CLAY COUNTY, Fla. – The Clay County School District wants to hear from families as they prepare to adjust school boundaries for hundreds of students.
The new attendance zone will begin next school year.
It comes as the district is getting ready to open the new Spring Park Elementary School not to be confused with the Spring Park Elementary School that’s in Duval County.
Spring Park Elementary School in Clay County is set to open next fall.
The district has a variety of zoning options but ultimately chose the one they feel is going to best alleviate overcrowding and cut down on the use of portable classrooms.
The Clay County School Board is putting a recommended attendance map on the table for next fall when the school opens.
The change will impact roughly 879 students they would be zoned to attend the new campus in August 2023.
“So the factors that go into the process number one, we look at past overcrowding or near overcapacity schools. The second thing we look at is simplifying transportation. The other things we look at are portable reductions. As you know, we have a substantial amount of portables in the county. So we look at portable reduction. And then we also look at balancing the zones to make sure all the schools in the area have an equal amount or near equal amount of students in each school,” said Lance Addison, Clay County Schools.
So, changing boundary lines is a pretty complex process with a lot of factors and it’s something that districts track very closely each year even if it’s not opening a new school.
“We have to look at rebalancing and redistricting and look at capacity of schools on an ongoing basis. So, therefore, if the need comes up to rebalance a zone, then we will have to look at that, basically, or we look at the growth in the area. So growth kind of drives that,” Addison said.
This comes after multiple attendance changes in the county last year when overcrowding at Oakleaf High School prompted the district to move students living in more than two dozen neighborhoods.
Earlier that year, Oakleaf Junior High and Lake Asbury Junior High schools had to rezone some students and earlier this year, students in three neighborhoods had to move from Tynes to Coppergate Elementary.
Families impacted by this attendance zone change will have a chance to ask questions or raise concerns.
School leaders will meet with families on Jan. 17 at 6:30 p.m. at Green Cove Junior High.
The district is also sending letters with this info to all the households impacted.