ST. JOHNS COUNTY, Fla — Wednesday is the first day of school in St. Johns County and students, teachers and parents may notice some new things this year.
The rapid growth of the county impacting schools is one of the major issues St. Johns County School District Superintendent Tim Forson points to as students return. Last year two new schools opened in the district and this year one new one, Beachside High School, is opening. Forson says there are about 2,000 new students this year and there were about 3,000 new students last year.
Thousands more people have moved to St. Johns County and the cost of living has increased as well. Compared to when the class of 2010 graduated, 85,000 more people call St. Johns County home.
The problem of teacher vacancies is impacting the school district, but according to Forson it isn't much different than it would have been in any year before the pandemic. Forson says the district is starting school with 49 teacher vacancies.
"In a system of 3,000 teachers, that's not bad," he said.
There are more open positions in supporting jobs. Forson says there are more than 80 vacancies in positions like paraprofessionals, bus operators and food service workers.
One problem in St. Johns County is the cost of living outpacing what people who live and work in the county can afford.
"We have reached that target number of $47,500 as the starting teacher pay and no one makes less than that," Forson said.
Families may also notice differences when it comes to school safety. The total cost for law enforcement throughout the district will increase by more than one million dollars this year.
The director of school services says this means many high schools throughout the year will have two officers. It's also the first time starting the school year with Alyssa's law, which mandates classrooms have panic buttons.
Last school year ended with tense school board meetings over some parents wanting to ban books from school libraries. The books up for review had to do with LGBTQ and racial issues.
This school year begins with a new policy that could impact transgender students. Teachers in St. Johns County schools will now have to contact parents before using a student's requested name or gender pronoun.
The school district says the new policy is in response to the Parental Bill of Rights, dubbed the 'don't say gay bill' by critics. First Coast News asked what Forson wants to say to parents who may still have concerns about this heading into the school year.
"To any parent I'd want to say reach out to your school if you have a question and you're not sure about something, reach out to the school," Forson said. "If it has to do with health services, reach out to to the nurse at the school. If it has to do with academics or parental rights, one of the administrators or even some of our teachers can help them through some of those questions."
Find important dates for this school year on the calendars here.
