The Duval County School Board’s two newly-elected members went to orientation and their first board workshop Tuesday.
Former Jacksonville City Councilman Warren Jones won his school board district with enough votes during the August primary with 52 percent of the vote. A candidate needs at least 50 percent, plus one vote to win in the primary.
He said his new position gives him the opportunity to make some real changes to the county, particularly for his northwest constituents.
“The biggest concern is making sure we reduce the achievement gap — close that gap,” he said. “My response is we need to close the achievement gap between all students and our Asian-American students, because they’re out performing all students.”
He also said he hopes to work with the legislature to improve school facilities. Duval County has some of the oldest schools in the state.
Jones took over Connie Hall’s seat recently-vacated seat. But the board has been operating with six members since June, when District 7 board member Jason Fischer vacated his seat to run for a state house seat, which he won.
New board member Lori Hershey is taking over his seat. She won her Southside district in a runoff election last week against Barbara Toscano. She said school safety is a concern in her district and also the district's common core style curriculum used in reading and math.
“Many see it as being developmentally inappropriate for students,” she said. “There’s a lot of concerns about scripts for teachers in the classroom. Also there’s a desire to empower teachers.”
The district adopted the curriculum in 2015. She said it’s something she’ll be looking into closely to see how effective it is.
Reporter Lindsey Kilbride can be reached at lkilbride@wjct.org, 904-358-6359 or on Twitter at@lindskilbride.
