St. Johns County proposes new schools, zoning maps to move students next year

ST. JOHNS COUNTY, Fla. — After weeks of back and forth between the St. Johns County school district and parents, the school board is making more changes on where your students might go to school next year. It’s part of an effort from the district to manage more families moving to the county through rezoning schools and putting up new ones.

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But despite the numerous changes the board has made to its proposed zoning maps, it’s still getting some of the same responses from parents.

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“There are a number of people who don’t think this is any good for our kids,” Ann Taylor, a local parent who’s voiced a number of concerns to the board in recent weeks, said.

READ: SJC to hold countywide vulnerability assessment meeting on Friday

Action News Jax got documents from the school board showing its plans to move students between its new and existing schools. The board’s trying to split 2,275 students between two new schools next year.

1,200 students would be rezoned to “K-8 school OO,” which would be located in the Beacon Lakes neighborhood, with 1,075 students being rezoned to “K-8 school NN,” which is set for the Shearwater neighborhood. Both schools are set to open next year.

Nine schools would siphon its students to the new K-8′s to make this happen:

• Hickory Creek Elementary School (128 students to “NN”)
• Timberlin Creek Elementary School (607 students to “NN”)
• Switzerland Point Middle School (340 students to “NN”)
• Ocean Palms Elementary School (498 students to “OO”)
• Liberty Pines Academy (490 students to “OO”)
• Alice B. Landrum Middle School (212 students to “OO”)
• Pacetti Bay Middle School (461 students rezoned)
• Wards Creek Elementary School (149 students to Liberty Pines Academy)
• Sebastian Middle School (397 students from Pacetti Bay Middle School)

The board just introduced two other schools, “K-8 QQ” and “K-8 RR,” to open at the start of the 2026-2027 school year. The district’s still working out where, exactly, they’d be located, but the current proposal puts “RR” in the Nocatee neighborhood and “QQ” in the Silverleaf neighborhood.

The one plan the board is not changing, rezoning 397 from Pacetti Bay Middle School to Sebastian Middle School. The move would bring PBMS’ student count from 1525 to 1207, and raise SMS’ count from 630 to 1027 students. Parents, like Ann Taylor, worry it’ll push Sebastian Middle to close to its capacity.

“We need to take a pause right now and look for other solutions for this,” Taylor says.

READ: Virtually join the St. Johns County School Board workshop on Tuesday

The school board says a handful of its schools are already overcrowded. Superintendent Tim Forson says 2026 is too long of a wait for new schools to help provide some relief.

“It’s going to happen, [rezoning] is going to happen year after year because parents move to St. Johns County at a high rate,” Forson said.

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The school board is having a workshop on October 3rd to get more feedback from parents on its proposals. A final vote on the rezoning maps is set for November.

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