The Leon County School Board met for their Agenda Review on Monday, February 10, 2025. The following is an overview of their conversation about the newly proposed school zone for Riley Elementary School. For more information, visit www.LeonSchools.net/Rezone.

The proposed rezoning is intended to:

• Return the pre-K program to Riley Elementary
• Address the fact that if all the students in the current zone actually attended Riley, the school would be the size of a high school
• Address the issue that current transportation routes have buses driving past schools to bring students back to another school
• Move students to schools with open seats so that no schools are overloaded
• Correct the situation where some students are transported to Riley even though they live very close to Sable Palm Elementary

The proposed changes would move students from John G. Riley Elementary to the following schools:

• Astoria Park Elementary
• Sable Palm Elementary
• Fort Braden K-8

The sources also note the following points about the proposed changes:

• The proposed changes will bring John G. Riley Elementary to 82% capacity, allowing room for school choice
• Students who live within two miles of their new school will not qualify for transportation, although there are some exceptions
• The school board members will receive the information about the proposed changes and the impacts, and the board members whose districts are impacted by the changes will be present at community forums about the rezoning
• There will be community rezoning forums about the changes
• The school district is working with the Tallahassee Leon County GIS department to make informed decisions about rezoning
• The GIS department provides tools to assist in making decisions about zoning, such as maps with address ranges, development information, and school zones

Additional topics that are related to zoning and were raised at the meeting include:

1. The Walani development and the need to examine school capacities and zoning in that area
2. The potential to use school district land for affordable housing