COQUILLE — The Coquille School District is issuing an open invitation to anyone to sell Jefferson School.

The School Board decided at its March 10 meeting to offer a 3-percent commission to anyone who can sell the aging school, which was closed five years ago and now houses the district’s administrative offices.

An appraisal of the school and the surrounding property put the value at $785,000. In his appraisal, Chris Fromme, of Chris Fromme Appraisal in North Bend, assessed the school building at $395,000 and the land at $390,000. He also estimated the cost of tearing down the school at $385,000, taking that option off the table because the expense is almost equal to the value, Business Manager Eilleen Harrington said, adding the cost of removing asbestos hadn’t been considered.

“This is his estimate of what the property should sell for in a year,” Harrington said.

Recognizing that the district didn’t get much of a response after a recent open house, board members decided to keep their options open.

“Can we send a notice to all Realtors?” board member Steve Britton asked. “It could go to anybody in Coos County. Somebody may be looking for something like this.”

The board still is banking on the busier summer season to spark more interest in the property.

“We can try it this way for a period of time and see if we get any response at all,” Harrington said.

Jefferson School wasn’t the only under-used piece of school property the board had on its agenda.

A 7-acre piece land adjacent to the high school has, in the past, been used by the equestrian team to house their horses. Flooding problems on the site have forced those who board their horses there to find other accommodations for part of the year. Gradually, equestrian team members stopped using the barn and have expressed no interest in using it in the future, Harrington said.

The flooding problem isn’t about frequency — the field floods only a few times a year — but rather that the water is funneled right into the horse barn, facilities coordinator Dale Hatfield said.

Hatfield said leveling the ground would easily solve the problem and open the grounds up to numerous other uses, including soccer, baseball and softball fields. Access to the property would need to be addressed, as well. Currently, a narrow dirt road is the only access.

Through the district owns the property, it does not have the resources to do any improvements.

“We know as a district, we can’t take this on,” Superintendent Diann Gillaspie said, adding the school might want to work with the city in redeveloping the property.

One suggestion put on the table is donating the land to the city and then the district and city make improvement plans together for better use of the property.

“We have flat land over there,” Hatfield said. “Seven acres of it.”

In other business, the board:

n received notice from the Ford Family Foundation that the district would receive a $25,000 grant for replacing its high school gym bleachers.