Broward superintendent no longer considering closing schools – NBC 6 South Florida

Broward County Public Schools Superintendent Changes Mind on Plans for Underenrolled Schools.

After receiving feedback from the community, district officials said Friday that Superintendent Dr. Howard Hepburn is no longer considering closing schools at this point.

Hepburn said he will now recommend grade and program changes, explore partnerships and sell property to regain enrollment.

The district currently has about 50,000 empty classrooms and dozens of schools are underenrolled.

The proposal to repurpose schools — either by changing their grade levels, combining them with other schools, or closing them — was discussed last fall. Since then, the school district has held town hall meetings to get input from parents and the public.

One plan proposed closing three schools and changing the boundaries of several of them, including the popular Virginia Shuman Young Elementary School magnet program. A more severe plan would have closed 42 schools and redrawn all school boundaries, but this plan was immediately rejected by parents and was not recommended by the superintendent.