Sanibel, Fort Myers Beach students attend different schools due to Hurricane Milton damage

For the second time in two years, students in Sanibel and Fort Myers Beach headed to a different school Wednesday morning because of a hurricane.

Damage left by Hurricane Milton the night of Oct. 9 left students without habitable classrooms at Fort Myers Beach Elementary and the Sanibel School.

Fort Myers Beach Elementary students are now attending class at San Carlos Park Elementary while the students from the Sanibel School will attend Heights Elementary.

WINK News reporter Camila Pereira spoke to one mom who was dropping off her child from Fort Myers Beach Elementary at San Carlos Park Elementary.

She said having to drive there to drop off her child and then go and take her husband to work can be stressful because it’s a relocation that might be out of the way for those on the island.

Two years earlier, Fort Myers Beach Elementary relocated to San Carlos Park Elementary after Hurricane Ian damaged it.

Getting them back to their classrooms took over a year, and parents were frustrated.

“Seven months in … it’s frustrating, you know? On a day-to-day basis, our kid, the effort it takes to get home from school is a lot. Kids are resilient, but they need to have some normalcy. They need to have a routine in their life,” said John Koss, a Fort Myers Beach Elementary Parent.

Parents are now asking the same question as they did two years ago: when will their kids be able to go back to their original schools?

WINK News contacted the Lee County School District regarding the timeline before students and staff can return to their original schools.

According to the Lee County School District Public Information Officer, there is no timetable for students and staff returning.

When asked about the extent of damages, the PIO responded, “Both Fort Myers Beach Elementary and The Sanibel School were damaged by water intrusion caused by Hurricane Milton’s storm surge. We are diligently working to remediate the damage so it does not get any worse. Once that phase is complete, we will consider the repair options available to us.”

WINK News also received multiple tips regarding the power and air conditioning being out at North Fort Myers High School.

The PIO responded to the claims: “All schools have power. A reliable source of power was one of the required elements to reopen a school. A few campuses have dealt with the same short, intermittent outages that homeowners and businesses have as electricity is restored around them, but none have significantly interrupted normal operations.”