By Martie Thompson
editor@floridanewsline.com
The minivans, bikers, walkers and school buses will be back soon — the first day of school in St. Johns County is Monday, Aug. 16. This year, two new schools will welcome students for the first time: Tocoi Creek High School in the World Golf Village area and Pine Island Academy in the Nocatee area. These two schools, necessary to combat overcrowding in the northern part of the county, bring the total number of traditional K-12 schools in the district to 40.
“We are excited to bring these two new schools into our school family,” St. Johns County School Board Member for District 1 Bev Slough said. “Both Nease and Valley Ridge Academy are severely overcrowded, and these two schools will go a long way to alleviating that. We are also pleased to have two new principals who will share their plans for excellence in education.”
According to the St. Johns County School District, the student count as of June 10, 2021 was 43,985 students, a 1.6 percent increase over the previous year — even in the midst of the pandemic. St. Johns County continues to be one of the fastest growing school districts in the state. Kindergarten enrollment in particular is expected to increase.
“We anticipate a larger kindergarten class this coming year, since last year’s was smaller than usual, perhaps due to COVID,” Slough said.
Friday, Aug. 13 is the districtwide “Meet the Teacher Day,” where every school is encouraged to have personnel present to meet students; however, schools can, and most do, schedule their own day or stagger them by grade level sometime during the week before school starts. The district encourages parents to check their school’s website for the most accurate information.
In addition to the two new schools, there are some other changes coming for the 2021 – 2022 school year. There will be a youth resource deputy from either the St. Johns County Sheriff’s Office or a local police department in every school starting this year. Previously, there were a few instances with a representative from a private security company at a school with a shared school resource officer between a couple of schools.
As of press date, health and safety protocols have changed from last year, with the removal of the face mask mandate and daily temperature checks being the most notable. According to the district, face masks will be optional in school and on district transportation. Desk shields will no longer be a mandatory feature of all classrooms, but will be used as appropriate when needed for health and safety protection. Teachers are still asked to maintain social distancing of students and keep seating/desks three feet or more apart to the extent possible. Adequate supplies of hand sanitizer and soap and water will be available. [Editor’s note: Be sure to check the St. Johns County School District’s prevailing safety protocols and standards as of the first day of school, due to the fluidity of the COVID situation. Visit www.stjohns.k12.fl.us for more information.]
There is still time to register your child for school, if you have not already done so, and the district recommends that parents do this as soon as possible. Parents may access information regarding registration requirements and their child’s attendance zone by visiting the school district website at www.stjohns.k12.fl.us and clicking on the “Parents & Students” tab. Additional information on registration and school attendance zones may be obtained from the Student Services Office at (904) 547-7797.
Photo courtesy Shelley Howard
School buses will soon be back on St. Johns County roads.
