RMHS Memorial Wall to be Restored Before Sept. 11

Reading Memorial High School’s will be restored by Sept. 11, the district’s administration announced Monday.

Mary DeLai, the district’s director of finances and operations, said that the district received and accepted one official bid for the project, and that the bid included both a five year warrantee and a requirement that the project be completed by Sept. 1.

School Committee Member David Michaud said that the new wall will differ a little from the old one. The words that had been etched into the glass facings of each of the 10 panels will now, instead, be printed on the panel’s backing—though they will be rendered to still appear three dimensional.

The change will prevent a problem that the district had with the previous wall design; the manufacturer had a mismatch between the backing and glass, Michaud said, which left some of the words etched over bright parts of the background and difficult to read.

The new design will also include a more secure support system, Michaud said. In addition to the posts that supported the old wall, the panels will sit on a narrow metal shelf to support their weight from below.

The new wall will cost the district $59,000, DeLai said.

Bidders

While the district received one official bid for the wall, DeLai said she also received a second bid that she couldn’t accept. While it came in at a slightly lower price, she said, it also came in 30 minutes after the deadline, and state law bars the district from accepting late bids.

Committee Member Chris Caruso said that was okay.

“If they can’t get the bid in on them, then we probably don’t want them doing the work,” he quipped.

The old panels

While four of the panels from the last iteration of the memorial wall cracked, six are still in good condition. The district opted not to use the existing panels as part of the new design, but DeLai said the town’s facilities director had an interesting idea for them: auction them off to be used as tabletop.

Alternatively, DeLai said, they could be used as tabletops within the district.