A.G. Gancarski
Despite the maelstrom regarding the future of Duval County School Superintendent Nikolai Vitti, Jacksonville City Council President Lori Boyer vowed that the Wednesday meeting between the school board and the council would steer clear of Vitti’s employment controversy, addressing more ordinary topics like school concurrency, hazardous walking conditions, and charter school development.
The meeting did avoid the Vitti question and did address those topics. And they are covered in some detail below the more interesting narrative: the apparent failed communication between Vitti and the chairwoman of the school board.
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School Board Chair Ashley Smith-Juarez’s open letter saying that she wanted Vitti out rendered the circumstances around the meeting on Wednesday extraordinary.
Since it became public knowledge that Smith-Juarez wanted Vitti gone, community leaders, including Ed Burr of the Jacksonville Civic Council and Audrey Moran of the Jax Chamber, called for unity between the superintendent and the school board.
Burr noted, in a press release ahead of the meeting, that the Civic Council was “pleased that … Smith-Juarez clarified the purpose of Friday’s meeting, since now is not the time to discuss whether to change superintendents, as reported in the media. Rather, our school board members and superintendent should jointly focus on the quality of education for our children. We are confident that they can rise above any adversity that may exist in order to create a world class education system.”
This followed an editorial from the Florida Times-Union saying that Vitti should get more time, and reportage from Action News Jax saying that Smith-Juarez was under “intense pressure” to back down from her earlier statement that Vitti “use [his] talents elsewhere.”
When asked for comment before the meeting, Smith-Juarez demurred.
After the meeting, Smith-Juarez offered a heaping helping of word salad, expertly dodging her intent regarding the Friday meeting she called on Vitti’s future with the district.
When asked if her mind had changed regarding the Friday meeting, the chairwoman said what really was in play was a “different question” than whether or not her mind had changed.
“It’s not a question of changing my mind,” she said, but how to get in the “best possible position” regarding having the “most effective leader” possible.
Smith-Juarez noted that, regarding pushback from the political establishment, she’d had an ongoing conversation with them for years.
Meanwhile, Smith-Juarez said, she’s “currently open to discussing the best way forward.”
Whether or not she was calling for a vote of no confidence on Vitti is unclear.
Still.
Board member Scott Shine, a Vitti supporter, claimed that Vitti told him that there was a specific “ultimatum” to resign, with Smith-Juarez telling Vitti that the meeting was set up for “termination.”
Shine noted that, given a unique rule governing districts with between 800,000 and 1 million people, Smith-Juarez could vote twice to can Vitti: once as a board member, and once as the chair to break the tie.
Shine also asserted that Smith-Juarez’s statement that Vitti could take his talents elsewhere was hard to construe as an invitation to dialogue.
Another issue Shine outlined: that the meeting, had he not brought the purpose to the attention of the public, would have been happening without the public knowing what was going on.
The termination of the previous superintendent, Ed Pratt-Dannals, had happened in the shadows. And historically, removals of superintendents tend to happen that way in Duval County.
With all this discourse and meta-discourse in mind, the Friday meeting of the school board will be of interest.
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Certainly, of more interest than the deliberately dry presentation and topics of Wednesday afternoon’s meeting, which offered deep dives into such TV news unfriendly topics as school space utilization (82 percent, for those curious) and the bond process related to new buildings related to areas with residential growth.
Among the topics discussed: the need to maintain neighborhood schools and the impact of boundary changes.
Councilman Reggie Brown bemoaned the potential impact of athletes transferring out of schools in “declining communities.” Pending state law allows for Florida students to go anywhere in the state, as a school choice measure.
Superintendent Vitti noted that the magnet program has made the school district more competitive writ large, and that the district is well-positioned for open enrollment.
Councilman Matt Schellenberg said that “neighborhood schools is what people want,” adding that once neighborhood schools improve, magnet schools will be less necessary.
Private school enrollment is down slightly in Duval, said Vitti, which validated the school choice model embraced in Duval County for decades.
“The dilemma is that as we move to a magnet process, people view magnet schools as the only way to get a good education,” Vitti said.
Slightly later in the meeting, Vitti namechecked Smith-Juarez in a discussion of neighborhood schools, saying that it would take two to three years to “bring people back.”
Another challenge identified: getting people to move back to the urban core, where many of the schools with capacity are located.
And still another challenge: getting state approval to build new buildings, given the state calculation addresses countywide capacity.
Councilman Danny Becton noted that the district’s inability to close schools with relatively low capacity usage impacts those growing neighborhoods.
Vitti, while allowing that there are “opportunities for synergy” between builders and the district, said that “we’re trying to chase the builders,” avoiding the question of impacts on neighborhoods.
Councilman Al Ferraro suggested that school board members attend Land Use and Zoning committee meetings to understand the scope of the issue.
With 60 percent of Duval schools over half a century old, Vitti noted capital costs were being poured into repairing old facilities, rather than building new ones.
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Once that topic was exhausted, hazardous walking conditions were up next.
A concern among many council members: schools in proximity to such high-traffic areas as big box stores, toll roads, and so forth.
This holds true for charter schools, also.
Yet, there is a wrinkle: the school board has no oversight over charter schools.
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Homeless students also came up as a topic.
2,257 students are homeless; many of those families in transition are so because of a lack of available housing.
Councilman Garrett Dennis suggested that some students get promoted in school more easily if they are homeless.
The school district offers a number of support services to students with housing challenges.
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To sum up, Duval County schools have a number of issues. And Chairwoman Smith-Juarez will be compelled to more forthrightly address her personality conflict with Vitti on Friday … a conclave which will have more fireworks than the lukewarm colloquy in Council Chambers
