Bayshore celebrates school expansion with groundbreaking
Bayshore Elementary School in North Fort Myers first began welcoming students in 1967. Last Friday, with several generations of former Bayshore students in attendance, Lee County officials – including Superintendent Dr. Denise M. Carlin and District Five School Board Member Armor Persons – held a groundbreaking ceremony to celebrate the impending addition of 22 state-of-the-art classrooms.
The $50 million expansion, which will finish a conversion to a full K-8 campus, is expected to be completed in the fall of 2026.
“This school has shaped my family,” Persons said. “Both my children, and now my grandson, attended Bayshore Elementary.”
He added that expanding Bayshore to house sixth, seventh and eighth graders had been the main topic of interest among his constituents when he began campaigning three years ago.
“A lot of people are really glad this is happening,” Persons said, smiling.
His daughter, State Rep. Jenna Persons-Malicka, attended the groundbreaking with her dad.
While the Gateway High School marching band played in the background, adding energy to the celebratory event, Persons-Malicka reminisced.
“Being back at Bayshore brings me a lot of good memories,” she said.
Pointing to a large tree in the school yard, Persons-Malicka said even the tree and the shade it brings were special parts of attending Bayshore Elementary.
Carlin believes the expansion of Bayshore will honor the school’s cherished past, while ushering the facility into the modern era with brighter bigger spaces.
Clarisa Parovi, architect for ADG Architecture. LLC, helped design the addition.
“We expect this addition to last 50 to 60 years without aging,” Parovi said. “Safety, security for kids and long days in livable spaces are all important pieces of this design.”
Principal Ben Ausman has been the leader of Bayshore Elementary for the past nine years. He credits the teachers, students and families with making his school a special space.
“We can’t wait for next year; for the expansion to be complete. It’s going to give us more space, and we’ll all be able to breathe again,” Ausman said during a brief address to the parents and officials gathered Friday,
Currently, construction tape and signage adorn the walls inside the school. Big changes are on the horizon. While Bayshore added sixth and seventh graders over the last two years, the addition of eighth graders will begin next fall.