Alachua County Public Schools is in the process of developing a comprehensive program that could include the redrawing of boundary lines and lead to the closure of at least one elementary school- Stephen Foster Elementary.
According to a Nov. 19 ACPS news release, the “Our Schools — Future Ready” initiative will address enrollment, school capacity, transportation and educational programs.
ACPS is partnering with Gainesville-based planning and civil engineering firm JBPro for the project.
Three redraws have been drafted for elementary, middle and high schools. The plans are independent of each other, and none have been finalized. There are no proposed middle or high school closures.
Joseph Williams Elementary, Marjorie K Rawlings Elementary, Duval Early Learning Academy and Alachua Elementary are the potential closures across the three plans.
The ACPS School Board and JBPro hosted community engagement sessions at public schools across the district. These sessions began in early December and feature a presentation outlining the project’s goals led by JBPro Planning Director Kathie Ebaugh.
A total of 16 sessions are scheduled between December and March. Ebaugh cited shifts in local housing patterns — with more family housing converting to University of Florida student rentals — and a declining birth rate in Alachua County, resulting in fewer K-12 students, to be the main factors driving the proposal.
Ebaugh said the district has 6,600 vacant seats across its schools, resulting in higher costs to operate underenrolled campuses.
“No one wants to close schools,” Ebaugh said. “But we have to address the fact that right now, we are stretched too thin.”
JBPro describes the process as “right-sizing”, or optimizing each school to reduce costs and maximize resources for each student. Potential closures are explained with supporting data such as the age of the buildings and the capacity of each elementary.
After the presentation, attendees are given the opportunity to ask questions and provide feedback. Images of the proposed boundary lines are displayed. Stations are set up for attendees to write feedback on notecards and submit them. Computers throughout the room feature interactive maps for a more detailed view of each potential redraw.
Future Ready has three phases that would take place over five months. Phase one began in November. The goal was to explain the driving factors behind Future Ready, proposed plans and ask for community feedback.
Jackie Johnson, ACPS director of communications and community initiatives, said they received 50,000 pieces of feedback from over 2,300 people in phase one.
“We hosted pop-up events for the community, had kids weigh in, and had feedback from online surveys and engagement sessions,” Johnson said. “Phase two is an opportunity for the public to look at what was developed based on their input, and give input again.”
Phase two includes eight of the 16 engagement sessions. Annalize Britz attended the session at High Springs Community School. Her children are in the Cambridge magnet program at Gainesville High School.
She said that there was a lot more information at the seminars than on the ACPS or JBPro websites, and that she only attended the session after seeing Future Ready included school closures in a Gainesville news publication.
“This feels like something the administration or school board wants to do just because they want to do it,” Britz said. “If you want people to understand why there might be school closures, you need to explain it.”
Britz said unless you come to the two-hour sessions, there is no way to find the necessary information online.
“How can you make a remark if you don’t have all the background information?” Britz said. “If you don’t ask the right questions, you can’t get the right answers.”
All three elementary school proposals include converting Oak View Middle School to a pre-K-8 for fall 2026.
In her presentation at Oak View on Feb. 11, Ebaugh explained the benefits of a pre-K-8,
including siblings being able to start and end the school day at the same time, making pickups and drop-offs easier for parents, and long-term student connections with teachers and peers.
Ebaugh explained that one of the main pieces of feedback they received was parents’ concern about transportation. Most of the elementary schools have 2-mile walk zones for students where buses are not provided. These zones often have safety measures such as crossing guards.
Carson Stanton’s daughter attends Stephen Foster Elementary, the school that will close in every elementary redraw. She said that her 9-year-old has to cross 39th Street to get to school, a route made safe by a crossing guard.
The most likely scenario is her daughter will have to attend Norton Elementary, which is too unsafe a walk to do on her own, and Stanton doesn’t expect a crossing guard to be implemented.
“My options are either drive her to the nightmare that is drop-off, or pay for childcare, which is outrageous,” Stanton said. “Where I am right now, my child can get home safely.”
Stanton also expressed concerns about inadequate information online, saying the only way to see that elementary schools were closing was by zooming in closely on the interactive map.
“I felt that was really dishonest,” Stanton said. “I think these situations are tied to financial stuff, which makes sense, but there are a lot of things missing in the explanations.”
She said many parents are questioning how the gyms and lunchrooms will accommodate more students. She explained that her daughter’s classrooms are already at their maximum, so she’s unsure how they will be able to fit any more.
“I don’t think that my feedback is actually going anywhere,” Stanton said. “I filled out several surveys. They are definitely set up to drive you to answer a certain way, because there’s no place for open response.”
Many teachers and parents are concerned with the changes in educational programs. Ashli Newton is a science teacher at Oak View in their magnet program, Center for Advanced Academics and Technology, or CAAT.
Students who are local and from around the district have to apply to get into CAAT.
“I have watched students in the program become successful and get involved in their community,” Newton said. “The students are naturally so eager to learn and so curious-minded.”
Newton just came back from time away from Oak View and was surprised to hear about Future Ready. She is most concerned with the future of CAAT, which has its own budget and smaller class sizes.
“I probably have a different perspective than other teachers. I came back knowing I loved this school and this is a community I want to be a part of,” Newton said. “For those of us who have worked so hard to build this school into what it is, we are personally invested in whatever is coming.”
Newton explained that, after speaking to representatives at the Oak View meeting, she felt that her voice had been heard and that she understood Future Ready better.
The final plan is expected to be finalized after the ACPS School Board meeting on March 12.
