ST. JOHNS COUNTY, Fla. – The St. Johns County school district continues to try to sort out the puzzle of rearranging school zones to accommodate the county’s rapid growth.
The district is hosting a second town hall meeting Thursday night at 6 p.m. in the auditorium of Beachside High School. If you are planning to attend Thursday’s town hall, you can email questions to attendancezoning@stjohns.k12.fl.us.
Similar meetings and workshops will be scheduled next month and in November as the school board reviews rezoning plans with the public and takes feedback.
The goal is to relieve school overcrowding now and in the future.
Thursday’s meeting is focused on a new school coming to the Beacon Lakes community on Twin Creeks Drive. It’s set to be a K-8 school that will open next school year. It would add classrooms to accommodate around 1,500 students.
Proposed changes to school zones in that are would potentially affect current students at several schools, including Pine Island Academy, Pacetti Bay Middle School and Ocean Palms Elementary.
During Tuesday night’s town hall meeting at Bartram Trail High School, the public weighed in on proposed attendance zone changes two yet-to-be-named K-8 schools in the Shearwater and Rivertown neighborhoods.
The school board reviewed six plans with the public and after hearing feedback it expects to vote on the changes in November.
One parent News4JAX spoke with does not seem too impressed with the proposals being made.
“Each neighborhood, if it has a school right next to that, it should be to the closest school. Not have to be rezoned super far away, just to try to help with the numbers because in the end, it is really not that much of a difference. With the growth and everything, it will be really the same spot,” Sarah Santoro said.
The new schools in Shearwater and Rivertown are also slated to be open in time for the next school year.