diff --git a/lms/envs/common.py b/lms/envs/common.py
index 9eed45bba32b2c2aa0b72692ce7a8258dde9036e..5d53cbbd175963f5268adeeacc9117b54f74f8c0 100644
--- a/lms/envs/common.py
+++ b/lms/envs/common.py
@@ -452,7 +452,7 @@ COURSES_ROOT = ENV_ROOT / "data"
 DATA_DIR = COURSES_ROOT
 
 # comprehensive theming system
-COMP_THEME_DIR = None
+COMP_THEME_DIR = ""
 
 # TODO: Remove the rest of the sys.path modification here and in cms/envs/common.py
 sys.path.append(REPO_ROOT)
diff --git a/pavelib/assets.py b/pavelib/assets.py
index 08904d2659aa1b74d3013a5d7894a6bc478c8e4c..cabd6e515e7c597aab729630ad410a5e98ef3bbc 100644
--- a/pavelib/assets.py
+++ b/pavelib/assets.py
@@ -45,7 +45,7 @@ def configure_paths():
             css_dir.mkdir_p()
             SASS_DIRS.append(sass_dir)
 
-    if edxapp_env.env_tokens.get("COMP_THEME_DIR", None):
+    if edxapp_env.env_tokens.get("COMP_THEME_DIR", ""):
         theme_dir = path(edxapp_env.env_tokens["COMP_THEME_DIR"])
         lms_sass = theme_dir / "lms" / "static" / "sass"
         lms_css = theme_dir / "lms" / "static" / "css"