Six months later, documents provided by Duval Schools show the district again proposed discontinuing the leadership academy program \u2014 and this time presented a plan to replace it with the STEM-focused agriscience academy program.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Documents included within Tuesday\u2019s meeting agenda say the change was approved through a community review the district calls an ACE process<\/a>. It is unclear who served on the school\u2019s ACE committee, though board policies<\/a> suggest district and school administrators, as well as a parent representative.<\/p>\n It\u2019s also unclear when the committee gave its approval, though documents suggest it was likely in late spring 2025.<\/p>\n District records<\/a> show Mungin was transferred to the school as its principal in time for the current school year, in July 2025. Its previous principal, Tamara Feagins, was transferred to J. Allen Axson to serve as that school\u2019s principal. Mungin, an experienced and award-winning administrator<\/a>, began his teaching career as a science teacher in Duval Schools.<\/p>\n Butler\u2019s beginnings<\/p>\n A decade ago, then-Superintendent Nikolai Vitti created the leadership academy<\/a> at Eugene Butler. The school had had a long string of failing grades from the state, and enrollment was dropping. Vitti said he\u2019d seen the single-gender format work in other districts.\u00a0<\/p>\n Named for one of Jacksonville\u2019s storied Black educators<\/a>, Eugene Butler Junior-Senior High School opened in 1966 \u2014\u00a0more than a decade after Brown v. Board of Education, but five years before Duval Schools got a court order to integrate<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n Construction delays complicated the school\u2019s opening but didn\u2019t stop its first head football coach, Alvin G. White<\/a>, from recruiting players for its inaugural season.\u00a0<\/p>\n The school\u2019s first principal, George B. Nairn, made the news for his plans to incorporate a new technology: educational television. Butler\u2019s new program, too, will grow Duval Schools\u2019 portfolio of tech teaching tools<\/a>.<\/p>\n Yvonne Day, who is the district\u2019s director of science, says the STEM academy will \u201cprovide students with hands-on learning experiences in agricultural technology, environmental concepts, computer science, artificial intelligence, and data science.\u201d <\/p>\n The goal is to give students tools that will be immediately useful in real-world career settings. <\/p>\n \u201cJacksonville STEM Academy will enhance our district by increasing access to quality STEM education opportunities, creating career-connected pathways and fostering graduates who are ready to join Jacksonville\u2019s innovation economy,\u201d she wrote in an email.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Florida_Times-Union_1966-07-24_1.png\")
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