Larger classes, longer bus routes: School's back next week in Duval County. Here's what's changing

Jacksonville parents, students and teachers can expect some changes when the 2022-23 school year begins, like larger classes, longer bus routes and the discontinuation of the shool district's COVID-19 case tracking dashboard.

With the first day of school for students on Monday, Aug. 15, district leaders have been clamoring to prepare to face nationwide shortages that have also impacted Duval County.

This school year, including school breaks and employee planning days, students will see about 30 days off and holidays throughout the 10-month school year. The last day of school is on June 2.

Until then, here's a rundown of what to expect this school year:

Teacher shortages, new principals and some schedule changes

School districts across Florida continue to report staff and faculty vacancies. In Duval County, the district is still reporting over 400 classroom teacher spots that are unfilled. The district is also projecting about 175 paraprofessional vacancies.

"This challenge isn’t new," Superintendent Diana Greene said. "It became particularly acute last school year."

The district is also offering buyouts to teachers, where a middle or high school instructor can be "bought out" of their planning period and instead, paid to teach an extra one or two courses throughout the day.

To combat the shortages, Duval Schools announced it was increasing its teacher-to-student class ratios, adding an average of 1.5 students per elementary through middle school class sizes and an average of one student to high school classes.

"We continue to have the goal of meeting state requirements for class size while balancing the primary need to ensure qualified teachers are providing instruction for students," a spokesperson said. The increases won't impact the state class size amendment. That's because Duval County is a choice district, and in turn, official class sizes are determined by the school average for each grade range.

Greene said the increases are necessary to keep students from going for long periods of time without a qualified instructor leading classes. She added that ESE, ESOL, art, music and PE class numbers will not be impacted. Some students have reported seeing "vacant" on their schedule where a teacher's name should be.

"Our current vacancy number would be significantly higher if we did not make these adjustments. "The increases will be monitored at the school level in relation to these requirements."

Greene added that, like last school year, district administrators — herself included — will fill in as substitutes throughout the school year as needed.

Some schools are applying new bell schedules this school year, switching from seven periods a day to five or A/B schedules. Not all schools follow the same bell schedules. Check with your school ahead of time to confirm hours and bell schedules.

The school district has also reassigned 16 principals ahead of the new school year.

Find out if your school has a new principal here 

More on this: The Times-Union created a database that lists the number of teacher vacancies at each school

Property tax vote takes place amid back-to-school season, geared toward teacher recruitment  

The continued spike in teacher shortages coupled with added responsibilities for remaining classroom instructors comes amid election season. This week marks early voting, where locals will decide if they want to support a property tax increase that would benefit teachers.

The proposed 1 mill increase would help fund annual supplemental bonuses for teachers amounting to more than $5,000 per year for the next four years if it's approved by voters. Salary changes are subject to teachers union negotiations.

The property tax revenue would also fund resources and equipment for school arts and athletics programs. Greene says the funding will help Duval Schools competitively recruit and retain teachers to the school district.

Ahead of the new school year, teachers gathered downtown to rally in favor of the property tax increase. Some say the supplement is the make-or-break between staying a teacher and moving on to a more flexible, better-paying job.

Early voting ends on Aug. 21. Election day is Aug. 23.

More: Find out more about the property tax referendum

COVID-19 dashboard, plus calls and letters about individual cases going away

Duval Schools will continue some of its safety measures from when the COVID-19 pandemic was at its height in Jacksonville. But some elements are being retired this year.

Here's what's sticking around:

• School/classroom cleaning and disinfecting procedures

• Hand sanitizer will be distributed by the district to schools/classrooms

• Restrooms should be "well-stocked" with soap and paper towels (if that is ever not the case, the district asks for reports to be made to a school's principal)

• High-touch surfaces including desks will receive anti-microbial treatment

• Classrooms will be stocked with disinfectant wipes

It's worth noting that the local union that represents about 900 of the custodial staff members who work for HES facilities management — which is contracted by Duval Schools — said in a statement earlier this month that the custodians do not have enough supplies or manpower to do their jobs adequately.

“HES is a contract vendor of the school district," a district spokesperson said. "We have every expectation that they will fulfil the requirements of their contract. The relationship they have with their employees and representative groups is not something with which we would involve the district.”

However, some COVID-19 safety protocols are going away this year.

The district confirmed to the Times-Union that following two and a half school years of publishing and maintaining its own COVID-19 case tracking dashboard, positive COVID-19 cases will no longer be published online. The district is also discontinuing its nightly calls and elementary school letters about individual cases at schools.

"District officials will continue to closely monitor the transmission of COVID-19 in our local community," a spokesperson said. "Families can still access local positivity rates on the Florida Department of Health website."

Only a small handful of school districts in Florida independently published dashboards last school year after temporarily facing pushback from state officials. Broward County Public Schools appears to continue to publish its dashboard. To date, the Broward Schools has updated and reported positive case numbers throughout the summer break.

Duval Schools will have a limited number of COVID-19 test kits available to students and staff exhibiting symptoms. As for positive cases, current state guidance recommends not returning to school until the student/employee receives a negative COVID-19 test and is asymptomatic or until five days have passed since the onset of symptoms or a positive test result and has been fever-free with improving symptoms for 24 hours.

New state laws impacting Duval Schools

Over the last year, the DeSantis administration has placed a number of new laws into effect that educators fear may restrict how they can approach certain subjects including race and gender identity.

Superintendent Greene says the laws don't directly impact any Duval Schools curriculum. But education experts say the "Stop WOKE Act" and "Parental Rights in Education Act" — which has been billed as the Don't Say Gay bill by critics — have vague language that could open the floodgates for lawsuits filed by parents when they don't like a teacher's approach.

As part of the school district's implementation of the Parental Rights in Education Act, the school board approved an overhaul of the district's LGBTQ+ Student Support Guide that legal counsel says will better comply with the new law. A once robust guide has now been stripped to eight pages, removing many references to resources local LGBTQ+ advocates said were helpful for teachers and students.

"We continue to refine the new comprehensive student support guide for our school staff," a district spokesperson said. "Needs of transgender students will be addressed on a case-by-case basis."

The new law and, in turn, the district's guide now calls for new parental "notification triggers" pertaining to students' identities. This means that parents will have to be notified of any potential changes regarding if a student wants to be called by a name or pronouns different from their legal records. This impacts more than students who identify as a part of the LGBTQ+ community. Notifications will also apply to scenarios involving cisgender students, for example when a student wants to go by a nickname or middle name instead of their legal first name.

More: Find out more about the Duval Schools LGBTQ+ Student Support Guide

Longer bus rides prompted by driver shortages in Duval County, JTA program continues on 

Last year Duval Schools — and many other school districts across the country — saw lofty school bus issues and delays promoted by driver shortages.

The district says that students and families will still feel the impacts caused by a national bus driver shortage this year. According to school district officials, families should expect longer bus rides, as well as longer wait times and delays this school year.

Earlier this year, the school board approved a policy revision that will allow non-school bus vehicles to transport ESE students, along with students who live in isolated or rural parts of the county this school year. The district said use of non-school buses will be "minimal" this school year but will help free up large school buses and commercial drivers for other transportation assignments throughout the district.

Duval Schools Director of Transportation Erika Harding said the district's contracted bus service, Durham School Services, needs to hire at least 50 more drivers this school year for things to run efficiently. Harding said Durham School Services plans to offer additional sign-on bonuses and hire more part-time drivers to help combat national shortages.

The district has a Bus Delays page on its website where long wait times and delays will be listed. For more information, visit dcps.duvalschools.org/Page/27759.

Separately, the school district's partnership with the Jacksonville Transportation Authority will continue this school year, a JTA spokesman confirmed.

The My Ride 2 School program provides free trips to middle and high school students in Jacksonville. Through the program, students can use a valid school I.D. as a pass to ride any JTA or First Coast Flyer bus for free on school days.

The free rides also extend to students who take part in JTA's Connexion Plus discounted ride service, which serves roughly 50 students with disabilities across 23 schools.

Currently, 34 of JTA's 36 available bus routes are positioned right by existing public, charter and private schools.

More on My Ride 2 School: Pilot program for free JTA bus rides for Duval County students launches

New security measures including clear backpack policies at some schools 

This year, four new schools within Duval County just added a requirement for students to use clear or mesh backpacks this school year, according to the district. Those schools are:

• Normandy Village Elementary

• Bayview Elementary

• Oceanway Middle

• John E. Ford K-8

These new additions bring the total of schools with this type of requirement up to 36, the district said. The district recommends checking a school's website or with the front office to ensure a backpack is compliant ahead of the school year.

Keeping with previous years, all schools are staffed either by school police, Jacksonville Sheriff's Office, Duval County Public Schools Guardians or contracted Guardians to comply with state law. It's unclear how many of each role are employed to date.

The district is now more than a year-and-a-half into a three-year plan to increase safety and security through half-cent sales tax revenue. The sales tax master plan — approved by voters in 2020 and implemented in 2021 — detailed that all district schools would receive safety and security enhancements within the first three years of the 15-year revenue stream. Projects are ongoing but to date, about 42 schools are in the process of receiving security enhancements and are currently in the design phase according to district officials.

Biltmore Elementary, Lake Shore Middle and Duncan Fletcher High School served as the district's three prototypes — one for each school level — for the new security upgrades. The schools received new badge technology earlier this year that helps efficiently record and log employees and visitors who come to campus when they arrive and leave. Additional sales tax revenue projects underway include the demolition and reconstruction of Rutledge H. Pearson Elementary.

When schools launch Monday, we'd like to hear how things are going. Email ebloch@jacksonville.com or tweet @emrums about your experience.

Emily Bloch is a youth culture and education reporter for The Florida Times-Union. Follow her on Twitter or email her. Sign up for her newsletter.

This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Back to school in Duval County: What's changing this year?