Three school boards Monday night approved closing the Clarence C. Brown Education Center for financial reasons and low enrollment.

The Moniteau, Karns City and Seneca Valley boards all voted to close the center by June 30 and to sell the school building on Pittsburgh Pike Road in Butler.

The alternative and emotional needs school is run by the Midwestern Intermediate Unit IV out of Grove City, but the building is owned by the Karns City, Mars, Moniteau, Seneca Valley and South Butler school districts.

The recommendation to close the school came from the MIU, citing low enrollment as part of the school's financial concerns.

Mars already voted in favor of the sale while the South Butler School Board will take up the issue at 7 p.m. Wednesday at the library of Knoch Middle School, 754 Dinnerbell Road.

A public hearing about the closing will be at 6 p.m. Feb. 2, which is a change in time from the previously scheduled 7 p.m. meeting, said Ritzert. This meeting will be at the school at 1104 Pittsburgh Pike Road.

Clarence Brown had 42 students during the 2014-2015 year, but after the Butler School District opened its own alternative and emotional needs school last summer, enrollment at Clarence Brown dropped to 15 students. That drop caused the MIU to recommend closing the school.