‘It's not right': Parents and activists push for new plan at Broward school set to close

Miami Herald

06-03-2025

Banners hanging in the Broward Estates Elementary School cafeteria tout positive character traits, like ambition and wisdom. Walls display Black History Month decorations, a tree made of pink paper hearts and posters of historical figures like the Wright brothers and George Washington Carver. And on the cafeteria tables, paper packets with QR codes invited parents to learn more about the school's future as an early learning center.
Broward County School Board members, the superintendent and district staff visited Broward Estates on Monday evening hoping to get community input on the early learning center that would replace the Lauderhill school.
They certainly got feedback. Just not the kind they asked for.
After the school board voted in January to close the school, there has been a flurry of activity in the Lauderhill neighborhood to combat — or at the very least alter— the district's plan.
While some of the community members, local activists and parents gathered in the school's cafeteria offered ideas on how the early learning center could best serve the community, much of the conversation was dominated by those who opposed closing the school and questioned the circumstances that led to the board's decision. The district plans to open the new early learning center Aug. 11, the first day of school.
'I am so angry after I reviewed all of the clips that I could in reference to the closing or the repurposing [...] of the school,' Mae Smith, a Lauderhill resident and activist, said. 'You guys have done the worst that you could do to any of us when it comes to closing this school.'
Closing this school — let alone any school — has proven to be quite the task for Broward County Public Schools.
In the last year, the board has been trying to create a plan to close schools to address the county's declining student enrollment over the last 20 years. There are about 45,000 empty seats in the district, equivalent to about 50 schools.
In 2023, most board members were in favor of closing five schools by fall 2025, but support waned as residents strongly opposed the proposed closures. In May 2024, Superintendent Howard Hepburn, who took up the task initially assigned to former-Superintendent Peter Licata, recommended closing three schools. Eventually, that dwindled to just one school: Broward Estates.
In January, the board approved Hepburn's proposal to convert some other schools in neighborhoods like Hollywood and Pembroke Pines into K-8 or 6-12 schools, and repurpose Broward Estates from an elementary school to an early learning center.
Parents who had not followed the school board's plans closely were shocked and confused. Members of Lauderhill's predominately Black community felt slighted since Broward Estates, the only school left on the chopping block, has an over 92 percent Black student population.
And for those who don't have children who currently attend Broward Estates, the stakes feel just as high. Longtime Lauderhill residents say defending Broward Estates is about more than saving one school, its about the future of the community.
For Smith, it's a matter of principal. It's just not fair, she said.
'When I started hearing about all the great things that started to happen there [at the school], I was like, 'Why would they want to disrupt this?' It's not right,' Smith said. 'In the affluent areas, people that know how to stand up for themselves can continue to get whatever it is they want. But unfortunately, at the urban neighborhoods or low income neighborhoods, parents don't know how to do the same.'
A neglected but beloved neighborhood school
Enrollment numbers are key to why Broward Estates has been on the district's radar since it began it's 'Redefining Our Schools' plan, which aims to repurpose, combine or close schools.
On paper, Broward Estates has the capacity for nearly 700 students, but about 220 are enrolled. But parents and activists say the numbers are incorrect since the campus consists of newer buildings, constructed decades after the school opened, and older buildings from 1957 that are used for storage, not instruction. The buildings used by students today are at capacity, they argue.
BCPS confirmed that the nearly 700 capacity figure includes the older buildings that are used for storage. As the school district considered which schools to close, criteria included schools with under 55 percent enrollment and facilities built before 1960.
'You allowed our school to get in disrepair,' said Delphia Kaigler, a 91-year-old resident of the neighborhood who has been advocating for the school since the '70s, at the meeting. 'You said we have a lot of areas that can't be used, yet you want to punish us because it's not used. So of course we don't have as many students as we should.'
Latrisha Greaves, a community activist whose children attended Broward Estates, believes much of the school's woes stem from a history of low investment from the school district.
'The school wasn't getting the TLC it deserves,' she said. 'When you don't have the right investment going in, then you start losing students. People are searching, of course, for the best of the best.'
Community members have also raised concerns over the $7 million that was allocated to Broward Estates from BCPS' troubled SMART Bond program but was never used to renovate the school.
'Not all and not most, but some money was spent,' Broward schools superintendent Hepburn said at the meeting in response to questions about the allocated money. 'That is a drop in the bucket for what needs to happen here in the pre-1960s buildings. It would probably take about $40 to 50 million to do what needs to happen at Broward Estates.'
The $7 million meant for improvements was news to Cherish Meronvil, a parent of a Broward Estates student. She observed the meeting with her son Ovide, a fourth grader who has been attending the school since kindergarten. Until late last year, she said she was under the impression that the school board was going to add an early learning center to Broward Estates, not eliminate the school entirely.
Meronvil said she sends her son to Broward Estates because of its programs and staff. Now, she said, she has to figure out what to do before he goes to middle school.
'It's like a family. The teachers, they know every child's name,' she said. 'The principal, she stands out there every morning when we drop the children off. She can name every child.'
Ovide, 10, said he enjoys the school's drama program and hanging out with friends.
'I would hope that they change their mind and keep the school,' he said.
Kenny Francois, the father of a first grader at Broward Estates, shares Meronvil's concerns. He said he feels confused about which elementary school to send his son to next and needs to arrange for transportation in the future.
'This was perfect,' Francois said. 'We live literally two minutes from here. We walk here. [...] We were looking forward to having him in first, second, third, all the way to fifth, and then the middle school is right next door. That would have been a great transition as somebody that lives in the community, but all of that now is gone.'
Francois, who is Haitian and runs a community center, said he came to the meeting to get a better understanding of the situation for both himself and for parents who do not speak English.
School district data shows that about 22 percent of Broward Estates students' families speak a language other than English at home. Out of 228 students, 32 reported speaking Haitian Creole at home. About 13 percent of students are categorized as ELL, or English Language Learner.
'They have no clue what's going on,' Francois said. 'It's going to impact them and they just have to accept it. That's not fair.'
Can the school be saved?
Hepburn, who attended the Monday evening meeting along with school board members Jeff Holness and Debbie Hixon, said the neighborhood would benefit from an early learning center, citing data that only about 35% of students within a five-mile radius of Broward Estates are ready for kindergarten. Board members pointed to the success of Gulfstream Early Learning Center, a school district-run facility in Hallandale Beach.
Monday's meeting started with Lori Canning, the BCPS executive director of The Division of Early Learning and Language Acquisition, providing a presentation on what programs the early learning center may offer the community, including food and clothing banks, health services and a community garden. On the first day of school, the early learning center at Broward Estates will have programming for infants and toddlers, including Head Start and Voluntary Prekindergarten, she said.
'We know to impact the child, you can't just impact the child. It's really about the whole family, and it's about the community,' Canning told the audience. 'And that's what we're really striving to do alongside all of you.'
Aretha Wimberly spoke in favor of the early learning center during the public comment section and said she looks forward to sending her 2-year-old grandchild there. She said implementing an early learning center is the best way to ensure the community's infants and toddlers are prepared for elementary school and beyond.
Many of the attendees, however, said they support implementing an early learning center, but not at the expense of the elementary school.
At an earlier community meeting Smith organized on Feb. 17 at St. George Park in Lauderhill, the majority of attendees agreed they want to add an early learning component to the elementary school. Though most of the attendees did not have children enrolled in Broward Estates, they said they felt personally invested in the fate of the school, like Michelle Miller, who said she was planning on sending her son to Broward Estates once he was old enough.
She said she was 'appalled' to see the school board's decision, but thinks that the community can save the school so long as they band together.
'I feel like its underhanded and unfair. They had a motive behind it the whole time,' Miller told the Herald. 'They weren't clear with the community, and kids are going to suffer because of that.'
And though Hepburn empathized with opponents of the school closure on Monday, he defended the district's decision. 'I understand the advocacy at this point, but we need to move forward.'
'We have something that we have to do for the betterment of kids in the community,' Hepburn told the crowd.
But not all hope is lost for Broward Estates, Francois said. He anticipates more community advocacy for the school as parents get up to speed. As district staff encouraged people to scan a QR code about the early learning center, activists passed out petitions to challenge the school closure. Greaves said she has received 110 signatures.
'I don't think it's over at all,' Francois said. 'It's not nearly over.'