• E-mail
• Print
• Comment
• Font Size
• Digg
• del.icio.us
• Discuss article

Board Rezones Students into West Augustine Schools Unanimous Vote Moves New Students Bound for A-Schools into Less Crowded C-Schools.

Posted on: Thursday, 14 July 2005, 12:01 CDT

Some St. Johns County residents moving into new neighborhoods near the World Golf Village who expect to send their children to schools in that area will have to catch a different bus.

Despite a lengthy public outcry, the St. Johns County School Board voted unanimously Tuesday to rezone children moving into Sunshine 16, Sunshine 13, Liberty Park, Palm Lakes, Samara Lakes and the World Commerce Center developments from Mill Creek Elementary and Switzerland Point Middle schools to schools in West Augustine.

The School Board's action doesn't affect students who are already attending Mill Creek Elementary and Switzerland Point Middle schools, staff said, but would apply to the thousands of residents expected to move into those new neighborhoods in the coming years.

Those students would now be zoned for The Webster School and Murray Middle School, both C-schools, according to the state's grading system, and are more than 12 miles away. Switzerland Point is equally as far, but is an A-school, and Mill Creek, also an A- school, is about two miles away.

The school district can't receive funding from the state for a new school until all its schools are at capacity.

Mill Creek has 1,325 students and Switzerland Point has 1,082, while Webster has 582 and Murray has 840, staff said.

Some developers told the board they weren't pleased with the decision because they've sold homes based on residents attending specific schools.

"We can convince a home buyer to select one floor plan over the next," said Maria Tsataros, spokesperson for North Florida Builders, but "there is no way we an tell a home buyer [that putting] their child on a bus for an extended amount of time, travel them to West Augustine, is a good idea," she said.

Adrienne Wrightman said she is moving into MuraBella, which is part of Palm Lakes, because she thought her child would attend Switzerland Point Middle.

"I took a tour [of Murray] and I did not feel safe," she said.

Wrightman said residents from West Augustine have told her there are gangs and drugs in the community and it's not an environment into which she wants to send her child.

"If I knew then I would not have bought the home," she said. "Now I'm stuck in a home I don't want to live in because of the schools."

School Board member Carla Wright said she was frustrated by some residents' unwillingness to go to a different school.

"Kids going to Webster and Murray will not be getting a bad education because our reputation is countywide," she said. "We provide a good education in all of our schools ... this whole thing is just annoying to me that you would be upset to have to go to a different school."

"Your child will be safe," Wright said. "I've never felt unsafe [at Murray]."

Beverly Slough, representative for the northwest, said this rezoning is desperately needed.

"Overcrowding is a safety issue," she said. "We have to do something to protect the integrity of each of our children's education ... we have to move forward with spot zoning." lisa.miller@jacksonville.com,(904) 287-0618 ext. 202#

Source: Florida Times Union

More News in this Category