Richmond Heights begins demolition of old high school; new school is ‘fresh and clean’

RICHMOND-HEIGHTS, Ohio — Work began Monday (April 12) afternoon on the demolition of Richmond Heights High School, work that is expected to take about two weeks to complete.

The first portion of the building to come down is the music room/shop portion, which was part of a 1970 addition to the original building, an addition that also included the school’s gym. The gym was previously demolished to make room for the new Upper School building, which officially opened to junior high students on March 29. High school students then started classes in the new $26-million building on April 6.

Gathered to watch the start of demolition were members of the current school district staff, students, about 75 graduates form various past years, and public officials. Richmond Heights Schools Superintendent Renee Willis said it was an emotional day for some in attendance.

“There’s a feeling of exuberance on one end, and then you had people with fond feelings of their alma mater,” Willis said. “So, you had those cheering the new day, and those relishing the past days.”

Willis, seeing Ward 2 Councilman Frank Lentine among those in attendance, called upon him to say a few words. Lentine is a 1968 Richmond Heights High School graduate. Willis also asked Ward 1 Councilwoman Kim Thomas to speak about the excitement the future brings with a new school building.

“It was a bittersweet day for a lot of people,” Lentine said. “Even though we’re all excited about our new school and moving forward, quite a few of the alumni have memories of the school and the way it was, and to see that come down, it’s a little emotional. I just want to thank everyone for being supportive of the school, and we’re looking forward to bigger and better things.

“I guess it’s time,” Lentine said. “This new school is going to be terrific. It’s going to be a real turn-of-the-century-type of building. The kids should feel very fortunate to have such a facility.”

When Lentine was going to the school, the music room was not a part of the building, but he does have memories of refereeing wrestling matches in the building. He was a high school wrestling referee for 25 years.

The original building, which faces Richmond Road, at 447 Richmond Road, was built in 1921. That building was not big enough to handle all 13 grade levels, so high schoolers from Richmond Heights, prior to 1963-4, attended school at Euclid High School, if they were from the northern part of Richmond Heights, or Brush High School, if they were from the southern half.

With the 1960s addition to the original, 1921 building, Richmond Heights added a high school and graduated its first seniors in 1964. “(Late local news commentator) Dorothy Fuldheim was the speaker at the (1964) commencement,” Lentine said.

Lentine said that he began attending school in Richmond Heights as a fourth grader, a couple of years after his family moved to the city in 1957, in the 1921 building.

Lentine said that when Richmond Heights High School opened, the Richmond Heights parents of about 40 students wanted their sons and daughters to continue to go to Brush so that they could graduate with the classmates they had come to know.

“Somebody drew a line, that was in 1964, and that line (would be) between Sears & Roebuck and the rest (of what would become in 1966 Richmond) Mall,” Lentine said. That line had determined who would continue to attend Brush and who would attend the new Richmond Heights High School.

“Sears (now closed) is on the Richmond Heights side of the line, and South Euclid (-Lyndhurst School District) is on the south side,” Lentine said. “Well, they forgot about it and nobody erased that imaginary line.”

That line extended east and west beyond the mall property and into neighboring residential and retail areas. To this day, the southern portion of the mall property lies within the South Euclid-Lyndhurst School District. As DealPoint Merrill continues on its plan to redevelop the mall for the $200-million mixed-use Belle Oaks project, the division of the mall site has become a sticking point as to how future income tax revenues from the development are to be divided among the Richmond Heights and South Euclid school districts.

“The majority of the mall is in South Euclid-Lyndhurst (School District), so we (Richmond Heights) get the city portion of the money, but we don’t get the school portion,” Lentine said.

Willis said that a block that has 1921 inscribed upon it, and that has rested for the past 100 years atop the old building, has been removed and will be placed in the center of the roundabout at the landscaped front of the new school building. The new school will soon feature a Cuyahoga County Public Library branch, which Willis said is expected to open in early summer. The new building also includes a meeting space that can be split in two with a divider. This area will host the SilverSneakers program, and serve as a public meeting space for residents.

Part of the new construction includes a new ticket booth for the school’s football stadium. The school has suspended football play for two years, the 2021 season will be the second, while construction takes place. Willis is seeking funding to build a new stadium. There has been no movement in getting that funding.

“We’re still trying to envision and hope for partnership with that,” Willis said. “We talked to the Cleveland Browns Foundation at one point, but (we have) no commitment yet from anyone to rebuild the stadium.” The Chagrin Valley Conference required Richmond Heights to sit out two years, because of scheduling, rather than the one year Willis had sought. “We’re going to try and rebuild the program (for 2022),” she said.

The school district intends to raise some funds itself by selling bricks from the old school building.

Speaking about the new, two-story building, Willis said, “Our students are starting to learn their way around it. That was a learning process in itself.

“We had teachers record students’ comments after the first day. The students’ comments were, ‘We feel like we’re on a college campus,’ and ‘It’s so fresh and clean.’ The modern technology is something that they all lauded. The gym, of course, the basketball players love it. They just hate that they didn’t get to play any games in it this year.” The team was able to practice in the new gym.

Others who spoke at the ceremony were State Rep. Kent Smith,D-8; State Sen. Kenny Yuko, D-25, and Mayor David Roche.

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