Page 2 - Florida Sentinel 10-23-18

Feature
SENTINEL RECOMMENDATIONS
Board Approves Rebuilding Of Historic School
HISTORIC ROBERT E. LEE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL
BY IRIS B. HOLTON Sentinel City Editor
Last Tuesday, the Hills- borough County School Board unanimously ap- proved the rebuilding of a historic school. The school was destroyed by a fire.
In September 2017, sev- eral areas of Tampa experi- enced power outages caused by Hurricane Irma. Shortly after the power was restored at Robert E. Lee El- ementary Magnet School, 305 E. Columbus Drive, on September 17th, the school burst into flames.
After a year of negotia- tions with the insurance companies, school officials negotiated full payment for the reconstruction. The builders will preserve the historic exterior of the school.
The time for design and construction usually takes between 12 and 18 months. However, officials said, Lee’s unique circumstances may
alter the time frame.
The school was built in
1906, by volunteers, and was named Michigan Avenue Grammar School. In 1943, the school was relocated to 305 E. Columbus Drive, and its name was changed at that time. It was the first brick school building in Hillsbor- ough County.
It was renovated in 1989, and won a local historic preservation award. It also became the first magnet school in the county. In 1993, the school became the dis- tricts first magnet elemen- tary school.
In 2005, it was renamed Robert E. Lee Elementary School of Technology and World Studies, in honor of the Confederate General Robert E. Lee.
At the time of the fire, there was a movement to change the name of the school. It is unclear if School Board members will pursue changing the name of the structure.
PAGE 2 FLORIDA SENTINEL BULLETIN PUBLISHED EVERY TUESDAY AND FRIDAY TUESDAY, OCTOBER 23, 2018