As of today, all students attending Lee County schools can resume their education, either in a school building or through Florida Virtual FLEX.

Having all the school buildings that could be re-opened open, and the remainder of students learning virtually or at combined schools, is just the beginning of the recovery process, School District of Lee County Superintendent Dr. Christopher Bernier said.

Hurricane Irma had a $50 million impact on the school district with the potential of adding another zero to that number because buildings are significantly damaged, he said.

It is a reality the district may face just to return the schools to their prior state, which does not include the three schools that took a significant hit: The Sanibel School, Fort Myers Beach Elementary and Hector A. Cafferata, Jr. Elementary School in Cape Coral.

“We still have more evaluations to do on those buildings as well,” Bernier said.

The Sanibel School and Fort Myers Beach Elementary School are combined schools with San Carlos Elementary School for the duration.

Audrey Stuart, a Sanibel Island resident, business owner and parent of two children at the Sanibel School spoke before the board Tuesday. She shared that last Friday nearly 100 parents joined a Zoom call, which Superintendent’s Office Coordinator Adam Molloy attended.

“As you are aware, the Sanibel School is a special place with a rich history,” she said, adding that they want to be a part of the cleanup and rebuild, ready to assist in any way possible.

Kate Shaffer, also a resident of Sanibel with two children at the Sanibel School and a member on the Sanibel School Fund, said they are organizing relief team committees to form a direct line of communication to the district, as well as creating a school district liaison committee.

“We are ready to assist your efforts. We look forward to working collaboratively with you,” she said.

Bernier said there is a clear community expectation and as they look at next week they will begin to have those interactions.

“There are some difficult decisions, gut and rebuild, or rebuild. There are some other discussions that we need to have. We will sit and converse what your thoughts and expectations are and what our thoughts and expectations are,” he said of the timelines moving forward.

Bernier said that also goes for Fort Myers Beach Elementary School and Hector A. Cafferata, Jr. Elementary School.

The district is working with Imperium Consulting Group, LLC for FEMA and insurance consulting services.

“We are following FEMA guidance to ensure every dollar we are eligible for, we will receive,” Bernier said.

He indicated they are in the first phase of recovery, remediation and stabilization. On Oct. 6, the district awarded Cotton Commercial USA, Inc., Lemoine Disaster Recovery, LLC., Royal Plus, and Signal USA, LLC to provide stabilization and remediation services to district facilities.

He said they are “sealing the envelope” — sealing the walls, roofs, windows and doorways to prevent any additional water intrusion. These are temporary fixes.

All 88 schools returned to school by this Friday, as all of the schools passed the final checkpoint of an indoor air quality test.

“Contractors, in order to turn a building back to us, have to have an indoor air quality test. They are liable and accountable for turning over an unhealthy building,” he said.

On Monday, 13 schools opened; Tuesday 16 schools opened; 48 schools on Wednesday; three schools on Thursday and three schools on Friday.

“All facilities that can open are open,” Bernier said. “Diplomat and Lexington begin their curriculum on Oct. 21.”

There are five schools that have not opened yet, but students are either sharing a campus with another school, or participating in virtual school.

“They have the opportunity to continue to learn with their teachers,” he said of Diplomat Middle and Lexington Middle School students.

On Oct. 17 when 13 schools opened, Bernier said 82 percent of students came back to school. With 29 schools on Oct. 18, attendance rose to 90.9 percent. Bernier said the figures can rise to 99 percent attendance in one building and as low as 64 percent attendance at another school.

Staff is actively finding out where students have gone, where they are now and how the district can help in assisting them return to school. He said as they start to get information from other districts and have to send cumulative files they will know where students might be going.

“It will be another two weeks before we have a sense of who is coming to school, who still may be coming,” Bernier said. “We will start to be able to track our students that we potentially could lose.”

As far as bus attendance the first two days of school, it ranged between 80 to 83 percent.

“Transportation wasn’t exactly the highlight of the School District of Lee County operations prior to Ian,” Bernier said. “I encourage parents to look where the bus stops are. Do not place your child in harm’s way. You are always welcome to drive your child to the school building, or organize with a neighbor.”

He said they are working with the state on removing debris from bus stop locations.

On Oct. 13, 85.38 percent of TALC employees came back to work, which rose to 94 percent on Tuesday. Eighty-five point 71 percent of SPALC employees returned on Oct. 13, which again rose to 91.15 percent on Tuesday.

Bernier said that shows an amazing deduction of employees.

Two hundred teachers have identified themselves as homeless Bernier said, which have been matched with vouchers with the county and they are working with FEMA with travel trailers.

“If we can’t keep them here they have a professional shingle they can take somewhere else,” Bernier said. “We have reached out to the faith- based community,” he said, adding this has been mobilized, offering an amazing window.

Board member Gwyn Gittens said a Survey Monkey was prepared to be able to match someone who has a room for a teacher.

“A Survey Monkey was done and the committee decided to work with the faith-based group in partnership with the Collaboratory. The survey is going directly to the Collaboratory and they also have the list of the needs of staff and they are therefore able to match people up,” she said.

When individuals fill out the form, which can be found at www.leeschools.net, the Collaboratory will contact them.

“We are also working with the county on providing housing. There is a huge effort going on,” she said.

The second phase of post Hurricane Ian will be fixing what was impacted and the third phase is long term of new buildings, or gutting buildings and starting over on the interiors. Bernier said the new flood line will probably be 12 to 15 feet high.

He has yet to figure out how to build a building in the air to accommodate that.

As far as the calendar for the remainder of the year, Bernier said they have already opened the dialogue in regards to forgiveness days. The calendar committee is meeting, as well as parental members to make sure recommendations are brought forward and heard. A recommendation from the calendar committee will be brought before the board early next week.

Bernier said they are now 26 days in emergency operation, 20 days past the storm and 14 days of missed school.