Pasco middle school #4 now has a name

The Pasco School District is getting ready to break ground on a new middle school, and the planned building now has a name.

At Tuesday night's school board meeting, board members agreed to name the school after long-time Pasco educator Ray Reynolds.

Reynolds attended Pasco High School in 1945 before moving to Idaho. He eventually joined the Army and served in the Korean War.

He continued his service in the U.S. Army Reserves from 1953 to 1987, when he retired as a Major General.

Reynolds attended college at Kansas St. University, where he played football and basketball.

In the years following the Korean War, Reynolds attended the University of Montana, before graduating from Eastern Washington College (now Eastern Washington University).

From 1955 to 1961, Reynolds served on the Washington State Patrol, and from 1961 to 1968 he taught and coached at Eastern Washington College.

He started teaching in the Pasco School District, where he would stay for the next three decades, serving as teacher, coach, assistant principal, principal, and Director of Secondary Education. He retired in 1999.

The Pasco School District breaks ground on the new Reynolds Middle School and new Columbia River Elementary on Thursday, May 23, 2019 at 10:00am at 9011 Burns Road.

Both schools are scheduled to open in time for the 2020-21 school year.