Enfield School could be for sale by the end of this year, a decade after it closed in agreement with the community that the Ministry of Education would own it for five years in case it was needed again.
The original closure was fought by the Enfield and Waiareka Valley communities because, after years of declining rolls, it predicted population growth through farming changes with irrigation, particularly dairying.
While that has occurred with the North Otago Irrigation Company scheme, the school never reopened and the five years is well up.
Carolynn Rowland was board of trustees chairwoman at the end of 2003 during the closure negotiations and, when contacted by the Otago Daily Times yesterday, was not aware the school could be put on the market.
However, she acknowledged there was no obligation on the ministry to notify the community now the five-year sale moratorium had passed.
The board's prediction of population growth had turned out to be correct, but most children were now going to Weston School.
Asked if the community still wanted the school to reopen, Mrs Rowland said: ''I wouldn't think so now. If we had the opportunity, it would have been in the last five years because Enfield and outlying districts have grown hugely.''
It was possible the community could look at buying the school, particularly when it had raised funds to provide the playground equipment and swimming pool.
''I don't know, but it could be a good thought,'' Mrs Rowland said.
Land and Information NZ, which has the role of disposing of surplus education property, said yesterday through senior communications adviser Chas Te Runa it was going through a disposal process with Enfield School.
The site was not needed for any other public work and the next step was investigating, in terms of the Public Works Act, if it was required to be offered back to the former owner or successors.
If not, then it would be offered to Ngai Tahu, or determined if it would be held for a future settlement under the 1998 Ngai Tahu Claims Settlement Act.
If the property had not been disposed of after those steps, it could be on the open market by December, he said.
After the closure, the school was leased by Westmount School, which caters for families of the Plymouth Brethren Christian Church (Exclusive Brethren).
An addition to its Timaru school, Enfield catered for year seven to 13 pupils, some travelling by bus from as far away as Timaru and Dunedin.
Westfield left Enfield last year, those pupils now attending the expanded Timaru school at Washdyke.
Westfield board of trustees member Leon Brodie said the move came because the Enfield site was being put on the market.
''We didn't really see that it was where we wanted to be in the long haul,'' he said.
