A Broward schools boundary panel voted 12-1 to move Walter C. Young Middle's students to Flanagan High as a 6-12 school. The School Board takes it up Wednesday.
A Broward County Public Schools advisory panel has backed closing Walter C. Young Middle as a separate school and moving its students to Charles W. Flanagan High, which would become a 6-12 school. The School Boundary Advisory Committee voted 12-1 for the change on Oct. 26.
The vote is on the district’s Oct. 26 vote tally (PDF). It is a recommendation, not a decision. The School Board holds its fourth Redefining Our Schools workshop Wednesday, and the board’s final vote is set for Dec. 15, according to the district’s Redefining Our Schools timeline.
What happens next
The district’s timeline lists these steps:
- Wednesday, Nov. 4: School Board workshop on community input, the boundary committee’s recommendations and the final list of schools with proposed changes
- Thursday, Nov. 5: the superintendent’s final recommendations memo
- Monday, Nov. 9: the 2027-28 School Choice application window opens
- Tuesday, Dec. 15: School Board rulemaking meeting and final vote
- Wednesday, Dec. 16: notification to affected families and staff
- Friday, Jan. 15, 2027: the School Choice application window closes
Transition planning for the 2027-28 school year would start in January 2027, the timeline says.
Why Walter C. Young is on the list
Both schools are in Pembroke Pines and both earned an A in Florida’s 2026 school grades. The middle school is far below its capacity. The figures come from the committee’s data package (PDF).
| Walter C. Young Middle | Charles W. Flanagan High | |
|---|---|---|
| Enrollment, 2026-27 | 538 | 1,835 |
| Permanent capacity | 1,319 | 2,775 |
| Share of seats in use | 40.8% | 66.1% |
| Empty seats | 781 | 940 |
| Change from 2025-26 | down 113 | down 297 |
| Change from 2024-25 to 2025-26 | down 152 | down 378 |
| Students living in the zone | 757 | 2,705 |
| Zone students who attend | 320 (42.3%) | 1,356 (50.1%) |
| Zone students at a charter school | 367 (48.5%) | 871 (32.2%) |
Part of the latest drop at Walter C. Young follows an earlier change. The School Board voted Jan. 21 to move the part of its zone west of Interstate 75 to Silver Trail Middle from 2026-27, according to the district’s May 12 update (PDF).
The district’s analysis says the move would shift 320 in-zone students in grades 6 to 8 to Flanagan. That would put Flanagan at 77.7% of its capacity.
What the district says changes for students
The district’s analysis of the proposal says:
- Walter C. Young already sends all of its students to Flanagan for high school, so the move “does not impact diversity.”
- It “does not split any neighborhoods” and “does not significantly impact travel distance.”
- Walter C. Young has 22 students in self-contained exceptional student education classes. Of those, 11 come from outside its zone and “can be shifted to programs at their home boundary schools,” the district said.
Flanagan has 50 students in self-contained exceptional student education classes, according to the committee’s data addendum (PDF).
Two elementary schools feed Walter C. Young today. Under the proposal, their students would go on to Flanagan as a 6-12 school instead:
- Pembroke Lakes Elementary: 699 students, all of them in this feeder pattern
- Lakeside Elementary: 601 of its 1,047 students. The other 446 feed Pines 6-12, which does not change.
The option the panel did not vote on
The district’s Oct. 6 workshop presentation (PDF) listed two options for Walter C. Young. One was to move the students to Pines Collegiate Academy 6-12 and Silver Trail Middle. The other was the Flanagan 6-12 plan. The committee’s tally lists only the Flanagan plan.
Community feedback summarized in the Oct. 6 presentation asked that students move as one unit, that the dual language pathway be kept and that special education students not be displaced. The presentation also notes the district’s 50-year land lease with the City of Pembroke Pines for the Walter C. Young site. Neither document says what would happen to the building.
Nearby: Miramar schools
The same committee voted on a plan for four schools in Miramar, about three miles south. It voted 1-12 against making Sunset Lakes Elementary a K-8 school. It then voted 9-4 for an alternate plan:
- Dolphin Bay Elementary and Silver Lakes Elementary students move to Glades, which becomes a K-8 school
- Sunset Lakes Elementary stays K-5
What it means for you
- Nothing changes this school year. Any change would apply from 2027-28, after the Dec. 15 vote.
- Families at Walter C. Young, Pembroke Lakes and Lakeside can watch Wednesday’s workshop and read the superintendent’s memo when the district posts it on its Redefining Our Schools page.
- School Choice opens Nov. 9. Families who want to apply to another school for 2027-28 have until Jan. 15, 2027.
- Zones, grades and calendars for both schools are on our Walter C. Young Middle and Charles W. Flanagan High pages, and every Pembroke Pines school is on our public schools guide.
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