AMSTERDAM — The Greater Amsterdam Board of Education is moving toward selling the former school that houses the Walter Elwood Museum.

On Wednesday, the board authorized Superintendent Thomas Perillo to collect proposals from real estate agents to list and sell the building.

The school board also unanimously passed a resolution to get proposals to take care of the problem with bats in the building.

Both resolutions were acted on during an executive session following the second meeting in two weeks between the school board and museum officials.

The Walter Elwood Museum building at 300 Guy Park Ave. has been closed for three weeks after the school district, which owns the building, ordered it locked up after receiving a letter from museum Director Ann Peconie outlining problems with bats in the building.

Since then, the state Department of Education has said it is illegal for the school district to subsidize the museum by providing the building and paying for its utilities.

According to school board President Gina DeRossi, the district had to make a determination, among three alternatives, about the building’s future.

The district could make a gift of the building to the Walter Elwood Museum, which would require a public vote in May, or lease the building to the museum and run it similarly to current conditions, which would require the creation of a museum and library tax, levied on the district’s taxpayers and voted on as a separate budget in May along with the district’s regular budget vote. Or it could sell the building for fair market value.

Currently the building’s assessed value is $120,000.

DeRossi voted against the proposal to sell the building, along with board member Michael Parillo.

Board member Sean Piasecki voted for the resolution because he said he wanted the district to move in some direction. Piasecki said this decision may give the museum time to raise funds to purchase the building.

“I felt like for a minute there was going to be a stalemate and that’s not fair for the district, the museum or the people who use the museum,” Piasecki said.

According to museum board Treasurer Guy Cappuccio, the museum has a budget of about $100,000. About 80 percent of the museum’s budget is through grants, which could be in jeopardy if the museum remains closed.

Both Peconie and museum board President Jacky Meola expressed sadness at the school board’s action. “It’s unfortunate that during this whole thing the school board has never discussed the value of the museum to the community,” Peconie said.

“I understand that the district has to move forward,” Meola said. “My main concern is whether the museum will ever see the doors open again.”