District still honing proximity plan for middle school
A few changes were presented to the Lee County School Board on Nov. 21 regarding the middle school proximity plan, specifically for the West Zone.
The plan, which is intended to allow for closer-to-home campus assignments, is slated to be voted on early next year.
The first reading of the student enrollment plan is scheduled on Dec. 5, followed by the school board voting on the plan on Jan. 9.
Planning, Growth & Capacity Director Dr. Adam Molloy said the revised middle school proximity plan includes changes to zones AA and BB. Challenger Middle School and Mariner Middle Schools are grouped together in AA and Gulf Middle School and Trafalgar Middle School are grouped together in BB.
Changes were made to enhance alignments with middle school proximity zones facilitating Patriot at Challenger, as well as address capacity challenges, Molloy said, adding there are geographical restraints with Patriot and Challenger.
Superintendent Dr. Christopher Bernier said the West Zone has a lot of middle schools grouped very close together.
“It makes it difficult to draw a line between them because how they are approximately being placed,” he said.
Board Member Sam Fisher, who is the representative for District 1, which includes Sanibel and Captiva, had concerns.
“Trafalgar is the feeder school for Pine Island,” he said. “Challenger is a little farther away.”
Fisher said it would be skipping over one school to go to another. He said Challenger is one of the schools that would have a high displacement rate, around 67%.
“That is a lot of big change there. On behalf of the district, I do have concerns,” Fisher said.
Molloy said he would take a look at the Pine Island and Trafalgar connection. He said Trafalgar is closer to Matlacha and Pine Island.
There are 49 fifth-graders at Pine Island Elementary School, Molloy said.
“When we ran the test with better alignment with elementary, we did have to put some boundaries down giving the close proximity of those middle schools,” he said.
Fisher asked if staff could bring back possibilities for the Trafalgar, Challenger, Pine Island and Mariner area.
A few Pine Island parents attended the meeting to share their concerns.
“Trafalgar is the absolute closest for everyone,” one resident said.
Both residents shared that with the island being mostly fishermen and farmer, it is hard for them to leave the island to drive and pick up their children.
“It is quite different to expect a parent to drive on and off an island verses a Cape parent to drive and extra two miles to get their choice,” another parent said. “I understand the Patriot, Challenger issue. Pine Island is going to end up collateral damage to solve the problem.”
Bernier said he knows that Pine Island Elementary School and Trafalgar Middle School run deep together. He said they will get some updates and take a look to see what they can do to offer support.
Student Enrollment Executive Director Soretta Ralph also addressed revisions to the enrollment plan to further look for needed improvements for families and efficiency for the district.
The first includes the barrier island schools — The Sanibel School, Fort Myers Beach Elementary School and Pine Island Elementary School. Ralph said each of the schools are listed in each of the proximity zones for parents to be able to select, but the parent is responsible for transportation.
“The Sanibel School is included in each of the middle school zones with transportation provided by the parent,” she said.
There is also a Proximity 2 (P2) for elementary and middle schools, which gives parents another level of preference. Ralph said it enables parents to choose a school that is more than two miles from their residence but still is closer to their home.
The P2 option has been reintroduced as a factor, but no longer has the mileage restraints.
“P2 is closest-to-home preference,” Molloy said.
Ralph said Island Coast High School is available to all families.
Families also have the opportunity to select one of the six middle school art schools across the district, as long as parents provide transportation if it is outside of their proximity zone.
There will also be placement for registered sibling with common parent and address together prior to the lottery.
“Elementary and middle school zones for the K8 schools will be extended to assist our families, so they overlap,” Ralph said.
Open enrollment begins Jan. 16 and runs through Feb. 29 providing families the opportunity to rank their school in their proximity zone. Families can select to remain at their current school as long as the submit a continuation form, which includes a document that accepts the responsibility to transport their student to school and promises to get them there on time.
Families that do not submit a school choice or continuation form for their child will be entered into the lottery. Ralph said this will be done to ensure all students that have a registration in the district will be enrolled in a school by the end of the lottery.
“The lottery process comes into play when the number of applicants surpasses the available seats. The preferences highlighted play a crucial role in determining the school of enrollment,” Molloy said.
There is the possibility for a student who wants to attend a middle school outside of their zone to do so after the lottery runs and there is capacity at the school.
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