ELKINS — The Harman K-12 School and North Elementary School buildings, which will close at the end of this school year, may be sold or “handed off” in the near future, school officials said this week.

Superintendent of Schools Dr. Shawn Dilly gave the county Board of Education an update this week on the potential sale of the two soon-to-be-vacant properties.

The Board of Education voted 4-1 to close both schools back in October.

“We had an opportunity to sit down with the attorneys related to the properties, the North and Harman locations,” Dilly said during this week’s meeting. “One of the things we wanted to clarify, and we will have to do a little more digging in certain circumstances, is that the North property is definitely one that can be sold at auction. There won’t be any concerns around it.”

Dilly said more research was needed to see what could be done with the Harman K-12 School property, however.

“There are some restrictions of covenant on it,” Dilly said about the Harman School. “There is no reversion clause on it, so ultimately it can be handed off. But there are some educational restrictions on that covenant, so that is some of the pieces that we will have to think through as we are dealing with some of the Harman community, if there is a desire for their folks to do that.

“There will not be anything that could potentially harm the district as far as releasing the property, but we want to make sure that whoever takes over the property understands that the family could come back and argue that it’s not being used for educational purposes. So we will navigate that carefully with some of the decisions.”

Dilly, who said he has a meeting scheduled with a representative from the Harman community, told the BOE that he did, however, receive good news about the Harman School Library.

“The library property is a separate piece of parcel and it does not have any restrictions on it,” Dilly said. “What we will have to determine is the specific elements of it – is it a non-profit, how it is set up, and all of that. So basically if this Board approves, we can turn that over to the library so they can be protected.”

Dilly told the BOE that he was going to work on setting up a meeting with library officials.

“I was pleased that it was separated out, so it doesn’t sound like it’s going to take as much work,” Dilly said. “The other one (Harman School) appears to not be a big concern from the attorneys, but we just want to make sure we are transparent in some of the implications. But it sounds like there may be some educational interest in the building and I will find out more at that meeting with the individual.”

The next Randolph County Board of Education meeting be March 3 at 5:30 p.m. at the BOE office in Elkins.