The School District of Lee County will spend $20 million on a temporary portable campus for Hector A. Cafferata Jr. Elementary School.

Before Hurricane Ian the school at 250 Santa Barbara Blvd. had 750 students, a number that has since decreased to 725. Due to heavy storm damage — including the loss of its roof and heavy water infiltration throughout both floors — those students are now split between two campuses with those in kindergarten through second grade are attending Hancock Creek Elementary School. Third, fourth and fifth graders are attending school at Pelican Elementary.

There are 90 affected staff members, including Principal Jason Kurtz who goes back and forth between the two campuses throughout the day.

“We have to focus on the fact it is not a conducive educational environment,” Superintendent Dr. Christopher Bernier said last week at the board meeting at thich the funding was approved. “The state is not going to make any changes to its expected testing schedule, or accountability system for the state. We have a responsibility, hopefully, to get these young people back to a school building with principals to move forward with skills and wonderful abilities, but also work related to testing.”

Construction Project Management Director Scott Reichenbacher said right now portables are in short demand.

“We got the state to allow us to use portables that were permitted in other states, similar to what the State of Florida did in the panhandle for (Hurricane) Michael. They are just not available and this company has the resources at a premium to gather all the resources and materials and set up the campus in a one month period,” he said. “There is a price you pay for that. Part of doing business is if it is important for you to set up a campus and bring these students and families together,” he said.

The $20 million price tag is for up to two years, with the temporary campus to be completed in a month’s time. Cotton Commercial USA, Inc. will lead the design-build project, which includes support from BSSW Architects, Inc.

“I want to close by thanking all of you. There are no easy decisions moving forward here. This is the first of many difficult ones that will come before this board,” Bernier said after the board voted unanimously to approve the temporary campus.

The campus will include a total of 46 portables, with a breakdown of 36 24×36 classrooms with restrooms; three 12×36 portable restroom facilities; one 48×60 modular office space to utilize the cafeteria; three 24×60 office space modules for administration and the clinic; one 53×8-1/2 foot kitchen to serve hot food, one 53×8-1/2 foot cold prep trailer and one 48×8-1/2 foot dishwasher trailer to supplement the food and service prep. There also will be raised and covered walkways.

The temporary campus will be located on adjacent Cape Coral Technical College property and will include a perimeter fence that separates the elementary school from the college campus.

“This is not a portable campus that we will own. We are not going to buy these portables. These portables, we will be renting them and leasing them from this company until we no longer need it,” Bernier said.

The location already has the infrastructure in place, as it was a swing campus previously. That infrastructure includes plumbing and electricity.

Board member Mary Fischer supported the project.

“This is an emergency situation. There have been a lot of disruptions to our community. Families are displaced, they are out of their homes. We have between 700 and 800 students and the staff who are disrupted, but they are also part of the disruption for two other schools,” she said. “How much are we spending anyway with this whole transportation? I live in Cape Coral. The traffic is a nightmare. I think that further inconveniences can be avoided by doing this.”

Fischer said the $20 million, when subtracted from what they are already spending, is a small price to pay to give that number of people a sense of normalcy. She said it is also an opportunity to be together as a school family and not disrupt two other schools, while working on social, emotional and academic progress.

Although board member Chris Patricca voted in favor of the recommendation, she did so uncomfortably.

“It is also about the 103,000 other students in the district and the fact that we could be putting $20 million towards 725 students by denying $20 million in capital available to the rest of the district,” she said. “That is where I am struggling.”

Patricca said when she broke down that number, it equated to $27,586 per student.

“We were reimbursed for two-thirds of our Hurricane Irma expenses. I get that we are working with Imperium and doing everything we can to get the maximum reimbursement that we can get, but we only got two-thirds of our current hurricane reimbursement with Irma. Two-thirds of that brings it down to $9,100 per student. I am really struggling. I will approve this because I believe in the necessity of this for the kids and that community, but I have to beg for efficient, out of the box, really innovative thinking in terms of what our next steps are with this school,” Patricca said. “I don’t know if I have been more uncomfortable voting on this than I am right now. I am not confident in reimbursement and the impact it has on all of our students across the district.”

Bernier said they are putting their best proposal forward in order to be qualified for reimbursement.

“FEMA is an organization that gets to decide. I wish I could be more specific,” he said.

Board Attorney Kathy Dupuy-Bruno assured the board that they are working with their FEMA consultant to help them maximize their reimbursement. She said they have documented everything, as well as photographed, so when it is time for reimbursement they have the best chance possible.

Part of that includes the continuation of remediating the elementary school, so FEMA sees they are not letting the building further fall apart.

“We spoke to the Fort Myers Beach Elementary parents (who are) not seeing a lot of remediation. Fort Myers Beach Elementary is a total loss. Everything there needs to be reconstructed. In a sense Fort Myers Beach Elementary took a bath. The situation at Hector (there is the) potential reconstruct from the inside. You have to continue to work on the remediation at Hector,” Bernier said.

Hector A. Cafferata was one of three schools that were part of the staging schools across the district in the mid 2000s due to the rapid student growth. The district purchased a prefabricated modular concept design to build Hector A. Cafferata, which became a permanent campus during a funding shortfall.

The other two locations were Rayma C. Page and G. Elementary School and Weaver Hipps Elementary School, which were former department stores turned into school sites.

Hurricane Ian left a significant amount of damage behind for Hector A. Cafferata. There were extensive roof issues, which came off very early in the storm. With the roof gone, there was water infiltration into the building.

“It rained so much it soaked it from the second floor into the first and now the building interior must be completely removed prior to the decision of the future. We are still in the process of gutting and stripping down Hector A. Cafferata,” he said.