{"id":123155,"date":"2025-08-06T08:41:16","date_gmt":"2025-08-06T08:41:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/123155\/"},"modified":"2025-08-06T08:41:16","modified_gmt":"2025-08-06T08:41:16","slug":"duval-county-school-board-votes-to-seek-its-own-general-counsel-independent-from-coj","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/123155\/","title":{"rendered":"Duval County School Board votes to seek its own general counsel independent from COJ"},"content":{"rendered":"

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. <\/strong> \u2013 The Duval County School Board<\/a> has voted to ask the city of Jacksonville to amend its charter, paving the way for the board to hire its own legal counsel\u2014independent from the city\u2019s Office of General Counsel. The move passed by a 5-2 vote.<\/p>\n

Currently, the city\u2019s Office of General Counsel<\/a> is responsible for hiring legal representation for the school board. Board Chair Charlotte Joyce said this arrangement is limiting the district\u2019s options.<\/p>\n

RELATED: <\/b>DCPS\u2019s headquarters building is currently up for sale. A councilman wants school leaders to it move downtown<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cLooking at the quality of applicants and the number of applicants, we just didn\u2019t really have the depth that I felt like was needed for a large urban school district in Florida,\u201d Joyce said.<\/p>\n

The push for change comes as the board struggles to replace its previous attorney, Ray Pool, who resigned in May. Joyce explained that Duval is one of the few school districts in Florida where the board does not hire its own counsel, making recruitment difficult. <\/p>\n

She also noted that attorneys hired under the current system must leave their state retirement benefits behind\u2014a further obstacle to attracting qualified candidates.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we vote on this resolution tonight, it can go to the city council,\u201d Joyce said. \u201cThe city council will work through their processes of deliberation and debate.\u201d<\/p>\n

Board members Cindy Pearson and Darryl Willie expressed concern about the timing and process. Willie shared that he felt the conversation on the dais proved why they weren\u2019t ready for a vote.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know there\u2019s a timeline we\u2019re trying to hit, and this might be the right answer but we got to make sure we get it right,\u201d said Willie, who represents District 4. <\/p>\n

Others, like District 5\u2019s Reginald Blount, supported considering the change. \u201cI don\u2019t think the city is going to fall apart because the school board wants to get their own general counsel,\u201d Blount said. \u201cI think it\u2019s something that we should at least look at.\u201d<\/p>\n

Public opinion was also divided. Dr. Nancy Scott questioned the need for a separate lawyer, asking about the intended and unintended consequences and the potential budget impact. \u201cLawyers are not cheap,\u201d she noted.<\/p>\n

Some community members, however, supported the move. \u201cThis move to obtain your own legal representation is a long time coming, and fair-minded citizens can see that it\u2019s not political. It\u2019s prudent,\u201d said Rebecca Nathanson.<\/p>\n

Others remained skeptical. \u201cIt doesn\u2019t feel like a coincidence. It feels and looks like politics,\u201d said Yasmina White, who pointed to lingering questions and uncertainty from a previous board meeting.<\/p>\n

Despite concerns raised by board member Michael Fackler and others, the resolution passed with a 5-2 vote.<\/p>\n

Copyright 2025 by WJXT News4JAX – All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2013 The Duval County School Board has voted to ask the city of Jacksonville to amend…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":123156,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5136],"tags":[5229,8314,56179,407,3188,723,7310,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-123155","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-jacksonville","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-duval-county","10":"tag-duval-county-public-schools","11":"tag-education","12":"tag-fl","13":"tag-florida","14":"tag-jacksonville","15":"tag-united-states","16":"tag-united-states-of-america","17":"tag-unitedstates","18":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","19":"tag-us","20":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/114980931718000946","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/123155","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=123155"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/123155\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/123156"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=123155"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=123155"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=123155"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}