A school without enrollment issues may be closed. Hollywood wants Broward to reconsider
Hollywood city officials are asking Broward County Public Schools to reconsider its proposal to permanently close Oakridge Elementary School, which serves a predominantly Black neighborhood in the city.
The School Board announced a list of potential school closures, including Oakridge Elementary, at a community meeting last month. Broward County is considering closing anywhere from three to 42 public schools because of declining enrollment.
Oakridge is not underenrolled but has dated facilities and a D rating by the state. Superintendent Howard Hepburn suggested at the meeting that the school could be turned into affordable housing for district employees.
READ MORE: Broward County Public Schools present two plans for school closings: Close 3 or 42?
In a letter to Hepburn on Monday, Hollywood City Manager George Keller said that city commissioners are adamant that they don’t want any public schools to close. He noted that Oakridge specifically “has historically been a strong neighborhood school where most of the students come from the immediate surrounding neighborhood and under-enrollment is not a concern.” Keller asked for the school board to meet with city leaders at a workshop to consider solutions that would keep the school open.
“We want to encourage BCPS to spend more time engaging collaboratively with each of the cities impacted by proposed school closures and boundary changes before making any decisions,” Keller wrote. “This will ensure all options are thoroughly vetted and proposed adjustments do not have unforeseen consequences for our students, their families, and the overall residential quality of life in our community both today and into the future.”
The Miami Herald has reached out to Broward County Public Schools for comment.
Hollywood Mayor Josh Levy noted that closing Oakridge would create a challenge for families whose children walk or ride their bikes to school. He also expressed concerns about the idea to convert the school into affordable housing.
“While workforce housing is a great need and we are addressing that need in as many places as we can throughout the city, the single-family neighborhood that surrounds Oakridge Elementary, to me, is not suitable to have a multifamily built right in the middle of it,” Levy said at a May 1 city commission meeting.
The decision to have the city manager ask for a meeting with the school district followed disagreement from commissioners about a proposed resolution that instead urged the school board to give Hollywood first priority to buy the land of any schools that would be closed in city limits.
Commissioner Caryl Shuham, who favored the initial resolution, said nothing in the resolution mandated that the city buy the property but suggested it would be in the city’s best interest to ask for the right of first refusal.
“I think that it is a mistake to sit back and do nothing and just hope that we can become a close partner with the school board,” she said. “We know that they’re going to close schools.”
Commissioner Traci Callari said she is not in favor of purchasing more land and would instead prefer if the city has discussions with the school district and “activate our residents whose children will be affected by all of these closures.”
She also noted that Hollywood is growing its housing inventory.
“We have no idea how many families will be moving into [all of] the new development that’s coming into the city as it is,” she said. “But just on the records, there’s give or take about 5,000 opportunities for new families moving into the city of Hollywood, whether it’s rentals or condos or even homes, and where are we going to put these kids?”
The city manager said that if the school district does move forward with closing Oakridge Elementary, the property should ideally be reimagined as another school.
“I would talk about making sure that our policy statement is, if it’s a school and it is going to be closed, that it continue as a school, whether it be a private or charter school or whatever, because then you don’t have the the secondary wave of what to deal with, in terms of all of the use changes and impacts on the neighborhood,” Keller said.
Keller reiterated that position in his letter to the superintendent, saying that if Oakridge must be closed, the city’s current zoning and land use “supports the continued use of the property as a school.”
“Changes to the zoning and land use would have to be carefully considered after thorough research and review by city staff because altering these uses will forever change the fabric of our neighborhoods,” he wrote.
The Broward County School Board is expected to make a decision on any school closures in June. Residents can also voice their concerns with School Board member Allen Zeman during a community meeting 6 p.m. Thursday at Hollywood City Hall.
Miami Herald reporter Jimena Tavel contributed to this report.
