BONITA SPRINGS, Fla — The Town of Fort Myers Beach and the Lee County School District met Wednesday to try to resolve their dispute over the future of the Beach Elementary School.
Fort Myers Beach Community Correspondent Austin Schargorodski was at the meeting. After hours of back and forth, the district agreed to consider building a new school while preserving the historic building of the old one.
Watch to hear details of the decision at the resolution meeting:
The meeting was all about finding common ground after months of tension. The town says the district broke past agreements to rebuild the hurricane-damaged school when it announced plans to demolish it earlier this year. Town leaders say this is about more than classrooms.
“Reopening Fort Myers Beach Elementary is not just about education for us. It’s about recovery, equity, leadership, and the entire community,” said town manager Will McKannay.
Neighbors showed up in numbers to speak out. “Delays in reopening are directly harming students’ academic progress,” one person said.
Town leaders say the district moved ahead with the demolition plan without working through FEMA’s required funding and mitigation steps. The town said if it went through, it would have cost the community millions in recovery dollars.
Doreen Jacobi says she has a fourth grader at the elementary school, and all this uncertainty is affecting him.
“We already lost a year. Milton, that was over a year ago now. So we’re losing more time and need something fast because the kids are suffering,” Jacobi said.
But the school board says it’s taking a realistic look at safety and costs. After every storm, they say enrollment drops despite efforts to rebuild and recruit.
It could cost up to ten million dollars every five years to keep the school running, especially in such a high-risk flood area. They question whether it makes sense to keep rebuilding it.
“As we move forward we have to be pragmatic and acknowledge these facts,” one board member said.
Ultimately, the district agreed to consider letting the town use the building as a municipal charter school until a new campus is built. Afterward, the historic building could be preserved for community use like a museum.
The town is asking the district for $12 million to help fund the new school. “It was exciting to hear they were receptive to it, and I’m looking forward to discussion over the next weeks between our staff,” said Mayor Dan Allers.
The attorney overseeing the process said he’ll have new information for the district and town to review at their upcoming meetings.
