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Speakers urge Lee County board to fix ESE services, preserve prevention positions funded by JUUL settlement
Summary
Public commenters highlighted alleged failures in special education services and urged the board to retain prevention specialist positions funded by JUUL settlement money; speakers asked for accountability for administrators and for the district to use settlement funds for prevention.
Parents and education advocates told the Lee County School Board on July 29 that special education services are failing some students and urged the district to use existing settlement funds to preserve prevention positions.
India Valencia, a parent and workshop attendee, said an internal audit found widespread lapses in required special-education supports and urged the board to take immediate action. “An audit pulled 289 student IEPs and found only 2% of those legally required accommodations were actually being delivered,” Valencia said, calling the situation “catastrophic neglect of our most vulnerable student population.” She asked the board to “cut top-heavy administration until classroom educators” and to take “swift public action to expose and correct the failures in our ESE services.”
Kathy Wynne, who identifies herself as a prevention specialist with the Hanley Foundation and a longtime substitute teacher in Lee County, told the board her position was not renewed amid budget decisions even though the district has received settlement funds intended for youth vaping prevention. “We have received much of our $2,200,000 from the 2023 JUUL settlement with its intention being to remediate youth vaping,” Wynne said. She added the district is due “$268,000 more this December and in December 2026,” and asked that a portion of those funds be redirected to retain prevention services and curriculum used in recent years.
Wynne described work her team had done: creating K–5 instructional materials, videos and online courses that the district used to meet state lesson requirements when a curriculum was not provided. She said those programs were set to expand into a cartoon series for young students in the coming school year, and asked the board to “please don't cut lessons that save children's lives for the sake of our students, their health, and their future.”
Board members acknowledged the public comments and several said they would follow up directly. Board member Langford Fleming asked Wynne to meet one-on-one to review the two positions and funding; several board members praised the district’s prevention partners and asked administration for more information on the staffing and funding decisions.
No formal board action on ESE services or on redirecting JUUL-settlement funds was taken at the July 29 meeting; speakers requested that staff bring more detailed information back to the board.
