School Board to Discuss Ideas for Elementary School Hit by Hurricane

CAPE CORAL, Florida. After moving all of their students to portable classrooms due to Hurricane Ian, members of the Lee County School Board tried to figure out how best to fix the damage at Hector A. Cafferat Jr. Elementary School.

On Tuesday, around the corner from Hector Kafferat, the future of the damaged elementary school was out of sight, but not out of sight for Cape Coral parents in line to load.

“I think the best thing would be to restore it,” said Gisela, a parent whose twins go to Hector A. Cafferata Jr. Elementary School.

While other families like Cathy Hartman would like to see the school get some improvements.

“I think actually I would like it to be refurbished,” Hartman said.

There were several options being considered Tuesday after Hurricane Yan forced students out of the building and into these portable classrooms in mid-December.

“If the structure itself had not survived the hurricane that happened now, I think that the best option would be to restore it. So that you know all around that structurally it’s great,” said Gisela.

At a briefing by the Lee County School Board on Tuesday, four options were presented to board members:

1. The restoration of the school is estimated at $20 million.
2. Demolish and then rebuild the school, estimated to cost $60 million.
3. Close the existing site and build a new K-8 nearby, estimated at $100 million.
4. Demolish and preserve property valued at $3 million.

Cathy Hartman, who was picking up her grandson, said rebuilding the old school was the right way to go and disagreed with moving the school to a new location.

“A lot of the families are local and I think they’ve already moved quite a bit,” Hartman said.

However, school leaders say the move option would mean enlarging the campus for future growth.

Parents like Gisela told Fox 4 that she needed a new school in the same location, which school leaders said was an option that would have taken about 12 months to complete.

Another 12 months means her kids will have to spend more time in portable classrooms.