A three-story elementary school is finally rising in Boca Raton, a brand-new building that’ll be equipped with the latest technology and will help ease student overcrowding across the region.
Blue Lake Elementary School, at 1798 Spanish River Blvd., is set to open in August and most of the staff positions have been filled, according to Principal Seth Moldovan. Their mascot? Florida’s official state reptile, the alligator.
And both students and parents can look forward to a full-time gifted program, new technology, including 3D printers and new Chromebooks, a fine arts program and more, Moldovan said.
Blue Lake will technicallybe the city’s first new elementary school since 2001.(Another school,Verde, was recently rebuilt as an elementary school, given new buildings and made into a K-8 school to relieve crowding in local middle schools.)
Blue Lake is “going to be a state-of-the-art build,” Moldovan said. “I think it’s going to be unique because, for many of the kids, it’s going to be the first time that they’re ever in a school building.
“Calusa has an outdoor campus, this is three stories. I don’t think any other elementary school in Palm Beach County has three stories.”
The school will start with about 700 students and within five years, work its way up to the mid-900s, according to school district projections.
The name of the school, which was the top choice among those who had a say, saw almost unanimous approval across social media: “Congratulations!!! Love the name and mascot,” one parent wrote on social media. “Great name and logo. Love the colors!!!,” wrote another.
Blue Lake Elementary will sit near Don Estridge High Tech Middle. It will be able to accommodate about 1,000 students, and school district officials hope it will help with overcrowding at Calusa and Verde K-8.
Moldovan, who most recently was the principal at Verde K-8, said he’s already hired 32 teachers and other instructional staff and only needs to find about 15 more before the start of the school year.
The school is drawing mostly from the Palm Beach School District, but Moldovan said he’ll likely need to open up the candidate pool to external hires soon.
There have been other challenges in opening a new school during the pandemic, according to Moldovan.
“There’s obviously supply-chain issues with building anything these days, especially a school,” he said. “But [developer] Moss has been able to work with all their third-party vendors, and they’ve been able to get almost all the supplies we need.”
The debate over boundaries for Blue Lake, and which students will be rezoned to the school, became a source of contention among parents throughout the city, as the details were hammered out. But after much public discussion, a school district subcommittee hasrecommended a plan for new boundaries at the school.
“Change is always scary,” Moldovan said. “Change is never easy. But we’re going to have an exceptional staff at the newest school in Palm Beach County and kids are resilient.”
Now, School Board Superintendent Mike Burke must bring the study that was recommended to him to the rest of the School Board at a date that has not yet been set. They will discuss and hear from still-divided parents and at a second meeting, approximately a month after the first, will vote whether to adopt it.
Moldovan has high hopes for the Blue Lake Gators.
“I’m just excited to meet the families and the students that are going to be part of the Blue Lake community and to start registering students for next school year once the boundaries are determined,” he said. “Once the school board does vote on and approve final boundaries, we’ll begin the registration process.”
Austen Erblat can be reached at , 954-599-8709 or on Twitter @AustenErblat.
