What’s next for Panther Run and Palm Cove? BCPS shares plans for closing schools
Two Pembroke Pines schools slated for closure due to underenrollment could see new life within Broward County Public Schools, according to district officials.
School board members unanimously voted in January to shut down Panther Run Elementary and Palm Cove Elementary at the end of the academic year as part of BCPS’ Redefining Our Schools initiative to offset the costs of a sharp drop in enrollment over the years.
This school year, over 45,000 seats sit empty across Broward, WLRN reported in August, and district data shows that roughly 10,000 students have left the county’s public schools since 2024.
Four other schools — Sunshine Elementary, North Fork Elementary, Plantation Middle School and Seagull Alternative High School — were also placed on the chopping block.
Following the vote, BCPS chalked up future plans for the six closing campuses to “another district use.”
For Panther Run, officials have discussed converting the school into office space for BCPS headquarters, District 2 school board member Rebecca Thompson told the Pembroke Pines News.
She says the campus could potentially host the district’s Technology, Systems and Operations Department; Business Support center; Procurement, Economic and Diversity Compliance Department; and Food and Nutrition Services team.
Palm Cove may see older students walk its halls sometime soon, with Thompson adding the district is exploring its potential as a branch campus of Hollywood’s Sheridan Technical College.
“If you all remember the conversation at the beginning of this phase of Redefining, there was a push to put a technical school into Glades Middle,” Thompson said in a March 25 video posted on her Instagram. “That ended up not passing; however, that need for a technical school did not go away, and also the community’s desire for a technical school didn’t go away.”
The District 2 representative added that operating hours for the branch campus would mirror those of the main campus — usually 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. — and that there “wouldn’t be that intense flow of traffic” associated with the former elementary school’s pick-up and drop-off hours.
Timelines for the repurposing of Panther Run and Palm Cove have not been released by BCPS as of April 8.
What about the other schools?
Per Thompson, Miramar’s Sunshine Elementary and Plantation Middle School could split the BCPS headquarters load with Panther Run, hosting offices for the Chief Fire official, Office of Capital programs, Before & After School programs, Information Systems team, Benefits & Leaves department and more.
The school board member did not elaborate on the future of North Fork Elementary and Seagull Alternative High School, and Broward County Public Schools has not responded to the Pembroke Pines News’ request for comment as of April 9.
But according to the South Florida Sun Sentinel, the district has honed in on plans for both institutions.
Seagull Alternative could become a public safety training facility, an idea posed by the City of Fort Lauderdale, the outlet reported April 4.
The center would equip firefighters, police and emergency medical services workers, as well as provide student and community education through CPR and first-aid training, police and fire explorer programs for high schoolers, disaster preparedness seminars and more.
Meanwhile North Fork, also in Fort Lauderdale, is toggling two formal lease proposals and an archaeological assessment of the land, which sits on portions of a historic camp and a burial ground for the Seminole Tribe of Florida.
The site’s historical significance doesn’t necessarily “prevent or preclude alteration, demolition or new development,” reported the Sun Sentinel, citing the Fort Lauderdale city manager, but could present complications if “unmarked human remains are encountered.”
Interested parties include Junior Achievement of South Florida, a nonprofit proposing a “Workforce Innovation Center” that would teach BCPS high school students career readiness, and organization Sistrunk Rising, which suggests a “teacher village” outfitted with workforce training, a teacher and family resource center, an affordable housing complex and a hotel.
