Hector A. Cafferata Jr. Elementary reopens as modular school
Hector A. Cafferata Jr. Elementary School Principal Jason Kurtz had a lot of trouble holding his emotions together Monday as he welcomed students and faculty. It had been months since he had seen some of them.
They came together at their new educational home for the next 18 months or so as the school reopened as a cluster of modular classrooms at Cape Coral Technical College.
For Kurtz, it was a day he looked forward to since Hurricane Ian severely damaged the school on Sept. 28 and left the future of the building in peril.
“It’s amazing. It’s an emotional day,” Kurtz said, feelings boiling to the surface briefly. “It’s great to have our whole school family together again. It’s been a trying two and a- alf-months, but to have everyone back under one roof, or multiple roofs, is exciting, emotional and a great day.”
Assistant Principal Mike Licata said this whole thing has been a process but the school has done the best it can.
“Our kids are resilient, they are the best kids in the district, and the staff I consider an extended family and we need to be that way in order to do this,” Licata said.
Parents dropping off students were clapping and raising their hands in excitement. Music was playing and the children all had smiles and were hugging their teachers, administration and other students.
Students and teachers were reunited after spending the last two-plus months separated on two campuses, Hancock Creek and Diplomat elementary schools, after the Lee County School Board voted on Nov. 4 to establish 46 portables next door to the old school.
Audrey Kennedy, a first-grader, was thrilled to be back with her classmates.
“It feels good to be back. We’re from Cafferata and we get to see our friends again. I missed them,” Audrey said. “I got to see my best friends and hug them.”
Ethan Torres-Rios and Ian Capellan said they were happy they got all of their toys back after being at the old campus, though they said they missed the old Cafferata campus.
Their teacher, Hannah Mack, was thrilled to be back and that the new environment isn’t going to impact their teaching ability negatively.
“We were very eager to be back. We were counting down the days since we heard about the timeline,” Mack said. “We saw all the new toys we were missing and we got two new students back who followed their sibs to Pelican and they came back to us today.”
Some of the portables are being used as a cafeteria, for food prep and dishwashing. The feature building is the “11-plex” which will house 11 classrooms. The schools are run on three large generators, which use about 130 gallons of fuel every day.
While it would have been nice to have three or four more of those, Kurtz said with supply and material shortages and the contractor only being able to do so much with the high demand for them, it wasn’t possible.
Teachers have spent the last two weeks moving their supplies and reestablishing their classrooms to be ready for students to return, for the third time this year.
Mack said it was emotional to return to her classroom, but overwhelming to see all the boxes that had to be opened.
“It was a little overwhelming at first because it was our third time setting up a classroom. But a lot of people came to help and donate their time,” Mack said.
The school district has signed a two-year lease on the classrooms, expecting a brick-and-mortar Cafferata to be rebuilt or replaced. The district has an option to extend the deal, if needed.
Much depends on what the district decides, with a decision on the Cafferata building expected in February.
“It’s a credit to the district staff and administration who recognized the importance of our student and faculty being together under one roof. They determined we could do a portable campus,” Kurtz said. “Here we are, 30-something days later, back in class.”