The Monroe County School Board held its first meeting after the start of the school year on August 19th. School board members and Superintendent Tierney all remarked about the positive feedback they got from the community in the first week of school and the energy they saw on campuses as they visited area schools to welcome students back for the 2025-26 school year.
Superintendent Ed Tierney told board members he visited all 10 schools in the first two days and he was impressed with how smoothly everything went. He said he was impressed with how clean the schools were, in a shout out to maintenance employees and how smoothly the cafeterias operated. He emphasized how “flawless” the school operations were and said he is “optimistic about the course of the coming year.”
“I will be meeting with school principals this week, but overall I was impressed with the energy shown by teachers, students and school administrators as I visited all of our schools in those first two days,” he said. “I look forward to more of the same as we progress through the year.”
In a workshop held prior to the regular meeting, Executive Director of Finance Dr. Charlene White gave board members their second look at the proposed district budget for 2025-2026. She emphasized the only budget increase in the coming year was for raises for employees; she said she’d met extensively with various departments to make sure they held the line on their expenses while still being able to deliver high quality services to the students and families of Monroe County. For details of the proposed budget, visit the Monroe County School District website and download the materials presented by Dr. White, attached to the meeting agenda.
State Representative Jim Mooney made an appearance at the meeting to give a legislative update to board members. He congratulated them on receiving a $3.5 million grant to restore historic Bruce Hall which will become the new offices of the school administration once Trumbo Point offices are demolished to make way for an affordable housing complex for employees. He also advised the district to begin putting together priorities for the coming legislative session; he said the state budget is expected to be extremely tight so any important priorities needed to be identified early on if at all possible.
Executive Director of Operations Pat Lefere gave a number of reports about ongoing construction projects including improvements to Rex Weech field in Key West, the development of an athletics complex at Founder’s Park in Islamorada for use by Upper Keys schools and the renovation of Reynolds School, which will house Adult Education classrooms as well as serve as the new offices for school district maintenance and operations personnel. He said construction of a training facility at Rex Week field should begin in September and be completed by spring of 2026. This will be followed by construction of a concession building and museum, still in the planning stages. In Islamorada, he said he has been meeting with the Village of Islamorada to iron out use agreements for the land as well as the beginning stages of plans for the complex. He presented to the board plans for the renovation of Reynolds school, emphasizing the preservation of the appearance of the historic building as well as the need to blend in with the neighborhood.
During board reports, responding to a question from Board member Darren Horan, Board Member Dr. Sue Woltanski talked about traffic in the Upper Keys and the effect the current FKAA highway construction project is having on Upper Keys schools. She said as of now traffic has not been bad but she expressed concern about when the project reaches the part of the road adjacent to Plantation Key School and Coral Shores High School. She said there should be meetings with members of the Upper Keys community to discuss and get input on how to deal with potential impacts to the school day; she also said she is particularly concerned that teachers at those schools be able to get to school on time and leave to go home without significant delays entering and traveling on Highway U.S. One. Superintendent Tierney said he has been meeting with the Sheriff’s Office and the Florida Keys Aqueduct Authority to stay abreast of the work and to give input into the construction process and its effect on schools.