The School Board of Alachua County (SBAC) met for a workshop on Wednesday morning and discussed possible restructuring and consolidation options for schools in the city of Alachua, specifically Irby Elementary School and Mebane Middle School.

At a special meeting on March 12, the SBAC, in a split vote, approved new boundary maps for all elementary, middle and high schools for the 2026-27 school year and beyond. This was part of a right-sizing plan to balance out enrollment across Alachua County Public Schools (ACPS) and reduce overcrowding and under-enrollment at schools.  

Right-sizing was an essential part of the district’s “Our Schools – Future Ready” planning initiative, which launched in November 2025 to address key issues such as enrollment and school capacity, transportation and educational programs. 

In addition to boundary changes, the approved right-sizing plan by the board included the closing of three elementary schools – Alachua, Foster and Williams – and the expansion of two current middle schools – Lincoln and Oak View – into K-8, or Pre-K-8, schools over the course of the next two years.  

The elementary map that was approved by the SBAC at its March 12 meeting – revised Map D – also proposed closing Irby, with Mebane expanding into a Pre-K-8 to accommodate the students from both Alachua Elementary and Irby. The board approved the closings of Alachua and Williams (projected for the end of the 2027-28 school year), along with Foster (estimated for the end of this school year), but asked staff to bring back updated data and recommendations to potentially keep Irby open.  

At Wednesday’s workshop, Kim Neal, ACPS’s director of full-time enrollment (FTE), presented to the board four potential options for the Alachua area. These scenarios were also presented at a community meeting regarding the future of ACPS’s schools in Alachua on April 13. 

Three out of the four options keep Irby open, but the school would expand from a Pre-K-2 to a Pre-K-5. The fourth option proposes the consolidation of both Alachua Elementary and Irby into Mebane as a Pre-K-8. In this scenario, both schools would close. 

At the April 13 community meeting, ACPS Deputy Superintendent Cathy Atria explained why none of the options kept Irby as a Pre-K-2 or becoming a Pre-K-3.  

“Under the FDOE [Florida Department of Education] rules in Florida law, K-2 schools are treated as feeder schools, which means that they receive the grade of the school within which they feed,” she said at that April 13 meeting, adding that Irby’s grade comes from Alachua Elementary. “The challenge there is then the faculty members [at Alachua Elementary], as well as the school administration, have very limited influence on what’s happening in K-2. It’s not that the schools don’t collaborate. They certainly do [it]. But there is not that direct influence that you would find in a K-5 school across all grades.” 

As a Pre-K-3 or K-3 school, Atria said Irby’s grade would be dependent on third grade and English Language Arts (ELA) and math performance. 

“That puts a lot of pressure on a very small number of students and a small number of teachers to designate that grade,” she said. 

In option one – the original revised Map D that was brought to the SBAC – students living to the south of State Road 441 would be zoned for the Irby Pre-K-5 and then move to the Mebane Pre-K-8 for middle school. Meanwhile, students living to the north of SR 441, as well as the Turkey Creek area, would be zoned for the Mebane Pre-K-8. 

Option two is like option one, except that students living to the north of SR 441 and west of Interstate 75 would also be zoned to the Irby Pre-K-5 and attend the Mebane Pre-K-8 for middle school.  

Option three does more of a zigzag through Alachua. Neal explained that it cuts up and comes across, bringing some of the students in the Merrillwood neighborhood around Alachua Elementary into the Irby Pre-K-5 zone.  

“Some of the students living north of [SR] 441 are still zoned to Irby,” she said. “It’s just in a different area, and it increases busing for those K-5 students in what would be considered hazardous walking zones.” 

As previously mentioned, the last option proposes the consolidation of Alachua Elementary and Irby into the Mebane Pre-K-8, with both elementary schools closing.  

During board discussion, Board Member Sarah Rockwell said that when she took a visit to Irby, staff presented how the school can currently hold third and fourth grade. She questioned if there was a reason that the district couldn’t fit just fourth grade at Irby for the entire revised Alachua area – formerly the Alachua and Irby Elementaries’ zones – with an addition added to the current facility. 

“That is not an option we looked at,” she said. 

Neal noted during her presentation that Irby’s current building cannot accommodate a Pre-K-5 school for the entire revised Alachua area. However, in response to Rockwell, she said the current Irby facility could accommodate a Pre-K-4 school for that whole revised Alachua area. 

Rockwell’s scenario of making Irby a Pre-K-4 school would also see fifth grade move to Mebane to form a fifth-eighth school. 

Board Chair Thomas Vu said he wasn’t in support of turning Irby into a Pre-K-4 school and sending fifth grade to Mebane. 

“It doesn’t really solve any of the issues we’re trying to solve, in my opinion, in terms of like capacity,” he said, adding that he also feels K-5 needs to stay together so there is one plan. “You can actually plan from kindergarten through fifth grade and manage that transition within the school.” 

Vu said he currently favored option one, which also got a nod of approval from Board Member Tina Certain.  

Board Member Janine Plavac leaned toward Rockwell’s scenario of the Irby Pre-K-4 and Mebane fifth-eight.  

“I think that is extremely important,” Plavac said. “Both schools [Irby and Mebane] have done a phenomenal job of giving us data. They have upheld parents; they uphold teachers. And I will not vote for anything else.” 

Vice Chair Leanetta McNealy agreed with her colleague about making Irby a Pre-K-4 and Mebane a fifth-eighth school, saying if the board sticks with this option, the district will be in “good shape.” 

“I know that as a former principal in this district for all of those years,” she added. “It can be done.” 

Vu later added that while he is not supportive of a Pre-K-3 model, he could see a Pre-K-4 school. 

“In my experience of overseeing the state testing in the entire district, kids do feel that pressure,” he said. “Kids actually cry when they take that first FAST [Florida Assessment of Student Thinking] test, because you’re literally being tested on what you’re supposed to know at the end of the year, at the beginning of the year, and it’s really overwhelming for kids. And even we as adults, even if we try not to put that stress on the kids, teachers feel that pressure and that stress. I felt it as a teacher. And so again, that’s why I’m not in favor of [a] [Pre]-K-3 at all, but I can see a [Pre]-K-4.” 

With most of the board in favor of Rockwell’s idea, staff will bring back a new option for board consideration that includes a Pre-K-4 at Irby and fifth-eighth at Mebane. The SBAC is expected to make a final decision on Irby and Mebane at its next regular meeting on Tuesday, May 5. The meeting is slated for 6 p.m. in the ACPS’s District Office boardroom (620 E. University Ave., Gainesville). 

Interim Superintendent Kamela Patton also clarified that the restructuring of Irby and Mebane still wouldn’t occur for another two years.  

Nick Anschultz is a Report for America corps member and writes about education for Mainstreet Daily News. This position is supported by local donations through the Community Catalyst for Local Journalism Fund at the Community Foundation of North Central Florida.