A Duval Schools sign hangs on a fence at Long Branch Elementary, one of the district's planned school closures. | Will Brown, Jacksonville Today
Published on December 17, 2025 at 12:12 pm
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Two members of the Jacksonville City Council — concerned about school closures — are lobbying the school district to be involved in the decision-making process.
Ju’Coby Pittman and Jimmy Peluso, together with several city staffers, met Monday with two Duval School Board members to discuss challenges the district faces with lagging enrollment in some schools.
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The council members also expressed concern that the district plans to close schools in areas of the city’s urban core that they said will soon see “immense growth.”
“So you’re just seeing a lot of growth — future growth — and to shut down a school now is a completely misguided approach to how we should be looking at this,” Peluso said.
The School Board voted earlier this month to close Long Branch Elementary at the end of next school year and Anchor Academy the year after that. Peluso and Pittman spoke during the public comment portion of that meeting and urged the board to keep Long Branch open.
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On Monday, School Board District 4 representative Darryl Willie told the group that “a lot has changed in the landscape of education” over the last decade. Numerous school choice options now make it particularly difficult for the district to maintain its enrollment, he said.
“Many of the situations that we have — the underutilization and under-enrollment — are happening in communities that don’t have the growth and development necessarily inside of those communities,” Willie said.
Peluso said neighborhood schools are “a great value add” for communities. To close one is “hugely detrimental” — particularly as money from the Jaguars’ Community Benefits Agreement will soon flow into the Eastside, he said.
“The state Legislature has completely eviscerated public education in this state, and they have gone after counties like Duval County. It’s evident. There couldn’t be more evidence,” Peluso said. “There’s 500 different choices, when you give folks too many options and allow for public money to have to go to those options, it completely eviscerates these traditional public schools that are neighborhood schools that everyone loves and that we know are assets for our neighborhoods and our communities.”
School closure discussions
Pittman said she would like the School Board to involve City Council in future discussions of school closures.
“So that’s why I wanted to call this meeting today, because I don’t want to have a bad taste that we’re not included in the process,” Pittman said to Wilie. “You all know what is needed to help us keep these schools open.”
Willie said he thinks there is “an opportunity for us to both work together and figure things out.”
“I think we do need to have more of a collaborative spirit when it comes to making the decisions, because it does affect not just the schools. It affects neighborhoods and the whole city,” Willie said. “So, yeah, I’m all for it.”
Pittman, whose grandmother was once a student at Long Branch, said she will meet with Superintendent Christopher Bernier in the “next few weeks to discuss some opportunities and options.”
