The Hendry County School Board received an update on the new LaBelle High School plans as the school district begins to head towards the start of construction.
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LABELLE — The Hendry County School Board received an update on the new LaBelle High School plans as the school district begins to head towards the start of construction.
Greg Kelley with CRA Architects gave a presentation on the new LHS layout and design to Hendry County School Board members. Kelly reported that the current designs of the drop-off area at the high school has room for 150 cars, and the parking lot for students has 400 parking spots.
The school will feature tennis courts, volleyball courts, baseball and softball fields, and a football field. The school will be two stories and have a 400-plus seat auditorium. The drama, band, and art rooms will be located near the auditorium.
“We’re very proud of where we are,” said Hendry Superintendent of Schools Michael Swindle, “We had a whole host of folks to get these drafted plans to where they are.”
The current high school population of 1,448 students has exceeded the original 1,000 students the existing high school was designed to accommodate when first built in 1979, Swindle said.
The school district has dealt with overcrowding with the installation of 33 portable classrooms (or modules), at an approximate cost of $200,000 each at today’s prices.
Also, the county is no longer able to make some age-related repairs, such as collapsing plumbing underneath one of the bathroom pods.
The school district investigated expanding the existing high school building, but with growth expected to continue, parking, physical education and athletic facilities, the cafeteria and auditorium would continue to be a problem.
The school has reached the end of its useful life according to the Florida Department of Education, Swindle said, which makes the district eligible for a new school within Hendry County.
Without any property sufficiently sized to accommodate a new school within the school district, the board searched neighboring LaBelle properties over the past year, settling on a purchase of 80 acres from Deanna Hansen in the amount of $3.6 million.
Located between Helms Road and Cowboy Way Road, the new school would alleviate traffic problems along Cowboy Way where two other schools are located, while providing four lane ingress and egress to the school. Currently, traffic backs up during student drop off and pick up times.
