The Bayshore School — North Fort Myers to get expanded K-8 campus
The North Fort Myers community will soon have a kindergarten through eighth grade school, as the groundbreaking for The Bayshore School is tentatively scheduled for Oct. 3.
The School District of Lee County school board approved the $50 million project to build 22 new classrooms and a gym on Aug. 5, at The Bayshore School, formerly known as Bayshore Elementary School.
The Bayshore School Principal Ben Ausman said he has been pushing for eight years to have the expansion.
The school began enrolling middle school students last year with the fifth graders moving into sixth grade, and then for this year moved into seventh grade. As an elementary school, they typically have 600 students enrolled, which jumped to 780 students with sixth and seventh graders this year.
“That was the goal behind the whole thing. If we do it, we wanted the kids to get the chance to roll up,” Ausman said, adding that it is such a tight knit community.
This school year marks 22 years in education for Ausman. His teaching career began at Veterans Park Academy for the Arts when it first opened. He taught there for five years before becoming the assistant principal at Bayshore Elementary School for four years. He left Bayshore Elementary School for a few years and worked at a couple other schools before returning nine years ago.
“At the time we didn’t have proximity. The proximity that went through at the elementary and middle schools tightened things up. It made more sense,” Ausman said of having a K-8 school. “There were a number of students living in the area that did not have the opportunity to stay here. They were shipped further west.”
When he began the discussion about creating a K-8 school, he received a lot of support from parents, the school board, and district members.
Now every student who attends The Bayshore School will have the opportunity to roll into the middle school grades, as the expansion will allow an additional 300 middle school seats. There will also be room for any additional students in the local area to fill some of the open seats.
“I cannot even express the excitement,” Ausman said about his dream of expanding the school. “My heart really is here at Bayshore. I am invested in this school and community as I possibly could be.”
He said it is hard to describe how proud he is to have the support from teachers, the community, and the students, adding parents attended numerous school board meetings to show support.
“We had a large number of parents that went and advocated for this,” Ausman said. “There were a number of students that had the courage that spoke as well to help express their desire to have this happen. This has been a team effort.”
Now, with the addition, he can watch his students continue to grow through their middle school years, instead of hearing how the kids are doing through their parents and siblings.
“I get to live it every day with them,” Ausman said.
The school district owns the property surrounding the school with an interlocal agreement with Lee County Parks and Recreation. Ausman said there are different leagues and associations that use the property surrounding the school.
“The goal should not be to take as much of what we want, but be mindful that it is community space too,” he said. “One of my personal goals for the build out was to maintain as much of that community park space, field space, for the students to enjoy, kids and children in the community.”
With that said, Ausman said they opted to put the addition in the current parking lot, which is very close to the existing campus.
“I don’t want the kids to feel isolated, but really inclusive and part of everything in our school,” he said.
The campus already has four separate buildings. The new addition may have a different style, but will be fully connected to the existing campus.
The 22 classrooms and full-size gymnasium will allow for the typical arts programs that middle school have – art, band, musical theater, physical education and sports. Ausman said there will also be some additional elective classes – such as technology, STEM, and fine arts.
“Right now, we are packed in here. We are not able to offer the full array of things,” he said.
Ausman was able to sit down with the design team, district team and architect for the addition. He said he is really excited to have something unique and different.
The process allowed him to pick where on campus the addition will be located, the paint colors and flooring, as well as space for science labs, storage, and planning spaces for teachers and where doors would be most accessible for students.
“For the staff they are getting more and more excited about it. They can’t wait to see dirt turning up out there and heavy equipment,” Ausman said.
The total build will take anywhere from 12 to 14 months.
“We are looking at some time, maybe mid-fall, for completion if everything goes according to plan – until the kids are inside the building,” he said.
The campus is celebrating its 60th year this year.
“I have always loved being around kids and watching them learn and grow,” he said of why he chose this career path.
Although the academic piece is naturally the core piece of his work, there are so many other important aspects – such as creating a safe space, and environment where everyone is involved. He said with students not having the ability to advocate, or necessarily know how to advocate for themselves, it is important to give them a genuinely great experience at school.
“How can we create that sense of pride – to walk out of Bayshore and say I went to Bayshore and it is the best place I could have gone,” Ausman said. “We certainly have our way of doing things here. We really get kids to buy into it and have a sense of pride that they are a Buccaneer.”
Bayshore school is at 17050 Williams Road, North Fort Myers.
BAYSHORE SCHOOL
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17050 Williams Road, North Fort Myers, FL 33917
Phone 239-543-3663 | Fax 239-543-4040
This story appears in the latest issue of the North Fort Myers Neighbor Living magazine, available at locations throughout North Fort Myers.