Driscoll High's contents will be sold or parceled out this week

Except for a barricade blocking the driveway exit, everything appears unchanged outside Driscoll Catholic High School.

Although the 43-year-old school closed in June due to financial woes, signs for Driscoll still remain in place along Lombard Road in Addison.

Even the landscaping is still maintained according to village ordinances.

But inside the building, a handful of students from Montini Catholic High School in Lombard - where more than 30 Driscoll students transferred - work to organize every last item.

Dozens of file cabinets with labels like "Football tapes: 2007" line the hallways. Science aquariums and test tubes are gathered; even desks and TVs are arranged in rows for an asset sale happening Wednesday.

By 3 p.m. that day, if the sale is a success, nearly every material used to teach Driscoll students will belong to other Catholic schools or parishes in the Diocese of Joliet and Archdiocese of Chicago.

Officials from Christian Brothers of the Midwest, who ran Driscoll for the Joliet Diocese, said proceeds will be used to help pay off the school's debt.

"There were a lot of bills," said Brother Francis Carr, Christian Brothers provincial. "There are a lot of vendors that haven't been paid, and we're trying to catch up with that."

Only four staff members remain inside Driscoll, including Driscoll President Tom Geraghty, taking care of last-minute details. But Christian Brothers officials hope to have the building cleaned as soon as possible, so they can turn it over to the Joliet Diocese, which owns the structure.

The school has not been sold yet, officials at the DuPage County Recorder of Deeds confirmed. Dismissing rumors that swirled among the Driscoll community alleging the Christian Brothers already had a buyer in mind, both Carr and Diocese officials maintain they are unsure what the future holds for the former Driscoll building.

"People thought we had all these plans for Driscoll, but that wasn't the case," said Carr.

In an e-mailed statement, the Diocese of Joliet said, "No decision has been made regarding the future use of the school or its possible sale. If it is sold, the primary goal would be to use the proceeds to benefit Catholic education."

As plans for the building remain uncertain, all students and many staff members are settling into their new schools. Of the approximately 200 remaining Driscoll students, almost 90 are enrolled at Immaculate Conception in Elmhurst and 33 transferred to Montini, which is also run by Christian Brothers and was a longtime athletic rival for Driscoll.

Montini Principal Maryann O'Neill said the majority of other students spread out to other Catholic high schools, including St. Francis in Wheaton, St. Viator in Arlington Heights and St. Edward Central in Elgin, while Montini also hired three personnel from Driscoll.

"We all extended ourselves to help them through this transition," she said.