Officials break ground on new Pine Hills-area elementary school

ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. — Work on the new Mollie Ray Elementary School officially started Wednesday as Orange County leaders broke ground on the Pine Hills-area project.

The elementary school is the 10th of 15 schools being rebuilt as part of the 2010 settlement of a civil rights lawsuit filed in the 1960s.

The original Mollie Ray Elementary School, which operated on Beecher Street for more than 50 years, was demolished to make room for the new school.

Teachers and students have been going to a temporary location in Apopka while the new school is built, and principal Lindsey Smestad said opening day can’t come soon enough.

“It’s amazing,” she said. “It’s a dream come true for all of us.

“We are excited to get back. We are excited to get back home.”

Mollie Ray is one of four new schools that are scheduled to open in August.

The school is one of 15 traditionally African-American schools in Orange County that were put on the fast-track to be renovated or replaced under the 2010 settlement.

Nine have been completed so far, officials said.

Teacher Nicole Agbonkhese is looking forward to the day that she and her students can walk into the new school.

“(It will be a place) where they don’t have to leave their classroom or the safety of being indoors to go outside to do regular things like (going) to lunch or the bathroom or another teacher’s classroom,” she said.

The construction was being funded by a half-penny sales tax increase.

Orange County Schools currently has $474 million budgeted for projects, including $148 million for the replacement or renovation of existing schools.

Cox Media Group