Tensions ran high during a meeting at Hawthorne Middle/High School on Feb. 4, where Alachua County Public Schools (ACPS) held the first of eight community engagement meetings scheduled over the next two months following the release of its preliminary rezoning maps.
The meeting began with a data-heavy PowerPoint presentation from civil engineering firm JBPro that outlined why the district is pursuing the project now. The consultants had planned to follow the presentation with a short digital survey and one-on-one conversations with residents. The meeting, however, quickly devolved into a heated exchange between district leaders and residents, who rejected the programming and felt that their concerns were not being taken seriously.
“We have solutions that can be created if you have a conversation with us. A survey is not a conversation,” a resident said, prompting applause. “A survey is more like texting somebody you don’t want to talk to.”…