Alachua Elementary to Close; Irby Decision Remains Pending

ALACHUA COUNTY – series of school closures and campus reconfigurations, including plans affecting Alachua and Newberry-area schools, will move forward as part of a broader districtwide rezoning plan approved by the Alachua County School Board.

Alachua Elementary School is projected to close at the end of the 2027-28 school year. A proposal to close Irby Elementary School and shift students into a renovated and expanded kindergarten-through-eighth-grade campus at Mebane Middle School remains under consideration. School Board members have requested additional information from district staff before making a final decision, which is expected in May. That decision could also affect grade configurations at the Mebane campus.

In western Alachua County, Oak View Middle School in Newberry is set to transition into a prekindergarten-through-eighth-grade campus beginning this fall. The move will incorporate much of the current Newberry Elementary attendance zone. The change follows the conversion of Newberry Elementary into an independently operated charter school, requiring the district to provide a traditional public school option for families in the area.

To accommodate the transition, modular classroom buildings previously used for other construction projects will be relocated to the Oak View campus this summer. District officials also plan to develop a new elementary school building at the site in the future.

Those changes are part of a larger plan approved after months of public meetings, revisions and community input. The initiative will redraw attendance boundaries across elementary, middle and high schools beginning with the 2026-27 school year.

District leaders say the updated boundaries are designed to better balance enrollment across schools, addressing both overcrowding and under-enrollment. District officials estimate there are currently about 6,600 empty seats — enough to fill multiple campuses.

In addition to the changes affecting Alachua and western parts of the county, the plan includes the closure of Foster Elementary School at the end of the current school year. Williams Elementary School, the district’s oldest campus at 89 years, is projected to close at the end of the 2027-28 school year.

Lincoln Middle School, located next to Williams, is slated for major renovations along with construction of a new elementary building. The site will be converted into a K-8 campus, with most Williams students expected to transition there once construction is complete. In the meantime, those students are expected to remain at Williams.

Superintendent Kamela Patton said the plan is intended to allow the district to better focus its resources.

“This plan will allow us to focus our resources on expanding and enhancing educational programs and updating our school facilities,” Patton said. “Instead of spending tens of millions of dollars on overhead costs and expensive repairs at underused buildings, we can invest those resources to create more learning opportunities and better learning environments for our students.”

District officials said additional details, including updated attendance maps and frequently asked questions, are available on the school district’s website.

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