The building's afterlife: the $1 law, two courts, and an appeal

The Tribune's coverage of 2023–2026, the 2026 items read in full; status stated as of November 2026

A closed Indiana school building enters a statutory gauntlet: under the state's "$1 law" it must be offered to charter schools for sale or lease at a dollar. Clay's course through it, step by step: the district discussed listing Clay and Warren with the state in April 2023; Career Academy Network expressed interest; the Department of Education ruled the building must be made available, and the district appealed — while voting to keep using the building for career and technical courses, adult learning, storage, offices and training (a July 2025 report puts that keep-and-repurpose vote at 5–2, at report strength). On 16 February 2026 Administrative Law Judge Andrew R. Bernlohr ruled for the district: the Department had acted 202 days after the district's 27 April 2023 notice, against a five-day statute, and the building "has remained in continuous use the entire time"; he valued it at $50–55 million. On 26 October 2026 Superior Judge Mark P. Telloyan reversed: the deadline was directory, not mandatory, and the district must make Clay available to Career Academy when the judgment becomes final and unappealable. Career Academy announced within the week that it would move its high school — and, on the fuller account, the Portage School of Leaders — into Clay, targeting 2028–29. On 2 November 2026, after executive session, the trustees voted unanimously to appeal. Status as of November 2026: the building has not been sold, leased, or transferred; the district holds it and works in it (CTE and adult learning), and the appeal is the live next step. Inside this course sits this section's last conflict, printed whole (C22): 2026 coverage repeatedly dates the closure vote to "December 2023," against the contemporaneous April 17 record — because there was a distinct December 2023 board vote about the building, and the $1-law case turned on whether that vote shuttered the building or found it a new use. The December vote's exact date, motion, and split were not reached (G-SC-8); the two votes are two, and this build prints them as two.