JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The Duval County School Board decided to push back the consolidation of R.L. Brown Elementary School and R.V. Daniels Elementary School by one year to give parents the same amount of time to adjust to the changes as other parents received for previous school consolidations.
The original merger called for the schools to join in August of 2024, but now the schools will merge in August 2025.
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The schools are 4 miles from each other, have similar resources and each has a population below 200 students, according to Duval County Public Schools.
Both have gifted programs but are struggling to recruit students. R.V. Daniels currently uses 37% of its total enrollment space. R.L. Brown uses 26%.
Board member Warren Jones was the one to recommend pushing the consolidation a year back. He wanted to maintain the trust of parents in the district.
DCPS Chair Darryl Willie said if the vote is approved, the two schools will combine power and efforts.
“R.L. Brown is a ‘B’ [school] right now. And the hope is that you take that ‘B’ to an ‘A.’ More students, increased resources, increased full-time RPE, those sorts of pieces and really just an elevation of academic outcomes,” Willie said.
The district held two meetings last week to get feedback from parents about the proposed merger. The school board has not yet said what staffing will look like or how many teachers and faculty will also move to R.L. Brown.
Willie said a decision hasn’t been made on how the district will use R.V. Daniels if the board votes to approve the consolidation. He said that conversation would happen after the vote.
“It’s a place we want to make sure we are very intentional with because there’s history at that school, a lot of history. We want to make sure we preserve that history, whether it’s bringing out some of that history here or preserving something in that space to make sure we acknowledge the history of R.V. Daniels,” Willie said.
There was also a discussion on the Master Facilities Plan proposal. Willie was adamant that it is just a proposal because Atlantic Beach Elementary School is listed with a recommendation to close the school and either demolish it or keep it as a swing school.
R.V. Daniels is listed in the report with the same recommendation as well.
View the the report below: