JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- This year, Ed White High School has 1,600 students, but soon it could see a lot more students.
Dr. Nikolai Vitti, Superintendent of Duval County Public Schools, wants to make it a 6th-12th grade military school, and many parents are not thrilled with the plan.
Ed White High School has had its share of problems over the years. "It's a very rough school. I would like to send my kids there, but it needs some help," said parent Jim Smalenski.
Parents like Smalenski say a plan to make it a military school and adding 6th-8th graders could potentially create more issues.
His child goes to Stilwell Middle School, which just became a military school two years ago.
"Go ahead right now and start with 9th-12th, get that to work first. Don't mend it all together and expect it to work," said Smalenski.
District officials says Ed White would still have the same programs it currently has if the proposal passes. The only thing that would change is the school would add a "leadership" area to its curriculum, which will help build students' character and discipline.
Officials say current students would be grandfathered in, but incoming students would need to apply for admission.
"How can you change a school that is so small, we are already overcrowded and bring in 6th-8th grade kids that are so little," said Nasha Rodriguez, a senior at Ed White.
Rodriguez came to the meeting to give her classmates a voice. She says putting 11 and 12-year-olds in the same building with 17 and 18 year-olds isn't safe.
Rodriguez also thinks students will leave if Ed White becomes a military school. "I think if you want to attend or if your parents want you to attend a military school, they would send you to a military school."
Under the proposed change, Stilwell Middle School would become a performing arts magnet school.
First Coast News reached out to Dr. Vitti for a comment about the proposal, but he had not responded by Thursday night.
A district official says if approved, the new performing arts middle school would have a $3 million dollar grant to help with the transition.
