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In a country more than 230 years old, the situation with Baton Rouge Magnet High School is not a unique one. Across the United States, systems with crumbling landmark schools have faced the same quandary: Save them or replace them?

The National Trust for Historic Preservation offers a guide that details how communities across the country have preserved these schools.

“There are a number of success stories out there,” says Carolyn Bennett, executive director for The Foundation for Historical Louisiana. “Communities across the country have rallied together to save these old schools combining the best of the old with the new to create state-of-the-art schools for the children in their communities.”

In Atchison, Kansas, for example, concerned citizens united to save the 100-year-old Atchison Middle School from being demolished. By educating themselves and standing their ground they convinced voters to block the system from demolishing the old school.

“One of the most significant victories to date for America's older schools started with a local fight in Brentwood, Pa., a suburb of Pittsburgh,” says Kerri Rubman, author of A Community Guide to Saving Older Schools. The Concerned Citizens of Brentwood Borough joined local and state preservation organizations and fought to amend the state's school construction reimbursement criteria to save two historic schools from the wrecking ball.

“The time has come to look more critically at the assumption that 'newer is better' when it comes to school buildings,” Rubman says. “It is also time to consider what is being lost each time an older neighborhood school is razed or retired.”

Read more success stories at nationaltrust.org/issues/schools.