LAUDERHILL, Fla. – A new proposal for changes at public schools highlighted a painful reality: Student enrollment has significantly decreased at Broward Estates Elementary in Lauderhill.
The change is part of an ongoing trend at Broward County Public Schools that has prompted a push for changes since lower enrollment means lower funding.
Bonita McKenzie said it would be heartbreaking if the school district decided to close her former Broward Estates, a generational school.
“That’s something that is going to be very hard for us,” McKenzie said.
Howard Hepburn, the Broward County Public Schools superintendent, is familiar with the sentiment, as he has engaged in months of public outreach framed under the Redefining Schools for a New Era initiative.
On Tuesday, the Broward County School Board workshop dedicated some time to learning about the outcome of the School Boundary Committee’s recommendations on Dec. 2 after reviewing the new proposal.
“This is just the initial phase,” Hepburn said during the workshop before a presentation. He also added, “We know there are some hard decisions that have to be made.”
The proposal considered moving elementary school students from Broward Estates, at 441 NW 35 Ave., to Martin Luther King Elementary, a Montessori school at 591 NW 31 Ave.
“I don’t think it’s a good idea,” said Tonya Webb, a BCPS employee who has worked at the same school for 17 years and has noticed the radical change in enrollment.
Webb, who was standing outside the school when she expressed her fear on Thursday, was not alone in her opposition.
The School Boundary Committee members voted 15-7 against the change at Broward Estates and some parents worried about their kids going from a STEM program to Montessori.
Despite the committee’s vote, Hixon said during the workshop that she supports turning Broward Estates into an early learning center with community programming.
“We are not talking about closing schools because we don’t believe in them. We just don’t have the funds to do that,” Hixon said.
The School Boundary Committee members agreed with the five other changes in the new proposal affecting a middle school and six elementary schools.
The vote was 22-1 to change Pines Middle School into a Collegiate Academy for middle and high school students.
The majority also agreed with combining Silver Shores, Silver Lakes, and Silver Palms elementary schools to form a single K-8 “full-choice” school and reconfiguring Hollywood Central, Coral Cove, and Coconut Creek elementary schools as K-8 schools.
“At the end of the day, we may make some things better,” School Board member Allen Zeman said at the workshop. He also defined the district’s challenge as having to “stitch together 239 campuses and 206 schools to serve 197,000 students when we used to have 250,000 students.”
The school board plans to reconvene to vote on the proposal on Jan. 22 and start to notify those affected on Jan. 23. The execution of the changes won’t be until the 2025-26 school year.
Related documents
Committee vote tally
Meeting on Tuesday
(Subject starts at 4:12:33 and Zeman’s statement is at 5:34)