And there she goes!

Jason E. Silvers/Tribune photo A large piece of machinery uses pinchers to bring down portions of the old Juco wing at Fort Scott High School on Tuesday. Officials said the demolition project is expected to be completed this week with debris removal to be done next week.

The heavy equipment came out Tuesday.

Workers with Ark Wrecking of Tulsa, Okla., the demolition contractor for a project to tear down the old three-story Juco wing at Fort Scott High School, brought out large pieces of machinery to begin pulling down the outer shell of the structure. The demolition will make way for a new building scheduled for beginning construction this fall.

Demolition of the Juco wing is part of the $40.8 million USD 234 school bond issue to make district-wide improvements. Voters approved the bond issue in 2014.

Site Superintendent Brian Caskey, with Nabholz Construction Services of Olathe, the construction manager for the USD 234 school bond projects, was on site with work crews and other people to watch the process.

Caskey said construction crews have spent the last several weeks gutting the interior of the building, removing materials, debris and smaller pieces from the exterior in order to get the structure down to just its shell. Caskey said the heavy equipment is pulling the structure down bit by bit. He said he was not sure of an exact timeline, but the goal is to have a majority of the building down this week, then crews will begin removing and hauling off rubble next week.

"It will soon just be a pile of rubble," he said.

Caskey added various people he spoke to Tuesday expressed a mixture of happy and sad feelings regarding demolition of the building.

"It should be a historical day for Fort Scott," he said.

Caskey said there is very little rebar in the building, which was built in 1939, and the structure is mainly composed of brick and strong concrete. He said the new school building scheduled to go up in its place should be safer for the district, provide more usable space and be more energy efficient. The new building should also be set up better for newer technology, officials have said.

"There was a lot of unused space in that building," Caskey said.

He said drawings for the new one-story building will ultimately have to go through the city and state level and he expects this process will likely happen by October. He said some of the drawings have already been completed.