The Lee County School District’s new Superintendent Dr. Christopher Bernier held the first of three town hall-style events last week aimed at sharing his priorities for the school system, getting feedback on the district’s changing student enrollment process, and other issues.
More than one hundred parents, teachers and community members gathered at Caloosa Elementary in Cape Coral Thursday evening to hear from Bernier and pose their own criticisms and questions.
Unlike school board meetings in recent years where topics including critical race theory, banning books, and LGBTQ policies have taken center stage, the town hall event struck a more civil tone. None of those political hot-button issues garnered a mention.
Instead, Bernier said staffing challenges remain a top concern despite the district hiring 453 new teachers over the summer. Additionally, Bernier reported that the district still had 129 openings for bus drivers, even after giving them a wage increase. Bus drivers for Lee Schools are now the fourth highest paid in the state.
Bernier also addressed how the COVID-19 pandemic severely limited parental involvement in the classroom. “Those days are over. I need you back in the volunteer lines. I need you back as ‘donuts for dads,’ classroom moms…or classroom dads. I need you back on your SACs and your PTOs and PTAs. I need you back involved with our school building. Our principals have been dying for it,” said Bernier.
The district is in the midst of developing a new student enrollment policy meant to address ongoing transportation challenges. Bernier said the district’s still-developing proximity plan won’t eliminate school choice transportation, but he said the system still needs to take into account projected student population growth.
“Let me make it clear: I’m a firm believer in choice,” said Bernier. “I think it’s important for families to have options for their children other than the school that they can see, but I also think that we have to get real. We have systems and procedures in place that were appropriate when we were a 50 thousand seat system. We’re now 103,000. We’ve had 6,000 new students register since June 5. That pushed us way over the hundred thousand mark. I was surprised.”
Bernier, who was sworn in as superintendent in May, said he’s about 75% through the process of making site visits to every school campus in the district and holding meetings with principals.
Over the course of the 90-minute meeting, Bernier fielded questions and criticisms on a variety of issues including the student enrollment process, school safety, healthcare premium costs for district staff, the need for before and after school programs, teacher burnout, high school graduation rates, public records requests to the district, and the amount of homework some students are assigned.
Bernier expressed broad support for comprehensive before and after school programs. “I come from a community where every single elementary and every single middle school had a quality before and after school program that the schools didn’t pay a dime for. The community rallied around it. The citizens commission for children determined it was a priority,” said Bernier.
“There’s nothing worse than an unsupervised middle schooler, right? You don’t want them at home at four o’clock when you get home at six. You don’t want them alone for two hours. Why can’t we keep them at school inside a safe program run by our YMCAs, run by our Boys and Girls Clubs, run by the Stars program? Where those individuals, those programs are getting money, while at the same time…the teachers who want to do that work, clock out as a School District of Lee County employee, they clock in as a YMCA employee and they get paid for that work too.”
When asked if such programs would accommodate special needs students, Bernier said “All means all.”
Bernier also defended the district’s decision to transition high school students from block scheduling to seven-period school days. “I know there was some concerns and angst over this district moving from an eight to a seven-period day, but it really did help us with our vacancies. It really did. It gave us our best opportunity to have a quality teacher in every classroom.”
The district’s new policy for how students will be assigned to schools is still in the works and not slated to take effect until the school year beginning next fall.
“Eventually, we’re going to have to make a difficult decision about how a system of 103,000 students moves into the future of 106,000, 110,000, 125,000. We are one of the only school districts in the state of Florida experiencing growth. That’s a great thing budgetarily, but it’s a difficult thing to manage in terms of school sites, finding more than 400 teachers every summer.”
Superintendent Bernier will hold two more town hall events in the coming weeks to accommodate families living in the district’s South and East zones.
If You Go:
Lee County School District Superintendent Town Hall Events:
San Carlos Park Elementary
17282 Lee Road
Fort Myers, FL 33967
Sept. 8, 5:30 – 7:00 p.m.
Tortuga Preserve Elementary
1711 Gunnery Road N.
Lehigh Acres, FL 33971
Sept. 15, 5:30 – 7:00 p.m.
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