Parents rally to try to save Glades Middle School as county mulls closures
Broward County Public Schools presented the Redefining Our Schools Initiative this year as a response to declining enrollment, causing concerns about potential school closings.
The final community meeting about the initiative is scheduled for 6 p.m. on Thursday, Nov. 13, at Miramar High School.
The school board has proposed several restructurings and closings of elementary, middle, and high schools, resulting in lively discussions at community meetings and Change.org petitions against school closings.
The proposed plan for Glades Middle School in Miramar is to close it and repurpose it as an arm of Sheridan Technical College.
The board has also proposed closing either Fairway Elementary School or Sunshine Elementary School and combining them, and a potential expansion to K-8 at Coconut Palm Elementary School, Dolphin Bay Elementary School, Silver Lakes Elementary School and Sunset Lakes Elementary School.
Closing one elementary school would lead to an estimated $1.8 million in savings, and $2.7 million for a middle school.
Decisions aren’t expected to be announced until January.
Parents and teachers in Miramar have come together in support of Glades Middle School, and a petition to save the school created by teacher Christine McMahon-Nebe has over 2,300 signatures as of Nov. 11. They’ve raised awareness on social media with the hashtag “#SaveGladesMiddle.”
“Parents and students are heartbroken, anxious and confused, but they’re also energized and mobilized,” McMahon-Nebe told the Miramar News on Nov. 11.
Should Glades Middle School close, Miramar students could go to New Renaissance Middle School instead. There is no guarantee that Glades programs such as the Cambridge Academic Program and the Verizon Innovative Learning Lab would carry over.
Should the students go to nearby K-8 centers, “K-8 schools lack the dedicated facilities for athletics, performing arts, and advanced labs that middle school students benefit from,” the petition reads. McMahon-Nebe proposed Glades become a K-8 instead, to keep the infrastructure for older students.
Concerns about the technical college include potential increased traffic and safety concerns when bringing adults from across the county to West Miramar, “fundamentally altering the quiet character of the community,” it says.
According to the school board’s presentation at an Oct. 7 workshop, Glades Middle School enrollment has declined significantly, going from 1,034 students to 862 between the 2024-25 and 2025-26 school years. This was partially attributed to parents switching to nearby charter schools.
District 2 board member Rebecca Larew Thompson, whose district covers Miramar, said at the workshop that there have been warning signs “for years” that changes would be coming.
“We didn’t adapt quickly enough to the changing educational landscape,” she said, adding that the board should be “looking at what communities are choosing charter already, and making sure that we don’t accidentally push them to charter schools.”
This story was originally published November 11, 2025 at 2:25 PM.
