GOSHEN — The Goshen School Board took a first step into possibly expanding the campuses of Chamberlain Elementary and Goshen High School at its Monday evening meeting.

The board approved resolutions declaring an interest in acquiring nearby properties to the two schools with the eventual goal of adding to the school campuses.

There are three properties on North 5th Street by Chamberlain and one property by the green space at the corner of Madison and 10th streets by Goshen High School that the school corporation is interested in. The properties by Chamberlain would allow the school to expand its parking lot and reroute the school’s traffic routes to provide more safety for kids crossing streets, said Superintendent Diane Woodworth. Chamberlain’s parking lot is also shared with St. Mark’s Methodist Church, she noted.

“We’ve talked about this before, Chamberlain’s kind of landlocked otherwise,” Woodworth said during the meeting.

The board took the first step of formally expressing interest in the properties Monday night. Next, Goshen Community Schools will look at appraisals of the properties and find out if the landowners are interested in working with the school corporation.