The School Board of Alachua County (SBAC) heard citizen input at the public hearing for its proposed rezoning for Alachua County Public Schools (ACPS) on Tuesday. Parents brought many of the same concerns they have had at community input sessions, bearing a theme of unsureness that their comments would change anything. 

Parents said their children’s new school zones would remove them from schools where they had established a routine and teams that know their health needs. Several in neighborhoods near elementary schools said they would have to drive their children to school instead of walking because the zoning moves them to a school farther away. One 8-year-old at the meeting told the board he would have to wake up an hour earlier, at 5:30 a.m., and would lose all his friends and his afterschool program if he was rezoned. 

Several parents also mentioned that their young children are “COVID babies,” who are dependent upon routine 

“I don’t feel like there’s any problems being solved, I just feel like there’s new problems being created by this new rezoning,” Jamie Sabourin, a Littlewood parent, told the board.  

Sabourin, like several others, said she bought her house because she wanted her child to attend that school, and the proposed rezoning would put her child at a school farther from home with an unreliable bus system. 

She was also one of several parents to say they are involved in and love their current school’s community. These parents volunteer at their schools and said if they have to travel further to take their children to school, they will likely not have time left to volunteer—or they may simply move to a private or charter school. 

Jamie Abarca, a single mother whose children would be split in two directions in the proposed rezoning, told the board the support of her school’s community and the stability of knowing Hidden Oak Elementary School’s staff have made a positive education journey possible. 

“I was going to fight to keep him in Hidden Oak,” Abarca said. “But honestly with what’s going on in the rezoning, I don’t know if I really want to, because honestly the teachers and everybody that makes up that school and made that community what it was, and what we fought to be a part of, is not going to be the same.” 

Several community members also raised questions about whether the proposed rezoning meets the board’s goals for economic diversity and better-distributed capacity. Eleven schools would remain overcrowded, though less would be over capacity, according to Anntwanique Edwards, ACPS chief of equity, inclusion and community engagement. 

Though staff had previously told the board the proposed zoning could continue changing until the second reading in December or January, Edwards said Tuesday that if the board wants data about the zoning’s economic impact, staff needs to stop changing it. She said the board had requested that data, so the maps have been static since Oct. 31. 

Board Member Kay Abbitt said she did not understand why the SBAC had pushed the second reading back to January instead of December if the plans were going to be frozen this early, and Board Member Tina Certain said staff should be able to provide some economic impact data with every updated map created. 

Superintendent Shane Andrew told the board that staff need time with solid maps to determine the impact, but if members would prefer to have continued map updates, staff could do that instead. 

“If the direction is to continue with adjustments,” Andrew said, “then I just want everyone to understand that financial impact and analysis can’t be done. Not because we’re unable to do it, but because time doesn’t permit.” 

Members Kay Abbitt and Leanetta McNealy expressed strongly that they did not feel the proposed rezoning is ready as it stands. Abbitt said she wants the rezoning to be considerate of children and families who are in the district now, not those who may or may not move into the area over the years. 

McNealy said while she supports rezoning, she will not vote for any maps that break up neighborhoods and do not fix capacity. 

Board Chair Diyonne McGraw agreed there are problems with the current proposed rezoning, saying that the school district needs to improve struggling schools to a point where parents are not worried about sending their children there. 

“We want to move toward—this board, I know we do—toward solutions,” McGraw said. “But until we address the achievement gap, until you address the behavior, zoning is a third issue to me.” 

Board Member Sarah Rockwell said she would like to continue moving forward, but if the data staff presents in January is unsatisfactory, she would be open to extending the process. 

If the board does not approve the second reading of the proposed zoning, which has been moved tentatively to mid-January with no date set, the district will need to start the approval process from the beginning again and will likely be unable to enact the new zoning for the 2024-25 school year as is currently planned. 

Edwards told the board that comprehensive rezoning has been put off for long enough that now there are extra complications that require more time. She said other districts doing similar projects have spread the process over more than one year to make sure it is done right.