JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – We’re less than two weeks away from the first day of school in Duval County when more than 130,000 students will head back to class at public and charter schools.
Interim superintendent Dr. Dana Kriznar held a news conference Wednesday with Duval County Public Schools administrators to share some changes parents and students can expect for the new year.
One new safety system involves cards students will use to scan on and off a bus so their parents know where they are.
All high schools will have weapons detectors, and Duval County School Police have two new K-9s -- one that sniffs out guns and another that sniffs out drugs.
Kriznar, the district’s long-time deputy superintendent, was appointed to replace retiring superintendent Dr. Diana Greene for six months while the School Board searches for a permanent replacement.
RELATED: Story behind Dr. Greene’s departure: a teacher’s arrest, a state investigation and politics
Kriznar said she’s optimistic for a great school year, even with political controversies like book bans and Florida’s changes to African American history education.
“Our curriculum is more robust than the state’s curriculum. They give us the minimum standards and we are able to embellish on them and create even more robust lessons from them, and we have been working on them for some time,” Kriznar said.
She said literacy is the first priority and the district has four strategies to improve reading.
The administrators acknowledged there are staffing challenges. DCPS needs to fill 258 teacher and staff positions, but that’s down from the 453 vacancies last year.
Another concern is 49 bus driver vacancies. District leaders encourage people to apply right away. For more information, click here.
The Florida School Board Association, the consulting firm that’s been tapped to oversee the nationwide search for a permanent superintendent, told School Board members last month that a new superintendent could start by Jan. 1, 2024, if the search timeline remains on schedule.