Northwestern Middle and Raines High schools will not be consolidated into a junior-senior high school despite a previously proposed scenario.
On Thursday evening, Duval County Public Schools Superintendent Diana Greene stood in the William M. Raines High School auditorium for the School Board’s second community meeting this week and broke the news, much to the relief of the school’s strong alumni presence.
“There was the scenario that Raines would be consolidated, but there’s an issue with Northwestern Middle School that is so urgent, that will be taken off the master plan,” Greene told an applauding crowd of about 100. “All I’m stating is that the scenario of a six through 12 [school] is not being recommended by me.”
According to Greene, Northwestern is such a chronic underachiever that the state Department of Education — which will meet with her later this month — is requiring a plan to address the problems at the 41-year-old school. And that plan can’t wait for a referendum.
“We have to move quickly,” Greene said. “It is not based on a referendum. ... They’re requiring us to give them a plan as to how we will address Northwestern.”
For alumnus Rhonda Thomas, a 1985 graduate of Raines, the news was a relief.
“For me, Raines is a legacy,” she said. “It has history here. And to tear down this building to add sixth- and seventh-graders to teenagers, that’s not a good mix. Nobody wanted that.”
Greene said this doesn’t change a proposal that would combine Ribault middle and high schools into a consolidated sixth through 12th grade center. Plans aren’t final, but the school system will continue to gather feedback on that proposal.