Schools will be available as polling places Aug. 28

Some wanted them to close for security reasons

Supervisors of elections in Broward and Palm Beach counties sought to have schools closed during the Aug. 28 primaries for security reasons at the hundreds of schools used as polling places, but the school districts haven’t gone along with the request.

In Broward County, Elections Supervisor Brenda Snipes said Monday that won’t change.

“For this year, no,” she told the South Florida Sun Sentinel on Monday.

As a result, students will be in classes at the 122 Broward schools used as polling places.

In Palm Beach County, Elections Supervisor Susan Bucher said the School District’s initial answer is no, but she has asked for reconsideration and hopes schools still can be closed on primary day.

Bucher said Palm Beach County has polling places in 187 schools.

Voters will be participating in Democratic and Republican primary 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.

Schools in both counties will be closed for the larger general election, on Nov. 6. The MiamiDade County Public Schools calendar shows its schools will

be open on primary day and closed for the general election.

Bucher said Donald Fennoy, who was hired as Palm Beach County superintendent in May, rejected the request for primary day closing. But she said in an interview Monday, “I’ve talked to some of the School Board members. I don’t know that it’s a closed issue.”

“I’m still working on it. I don’t give up,” she said in an interview Monday.

Schools have generally been closed during highturnout presidential elections.

The county supervisors said they’ve long wanted schools closed for all elections.

“It’s not a new concern,” Bucher said. “We always hear from parents.”

School security has received heightened attention in South Florida, and across the country, since the Feb. 14 massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, where 17 people were killed and 17 injured.

“Considering the climate that we live in now, I would love to have the schools closed to students on primary day,” said Snipes, who was a teacher, principal and school district administrator before becoming county supervisor of elections.

“Because of the climate, parents are so concerned,” she said. “I think Stoneman Douglas heightened peoples’ concerns about safety.”

Neither the Broward nor Palm Beach County school districts responded Monday to requests for comment.

On Monday evening, after appearing at the Broward Republican Party to build support for a school tax increase referendum on the Aug. 28 ballot, schools Superintendent Robert Runcie said the calendar is locked in for the coming school year.

Runcie said primary day school closings should be considered in the future but didn’t say whether he favors or opposes the idea.

“We’re required by state law to have so many instructional days and hours in each semester of the school year, so that’s a day that we can’t really modify at this time,” he said. “It’s probably something that’s worth considering. … That’s not a decision that I think I should obviously sit here and make. I think that’s a decision that requires thoughtful conversation and communication around the county.”

The elections supervisors said they have to use schools as polling places.

Bucher said some neighborhoods don’t have any other buildings that could be used for polling places.

And Snipes said many other facilities that people might think of, such as churches, sometimes don’t have adequate power and technology, and may not be accessible to the disabled. They’re also desirable locations because people in neighborhoods know where the local schools are, Bucher said.

The supervisors said they’d like to see state law changed to require school closings for students on election days.

State Rep. Matt Willhite, D-Wellington, said he’s spoken to Bucher about the issue. After the November election — assuming he’s returned to office — he said he is leaning toward introducing legislation requiring school closures on election days.

Students should not be present when voters — or people claiming to be voters — are coming on campus, Willhite said.

“We’re potentially putting our kids at risk,” he said. “To promote school safety, we should not be bringing the general public on our campuses while kids are there,” he said.