Cooper City Will Get a New School: Broward School Board Members Approved a Contract to Buy Land for a New Elementary School in Cooper City on Tuesday

By Hannah Sampson, The Miami Herald

Jun. 7–The Broward School Board made it official Tuesday: Cooper City will get a new elementary school within the next couple of years.

Board members approved a nearly $7.8 million contract to buy more than 13 acres for what is currently known as Elementary School F-3. The school, near the intersection of Sheridan Street and Palm Avenue, will relieve crowding at Cooper City Elementary.

“It’s very important because Cooper City Elementary is overcrowded and landlocked,” said Cooper City Commissioner Linda Ferrara. “They have no room for expansion whatsoever.”

Construction is set to begin in the upcoming school year, on a new school with room for 833 students.

Deputy Superintendent Mike Garretson, who oversees construction for the district, said he expects building to be completed in two years.

Also Tuesday, board members approved the purchase of 10 new portable classrooms to house students at Coconut Creek High who had been enrolled at North Lauderdale Academy High School.

The city-run charter school, with 480 students, closed down at the end of the academic year after struggling with financial problems and declining enrollment. After receiving F grades from the state in 2003 and 2004it came close to closing; state officials gave it another chance after Broward Schools Superintendent Frank Till intervened.

North Lauderdale Academy High managed a C grade last year, but city officials said it was impossible to keep the school afloat financially. It was about $3 million in debt.

Garretson said 100 students will move to Boyd Anderson, 200 to Coconut Creek and the rest will be scattered around the county.

“Boyd Anderson actually has some capacity,” Till said. “Coconut Creek does not.”

The cost of buying, delivering and installing the portables — and adapting the site — is just over $1.1 million, for which the district will tap reserves because the money isn’t in its building budget.

“That’s why two years ago, I fought hard to keep the [charter] school open,” Till said. “Because I knew this was going to happen.”

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Copyright (c) 2006, The Miami Herald

Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.

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