Leer en espa\u00f1ol<\/a><\/p>\nThe change affects Fort Lauderdale High School seniors, whose ceremony had previously been planned for Nova Southeastern University. Instead, graduates will now walk across the stage at Dillard High School\u2019s gym \u2014 a decision students and parents call disappointing and unfair.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe NSU venue is really nice, and I was very excited to graduate there,\u201d said FLHS senior Sabrina Solveig Schnoeller.<\/p>\n
Parents argue the move sends the wrong message, especially since some students will graduate in a school they never attended. <\/p>\n
Cooper City Commissioner Lisa Mallozzi said the decision is particularly frustrating given longstanding rivalries between schools.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey just had four years fighting with this rival school, and now their graduation is in that gymnasium,\u201d Mallozzi said. \u201cI think if you were to give parents the opportunity to even pay $5, that would offset a large cost.\u201d <\/p>\n
Students also point to disparities across the district. <\/p>\n
Larger schools, such as Cypress Bay High School in Weston, are still scheduled to hold commencements at Hard Rock Live, a venue that offers larger seating capacity, better parking and higher-end production.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese aren\u2019t equal experiences, and they send the wrong message about student value,\u201d one FLHS student said.<\/p>\n
Some parents say they would have been willing to help cover costs to keep graduations at larger venues.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think if you were to give parents the opportunity to even pay five dollars, that would offset a large cost,\u201d Mallozzi said.<\/p>\n
Deputy Mayor Jacqueline Guzman said the district\u2019s financial concerns should not outweigh the significance of the milestone.<\/p>\n
\u201cI understand being fiscally responsible,\u201d she said. \u201cHowever, at the cost of the students, I believe there could have been alternatives.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Broward County School District has not publicly detailed how much money the venue changes are expected to save.<\/p>\n
\ud83c\udfe0 News From Your Neighborhood<\/p>\n
Copyright 2026 by WPLG Local10.com – All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. \u2014 Some Broward County parents and students are voicing frustration after the school district decided…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":127253,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[249,251,250],"class_list":{"0":"post-127252","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-fort-lauderdale","8":"tag-fort-lauderdale","9":"tag-fort-lauderdale-headlines","10":"tag-fort-lauderdale-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/127252","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=127252"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/127252\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/127253"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=127252"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=127252"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=127252"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}