Many South Florida schools started the new year Monday with new ways to battle an old problem — dwindling enrollment.
Enrollment dropped by 7,000 in Palm Beach County schools last year and by 11,000 in Broward County schools last year, with more declines expected this year.
Broward Superintendent Howard Hepburn is taking a tour of schools around the county Monday, and he started with Hallandale High, a school that at 750 students, is smaller than many elementary schools in the district.
But the district has launched a major effort to try to boost enrollment, converting it into a four-day-a-week accelerated magnet program focused on entrepreneurship, aviation and technology.
“We’re going to grow,” Principal Paula Peters told the South Florida Sun Sentinel. “We’ve just got to get the word out.”
In exchange for having Fridays off, students will have to go to school longer Monday through Thursday.
Instead of 7:40 a.m. to 2:40 p.m., school will be in session from 7 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Block schedule classes will now be 100 minutes each day instead of 90 minutes.
“I’m excited. Class periods are a little bit longer, so that gives us a little bit more time, and students will be less rushed,” entrepreneurship teacher Marcia Notkin told the South Florida Sun Sentinel.
The school is modeled after the four-day-a-week Pompano Beach High, one of the highest performing and most competitive high schools in the county.
“I hope it has the same level of success,” Heburn told reporters at Hallandale High on Monday morning. “It takes about a year or two to really get it to where you want it to be, but I’ve heard a lot of positive things from our students who are here.”
Hepburn said students are telling him they plan to use Fridays to work at internships, apply for scholarships and perform community service hours.
The school is working with United Way of Broward County to develop a calendar of “Future Ready Fridays,” where students can sign up to come in on Fridays and “participate in enrichment activities and other activities that are going to help develop their social skills, entrepreneurial skills and anything you can think of, so that when they graduate they’re future-ready students.”
But all Friday activities will be optional, and teachers also are not required to work that day.
Ta’Riyah Knowles, a junior and student athlete at Hallandale High, said she plans to use Fridays as a day of rest.
“I’m going to sleep in if I don’t have any games or practices,” said Knowles, who cheers, plays flag football and helps manage the basketball team.
Knowles is participating in the school’s entrepreneurship program. She said she took a business class last year, which helped her create her own business, called the Crafty Hooker, selling clothes she crochets herself.
This is a developing story. Check back for more information.