SEMINOE COUNTY, Fla. – Since the old Rosenwald School closed in 2011, the property in a historic black community in east Altamonte has sat vacant.
The buildings have deteriorated behind a locked fence off of Merritt Street, and the county has spoken about revitalizing the 12-acre site, but little progress has been made.
This week, county officials decided to move forward with the project and build a 6,000-square-foot community center on the site.
“To know that they are anticipating putting a community center here, for this community, that’s a big win for us,” Cora Snead said.
Cora Snead grew up in East Altamonte and went to school at Rosenwald. She and her husband, Paul, returned years later together to teach there as well.
[EXCLUSIVE: Become a News 6 Insider (it’s FREE) | PINIT! Share your photos]
“It’s a part of me. I’ll put it that way,” Cora Snead said. “My siblings went here. Most of my family members of my generation went here. Before there was a little wooden school that my mom said she attended.”
“There was no pre-K, no kindergarten. I started first grade here, but I knew everybody,” she said. “So, it was very personal to me. I can’t separate me from this community and that school.”
The couple met with our News 6 team on-site to talk about their passion for the property, and the memories they have there.
“It’s a rich history here,” Paul Snead said. “We’ve got physicians, lawyers, a lot of very prominent people went through this school and they still think about the school.”
Cora Snead said it’s different now.
“We don’t have that hub anymore. We don’t have a place to meet. We don’t have a place to draw in all of the people in the community from the different churches,” Cora Snead said. “They have certain days where they might do things together, but it’s not like getting together with everybody and talking about the needs and what’s important in this community.”
The Rosenwald School first opened in 1931. It was built along with other schools in the South to serve black students during segregation.
As schools became integrated, the Rosenwald School transitioned into an education facility for special needs children. Once that programming ended, the doors were shut, and the gates were locked in 2011.
The county stepped in and purchased the property from the school district in 2019 for $1.75 million with plans to transform it into a multi-purpose center.
News 6 has followed the discussions through the years about whether to renovate the existing buildings or what other services could be provided there, including space for the health department, a sheriff’s office substation and a computer lab.
When the board met Tuesday for a work session, they committed to demolishing three buildings on site, building a 6,000-square-foot community center and keeping the rest of the property as open space for now.
“This board finds money for shiny objects all the time. This is not a shiny object. This is something we committed to many, many years ago that we need to fulfill the commitment,” Commissioner Amy Lockhart said.
The vote from county leaders was unanimous.
“Just get it done,” Commissioner Bob Dallari said. “We don’t need to be back here in another two years saying, ‘We’re sorry. We didn’t move forward.’”
Paul and Cora Snead said they’re pleased with the direction county leaders are taking.
“We know they can’t build it overnight, but they made a promise we would have something up in a couple years,” Paul Snead said.
Cora Snead said it will be a place for the community to go and part of history.
“Hopefully, they will have information about Rosenwald when it was first here,” she said. “A lot of the kids in the community don’t know anything about Rosenwald because it’s just gone, but there is history and I’m one who always says if you don’t know where you come from, you don’t know where you’re going. So, we need to know our history so we can move forward.”
Get today’s headlines in minutes with Your Florida Daily: