MANSFIELD — The demolition of Prospect Elementary School is set to begin within the next three to four weeks.
Crews from Advanced Demolition Services began abating and scrapping the former Mansfield City building on Monday.
Robert Booth, facilities manager for Mansfield City Schools, said crews will begin tearing down the building once the abatement is complete. The project should be completed by July 31.
Projects like this one are often bittersweet for the communities they impact. School buildings hold a community’s history and memories of formative lessons, experiences and relationships.
That’s why we’d like to collect your stories and photos and create a space to share them.
Over the next few weeks, we’re asking former students, teachers, staff and anyone connected to the school to submit their written memories and photos through a special Open Source form.
We’ll collect these responses and publish them in another article sometime in July.
To submit your memories, please click here to visit the online form or email katie@richlandsource.com.
Why did Prospect close?
Prospect closed permanently at the end of the 2021-2022 school year. School officials cited years of declining enrollment and the building’s increasing maintenance costs as reasons for the closure.
At the time, Booth told Richland Source that Prospect had been identified as the best candidate for a building closure during an engineering study in 2018.
Treasurer Tacy Courtright said district leaders did discuss trying to sell or renovate the building, but ultimately decided it was cost prohibitive. Prospect is in need of roof repairs estimated to cost at least $1 million.
Supt. Stan Jefferson has stated that the district funds would be better spent on curriculum and instruction, rather than costly repairs to aging buildings.
According to Booth, the district salvaged furniture, some doors, the school sign, fire and security alarms, a flagpole and parts of the boiler before the project began.
Booth said he couldn’t share specific details, but that the district intends to hold on to the property and hopes to do something with it that would benefit the community.
