The Ironton Board of Education Tuesday opted to allow the Lawrence County Board of Mental Retardation/Developmental Disabilities to take over the supervision and administration of two of the city's preschool handicapped units.

One of the units is located at the old Central School and one is at the Lawrence County Early Childhood Center in South Point. The board did include a stipulation that the unit at the old Central School must remain at that site.

Superintendent Dean Nance said the move will put the city's handicapped preschool students into the care of people who have more experience in early childhood education.

"This partnership with MR/DD will better serve the kids in the program," Nance said. "They (MR/DD) have more expertise in doing the paperwork and supplying the personnel (for preschool handicapped instruction)."

The MR/DD already supervises seven of the 10 units in the county and has housed the city's South Point unit in its early childhood center building.

"In the past, there have been some gray areas because the units belonged to the city but (Sue) Vanderhoof supervised it (in the South Point-based unit)," Nance said.

Nance said the district would save resources that it currently uses to operate those units. Approximately 18 students are enrolled in those two units.

The city also has an itinerate unit, based at West Ironton, for which the teacher travels to various homes.

The board also agreed to donate a 1971-model school bus to the Boy Scout Troop 115 in South Point. The bus had most recently been used as backup transportation. It was recently put up for bid, but no one showed interest.

Nance said he does not know how many miles the bus had logged in its 30-plus years of hauling students, but said local officials often had a hard time convincing state department of education officials that, indeed, the district had a 1971 bus still in use.

"The engine has been well taken care of by Mr. (Dave) Lawless and the mechanics at the bus garage," Nance said. "The bus is operable. It passed all its safety inspections."

The board also officially recognized the Ironton High School cheerleaders for their recent grand national championship win at the Cheerleaders of America competition in Orlando, Fla.

The board set its next meeting at 5 p.m. May 13 at the high school.