Jacksonville City Council resolution calls on school board to save ‘A’ & ‘B’ schools from possible closure

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Duval County Public Schools’ new superintendent knew about the plan to close dozens of schools before he even officially stepped into the role.

Action News Jax’s Robert Grant asked if he had a message for concerned parents who’ve rallied around their neighborhood schools over the past few months.

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“That I hear you. They have been in my email, on my phone, at community meetings. I had the opportunity even before I became superintendent to attend some of the board-led meetings. I am listening,” Dr. Christopher Bernier said.

Tuesday night, a non-binding resolution from Jacksonville City Council members called on the school board to remove all ‘A’ and ‘B’ schools from the list.

They are the “backbone of the communities in which they are located” and “closure of these schools is not in the best interests of the students, educators, neighbors or communities,” the resolution read.

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Dr. Bernier noted that 91% of the schools in the district received an ‘A’, ‘B’, or ‘C’ in the latest round of grades from the Florida Department of Education. He hopes to increase that percentage to improve the overall district grade which has held steady at a ‘B’ for several years.

“It’s definitely within reach. The interesting thing about Duval this year is we didn’t lose any ground,” Dr. Bernier said.

Action News Jax dug through the Master Facilities Plan and school grades from the DOE and found at least 14 of the more than 30 schools at risk of closing in the current proposal had either an ‘A’ or a ‘B’.

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A new Master Facilities Plan will be presented to board members in the coming days and then they will gather community feedback. The hope was to have a final draft around November. Dr. Bernier said that could be pushed back to allow for community feedback.

“But bottom line is we have to make this decision in an area of time where our families have the opportunity to plan,” he said.

The resolution read at Tuesday night’s council meeting was withdrawn.

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