BUTLER TWP — This year's six-student graduating class at Clarence Brown Community School was the last, now that the school is closing and its students are to be placed in other programs.

But that didn't detract from the pride and happiness of the six graduates Tuesday morning.

As Moniteau School District Superintendent George Svolos said, graduating from high school is not just a good thing, “it's a great thing.”

And two of the graduates, Jacob Benzinger and Evan Bertoncello, would have to agree.

Benzinger, 18, from the South Butler School District, is ready to begin the next chapter of his life.

“I'm pretty excited to be done with everything,” he said.

Benzinger hopes to be a graphic designer one day, and he will be attending the Butler County Community College in the fall to receive his associate degree in Web design.

Bertoncello, after giving a speech at the end of graduation, said graduation was such an incredible experience, and he was almost at a loss for words.

“I feel amazing,” he said. “I mean, this is absolutely incredible. I'm just so happy.”

In addition to graduating from Clarence Brown, Bertoncello, who is from the Moniteau School District, graduated from the Butler County Area Vocational-Technical School this year with a certificate in CompTIA A+, he said. From the vo-tech, he received an award for being an outstanding student this year.

Bertoncello also will attend BC3 this fall to get his associate degree in network administration. Ultimately, Bertoncello hopes to work in the cyber security field one day.

For Wayde Killmeyer, the director of Midwestern Intermediate Unit IV, which runs the programming at Clarence Brown, the school truly is a “community school,” he said during graduation.

“I want to emphasize one word in the name of the school: the Clarence Brown Community School,” he said. “You worked with a large group, a large community here that helped you get to where you are today and to accomplish the things you've accomplished.

“All of your teachers, your counselors, your classroom aides, the members of the operating committee who help to oversee the running of this school, and everybody back at the Intermediate Unit and back at your home school district. Everyone had your best interest in mind, and everyone wanted to see you succeed and make it to this day.”

Killmeyer added that the “large community behind (the graduates)” would remain with them as they face the next phases of life.

The community aspect of the Clarence Brown school shines through in Principal Michelle Schwartz's favorite memory of her only year spent at the school.

“We had Thanksgiving dinner together,” Schwartz said, misty-eyed. “We cooked and we all sat down as one family and ate the meal together.”

Killmeyer said he felt a sense of grief for the final days of Clarence Brown.

“Obviously, it's a happy day for the graduates,” he said. “But it's a sad day for the school. Everyone agrees that it is a successful program, and it's a shame that money gets in the way of a successful program.”

The Clarence Brown Community School provides alternative and emotional support for special needs students and is run by the Midwestern Intermediate Unit IV of Grove City, which recommended closing the school by June 30 due to financial problems.

Although the intermediate unit staffs the school, five school districts — Karns City, Mars, Moniteau, Seneca Valley and South Butler — own and maintain the building on Pittsburgh Pike Road. The joint operating committee, with representatives from each of the five districts voted to close the school a final time in May.

Now, the committee and the Butler County Special School Municipal Authority still have to oversee any dealings with the sale of the property.

The committee is accepting bids on the 4.87 acres of property, with a minimum bid of $150,000, May said.

Those bids will be opened at the next meeting for both the committee and the authority at 7 p.m. June 30 at Clarence Brown, 1104 Pittsburgh Pike Road.