The Future... Under Construction
Our District continues to grow by leaps and bounds. Leading the way in academic achievement and in delivering new schools, classroom additions and renovations. While students were out of school enjoying the summer break, Facilities and Construction Management teams worked to deliver promises...on time and within budget.

A five-year long-range plan approved by the School Board provides $2.9 billion in estimated capital revenues for 18 new schools, three centers and 148 classroom addition projects to increase the District’s capacity and meet projected demographic growth and class size reduction amendment requirements. This ambitious construction plan also includes 17 replacement schools, and numerous remodeling, renovation and indoor air quality projects throughout the District.

The plan, however, is not all bricks and mortar. It also includes big-ticket items, such as land acquisition and development, technology and even school buses. The overall plan is geared to catch up with past growth and reduce class sizes to comply with the voter-approved constitutional amendment.

Following a short summer break, students returned to find that more than 400 new classrooms had been added since the end of last school year. These include a newly finished campus for Coral Cove Elementary School students in Miramar, with 1,115 new student stations and a brand new Dave Thomas Educational Center West Campus in Coconut Creek. This new school offers alternative programs for students who were unsuccessful in traditional middle and high school programs. The center opened to a projected enrollment of 455.

Two new schools opened this school year at temporary portable sites - Dolphin Bay Elementary at Silver Trails Middle School and Gulfstream Middle at Hallandale Adult and Community Center. These schools will break ground later this year for new campus facilities. Dolphin Bay Elementary School, which brings relief to overcrowding at Coconut Palm, Silver Lakes, Silver Shores and Sunset Lakes Elementary Schools, will be built in Miramar. Gulfstream Middle School opens to sixth-grade students at a portable location, while a permanent home is built at the site of the former Hallandale Elementary School.

Despite a challenging rainy season and sweltering summer temperatures, construction and maintenance crews were able to finish and furnish numerous new classroom addition projects throughout the District. The completion of a three-story addition at Cypress Bay High School provides 36 new classrooms and housing for 10th-graders who spent last year at an off site annex campus. With the new 47,000-square foot addition, comes four technology labs, each with 15 laptops. A three-story addition at McArthur High School provides 52 classrooms. Students at Coral Glades High are also enjoying a new three-story 36-classroom building, while Fort Lauderdale High School students have two new buildings to navigate, which provide housing for the new media center and space for music, band, art, technology, public service, diversified education and a home economics lab. Other additions include Coral Springs Middle School, with 40 new classrooms and Indian Ridge Middle School with 18 new classrooms.

Ft. Lauderdale High School, 1910 Image courtesy of The Broward County Historical Commission

Four classrooms were added at Plantation Park Elementary School to comply with the first grade class size reduction requirement. New parking lots have been asphalted and paved at Tedder Elementary and South Plantation High. Also at Tedder is a new kitchen, dining and multipurpose area replacement facility.

North Andrews Gardens Elementary School continues to be a work in progress, with final phase construction well underway to complete the new campus replacement project. Construction teams are also hard at work completing six expansion projects on various campuses that are slated for a January opening.

The District is the county’s largest employer, and with its extensive and aggressive construction program, it is also the area’s largest developer. As a way to keep up with the booming population and with the District’s growth, construction projects remain constant. The District continues to look forward to expansion projects and major upgrades to make the learning environment at all schools comfortable and favorable for all Broward students.