Lee County School District superintendent: Next steps coming Friday
Fort Myers News-Press | By Sammantha Neely | October 5, 2022
The Lee County School District plans to address the status of schools opening on Friday.
Superintendent Christopher Bernier, in a video message posted to LCSD’s social media on Wednesday evening, updated students, family, staff and the community on the progress they’ve made so far, as well as what their next steps are.
“I will be making sure an announcement is made regarding the school district’s operations on Friday, so you’ll know this weekend how to prepare for next week,” Bernier said.
LCDS don’t have all the answers yet, says Bernier
In the video, Bernier first spoke about progress they’ve made so far, starting with the LCSD food drive held on Wednesday afternoon. He thanked the Miami-Dade School District for delivering the food and the countless volunteers who showed up to help.
In addition, he brought up the district’s upcoming “Grab and Go” lunch drive on Thursday at 11 a.m. at James Stephens Elementary, located at 1333 Marsh Avenue in Fort Myers.
As for progress made towards reopening, he stated the administration is continuing the professional assessment of the buildings and expect to have a full report as early as Thursday.
“I suspect that we will have some good information, along with some information that gives us greater concern,” Bernier said. “I don’t want to pretend that I have all the answers at this point because I don’t.”
He said they will make their decision based on three critical criteria officials have been discussing since the early stages of the storm:
- Safety
- Sensitively
- Effectiveness
Here’s what school officials recommend parents do now
Bernier said parents and staff can help the district in making it decision with reopening schools.
The “Family Check-in” form was launched Wednesday, aiming to see how students and families are doing post-Hurricane Ian, as well as what they need from the district.
For the link to the form:
- English: https://tinyurl.com/3ab2bt48
- Spanish: https://tinyurl.com/39ykrvns
- Creole: https://tinyurl.com/279ym8zx
LCSD aims to do whatever it can to reopen schools
Bernier ended the video announcement by stating that while he hasn’t been a part of the LCDS community for too long, he is proud to call the Lee County his home and promises to do what he can to reopen schools.
“We will open when we can and we will do it safely,” Bernier said. “Please in the meantime, take your own safety as an important process to insure that you continue down that incremental progress towards prosperity.”
