The Lee County School Board will hear a presentation by an outside consultant on June 3rd about the future of the Beach Elementary School. Parents who take their kids to the beach school are worried the report might be the nail in the coffin for their school.
The Beach School has been closed since Hurricane Milton after being closed for 13 months after Hurricane Ian. The school reopened to great fanfare and a ribbon-cutting ceremony after being closed for over a year. Several school board members and candidates for office attended the event.
Now, despite an increase in enrollment since reopening, the future of the facility is very much in doubt. Beach school supporters, parents and members of the ad-hoc committee say they are keeping their end of the bargain by increasing enrollment and getting expenses down, and they are worried the school district may renege on their end of the deal. They were certainly caught off guard when the district announced a consultant would be hired to determine the viability of the school.
At the time Ian hit enrollment was about 50 students. By the time Milton hit enrollment was up to 72 and the principal at the time, Tracy Kohler, had been working on reducing costs.
After the two storms closed the school, the students attended San Carlos Elementary. Vice Mayor Jim Atterholt, who’s a member of the ad-hoc committee, has said it’s clear the kids will not be returning to the beach school when the next school session begins in August. No work has been done on the school since Milton came through.
Last month it appeared the district was considering 5 options to remediate the school ranging from 7 months to 18 months to repair, with cost estimates ranging from $3 million to $16 million. Now, with this consultant’s report coming it’s unclear if those 5 options are actually still on the table. The ad-hoc committee has recently been meeting with the school district for “weekly check-ups” but have consistently come away from those meetings frustrated. A meeting scheduled for this week was canceled by the school district. The consultant’s report is expected to be complete by next week. That will give the ad-hoc committee members an opportunity to review it before the June 3rd school board meeting presentation.
Despite this upcoming consultant report, the school board had previously decided, after Hurricane Ian, in a 7-0 vote, that the school would reopen and a plan was put in place to rebuild portions of the damaged structure as long as the enrollment numbers increased to a certain level and the cost to operate the school came down. The school district signed a 4-year deal with the ad-hoc committee and Fort Myers Beach community committing to rebuild the school if enrollment increased and expenses decreased.
Committee members also believe that district delays in deciding what to do will cut into the increased enrollment numbers as parents look for ways to stabilize where their kids go to school. Ad-hoc committee member John Koss told Beach Talk Radio, “We now have 66 kids. We lost 6 due to their current inaction. So we should be at 72. The last consultant they hired told them we would never exceed 40. There is no consultant who can look at this situation and accurately predict the outcome. That’s why we have an ILA.”
Following the 7-0 school board vote the agreement signed by the district and the community said: “An inter-local agreement between the town and the Lee County School district states that by 2024-2025 the district will build additional facilities on the campus to accommodate a permanent kitchen/cafe. Also, by 2024-2025 the district will improve the historic building with additional classroom space to accommodate up to 80 students. After that, the school board will design and construct additional facilities to accommodate no more than 150 students.” Hurricane Milton appears to have thrown a monkey wrench into that plan. The additional projects agreed to have not even gone out for bid as of today.
While running for election, on Beach Talk Radio, current School Superintendent Denise Carlin said the beach needed a school and she supported keeping it open. Carlin has directed staff to meet with the ad-hoc committee on a weekly basis.
Vice Mayor Atterholt told Beach Talk Radio an option that was being explored was converting the town hall trailers into a school while they wait for the district to decide on what they plan to do with the building. Atterholt told us Monday that option is now off the table. “The manufacturer of the trailers has declared to our Town Attorney that the type of trailers the Town has cannot be used for a school purpose.” Attorholt also said that the town has requested School Superintendent Carlin attend the May 19th Town Council meeting.
The June 3rd 1PM school board meeting is open to the public with public comment at the start of the meeting. If you are unable to attend the meetings are broadcast on YouTube HERE.
You can also send comments to the School Superintendent and school board members:
Dr. Denise Carlin, Superintendent
superintendent@leeschools.net
General Board Office Correspondence
BoardOffice@leeschools.net
Samuel Fisher, District 1 (Chair)
samueljf@leeschools.net
Jada Langford Fleming, District 6 (Vice Chair)
jadanfl@leeschools.net
Melisa W. Giovannelli, District 2
MelisaWG@leeschools.net
William F. Ribble, Jr., District 3
WilliamFRi@leeschools.net
Debbie Jordan, District 4
DebbieJ@leeschools.net
Armor Persons, District 5
armordp@leeschools.net
Vanessa M. Chaviano, District 7
VanessaMC@leeschools.net
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