Coral Springs commissioners push back on school closures in letter to district
Coral Springs commissioners penned a letter asking Broward school officials not to close any under-capacity middle schools in the city as four are being considered for repurposing.
Broward County Public Schools has singled out Forest Glen Middle School for possible closure in its “Redefining Our Schools” plan, suggesting rewriting the boundaries to have other local middle schools absorb Forest Glen students while the school gets turned over “for another district or educational use.”
It’s part of a broader county-wide plan to shutter or repurpose under-capacity schools amid enrollment declines.
But in an Oct. 3 letter addressed to Superintendent Howard Hepburn, the five members of the Coral Springs city commission asked the district to “reject closures and transfers and instead focus on expansion and educational excellence.”
“Coral Springs is home to 19 public schools serving more than 18,000 students — the largest in Broward County — with 17 rated ‘A’ and the remaining schools just points away,” the commissioners wrote. “Our city values the educators serving in the public schools located within our jurisdiction and does not want to see that change.”
In addition to Forest Glen, other local schools being examined for possible changes are Coral Springs Middle School, Ramblewood Middle School, Sawgrass Springs Middle School and Margate Middle School.
The commissioners cited investments the city has made in the amenities of some of those schools, “from a new multi-generational facility at Kiwanis Park which will benefit Ramblewood Middle School, upgraded pickleball courts at Coral Springs Middle School to the recent investment of nearly $100,000 at Forest Glen Middle School for renovated tennis courts, new pickleball courts and added seating.”
The letter came days after the district hosted a town hall at Coral Springs High School on Sept. 30 to discuss the idea of repurposing the Margate and Coral Springs schools, the Coral Springs News reported.
After the meeting, Commissioner Joshua Simmons posted on Facebook that if the district decides to close schools, he has another idea.
“We will immediately need to discuss options that will allow the City to control the future of those schools, the land and the building,” he wrote. “We cannot allow development that is not in our city’s best interest.”
The next phase of the initiative begins with an Oct. 7 meeting, in which officials are expected to give an update on the series of community input town halls and finalize the list of schools that will be addressed.
This story was originally published October 6, 2025 at 5:03 PM.