PBC schools to close for August elections after all

Palm Beach County schools, home to 187 voting sites, are set to close for the Aug. 28 primary elections, a turnabout from a previous announcement that they will remain open.

The School Board is scheduled to vote Wednesday on whether to make Aug. 28 a day students stay home but teachers attend school for professional development.

Elections supervisors in Palm Beach and Broward counties had asked the school districts to close their campuses to students on Aug. 28 for security reasons. Both districts initially said they would stay open. Broward schools have not announced any changes.

Justin Katz, president of Palm Beach County’s teachers’ union, said teachers support the closing.

“Allowing a thousand people on a school campus throughout the day, given security concerns, would be too huge a risk,” he said. “The ease of voting is important, too. Voters want to know they can get in and out and not worry about parent pick-up and drop-off. Hopefully this will lead to an increase in voter turnout.”

Schools in both districts will be closed on Election

Day, Nov. 6.

Voters will be participating in Democratic and Republican primaries for governor and many other offices on Aug. 28. On the same day, nonpartisan elections open to all voters will pick school board members and judges.

The Miami-Dade County Public Schools calendar shows its schools will be open on primary day and closed for the general election.