About 50 people gathered at Mebane Middle School in the city of Alachua Monday evening for a community input session hosted by the district.
The district discussed the future conversion of Mebane into a pre-K through eighth grade school — and the potential closure of Irby Elementary School.
School board members proposed closing Irby Elementary School and Alachua Elementary School in a Feb. 26 workshop.
Alachua Elementary School is still set to close in 2028, with students attending a newly renovated Mebane pre-K-8 School. In a March 12 meeting, the board decided to host community input sessions in Alachua before deciding the fate of Irby Elementary School.
At the meeting, parents expressed concerns about traffic and dividing the Alachua community into two schools while considering plans for the small schools, which hold just between 200 and 400 students each.
Irby Elementary School
During the meeting, district workers presented community members with four options for the future of Irby Elementary School.
The first three options allow Irby Elementary School to remain open, but they propose the school expand from a pre-K through second grade school to serve pre-K through fifth grade students. The final option proposes its closure and consolidation with Mebane K-8 School.
Option one proposes kindergarten through fifth-grade students living south of State Road 441 be zoned for Irby Elementary School and move to Mebane K-8 for middle school.
The district estimates 263 students will attend Irby Elementary School and 336 will attend Mebane K-8. The middle school population at Mebane K-8 School is estimated to be around 380 students.
Option two proposes the same divide along SR 441, but it adds a portion of students living northwest to the Irby Elementary School zone.
Under this plan, the district estimates 301 students at Irby Elementary School and 299 kindergarten through fifth-grade students at Mebane K-8 school.
The third option proposes the same divide with some students north of SR 441 being zoned for Irby Elementary School.
The district estimates 330 students at Irby Elementary School and 270 elementary students at Mebane K-8 School.
Lastly, option four proposes the closure of Irby Elementary School and its consolidation into Mebane K-8 School along with Alachua Elementary School.
In a notecard-facilitated Q&A session, parents expressed concern with dividing elementary school students in the city.
In Alachua, Irby Elementary School currently acts as a pre-K through second-grade school, Alachua Elementary serves grades three through five, and Mebane is the middle school.
“Why can't Irby have all the pre-K-five students in already defined space and keep Mebane six [through] eight?” one notecard read. “This way we see a community by grade.”
Even with construction, district workers said Irby Elementary School does not have room to house all elementary students in the city. The proposal also wouldn’t address Mebane’s low population, they said, which sits at only 49% of its capacity.
The district’s closing and rightsizing of schools across the district is designed to prevent the co-location of schools due to Schools of Hope legislation passed in 2025. The law allows charter schools to operate in schools with “excess space.”
Schools operating under 75% capacity or with 400 open seats can be shared with charter schools that apply to “co-locate,” or operate within the space. This would mean two schools could operate in the same facility at the district’s expense. The district would fund the charter school without having input in its operation.
Mebane K-8 School
Other concerns surrounded the proposed Mebane K-8 School and its renovations. Construction is scheduled to be completed in August 2028.
Since the school is operating under 50% capacity, Mebane Middle School has several vacant wings and hallways. The district plans to renovate the empty wings to accommodate fourth- and fifth-grade students. New buildings will be constructed for pre-K through third-grade students.
It is currently undecided where those buildings will be located on the school’s campus.
The district emphasized its goal of separating elementary and middle school students by providing separate entrances, hallways, dining areas, outside areas and extended day programs.
To keep the areas separate, the district plans to construct separate kitchens, lunch rooms, media centers, special education classrooms and playgrounds.
The school will follow the same daily schedule as High Springs Community School and the proposed Oak View K-8 School.
Pre-K through fifth-grade students will begin school at 8 a.m. and finish at 2:07 p.m. Sixth grade through eighth grade students will start at the same time and finish at 2:14 p.m.
The district plans for the school to follow early release day schedules in place for elementary school students. In 2024, ACPS switched to early release days once a month. However, the district returned in 2025 to shortened days every Wednesday.
The decision for Mebane K-8 School to follow early release day patterns depends on its School Advisory Council and school board review. If the school follows this pattern, elementary school students will end school at 12:52 p.m. every Wednesday. Middle school students, who typically don’t follow early release patterns, would also get shortened days ending just one minute later.
Still, concerns remained for many community members. Some parents questioned how the change will affect traffic patterns.
“Has the district completed a traffic study for the proposed school site to show how mass drop-offs and pickups would work?” read one notecard.
A traffic study has yet to be completed, Deputy Superintendent Cathy Atria said, but the district plans to complete one once the design process begins.
The board will host a workshop April 29 at 10 a.m. to discuss whether Irby Elementary School should remain open. The school’s fate will be decided at a May 5 meeting.
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.
