Butler School Board candidate Leland Clark and board member Bill Halle filed a motion for a preliminary injunction Thursday to stop the possible sale of four recently closed elementary schools in the Butler School District.

The injunction is an attempt to speed up the process of a lawsuit filed last month by Clark and Halle against the school district. The district began accepting sealed bids in August to buy the school buildings and will continue to accept them until Sept. 18.

The 38-page suit Clark and Halle filed Thursday has 53 points that support their reasoning. The preliminary injunction request was reviewed Thursday morning by Butler County Judge S. Michael Yeager.

Judge Yeager will determine whether a hearing should be scheduled; a hearing has not been scheduled as of 9:30 a.m. today. There also was a response from Tom King, district solicitor, who is representing the district in the case.

Clark said if the schools are sold before four new board members take office in December, it will limit their choices in making the next steps of the consolidation process. Reopening schools that closed in June had been discussed among candidates as a potential option.

“We want to make sure we can adjust the consolidation plan if necessary,” Halle said. “... The new board should have all options available to them, financially and educationally.”

Clark explained the potential sales another way.

“The outgoing board has a scheme or a plan to bind our hands,” Clark told Yeager.

If school buildings are sold before December, then the board, which will have new members on it, could not have the option to reopen schools.

“There is no such conspiracy that I'm aware of,” King said. “That's speculation on behalf of the plaintiffs.”

King said because they don't know if they even have any sealed bids, it's too early to set a hearing date.

“There's a legal term called ripeness, like a ripe melon,” King said after motions court. “There can't be an actual dispute on the sale of these buildings because there isn't an actual buyer yet.”

Clark and Halle, along with other school board candidates, said they'd like to oversee any potential sales with community input. A sealed bid would likely bypass any community input, although any school building sale needs to be approved by a county judge.

The lawsuit filed last month will also now only be against Butler School District. Seven individual school board members who voted for the consolidation will no longer be named. The agreement was made between King and Clark.

“It makes it a little less contentious,” King said.

Clark, along with Suzie Bradrick-Hammonds, Jennifer Cummings and Nina Teff will all be on the election ballot unopposed in November for spots on the Butler School Board. All four candidates have expressed concerns about the consolidation plans the current board approved in May, which closed five elementary schools, reconfigured grades and opened a special needs and alternative school.

Those candidates, along with Halle and John Conrad, who voted against the plan, would make up a majority against the consolidation plan.