Forest Glen Middle School has a problem that isn't immediately obvious from its academic achievements.

The Coral Springs school promotes its A rating, advanced coursework and student programs. Yet its enrollment has fallen far below the number of students the campus was built to accommodate.

For Broward County Public Schools, that makes Forest Glen a candidate for restructuring. For families who want to preserve the school, it raises a different question: What if the answer isn't closing the campus, but giving more students a reason to attend?

That question is behind a proposal to establish a music and performing arts academy at Forest Glen.

The idea has support from School Board member Lori Alhadeff and offers an alternative to relocating students. But the district's October 6 workshop materials reveal an important distinction: School officials have estimated the financial savings from their original restructuring plan, while the proposed academy has yet to demonstrate how much it would cost or how many additional students it could attract.

With major decisions approaching, the future of Forest Glen may depend on whether those unanswered questions can be resolved.

A School With More Seats Than Students

Forest Glen is operating at approximately 45.6% of its permanent student capacity, according to figures presented during the district's October 6 workshop.

The enrollment problem has developed over several years. District figures show enrollment falling from 1,386 students in the 2017–18 school year to 733 at the tenth-day count for 2026–27.

But another set of numbers helps explain why some residents believe the school still has room to grow.

According to the district's attendance-boundary figures, 1,295 students live within Forest Glen's assigned area. Of those, 576 attend Forest Glen, while 511 attend charter schools and another 208 attend other Broward public schools.

In other words, hundreds of students living in the school's attendance area are already attending somewhere else.

For supporters of a specialty academy, that represents a potential opportunity. It isn't, however, an enrollment forecast.

Families choose schools for many reasons, and a performing arts program would not automatically persuade students to return. The question is how many families would find the proposed academy attractive enough to change their decisions.

That distinction could determine whether the idea is financially sustainable.

What Would Happen Under the District's Original Plan?

The district's original proposal would repurpose Forest Glen and reorganize grades at several nearby schools.

Coral Park, Forest Hills, James S. Hunt and Park Springs elementary schools would expand to include sixth grade. Coral Springs High School would serve students in grades seven through twelve.

The proposal would effectively eliminate Forest Glen as a traditional middle-school destination, redistributing students among other campuses.

The district estimates that this approach would produce approximately $1.458 million in annual savings before transportation costs.

After an estimated $255,000 transportation impact, the projected annual net benefit is about $1.203 million.

Those are district estimates, not money already saved. They also apply to the original restructuring proposal, not necessarily to every alternative being discussed.

Still, they establish a financial benchmark. Any proposal to preserve Forest Glen must be considered against the district's stated objective of reducing costs while responding to declining enrollment.

There Is More Than One Consolidation Option

Families are not necessarily facing a simple choice between keeping Forest Glen open and sending seventh- and eighth-graders to a high school campus.

Another alternative discussed during the October 6 workshop would distribute Forest Glen students among three existing middle schools: Coral Springs Middle, Ramblewood Middle and Lyons Creek Middle.

That would preserve a more conventional middle-school grade arrangement for affected students, although it would still mean leaving Forest Glen.

The publicly discussed alternatives raise different questions about transportation, school capacity, academic programs and the experience of students adjusting to new campuses.

The district has provided a financial estimate for its original grade-reconfiguration proposal. A directly comparable cost-and-savings figure for the three-middle-school alternative was not established in the materials reviewed for this article.

That matters because the least disruptive option for one family may not be the least expensive or most practical option for the district.

Could an Arts Academy Change the Equation?

The performing arts proposal takes a different approach. Instead of dispersing Forest Glen's students, it would attempt to attract more of them.

Alhadeff has supported creating a music and performing arts academy and allowing the school a period of approximately three years to demonstrate enrollment growth.

The concept has an understandable appeal. A specialized program could give Forest Glen a distinctive identity, build on its existing music offerings and potentially attract students who currently attend charter schools or other district campuses.

Forest Glen already has educational assets that supporters want the district to recognize. Its school website highlights an A rating, Cambridge and advanced coursework, and student activities.

But an appealing idea and a workable operating plan are different things.

The October workshop materials identify the arts academy as a community proposal. They do not establish a completed implementation budget or a reliable projection of how many students it would attract.

How many additional students would the academy need to enroll to make the campus financially viable? Would the program require new teachers, specialized facilities or equipment? Would students from outside the attendance boundary need additional transportation?

Would the academy draw new students into district schools or primarily shift students from other Broward campuses? What measurable results would justify continuing the program after a three-year trial?

The answers would determine whether the proposal could genuinely reverse Forest Glen's enrollment decline or merely delay a difficult decision.

What Families Stand to Lose or Gain

Enrollment and financial calculations explain why Forest Glen is under review. They don't fully describe what a school means to the families who attend it.

In correspondence submitted through the School Board's public meeting process, parents and other residents have described positive experiences with Forest Glen's teachers, Cambridge program and school community.

Some have expressed particular concern about placing younger middle-school students on a high school campus.

Those concerns are relevant to the district's decision, even though they do not by themselves establish which restructuring option is best.

The school's academic progress also complicates the conversation. Forest Glen's own website celebrates earning an A rating for the first time in 14 years. Supporters argue that this progress deserves an opportunity to continue.

Yet strong academic performance and low enrollment can exist at the same time.

That is the dilemma facing the district: A school can be delivering a positive experience for its students while still operating with far more capacity than its enrollment requires.

Another Unanswered Question: The Property

The future of Forest Glen's campus may also involve a legal question.

During the October 6 workshop, board members raised concerns about possible deed restrictions or restrictive covenants affecting the property. Superintendent Howard Hepburn indicated that district officials would investigate.

The available information does not establish whether those restrictions would prevent a particular use of the property or materially affect the restructuring options.

Until the district clarifies the issue, it remains another uncertainty rather than a reason to assume one proposal cannot proceed.

The Next Decision Could Be the Most Important

The School Board is scheduled to revisit the restructuring proposals at a November 4 workshop. The superintendent's final recommendations are expected November 5, ahead of a final board vote scheduled for December 15.

Those dates give the performing arts proposal a limited window to move from an appealing concept toward a plan that can be evaluated alongside the district's other options.

The central question is not simply whether Forest Glen should remain open.

It's whether a new program could attract enough students to justify preserving the school, what that would cost, and how the educational benefits compare with the alternatives.

The district has already calculated what it expects to save by restructuring Forest Glen.

What remains to be established is whether investing in a different future for the school could change those numbers enough to make keeping it open a realistic choice.

For families waiting to learn where their children will attend school, that answer matters more than the promise of an academy alone.

What do you think? Would a performing arts academy give Forest Glen Middle School a stronger future, or do you think another option would better serve local families?

We'd like to hear your perspective.

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This story is part of The Bright Side, which is an ongoing series from Coral Springs Insider that highlights positive developments and community moments around Coral Springs.

Editor's note: This piece was selected and adapted for Coral Springs Insider to provide local context and perspective on an issue relevant to our community.