Volusia County parents voice displeasure for school rezonings

VOLUSIA COUNTY, Fla. — About 1,400 Volusia County students could end up going to different schools next year.

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The district first made the decision to look into rezoning more than 950 kids back in October.

Tuesday night, leaders voted to add 460 more students into the plans.

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Some parents believe if the schools are full, the district should build more. But school leaders said even though more than a dozen are currently under capacity, the process is complicated.

“When or if we feel we need to build something, the state looks at the surrounding area and you can’t have schools that are under capacity because they will say no, you can just zone, you don’t need to build or add on,” said school board member Jamie Haynes. “You can just zone kids to schools that are under capacity.”

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For parents, the concern goes beyond classroom size.

“Make sure your child is mentally happy and mentally stable and ask questions and all of that,” said DeBarry elementary school parent Harmony Parrish. “Well have you asked yourself what you are doing to the kids mentally by doing that?”

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The district hopes to get board approval to advertise rezoning in January and adopt the proposed changes by February. In the meantime, school leaders are holding a series of public meetings for parents.

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