The School Board of Alachua County (SBAC) whittled down school closings and consolidations during a regular meeting on Tuesday, inching closer to a final vote for district rezoning on March 12.  

Alachua County Public Schools staff presented amended A, B, C and D zoning scenarios as part of the “Our Schools – Future Ready” planning initiative and incorporated updates requested by the board members during a workshop last month.  

For elementary schools, the board leaned in favor of amended option D, which marks Stephen Foster Elementary and Joseph Williams Elementary for closure, keeps Marjorie K. Rawlings Elementary open and combines Alachua’s Irby Elementary with Mebane Middle School.  

Although the board requested the boundary to include two zones, staff presented three because they said it lowered the number of schools at capacity from nine to five.  

The plan also includes leaving Duval Early Learning Academy as is, with the pre–K VPK center and bringing Foster’s STEM magnet program to Metcalfe Elementary. 

Option D for high schools also garnered favor from the board. The plan includes restoring portions of Haile and Newberry Road to Buchholz and shifting some complexes, like Mill Pond condominiums from Gainesville High School to Buchholz.  

The changes would drop Buchholz’s capacity from 115% to 101% and raise Eastside High School’s capacity from 68% to 86%. Staff said the board still needs to redistribute programs and magnets to address further capacity issues and consider the impacts of the coming growth in Newberry. 

Although the board agreed on how to direct staff before the final vote, members still disagreed with how to rezone or whether to rezone at all.  

Board Chair Thomas Vu said he favored the closings, especially Williams Elementary. He said the school should be given back to the city or the Williams family because it was built on a dump site.  

“I’m getting emotional about this, because it’s really upsetting to me that this has been the history that we’ve told kids, that’s all [they’re] worth is they go to school on a dump site,” he said.  

Board Member Janine Plavac said the district’s plan should address capacity over enrollment because closing schools won’t address the number of children in need of school.  

Board Member Leanetta McNealy said she is passionately not in favor of closing any schools because closures often have negative ripple effects on entire communities. 

“I’m not in favor of any A, B, C or D,” she said. “Even though I’m one-fifth of a vote, please know that I am not this one-fifth, am not in accordance with any of the plans of closure.” 

During public comment, multiple speakers advocated to invest in East Gainesville schools.  

Resident Louise Griffin identified as Williams Elementary’s Joseph Williams’ great-great-granddaughter. She said Williams, who donated the land for the school, currently has two great-great-great-great-granddaughters attending the school and called the idea of closing it a sacrilege to his legacy. 

“My grandfather gave a gift to love to provide a secure, safe environment in which the children of the community could obtain an education. That safety is being taken away with the proposal of closing Williams and making Lincoln K-8,” Griffin said.  

Alachua County Commissioner Ken Cornell also called on the SBAC to factor literacy and economic development into its decision, because he said the state, Alachua County and the city of Gainesville are invested in it. 

He said the entities have over $100 million invested in East Gainesville with projects like the Eighth Avenue and Waldo Road corridor and CRA funds, and that both he and Gainesville Mayor Harvey Ward would be discussing literacy plans at their joint meeting on March 9.  

Vu said the mayor and other officials could’ve expressed their thoughts publicly if they’d attended the SBAC’s last meeting.