JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2013 Duval County Schools are once again considering consolidating schools, this time focusing on Mayport Elementary and Anchor Academy as part of an effort to optimize its resources. <\/p>\n
Dana Arendt, a parent and substitute teacher at Mayport Elementary, has been involved in the working group discussing the consolidation. <\/p>\n
PREVIOUS COVERAGE: Duval County schools consider consolidating Mayport Elementary, Anchor Academy<\/a> | DCPS to discuss possible school consolidation at meeting<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cI think both schools really truly have a lot to offer, and I think coming together will be even stronger,\u201d Arendt said.<\/p>\n Despite the potential benefits, Arendt acknowledged the emotional difficulty of the process. <\/p>\n \u201cWe don\u2019t want Anchor to close, we don\u2019t want Mayport to close because nobody wants their school to close,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n However, she explained that from a financial standpoint, consolidating to reach a student population of about 700 makes sense. <\/p>\n Emily Macis, a military spouse whose children attend Anchor Academy, expressed concern about the possible closure. <\/p>\n \u201cWe just love our school, we love our community and we don\u2019t want to see it go,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n When asked if she would consider staying with Mayport if the consolidation happens, Macis replied, \u201cWe would probably end up going to a different school that\u2019s built to last.\u201d<\/p>\n Meanwhile, School Board Vice Chair April Carney is exploring a potential federal grant from the Department of Defense that could fund a new school. This initiative aims to create a unique partnership between the Department of Defense and Duval County Public Schools to support military families.<\/p>\n \u201cIt has come to my attention from having multiple conversations with Congressman Rutherford that there is a grant that\u2019s available through the Department of Defense that in the past has built schools,\u201d Carney said. \u201cI thought, what a great way to be able to bring these two communities together by having something that\u2019s never happened in Duval County.\u201d<\/p>\n She acknowledged that change is hard but says it\u2019s needed in order for the district to survive financially. <\/p>\n \u201cI look at it as an opportunity to meet new friends, and meet new favorite teachers, and more parents, more PTA, more functions, and most importantly, being able to provide expanded services to all of our students,\u201d said Carney.<\/p>\n At this stage, no final decisions have been made. <\/p>\n The school board will review the consolidation recommendation at a workshop on November 18, followed by a vote at the December 1 school board meeting.<\/p>\n Copyright 2025 by WJXT News4JAX – All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2013 Duval County Schools are once again considering consolidating schools, this time focusing on Mayport Elementary…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":46975,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[30613,1040,113,116,118,117,30614,278],"class_list":{"0":"post-46974","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-jacksonville","8":"tag-anchor-academy","9":"tag-dcps","10":"tag-education","11":"tag-jacksonville","12":"tag-jacksonville-headlines","13":"tag-jacksonville-news","14":"tag-mayport-elementary","15":"tag-top-stories"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46974","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=46974"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46974\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/46975"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=46974"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=46974"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=46974"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}