The potential sale of one of the recently closed elementary schools in the Butler School District has caused one of the plaintiffs in a lawsuit against the district to withdraw from the suit.

Leland Clark, a Butler attorney who will become a Butler School Board member within a month, said he does not want to be in the way of a possible sale of one of the closed schools, something that could be approved as soon as Monday.

“The district has shared with me information about the potential buyers for Broad Street. They plan to present this information to the public at Monday’s board meeting,” Clark said.

“In my opinion, one of the offers would be a very good opportunity for the community. The community and the district deserve the opportunity to vet that potential buyer.”

Clark, who was elected Tuesday to the board, and board member Bill Halle filed suit against the district in August, arguing that none of the district’s closed school buildings should be sold before the new board members take office Dec. 1.

Broad Street, Clearfield, Meridian and Oakland elementary schools all closed in June in a consolidation plan. The district is selling those buildings.

The district had the buildings appraised over the summer. The averages of the two appraisals are $456,500 for Broad Street, $236,000 for Clearfield, $362,500 for Oakland and $530,000 for Meridian.

The school board already has rejected two bids, which were both under the appraised values.

The Center for Community Resources had bid $150,000 for Broad Street, and Robert Oesterling had bid $100,000 for either Clearfield or Oakland during the closed bid process.

Halle said he wants to have public input before the district approves any building sales.

“My position hasn’t changed. I don’t believe any of those four schools should be sold without first having community input. That’s what I’ve said to the district,” he said.

Halle has told district officials he would drop his suit if the district releases information about the debt and state reimbursement on each of the four schools. He also wants the district to make public all information about who has made offers to buy any school, their purpose for buying a building and the amount of their offer.

District solicitor Tom King, who is representing the district in the lawsuit, said he could not comment on the situation.

“Any conversations between Mr. Halle and Mr. Clark and the school board and me at this point have been in executive session. I’m not able to comment publicly about those discussions,” he said.

The board meets on Monday.