Here are 6 times to tell the Duval School Board your ideas about possible school closings

Duval County school officials have scheduled six community meetings through next month to get feedback on proposals to close or consolidate schools in response to budget challenges and shrinking enrollment.

“We want the community to be involved and have input into this process,” School Board Chair Darryl Willie told people at a board meeting this month week where he talked about plans for meetings from Tuesday, May 21 through June 20.

The board doesn’t expect to make decisions about closings for several months, with all schools running as planned during the 2024-25 school year.

Possible plans:To plan feeder patterns for Jacksonville schools, administrators figured in these closings

But the choices could eventually affect dozens of schools and thousands of students and families, so the school district finalized a meeting plan and posted 11 videos and plan details on its website to invite feedback that can be either in-person or online. Videos range from less than three minutes to nearly 16 minutes depending on the feeder pattern issues raised.

What do the videos say about Duval school closings?

Facing a $1.4 billion budget shortfall under a 2019 facilities plan that was the basis for a sales tax referendum that voters approved in 2020, the proposals focus on how the school district can cut costs by moving students into schools that operate more efficiently.

The videos summarize how the closing proposals would affect elementary, middle and high schools in a series of school feeder patterns.

“By reducing the number of schools in the feeder pattern and moving toward larger, more efficient schools, more funding can be allocated for direct instruction and not for deferred maintenance, utilities and administrative staffing,” school district consultant Scott Leopold, who played a key role in the closing proposals, says in the videos.

Opinion:Nate Monroe: Mad about Duval's school closure plan? Blame school-choice zealots

Where and when will Duval's school-closing meetings be?

The school district’s first meeting will happen May 21 at Fletcher High School, 700 Seagate Ave. in Neptune Beach. Details about Fletcher’s feeder pattern and possible changes will be on display at the meeting room, where people can informally ask questions of consultants beginning at 5:30 p.m., followed by a public comment period starting at 6 p.m.

The same pattern of 5:30 p.m. informal questions and 6 p.m. public comments will be followed at these meetings:

• June 10 at the school district administration building on Jacksonville’s Southbank, 1701 Prudential Drive;
• June 13, Edward H. White High School, 1700 Old Middleburg Road North;
• June 17, Atlantic Coast High School, 9735 R.G. Skinner Parkway;
• June 18, Paxon School for Advanced Studies, 3239 Norman E. Thagard Blvd.;
• June 20, Terry Parker High School, 7301 Parker School Road.