Lee County school district plans to build a new school in Gateway community

Published:
Seal of the School District of Lee County. Photo via WINK News.
Seal of the School District of Lee County. Credit: WINK News.

The school year just began and Lee County school district is already thinking about the future, by approving the nearly $100 million budget for a new high school.

The new school is planned for the Gateway community on a piece of land off State Road 82 and Griffin Drive.

Families say the new school’s proposed location will cut down on their commute to take kids to school.

“I think it would be nice to have a closer option for my older son…his middle school was 30 minutes away,” Katie Schmidt said.

The building design follows the same prototype as others, including Bonita Springs High School, which just opened it’s doors last year. But the price tag for the Gateway community is estimated to be about $20 million more expensive.

Superintendent Greg Adkins says that is for 2 simple reasons, one, it is a bigger building with a 3rd floor and that in itself cost about $9 million extra. The second reason is construction costs go up each year.

Adkins says he is grateful for the community support, but the people who live near the site do have some concerns.

“There’s a lot of people who live in and around the Gateway community so having a big high school there, I think is gonna be a big benefit for all of us,” Adkins said.

Once the budget is approved, the plan is to start the project September 1.

Copyright ©2024 Fort Myers Broadcasting. All rights reserved.

This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed without prior written consent.