news@breezenewspapers.com

A plethora of improvements, as well as new schools, have either been completed, are under way, or near beginning in the East Zone, all made possible through voters approving the half cent sales tax three years ago.

The School District of Lee County went through a decade of the state cutting funding from its capital budget, leaving the district in the position of not being able to build any schools, or keeping up with routine maintenance.

With Lee County voters passing the half-cent sales tax increase three years ago, it has generated  $228,152,475 for construction, safety and security, maintenance and technology. Between 2019 and 2021, the revenue has accounted for 33 percent of all capital revenue for the district.

In the current fiscal year, the sales tax has provided $87 million for improvements district wide.

“It is hard to overstate the impact the sales tax has had on the School District,” Chief Financial Officer Dr. Ami Desamours said in a prepared statement. “We were delaying maintenance just a few years ago.  Now we are building for the future, upgrading our schools, increasing security and adding new technology.  Our students benefit every day from the improvements now available to us, thanks to the support and confidence of our community.”

As of Nov. 9, $28,874,601 has gone towards construction, $46,567,696 has gone towards maintenance, $36,617,279 has gone towards safety and security and $40,584,108 has gone towards technology district wide.

District Spokesperson Rob Spicker said the revenue has helped the district catch up to building new schools in the East Zone, as well as taking care of maintenance projects and improvements schools needed.

The community was promised that the construction of six new schools and the rebuilding of two would take place if the sales tax was passed, as well as the spending being limited to four categories.

The two school rebuilds are in the South Zone with Franklin Park Elementary School and Cypress Lake Middle School. Spicker said it was more cost effective to rebuild these schools rather than continuing to do maintenance.

Franklin Park has entered the beginning of the design phase with construction starting in about a year. Cypress Lake Middle is a little farther behind.

Many projects have already been completed using the sales tax revenues, such as renovations at Lehigh Senior High School. Those renovations and additions include a JROTC building, the library being converted to classrooms and a media center, front entrance way redesigned and rebuilt to increase the size of the clinic, and outside seating for the cafeteria.

“All of that was done in August 2019. We had to get started. The sales tax revenue helped pay for the financing of the building,” Spicker said.

During the renovation, Lehigh Senior also received storm safe windows, a price tag of $1.7 million, more than a million dollars in safety upgrades and a half a million dollars for Promethean boards.

Spicker said the boards are large interactive TVs that teachers can play videos, work and write on the boards.

“It’s a very engaging tool for students. It keeps them interested and engaged in what is happening in the classroom,” he said.

So far the district has implemented the Promethean boards at 42 schools district wide. The boards are located at Mirror Lakes Elementary School, Riverdale High School, Harns Marsh Elementary, East Lee High School, Lehigh Middle School, Lehigh Senior High School and Gateway High School. The final goal is for every school in the district to have them in the classrooms.

Other completed projects includes a new Lehigh Acres Middle School, a $54 million project providing 1,300 students. An additional 200 seats will begin either in February or March.

The students from the old Lehigh Acres Middle School were transferred to the new school.

There are $12 million renovation plans for the old LAMS, which was showing its age. Spicker said they will bring the old LAMS to modern day, as well as some additions. There also will be renovations to Veterans Park Academy for the Arts, which will include a black box theater connecting the two campuses together.

Gateway High School, another completed project, opened on Aug. 23 with 2,000 student stations at a price tag of $98 million.

“They have a fantastic school,” Spicker said.

East Zone projects also include the construction of Elementary J, The Innovation School, as well as renovations of Lehigh Senior High School, Riverdale High School and the old Lehigh Acres Middle School and Veterans Park Academy for the Arts.

The Innovation School, a major construction project still to come includes is a partnership with Florida Gulf Coast University, which is planned for Treeline Avenue near Daniels Parkway with an tentative opening date of August 2024.

“The Innovation School has some money planned for this year to begin the design (phase) and construction over the next two years,” Spicker said.

The Innovation School will be a K-8 campus with 1,300 to 1,600 student seats. The estimated cost, according to a March school board meeting, is $75 million.

The vision of the school, according to that same board meeting, is to inspire motivation through instructional best practices that includes critical thinking and collaboration.

Riverdale High School is undergoing an extensive addition and renovation, which will include a new science building, gym, as well as an expanded kitchen and cafeteria and new parking area for students.

“Because of this project, all the portables on this campus are going to be no longer needed. It removes the need of portables on this campus,” he said.

A couple of years ago, Riverdale High School was the biggest school in the district. Spicker said they decreased the population of the school, although still big, will be easier to do the work, as they can move students to sections that are not being renovated.

G. Weaver Hipps Elementary School received a new roof with the sales tax revenue. He said a brand new pre-K center is also underway with construction beginning next year.

Other East Zone projects include safety improvements at Varsity Lakes Middle School due to unsafe walking for students along a long access road. Spicker said concrete barriers were put into place to keep students separated from traffic.

The second phase of the improvements, which will begin over winter break, includes an enhanced flow of traffic for buses as there will be different exit and entrance.

The sales tax revenue also has provided a great deal of safety upgrades in the East Zone. They include such things as entrance way security and fixing uneven concrete.

There also were many covered walkways added to keep students dry if they are in portables, or in unconnected buildings, parent pick-up and bus ramps. Those improvements took place at Harns Marsh Elementary School and Veterans Park Academy for the Arts.

Technology improvements include every elementary school student having a Chrome book assigned to them, which was sales tax funded. Surveillance systems have also been updated at schools by increasing the number of cameras to eliminate blind spots.

Spicker said an entire campus can be monitored, by having both an eye on the campus, as well as to an area when responding to a situation.

Improvements made at schools can be tracked on the district’s “change for change” webpage https://www.leeschools.net/our_district/change_for_change.