A crew is using a big crane to tear down an old school in Rock Island. About one month ago, Valley Construction started preparing the Audubon school property, on 18th Avenue, for major demolition. And today, employees working on the northwest part of the building.
The school district says Habitat for Humanity salvaged everything it could for its Re-store. Then Valley Construction removed all the asbestos following federal requirements, such as spraying the materials with water.
In October, the Rock Island School Board voted to demolish Audubon, instead of spending money to fix the boiler and continue spending about 30,000 dollars a year to maintain the building. It closed 3 1/2 years ago.