Lee County teachers return to classrooms

Teachers are back in Lee County classrooms on Tuesday, with 450 new teachers joining the school district before classes start next Monday.

Leaders with the School District of Lee County say nearly 100,000 students will be heading back to school next week. Teachers are getting their classrooms ready, and many feel a sense of premature exhaustion ahead of the 2022-2023 school year. That comes from the district’s learning models constantly changing due to the pandemic, from the push to get more pay and from the new Florida laws regarding education.

Despite all that, however, many of the nearly 6,000 teachers who will be teaching students in Lee County this school year say they’re still excited.

“Yes, being a teacher has its moments of exhaustion, but do I get up every morning? And I’m excited to go back,” said Lee County kindergarten teacher Hayley Segal. “There’s nothing better than a new year. We get so excited about it. There’s so much planning that we do, even now. I mean, my husband and I have already been to Target looking for things for our classroom.”

LCSD say it is doing its best to return to a traditional learning model, allowing guests and visitors back into the classroom. This comes as the CDC shows that 63% of the population in Lee County is fully vaccinated, compared to 71.3% in Collier County and 66.4% in Charlotte County.

While COVID-19 concerns may be winding down for some, parents are nonetheless worried about school safety.

“I do believe our schools are safe,” Segal said. “Our panic button we have to wear around us all the time, that is there. We’ve been trained on how many times to press it in terms of a very big emergency, a small emergency. They are able to see where we are; all of admin knows where we are.”

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