Parents fight Lee County plan to move Buckingham special needs school

LEE COUNTY, Fla. (WINK)—Parents are frustrated after learning their child's school is being relocated for the upcoming school year.

The School District of Lee County notified parents at Buckingham Exceptional Student Center that the school will relocate to the Royal Palm Exceptional School campus. It says it will run as two separate schools under the same roof.

Payton is a second grader at Buckingham Exceptional Student Center.

"Buckingham is a family away from home. A sense of normalcy," said Felishia Wilson, a parent at Buckingham Exceptional Student Center.

"My daughter's at Buckingham because she is wheelchair bound," Wilson said. "She has many medical issues, more than the average student."

"I feel like my daughter's needs, concerns, and care are all thought out thoroughly," Wilson said.

It's also why Katie Peterson enrolled her daughter, Grace, at the school.

"Grace has medical needs. She's blind, and she has a medication that she takes; she does not make cortisol," said Peterson, a parent liaison at Buckingham Exceptional Student Center.

"They are trained to do this, to care for these kiddos, and I've just seen them care for Grace in such a unique way," Peterson said.

Parents received a note from the School District of Lee County notifying them that the Buckingham Exceptional Student Center is relocating to the Royal Palm Exceptional Student Center. Dozens of parents, teachers, staff, neighbors, and students showed up to speak for the little voices of Buckingham.

"On Tuesday, we got to visit the Royal Palm campus, which they have amazing facilities for what they're the population they're serving there," Peterson said. "But to think about taking my daughter there and dropping her off, it would need an incredible amount of adaptations for her to even be able to comfortably be there."

On Tuesday, some school board members expressed the same concerns to the superintendent's administration, while others remained optimistic about the move. All these parents want is for the district not to make a decision about the school without the school.

"I just beg the district to pause this and to stop and actually hear from the people who are impacted by this, even the people from Royal Palm, the parents from Royal Palm," Peterson said.

The school district says the relocation is expected to happen in August.