Riverdale High, 2600 Buckingham Road: grades 9-12, 1,916 students (2024-25), a C in Florida's 2026 grades. IB program. A choice for east Fort Myers.
Last checked Oct. 9, 2026. Sources: The School District of Lee County, its 2026-27 Student Enrollment Plan (PDF) and school enrollment zones, the school’s website, the Florida Department of Education’s 2026 school grades, the federal NCES school directory and the Florida High School Athletic Association.
Riverdale High School is a School District of Lee County high school on Buckingham Road, east of Interstate 75, about 10 miles northeast of downtown. It has a Fort Myers mailing address but sits outside the city limits. It is on this list because families in the East 1 and East 2 subzones, which cover about a third of the address points in Fort Myers, can rank it, and it is one of the district’s four International Baccalaureate schools.
Who to call
- Front office: 239-694-4141, 2600 Buckingham Road, Fort Myers, FL 33905
- School website: rdh.leeschools.net
- Enrolling and choosing a school: Student Enrollment, 239-337-8247, or text “SDLC” to 239-299-7332; student enrollment page
- Buses: the district’s transportation page, or the main line, 239-334-1102
| Address | 2600 Buckingham Road, Fort Myers, FL 33905 |
| Phone | 239-694-4141 |
| Grades | 9 to 12 |
| Principal | Julie Powell |
| 2026 state grade | C (58% of points) |
| Enrollment zone | High school East 2 |
Principal. Julie Powell is the principal, according to the school’s administration page; the district’s directory lists her as Julie Powell Balan.
Enrollment and teachers
- Federal count: 1,916 students in the 2024-25 school year, with 76 full-time-equivalent classroom teachers, according to the NCES directory. That is about 25 students per teacher.
State report card
Florida gave Riverdale High a C in its 2026 school grades, after a B in 2025 and 2024. The school earned 58% of the points possible, according to the Florida Department of Education’s 2026 school grades file. The school’s state report card has current enrollment and results by student group; it is an interactive dashboard that could not be read for this page.
| 2026 school grade measure | Result |
|---|---|
| School grade | C (58% of points) |
| English language arts achievement | 52% |
| English language arts learning gains | 56% |
| Math achievement | 40% |
| Math learning gains | 41% |
| Science achievement | 62% |
| Social studies achievement | 59% |
| Graduation rate, 2024-25 | 97% |
| College and career acceleration, 2024-25 | 64% |
Florida grades schools A to F on the share of possible points earned across these measures. Achievement is the share of tested students on grade level; learning gains is the share who improved from the year before. For a high school, A is 65% of possible points or more, B is 60% to 64%, C is 45% to 59% and D is 35% to 44%, the state’s file says.
Enrollment zone and feeder schools
Lee County does not assign a high school by street address alone. Under the district’s 2026-27 Student Enrollment Plan (PDF), the county has three high school zones, East, South and West, each cut into three subzones, and families rank the high schools offered in their subzone. A lottery fills a school with more applicants than seats.
Of the 65,866 current address points the City of Fort Myers lists inside its limits (city GIS), about 67% fall in the South 1 subzone, 23% in East 2 and 10% in East 1 on the district’s 2026-27 zone layer. South 1 families rank Cypress Lake, Dunbar, Fort Myers and South Fort Myers high schools; East 1 families rank Dunbar, Gateway, Lehigh Senior and Riverdale; East 2 families rank those four plus East Lee County, the plan’s tables show.
Riverdale High sits in East 2 and is a choice in all three East subzones. Under the 2026-27 plan, the district buses students to it from East 1, East 2 and East 3.
Feeder schools. The district does not publish feeder lists. Eighth graders rank the high schools in their subzone, and a younger sibling at the same address is placed with an older one, the plan says.
Changes approved. The School Board approved the 2026-27 plan on Dec. 1, 2025. It limits district buses to each high school to the subzones in its “exclusive transportation zone” but “does not limit a student’s access to choose a school,” the district’s zones page says. Students who live within 2 miles of their school are not bused.
Check any address on the district’s map of school enrollment zones (elementary, K-8, middle and high), and call Student Enrollment at 239-337-8247 with questions.
Calendar and bell times
From the district’s 2026-27 instructional calendar (PDF), approved by the School Board on Nov. 4, 2025:
- Monday, Oct. 19: no school for students (remote teacher duty day)
- Wednesday, Nov. 11: Veterans Day, schools closed
- Nov. 23-27: Thanksgiving break
- Dec. 21 to Jan. 1: winter break; Monday, Jan. 4, is a remote teacher duty day, so students return Tuesday, Jan. 5
- Thursday, May 27, 2027: last day for students, early dismissal
Bell times. High schools run from 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. Riverdale High is on that schedule, according to the district’s bell times page. The full calendar and School Board details are in our Fort Myers schools guide.
Sports and activities
In football, Riverdale plays in Class 5A, Region 3, District 11 for the 2026-27 and 2027-28 seasons, with Cape Coral, Charlotte (Punta Gorda), East Lee County, Immokalee and North Fort Myers, according to the Florida High School Athletic Association’s finalized football classifications (spreadsheet).
The school’s athletics menu lists bowling, cheerleading, cross country, football (with freshman and JV teams), boys and girls golf, swimming, volleyball, boys and girls basketball, boys and girls soccer, boys and girls weightlifting, wrestling, baseball, boys and girls lacrosse, softball, boys and girls tennis, track and field, beach volleyball and flag football. Follow the season on our Friday night football page and scoreboard.
Programs. The district’s enrollment plan lists Riverdale among its four International Baccalaureate schools, with Cape Coral, Dunbar and Fort Myers; applications open in mid-January. The school’s site also has pages for JROTC teams and the Riverdale Raider Marching Band.
More on Fort Myers schools
- The district’s high school directory, with the principal, phone and zone for every high school
- Every public school in Fort Myers, with zones and report cards
- Our Fort Myers schools guide for the full calendar, enrollment steps and School Board meetings
Frequently asked questions
What grades does Riverdale High School serve?
Riverdale High serves grades 9 through 12. It is at 2600 Buckingham Road, outside the Fort Myers city limits, and its main line is 239-694-4141.
What is Riverdale High School’s Florida school grade?
Riverdale High earned a C in Florida’s 2026 school grades, with 58% of possible points, after a B in 2025 and 2024. Its 2024-25 graduation rate was 97%.
Can Fort Myers students go to Riverdale High?
Families in the East 1 and East 2 subzones, about a third of the city’s address points, can rank Riverdale, and the district buses students to it from all three East subzones.
What time does Riverdale High start?
Lee County high schools run from 7 a.m. to 2 p.m., according to the district’s bell times page.
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