Residents of the 19th Ward Community Association fighting to save School 16 in the Rochester school district scored a victory tonight as Superintendent Bolgen Vargas announced that the school would be renovated and re-opened.

Numerous maintenance issues with the school forced its closure last year. Since that time, Vargas has insisted that the school is too far gone to save. But at a meeting tonight, Vargas said concerns from the community caused him to reconsider.

The 19th Ward neighborhood group organized to save the School 16, seeing it as a neighborhood anchor.

Vargas said it will cost approximately $10 million to renovate the school, which should reopen in 2015. School 16 is at 321 Post Avenue.