Hendry County shows LaBelle High School plans, targets 2027 opening

Hendry County School District officials and project architects presented a near-final design for the new LaBelle High School, describing a 220,000-plus square-foot building on roughly 80 acres and a target opening in time for the Class of 2027.

The presentation, led by Greg Kelly of CRA Architects, outlined a two-story academic building with a large commons and media center at its heart, separate bus and car drop-off zones, parking for more than 650 vehicles, dedicated career-and-technical-education (CTE) space and a suite of athletics facilities. “We’re over 220,000 square feet in the new school,” Kelly said during the board meeting.

District staff said the school’s capacity is planned for 1,499 students. Kelly described classroom sizes as roughly 900 square feet (800 square feet of instructional space plus a 100-square-foot storage allowance) and said the commons design includes a 64,100-square-foot dining allotment with about 1,500 square feet of circulation space. The auditorium is drawn at 456 seats; the gymnasium was described as having a total occupancy figure Kelly estimated at 1,949 but he said he would confirm exact seat counts later.

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