Parents on Fort Myers Beach are starting to wonder if their school will ever open again. The ad-hoc committee of parents and community leaders are very frustrated with the lack of communication or plan to reopen the building from the school district.
The Beach School was heavily damaged by Hurricane Ian in September of 2022 and remained closed for over 13 months before the kids returned to a huge ribbon-cutting ceremony and celebration. The building was damaged again by Hurricane Milton in October of 2024 and remains closed as the school district considers what to do to repair the building. After Ian, beach school students were bused to San Carlos Elementary and that’s where they go now.
Vice Mayor Jim Atterholt, who’s a member of the ad-hoc committee, says a meeting held with the district last week was very discouraging. He said it’s clear the kids will not be returning to the beach school when the next school session begins in August. Atterholt said the district is 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. All 5 repair options are detailed at the end of this story.
The committee was also told a consultant would be hired to explore whether the school is viable. That’s what set committee members off. The School Board had already 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 had worked on cutting down the cost and was making great progress on that item.
At the time Ian hit enrollment was about 50 students. By the time Milton hit enrollment was up to 72 so ad-hoc committee members believe they are keeping their end of the deal. Hiring a consultant to determine if the school is viable makes no sense to them, and, they believe, it goes against the deal the district signed.
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.
PTO Treasurer and Ad Hoc Committee member Jenny Tardiff told Beach Talk Radio she was disheartened by their meeting with the district. “I personally have asked parents to have faith in our school district because I believed they were going to do the right thing – what they promised in the ILA. We have been moving forward towards our mutual “goal” in good faith. Sad that it feels like the rest of the committee wasn’t doing so. It’s hard enough to promote a school that’s on a barrier island. Now try throwing in that the building has been sitting empty for 6 months and that there are rumors everywhere that it’s never going to reopen. How are we as parents and the town supposed to combat that? Unfortunately, we are not going to be able to, and sadly, it feels like it’s on purpose, and it makes me sick to my stomach. I teach my children to be true to their word. If you say something, you do it. Period. It’s unimaginable that the leaders of our local education system are having a hard time with the concept.”
Vice Mayor Atterholt told Beach Talk Radio an option being explored now is 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. The town should be in their new town hall at 6231 Estero Boulevard in the next few months and they are having trouble getting out of their lease for the trailers they are in now.
The Beach School does have a new Principal. Her name is Kimberly Egdish-Baxa. We reached out to Ms. Baxa by e-mail on March 24th and asked her to come on the show. She never responded. Baxa replaced Dr. Tracy Kohler who retired from the school district in November of 2024 and took a job with the Town of Fort Myers beach as Executive Assistant to the Town Manager.
Here are the 5 options in detail the school district says they are considering.
