When The Island School students file into class on Boca Grande Wednesday it will be single file.
Only 28 students have enrolled this school year, according to first-year Head of School Jean Thompson.
Thompson said the Island School Foundation will help the kindergarten-through-elementary facility work through the enrollment lull, which costs the facility roughly $10,000 per head in education compensation for every student under the 58 maximum allowable. This year's student shortage adds up to a $300,000 loss of funding.
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"Give me a year," Thompson said the week before class resumed. "We'll turn this around."
The Island School returns to class along with an estimated 82,000 students and close to 10,000 full and part-time employees with the Lee County School District.
More than 700 school buses will join parents driving some students and others walking or biking to school.
Law enforcement officers throughout Lee County are asking drivers to exercise caution.
Speeding in school zones, passing stopped school buses and failing to yield to students in crosswalks will be strictly enforced, said Lee County Sheriff Mike Scott.
"Motorists should plan on allowing extra time to travel to and from destinations and keep their attention on the road," Scott said in a press release.
