New Castle plans to sell junior high school

NEW CASTLE -- New Castle Area School District is preparing to sell the Benjamin Franklin Junior High School building and all of its contents.
The school board, at its monthly meeting on Wednesday, announced an auction at the building at 9:30 a.m. Dec. 3. School officials said several parties have expressed an interest in buying it. They said if a sales agreement were reached before Dec. 3, they likely would continue with their plans to auction off the building's contents. The board also agreed to have items that are not sold at the auction disposed of.
In other matters, the school board adopted a policy establishing the appropriate use of laptops owned by the school district, but used by school board members and district staff. Essentially, individuals using the laptops are not allowed to install software that has not been approved by the administration. Additionally, the laptops are to be used for district-related business only. If the policy is violated, the use of the computer could be restricted.
Last month, administrators presented each of the district's nine school board members with their own laptops.