What makes Kiddos Learning Lab especially powerful is not just the services they provide, but the mindset they operate from: every child is teachable, and instruction must adapt to the learner, not the other way around. This belief is reflected in their daily practice, where academic goals, communication, behavior regulation, and functional skills are treated as interconnected, not separate silos.

Public schools often attempt to replicate this level of support through isolated interventions, an occasional consultation, a once-a-week therapy session, or a checklist of accommodations. But Kiddos Learning Lab shows us that true progress happens when supports are embedded, consistent, and reinforced across the day. Students are not pulled away from instruction to “get therapy”; therapy is instruction.

This model also honors collaboration. Teachers, BCBAs, SLPs, OTs, and families work as a unified team, guided by data and shared goals. This level of teamwork should not be a luxury, it should be the norm. When professionals collaborate intentionally, students gain access to learning experiences that are meaningful, functional, and sustainable.

If public schools are serious about improving outcomes for ESE students, the next step is not reinventing the wheel, it is studying, adopting, and scaling proven models like Kiddos Learning Lab. The expertise exists. The framework exists. The lives being changed prove it works.

The question is no longer what should we do?
It is whether we are willing to change the way we’ve always done things for the sake of students who deserve better.

Hello, I am here to support the School Boundary Advisory Council recommendations on Walter C. Young Middle School. We must keep traditional middle schools open and provide options for parents who live east of I-75 in Pembroke Pines. Walter C. Young is an A rated school with deep ties to an A rated high school, Flanagan. We must keep that intact. Walter C. has Falcon Flyers, KextGen Knights, Dual Language… programs other schools don’t have with exceptional teachers and staff. Keep the school open! Thank you!

As a parent at Walter C Young Middle School, I strongly oppose any plan to reconfigure or close WCY. This is an A rated school which has close ties to the local high school. I respectfully ask that the school board members consider and approve the recommendation of the school boundary advisory committee to leave WCY as is (no changes, no closure) with future plans to consolidate with Flanagan High School when the existing lease is coming near its end. WCY is the only middle school in the area with a dual language program. The alternatives (Silver Trail and Pines 6-12) do not have this programming. If WCY is closed, then nearby Lakeside Elementary children in the dual language program there would have nowhere in the area to continue this program. The dual language program is supposed to provide instruction from K-12 with a specialized diploma in biliteracy given at high school graduation. Closing WCY would break this chain and ultimately lead to the downfall of this program. By following the recommendation of the school boundary advisory committee, BCPS would have a few years' time to gradually merge WCY with Flanagan High School. This would ensure the dual language program in Pembroke Pines survives. Closing WCY would also lead to many students leaving BCPS for charter or private schools. Many students live east of I-75 and would be forced to attend Pines 6-12, which is a school with a lower rating (now and historically) than WCY. In fact, there are many students at WCY who school choice from the Pines Middle area for that reason. WCY also outperforms many neighboring middle schools in many ways. Closing a high performing school makes no sense.

In my neighborhood, we currently, we have two A-rated elementary schools (Lakeside and Pembroke Lakes) feeding into an A rated middle school (WCY) feeding into an A rated high school (Flanagan). Please don't mess with success, you will force many of us out of the area and out of BCPS.

I agree with the majority of the committee’s vote NO to repurposing Glades Middle School. We are one of the almost 300 families that chose reassignment for both of our children to Glades Middle School, instead of sending them to their home school: New Renaissance. Unfortunately, if Glades is closed, we will be forced to leave BCPS. I am sure this is a decision that MANY of those reassigned families make also take, adding to further drops in overall enrollment for BCPS. Placing a technical school in the middle of this residential community, adjacent to a high school, is not what the parents or residents want. If you limit the neighboring K-8 options, and highlight the stellar offerings at the current middle schools, then perhaps enrollment may not be such an issue moving forward. We continue to choose Glades because of its location, excellent school grade history (consistent A), their Cambridge program, technology offerings, tenured faculty, and amazing Choir program. Our child is thriving there academically and emotionally! Please do not take away the “choice” that parents of middle schoolers have in the Southwest part of our county.

I am writing in strong opposition of closing Glades Middle School. The board should seriously consider and follow the vote of the committee. Committee vote was 43 members who did not approve of the closing of Glades Middle School, while only 6 were in favor. This significant difference reflects the will of the people and stakeholders within the community. Thank you!

The conversation around ESE reform cannot stop at awareness; it must move toward accountability and action. Federal law is clear: specially designed instruction is not optional, yet in practice it is often reduced to modified worksheets, extended time, or paraprofessional support without meaningful instructional change. That is not access. That is survival mode.

True inclusion does not mean placing ESE students in general education content and hoping differentiation happens. Inclusion means intentional planning, individualized pathways, and instructional strategies driven by data and student need, not convenience or staffing limitations. When lessons are not written with ASD, DD, SLD, or nonverbal learners in mind, those students are effectively excluded, even when physically present.

What makes programs like Kiddos Learning Lab successful is not magic; it is expertise. Staff are trained to understand behavior as communication, to break learning into teachable steps, to embed language opportunities into every moment, and to collaborate across disciplines. This approach should not live exclusively in private settings accessible only to families who can advocate, or afford to leave the system.

Public schools can do better, but only if we stop pretending the current model is enough. We must invest in specialized professional development, interdisciplinary collaboration, and instructional freedom that allows teachers to teach the child, not just follow a script. Real change begins when we ask hard questions and stop accepting practices that merely check boxes.

Our ESE students are capable. The issue has never been their ability, it has always been the system’s unwillingness to evolve.

Redefining our schools has a tremendous impact on our ESE community. The reality is that many of our ESE students are not receiving specially designed instruction as mandated. Too often, instruction follows a one-size-fits-all approach, where students with ASD, DD, SLD, and nonverbal profiles are expected to access the same curriculum and delivery methods as general education, without meaningful adaptation.

This is not a reflection of teachers’ lack of care, but rather a systemic failure in training, resources, and expectations. Many ESE teachers are not adequately trained in evidence-based practices such as ABA-informed instruction, functional communication systems, task analysis, or differentiated lesson design that truly meets diverse learning and communication needs. As a result, students are placed in environments where compliance is emphasized over comprehension, and exposure replaces instruction.

As a parent, I had to seek outside support for my own child at Kiddos Learning Lab in order to finally see what real, intentional instruction looks like—academics embedded with ABA principles, OT, speech and language therapy, and innovative, data-driven programs tailored to the learner. The difference was not subtle; it was life-changing.

So the question is simple but urgent: Why can private clinics and learning labs do what public schools say is “not possible”? The science exists. The models exist. The success stories exist. What’s missing is the willingness to restructure, invest in specialized training, and move beyond outdated systems that were never designed for neurodiverse learners in the first place.

Our students deserve more than access; they deserve instruction that works. Redefining ESE education is no longer optional; it’s a moral and educational responsibility.

Redefining our schools have a tremendous impact in our ESE community. The reality is, that our ESE students are not being instructed following the specially design instruction. Most of the ESE teachers do a “one size fits all instruction” following the regular education curriculum given by the district’s ESE department, which is the same as the general education. The ESE teachers are not trained to write quality lessons for the ASD, DD, SLD, and nonverbal students. I had to take my ASD child to Kiddos Learning Lab to have a “real deal” academics containing ABA, OT, Speech/Language and innovative programs that are offered for them. Why can’t Public Schools follow their lead?

It is extremely disappointing that the district led Autism Charter and the partnership with SFACS are completely absent from these proposed redefining options. The autism parent community has made repeated and urgent requests for these solutions to be included, yet they are not even acknowledged. This exclusion sends a very troubling message about how little parent voices and lived experience are valued in this process.

I also find it deeply disturbing that the only proposal for existing autism programs is to simply rebrand them. Rebranding creates a more positive image on paper, but it does nothing to address the core issues and challenges that families and students are facing every single day in Broward County schools. It feels like an attempt to mask the problem rather than solve it.

What is urgently needed is a commitment to fix operational failures, improve program execution, and develop the skills required to run an effective and supportive cluster program. Instead, what is being offered here are cosmetic changes that dismiss the real work that must be done.

Families deserve better. Our children deserve better. And the district must take accountability for providing real solutions, not surface level adjustments.

I am opposing to this autism school charter school is not being included.
Additional, no programs or plans included to train and certify teachers for special needs students.

If the board has any regard for students with Autism and their families, they will ask district staff to go point by point and explain every item on page 73 of this presentation. Staff should be able to provide their research, numbers, and statistics to back up the information as well as a point of contact and show emails of any outreach they have done to the organizations named on that page. As someone who cares deeply for a student with autism, I find the lack of clarity regarding implementation of any of these ideas alarming. There is no breakdown of costs, clear locations, or any proof of planning. It also omits the most Parent-requested and backed option, which is South Florida autism charter schools. Truly an insult to families of, and students with autism.

Please explain why you haven’t included South Florida autism charter schools as an option in spite of all our hard work, and the clear message that parents want this. It seems you want to forget a big percentage of our student body that would greatly benefit from having this type of model to ensure their overall success

District staff -
Please explain why you haven’t included South Florida autism charter schools as an option in spite of all our hard work, and the clear message that parents want this!!!!! What else do we need to do ????

Hello and good day,
I'm sharing my support on keeping Walter C. Young operational for the future years. The school is an institution of our community, more specifically mid-Pines area, and it delivers A grade teaching and supporting the area Elementary and High Schools. To add, I would like to ask to have the community input when Broward County Public Schools and the city of Pembroke Pines start talking about the contract extension.

Regards.

I am writing in support of the School Boundary Advisory Council recommendations regarding Walter C. Young Middle School. The Council voted NO to closing Walter C. Young and NO to reconfiguring it. I urge the School Board to vote with the Council and keep WCY as is for the upcoming academic year. Our community stands ready to work with the School Board on solutions that are both fiscally sensible and sensitive to the needs of the community. Thank you.

I understand budgets are tight, we all do. As parents, we look at our own bank accounts, and sometimes we see there's not enough. But we make sacrifices for our children. We go without certain things so our children can have what they need to succeed. I urge you to examine your own budget with the same mindset parents use every day what is non-essential, reduce administrative costs, and protect the classrooms we're learning happens. We are all in this together. Closing schools is not the answer, it tears at the heart of our neighborhoods and robs our children of stability. Instead, I urge you to look inward at the budget, to cut administrative excess rather than cutting classrooms. Every dollar taken from bureaucracy and given to teachers, resources, and programs is an investment in our children's future. Their education must come before the bottom line. I write to you not just as a parent, but as someone who believes deeply that our children's education is the foundation of our community's future.

**SUNSHINE ELEMENTARY COMBINING WITH FAIRWAY ELEMENTARY SCHOOL**
I see in the proposal presentation that the impact on distance to school is noted, but I would also like to strongly emphasize a major safety concern, Sunshine students would be required to cross Miramar Parkway, which is a very busy road, and there is no consistent sidewalk leading to Fairway Elementary. Because of this, I am asking that the Board ensure bus transportation is provided for Sunshine students who will be reassigned to Fairway.

I also have concerns about combining Sunshine students with a lower-grade school. I respectfully request that the Board consider maintaining the Sunshine Elementary leadership team. Principal Dorsett and Assistant Principal Coleman have built a supportive, effective, and academically focused school culture. Their leadership is the primary reason many families, including mine, deeply value Sunshine Elementary.