Week of JULY 5, 2023
VOLUME 61, NUMBER 33
School district works to hone its new budget By MEGHAN BRADBURY
news@breezenewspapers.com
Jennifer Lusk
Jill Gurgal
New administration at Sanibel school to host meet-and-greet By TIFFANY REPECKI
I
trepecki@breezenewspapers.com
sland school families will have the opportunity next week to get to know the new leadership. The Sanibel School Principal Jennifer Lusk and Assistant Principal Jill Gurgal will host a Meet and Greet with the New Administration Team on July 10 starting at 9:30 a.m. at the school. Free and open to enrolled families, it will entail introductions, sharing their vision for the school's future and more. Lusk explained that she has served as assistant principal at
the school for the last three years. “So families know me in that capacity,” she said. “This is an opportunity for me to present my vision as principal for the upcoming year and some of the exciting opportunities we will be bringing back or introducing.” Before joining the island school, Lusk served as the assistant principal at Lehigh Elementary School for four years. A lifelong Lee resident, she has worked for the School District of Lee County since 2004.
Although the School District of Lee County received a significant increase to its budget, there is still a shortfall, which officials said they are working through to create a balanced budget for the upcoming school year. “It is important for the public to understand this is a preliminary budget,” Superintendent Dr. Christopher Bernier said last week. “The district is in a good financial position.” Some of the planned operational efficiencies include eliminating about 15,000 collective miles per day at the elementary level for busing which, at 4 miles a gallon at diesel fuel prices, is a cost savings that will feed into the district’s general, or operating, fund. “We are going to be able to balance the budget and do things all of you as a board prioritized moving forward,” he said. The preliminary budget is set at $2,353,112,738. Within the budget the See BUDGeT, page 18
IslanderInsIde
See MeeT-AND-GReeT, page 17
State legislators announce funds for clean water projects By NATHAN MAYBERG
nmayberg@breezenewspapers.com
Rep. Jenna Persons-Mulicka (R-78) was joined by members of Lee County’s state legislative delegation, county lawmakers and other local politicians on June 23 at Riverside Community Center in Fort Myers to announce planned water infrastructure projects that were funded in the latest legislative session, as well as other funding for Lee County to recover from Hurricane Ian. At a press conference over-
State Rep. Jenna Persons-Mulicka
looking the Caloosahatchee River, PersonsMulicka spoke of $125 million for water infrastructure projects in the Caloosahatchee and St. Lucie basins which she said would “help ease the cost of building modern wastewater and stormwater infrastructure to help pre-
vent against local water quality challenges like red tide and harmful blue-green algae blooms.” She said the newly-passed state budget includes local infrastructure improvements for water quality, stormwater management, water treatment and septic-to-sewer conversion projects. Persons-Mulicka, whose district covers Fort Myers, said the state budget recently signed by Gov. Ron DeSantis allocates funds for projects in Lee County from “hurricane recovery to infrastructure and resiliency to water quality and numerous community initiatives.” The state See WATeR PRoJeCTS, page 18
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