Don Estridge fields saved as district OKs temporary school site
The track and soccer fields on the Don Estridge High Tech Middle School campus have been saved.
Palm Beach County School District has found a new temporary site in Boca Raton for two elementary schools that will be demolished and rebuilt in the coming years.
The new site, adjacent to Don Estridge, consists of about 12 acres in Countess de Hoernle Park, which Boca Raton will lease to the school district for $1 a year for five years. The school board approved the plan on Wednesday, subject to an environmental review; the Boca Raton City Council approved it Nov. 27.
The school district’s original plan had called for placing the temporary campus on Don Estridge’s track and soccer fields, which would have forced the middle school’s students to find another site for physical education and competitive sports.
Don Estridge parents and staffers told the district the plan was a bad idea, and the district scrambled to find another site.
“If it’s not going to take away any of the Don Estridge campus, as in the track and soccer fields, then I’m fine with it,” parent Keri Ford said. “I understand our population is growing down here and schools need to be revamped, rebuilt or even new ones built, but it should never be at the expense of the kids at Don Estridge or any other school.”
More than 1,000 students from Verde Elementary School in Boca Raton will move to the temporary site next year because the district plans a $31.7 million renovation on their Verde Trail site. The school is scheduled to be rebuilt in one year, with students returning to their home campus in August
2020.
About 800 students from Addison Mizner Elementary school would then replace them at the temporary site. Addison Mizner students would return to their campus, which will be rebuilt as a K-8 school for $20 million, in August 2021.
The temporary campus will have its own portable classrooms and parking lot.
Parents praised the plan but said they are still concerned about rushhour tie-ups.
“Traffic is still extremely congested in the area, but this is a solution to help schools in need that doesn’t take away from existing student needs at Don Estridge,” parent Susan Farinas said.