With an 11th-hour agreement negotiated to keep contracted school bus drivers working, Duval County started another year of classes Monday, August 10, in sync with most Northeast Florida districts.
Clay County schools will start classes Tuesday, August 11. Public schools in Baker, Nassau and St. Johns counties also reopened Monday.
Schedules for most Duval County high schools have changed to start at 7:10 a.m., five minutes earlier than last year, and end at 2:05 p.m., later than in 2025. Elementary and middle school bell schedules haven’t changed.
No significant problems were reported as the day began, but Superintendent Christopher Bernier said people should expect some unplanned delays throughout the day as about 900 school buses and private vehicles for thousands of school employees and other students return to roads they haven’t used in months. The buses include 36 new and quiet electric vehicles paid for through a federal grant.
Brnier, who started Monday before dawn at a bus depot, spent later hours visiting schools, talking to faculty and kids and hearing about what was working and what still needed improving. In between talking to kindergarteners from Venetia Elementary having lunch ― walk to school or bus? Pikachu or Charmander? ― he said district employees had been trying to get ahead of potential problems, for example by powering up air conditioning and other systems the week before opening day to correct struggling machinery. A failing pump at Jacksonville Beach Elementary had been fixed, an AC in San Jose Elementary still needed work, but things were coming together.
Venetia’s faculty and students were all in new quarters, having moved into the otherwise-closed Hyde Grove Elementary until their own school is replaced with a new building slated for completion in 2028. There had been concern about people, young and old, feeling lost, but Principal Monique Worthen said school officials set up tours during the summer so everyone could feel more comfortable.
Across the district, roughly 200 jobs still needed to be filled, Bernier said, but district staff with teaching certifications had been moved from downtown offices to un-staffed classrooms to get classes proper instruction until permanent hires could be placed there.
The start of the 2026-27 school year could also expose more drivers to buses equipped with AI-enhanced camera systems to document drivers illegally passing buses that have stopped to let children board or get off.
Duval schools announced the cameras’ use in March, sent warnings in April and began mailing $225 citations to violators in May, when the last school year was ending.
State law says drivers have to stop when they’re approaching a school bus with its stop arm extended. If the road is divided by a barrier or an unpaved median, traffic headed in the opposite direction of the bus can keep driving but should watch for kids crossing the street.
This story has been updated with new information.
This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Classes back in session for Duval schools, most of Northeast Florida
Reporting by Steve Patterson, Jacksonville Florida Times-Union / Florida Times-Union
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Steve Patterson, Jacksonville Florida Times-Union | USA TODAY Network
