent weeks, though, after the School Board narrowly voted Jan. 17 to move the city preschool program out of the building and split it up among six elementary schools.

The next steps would have been for the council to solicit redevelopment proposals from the private sector. The prospect of such a move raised the ire of city residents who fear private development will ruin the school's character as a landmark for the black community.

Several groups that oppose private development at the school have sprung up in recent weeks, and members of the groups, including a host of prominent black city residents who attended classes there when Virginia public schools were segregated, have become a fixture at council meetings.

Moreover, the school's future is receiving greater attention as an issue in the May 7 council election, in which Caravati is a candidate. The Democrats for Change, a group that supported Cox in the 2000 election, and that he said Wednesday he still belongs to, calls for the building's preservation as a school in a platform released this week.

Though the city has received no formal development proposals, ideas for the building include construction of condominiums and an African cultural center.

Councilors hope delaying action on the school and discussing the matter with preservation groups will dispel the notion that the building faces impending destruction.

'Let us, be clear here, very clear,' Caravati said. 'It is not now, and never has been the goal of anyone associated with this discussion to demolish the building. ... Our goal, the City Council, has always been centered around the best way to preserve Jefferson and turn it from being an aging and underutilized facility to a site in which the entire community can take pride.'

Caravati and Cox said the council likely will decide to spend city money on certain stopgap repairs to the building, no matter what it eventually is used for. According to city estimates, those repairs would cost just under $1 million, while a complete overhaul could cost more than $8 million.

Whatever happens, Cox said, the preschool programs likely will move out in June to make room for basic renovations. He noted, though, that the School Board's vote to relocate the program made clear that the move could be temporary.

'I read that as leaving the door open to the preschool eventually being returned to a central site, whether it's this site or another site,' Cox said at the news conference in front of the school, minutes after the departure of busloads of preschoolers.

School Board chairman Richard Meriwether agreed Wednesday afternoon that the preschool could someday return to Jefferson, depending on whether enough money becomes available. Because there appears to be no state or city money for the project, Merriwether said, hopes rest on residents' ability to find grants and other revenue sources.

'It's contingent upon getting funds,' he said. 'It looks kind of bad right now. But you never know, there may be a rich benefactor out there.'

Meanwhile, board member Muriel Wiggins, who voted against moving the preschool, disputed Cox's contention that the program would have to move to make room for renovations.

The basic repair work, she argued, would be 'more cosmetic than anything else,' and could go on over the next two summers while school is out of session.

In general, Caravati and Cox avoided discussing such specifics Wednesday, stressing that the council's move to slow its decision process is the first step in a long citywide discussion.

'The alternatives can only be as good as the ideas that are going on in the community,' Cox said. 'We don't know what other options might be in store for Jefferson School, but we do know that the community is interested in pursuing something.'

Of the process of soliciting opinions, he added: 'That's going to take time, and we don't want to shortcut that process by sending it out to a request for proposals from the private sector.' " (Jake Mooney, The Daily Progress, January 31, 2002)