These six Broward schools are closing. Another was spared, thanks to a bear

Broward County’s financially struggling school district at one point floated closing more than 30 public schools, but on Wednesday night the axe came down on only six.

A seventh was spared, thanks to the efforts of parents, students, the City of Sunrise and a kid dressed as a bear.

At Wednesday’s meeting, where hours were spent debating budget constraints for high school graduation ceremonies, the cash-strapped school board also voted to close six underenrolled schools to save money: Sunshine Elementary School in Miramar, Panther Run Elementary School in Pembroke Pines, Palm Cove Elementary School in Pembroke Pines, North Fork Elementary School in Fort Lauderdale, Plantation Middle School in Plantation and Seagull Alternative High School in Fort Lauderdale. The board also voted to change boundaries for three schools and convert an elementary school into a birth through fifth-grade early learning center.

The schools are slated to close at the end of this school year, and the changes are expected to save the district about $8 million.

By just one vote, the board chose not to close Bair Middle School in Sunrise. Superintendent Howard Hepburn had recommended the district to shutter Bair and send its students to Westpine Middle School, which is also in Sunrise.

“It is the right and wise thing to do at this moment to keep Bair open,” said School Board member Jeff Holness, whose district includes Bair Middle.

Broward County Public Schools is facing a severe financial crisis and major budgets cuts, in large part because its schools are underenrolled. 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. Several financial scandals have also rattled the district in recent months, like when voter-approved money meant to boost teacher pay instead went toward bonuses for the district’s highest-paid employees.

The school district adopted several cost-saving measures, like the controversial decision to hold the majority of high school graduation ceremonies at school gymnasiums instead of costly off-campus venues, to save $500,000.

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

Although it wasn’t on the official agenda Wednesday, heated discussion over graduations lasted so long, the board had to extend the meeting by two hours to address the intended main topic: “Redefining Our Schools,” the district’s multi-phase plan to close, consolidate and repurpose underenrolled schools.

In the plan’s first phase, the board closed Broward Estates Elementary School in Lauderhill and repurposed it as an early learning center, converted four elementary schools into K-8 schools, and converted one middle school into a 6-12 school. For the second phase, the board considered closing 34 schools, which dwindled down to seven.

Families rally to ‘SAVE BAIR’

There was relatively little discussion as the board voted on the fate of each school, except for when it came to Bair Middle. Several middle school students, parents and City of Sunrise officials spoke during public comment, surrounded by supporters holding signs that read “SAVE BAIR” and a student dressed as a bear, the school’s mascot.

Sixth grader Elizabeth Bartfield asked the school board to put themselves in her shoes, as a student who had just gotten adjusted to middle school. (Her brother Aiden was wearing the bear costume.)

“Imagine, after all the fear of the unknown goes away, and you quickly begin to love your new school, new teachers and new routine, imagine you are told that it will all be taken away and you will have to face all those challenges again next year,” she said. “How would you feel if that happened to you? Well, that’s what the students of Bair Middle are feeling right now. Why us? Why Bair Middle?”

Community members also touted Bair’s academic and STEM programs like Montessori, Cambridge and Amazon Future Engineer, a three-year program in which students can earn a Python coding certificate once completed.

“We need more of these programs, not less,” Lubelski said.

Despite the appeals, what appeared to sway the district was not the strength of the programs or the pleas from students, but an offer from Sunrise to potentially rent empty space in the two under-enrolled schools the district sought to combine: Bair and Westpine

Sunrise city manager Mark Lubelski said the city was interested in partnering with the school district to “co-locate” city programs at Bair and Westpine to use empty space in both buildings. (Bair is at 54 percent enrollment, while Westpine is at 48 percent.)

Plus, Holness argued that combining Bair’s student population with Westpine’s would put the Westpine building at full capacity, leaving little room for growth. Unlike other schools, Holness said Bair’s future is promising because of Sunrise’s interest in using empty space and the potential for nearby Horizon Elementary to serve as a strong feeder school for Bair.

“I am not shying away from our budget concerns. I supported the closing of North Fork. I supported the closing of Plantation Middle. I supported the closing of Broward Estates Elementary. Bair is a different issue,” Holness said. “I supported the closing of those schools because we did not see viable options to increase enrollment. In Bair’s case, we see a lot of viable options to increase enrollment.”

School board member Debra Hixon agreed with Holness, though she stressed that her support for keeping Bair open was to avoid the risk of overcrowding Westpine.

“We’ve already voted to close some schools, so I just want to be really clear to the public that this is not about how great the school is,” Hixon said. “They’re all great. It is about numbers, right?”

Board member Allen Zeman disagreed. Closing Bair would save the district $1.9 million a year, said Broward Schools Chief Strategy and Innovation Officer Valerie Wanza.

“We have to make decisions that are based on the best interest of the district. [...] I mean, we tortured ourselves this morning to try and find a half a million dollars for something the community is desperate for,” Zeman said, referring to the graduation controversy. “This is four times bigger than that.”

Sunrise Mayor Mike Ryan told the Herald that while there is no concrete plan yet for how the city will use space at Westpine and Bair, he is confident city and district staff will be able work together. The city has a long history of collaborating with the school district, and conversations on next steps will begin “immediately,” he said

“We recognize that it’s complicated when you’re talking about school properties where children are located, but we are committed to that dialogue, and we’re committed to doing it timely,” he said.

Personally, Ryan said he was very proud to see community members and city officials save Bair, where his children went to middle school. “It was important for our city to stand up and say, ‘We want to be part of this success,’” he said.

School changes

The board voted to close six schools, change boundaries for three schools and repurpose one school.

Thurgood Marshall Elementary School

Thurgood Marshall Elementary in Fort Lauderdale will remain open but convert into a birth through fifth-grade early learning center.

Closures and consolidations

Sunshine Elementary will close. The student population will consolidate into Fairway Elementary.

Panther Run Elementary will close. The student population will consolidate into Chapel Trail Elementary and Silver Palms Elementary.

Palm Cove Elementary will close. The student population will consolidate into Lakeside Elementary and Pines Lakes Elementary.

North Fork Elementary will close. The student population will consolidate into Croissant Park Elementary, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Elementary, Thurgood Marshall Elementary and Walker Elementary.

Plantation Middle will close, and Plantation High will turn into a 6-12 school. Students from the middle school will consolidate into the high school.

Seagull Alternative High will close. The student population will consolidate into Whiddon-Rogers Education Center.

School boundary changes

Part of the boundary for Walter C. Young Middle School in Pembroke Pines will shift west of Interstate 75 to reassign some students to Silver Trail Middle School.

Part of the boundary for Charles W. Flanagan High School in Pembroke Pines will shift west of I-75 to reassign some students to West Broward High School.

Part of the boundary for Hallandale High School will shift west of I-95 to reassign some students to Miramar High. Hallandale High will also become a four-day-week magnet school, similar to Pompano Beach High School.

This story was originally published January 22, 2026 at 3:29 PM.