Coral Springs City Commission on March 15, 2023.
By Bryan Boggiano
Parkland Mayor Rich Walker recently met with the Coral Springs city commission to discuss the contentious Marjory Stoneman Douglas (MSD) rezoning process, which has caused divisions between the two cities.
The school board’s preliminary approval of a plan to reassign 351 students from MSD to Coral Glades High School to address overcrowding has faced criticism for disproportionately impacting Black and Latino students living in Coral Springs.
Walker stated that the rezoning issue has persisted since 2016, when the school board voted against rezoning plans. Over time, MSD’s overcrowding worsened, while some Coral Springs schools experienced under-enrollment.
He claimed MSD’s over-enrollment led to a funding surplus of nearly $5 million, while schools like Coral Glades and J.P. Taravella High School received fewer resources from the county.
“These are issues that the school board did not address many, many years ago,” Walker said, adding that the divisions between the cities resulting from the rezoning process are wrong. “I can feel the tension, I can feel the animosity, and that’s not something I’m okay with.”
Commissioner Joy Carter expressed concerns about the school board cherry-picking schools to rezone, turning the issue into a matter of affluent versus less affluent communities. She also argued that changing middle-school feeder patterns immediately after COVID could be harmful to students and families struggling with mental health.
Vice Mayor Shawn Cerra disagreed with Walker’s assessment of MSD’s funding, stating much of the additional funds came in response to the 2018 massacre. He said the argument that MSD is unsafe due to over-enrollment is wrong: “Out of the 241 schools in Broward County, Marjory Stoneman Douglas is the safest.”
Cerra endorsed delaying the MSD rezoning by one year, allowing Coral Glades and other schools to prepare for additional students. He emphasized the need for the school board to analyze the rezoning process regionally and consider its demographic impacts. However, he took issue with Walker discussing the matter with the school board, as it pertains to Coral Springs rather than Parkland.
Commissioner Joshua Simmons criticized Walker for advocating for rezoning without discussing it with Coral Springs. Simmons said this undermined Coral Springs residents’ trust in the city commission’s abilities: “The time for us to be collaborative was last year…I am disgusted by this entire process.”
Simmons also criticized the school board for hastily moving forward with the MSD rezoning and School Board Chair Lori Alhadeff for allegedly ignoring communication attempts.
Mayor Scott Brook acknowledged mistakes made in the MSD rezoning process and stressed the need for collaboration between the cities and the school board. He admitted a rift had formed but maintained that it was unintentional.
All five Coral Springs elected officials expressed support for delaying the MSD rezoning by one year. The first hearing for the MSD rezoning will be held on March 29 at the Coral Springs High School auditorium, followed by a second hearing on April 12 at J.P. Taravella High School.
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- Bryan has a degree in journalism from the University of Florida and earned his masters in geosciences from Florida International University, where he focused in atmospheric sciences. His interests include weather, entertainment, and municipal government.
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3 comments
I moved to Coral Springs in 1997 and put my young children in great schools. Now CS is just like the rest of the county. If I were moving in again it would be Parkland or Weston.
We ( C.S. residents ) need to file a class action suit against the Broward School board, city of Parkland and Coral Springs, for the injustice related to : 1) Changing MSD rated A scored school to Coral Glades HS rated C score!!!!!!!!!!!!!! IF this injustice transpires.
2) The proposed affected rezoning areas of Coral Springs home Values will depreciate drastically because of this decreased school grading ( scoring system ).
3) Changing and ignoring the family educational lifestyle of the longer established Coral Springs tax paying residents.
4) Ignoring the diversity of our students in a already fragmented world of getting along with one another!
Richard Masters, Coral Springs, FL.
Totally agree. We have it on record that BCSB went against their own Policy 5000. They voted to go ahead with the dreadful H1 despite procedural errors.