Don’t shoot the messenger, kids, but the first day of school in Broward County is coming up fast.
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Aug. 10 is opening day for Broward County Public Schools, and the superintendent is excited about it.
Education on Six reporter Ari Odzer had a long conversation with Superintendent Howard Hepburn on Friday, and here’s part of their conversation.
“Coming into this school year, I want parents to know that excellence is the standard for Broward County Public Schools. Why? Because we’re coming off of a third year being ranked an A-rated school district, no D or F schools for the third time in a row, 87% of our schools are ranked A and B, so proud of what our teachers and principals are doing,” Hepburn said.
The low enrollment, the falling enrollment has been a constant challenge over the past few years, so where do we see that going now in this upcoming school year?
“So we are projected to decline another 9,000 students. We are monitoring this TPS situation, which over the summer has been a concern for us; we’re monitoring that in the beginning of the school year, so as a result we’ve had to right-size facilities, right-size staff to really align with our enrollment realities, inherently aligning with our budget realities, too,” Hepburn replied. “But I am worried that students who are impacted by TPS may not come to school so I want to let those families know it’s important for them to come to school, it is an opportunity for students to get a great quality education to change their trajectory, many of those families come to our country to have a better life not just for themselves, but especially for their kids.”
Those families are worried that ICE is gonna show up at schools and take their kids away. What do you tell them?
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“ICE, we don’t allow ICE or any law enforcement agency in our schools unless there is a court order; you just can’t pop into our schools,” said Hepburn.
Do you foresee more closures?
“I do foresee more closures. We have 50,000 open seats; in order to really be great stewards of taxpayer dollars, we can’t have all these open seats; we need to consolidate,” he replied, adding that the school board will discuss more school closures and repurposing on Aug. 25.
In the meantime, Hepburn says bring on the competition for students.
“I implore parents to check us out; you will be surprised, we are offering things that you will never find in a charter school or private school,” said Hepburn, citing courses such as aviation and aerospace, maritime industries, and more IB and AP classes.
He also reminded us that the district needs to hire more school bus drivers. They lost 30 drivers because of the TPS situation for Haitians.
Also, drivers beware: Broward school buses will be equipped with cameras this year, and if someone drives around one of the stop signs that flip out from the side of the bus, a citation will arrive in the mail.
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