This article was updated to more accurately reflect the proposed changes to Williams and Rawlings elementary schools.
Alachua County Public Schools shared nine draft school zone boundary maps on its website Monday.
The drafts — three for each school level: elementary, middle and high — provide insight into the district’s rezoning initiative for the 2026-27 school year.
They mark phase two of the district’s “Our Schools — Future Ready” plan. The plan targets districtwide issues, like enrollment and capacity, facilities, and educational programming, through rezoning initiatives, according to the project website.
As part of phase two, the district will host community input meetings to discuss the proposed boundary lines. County residents are invited to speak at one of the eight meetings, which will take place across a two-week period.
The first community session is scheduled for Feb. 4 at 5:30 pm at Hawthorne Middle/High School.
A final plan will be presented to the school board March 12, according to a press release from ACPS spokesperson Jackie Johnson.
Elementary schools
The three proposed elementary school maps reduced the number of schools within the district.
According to the maps, some elementary schools will no longer be in service, and students originally attending those schools will be zoned for middle schools that will transition into kindergarten through eighth grade schools.
According to two of the proposed maps, students once zoned for Rawlings Elementary School will now attend Metcalfe Elementary School. All three maps show students originally zoned for Williams Elementary School will attend the proposed Lincoln K-8 School.
This trend appears throughout the district.
The original Irby/Alachua Elementary zone will now be split in two, with some students attending Irby Elementary School and others zoned for a proposed Mebane K-8 School.
Students originally zoned for Newberry Elementary School, which will become a charter school in August, will be divided into two zones. Some students will attend Archer Elementary, while others are zoned for a proposed Newberry K-8 School.
Middle schools
The zone for Hawthorne Middle School was reduced across all three proposed maps for middle school boundary lines. All maps show students near the boundary’s south end will attend Lincoln Middle School. One map proposes the students are split between Lincoln and Kanapaha Middle School.
Other changes varied depending on the map. One of the three maps shows a decrease in the zoning for Mebane Middle School, with potential for these students to go to Bishop or Westwood Middle Schools.
High schools
All three proposed high school boundary lines cut into the zone for Hawthorne Middle/High School. Some of the students originally zoned for the school will now attend Eastside High School. Students living in the northern portion of the zone will go to Santa Fe High School.
On Jan. 20, Hawthorne residents attended a school board meeting to protest the rumored closure of Hawthorne Middle/High School. The district dismissed such concerns, and all three maps confirm the school will continue operations into the 2026-27 school year.
The greatest variability among the high school maps lies between Buchholz and Gainesville High School. The boundary lines for these schools differ across all maps, so it’s unclear which residents will be zoned for which of the two schools
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.
