A question of whether to hold some graduation ceremonies at external venues or high school gymnasiums divided Broward School Board members on Wednesday, with no final decisions made after hours of discussion.
Graduation sites weren’t even on the agenda, but School Board members still spent about four hours on the topic, rivaling the time spent on a proposal to close seven schools, a topic that some School Board members viewed as far more consequential and heartbreaking.
Dozens of students, parents and elected officials turned out to oppose the district’s cost-cutting move to use large gyms at Dillard High in Fort Lauderdale, Blanche Ely High in Pompano Beach and Pompano Beach High instead of rental facilities.
The 11 largest high schools were still scheduled for locations outside the district, with nine assigned to the Don Taft Arena at Nova Southeastern University in Davie and two, Cypress Bay High in Weston and Marjory Stoneman Douglas High to be held at Hard Rock Live at Seminole Hard Rock Hollywood. This led to complaints of inequities.
“We like hamburgers and hot dogs, but if you tell us that some people get steak and lobster, it’s not OK that the rest of us have hot dogs and hamburgers,” said Melissa Sherman, whose daughter, Rebecca, is graduating from Fort Lauderdale High.
School Board members overwhelmingly agreed in October to use gyms as one of many strategies to save money as the district faces about $100 million in cuts. The change is expected to save about $500,000.
But after the list of schools was released, board members were flooded with complaints.
“I really didn’t expect the backlash to be what it was,” Board member Debbi Hixon said at the meeting.
School Board member Adam Cervera had initially voiced support for using district facilities, but after hearing complaints from constituents, he made a formal request last week to hold a vote to reconsider the matter. Chairwoman Sarah Leonardi declined to add it. She did, however, allow public comments and board discussion on the item, leading to a lengthy debate.
Cervera, who sported a baseball cap with the message “Listen to Parents” on it, made an effort at the meeting to get the board to vote on the matter. But the board voted 5-4 against placing it on the agenda.
Still, the majority of board members supported Hepburn working with local governments who are concerned about the issue to see if there are other options for ceremonies. Hepburn said he would report back to the School Board in a memo by the end of the week.
Broward County School Board member Adam Cervera listens to public comment Wednesday, Jan. 21, 2026, in Fort Lauderdale. Parents and students spoke in opposition to a money-saving measure that would move high school graduations to gymnasiums. (Joe Cavaretta/South Florida Sun Sentinel)
Hepburn said the cost of each ceremony at NSU is about $25,000, nearly twice as much as the venue charged in 2022. He said the cost for a graduation at a district gymnasium is about $3,000, which covers custodial and security costs.
Sunrise Deputy Mayor Jacqueline Guzman, the mother of a senior at Piper High, told board members she had reached out to the bishop at the Faith Center, a large church located in the old Sunrise Musical Theater, and he agreed to open up the center to Piper and some other schools at a low cost.
“I’m really hoping that you guys do consider opening up this decision and reaching out to the venue, because I believe in October when this was addressed, many of you should have been doing the negotiations and not me having to do it for you,” she said.
The School Board meeting turned tense at various times, with frequent disruptions from the audience, leading Leonardi on at least two occasions to recess the meeting.
Audience members were particularly outraged when they saw what looked like Jibrael Khan, the valedictorian at Northeast High School in Oakland Park, getting escorted out of the meeting after he made pointed comments.
“What you guys are doing with the graduation is completely unfair and you guys are doing it in a horrendous way,” Khan said. “There are students graduating at Hard Rock, one of the best places in South Florida, and I have to graduate from Pompano Beach High School. How is that justifiable?”
He posed a question to Leonardi that she didn’t answer. Board members normally don’t respond to speakers. When Khan didn’t immediately leave after his time was up, a security official escorted him out of the room, leading to audience complaints.
Hepburn said later in the meeting the student was being escorted to an overflow area because there were no seats available in the boardroom, and district policy requires people in the boardroom to be seated. Broward Teachers Union President Anna Fusco let him have her seat, and he got to stay in the boardroom, Hepburn said.
During the meeting, Hepburn and board members tried, often unsuccessfully, to persuade audience members that the large gyms at the three high schools are top-notch facilities.
“I recognize that this change has raised concerns for some families and want to be clear, regardless of where the graduation ceremony is held this year, we are fully committed to ensuring that every celebration is meaningful, dignified, and special for all of our students and their families,” Hepburn said.
However, the largest gymnasium, Dillard High, can only hold 2,500 guests, compared with 3,796 for NSU. That could result in fewer tickets for each graduate.
All graduating seniors are guaranteed at least four tickets, but seniors whose ceremonies are held at NSU are all expected to get at least five tickets each, with the exception of Western High in Davie, which would only get four due to its large size, a district analysis shows.
Students at Cooper City High, which has 551 seniors, would be at Dillard High and get four tickets, while Nova High in Davie, which has just seven more seniors, may get six tickets per graduate, the analysis shows.
“For this once-in-a-lifetime experience, the culmination of your academic journey, you have to tell Grandma, ‘stay home.’ You have to tell Grandpa, ‘he has to watch this on a live feed,’” Cervera said.
Some public speakers also accused the district of making the decision without public input.
Broward School Board members were emailed the list in December but were instructed to not disclose it for a few weeks.
“Please do not publish or share it with the community,” Valerie Wanza, chief of strategy and innovation, wrote to School Board members and some administrators on Dec. 18. “The final schedule will be published across the District and community in January.”
.@browardschools made big changes to graduation schedules w/ no public input. Board publicly agreed to put classes <500 at high school gyms in Oct., but it got changed to <556, adding 8 big schools. School Board got list Dec. 18 but was told to keep it secret, email shows. 1 of 3 https://t.co/PKVym44p2k pic.twitter.com/dleDc1oHNB
— Scott Travis (@smtravis) January 17, 2026
Some board members argued the idea was discussed at several meetings and generated little concern. Hixon said it was brought up at a budget hearing last year.
“I bring that up because it was a public meeting held at 5:30 in the evening so everyone could come, and you know how many people were here to talk? Zero,” she said. “I hope this is really an eye opener for the community that when we have those budget meetings, when we’re doing workshops on things, we do want your input.
“But when no one shows up, we go by the things that we think.”