JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Duval County Public Schools hosted its last community meeting Thursday evening to discuss the proposed Master Facility Plan that would potentially close nearly 30 schools across the district.
The plan, which would impact nearly every DCPS student in some way, was proffered to make up for a $1.4 billion gap in the district’s budget. Florida’s expansion of the school choice program is one of the factors contributing to that budget shortfall as more parents pull their children out of public schools and the state budget dollars go with them.
Community members who spoke with News4JAX wondered if the meetings the school district has hosted are actually going to affect school closures.
Yehudit Hill, a teacher and parent, is one of dozens of people who attended Thursday’s meeting at Terry Parker High School.
“I’m doing everything I can to save our school and talk about the importance of small schools and the benefits to our children,” Hill said. “I hope that they listen and that they take things into consideration when they talk about under-utilization.”
Hill, like so many in attendance, has gone to multiple meetings.
“In my personal opinion, the community wasn’t really listened to with the superintendent search, and I just want to make sure the board truly understands how important this is to us,” said parent Katie Wisner.
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The district has emphasized that nothing has been decided yet as far as the Master Facility Plan, and before making any decisions, the school district wanted to hear from the public. The only schools closing next school year are Pine Estates Elementary and Charger Academy Middle School, which have already been planned to close since 2019.
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DCPS Board Chair Darryl Willie said they want the community to give their input, and so far, the meetings have been a success. He said the district is listening.
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“In fact we’ve had a couple of board workshops in between these seven meetings and some of the topics that got brought up in these meetings actually became conversations in our workshops. So we’re using them in our workshops. We’re compiling the information,” Willie said.
And Willie said that information gets used in the next steps of the process, which includes focus groups.
“So the focus group will come together and kind of decide here are the things we need to consider as we make the next decision. So the first two meetings of the focus group will be laying out the full plan and coming up with those parameters. And then giving it back to the district to come up with a new revised draft plan,” Willie said.
Willie said those focus groups will include representatives from all over the district and will happen virtually as well as in person.
The district is also asking people to give their input through a survey online: Click here to fill out the survey.