JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Duval County Schools will host a community meeting Thursday at 5 p.m. at Hyde Grove Park Elementary School to provide an update on construction of the new Venetia Elementary.
Venetia Elementary, located off Timuquana Road, had 343 students enrolled last year. The rebuilt school would be designed to hold 1,200 students — more than three times its current population.
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News4JAX previously spoke with a neighbor, John Pratchios, who lives less than 600 feet from the school and says drop-off and pick-up traffic is already unmanageable. He worries about the school tripling or quadrupling its current enrollment.
“If you get three to four times more traffic, parents dropping their children off and picking them up — already it does not handle with one-third to one-quarter the amount,” he said.
The Duval County School Board is set to vote in August on closing Ortega Elementary and consolidating it into Venetia Elementary by 2028. That same meeting will also include a vote to designate the Ortega property as surplus. The timeline was previously set for the 2030-2031 school year.
DCPS sent us a statement about neighborhood concerns regarding the expansion of the elementary school.
We are currently in the planning phases of this project. Traffic, environmental, and geotechnical studies are underway, with traffic study results expected this fall. Those findings, along with community feedback, will help inform the final design.
We appreciate that members of the Venetia community have shared their concerns directly with us, and we look forward to hearing and considering the diverse perspectives of all stakeholders — including residents, families, staff, and students — as we continue to create opportunities for engagement, including tomorrow’s community meeting regarding this topic.
Duval County Public Schools
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