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As Panther Run, Palm Cove closures loom, what’s next for campuses? What to know

By Reporting by Isabel Rivera. Produced with AI assistance
Two elementary schools in Pembroke Pines will shut down at the end of the academic year due to underenrollment, but Broward County Public Schools has plans to repurpose both campuses. 
Two elementary schools in Pembroke Pines will shut down at the end of the academic year due to underenrollment, but Broward County Public Schools has plans to repurpose both campuses.  Ridofranz Getty Images/iStockphoto

Panther Run Elementary School and Palm Cove Elementary School in Pembroke Pines will shut down at the end of the academic year due to underenrollment, but Broward County Public Schools has plans to repurpose both campuses.

The closures are part of BCPS’ Redefining Our Schools initiative as roughly 10,000 students have left the county’s public schools since 2024.

FULL STORY: What’s next for Panther Run and Palm Cove? BCPS shares plans for closing schools

Panther Run Elementary, top, and Palm Cove Elementary, bottom, are two of six schools Broward County Public Schools voted to close in the 2026-2027 academic year due to low enrollment.
Panther Run Elementary, top, and Palm Cove Elementary, bottom, are two of six schools Broward County Public Schools voted to close in the 2026-2027 academic year due to low enrollment. Google Street View Images

Here are key takeaways:

  • The school board voted unanimously in January to close six schools district-wide. Over 45,000 seats sit empty across Broward.
  • Panther Run could become office space for BCPS headquarters, potentially housing the district’s technology, business support, procurement and food services departments, District 2 board member Rebecca Thompson told the Pembroke Pines News.
  • Palm Cove is being explored as a branch campus of Hollywood’s Sheridan Technical College. Thompson said the community’s desire for a technical school “didn’t go away” after an earlier proposal for Glades Middle did not pass.
  • Thompson said the branch campus would operate on hours similar to the main Sheridan campus — usually 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. — and that there “wouldn’t be that intense flow of traffic” tied to elementary school pick-up and drop-off.
  • No timelines for repurposing either campus have been released by BCPS as of mid-April.

This report was produced with the assistance of a proprietary tool powered by artificial intelligence and using our own originally reported, written and published content. It was reviewed and edited by our journalists.

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