Some Broward Schools district staff to move into Forest Glen Middle School

With Forest Glen Middle School remaining open despite underenrollment, Broward County Public Schools has come up with a way to fill some of its vacant space.

Some district academic staff will move from the Kathleen C. Wright Building in downtown Fort Lauderdale to “service hubs” at Forest Glen and other middle schools in the county, documents show.

As the school system deals with falling student enrollment and a looming budget crisis, it’s looking to lease out several floors of the main administrative building and send district staff to schools that aren’t fully occupied by students.

Last school year, the district was eyeing Forest Glen in Coral Springs for possible closure after enrollment dropped to 57.5% of the building’s total capacity for the 2025-26 academic year. About 935 students were enrolled, falling short of the 1,627 maximum.

While far from full enrollment, Forest Glen was still at greater capacity than other middle schools that the district identified for possible closure or repurposing.

District 4 school board member Lori Alhadeff pushed back on the idea of closing the middle school.

“I think that it’s ridiculous that we would even be thinking about potentially closing Forest Glen Middle School when compared to the other middle schools within the district. They are at a higher level than 19 other middle schools,” she said at an Oct. 7 board meeting.

Ultimately, Forest Glen was declared safe for now, and the district closed six schools. But staff is still looking for other ways to tighten the district’s belt, such as ranging from leasing out several floors of the administrative building to consolidating more schools.

The board also recently approved a $14 million sale of district-owned land in Parkland to Broward Health.