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The St. Johns Tattler
Watching St. Johns County.

Schools

The district, the board, and your kid's school.

School Board records

Fourteen school board meetings came back without their backup

The district's agenda portal lost fourteen meetings between June 23 and Sept. 22, then got them back in early October. What did not come back is the material under each item. The Oct. 13 packet, from a meeting that never went missing, runs 774 pages with the architect's own proposal bound into it. The Sept. 8 packet runs 166 pages, names each item's attachment and its file size, and contains none of them. Among the files named and not served are both 2026-2027 union contracts and the design fee for the new SilverLeaf high school.

School Board

One of three school board seats is on your November ballot

The Secretary of State's notice of the Nov. 3 general election lists School Board Districts 1, 3 and 4 among the offices to be filled in this county. The Supervisor of Elections' own general election candidate list carries one of them. District 1 was settled at the Aug. 18 primary, when one candidate took 52.22 percent of 10,845 votes and so came off every later ballot under section 105.051 of the Florida Statutes. District 3 drew one qualified candidate and never appeared on a ballot at all. Whoever wins District 4 is seated at the board's reorganization meeting on Nov. 17.

Schools

SilverLeaf's new high school has a $6,233,469 design fee

The school board took up the architect's proposal for High School JJJ on Tuesday, on consent. The lump sum fee is $6,233,469, and $346,000 of it is the design of a road to the site. The item's own cover sheet says No Fiscal Impact. The proposal says the building will meet structural shelter requirements similar to past K-8 schools but not a full EHPA design, and nothing in the 774 page packet says what the difference is. The district projects the school to open in 2029-2030.

schools

No middle or high school has an open-enrollment seat

The school board votes Tuesday on the plan that sets controlled open enrollment for this year. Its capacity table lists fourteen schools, twelve elementary and two K-8 academies, and not one middle school or high school appears on it. Webster Elementary has the most room, with 19 kindergarten seats. Further down the same agenda, on consent, is an agreement that says there is no high school capacity for 180 new homes at Bartram Grove and will not be within three years.

schools

Agenda site restores 14 missing school board meetings

On Oct. 4 the district's new Board Agenda site listed nothing between June 9 and Oct. 6, and the gap held both public hearings on this year's school tax rate and both union contracts. All fourteen are on it now. The next regular meeting is Tuesday at 4:30.

schools

School board's new agenda site is missing 14 meetings from this year

The district changed the Board Agenda link on its own School Board page some time in the last week. The system it now points to lists meetings from 2015 to June 9 and then jumps to Tuesday. The fourteen in between include both public hearings on this year's school tax rate and both union contracts, and they are still sitting in the old system at the old address.

schools

School tax watchdog has not briefed the board since 2025

A week ago Monday the Half-Cent Sales Surtax Citizens Advisory Committee met at Fullerwood, and nothing has been published since. The board's own record shows the committee was created to report, was seated with 15 citizens and meets quarterly. The word surtax does not appear on any of the 32 board agendas posted so far this year.

schools

Oct. 6 school board workshop back on, Oct. 13 legal workshop canceled

Two meetings on the school district's public notices page changed status between Saturday and tonight, and the page dates neither change. The cancellation notice for the Oct. 13 workshop reads Sept. 9, which is the day that workshop was announced.

schools

District posts only a notice for Monday's school tax committee

St. Johns County's half-cent school capital outlay surtax was extended effective Jan. 1 this year and now expires Dec. 31, 2035. Its citizens advisory committee meets Monday at 4 at Fullerwood. No agenda, no minutes and no membership list are published anywhere on the district site.

schools

District bought roughly $37.8 million of materials for two new K-8s

Sabal Crest Academy and Magnolia Oaks Academy went to the School Board on consent Sept. 8 for their last change orders. Each item says the district avoided $1,119,506.09 in sales tax by buying the materials directly, and the two items print that same figure against different purchase totals.

schools

Teacher raises run $1,200 at five years and $2,400 at ten

The School Board approved the teachers' contract Aug. 25 and the support staff contract Sept. 1, both 5-0, settling pay through June 2027. The agreement also carries a supplement of $5,000 to $9,600 that a first-year hire gets too.

schools

School Board sets your school tax rate Thursday night

A $1,558,622,009 budget and a rate of 6.264 mills, down eight thousandths of a mill from last year. The hearing is at 5:30 p.m. at 40 Orange Street, and public comment is item 9 on a nine-item agenda.