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Board Notes

School Board Notes
Action Meeting - May 6, 2025

Recognitions

The Board recognized:

  • Brooke Burg from Fort Myers High School, Alexia Del Toro and Jaillynn Matos from Young Parent Education Program, and Laura Lucha from Lehigh Senior High School, as recipients of the Superintendent's Florida Prepaid Scholarship.
  • The Lehigh Senior High School Unified Cornhole Team on their Special Olympics Unified Cornhole State Championship.
  • Four winners from the 70th Annual State Science and Engineering Fair of Florida. Mason Huffman from Cape Coral High School received Florida State Science and Engineering Fair Recognition Award, St. John's Regional STEM Fair Award for Outstanding Senior Project, Florida Polytechnic University Provost Scholarship Award, and National Youth Science Camp Award. Nishini Fernando from Dunbar High School for 2nd place in her category, NASA Biological Sciences Senior Certificate, Certificate for Outstanding Achievement and Ability, Creativity in Invitro Biology for her project. Alyssa Liu from Cypress Lake High School received 2nd Place in her category for her project and Tanish Madhar & Gabriel Cintron from Fort Myers High School also received 2nd place.
  • Eight students from Gulf Middle School and 36 students from North Fort Myers Academy for the Arts for earning Superior ratings at this year’s Florida Junior Thespians competition.
  • The North Fort Myers High School Indoor Guard for winning the Florida Federation of Colorguards Circuit (FFCC) Indoor Colorguard State Championship.
  • Nishini Fernando and Deetya Gogenini from Dunbar High School, and Justin Wang from North Fort Myers High School, for being chosen as the School District’s top juniors in STEM and representing Lee County at the 2025 Sunshine State Scholars Conference.
  • The Mariner High School JROTC Marksmanship team for winning two back-to-back National matches: the Junior Air Rifle championship at Camp Perry, Ohio and the American Legion National Championship. Mariner also won its third consecutive American Legion Florida State championship.
  • The JROTC units from Bonita Springs, Cypress Lake, East Lee County and Mariner High School for earning Honor Unit with Distinction, the highest level attainable, from the JROTC Accreditation Program.
  • The Cypress Lake High School JROTC Drone team for winning 1st Place in the Gold Division and an impressive 2nd Place Overall in the Teamwork Mission Challenge at the 2025 All-Service Drone National Competition.

Consent Action Items

The School Board approved:

  • An agreement with the Boys and Girls Club of Lee County, Inc. to operate summer programs at two locations for children who are between the ages of 6 and 18 years old, with priority given to School District of Lee County students.
  • An agreement with the YMCA of Southwest Florida, Inc. to operate summer programs at three locations for children between the ages of 5 and 14 years old, with priority given to School District of Lee County students.
  • An agreement with The Miami Lighthouse For The Blind And Visually Impaired, Inc. Heiken Children's Vision Program, which offers vision services and prescription glasses for students.
  • Adopting 46 job descriptions and revising one job description for the Academic Services, Business Services Executive Services, Human Resources, Information Technology, and Operations Division.
  • Professional leave for Kevin Daly during the 2025-2026 school year, President of the Teachers Association of Lee County (TALC).
  • The 2025-2026 High School Dual Enrollment Agreement with Florida Gulf Coast University.
  • A contract that supports all schools and departments for the purchase of cellphones, mobile hotspots, services and equipment on an as needed and approved basis.
  • Capital improvements proposed by the City of Fort Myers, specifically the installation of a new playground at Dunbar Park, at no cost to the District.
  • Agreements with CALEA, Inc. to be a nationally recognized and accredited School District as a platform for excellence, reform, and accountability.
  • Funding to purchase fifty-nine 77 passenger capacity school buses.
  • Adopting the Annual Instructional Materials Plan for school year 2025-2026, which will include the adoption of: K-5 Science - (Savvas), 6- 8 Science – (McGraw Hill), 9-12 Biology (Savvas), Chemistry, Anatomy & Physiology, Marine Science, Earth Space, and Physical Science (McGraw Hill), Physics (Pasco), and Forensic Science & Environmental Science (Cengage).

Administrative Appointments

  • Shanna Johnston, Chief Human Resource Officer
  • Donald Neese, Chief Operations Officer
  • Colleen Timm, Executive Director, Academic and Student Services
  • Vincent Lewis, Principal, South Fort Myers High School
  • Jackson Morgan, Principal, San Carlos Park Elementary
  • Kristina Morgan, Principal, Trafalgar Middle School
  • Jennifer Shonak, Principal, Rayma C. Page Elementary
  • Misty Smyrnios, Principal, J. Colin English Elementary
  • Jessica Stafford, Principal, Lehigh Elementary
  • Lisa Thomas, Principal, Tortuga Preserve Elementary
  • Joana Jobe, Assistant Principal, Mariner Middle School
  • Zachary Rust, Assistant Principal, Trafalgar Middle School
  • Jennifer LaPorta, Senior Coordinator, Financial Accounting

Please note that this page is updated after every School Board Action Meeting. For past meeting minutes, agendas and for a complete list of actions taken at the May 6th meeting visit the District’s BoardDocs page.

Our next action meeting is at 6:00 p.m. on Tuesday, June 3rd at the Lee County Public Education Center. All meetings are live streamed and available to view at your convenience on the District’s YouTube channel.

Thank you.
The School Board of Lee County