It won’t be long until Janet Murphy and her staff will begin to serve 300 elementary students in the former East Heights School, 1430 Haskell Ave.

Boys and Girls Club of Lawrence has reached an agreement with Lawrence public schools to lease the building for one year.

“Certainly as the school year starts, it really gives the Boys and Girls Club an opportunity to serve more children and serve children in a space that is more conducive to the programming that we provide,” Murphy said.

The lease is for $1, but it prevents the district from having to pay most expenses on the building. The Boys and Girls Club will be responsible for costs such as utilities, minor maintenance and snow removal.

Lawrence school board members in March made $4.6 million in budget cuts that included moving the early childhood programs from East Heights into Kennedy School.

The open building just a block north of the Boys and Girls Club caught the interest of club board members, who wanted to make the club’s main site, 1520 Haskell Ave., a place for teens only — instead of having them mixed with elementary students.

Murphy said the club expects to start using East Heights in mid-July. Once the school year starts, the club will merge its after-school programs at Cordley and New York schools under one roof at East Heights, serving about 300 students.

Murphy said the Boys and Girls Club board would have interest in long-term use of the building, but district officials decided a one-year lease was best for now. A task force is studying the district’s elementary facilities, including the East Heights building.

But administrators wanted a deal this year to keep the district from having to pay the building’s daily expenses and still serve children.

“It was very important to us that the building didn’t sit idle,” said Frank Harwood, the district’s chief operations officer.