FORT LAUDERDALE, FLA. (WSVN) – Parents in Broward County shared their concerns as the district moves toward shutting down some schools.<\/p>\n
District officials feel they have no other choice, as they try to address shrinking student enrollment by closing down schools.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have not voted on this, we have not made the decision,\u201d said Broward County School Board member Debbi Hixon.<\/p>\n
The district faces a roughly 11,000-student shortfall every year.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re trying to make the best possible decision in an absolutely horrific finance situation,\u201d said school board member Rebecca Thompson.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe greater issue is the number of people who have left Broward County because they cannot afford to live here,\u201d said Broward County Public Schools Chief Strategy and Innovation Officer Valerie Wanza.<\/p>\n
This first community meeting for this roiund of cuts was held Wednesday night in Miramar, where parents voiced their concerns to district officials.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe don\u2019t even have music anymore. You\u2019re taking our programs, and you\u2019re wondering why the students are leaving,\u201d said a mother.<\/p>\n
The district plans to close Dolphin Bay and Silver Lakes Elementary Schools and create a K-8 at Glades Middle and Sunset Lakes Elementary. <\/p>\n
Parents at Wednesday\u2019s meeting spoke out against this move.<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause we care about Dolphin Bay,\u201d said Caio Rosa. \u201cThey\u2019re thriving, they\u2019re doing well, they\u2019re such a good school. They\u2019re so focused on making sure our kids are doing their best.\u201d<\/p>\n
The district\u2019s discussion on this latest round of school closures began in August.<\/p>\n
On the chopping block, are the following 10 schools, on top of the six that were already closed the previous school year:<\/p>\n
Silver Lakes ElementaryDolphin Bay ElementaryOakridge ElementaryHollywood Park ElementaryWalter C. Young MiddleWilliam Dandy MiddleLloyd Estates ElementaryBanyan ElementaryCoral Springs ElementaryForest Glen Middle<\/p>\n
\u201cTo me, their proposal is heavy on fiscal responsibility, very light on providing parents with comfort, especially parents like myself who have children with special needs,\u201d said parent Sharise Richardson. \u201cI have absolutely no reassurances whatsoever coming out of this meeting as to how my children will be cared for.\u201d<\/p>\n
A final decision is expected to be made by district officials in December.<\/p>\n
\u201cTwo to three hours now at a community meeting isn\u2019t enough time, a couple of workshops isn\u2019t enough time, even a year isn\u2019t enough time to make these types of changes that impact students and families and teachers so heavily,\u201d said Dolphin Bay teacher Glory Jones.<\/p>\n
Another meeting is scheduled for Thursday night, with several more expected to take place throughout September and October.<\/p>\n
Copyright 2026 Sunbeam Television Corp. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.<\/p>\n
\tJoin our Newsletter for the latest news right to your inbox<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"FORT LAUDERDALE, FLA. (WSVN) – Parents in Broward County shared their concerns as the district moves toward shutting…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":396108,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[249,251,250],"class_list":["post-396107","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-fort-lauderdale","tag-fort-lauderdale","tag-fort-lauderdale-headlines","tag-fort-lauderdale-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/396107","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=396107"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/396107\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/396108"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=396107"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=396107"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=396107"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}