Come August, the campus that housed Broward Estates Elementary for decades is planned to open as an early learning center.
The decision to transform the school came in the first phase of the district's 'Redefining Our Schools' plan intended to mitigate the district’s chronic under-enrollment problem. It involves adding new programs, combining schools, boundary adjustments, school closures and repurposing schools.
As the Broward school board on Tuesday recapped the Lauderhill school's controversial transformation, members looked forward to phase two — and warned that more facilities could be on the line.
School board member Allen Zeman wants to grow the list of schools to potentially shutter. More closures and repurposing projects save the district money in the long run, he said.
" I'm interested in moving forward with round two," said Zeman at Tuesday's workshop. "I want it to be what's best for this district and best for this county."
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The Lauderhill community strongly resisted the closure of Broward Estates Elementary earlier this year. Residents routinely gathered to orchestrate a plan to save the kindergarten through fifth grades, but the school board moved forward with repurposing the site into an early learning center.
Broward Estates' student body was consolidated with nearby Martin Luther King, Jr. Academy, with other school choice options available. The early learning center taking its place will open next school year as part of the second phase of 'Redefining Our Schools,' which officially kicks off in July.
The education programs in the center will be run by the district. Community partners will also be present on site to provide community resources, including mental health and wellness, family centered programming, healthcare access and workforce development.
"And really we want to meet the needs of the community. And [for] anyone that has additional input to share about potential programs or practices, we're still in the building and designing phase," said Lori Canning, executive Director for Family and Community Engagement.
The center will have a ribbon cutting ceremony before the school year begins.
Other changes from phase one of the Broward school board project included converting four elementary schools into K-8 centers and one middle school into a collegiate academy that serves sixth through 12th grade.
Going into phase two, the district's priorities are assessing the condition of the facilities, monitoring student enrollment trends and input from stakeholders. Other areas of focus include exploring district-managed charter schools and expanding the technical college footprint.
Need for early learning centers
The prospect of an early learning center at Broward Estates is exciting and necessary, community members said at a meeting earlier this year — but not at the expense of the elementary grades.
School board member Jeff Holness, who represents the district Broward Estates is in, said the idea for the early learning center came from community feedback.
Board members and Superintendent Howard Hepburn discussed the dire need for head start programs in Broward during the Jan. 22 meeting, citing data that only about 35% of students within a five-mile radius of Broward Estates are ready for kindergarten.
Studies show it’s a period vital to setting students up for long-term academic success.
Miami-Dade County Public Schools is also exploring the possibility of transforming underused school sites into early learning centers. The district's enrollment is also dwindling.
"This is not just about buildings," said Miami-Dade board member Dorothy Bendross-Mindingall, who introduced the measure in a recent school board meeting. "This is about vision. This is about leveraging opportunity."
The Miami-Dade school board unanimously green-lit the superintendent to begin exploring the opportunity.
