ST. JOHNS COUNTY, Fla. — Under the proposed rezoning plan, 1,000 students from Nease High School would move to a new high school being built in St. Johns County.
Tuesday at Nease, parents got their first look at the county’s plan to deal with its rapid growth.
Laurie Weaver lives in World Golf Village. She said her son takes an 18-mile bus ride every day to Nease, the school he’s currently zoned for.
“This is bringing our son home near 5 o’clock every day,” Weaver said. “It’s hard if you have extra school activities in the evening.”
The school district said ‘High School HHH’ will open in the 2021-2022 school year.
That’s where Weaver’s son will go if the proposed zoning changes go into effect.
HHH’s proposed zone includes areas zoned for Nease west of I-95 and these neighborhoods: Bannon Lakes, Markland and North Francis Road, County Road 16-A south of Shearwater, and Orangedale.
“This will cut my son’s time down on the bus to and from school a lot,” Weaver said. “We’re really excited.”
The new zone for Nease also includes areas east of I-95 including Nocatee and Palencia, and neighborhoods off Race Track Road.
It would also include Twin Creeks, where the district revealed ‘High School III’ will be built in three to four years, promising it will also help with the county’s crowded high schools.
“We’re hoping that III can be in a window of two years from HHH, which would then give Bartram [Trail High School] the relief, but Bartram would be well over 3000 students at that time. We understand that,” said Superintendent Tim Forson.
The district said no students going into their senior year in 2021-2022 would be moved.
They said only a few hundred Bartram Trail students will likely be moving to HHH.
The next parent meeting is 6:30 p.m. Thursday at Bartram Trail High School.
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