FORT MYERS, Fla. — The future of Lee County Elementary schools on the agenda today.
Namely, Hector A. Cafferata Elementary.
The school has remained closed since Hurricane Ian, with students attending class by use of portable classrooms. Now the school board is trying to decide between four options one of which, has already received the state's approval.
The school district has been given an expedited permission to tear down Cafferata Elementary from the state. Now, just because they have that permission, it does not mean they have made a decision just yet. That is expected to come toward the end of March with a few options still on the table.
One update to come out Wednesday night, the school district has been given permission from the state to tear it down. That news coming from Superintendent Christopher Bernier.
"We had to get approval from the state in order to do that," said the superintendent. "The state has helped us to make the determination that Hector A. Cafferata Elementary school, where it stood, is no longer viable. It needs to be removed so I wanted the community to be aware of that.”
Four options have been laid out to board members.
- Option 1: restore the school which would cost an estimated $20 million.
- Option2: demolish and then rebuild the school. This would cost about $60 million.
- Option 3: close the current site and build a new k-8 school nearby. It's estimated this would cost about $100 million.
- Option 4: demolish and hold the property, which would cost about $3 million.
There will be a briefing presentation during the next regularly scheduled school board meeting on March 7th. After that time, a town hall is expected to take place.
"Between that March 7 briefing presentation and the 28, we will be going out to do a town hall with the Cafferata community so that they can be aware of what the plans are for a permanent facility for them and removing them from the backyard of the Cape Coral Technical College.”
The school board is expected to make a final decision on the future of Cafferata Elementary on March 28.
