Lee County School Board

Lee County Public Schools has a new Superintendent in Christopher Bernier, who took the oath of office on Monday to serve the district.

At Tuesday night’s school board meeting, speakers took to the podium during the public comments period to voice their disapproval of a district board member’s comments regarding Guatemalan students. During a Zoom community forum, board member Chris Patricca was discussing the difficulties administrators face when figuring out placement for incoming international students based on their age and education level.

Controversy continued Monday night over the Lee County School District’s student code of conduct, particularly as it pertains to non-discrimination policy concerning LGBTQ students. District staff recommend the removal of an Equality Florida poster from schools that spell out LGBTQ student rights.

State health officials reported 7,569 new cases of COVID-19, Tuesday and 187 new coronavirus-related deaths.The Florida Department of Health released a statement, Sept. 1, explaining that Tuesday's reported single-day increase in cases of the virus is inflated due to delayed reporting of test results from Quest Diagnostics. The Health Department's statement notes that the test reporting dump from Quest includes nearly 75,000 tests, some dating as far back as April.The incident has prompted the Florida Department of Health and the Florida Division of Emergency Management to sever ties with the laboratory company.

The School District of Lee County has partnered with Lee Health to create a program to help connect families to mental health services. The School…