‘A big oops’: Outraged families tell Broward Schools to reverse graduation changes

Despite a barrage of outrage, Broward County’s School Board stood firm in its decision to move dozens of high school graduations out of costly third-party venues and into on-campus gymnasiums this year.

Wednesday’s meeting was supposed to focus on an even more existential issue, votes to close several schools, but much of the conversation was dominated by the emotional and hotly debated topic of where this year’s high school seniors will celebrate their graduation.

Dozens of students, parents, elected officials and teachers spoke out against the school district’s plans, which are expected to save the cash-strapped district $500,000. Though a discussion or vote on graduations was not on the official meeting agenda, board members, students and parents debated the topic for hours.

Though the board did not change its plans for graduation venues, Superintendent Howard Hepburn said staff will “look at all the options available” and follow up with the board by the end of the week. Board member Adam Cervera told the Herald he plans to bring the graduation issue back for the board to revisit in February.

The school board has a serious time crunch to figure it out. Graduation ceremonies are scheduled to start in late May.

The drama over high school graduations, along with the board’s decision to close several schools, underscored Broward County Public Schools’ serious financial struggles. The school district has been implementing major budget cuts to account for low enrollment in its public schools. The district has lost more than 37,000 students over the past decade, including nearly 10,000 the past year alone, and has more than 50,000 empty seats, the Sun Sentinel reported.

“We are closing schools. We are telling elementary schools that, unfortunately, due to the financial situation we’re in, they will no longer have their home,” said school board member Rebecca Thompson shortly after a majority of the board voted against reopening the agenda to add an item on graduation venues. “And I recognize that graduation is an amazing celebration. However, the only way for us to move forward is to make hard decisions like this.”

In the past, most graduation ceremonies were held at the Broward Center for the Performing Arts, the Lauderhill Performing Arts Center and the Rick Case Arena at Nova Southeastern University in Davie. But this year, the district plans to hold those ceremonies at the on-campus gymnasiums of Dillard High in Fort Lauderdale, Blanche Ely in Pompano Beach and Pompano Beach High.

It costs $3,000 to host a graduation ceremony at a school gymnasium, Hepburn said. Comparatively, costs to host ceremonies at NSU have increased from $13,000 in 2022 to $28,000 in 2025, said Valerie Wanza, the Broward Schools Chief Strategy & Innovation Officer.

The district decided where each high school would graduate based on class sizes. The two largest graduation classes, Cypress Bay High in Weston and Marjory Stoneman Douglas High in Parkland, will have their ceremonies at Hard Rock Live at the Seminole Rock Hollywood. The next nine largest graduation classes will have their ceremony at NSU.

As for the rest of the high schools with smaller graduating classes: Dillard High will host 13 graduations, Pompano Beach High will host nine and Blanche Ely will host seven, the Sun Sentinel reported. Each graduating student will have at least four tickets to give to guests.

Some of those high school seniors say they’re getting the short end of the stick while students in other schools get to enjoy off-campus venues perceived to be nicer. Board members struggled to convince outraged parents and students that the Dillard, Pompano Beach and Blanche Ely gymnasiums were quality venues for graduation ceremonies.

School Board members supported moving graduation ceremonies into gymnasiums to save money at a workshop meeting in October, but their tune changed after the school district announced the list of schools impacted and complaints flooded in. (Hixon noted that no members of the public spoke on the issue at a budget meeting.)

Cervera wanted to add an item on the graduation venues to Wednesday’s meeting, which Board Chair Sarah Leonardi rejected, though she allowed for the public to comment on the issue. The public had a lot to say.

“If you tell us that some people get steak and lobster, it’s not OK that the rest of us have hot dogs and hamburgers, but we’d be happy to have hot dogs if everybody was having the same thing,” said Melissa Sherman, a Hollywood resident. “The issue is that it’s not equitable. You cannot tell our kids that they should be happy with hot dogs and hamburgers while they know that kids on the other side of the town are getting steak and lobster.”

Diane Bishop spoke on behalf of her daughter, a Fort Lauderdale High School senior who has been looking forward to her graduation after working hard to get good grades.

“She doesn’t ask for a lot of things, and a lot of these kids don’t. They really are very respectful,” Bishop said. “The least we could do is give them a decent graduation on their way off to college or wherever their career is.”

Several students from Fort Lauderdale High School spoke at the meeting, many of whom pointed out that they were uncomfortable graduating at their rival school Dillard, alleging that students there had mocked a deceased Fort Lauderdale student. Fort Lauderdale High senior Rebecca Sherman said she noticed an inequity issue.

“Schools serving primarily low income and minority students, such as Hollywood Hills, Hallandale, Blanche Ely and more, have been denied outside venues, while schools like Cypress Bay and Marjory Stoneman Douglas have not,” she said. “If cutting costs was the priority, wouldn’t Hard Rock Live, a venue reportedly costing upwards of $80,000, be the first one to change?”

Jibrael Khan, the valedictorian and class president at Northeast High School in Oakland Park, spoke on behalf of his classmates. “How can you justify that there are students graduating from Hard Rock, which is one of the best places in all of South Florida, and I have to graduate from Pompano Beach gymnasium? How is that justifiable?” Khan said.

Tensions ran high at the meeting several times, including when Khan directly asked Leonardi whether she had lied about something, which she did not respond to. When Khan did not immediately leave the podium after the timer went off, asking for his question to be answered, security appeared to escort him out of the room. Hepburn later said that he was escorted to an overflow area because there were no seats left in the boardroom, but Broward Teachers Union President Anna Fusco gave him her seat.

Some school board members were swayed by the speakers’ complaints and floated potential solutions, like fundraising $500,000 to cover costs or getting sponsorships from local businesses. Hixon said the board did not mean to offend or upset students when it supported moving graduations into gyms.

“We made a big oops on this, for lack of a better way to explain it,” Hixon said. “I really didn’t expect the backlash to be what it was.”

“We clearly got this wrong,” Cervera said. “What should be the pinnacle of our students’ 13-year education journey has now plagued our children and our students with unnecessary stress, anxiety and despair.”

Cervera asked the board to vote on a motion to include an item on graduations on the meeting agenda, which failed. Thompson explained her vote against Cervera’s motion:

“If every time we make a hard decision as a board that we direct our staff as a board, we then walk it back because of blowback, what kind of leadership are we showing our staff right now? What kind of leadership are we showing the community?” Thompson said. “If we continue on this path of trying to make hard decisions and then have people blow back at us, we will not have a financially strong future. We will not have a school district.”

Board members placed some blame on themselves for not communicating well enough with the community on the issue and more blame on the state for not funding public schools properly.

“I hope we will be in a better position in the future to do differently. I am optimistic that we can and that we will,” said school board member Jeff Holness. “I just believe that if we don’t act on saving now in every way, that we won’t be able to be saved in the future.”

This story was originally published January 21, 2026 at 8:17 PM.