Razing two schools an expensive proposal

YOUNGSTOWN — It will cost about $1.5 million to tear down Wilson High School, and razing The Rayen School could be even more expensive.

Both high schools, Wilson built on Gibson Street in 1928 and Rayen built on Benita Avenue in 1922, closed last spring and are destined for the wrecking ball. New middle schools will be built on their sites.

It’s all part of an approximate $180 million rebuilding program involving 14 city schools.

Nearly all of the former Rayen students now attend the new East High School, as does about half of the former Wilson students. The other half from Wilson attends the remodeled and expanded Chaney High School.

The city school board put the Wilson demolition project out for bid last week after hearing an estimate from its construction project manager, Heery International Inc., that the cost of tearing it down will be just under $1.5 million.

The Rayen demolition specifications are being prepared now, and Heery said that project will likely cost more, pointing out that some of the interior hallway walls in that building are 20 inches thick.

The Ohio School Facilities Commission is picking up 80 percent of the rebuilding program cost and that includes the building demolitions.

For more, see Sunday’s Vindicator and Vindy.com