School Board skeptical on school closures, but supe warns against kicking can down road
Dozens of community members implored the Duval School Board Tuesday to pause a plan to imminently close six elementary schools and a middle school leadership magnet program, saying there hasn't been enough time for community input — and several board members seemed to agree.
Duval Schools hosted the public hearing Tuesday as it's faced with the difficult task of trimming its budget by more than $100 million for the coming school year. A vote is coming Monday on whether to close the six elementary schools and discontinue the Young Men's and Women's Leadership Academy at Eugene Butler.
The current closure list was finalized this month, and the district then hosted a flurry of meetings about the pending closures at the affected schools.
"It feels rushed," one community member said during the public comment portion of the meeting. "There has been mixed information for a number of years."
Since this spring, the list of schools that the district planned to close has changed several times. With the schools on the current list serving almost entirely non-white and economically disadvantaged families, advocates have been calling for equity in decision-making .
District officials say they selected particular elementary schools because they are small enough to fold into nearby schools that have enough open seats to accommodate their students.
But District 5 representative Warren Jones, whose district has four Westside schools on the closure list, said, "The compassion, the concern that we show these communities is just as important as it is to save those dollars."
Jones will be leaving office soon, and two candidates are in a November runoff election to replace him.
Jones said parents at the schools on the closure list are just as invested in their schools, even if they haven't formed "save our school" advocacy groups like the ones at Atlantic Beach and Fishweir elementaries, where families are more affluent.
"Everyone has been vocal," he said. "Some communities speak differently than others."
Many community members on Tuesday also raised the question of conducting traffic studies to ensure student safety — particularly for the proposed consolidation of Arlington's Don Brewer Elementary into Merrill Road.
District 1 representative Kelly Coker, who represents part of Arlington, said she cannot support that consolidation until a traffic study has been completed.
Three of the schools up for closure are considered "walk-in schools" — meaning that all their students live within a 1.5-mile radius and thus don't qualify for bus transportation. When they are consolidated into different schools, many students will then qualify for bus transportation.
"I am under no illusion that we're not going to close schools in Arlington. It's going to happen," Coker said. "But it needs to happen in the right place."
Board Chair Darryl Willie said he is concerned that charter schools may be more successful than the district in recruiting students whose schools are closed. Instead of attending the new schools they'll be zoned for, they may instead go to charter schools that may be even closer.
Willie said his decision on whether to approve the closures will depend on the input of affected community members and the board members who represent them.
Tyrona Clark-Murray, who represents District 9 on the Jacksonville City Council, said constituents feel as if the current closure list is a done deal, and they aren't getting the chance for a "collaborative review" like schools over the summer had.
"It is your duty to represent and advocate for the most vulnerable students and families, ensuring that they too are given an equitable opportunity to provide input and seek alternatives," she said.
Clark-Murray said that attending school board meetings is much more difficult for constituents in her district than it might be for more wealthy families.
"Just because you don't see us there, or families there, that doesn't mean they're not concerned," she said.
Some of the most passionate community advocates Tuesday spoke on behalf of the magnet program slated to close, the Young Men's and Women's Leadership Academy at Eugene Butler. The school's football team filled the school board's auditorium as parents, teachers, and a few of them spoke on their own behalf.
Ayden Johnson, an eighth grader at YM/YWLA, said his school has had a profound impact on his life.
"They have changed my character. They have changed me as a young man. They have changed everything inside my heart," Johnson said. "I know that when I start life, I'm going to be on a good path because I went to Young Men's Young Women's Leadership Academy...I'm begging y'all, please, to not close our school down."
Toward the end of the meeting, Superintendent Christopher Bernier said that although the concerns being raised are valid, they are late in coming. He cautioned that if the board "kicks that can down the road" and doesn't approve the closures, the budget shortfall will still be there.
He said that if operational costs aren't reduced by closing schools, the only other place the budget could be cut is in the 85% that pays staff salaries.
