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Alachua County unveils school‑rezoning proposals, prompting calls to delay votes for deeper analysis
Summary
Superintendent Patton and school staff proposed closing and consolidating several elementary schools into K–8 conversions to ‘right‑size’ district capacity; elected officials and residents pushed for more data, housing and transportation analysis and urged consultation before any final votes.
Alachua County School District staff laid out a sweeping rezoning and right‑sizing proposal that would close or consolidate several elementary schools, convert some middle schools to K–8 models and rezone district attendance boundaries, prompting sharp questions from city and county officials and impassioned public testimony from affected neighborhoods.
Superintendent Patton and Kim Neal, the district’s director for state reporting and student assignment, told the joint meeting the plan responds to long‑term enrollment declines. Neal cited district numbers showing roughly 6,600 empty seats across the district — including about 2,666 at the elementary level — and a projected districtwide decline in brick‑and‑mortar enrollment that the presentation estimated could…
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