‘Not just a number.’ Parents weigh autism school on Pines elementary campus
On paper, Panther Run Elementary School has had lots to celebrate in the last academic year.
The “A”-rated Pembroke Pines school scored above-average proficiency rates in math, English, science and social studies, bouncing back from receiving a “B” the previous year.
Programs such as dual language and Cambridge International, and clubs including drama and culinary arts dot its website’s homepage.
But one issue has Broward County Public Schools considering the biggest changes PRE’s campus has seen yet: 488 empty desks.
With just 37.3% — or 290 students— of its seats filled, PRE is one of seven Pembroke Pines schools and 34 Broward institutions tacked onto BCPS’ shortlist for its “Redefining Our Schools” second phase.
The county-wide initative, first presented in 2024, is the district’s solution to mitigate the drop in funding that follows the low enrollment it has been hit with.
There are over 45,000 empty seats in BCPS this school year, WLRN reported in August, and district data shows that roughly 10,000 students have left the county’s public schools since 2024.
For Panther Run, the school board is exploring two unique possibilities: shutting down the school, rezoning students to Chapel Trail Elementary and opening a “special day school for students with Autism,” or having a school for students with autism co-locate on PRE’s campus.
Moms weigh hopes and worries for BCPS plans
Broward moms Melissa Ramos and Penelope Gabarrete share one common goal — to keep PRE’s campus open.
Ramos is the autism subcommitee chair for BCPS’ Exceptional Student Educational Advisory Council and has navigated the district’s ESE programs as the mother of a 17-year-old son with autism who’s previously enrolled in public schools.
When talks of “redefining” began to circulate last year, she and several parents on the council were the first to pitch the co-locating strategy as a fix for PRE’s enrollment troubles and Broward’s limited school options for students with autism.
“If [no school] is going to be there, then they would probably have to close,” she told the Pembroke Pines News. “However, since the school has a geat inclusive program, since it’s a great elementary school ... instead of making it seem like it’s a segregated autism school, why not try a school within a school?”
Gabarrete is a longtime PRE Parent Teacher Association member with two kids attending the school — one in first grade, the other in third — and is skeptical of whether BCPS has fully calculated the impact the proposed changes could leave on the student body.
“You have kids who obviously are more resilient and can take a bigger hit, but you have kids that don’t,” said Gabarrete, who doubles as the owner of a Pembroke Pines mommy-and-me center named A Mini Affair. “We’re not denying that the school needs to be saved. The school is not doing well, but we’re not just a number.”
That’s why she started the “#SavePantherRun” effort, made up of an Instagram campaign where alumni send in testimonials of how PRE changed their lives and a garden beautification project to save school lives.
If having a co-locating autism school will keep the elementary school open, Gabarrete welcomes the idea, adding that she thinks “it would work really well hand in hand” with PRE’s existing Exceptional Student Learners program.
But as she told school board members in an Oct. 7 workshop in Fort Lauderdale, she hopes it doesn’t come at the cost of “overlook[ing] the students that are here right now.”
One of her main concerns is that BCPS would pour its efforts into building up the autism school and neglect PRE’s underfunded campus, which she says has cut back on electives due to dwindling funds.
She’s also worried the district would let the autism school devolve into a “marketing strategy” to “open up school choice” for parents of kids with disabilities instead of delivering a successful model.
“If you bring that in and you don’t equip us with what we need, it’s going to fail them, and it’s going to fail the people who are already in there,” she said. “Our kids deserve equally what the other kids deserve.”
And what would an autism school look like if it came to pass? Ramos and Gabarrete say the district hasn’t answered.
Both have been in constant communication with their school board representative — Rebecca Thompson of District 2 — but haven’t heard much from BCPS other than a survey sent to parents asking what they think an “Autism Academy” should include.
“I am actively looking into all options and the staff is planning to present to the board so that we can make the best decisions for the community,” Thompson responded to the Pembroke Pines News’ request for comment.
To Gabarrete, the lack of updates are especially frustrating considering BCPS’ 2026-27 school choice window, which allows families to apply to a school outside their home zoning, opened Nov. 3 and closes Dec. 19.
But Ramos is hoping school board members will consider a “data-driven, ABA model, Montessori setup” that takes inspiration from South Florida Autism Charter School, a Miami-Dade school she says is so popular in Broward, 96 local families commute there each school day.
One of this approach’s biggest sells, she says, are opportunities to build life and social skills that eventually lead to more inclusion and integration with neurotypical students.
“Just because you have a child with a disability, and they’re in a great cluster program at a great school, it doesn’t mean that they have to go [to the autism school],” added Ramos. “It’s actually just giving them a choice of ‘This is what we have here.’”
What’s next?
What becomes of the Pembroke Pines elementary school will be determined during an early-January school board vote, Thompson announced during a Nov. 4 town hall meeting at Lakeside Elementary.
BCPS’ next “Redefining Our Schools” community meeting, where Panther Run will also be discussed, is scheduled for 6 p.m. on Thursday, Nov. 13, at Miramar High School.
This story was originally published November 12, 2025 at 4:33 PM.
