FORT MYERS BEACH, Fla. — Parents left feeling frustrated tonight because of school transportation, saying there isn’t enough.
It comes just one day after the Lee County School District unanimously approved its new enrollment proximity plan. The plan is designed to help with the growing enrollment all throughout Lee schools.
But, some students have been left waiting at their bus stops indefinitely.
"There is meant to be a bus, but there never really is a bus.”
For parents of Fort Myers Beach Elementary students, not only do they have to deal with a closed school but, now, a lack of transportation.
“I said, ‘Where’s the bus?’ and then I asked a simple question, ‘Hey- there was no bus today so is there going to be a bus this afternoon?’" said Erin Field, a parent of two students. "Nobody got back to me.”
Erin Field has two daughters who aren’t at Fort Myers Beach Elementary because of Hurricane Ian damage but now attending San Carlos Park Elementary. Both of them were going to ride a bus Wednesday morning until it never showed.
"All these parents, their texts from this morning were like, ‘Can you go do this? I have this appointment, I have to work.’”
So Field drove her children, along with other students, to school.
"They were late, they couldn’t take a test," she says. "My second grader said she couldn’t take a test. She got to school too late. Then, ironically enough, I get a call from Lee County saying my daughters are absent.”
And it’s taking its toll on parents, too.
"As parents, we have jobs, we have commitments, we have appointments, we have things that we have to do,” said Jesse Field.
Fort Myers Beach Elementary has had fencing placed all around it in recent weeks. It’s a sign of work being done on the inside, but it also has some parents feeling that not enough is getting done.
"We’re in jeopardy of the school actually opening up next year, at this point,” said Jesse.
That comes after a phone call Jesse had with someone within the district. Calling to see which school his soon-to-be middle schooler can attend next year.
"While I was on the call, they actually made a recommendation of enrolling my second grader there as well," he says. "Why would they do that if this school was going to be open?”
The school district tells us a board presentation is set for February 22, discussing options for the future of Fort Myers Beach Elementary.
"We will figure it out and we will fight to the end, that’s for sure," says Jesse. "And, in our opinion, we should get a school back.”
