Broward superintendent releases recommendation to close seven schools
Broward County Public Schools Superintendent Howard Hepburn released his final recommendations Friday afternoon on a sweeping plan to consolidate several campuses, redraw school boundaries and reassign students across the county.
He’s recommending seven schools be closed.
The memo comes after the Monday, Dec. 8, special school board meeting, where members focused on discussing proposals from the boundary advisory committee, a 50-person group that makes suggestions about changes to school attendance zones, potential school closures, mergers or reconfigurations.
In Pembroke Pines, two schools are recommended for closure: Panther Run Elementary and Palm Cove Elementary, both of which would be repurposed for other district uses. Two other schools would undergo boundary changes: Walter C. Young Middle and Charles W. Flanagan High.
For Panther Run Elementary, Hepburn recommends folding the school into Chapel Trail Elementary and Silver Palms Elementary.
Palm Cove Elementary is being recomended to be consolidated into Lakeside Elementary School and Pines Lakes Elementary School.
The boundary change with Walter C. Young Middle would shift the portion of the school’s boundary west of Interstate 75 to Silver Trail Middle School, meaning students in this area would be assigned to Silver Trail beginning the 2026-27 school year.
The boundary change with Charles W. Flanagan High School would move the portion of the school’s boundary west of Interstate 75 to West Broward High School, so that beginning in the 2026-27 school year, students in this area would be assigned to West Broward.
One nearby Miramar school, Sunshine Elementary, is also recommended for consolidation into Fairway Elementary.
The proposed changes are part of the district’s multi-phase “Redefining Our Schools” plan, intended to mitigate enrollment issues that have created empty seats in Broward public school classrooms
Remaining recommendations
Across Broward, Hepburn is recommending seven additional changes:
- Consolidate North Fork Elementary School in Fort Lauderdale into Croissant Park Elementary School, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Elementary School, Thurgood Marshall Elementary School, and Walker Elementary School
- Consolidate Plantation Middle School into Plantation High School and reconfigure Plantation High as a sixth through 12th grade school
- Consolidate Bair Middle School in Sunrise into Westpine Middle School
- Shift the area of the Hallandale High School boundary west of Interstate 95 to Miramar High School, so that beginning in the 2026-27 school year, students in this area will be assigned to Miramar High. Hallandale High will become a four-day week magnet school following the Pompano Beach High School model.
- Reconfigure Thurgood Marshall Elementary School in Fort Lauderdale as a birth through fifth-grade early learning center
- Consolidate Seagull Alternative High School in Fort Lauderdale into Whiddon-Rogers Education Center
Five of the schools that are slated to close will be repurposed for another use within the district. The other two, North Fork Elementary and Seagull Alternative High, will be transitioned to other unspecified uses.
The School Board will hold final rulemaking and vote on these recommendations at its Jan. 21, 2026 meeting. If approved, all changes would take effect for the 2026–27 school year.
Families can contact Joseph Beck, the district’s director of demographics and enrollment planning, for additional information at 754-321-2565.
This story was originally published December 12, 2025 at 5:52 PM with the headline "Broward superintendent releases recommendation to close seven schools."
