Broward County Public Schools' new superintendent dove head-first Tuesday into the highly contentious plan of repurposing or closing under-enrolled schools in the county.
The idea was first brought up back in the fall of 2023, and the district has held informational meetings with the public since. The district currently has about 50,000 empty classroom seats and dozens of schools are under-enrolled.
The district presented maps at Tuesday's meeting, highlighting schools that could potentially be repurposed — meaning the school could have changes made to its grade levels, be combined with another school, closed, or several other options.
"There’s gonna be some tough conversations with those zones that do have schools that may have to face some closures," newly appointed Superintendent Howard Hepburn said.
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The goal, for now, is to repurpose at least five schools – but the question remains which ones out of dozens.
"We’re going back to the community to have those conversations and we’re going to be very overt about the options and gathering feedback," Hepburn said.
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Broward County Commissioner Steve Geller previously said the county needs 7,000 new housing units per year just to keep up with the population growth. Land suitable for housing is scarce, but the school district has lots of acreage occupied by severely under-enrolled schools.
Board member Allen Zeman said the district isn't moving fast enough on the plan.
"We need data. We need ideas. We need to get to the community immediately," he said. "We need to get some urgency on this."
But other school board members voiced concerns about community members who may get upset if school closures impact their neighborhood.
"I sat in those town halls and in those rooms, and people right off the bat didn’t trust us, and this feels like we’re being secretive with information doesn’t feel like we’re helping the situation," board member Sarah Leonardi said.
The board expects to vote on the plan in June. The earliest change won't happen until the 2025-26 school year.
