Parents are sounding off on a school district official’s proposal to reconfigure schools in Broward County.
Under a plan to reconfigure schools and close three with under enrollment, Fort Lauderdale’s Virginia Shulman Young Elementary would see its popular Montessori program moved to Bennett Elementary, approximately two miles away.
“We want to affect as few children as possible. There’s actual students who are being affected here,” said Sean Goldstein, a Virginia Shulman Young Elementary parent.
That’s exactly what these parents say a proposed Broward County Public School reconfigure plan will do if it passes through the school board.
“Any way you slice this it doesn’t make sense,” said Erin Gohl, a Virginia Shulman Young Elementary parent. “It takes a lot to take a successful Montessori program, any successful school program, but Montessori requires teachers who are trained in Montessori.”
“You cannot just pick up a community that’s been built over decades and put it to a different facility,” said Michelle Hearne, a Virginia Shulman Young Elementary parent
District officials have been holding town hall meetings to explain the proposal to overhaul schools countywide. Three schools right now are being considered for closure: Broward Estates Elementary in Lauderhill, Olsen Middle School in Dania Beach, and Oakridge Elementary in Hollywood.
Some schools would be repurposed, while others would see their grade levels changed.
“We got a lot of feedback from the community, feedback that we will take back to consideration to revise our consideration before our recommendations are presented to the school board in the next week or two,” said Dr. Howard Hepburn, Broward Schools Superintendent.
Some Virginia Shulman Young parents are unsure as to why their competitive program would be moved.
Proponents say it would result in two high-performing schools but parents said the existing program is what attracted them to the school and what they want is to maintain.
“It’s established, we know it works,” said a Virginia Shulman Young Elementary parent. “We can replicate it somewhere else over many years, but it’s not gonna happen in one transition year. We will lose more students if this proposal goes through than we would bring back into Broward County Schools.”
Another town hall meeting is set for Monday night at Fort Lauderdale High School to address the district proposal.
Another town hall meeting is scheduled for Tuesday night at Charles W. Flanagan High School in Pembroke Pines as the district officials work to finalize their plan to bring in front of the school board by mid-June.
