diff --git a/.github/workflows/static-assets-check.yml b/.github/workflows/static-assets-check.yml
index 369151170a44..5aedfdf52f73 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/static-assets-check.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/static-assets-check.yml
@@ -82,5 +82,5 @@ jobs:
         CMS_CFG: lms/envs/minimal.yml
 
       run: |
-        paver update_assets lms --theme-dirs ./themes
-        paver update_assets cms --theme-dirs ./themes
+        paver update_assets lms
+        paver update_assets cms
diff --git a/openedx/core/djangoapps/theming/helpers.py b/openedx/core/djangoapps/theming/helpers.py
index b88bbdca4382..4d1df6418082 100644
--- a/openedx/core/djangoapps/theming/helpers.py
+++ b/openedx/core/djangoapps/theming/helpers.py
@@ -268,11 +268,9 @@ def get_themes(themes_dir=None):
     """
     if not is_comprehensive_theming_enabled():
         return []
-    if themes_dir:
-        themes_dirs = [themes_dir]
-    else:
-        themes_dirs = get_theme_base_dirs_unchecked()
-    return get_themes_unchecked(themes_dirs, settings.PROJECT_ROOT)
+    if themes_dir is None:
+        themes_dir = get_theme_base_dirs_unchecked()
+    return get_themes_unchecked(themes_dir, settings.PROJECT_ROOT)
 
 
 def get_theme_base_dirs_unchecked():
diff --git a/openedx/core/djangoapps/theming/management/commands/compile_sass.py b/openedx/core/djangoapps/theming/management/commands/compile_sass.py
index 765ef98aeac3..0e193fb10174 100644
--- a/openedx/core/djangoapps/theming/management/commands/compile_sass.py
+++ b/openedx/core/djangoapps/theming/management/commands/compile_sass.py
@@ -90,7 +90,7 @@ def parse_arguments(*args, **options):  # pylint: disable=unused-argument
         if theme_dirs:
             available_themes = {}
             for theme_dir in theme_dirs:
-                available_themes.update({t.theme_dir_name: t for t in get_themes(theme_dir)})
+                available_themes.update({t.theme_dir_name: t for t in get_themes([theme_dir])})
         else:
             theme_dirs = get_theme_base_dirs()
             available_themes = {t.theme_dir_name: t for t in get_themes()}
diff --git a/openedx/core/djangoapps/theming/tests/test_helpers.py b/openedx/core/djangoapps/theming/tests/test_helpers.py
index 95829a16b416..955e723df145 100644
--- a/openedx/core/djangoapps/theming/tests/test_helpers.py
+++ b/openedx/core/djangoapps/theming/tests/test_helpers.py
@@ -44,7 +44,6 @@ def test_get_themes(self):
             Theme('red-theme', 'red-theme', get_theme_base_dir('red-theme'), settings.PROJECT_ROOT),
             Theme('stanford-style', 'stanford-style', get_theme_base_dir('stanford-style'), settings.PROJECT_ROOT),
             Theme('test-theme', 'test-theme', get_theme_base_dir('test-theme'), settings.PROJECT_ROOT),
-            Theme('empty-theme', 'empty-theme', get_theme_base_dir('empty-theme'), settings.PROJECT_ROOT),
         ]
         actual_themes = get_themes()
         self.assertCountEqual(expected_themes, actual_themes)
diff --git a/scripts/compile_sass.py b/scripts/compile_sass.py
index 41a2d56b3bda..5698b2eaa6cb 100755
--- a/scripts/compile_sass.py
+++ b/scripts/compile_sass.py
@@ -42,9 +42,7 @@
 from __future__ import annotations
 
 import glob
-import os
 import subprocess
-import sys
 from pathlib import Path
 
 import click
@@ -155,111 +153,45 @@ def main(
 
     def compile_sass_dir(
         message: str,
-        source_root: Path,
-        target_root: Path,
+        source: Path,
+        dest: Path,
         includes: list[Path],
         tolerate_missing: bool = False,
     ) -> None:
         """
         Compile a directory of Sass into a target CSS directory, and generate any missing RTL CSS.
-        Structure of source dir is mirrored in target dir.
 
-        IMPLEMENTATION NOTES:
-        =====================
-
-        libsass is a C++ library for compiling Sass (ref: https://github.com/sass/libsass).
-
-        libsass-python is a small PyPI package wrapping libsass, including:
-          * The `_sass` module, which provides direct Python bindings for the C++ library.
-            (ref: https://github.com/sass/libsass-python/blob/0.10.0/pysass.cpp)
-          * The `sass` module, which adds some friendly Pythonic wrapper functions around `_sass`,
-            notably `sass.compile_dirname(...)`.
-            (ref: https://github.com/sass/libsass-python/blob/0.10.0/sass.py#L198-L201)
-
-        Our legacy Sass code only works with a super old version of libsass (3.3.2,) which is provided to us by a super
-        old version of libsass-python (0.10.0). In this super old libsass-python version:
-          * the `sass` module DOESN'T support Python 3.11+, but
-          * the `_sass` module DOES support Python 3.11+.
-
-        Upgrading our Sass to work with newer a libsass version would be arduous and would potentially break
-        comprehensive themes, so we don't want to do that. Forking libsass-python at v0.10.0 and adding Python 3.11+
-        support would mean adding another repo to the openedx org. Rather than do either of those, we've decided to
-        hack around the problem by just reimplementing what we need of `sass.compile_dirname` here, directly on top
-        of the `_sass` C++ binding module.
-
-        Eventually, we may eschew libsass-python altogether by switching to SassC@3.3.2, a direct CLI for libsass@3.3.2.
-        (ref: https://github.com/sass/sassc). This would be nice because it would allow us to remove Python from the
-        Sass build pipeline entirely. However, it would mean explicitly compiling & installing both libsass and SassC
-        within the edx-platform Dockerfile, which has its own drawbacks.
+        Structure of source dir is mirrored in target dir.
         """
-        # Constants from libsass-python
-        SASS_STYLE_NESTED = 0
-        _SASS_STYLE_EXPANDED = 1
-        _SASS_STYLE_COMPACT = 2
-        SASS_STYLE_COMPRESSED = 3
-        SASS_COMMENTS_NONE = 0
-        SASS_COMMENTS_LINE_NUMBERS = 1
-
-        # Defaults from libass-python
-        precision = 5
-        source_map_filename = None
-        custom_functions = []
-        importers = None
-
-        use_dev_settings: bool = NORMALIZED_ENVS[env] == "development"
-        fs_encoding: str = sys.getfilesystemencoding() or sys.getdefaultencoding()
-        output_style: int = SASS_STYLE_NESTED if use_dev_settings else SASS_STYLE_COMPRESSED
-        source_comments: int = SASS_COMMENTS_LINE_NUMBERS if use_dev_settings else SASS_COMMENTS_NONE
-        include_paths: bytes = os.pathsep.join(str(include) for include in includes).encode(fs_encoding)
-
+        use_dev_settings = NORMALIZED_ENVS[env] == "development"
         click.secho(f"  {message}...", fg="cyan")
-        click.secho(f"    Source: {source_root}")
-        click.secho(f"    Target: {target_root}")
-        if not source_root.is_dir():
+        click.secho(f"      Source: {source}")
+        click.secho(f"      Target: {dest}")
+        if not source.is_dir():
             if tolerate_missing:
-                click.secho(f"    Skipped because source directory does not exist.", fg="yellow")
+                click.secho(f"      Skipped because source directory does not exist.", fg="yellow")
                 return
             else:
-                raise FileNotFoundError(f"missing Sass source dir: {source_root}")
-        click.echo(f"    Include paths:")
+                raise FileNotFoundError(f"missing Sass source dir: {source}")
+        click.echo(f"      Include paths:")
         for include in includes:
-            click.echo(f"      {include}")
-
-        click.echo(f"    Files:")
-        for dirpath, _, filenames in os.walk(str(source_root)):
-            for filename in filenames:
-                if filename.startswith('_'):
-                    continue
-                if not filename.endswith(('.scss', '.sass')):
-                    continue
-                source = Path(dirpath) / filename
-                target = (target_root / source.relative_to(source_root)).with_suffix('.css')
-                click.echo(f"      {source} -> {target}")
-                if not dry:
-                    # Import _sass late so that this script can be dry-run without installing
-                    # libsass, which takes a while as it must be compiled from its C source.
-                    from _sass import compile_filename  # pylint: disable=protected-access
-                    success, output, _ = compile_filename(
-                        str(source).encode(fs_encoding),
-                        output_style,
-                        source_comments,
-                        include_paths,
-                        precision,
-                        source_map_filename,
-                        custom_functions,
-                        importers,
-                    )
-                    output_text = output.decode('utf-8')
-                    if not success:
-                        raise Exception(f"Failed to compile {source}: {output_text}")
-                    target.parent.mkdir(parents=True, exist_ok=True)
-                    with open(target, 'w', encoding="utf-8") as target_file:
-                        target_file.write(output_text)
-
-        click.secho(f"    Done.", fg="green")
+            click.echo(f"        {include}")
+        if not dry:
+            # Import sass late so that this script can be dry-run without installing
+            # libsass, which takes a while as it must be compiled from its C source.
+            import sass
+
+            dest.mkdir(parents=True, exist_ok=True)
+            sass.compile(
+                dirname=(str(source), str(dest)),
+                include_paths=[str(include_path) for include_path in includes],
+                source_comments=use_dev_settings,
+                output_style=("nested" if use_dev_settings else "compressed"),
+            )
+        click.secho(f"      Compiled.", fg="green")
         # For Sass files without explicit RTL versions, generate
         # an RTL version of the CSS using the rtlcss library.
-        for sass_path in glob.glob(str(source_root) + "/**/*.scss"):
+        for sass_path in glob.glob(str(source) + "/**/*.scss"):
             if Path(sass_path).name.startswith("_"):
                 # Don't generate RTL CSS for partials
                 continue
@@ -269,16 +201,16 @@ def compile_sass_dir(
             if Path(sass_path.replace(".scss", "-rtl.scss")).exists():
                 # Don't generate RTL CSS if there is an explicit Sass version for RTL
                 continue
-            click.echo("    Generating missing right-to-left CSS:")
-            source_css_file = sass_path.replace(str(source_root), str(target_root)).replace(
+            click.echo("      Generating missing right-to-left CSS:")
+            source_css_file = sass_path.replace(str(source), str(dest)).replace(
                 ".scss", ".css"
             )
             target_css_file = source_css_file.replace(".css", "-rtl.css")
-            click.echo(f"      Source: {source_css_file}")
-            click.echo(f"      Target: {target_css_file}")
+            click.echo(f"         Source: {source_css_file}")
+            click.echo(f"         Target: {target_css_file}")
             if not dry:
                 subprocess.run(["rtlcss", source_css_file, target_css_file])
-            click.secho("      Generated.", fg="green")
+            click.secho("         Generated.", fg="green")
 
     # Information
     click.secho(f"USING ENV: {NORMALIZED_ENVS[env]}", fg="blue")
diff --git a/themes/empty-theme/README.rst b/themes/empty-theme/README.rst
deleted file mode 100644
index 541e9ac28457..000000000000
--- a/themes/empty-theme/README.rst
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,7 +0,0 @@
-Empty Theme
-###########
-
-This is a dummy theme to ensure that the build succeeds on a folder that is
-*structured* like a theme, but contains no actual Sass modules nor HTML
-templates. Compiling and enabling this theme should be functionally and
-visually equivalent to the default theme.
diff --git a/themes/empty-theme/cms/static/sass/.gitignore b/themes/empty-theme/cms/static/sass/.gitignore
deleted file mode 100644
index 7f1d3dd29328..000000000000
--- a/themes/empty-theme/cms/static/sass/.gitignore
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,2 +0,0 @@
-# This empty gitignore file ensures that this otherwise-empty
-# directory is included in version control.
diff --git a/themes/empty-theme/cms/templates/.gitignore b/themes/empty-theme/cms/templates/.gitignore
deleted file mode 100644
index 7f1d3dd29328..000000000000
--- a/themes/empty-theme/cms/templates/.gitignore
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,2 +0,0 @@
-# This empty gitignore file ensures that this otherwise-empty
-# directory is included in version control.
diff --git a/themes/empty-theme/lms/static/sass/.gitignore b/themes/empty-theme/lms/static/sass/.gitignore
deleted file mode 100644
index 7f1d3dd29328..000000000000
--- a/themes/empty-theme/lms/static/sass/.gitignore
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,2 +0,0 @@
-# This empty gitignore file ensures that this otherwise-empty
-# directory is included in version control.
diff --git a/themes/empty-theme/lms/templates/.gitignore b/themes/empty-theme/lms/templates/.gitignore
deleted file mode 100644
index 7f1d3dd29328..000000000000
--- a/themes/empty-theme/lms/templates/.gitignore
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,2 +0,0 @@
-# This empty gitignore file ensures that this otherwise-empty
-# directory is included in version control.