The town of Fort Myers Beach and the Lee County School District will meet tomorrow at 1PM to try to resolve the issue of the future of the Beach School before the town possibly files a lawsuit against the district.
The 1PM meeting is St. Leo The Great Catholic Church in Bonita Springs. The church is located at 28290 Beaumont Road in Bonita. Attorney Derek Rooney from the law firm Gray Robinson has been hired as the mediator and both sides will split the cost.
The town has started the process of fighting the School District because they say the district has reneged on an inter-local agreement to rebuild the beach School. The district has not moved forward with any additional repairs after the school was damaged again by Hurricane Milton in 2024. It did re-open briefly after hurricane Ian.
The meeting is open to the public and the council plans to open the meeting up for public comment with each speaker getting 3 minutes to speak.
The School District has not publicly stated what the future of the Beach School will be. Many parents and residents on the island believe the School District has no plans to rebuild or reopen the school.
The process was recently started to get approvals to demolish the historical building on the school campus. Several board members have indicated they would not be willing to spend the funds to rebuild the beach school. Superintendent Denise Carlin, who campaigned by stating the beach needed a school, has not said where she stands on rebuilding the beach school.