At the request of the Alachua City Commission, the School Board of Alachua County (SBAC) provided suggestions for how the town can help support students and schools at a joint meeting on Monday.
City Manager Mike DaRoza said Alachua’s strategic plan places partnering with the community’s schools as the city’s top priority. The Monday meeting was meant to provide a progress update for Alachua’s commissioners, and for the school board members to provide suggestions for how the city can support education.
“We just want to find out what it is that we can do to help,” DaRoza said in the meeting. “The last thing we want to do is insert our suggestions. We want we want your suggestions on what the city of Alachua, the city commission, the city staff can do.”
Superintendent Shane Andrew gave a few suggestions of areas where schools need support from their surrounding communities. He said getting students and parents to believe in the importance of attendance is key, and that the district is hoping to increase enrollment in several of Alachua’s under-capacity schools— a good match, he said, with Alachua’s growth.
Andrew also noted the importance of preschool education and support for starting students off strong. He said that area is a good place for the Alachua community to step in.
“I think that’s the ultimate goal,” Andrew said in the meeting. “No matter where the child is, a three- or four-year-old, let’s have them ready to enter kindergarten… We can’t be the lead player on that, but we can certainly provide what we know as far as our expertise.”
Mayor Gib Coerper asked about what process and timeline Alachua can expect for major renovations and revitalizations of its school campuses.
Andrew said there will be more answers to Coerper’s question at an upcoming half-cent sales tax workshop set for Feb. 5, but said many smaller changes and improvements have happened at schools, just not the noticeable kind.
Alachua Commissioner Shirley Green Brown, a former educator, said she wants to see more Alachua citizens mentoring and getting involved with the schools. She said she has talked with principals, and they have told her they need more community members involved.
“I am committed to help each of our schools get mentors,” Green Brown said. “As I look around this room, I see some that I may be calling. I’m opening my eyes at them. So get ready, because the children need us, and we need to help them.”
Coerper said parents have reached out to him asking if they could have a school board member attend at least one parent-teacher conference per year at each school. He said that would likely boost parents’ attendance of those meetings.
Coerper also said many businesses in Alachua used to offer an extra hour to employees to mentor at local schools, and that the school district and city government could help encourage them to get back in the practice.
“I think that’d be a wonderful thing for, not only the schools, but those businesses,” Coerper said. “Because you know, them getting out and doing something very positive brings them back in a positive attitude and they want to get better at what they do at work.”
After a surge of parent complaints about school transportation changes that eliminated courtesy busing, SBAC Member Tina Certain asked in the meeting if the Alachua Police Department is able to provide crossing guards for students crossing Highway 441 or other dangerous places.
Alachua’s chief of police, Jesse Sandusky, said all crossing guard positions are currently filled and if one is ever empty the police department fills the need. He also said students crossing 441 use the bridge over the road, and that he was not aware there had been any change to school transportation policies.
Andrew said district staff would follow up with Sandusky to ensure that any areas of concern were addressed.