Rayen group looks to redirect funding

The request would
perpetuate The Rayen School legacy.

YOUNGSTOWN — Trustees of the Rayen Foundation have formally sought court approval to redirect up to half of the foundation’s gift giving to the yet-to-be-built Rayen Middle School.

The other half of the foundation’s gift giving would be designated for charitable ventures at the remaining city high schools: East and Chaney. The foundation pays for school projects and equipment and college scholarships.

In a filing in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court, trustees asked that the portion of foundation gifts, which previously had been directed to The Rayen School as a high school, go to the middle school.

The Rayen School, which closed this year and awaits demolition, is to be replaced on the same site at 250 Benita Ave. by the new middle school.

Accompanying Friday’s filing by Jeffrey D. Heintz, the foundation’s lawyer, was a signed statement from schools Superintendent Wendy E. Webb, saying the Youngstown Board of Education consents to the change. The matter is assigned to Judge James C. Evans.

Originating in 1854 with $31,000 from the estate of Judge William Rayen, the foundation’s principal is now about $2 million, and the foundation makes its gifts from the $65,000 to $80,000 it earns in annual interest.

The original Rayen School, which became Mahoning County’s first public school, opened in 1866 at Wood Street and Wick Avenue, site of the current board of education offices. The Benita Avenue building was built in 1922.