Revitalizing Jacksonville: Warren Jones Reflects on Downtown, Schools, and Community Service

[00:00:01] [SPEAKER_00]: Mike Mike Mike Mike Mike Mike, Mike's on Mic, a conversation about politics, government, and Jacksonville.

[00:00:09] [SPEAKER_00]: With 50-year opinion leaders, Mike Hightower, Mike Tolbert, and award-winning broadcaster and long time political observer, Mike Miller.

[00:00:18] [SPEAKER_03]: Welcome once again everybody to another episode of Mike's on Mic on Mike Miller, Mike Hightower is with us here in Studio and Mike Tolbert is on location that we're glad to have you with us.

[00:00:28] [SPEAKER_03]: So much of the news these days is about dual-county schools, potential school closings, the thought of selling the school board building, which is on the riverfront town,

[00:00:37] [SPEAKER_03]: the South Bank of Riverfront downtown and the upcoming school board elections are just three of the topics we're going to be discussing today with our special guest,

[00:00:44] [SPEAKER_03]: a return guest, am I at that school board member Warren Jones?

[00:00:49] [SPEAKER_03]: Jones is a former board chairman served 28 years on the City Council.

[00:00:54] [SPEAKER_03]: Do you get a 28-year pension for something like that?

[00:00:57] [SPEAKER_03]: Because it's should if we don't, including two years as two terms as president, in part of the way.

[00:01:03] [SPEAKER_03]: Unfortunately, he's in his final days as a board member of the school board because he's termed out of office at the end of the year,

[00:01:09] [SPEAKER_03]: but Warren, welcome back to Mike's on Mic.

[00:01:10] [SPEAKER_03]: Great to have you with us.

[00:01:11] [SPEAKER_03]: Thank you.

[00:01:12] [SPEAKER_03]: I have too much level in school.

[00:01:13] [SPEAKER_03]: Too much left.

[00:01:15] [SPEAKER_03]: Wow.

[00:01:15] [SPEAKER_03]: We wanted to grab you before you left.

[00:01:18] [SPEAKER_04]: Warren, good.

[00:01:20] [SPEAKER_04]: Thank you.

[00:01:21] [SPEAKER_04]: I wanted to just share my Talbot now.

[00:01:23] [SPEAKER_04]: We're talking about that when you talk about he was president of the City Council for the two times.

[00:01:29] [SPEAKER_04]: Oh, Nack the back.

[00:01:30] [SPEAKER_04]: Back the back.

[00:01:31] [SPEAKER_04]: First time ever because going back is going back is there was such divisiveness and such partisan BS going on within the city council.

[00:01:41] [SPEAKER_04]: That was the only way they would agree to bring Warren keeping for the second term.

[00:01:45] [SPEAKER_04]: First off, we could use that back by the way.

[00:01:48] [SPEAKER_01]: I was only going to do two full terms.

[00:01:50] [SPEAKER_01]: Yes, right.

[00:01:51] [SPEAKER_01]: Dave, Dave, how was the first?

[00:01:53] [SPEAKER_01]: Was that right?

[00:01:54] [SPEAKER_01]: But he yielded it 18.

[00:01:55] [SPEAKER_01]: Nice.

[00:01:57] [SPEAKER_04]: But to be elected, but the reason they can't do this is they couldn't agree to a term.

[00:02:06] [SPEAKER_03]: I remember those days at the time of talking to morning and they couldn't find a way to do it.

[00:02:09] [SPEAKER_03]: Thank you.

[00:02:11] [SPEAKER_03]: Mr. Colbert, start us off please.

[00:02:13] [SPEAKER_05]: Sure.

[00:02:14] [SPEAKER_05]: I'd be glad to warm welcome back as always good to see you buddy.

[00:02:17] [SPEAKER_05]: All right.

[00:02:18] [SPEAKER_05]: Good to see you.

[00:02:18] [SPEAKER_05]: Let's begin with the proposed school closings.

[00:02:21] [SPEAKER_05]: This is a topic that first came up last April when we learned that several schools were being considered for closing.

[00:02:29] [SPEAKER_05]: Primarily because of rising calls across the whole system.

[00:02:34] [SPEAKER_05]: At the time, I also think it was expected that there was going to be a bit community outcry around those things.

[00:02:39] [SPEAKER_05]: I was going to be a school from a long, nine parents.

[00:02:42] [SPEAKER_05]: And that happened as well.

[00:02:44] [SPEAKER_05]: My memory is that Atlantic Beach Elementary was the biggest outcry.

[00:02:48] [SPEAKER_05]: It came from there seemed to be most organized.

[00:02:52] [SPEAKER_05]: Recently, a list of six schools came out that have been now considered for closure at a meeting on November 4th.

[00:03:01] [SPEAKER_05]: I have three different questions I want to close to you.

[00:03:04] [SPEAKER_05]: The first is, is it well, Beach Elementary not being on that list.

[00:03:09] [SPEAKER_05]: A sign of the squeaky wheel getting the grease.

[00:03:13] [SPEAKER_05]: The second is remind of why this is happening.

[00:03:17] [SPEAKER_05]: Why are we closing schools?

[00:03:19] [SPEAKER_05]: Is it because of the cost of the the soaring cost of construction and there's not enough money with the penny sales tax to pay for it all.

[00:03:28] [SPEAKER_05]: Or is it because parents are taking their kids out of public schools and sending them to private schools.

[00:03:34] [SPEAKER_05]: And children and children's schools.

[00:03:35] [SPEAKER_05]: Or is it both of those?

[00:03:38] [SPEAKER_05]: And then thirdly, there's an election the next day.

[00:03:41] [SPEAKER_05]: November 5th.

[00:03:43] [SPEAKER_05]: When you're going to have a whole new constitution of school board.

[00:03:46] [SPEAKER_05]: Why is this board not waiting until it's November 7th or 8th or 10th or January when there's a new board in place to do this?

[00:03:55] [SPEAKER_01]: Well, those are very good questions like, and I take the last one first.

[00:03:59] [SPEAKER_01]: We decided that because of our financial concerns with the district that we needed to make that decision as soon as possible.

[00:04:09] [SPEAKER_01]: So parents can make an informed decision on what schools they child will attend next year assuming that school has been closed.

[00:04:18] [SPEAKER_01]: First of all, let me thank the voters for proving that half-pented because without that we would not be able to build and renovate and reduce the backlog of repairs that we are doing.

[00:04:29] [SPEAKER_01]: Now, do all counting never had an impact fees within half of sales tax at that time.

[00:04:36] [SPEAKER_01]: So this is very important and I just want to thank them for doing that.

[00:04:40] [SPEAKER_01]: Unfortunately, when we approved that half-pented, there was a pushback from the charter school movement.

[00:04:46] [SPEAKER_01]: And the city council and the mayor blocked this until they go to tell her has changed the law.

[00:04:51] [SPEAKER_01]: We have to share that per people funding with the charter schools.

[00:04:55] [SPEAKER_01]: So that's what that impact the cost, how much money we would take in because part of that money shared now with charter schools.

[00:05:02] [SPEAKER_01]: The regional plan did not include sharing per people, giving them a portion for safety and security because most of the charter schools were less than 10 years old.

[00:05:10] [SPEAKER_01]: We have schools and do all counting which we have noticed over 100 years old.

[00:05:15] [SPEAKER_01]: The charter school was a huge amount of money that we would have to pay for the charter schools.

[00:05:23] [SPEAKER_01]: And then we had to pay for the charter schools, and we had to pay for the charter schools.

[00:05:27] [SPEAKER_01]: And then we had to pay for the charter schools.

[00:05:43] [SPEAKER_01]: rebuilding rather this person for example the first one that opened that would rebuild

[00:05:50] [SPEAKER_01]: on site. It was estimated to cause 29 million for elementary school because of 41.

[00:05:56] [SPEAKER_01]: The first new high school rebought high was estimated in 19, I mean in 2018 to be 62 million

[00:06:03] [SPEAKER_01]: it caused us 120 million rebought. So basically everything doubled and so that is so if you

[00:06:09] [SPEAKER_01]: build everything as planned we would 1.4 billion dollars short based on the revenues

[00:06:14] [SPEAKER_01]: that are taken in, the sharing with those dollars for charter schools, the cladding enrollment

[00:06:21] [SPEAKER_01]: increase the number that we have to share with charter schools. So all of that impacted

[00:06:25] [SPEAKER_01]: our decision to look at consolidating more schools. Of course the previous superintendent

[00:06:33] [SPEAKER_01]: Dr. Chris, Daniel Chris, asked the consultant to look at what's the ideal number you need in order

[00:06:40] [SPEAKER_01]: to make sure of schools for the funded because if the school is not fully funded you

[00:06:44] [SPEAKER_01]: take in that money from schools that are fully funded to support a school that's not.

[00:06:49] [SPEAKER_01]: His number was 800 students for elementary school, 114144 middle school and 2400 for high school.

[00:06:57] [SPEAKER_01]: That's how they got the list of 30 schools and on that list was a lack beach elementary.

[00:07:03] [SPEAKER_01]: I do believe that had influence on the decision at the board is going to make in a few months

[00:07:09] [SPEAKER_01]: or what next month I guess on which schools would be closed because they had an organized effort

[00:07:15] [SPEAKER_01]: to save the school. The mayor from the from a laddied beach and all this surrounding beaches

[00:07:20] [SPEAKER_01]: they were well organized, they were almost every meeting we had. Now having said that I told

[00:07:26] [SPEAKER_01]: I took people all the time that because you escaped this time if the training continues

[00:07:32] [SPEAKER_01]: other schools would be closed, maybe two or three five years down a road and laddied beach

[00:07:37] [SPEAKER_01]: should be back on the list to be closed. Unfortunately the bulk of those schools that are being closed

[00:07:43] [SPEAKER_01]: are in the co-acity. When I went on the school board in 2016 now I had 18, a 38

[00:07:50] [SPEAKER_01]: schools in my district, Lord Hershey had nine as we understand a lot of those schools in the

[00:07:56] [SPEAKER_01]: city would build to maintain a segregated system so there was truly not a need for all those schools.

[00:08:03] [SPEAKER_01]: Plus people didn't ride the school, they walked the school. So those schools would build

[00:08:08] [SPEAKER_01]: to keep the walk to and from school. That's the concern we have now as we move forward with

[00:08:13] [SPEAKER_01]: this consolidation plan. How do we not create a school with density in some neighborhoods that

[00:08:18] [SPEAKER_01]: are planning populations, older populations and yet maintain some institutions that they've

[00:08:27] [SPEAKER_01]: been depending on for years how do you maintain that. And that's another way of rousing with that.

[00:08:31] [SPEAKER_01]: But I think I hit on your quick. Which is your first question then? I'm even missed out.

[00:08:35] [SPEAKER_01]: Well, I'm worried about how electronic elementary. Oh yeah, I think I think that you got them all

[00:08:41] [SPEAKER_04]: but you got them all in and a couple extra following up on that kind of dub tailing what Mike

[00:08:48] [SPEAKER_04]: Talbert just said, which by the way we always remind our audience, Talbert always tells her

[00:08:53] [SPEAKER_04]: but you can never over communicate with the voters. And in this case, Atlantic, each and another one.

[00:08:58] [SPEAKER_04]: But along those same lines if we kind of go back to the two reference that Mike and I had the

[00:09:03] [SPEAKER_04]: opportunity to be a part of as well as your leadership. Dr. Rainey at that time, if we all remember,

[00:09:09] [SPEAKER_04]: she did a concerted effort of a lot of community engagement getting out there to my

[00:09:15] [SPEAKER_04]: Talbert says over communicate. I don't mean to put you on the spot here. Oh no, don't hit and

[00:09:22] [SPEAKER_04]: do it. Yeah, yeah, just versus observation. But we have a new superintendent. They said,

[00:09:30] [SPEAKER_04]: you're going to do the vote before the new board comes. Any feeling of how this superintendent

[00:09:37] [SPEAKER_04]: understands the importance in Duval County about community engagement and those discussions?

[00:09:43] [SPEAKER_01]: I have that. He's learning. He's learning. Dr. Rainey has been great to work with.

[00:09:49] [SPEAKER_01]: He really cares about students. He was trying to make sure we're counting he inherited a miss

[00:09:57] [SPEAKER_01]: because if we don't make a decision quickly, the in those parents who are undecided,

[00:10:04] [SPEAKER_01]: they may end up going to charter school so we don't want to put it off. And then if we put it off,

[00:10:09] [SPEAKER_01]: the new board has to take several months just to get caught up in right. Right. School of

[00:10:14] [SPEAKER_01]: Choice starts deciming one. So we want to make sure that they have a parents who want to make a decision

[00:10:21] [SPEAKER_01]: have that window opportunity to do it normally starts January, but we moved up a month because we

[00:10:27] [SPEAKER_01]: want to compete with the private schools too. We're losing students there. Talk about that just

[00:10:31] [SPEAKER_04]: for clarification when you say make that choice. Is that for this year? They can move or is it

[00:10:37] [SPEAKER_04]: next year? For next school year. Next school year. No, no. They're right into it. They're just getting

[00:10:42] [SPEAKER_04]: stuff for it now. I know that from Sue. So they're already having to think about next year.

[00:10:48] [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah. When there was schools of closed, no will be closed until August of next year. And so the

[00:10:55] [SPEAKER_01]: schools that are being rebuilt, rebuilt and south side of the states, they won't open into

[00:11:00] [SPEAKER_01]: this next year. So we asked the move, we paused all new construction until we decided

[00:11:06] [SPEAKER_01]: which schools would be rebuilt and which one we can afford to rebuild or just remodel.

[00:11:12] [SPEAKER_01]: So we want to try to make a decision because parents are wondering what do I do? My school

[00:11:17] [SPEAKER_01]: is going to lose. They got that list of 30 schools. My school is on a list. You have a made a decision.

[00:11:22] [SPEAKER_01]: I'm going somewhere else. So we don't want to leave that question out there in the public

[00:11:27] [SPEAKER_01]: that, yes, we have a made a decision plus Lord Hershey myself and Kelly Corker leave in November.

[00:11:34] [SPEAKER_01]: So we want to make sure that because we had the hearings, we had a hearing in each of the

[00:11:38] [SPEAKER_01]: of school boards this year. Because all seven, of course, at you pointed out that Lannick

[00:11:42] [SPEAKER_01]: Beach had 1209 speakers out of them. And one minute, luckily we didn't give them three.

[00:11:49] [SPEAKER_01]: And they had the logic. And we had at a future high school. So it was coming and then we had

[00:11:54] [SPEAKER_01]: others. The ones on the west side with fairly well attended but nobody was close to what

[00:12:00] [SPEAKER_01]: Lannick Beach had and as was turnout. So we recognized that, but we don't want to allow the politics

[00:12:07] [SPEAKER_01]: of the term in which schools keep open because they are loud vocal and we're organized

[00:12:12] [SPEAKER_01]: and we are financed. That should not be a determined factor. And keep all A schools open

[00:12:19] [SPEAKER_01]: would not be fair because some schools can't be a difficult to be a school because of the

[00:12:25] [SPEAKER_04]: population they serve. Yeah, I will just to follow up a little bit if you don't mind.

[00:12:31] [SPEAKER_04]: The schools when you have these closing going back to because my, my,

[00:12:35] [SPEAKER_04]: particularly in both those reference one of his thing was about the money and then,

[00:12:39] [SPEAKER_04]: course, it's double that and questions were said. But with the schools closed, the ones when

[00:12:44] [SPEAKER_04]: there's a consolidation will those schools that will end up being consolidated with those schools

[00:12:50] [SPEAKER_04]: be on the priority list for the money that is remaining from the penny. The schools that are

[00:12:58] [SPEAKER_01]: remaining, that are being consolidated. Right. We could solve it in the school that's in the best

[00:13:04] [SPEAKER_01]: condition. Okay. So that reduces that whatever that facility condition index says, if this real high

[00:13:11] [SPEAKER_01]: at one school and lower the other, we close the one where it's highest. So we don't have to

[00:13:16] [SPEAKER_01]: worry about paying that expense. Operational savings are also part of consolidation because you

[00:13:21] [SPEAKER_01]: don't need to spend principles, you don't need to buy principles. So there's an operational savings

[00:13:26] [SPEAKER_01]: plus the capital improvement savings from the half penny that we of course can't build all

[00:13:33] [SPEAKER_01]: schools want to rebuild because of the cost of the construction. I'm talking about that.

[00:13:38] [SPEAKER_03]: I asked the question then, when those schools, if and when those schools do close,

[00:13:44] [SPEAKER_03]: will the school system then sell those facilities to the private sector, sector rather,

[00:13:50] [SPEAKER_03]: and will that be revenue that would go back into the system? That's the intent. We, since I've

[00:13:55] [SPEAKER_01]: been on the board, six of my schools have been closed. I went from 38 to 32 schools and two more to

[00:14:03] [SPEAKER_01]: close. We've already voted to close two more August of next year, but two were put on pause because

[00:14:10] [SPEAKER_01]: of we had an decided whether to rebuild picket element as a K8 or the element. So hit essay

[00:14:18] [SPEAKER_01]: hall and Reynolds Lane element who were consolidated into the new picket element just when it's

[00:14:24] [SPEAKER_01]: completed, probably August of 26 and not August of 2025. So they have been a number of schools

[00:14:31] [SPEAKER_01]: in close with Brentwood Elementary. It was donated to the slavery board because they want to

[00:14:40] [SPEAKER_01]: close the small Brentwood library hall. When it's Jackson's elementary school on the

[00:14:45] [SPEAKER_01]: Conworth and my district, we had a community meeting. They hated to see the Luther school, but

[00:14:50] [SPEAKER_01]: in spite of that, they were willing to allow us to sit there to make it a community center. That's

[00:14:56] [SPEAKER_01]: happening there with Lake Faris. It was closed before I got on the board. It was sold to a bill

[00:15:04] [SPEAKER_01]: of the housing to place workforce housing. 20% of that housing reserved for these to be as

[00:15:10] [SPEAKER_01]: employees. You have cafeteria workers, you have bus drivers, we have another employee to

[00:15:16] [SPEAKER_01]: don't make a lot of money. And when I got on the board, the pair of professionals only made $7

[00:15:21] [SPEAKER_01]: out. We did get up to $15 because we couldn't keep in those positions till $7 out.

[00:15:27] [SPEAKER_04]: I think probably what you were going there is because they were affordable housing and the

[00:15:31] [SPEAKER_01]: opportunity to earn. And most of the schools are located in the middle of the United States. So

[00:15:36] [SPEAKER_01]: that's a challenge because we got a lot of pushback at Lake Faris because they want it,

[00:15:44] [SPEAKER_01]: they didn't want apartments, they want to sit and say, oh family, I'll see you in the family.

[00:15:47] [SPEAKER_03]: Okay, speaking of selling properties if we can. Let's talk about the potential relocation

[00:15:52] [SPEAKER_03]: of the school board building itself. The South Bank earlier, the board considered and rejected

[00:15:57] [SPEAKER_03]: six different locations. Apparently there were put in front of you. Now the new superintendant

[00:16:02] [SPEAKER_03]: Christopher Bernier says that he wants to fund a real estate firm to sell the school board building.

[00:16:07] [SPEAKER_03]: Arguments formed against moving include the land, of course, at the building is on his very,

[00:16:12] [SPEAKER_03]: very valuable. It's on the river. It's on the South Bank. It's a beautiful piece of property.

[00:16:16] [SPEAKER_03]: And on the other hand, moving 600 employees out of downtown is also a pretty high price to pay.

[00:16:23] [SPEAKER_03]: Catch us up on that. Where are we in the process? What do you think the board is leaning towards

[00:16:29] [SPEAKER_01]: doing selling and moving or staying put? Well, I can't speak for the board. The board

[00:16:35] [SPEAKER_01]: that we're all now was approved a rather loose in asking the superintendent to look at

[00:16:45] [SPEAKER_01]: the superintendent move forward. Unfortunately, the proposals we received in fact,

[00:16:52] [SPEAKER_01]: initially in the invitation to negotiate included all the properties that we want to get rid of.

[00:16:59] [SPEAKER_01]: The one at the Corgas Center could have some on King Street running to sell out. But all

[00:17:05] [SPEAKER_01]: the focus was on the head of our own building. Unfortunately, when it came down, we couldn't afford

[00:17:12] [SPEAKER_01]: in good conscious to go with either one of those proposals. One, because the JTA proposed

[00:17:18] [SPEAKER_01]: we couldn't afford the Florida Blue proposal would require us to use operational dollars,

[00:17:25] [SPEAKER_01]: which means those dollars coming out of the classroom we can't use capital dollars. That law

[00:17:30] [SPEAKER_01]: was just a minute. This past session, we're now we can use capital dollars for rent or leasing

[00:17:37] [SPEAKER_01]: a building or headquarters. Prior to July 1 of this year, we couldn't do that. Most of us agree,

[00:17:45] [SPEAKER_01]: not all, but majority of us agreed that the cost of relocating at that time would benefit the

[00:17:51] [SPEAKER_01]: city because they would receive increased revenue because they'd be redeveloped. But of course,

[00:17:57] [SPEAKER_01]: we don't set our affiliates to state dust so the required local effort would determine how much

[00:18:01] [SPEAKER_01]: we would get and we wouldn't get nearly as much as the city would. For some reason,

[00:18:06] [SPEAKER_03]: something is speaking in the back of my mind that I recall from years ago when this was discussed,

[00:18:12] [SPEAKER_03]: that that building was actually owned by a trust or something and that they said they couldn't

[00:18:18] [SPEAKER_03]: sell it because they couldn't get permission from the trust to be able to say that. I had never heard

[00:18:24] [SPEAKER_03]: okay, and the easy way to make it to me that shouldn't be because. Really, you'll a background

[00:18:29] [SPEAKER_01]: for a mayor gobble pointed out to me that the reason the school board building was built there in 1980

[00:18:34] [SPEAKER_01]: because nobody wanted to be next to the Southside Generating. Of course, now,

[00:18:41] [SPEAKER_01]: that was kind of a buff with this like we see the hall nobody wanted to be next to the shipyard.

[00:18:46] [SPEAKER_01]: That's your answer, you know, they built the city hall in the cornerhouse. So thanks,

[00:18:50] [SPEAKER_01]: and now that property is very expensive and we ended the superintendents' credit says he wants to

[00:18:56] [SPEAKER_01]: get the best price. But he doesn't want to, he's not committed to downtown. I would not support

[00:19:02] [SPEAKER_01]: relocating anywhere other than downtown, but of course I wouldn't be on the board when that happens.

[00:19:07] [SPEAKER_01]: But I felt like those 600 employees need to remain downtown. They're a plenty of office buildings

[00:19:12] [SPEAKER_01]: that are available downtown. The question is how do you structure a deal that the school board

[00:19:18] [SPEAKER_01]: can agree to that will work both for the school board and for downtown the builder? 600 employees

[00:19:24] [SPEAKER_04]: is a good size. I mean, and all people, I mean, that has an impact. Yeah, you think there

[00:19:31] [SPEAKER_01]: are they are now? And the frustrating part for me is the school choice office work parents go to

[00:19:36] [SPEAKER_01]: select the school they want to go to is out of these bullet-mode and Crogacylant. It should be downtown

[00:19:42] [SPEAKER_01]: with it. It's not in the building? No, in parents come there. I can't tell you,

[00:19:47] [SPEAKER_01]: I mean, people I've met leaving the office that will sit downtown because they want to

[00:19:53] [SPEAKER_01]: select the school for their childhood go to. Wow. And we have to sit around the beach bullet-mode.

[00:19:57] [SPEAKER_01]: That's not good customer service. We're in competition with the charter school and the

[00:20:02] [SPEAKER_01]: private school, we don't need that. Having them somewhere downtown this central,

[00:20:07] [SPEAKER_01]: what people can do is part the client, walking that office is critically important to maintaining

[00:20:11] [SPEAKER_01]: and providing that service that our parents just would. Almost begs to cry about to take

[00:20:15] [SPEAKER_04]: the fact because where I met Warren at good. So, years ago when I first, I stood here at school

[00:20:21] [SPEAKER_04]: or your lovely wife when we were on Liberty Street. Now that you say that we have to go down,

[00:20:27] [SPEAKER_04]: to the Crogacylant Center, is there any other of the offices or facilities within the school

[00:20:32] [SPEAKER_04]: system that we've got in other parts of the city that need to be in one spot? Yeah. That was part

[00:20:38] [SPEAKER_01]: of the original plan to bring them all to one location and reduce because I mean if you got to

[00:20:44] [SPEAKER_01]: go even the staff when they come to meetings down the school board, that's 15 minutes they're

[00:20:49] [SPEAKER_01]: getting in their car drive into the office. That's 30 minutes a day to experience just going back

[00:20:54] [SPEAKER_01]: for between offices. Having them in one location benefits everybody I think. Yeah Warren,

[00:21:00] [SPEAKER_05]: thank you for getting the blame on my buddy Jake. I don't even think that's something.

[00:21:06] [SPEAKER_05]: Jake, I don't know if I'm playing herb sands, but not building there in 1981 is a vanity project.

[00:21:12] [SPEAKER_05]: And that's what I hope. He just told me one of them.

[00:21:17] [SPEAKER_05]: There's the same estimated that what we know about the sale is more it's like the chip

[00:21:22] [SPEAKER_05]: of an iceberg. We know a little bit, but we don't know a lot and it looks to me like

[00:21:29] [SPEAKER_05]: this thing is further along than we might have thought. I know that you've got a new vision of

[00:21:37] [SPEAKER_05]: an invitation to negotiate for a building or the future. You have a price tag of $2,000,000,000,

[00:21:45] [SPEAKER_05]: $1,000 and a specifies that they want to board room a lobbying and an up-to-date

[00:21:53] [SPEAKER_05]: wide-up-to-date wireless technology. My question is something this. Is this more a matter of

[00:22:01] [SPEAKER_01]: where they're not if could win? I think so. It's inevitable that eventually we will move off the

[00:22:09] [SPEAKER_01]: board. I think the board now, the current board, wants to get off the river, but we want to do it at

[00:22:15] [SPEAKER_01]: the right price. We don't want to pay a penalty and having very limited resources. We have

[00:22:20] [SPEAKER_01]: a very tight budget this year. We laid off $700 and we surplus $700 and something employees.

[00:22:26] [SPEAKER_01]: Most of them we've been able to find other jobs for and we look at the tough budget next year.

[00:22:32] [SPEAKER_01]: We don't need to spend extra dollars that we don't have in order to balance the budget for next

[00:22:39] [SPEAKER_01]: year. That's why the vote was for the three to stay where we were right now. We'll see what

[00:22:46] [SPEAKER_01]: the current of the newborn decides to super-tell it, wants to get the most bang for his books.

[00:22:52] [SPEAKER_01]: He wants to do it professionally and hire a real to give us a price on what the building is worth

[00:22:58] [SPEAKER_01]: and then the market that.

[00:23:01] [SPEAKER_05]: From a political perspective, one is as you folks are trying to sell this to the community,

[00:23:09] [SPEAKER_05]: I think what you pointed out frankly about the Southside generating station is important to recall

[00:23:16] [SPEAKER_05]: because a lot of people question these days and have for a long time. Why on the hell

[00:23:21] [SPEAKER_05]: did they put that school board building on the river down there? This is, you know,

[00:23:27] [SPEAKER_05]: this is about a question that's been going on in only long for years. This is not a new subject.

[00:23:34] [SPEAKER_05]: So I think as you guys are communicating this and when the reason why they want to move

[00:23:38] [SPEAKER_05]: with all of the river is to talk about why it was there in the first place because of the South

[00:23:42] [SPEAKER_05]: side generating station and the property didn't have that much bang. Right, and I've tried to emphasize

[00:23:48] [SPEAKER_01]: that in most of the meeting workshops we've had, I said, we're here. There's a reason we're here

[00:23:52] [SPEAKER_01]: that's because we wanted to buffer development to, I guess, the north of the school board

[00:23:59] [SPEAKER_04]: building from the Southside generating plant. You know, that really worn on what Mike is just said,

[00:24:06] [SPEAKER_04]: again, giving me credit because he always talks about you getting over a community cake.

[00:24:10] [SPEAKER_04]: But when you think about, from that time of 1981 to now, and you think of the people who have moved

[00:24:15] [SPEAKER_04]: to Jacksonville who have no institutional knowledge and let's be honest, there's a little bit of

[00:24:22] [SPEAKER_04]: more of their not efficient or effective and those kind of thing. My first initial reaction is

[00:24:28] [SPEAKER_04]: almost every meeting, hopefully the new board, then he's going to make these decisions,

[00:24:32] [SPEAKER_04]: we'll be their opening statement, what Mike told Berkshire said before we start talking about

[00:24:37] [SPEAKER_04]: why we're going to move, let's tell you about why we got there, now we got there because otherwise

[00:24:41] [SPEAKER_04]: if they don't have a sense of context, because they were then, we're not one, we're not being

[00:24:45] [SPEAKER_04]: efficient like we did before. And I think that's really important. And also, not to have

[00:24:51] [SPEAKER_01]: people believe that we're using the sales tags revenue. Or the two referendum? Yeah, that's right.

[00:24:57] [SPEAKER_04]: And so again, to go back to Mike's point, you know, with I'm hoping that this new board,

[00:25:03] [SPEAKER_04]: they ran for office, I'm hoping that they're going to pick up on what you personally and what

[00:25:08] [SPEAKER_04]: some of the super-gence of that is go out there and have these community, community dial-offs

[00:25:13] [SPEAKER_04]: is the Jaguar-Sard community. What ever it's going to take because when you look at who is

[00:25:20] [SPEAKER_04]: hating the bills, who's paying the taxes, it's not the people, it's Mike Tolbert said that we're here

[00:25:25] [SPEAKER_04]: in 1981 when they made the decision to move it. And I think you got to look at the population

[00:25:31] [SPEAKER_01]: of voting population. And that may be helpful, especially having a superintendent who's not from here

[00:25:36] [SPEAKER_01]: who's still learning. We were in a meeting recently and somebody said, well, you got, we was talking

[00:25:41] [SPEAKER_01]: about hosting a council-graced city schools here, bringing thousands of people for conference. And

[00:25:48] [SPEAKER_01]: we can use Moka, I mean, in March and somebody said, the super-gence of the women,

[00:25:53] [SPEAKER_01]: maybe it was March. How good is new? Yeah. And so we need to make sure that we communicate

[00:25:59] [SPEAKER_01]: that overly communicate that. So people would know why we're here, why we got, why we have a

[00:26:05] [SPEAKER_01]: bill on the river and why we want to move and that we're not going to use as we promise

[00:26:10] [SPEAKER_01]: to sales tax revenue or the millage increase to facilitate that move after river. We got to use

[00:26:17] [SPEAKER_03]: other resources that we have. Not that you don't have any experience in this of course,

[00:26:22] [SPEAKER_03]: but let's talk politics a little bit if you're to all mind because we all know about the high profile

[00:26:27] [SPEAKER_03]: of elections that are coming up on November the 5th. I hope everybody does know. But nevertheless,

[00:26:32] [SPEAKER_03]: one of the more important local elections that we're going to be watching is for this gentleman's

[00:26:36] [SPEAKER_03]: district district five in the city in the school board rather. You've got two candidates who are

[00:26:41] [SPEAKER_01]: running for your position. Is that correct? The results three would one guy eliminated.

[00:26:46] [SPEAKER_03]: Hank Rogers and Reginald Blanc. If you want to make some news here today and tell us

[00:26:50] [SPEAKER_01]: are you endorsing one of them? I've already endorsed Hank. I encourage him to read. He and I ran

[00:26:56] [SPEAKER_01]: for school board in 2016 and there was four of us in the race and after the election, I won and

[00:27:03] [SPEAKER_01]: and I noticed Hank was still very much involved in schools and the schools throughout the

[00:27:08] [SPEAKER_01]: district, especially those struggling schools he was, so I'm a star. And they charged with

[00:27:14] [SPEAKER_01]: the other outstue is improved the graduation rates, get the college. So I saw that with his

[00:27:20] [SPEAKER_01]: man is really involved. He needs to stay involved and he has the experience. And so Hank

[00:27:26] [SPEAKER_03]: is in the running game. Good. Good. Well speaking of the elections, there's an amendment which

[00:27:31] [SPEAKER_03]: nobody seems to be talking much about they should. They're talking about them number three

[00:27:36] [SPEAKER_03]: with marijuana number four with abortion, but we're not talking that much about amendment one.

[00:27:40] [SPEAKER_03]: Amendment one is a very important amendment to concentrate on because we would take the

[00:27:46] [SPEAKER_03]: tradition of nonpartisan school board elections and make them partisan. Where are you on that?

[00:27:54] [SPEAKER_01]: I post there. I think that's very important that we take the politics as much as possible out

[00:27:59] [SPEAKER_01]: of school board elections. And fortunately it has become political and some people say, well,

[00:28:10] [SPEAKER_01]: so not just that open to the public. Oh yeah, it does. It everything becomes political.

[00:28:16] [SPEAKER_01]: I'm not going to support this because my leader in town of Hassen, my leader in Washington DC,

[00:28:22] [SPEAKER_01]: the other one, being supported. We have to serve and stand join and say, every town who walks

[00:28:27] [SPEAKER_01]: through that door, we have to educate. And we get kids back all the time from charter schools

[00:28:31] [SPEAKER_01]: because they can't provide the services that's especially ESC students. They can't provide

[00:28:37] [SPEAKER_01]: the service or they're not performing to their standards. So we have to take those to it.

[00:28:41] [SPEAKER_01]: And you respect it with of their lot in life. If they're homeless, we got to be a bad

[00:28:46] [SPEAKER_01]: transportation. We have to educate every child. I'm going to follow up with one other question.

[00:28:53] [SPEAKER_03]: And I don't want to get too political here, but one of the two presidential candidates

[00:28:57] [SPEAKER_03]: has said that if elected, they would do away with the federal department of health education.

[00:29:04] [SPEAKER_03]: My question has been, how would that impact local school systems? If all of a sudden there wasn't

[00:29:11] [SPEAKER_03]: the Department of Education in Washington, that oversees the entire nation's educational system?

[00:29:18] [SPEAKER_01]: Well, you wouldn't have, you wouldn't have an oversight that influence to make sure that

[00:29:24] [SPEAKER_01]: every child gets the quality education even from a further than Bush talked about every child

[00:29:30] [SPEAKER_01]: and who oversees that, who cares out that mandate, the area child deserves a quality

[00:29:37] [SPEAKER_01]: public and free public education. And without that oversight, without the influence of the federal

[00:29:43] [SPEAKER_01]: government, we have to report to the federal government department education today. If a school

[00:29:48] [SPEAKER_01]: may be an ASCoo, but if it's up, rub it, those students are not performing well, we have to

[00:29:53] [SPEAKER_01]: have a plan to improve that stuff. That's a mandate from the federal government. And so

[00:29:59] [SPEAKER_01]: they can cut funding if we don't do it. And so we have to do that. So without an oversight,

[00:30:05] [SPEAKER_01]: you may have an ASCoo, an average child who's Hispanic, an average child who's black or who's

[00:30:10] [SPEAKER_01]: average child who's disabled or an average child is gay, they are failing, but yet the school is

[00:30:14] [SPEAKER_01]: eight. We have to focus on every child. I think that's very important why we need to keep.

[00:30:19] [SPEAKER_05]: You know what? One more time. Thank you so much for being with us and the three of us

[00:30:24] [SPEAKER_05]: really do appreciate and salute your long-time public services. Unincredible is going to give

[00:30:31] [SPEAKER_05]: to the community. And I'm wondering if you can reflect on those, those, all that time.

[00:30:37] [SPEAKER_05]: And give us a couple of thoughts she might have. What have we done right? What have we done wrong?

[00:30:44] [SPEAKER_05]: And finally, if you had a magic wand, what would you want for Jacksonville in the next decade?

[00:30:52] [SPEAKER_01]: Wow. I think this city has done a lot of good. I mean, I think the refocus on downtown

[00:30:59] [SPEAKER_01]: was critically important. A former mayor I won't call this name made me aware. I grew up here

[00:31:06] [SPEAKER_01]: and didn't even think about it. The every hotel in downtown closed between 1968 and 1979.

[00:31:13] [SPEAKER_01]: Every hotel from the Robert Maya, the George Washington, every hotel they found and made

[00:31:19] [SPEAKER_01]: out. And we were a medium sized, uh, conviction town without a conviction center. And we lost all that.

[00:31:26] [SPEAKER_01]: And now we have a focus on downtown. We need to continue that downtown growing up here. I grew up in

[00:31:35] [SPEAKER_01]: Laville before we moved to the North Riverside. And I remember a minute time walking downtown. And

[00:31:41] [SPEAKER_01]: even though it was doing the six or fifth to the Niagara Hills part, it was segregated. But you still

[00:31:46] [SPEAKER_01]: felt a sense of community. And you felt that hey, everybody here can get along. You know,

[00:31:53] [SPEAKER_01]: you know, it was different. But people did get along. And I was seven, eight when I moved.

[00:32:00] [SPEAKER_01]: When I was eight, we were moved. And so I saw something in downtown and that's one reason

[00:32:04] [SPEAKER_01]: I wanted to come back and really help and grow the city because I had classmates and sitting

[00:32:09] [SPEAKER_01]: on, I'm leaving here. They graduated from college and went out somewhere else. But I just felt

[00:32:15] [SPEAKER_01]: like I could make a difference here. And I think, um, I think the city council that served on

[00:32:22] [SPEAKER_01]: and people forget when I ran in 79, the city council made $8,400 a year. It was like one running for a

[00:32:29] [SPEAKER_01]: job. I was just sitting there. And so at that tease Eric Smith and Rodderick's other about

[00:32:36] [SPEAKER_01]: that hey, when you ran there in the knees lead to God bless us. So we talked about that we went

[00:32:41] [SPEAKER_01]: running for no job. We run in the service to do what was best for the city. And now I think

[00:32:47] [SPEAKER_01]: with terminus, you got in just the reverse people are now, oh, they're making $50,000 a year.

[00:32:53] [SPEAKER_01]: I can do that. I do that part time too. And so you know, and then they're looking at the next

[00:33:00] [SPEAKER_01]: job exactly. And so we were just concerned with how can we best serve this community? And

[00:33:07] [SPEAKER_01]: I'm blessed to set it. Those last served with for those first 20 years on the city council. That's

[00:33:12] [SPEAKER_01]: all we were focused. We didn't get a hood or mayor, well, Democrat Republican, we worked with

[00:33:17] [SPEAKER_01]: them and we made sure that we did what was best for this community. You don't have that today

[00:33:21] [SPEAKER_03]: of fortune. All right guys, we've got a wrap it up here. Or I don't know if there are

[00:33:25] [SPEAKER_04]: those days will. I thought all of us do. I just want to echo what my

[00:33:29] [SPEAKER_04]: Robert said. Thank you 28 years of service just on school. Yeah, it's all here. Well,

[00:33:34] [SPEAKER_04]: wait, when you look at all of us, all of them, but Sarah said, thank you for what you've done

[00:33:39] [SPEAKER_04]: and what you do. And I hope that the new board will reach out to you. That institutional knowledge

[00:33:46] [SPEAKER_03]: is placeless. Thank you. Thank you. Appreciate it very, very much. That's going to do it everybody.

[00:33:51] [SPEAKER_03]: Thank you so much for joining us once again on this episode of Mike Sand Mike brought to us by

[00:33:55] [SPEAKER_03]: Jacksonville History Center and the fine folks at the Historical Society and all the donors

[00:34:00] [SPEAKER_03]: who keep the lights on in the cameras rolling. We'll see you again next week. Take care.