Monday, June 12, 2006
Cape Coral Real Estate in the NorthWest - a Bad Impact?
An interesting article today with a school proposal - in our opinion, if the vote is passed, it would negatively affect values in the area. Thankfully there are years left until anything comes to fruition, but if you have property there now or are looking in the NorthWest end, you must read this article....
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Land-use change would accommodate ALC WestSchool for troubled students may relocate in northeast Cape
By Jason Wermersjwermers@news-press.comOriginally posted on June 11, 2006
A school that serves as a last chance for troubled middle and high school students may be headed for northeast Cape Coral in the next couple of years.
Cape Coral City Council unanimously approved a change last week in the land-use plan for 1426 Del Prado Blvd. N. that would allow the Lee County School District to move Alternative Learning Center West into a permanent building there. The school is currently in portables near North Fort Myers Academy for the Arts.
Councilman Tim Day, whose district includes the proposed site of ALC West, said he welcomes the school.
"I think these kids are in a critical situation in their lives, where they are in danger of being thrown out of the regular public school system," he said. "It's another opportunity for them before they get expelled. We have many kids from the city of Cape Coral in that gray area."
ALC West serves students in the school district's West Zone, which includes Cape Coral and part of North Fort Myers.
The proposal next goes to the Florida Department of Community Affairs, which will review the change and offer comments on how well it conforms with the city's comprehensive land-use plan.
The district also needs to justify to the state Department of Education the need for the school to have a permanent facility to the state Department of Education. The district has another Alternative Learning Center, called ALC Central, in Fort Myers.
The council would then have to grant final approval before the school can be built.
When the school year ended May 25, ALC West had 102 middle school students and 82 high school students for a total of 184. This was the first year ALC West existed.
City Councilman Jim Jeffers said he would like to have some questions answered before ALC West receives final approval. He felt his questions were not adequately answered at Monday's council meeting.
"I don't necessarily have a problem with schools being located coterminously or within a residential neighborhood," he said. "But with an alternative learning center, I would need some questions answered about its security issues and what kind of (academic) programming is intended to be placed in there."
ALC West Principal Derrick Donnell said his students continue the same academic plan they had when they were in regular school. Students stay between 45 days and a year, depending on the length of their suspension from their home school.
"Our goal is that after their stay here, they will be able to pick up where they left off," he said.
Donnell added that his school's environment is more strict than that of a traditional public school because of its small size. For the approximately 200 students who are there at any given time, the school has three security guards and a full-time sheriff's deputy.
"That would be on the short end of a high school, but on the large end of an elementary school," he said.
For anyone who might be worried that these students pose a risk to the nearby neighborhood, Day pointed out that many already live in the city.
"They live in the Cape right now," Day said. "People shouldn't worry any more about them being there than them being in your neighborhood. It's not a prison. They learn study skills and much better work habits in terms of getting schoolwork done, and they get discipline — a heavy dose."
Rolando Oramas, who lives on Northeast 15th Avenue, just behind where the school would go, said he does not have a problem with it.
"It's a good idea," said Oramas, 60, who has lived in the neighborhood for nearly a year. "They've got to have someplace to learn."
Donnell said it is unfortunate that students coming to ALC West get a stigma attached to them.
"People think, 'Oh, they're the bad kids,'" Donnell said. "That couldn't be further from the truth. They just made bad choices. This is their opportunity, a last-chance facility, to get back to regular school."
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Land-use change would accommodate ALC WestSchool for troubled students may relocate in northeast Cape
By Jason Wermersjwermers@news-press.comOriginally posted on June 11, 2006
A school that serves as a last chance for troubled middle and high school students may be headed for northeast Cape Coral in the next couple of years.
Cape Coral City Council unanimously approved a change last week in the land-use plan for 1426 Del Prado Blvd. N. that would allow the Lee County School District to move Alternative Learning Center West into a permanent building there. The school is currently in portables near North Fort Myers Academy for the Arts.
Councilman Tim Day, whose district includes the proposed site of ALC West, said he welcomes the school.
"I think these kids are in a critical situation in their lives, where they are in danger of being thrown out of the regular public school system," he said. "It's another opportunity for them before they get expelled. We have many kids from the city of Cape Coral in that gray area."
ALC West serves students in the school district's West Zone, which includes Cape Coral and part of North Fort Myers.
The proposal next goes to the Florida Department of Community Affairs, which will review the change and offer comments on how well it conforms with the city's comprehensive land-use plan.
The district also needs to justify to the state Department of Education the need for the school to have a permanent facility to the state Department of Education. The district has another Alternative Learning Center, called ALC Central, in Fort Myers.
The council would then have to grant final approval before the school can be built.
When the school year ended May 25, ALC West had 102 middle school students and 82 high school students for a total of 184. This was the first year ALC West existed.
City Councilman Jim Jeffers said he would like to have some questions answered before ALC West receives final approval. He felt his questions were not adequately answered at Monday's council meeting.
"I don't necessarily have a problem with schools being located coterminously or within a residential neighborhood," he said. "But with an alternative learning center, I would need some questions answered about its security issues and what kind of (academic) programming is intended to be placed in there."
ALC West Principal Derrick Donnell said his students continue the same academic plan they had when they were in regular school. Students stay between 45 days and a year, depending on the length of their suspension from their home school.
"Our goal is that after their stay here, they will be able to pick up where they left off," he said.
Donnell added that his school's environment is more strict than that of a traditional public school because of its small size. For the approximately 200 students who are there at any given time, the school has three security guards and a full-time sheriff's deputy.
"That would be on the short end of a high school, but on the large end of an elementary school," he said.
For anyone who might be worried that these students pose a risk to the nearby neighborhood, Day pointed out that many already live in the city.
"They live in the Cape right now," Day said. "People shouldn't worry any more about them being there than them being in your neighborhood. It's not a prison. They learn study skills and much better work habits in terms of getting schoolwork done, and they get discipline — a heavy dose."
Rolando Oramas, who lives on Northeast 15th Avenue, just behind where the school would go, said he does not have a problem with it.
"It's a good idea," said Oramas, 60, who has lived in the neighborhood for nearly a year. "They've got to have someplace to learn."
Donnell said it is unfortunate that students coming to ALC West get a stigma attached to them.
"People think, 'Oh, they're the bad kids,'" Donnell said. "That couldn't be further from the truth. They just made bad choices. This is their opportunity, a last-chance facility, to get back to regular school."
