Alachua County Public Schools finished its third and final week of community input meetings to gather feedback on its rezoning initiatives Wednesday.
The district released nine draft plans Feb. 2 — three for each school level: elementary, middle and high.
The elementary school maps call for the closure of up to five schools: Williams, Foster, Rawlings and Alachua Elementary Schools and Duval Early Learning Academy.
At the middle school level, the district proposed the conversion of two middle schools — Mebane and Lincoln — into kindergarten through eighth grade schools in subsequent years. Oak View, a middle school in Newberry, is expected to become a pre-K through eighth grade school by August to compensate for Newberry Elementary School’s conversion to a charter.
Zoning changes across the high school maps focused mostly on “rightsizing,” or adjusting zones so schools have an enrollment proportionate to their capacity. This would ensure no school is over or under capacity.
Mebane Middle School
About 50 people filed into Mebane Middle School’s auditorium for Tuesday’s rezoning meeting.
Following a 30-minute presentation led by JBPro Director of Planning Kathie Ebaugh, parents walked to the school’s media center for one-on-one discussions with JBPro and ACPS representatives. JBPro is the engineering company hired by ACPS to design the rezoning maps.
Teachers and administrators throughout Alachua attended the meeting to see how the proposed changes would affect their schools.
Mike Gamble, the principal of Mebane Middle School, said the changes will be difficult to implement but beneficial for the district.
“This is something that needs doing,” Gamble said. “It's going to be hard. There's going to be upset people, but it really needs doing. So I'm glad we're going ahead with it.”
Parents get attached to schools, which makes rezoning a hard process, he added. While he knows there are parents that don’t favor the proposed changes, he said he has yet to see them within his school.
Gina Uhl, a fourth-grade teacher at Alachua Elementary School, also attended Tuesday’s meeting to see how the proposed maps affect her area.
“I'm not completely closed-minded to either side,” Uhl said. “I really am just open to hear things, but I do feel like my heart is very heavy, because I don't want them to close Alachua Elementary School.”
Uhl recounted Alachua Elementary’s third-grade play last December, where parents and community members packed the cafeteria to watch the students perform.
The community members who gathered to see the performance care deeply for the school, she said. The closure will leave her heartbroken, she added.
Westwood Middle School
About 50 community members gathered at Westwood Middle School for the district’s final community input meeting Wednesday.
Among those in the crowd was Julia Gatson, a science teacher at Foster Elementary School, who has attended three of the eight district rezoning meetings. She also attended Monday’s town hall meeting to discuss the proposed closures.
Gatson, who has been teaching at the school for 20 years, said she felt compelled to attend the meetings on behalf of parents and community members who can’t make it.
“I have families that I know would be here if they could, but they can't,” she said. “So I feel like part of my responsibility is to be there.”
Gatson attended Foster Elementary School herself. She later applied to work at the school because she loved it, she said.
The school’s closure will have massive impacts on both staff and families, she said.
Gatson was not the only community member to express discontent with the proposed closure of Foster Elementary School.
Amanda Fessenden, a 44-year-old parent whose son attends the school, shared her frustration with the maps. In addition to closing the school, the rezoning proposals could make transportation more difficult for families like hers, who live close enough to walk to school, she said.
“One of the reasons we bought the house that we did was because it was in a neighborhood that was walking distance to an elementary school,” she said.
Fessenden, who has been canvassing throughout her neighborhood, believes the turnaround time from the proposal of the maps to the board’s final decision on March 12 seems unreasonable.
While she recognizes the need for rezoning, she believes changes like school closures require greater notice for parents.
She handed out QR codes to her neighbors and other parents attending Wednesday's meeting. The QR code linked to a website she created to bring awareness to the school’s closure.
The website provides information on Foster Elementary School and encourages community members to attend rezoning meetings, fill out an ACPS survey and sign an online petition.
Parents have until Thursday to fill out an online survey to provide feedback. The board will begin workshops Feb. 23.
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.
