Dozens of parents, teachers and school staff came together at a Broward County high school to discuss the future of several schools, as the school district looks into closing or reconfiguring at least nine schools. Wednesday’s meeting at Coconut Creek High School was the third in a series of eight meetings that will be held about the county’s schools. The goal of these meetings is simply to get feedback. “Elementary schools are a huge part of the community,” said a woman. “I strongly believe that the elementary schools, elementary in particular, should not close or [be] repurposed into perhaps a high school or a middle school,” said another woman. During the meeting, held in the school cafeteria, participants discussed the future they want to see for Coconut Creek Elementary, Liberty Elementary and Dr. Charles Brown Elementary schools. “What happens in five years from now, when the population here is 80,000 instead of 60,000?” said a man. Participants asked questions and expressed their concerns surrounding the idea of turning Coconut Creek Elementary into a K-8 school. “One of our concerns with that, in the middle school component, is the amount – one, the infrastructure that we have and the amount that goes into making a flourishing middle school,” said a woman. “There’s a lot that goes into those extracurricular activities: the band, the orchestra, the tech programs.” School staff said things like this sort of reconfiguration have been done before. Other changes discussed are potentially redrawing school boundary lines or adding specialty programs like STEM — which stands for science, technology, engineering and math education — or the creation of specialty arts schools. “We could have something in the arts, something like SLAM, and have that mirror something in Broward schools as well,” said a woman. The schools that the district is considering closing due to under enrollment are: Broward Estates Elementary North Folk Elementary Silver Lakes Elementary Silver Shores Elementary Olsen Middle School District officials said keeping these schools open is a financial burden on the district. The changes that could be made would be implemented in the 2025-2026 school year. But parents at Wednesday’s meeting are focused on children having the best elementary school experience in those formative years.. “Elementary school is the foundation or your child. It’s where they have their first friends, it’s where they decide, ‘Hey I like math,’ ‘hey, I love English,'” said a woman. Five more of these feedback meetings will be held. The last one is scheduled for Sept. 30. District officials said they have to close at least five schools in Broward. They will make their decisions by the end of November.