JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — “Save Holiday Hill Elementary” signs are scattered across the school’s Arlington neighborhood. Holiday Hill is one of more than 30 schools possibly closing and consolidating across the Duval County School District in the coming months due to budget cuts.
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Danielle Hernandez is a teacher at Holiday Hill Elementary and told Action News Jax on Sunday about the efforts to keep the school alive.
“We want to save the school, not only for our present children but our future children too because it is such an integral part of this community,” said Hernandez.
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School consolidation may also come with an unexpected side effect. Timothy Newman, the president of the North Florida Mortgage Brokers told Action News Jax in an interview that it could affect property values across the county.
“There tends to be a slight downturn in property values in the near term after redistricting,” said Newman.
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That’s caused by the loss of a valuable resource in those communities: their schools, the reason many move to specific neighborhoods.
However, Newman did add that if the district’s quality of education ultimately improves with consolidation, homeowners may be just as happy in the long run as district leaders.
“Hopefully, a well thought out and thoroughly planned redistricting can be a positive step in that direction for the students with overall positive housing appreciation to follow, especially in the lower income neighborhoods,” explained Newman.
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Newman said that ultimately, it’s about quality over quantity when it comes to schools.
Meanwhile, Hernandez said she hopes consolidation doesn’t affect the quality of her neighborhood.
“If we take [Holiday Hill] out of here, we are losing so much, and not just in this community but in a great deal of Jacksonville,” Hernandez said.
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