Schools open Thursday

Aug 8, 2023 By MEGHAN BRADBURY 6 min read

New safety measures are in place for the 2023-2024 school year, which will kick off Thursday here in Lee County with more than 100,000 students heading to class.

“We are excited about a lot of things. The safety and security, the Guardian Program, the OPENGATE entry technology and other safety enhancement we made,” said Dr. Christopher Bernier, superintendent of the School District of Lee County. “Our greatest hope is it’s a non impacted year… not dealing with former issues of infectious disease, that we don’t have a hurricane. (The hope is it will be) a great, awesome ’23-’24 to move forward without interruption.”

As a superintendent there are always two priorities that are of equal importance — academic achievement and school safety.

On Friday, Aug. 4, the Sheriff’s Department officially finished all the training for the Guardian Program candidates, which included 15 who went through training, with six impacted. The Guardians will be used as force multiplier in addition to the School Resource Officers.

They went through 160 hours of training that included firearms, deescalation, tactics and medical.

Guardians will be uniformed and easily recognized with their day glow yellow uniforms, Bernier said, adding the bright color will help police officers responding to a building recognize them as Guardians.

“Last spring, with support from the School Board, we announced that we would be partnering with the Lee County Sheriff’s Office to provide interested and qualifying employees with the required training to participate in the Guardian Program. Recently, a graduation ceremony was held for those that successfully completed the training. These individuals will be placed in the school and District buildings in which they currently are employed. They will be uniformed and armed and will support our School Resource Officers during emergencies,” an email sent to parents read earlier this week.

The system will start on 16 campuses this fall. The pilot project will continue to roll out into every elementary, middle and high school, large and small, as the district continue to refine the implementation.

“By the end of the school year, all schools will have the technology,” Bernier said.

He hopes the OPENGATE system will help parents have conversations with children regarding the lengths both the district and school board take to protect students and staff. Bernier also hopes it will help young people make better decisions knowing the technology is there regarding items not permitted at school.

Change in school assignment methodology: Proximity

In addition to technology, the district has made improvements for transportation as the elementary proximity plan rolls out this year.

“While we have less vacancies because there are less numbers of drivers necessary, all drivers are employed,” Bernier said, adding that 15,000 daily trip miles were eliminated.

“It’s a shorter range in time when transporting elementary school students,” he said.

With that, there is a higher percentage of time for high school and middle school students to arrive to school on time, as the district operates on a three-tier system with elementary schools falling into the second tier. This will also improve students arriving home on time.

Some routes remain uncovered, but the district continues to move people through the human resources pipeline with the hope of getting them started on the first day of school,

This year the district will start to explore a proximity plan middle schools, compressing attendance zones so children can attend schools closer to home.

Gearing up for the classroom

Many meet-the-teacher open houses are taking place this week in advance of first day of school on Thursday. Bernier said they try to ensure that the first and second semester are balanced in terms of instructional days, which is why the start of the 2023-2024 school year fell on a Thursday this year.

The two-day week has some advantages — it creates an environment for academic instruction and an opportunity to ensure buses are running smoothly. In addition, it allows the district to troubleshoot any potential issues with the weekend to work out any concerns, he said.

“Parents, we want your involvement,” Bernier said, adding that could come with conversations with their child about school, volunteering, or becoming a field trip chaperone.

He said by becoming involved it really sends the message to a child the value of public school education.

“We encourage (parents) to find opportunities in the school. To volunteer and be an integral part of your child’s education,” Bernier said.

Post-Ian changes

Almost a year later, the district is still feeling the impacts of the destruction Hurricane Ian left behind.

There are still two sites where students will not return to “their” schools. Hector A. Cafferata Elementary School will remain at the portable campus behind Cape Coral Technical College. This month the board will vote on contractors to begin working on the K-8 school in mid Cape Coral.

The other school, Fort Myers Beach Elementary School, will not be in its home either. Bernier said the tentative plan is to get the students back into their historic building some time this fall.

Most maintenance is complete, or nearing completion for other buildings that had hurricane damage. He said there are still roofs that need to be worked on, which will be with earnest and great speed.

Those who would like to see an update regarding a specific school can visit the district’s website, leeschools.net, and click on the hurricane icon. Here the community can get an updated transparent scorecard with progress of all the work being done.

Also to roll out this year is a PSA regarding bike ride and walk safely. Bernier said the district has worked with the mayors of Cape Coral and Fort Myers, as well as police chiefs to ensure students are safe to and from school.

The district is also promoting the “see something, say something” initiative. He said they can put all the technology in place, but they need students and staff to be their eyes and ears.

This year the district has added more than 2,000 seats in the neediest area, Lehigh Acres, with the opening of Amanecer Elementary, Lemuel Teal Middle School and additional seats at Lehigh Acres Middle School.

“I am excited and thankful for the half penny sales tax. Without that money, those buildings are not possible,” Bernier said.

The community can also look forward to the refreshed strategic plan, which focuses on such areas as academic outcomes in reading, writing, math, graduation, discipline, recruitment and retention, operation and maintenance.

“Those will have public facing score cards located on the website,” Bernier said. “The community will have a score card much like a student report card.”

The school board will discuss the refreshed plan at the Aug. 16 board meeting. He said they are looking forward to getting that approval and sharing the work at town halls and touring the community.

Bernier said he is excited about getting back out and spending time in the community.

To reach MEGHAN BRADBURY, please email news@breezenewspapers.com