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Parents, staff press Duval board over staffing, school consolidations and budget priorities
Summary
More than a dozen public commenters raised concerns about school psychologist shortages, potential classroom cuts, charter use of district facilities, and staff morale; employee organizations urged the board to address staffing and pay.
At the Dec. 9 Duval County School Board meeting, parents, staff and union representatives used the public-comment period to press the district on staffing shortages, budget priorities and plans for school consolidations.
School psychologist Felix Proya told the board staffing levels have fallen and urged investment to retain specialists, saying, "We're down to 53... We're at 24100 per psychologist," and warning that the district is "bleeding" school psychologists. Several speakers echoed concerns about vacancies and the impact on student supports.
Parents also raised worries about school closures and classroom reductions. Kendall Webb asked the board to postpone a classroom-reduction decision at Jacksonville Beach Elementary until the Choice Office and Budget Office reconcile conflicting data, noting the school’s reported enrollment and capacity figures and a long choice waitlist.
Employee representatives described morale and staffing problems in specific schools and asked how district exit-interview information is used to detect patterns. Miss Brooks Evan (designated employee organizations) said her teams documented communication and morale issues and urged the district to use public-records and survey information to target supports. Frank DeLong of IBEW raised maintenance-staffing and contractor-pay concerns, arguing district reorganizations and title changes have created pay disparities and turnover.
Several commenters urged the board to limit nonessential spending while the district balances its budget. Susan Ertiker and others pointed to a proposed expense for board travel (later discussed in the meeting) and asked that funds be redirected to classrooms or staff retention. A number of callers urged the board to require consistent ethical and social-media standards for board members and staff.
Board members acknowledged the concerns and said they will take them into account at follow-up meetings and town halls. Board Member Pearson asked staff to prepare improved mechanisms for travel report-backs and said she will propose a board policy requiring members who attend conferences to report back to the full board.
The district did not adopt immediate policy changes during the meeting but introduced several follow-ups: bringing employee-transaction items forward (new appointees introduced) and scheduling town halls on the state of Duval County schools. The board also approved routine minutes and the consent agenda earlier in the meeting.
