PHOTOS BY JILL GOSCHE The former junior high school of the Lakota Local School District is being demolished as the district prepares to move into its new school building next year.

AMSDEN — The Lakota Local School District’s former junior high school is being demolished. Superintendent Rebecca Heimlich said the demolition project started March 1, and the crew has until the end of May to complete it. “The fence is all around (the building),” she said. The district is building a new facility to house all of its students and closed the junior high school early. Preschoolers were moved from Central to West, which now houses preK-1. Fifth-graders were moved from East to Central, which now houses grades 2-5. When the junior high closed, seventh- and eighth-graders were transferred to East, now called Lakota Middle School and home to sixth- through eighth-graders. The high school still houses grades 9-12. The school buildings are to be demolished unless there is a buyer. Demolition of the four buildings would be in the summer and fall of 2011. Something from each building is to be included on a legacy wall in the new building’s auditeria.