Alachua County Public Schools kicked off the 2025-26 academic year with a district-wide event on July 24 at Westwood Middle School. Principals, assistant principals and district staff gathered to celebrate last year’s successes and hear about priorities for the year ahead from Superintendent Dr. Kamela Patton and other district leaders.
The early morning event gave staff a chance to mingle and grab breakfast before the celebration officially began. A lively student marching band kicked off the program, energizing the crowd with music.
Throughout the assembly, other student groups performed, highlighting the district’s rich extracurricular successes and the talents cultivated across Alachua County schools.
The event also celebrated district achievements. Last academic year, the county was only two percentage points away from earning an A grade and the district’s performance increased on a majority of the state’s grading components.
Three public elementary schools in the district earned an A grade last year as well, including Hidden Oak, Talbot and Littlewood. And middle schools who got an A last year include Fort Clarke and Kanapaha — their first since 2015.
Speakers such as 2025 District Teacher of the Year Monica Benson and PTA President Kristen Mau stressed the vital role educators play in shaping students’ lives and urged faculty to carry on their impactful work.
“Leadership changes lives,” Benson said. “When leaders create environments where all students are valued, where differences are seen as strengths and where inclusion is standard not an exception, that’s when real transformation begins.”
Superintendent Dr. Kamela Patton took the stage to outline her vision for the year ahead, focusing on alignment, collaboration and student engagement. She emphasized goals like increasing student-to-student collaboration, using data to drive instruction and conducting more collective “rigor walks” by administrators.
“We really want to work on student engagement so students aren’t just being spoken to, but they’re working with each other… because students learn from each other,” Patton said. “That’s one of our primary goals this year.”
Patton also introduced efforts to unify district branding, including a new website domain — alachuaschools.net — and updated email addresses to reflect the change.
“We’re proud of our district and everything we’re doing,” she said. “When you bring 110 people into one space, the energy is more than just 110… it’s synergy. That’s what makes events like this powerful.”
Principals echoed that sense of unity and momentum. Melissa Pratto, principal at Fort Clarke Middle School said her campus is especially energized after earning an A grade for the first time in a decade.
“I’m so proud of our staff and students,” Pratto said. “They worked incredibly hard last year, and we’re looking forward to celebrating that success and building on it.”
Pratto also announced new initiatives at her school, including an expansion of career and technical education (CTE) opportunities for middle school students — a first for the district. She said her team is also focused on strengthening instructional practices to better support all learners.
Buchholz High School Principal Kevin Purvis said his school is equally committed to maintaining its legacy of excellence after raising its school grade last year by double digits in some areas.
“At Buchholz, we have a standard of excellence,” Purvis said. “Our students know they’re part of something bigger—a tradition—and they work hard to uphold that.”
As the event came to a close, the energy in the room reflected both pride in past accomplishments and optimism for the year ahead. And, as the new school year gets underway, district leaders are balancing celebration with a clear sense of purpose.
With encouraging progress behind them and ambitious goals ahead, Alachua County Public Schools are stepping into 2025–26 with both momentum and a commitment to keep pushing forward.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by PostX News and is published from a syndicated feed.)
