Green School to house arts program for people with disabilities

Mar 7, 2023

MIDDLEBORO — Green School, which served as a one-room schoolhouse until 1941, will soon have new life.

The building, which dates back more than 150 years, will house a program to bring arts, music and yoga to children and adults with disabilities.

The Middleboro Select Board unanimously granted approval for the program to be hosted at the town-owned Green School at 251 East Main St.

The program director, Melissa Oddi-Morrison, told the Select Board that these offerings will provide an opportunity for disabled individuals to socialize, which can sometimes be lacking.

She founded The Heart in Art, a non-profit with a goal to “provide access to the arts as a vehicle to empower all individuals, regardless of disabilities, background or age.’’ The organization also seeks to “inspire the love of humanity in these individuals’’ and to build a community “based in compassion and understanding of the arts,’’ according to the mission statement.

Green School was built in 1871 and was used continually through 1941, when it was closed. The building was reopened for a brief time in the 1990s, but was later facing potential demolition in 2009 because of a heating oil leak. Community volunteers stepped in to save the structure.

Resident Paula Fay expressed her support for the project. “This is needed in this community,’’ she said.