The Alachua County School Board requested new rezoning maps for local elementary and high school levels at a workshop Thursday.
In a meeting lasting over four hours, the board selected its favorite of the maps and requested modifications before a March 3 meeting.
Elementary school maps
Across all maps at the elementary school level, five schools were proposed for closure — Alachua, Williams, Foster and Rawlings Elementary and Duval Early Learning Academy, a pre-K through kindergarten school.
Board member Leanetta McNealy expressed concern with the closure of schools. She disapproved of all elementary school maps and requested no closures be made.
“I cannot sleep at night thinking about what can happen with five closures of schools,” McNealy said.
The district held meetings at each of the schools proposed for closure Tuesday and Wednesday. At the meetings, parents expressed concerns with transportation, teacher relocation and the disproportionality of closures.
Of the five schools proposed for closure, three — Rawlings, Williams and Duval — are in East Gainesville, which is home to several historically Black neighborhoods. Foster Elementary School is located on Northwest Sixth Street, which some consider a part of greater East Gainesville.
Despite McNealy’s desire to keep the elementary school boundaries the same, other board members expressed the necessity of closing schools to reduce district spending.
School rezonings have been pushed off for years, board member Tina Certain said.
“Not doing anything is not an option at this point,” Certain said. “We have to face the realities of what's happened in our community.”
Although the city and county commissions have approved multiple investments into East Gainesville in recent months, those initiatives won’t cause more students to live on that side of town, she said.
In January, the city commission approved a $2 million project to revitalize the Duval neighborhood, located in East Gainesville. In December 2025, the county commission approved the Eastwood Preserve project to bring more housing to the east side of Alachua County.
During the discussion, the board agreed to the recently proposed Map D, which keeps Rawlings Elementary School open. However, the board also requested changes.
The board asked for Duval Early Learning Academy to remain open. Vacant portions of the building could be rented out to the city.
The board supported the closure of Foster Elementary School but requested the school’s Science, Technology, Engineering and Math magnet program be moved to Metcalf or Rawlings Elementary School, rather than Norton Elementary School, to bring opportunity to East Gainesville.
Board members also asked that students currently attending Foster Elementary be zoned for two different schools, rather than dividing the community into five separate zones.
The board supported the closure of Alachua Elementary School; however, it suggested Irby Elementary School also be closed. The closure of both schools would prevent the Alachua community from being divided into two schools at the elementary school level. Instead, the board proposed one consolidated pre-K through eighth grade school.
Both Alachua and Irby Elementary Schools are operating under capacity, according to a presentation provided by John Gilreath, the director of business development at JBPro. JBPro is the engineering company hired by Alachua County Public Schools to design the rezoning maps.
To create a central pre-K through eighth grade school, new buildings would be added to Mebane Middle School to accommodate an influx of students. While the conversion of Mebane to a K-8 was projected for the 2027-28 school year, it is unclear when the board’s newly suggested project would be completed.
To reduce transportation times for families, the board requested the Longleaf community, located in Southwest Gainesville, be zoned for Wiles Elementary School and the Fletcher’s Mill community, located in Northwest Gainesville, be zoned for Tewilliger.
Board member Sarah Rockwell recognized the difficulty of the decisions on community members.
“This is emotional,” Rockwell said. “Even if we have to make tough decisions that upset some people, at least we need to hear you and recognize that [emotion], and I haven't seen that happen.”
Middle school maps
At the middle school level, there was no debate. The board agreed on Map C without any requests for modifications.
Map C focuses primarily on rightsizing, ensuring each school is operating at a reasonable capacity. The proposed rezoning lessens enrollment at Fort Clarke, Hawthorne, Kanapaha and Oak View Middle Schools, according to the JBPro presentation. It increases enrollment for Bishop, Lincoln and Westwood Middle Schools.
High school maps
When considering the high school maps, the board agreed on Map D with limited modifications.
The board requested the entire Haile community be zoned for Buchholz High School rather than being split between two schools. Another request was for the Buchholz walk zone to be fixed, as the map currently zones students within a 2-mile walking distance from the school for elsewhere.
These modified maps will be shared with the board at a meeting March 3. The board won’t vote on the maps until a special meeting March 12.
Contact Grace Larson at glarson@alligator.org. Follow her on X @graceellarson.
Grace Larson is a first-year journalism student, currently serving as K-12 education reporter. She has previously served as city/county commission reporter for The Alligator's metro desk. In her free time, she enjoys staying active and hanging out with her family.
