Ocala elementary school among oldest in Florida in jeopardy of being sold

Alumni of an elementary school in Ocala, founded in 1868 as a private academy for freed black students, are asking Marion County officials to keep the school in operation and not replace it with a museum or sell it, which would result in students being transported to another campus 6.7 miles away in Reddick.

Alumni of Fessenden Elementary School will make their comments to the Marion County School Board during its upcoming meeting on Tuesday, January 28.

The alumni say that recent comments at a school board workshop that the school be converted into a daycare facility, a museum, or that it be sold, would all result in students having to be bused to Reddick-Collier Elementary School.

“The Marion County School Board members are at it again! They want to close our school, Fessenden Elementary,” reads a joint statement from Johnny Grimes, president of Fessenden Alumni, and Linda D. Ward, the interim president of the school’s Parent Teacher Organization.

Situated at 4200 NW 89th Place in Ocala, Fessenden is approximately 6.7 miles away from Reddick-Collier, which is located at 4595 W Highway 316 in Reddick.

“As a result, our students will then be bused to Reddick Elementary School to increase their school enrollment which increases their FTE. There is power in numbers! Can we count on you,” reads the statement.

Fessenden Academy was founded in 1868 by a group of free men. In 1890, its current namesake, Ferdinand S. Fessenden, committed to building a new structure at the site.

One of the oldest, continually operating schools in the state of Florida, the school was registered as part of the United States Historic Registry in 1994.

The Marion County Board of County Commissioners next meets on Tuesday, January 28, at 5:30 P.M. at the McPherson Governmental Complex (621 SE 25th Avenue) in Ocala.