(Host) Educators in Bennington have a novel idea for disposing of the old Mount Anthony School when the town’s new middle school opens this fall. They might put the 90-year old building up for sale on eBay.
VPR’s Susan Keese has the story:
(Keese) The idea came from an article about a school in Kansas that generated inquiries from all over the world through the online auction site. Bob Marcoux is Bennington’s assistant superintendent of schools.
(Marcoux) “Several weeks ago Sean-Marie Oller, who is a member of the Mount Anthony board, found the story and e-mailed it to me. And I called the business office of this little school district in Kansas that had success doing the same thing. And they were inundated with requests and ultimately sold their building for a whole lot more than they ever anticipated.”
(Keese) The board has just renewed its effort to market the old school, located on Route 9, just east of Bennington’s downtown. Earlier it had planned to sell the building for a dollar to a local agency. Bennington’s Regional Affordable Housing Corporation had a plan to house several nonprofits there, including a boys and Girls Club. That offer was rescinded last week.
There is a $100,000 bid currently on the table. But Marcoux says the board is interested in testing the World Wide Web.
(Marcoux) “We would like to do the best we can for the taxpayers of the community and the community as a whole. And we’d like to get a few dollars for it because it is an asset, and the board really could use the money.”
(Keese) Marcoux says the board would hire a professional eBay developer to make sure its ad is seen by the right people.
For Vermont Public Radio, I’m Susan Keese.