ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla. – To deal with explosive growth and school overcrowding, the St. Johns County School Board on Tuesday voted to change attendance zones for students in the northwest part of the county.
The changes, which have been discussed during public meetings since March, set an attendance zone for High School III, a new school that will be located within the Twin Creeks development. The new zones approved Tuesday also affect students in the Nocatee development.
Students who were previously zoned for Bartram Trail High School and Liberty Pines Academy in the Stonehurst Plantation, Johns Creek, Cimarrone, South Hampton and Shearwater neighborhoods will now be zoned for High School III, which is scheduled to open for the 2022-23 school year.
Students living along County Road 210 between I-95 and U.S. 1, including Twin Creeks and Sandy Creek, along with those on RaceTrack Road who are currently zoned for Nease High School will also move to High School III.
In Nocatee, all students living in the West End of the Nocatee Town Center currently zoned for Palm Valley Academy will now attend Pine Island Academy, a new K-8 school that is wrapping up construction.
The second change within Nocatee will be to River Landing at Twenty Mile, on the eastern edge of the Twenty Mile neighborhood. The area will now be added to the Nease High attendance zone like the rest of Nocatee. The district said the old boundary that split the neighborhood between Ponte Vedra High School and Nease was an oversight.
The Nocatee changes will take effect for the 2021-22 school year, the district said.
“Frankly, I’ve been pretty surprised at the lack of [public] comment that we’ve had, but it’s fine, and we’re really, really looking forward to this wonderful new school and the relief it’s going to bring, especially to Bartram Trail,” said school board member Beverly Slough.
