The Plummer-Worley School District board will likely determine at its Monday meeting whether the closed Worley School will be demolished, or passed on to a historical society to turn into a museum and cultural center.

At the board's 6 p.m. meeting, the Worley Historical Society will reveal if it has met the myriad statutory requirements to request Kootenai County facilitate transfer of the school property from the district to the society.

Also on the night's agenda: The school board will decide on awarding a bid for the demolition of the historic building.

"This is the most important meeting we're having," said Virginia Nigh, treasurer of the Worley Historical Society, Inc.

She added, "I'm hoping we come first" on the agenda, before the demolition contractor is picked.

The school district earlier announced plans to demolish the dilapidated school to remove the district's liability.

The newly formed historical society hopes to save the structure built as part of the New Deal, by acquiring the property title in time.

That is a complicated process, though, as statute requires the property must first be transferred from the school district to the county, and then from the county to the historical society.

Whether the society can achieve that in time is uncertain, Nigh said.

"It's just up in the air," she said on Thursday.

The group has pursued several steps for requesting a property transfer, she said, including getting an appraisal of the property, as well as a title report. The Kootenai County commissioners have issued a letter pledging to help in the property transfer, if all goes smoothly, and the historical society has obtained a commitment for insurance that Nigh said would protect the county and school district from liability.

"We've done all these things," Nigh said.

However, there's no word yet on whether the group's application for 501c3 status has been approved, she added, which the county commissioners said is necessary for the transfer.

Nigh hopes the school board might postpone its decision on awarding the bid for demolition.

"That would be the big thing right now," Nigh said.

But the district wants to be rid of the dangerous building soon, said Superintendent Judi Sharrett on Thursday.

"There's too much liability wound up in this building," Sharrett said on Thursday of whether the district can hold off for long. "We can't assume that (the historical society) would bring the information the board needed. We'd have to go forward to protect the district's liability and be responsible to the community."

Based on what the society presents on Monday, she added, "if they have all this in order, the board will maybe consider it."

The board meeting is at the school district building, 1157 East St., Plummer.

County Commissioner Dan Green said one of the commissioners will likely attend the meeting to answer any questions about the county's role.

The commissioners are willing to help transfer the property, he said, if the school district and historical society can work it all out.

"If they can both meet the statutory requirements, we're kind of sitting here ready to help them out," Green said.

If you go:

The Plummer-Worley School District board meeting is scheduled for 6 p.m. Monday at the district office, 1157 East St., Plummer