Written by Don Ruane
As many of you know high school classrooms serving Lehigh Acres students are bulging at the seams.
The Lee County School District is planning to pick a site for a new, 2,000-seat high school by April 2017 and to open the school in August 2009.
There is a district-owned, 102-acre site at Joel Boulevard and Tuckahoe Road that could be used for this school and other district needs in the future. The site is just over the line in Alva but the school would serve Lehigh Acres and the rest of the East attendance zone.
Alva Inc. is spearheading a drive to get the district to pick the Alva site. Alva Inc. also is recommending the school have a strong environmental studies program including agriculture. The site is in the midst of hundreds of acres of Conservation 20/20 land, Bedman and Hickey’s creeks and the Greenbriar Swamp, all of which can provide excellent outdoor learning opportunities.
Alva Inc. is a not-for-profit group interested in community issues and encouraging development in keeping with the rural nature of its community. The support of Lehigh Acres residents is needed to make this happen. We will need people to write letters to school board members and the media in support of this site. We will need people to attend and speak up at advisory committee and school board meetings where this issue will be discussed and voted upon.
Please contact me or other members of the Alva Inc. steering committee for this project if you want to help out.
Ruby Daniels: rubydaniels@embarqmail.com
Don Ruane: ruanedon@aol.com
Kendra Scott: tnknfla@embarqmail.com
Darren Watkins: dmwatkin@gmail.com
Connie Dennis: Constanced@exede.net.
For more information about why Alva Inc. thinks this is the best site please go to the public group Facebook page called East Zone High School. Click on the “files” tab to see our working draft documents that will be used to prepare our proposal for the school district.