An old school will get a new look and a renewed mission in the coming months, as the school district readies Reynolds School for renovations that will be part demolition and part historic restoration.
The school property that stretched from Reynolds to Royal Street is actually two separate structures. The historic brick schoolhouse that faces Reynolds Street was built in 1927 and will be restored during the upcoming project. The white building in the rear of the property, which is decidedly non-historic-looking, will be demolished and replaced with a new structure, Pat Lefere, the district’s executive director of operations and planning, told the Keys Weekly last week.
A second community meeting about the construction took place Nov. 5 and the district plans to keep the neighbors informed throughout the process.
“We plan to issue a request for proposals within the next month to find a contractor for the project,” Lefere said. “We hope to break ground in early 2026 and are aiming for completion in the summer of 2027. Then, ideally, we’ll move our facilities and maintenance teams out of Bruce Hall on United Street and into the new building at Reynolds. That will free up Bruce Hall for the administration offices that we’ll move out of the Trumbo Road property, so we can build the long-awaited employee housing there.”
The Reynolds School property has been vacant for years, having most recently served as the headquarters for the Boys & Girls Club. But the property is now part of the school district’s long-envisioned grand plan to build employee housing at its Trumbo Road headquarters. It’s a goal with several moving parts, all contingent on one another, Lefere said.
While the facilities and maintenance teams will occupy the new building in the rear of Reynolds, the historic brick building, once renovated, will house adult education classrooms and staff offices. That program includes GED classes for adults wanting to earn the equivalent of a high school diploma as well as English classes for non-native adult speakers.
“The school district is currently spending $60,000 a year renting space on Eaton Street for adult ed,” Lefere said. “With the project complete, we’ll move that in-house to one of our own properties.”“We are excited to get this next piece of our Trumbo affordable housing effort started,” he said, adding that updated renderings and designs will be posted at keysschools.com as they are prepared.
