NORTH LAUDERDALE, FLA. (WSVN) - Thousands of Broward County students returned to classrooms Monday, marking the official start of the 2025-2026 academic year.
Summer is over and so are students and bus drivers’ days of sleeping in.
7News cameras captured drivers arriving at one of the district’s bus depots in Oakland Park around 5 a.m. Monday, where they conducted their safety checks ahead of rolling out the driveway to start their routes and begin picking up children.
First day drop-offs were a bitter sweat moment for parents.
“He’s very excited to come, more excited than I was. It was very hard,” said a mother.
The district is ready to welcome close to 250,000 students and the theme for this academic year is embracing technology.
“We are the first K-12 district in the nation, and not just in the nation but in the world that has adopted Microsoft 365 Copilot; an Artificial Intelligence tool in the Microsoft Suite that’s going to assist us to become more efficient and effective across the board,” said Dr. Howard Hepburn, Superintendent of Broward County Schools.
Hepburn expressed his excitement for the new school year, noting the enthusiasm of the student.
“The smiles on their faces, the new shoes, the new hairdos, the new haircuts, you guys know how the first day is, and teamwork makes the dream work,” said Hepburn.
The superintendent kicked off the new school year at Coconut Creek High School, serving up breakfast and informing students of the new changes.
“We want to welcome all of our students, I know they are excited, just as I am, to start off this beautiful new school year,” said Hepburn. “We’ve also embraced AI so students should see and feel things going on differently inside of our classrooms, inside of our schools.”
Dr. Hepburn made a few stops throughout the morning, including the ribbon cutting of Martin Luther King Jr Elementary school in Fort Lauderdale’s new Media Center.
“Look at the media center. Look at the smile on their faces. Look at the students immersed in their books and technology, so we have a great start to this school year,” said Hepburn. “Welcome all our students, I know they’re excited just as I am to start this beautiful new year.”
He also toured the New Verizon Innovative Learning Lab at New Renaissance Middle School in Pembroke Pines, which provides training in technology to transform student lives and revolutionize learning.
Hepburn also touted the new cellphone ban in Broward. Phones must be off or on airplane mode bell-to-bell.
“Students please remember to shut it off or put it in airplane mode when you’re entering campus,” said Hepburn.
Security is a top priority as new crisis-alert badges go into effect on top of the additional measures of metal detectors that were added to campuses last year.
“Everybody has a crisis-alert badge, if there’s an emergency on campus they can just click that badge multiple times to get a quick response from their administration and also local law enforcement if there’s any school threats,” said Hepburn. “Our students know the routine now, they know what they need to do before they come on campus. It’s been a great implementation last year. Our students said they feel safer, our staff said they feel safer.”
Despite their “A” rating, the district is still dealing with a steady decline in enrollment as they’re expecting roughly 8,800 less students this year as many families are choosing charter schools or vouchers for private or home schools.
To address the decline, the district converted the campuses below to K-8 schools, all of which will focus on subjects like math, engineering, aviation, robotics and culinary arts.
- Coconut Creek K-8 Academy of Excellence
- Coral Cove Academy of the Arts K-8
- Hollywood Central Preparatory K-8
- Silver Shores STEM Academy
For parents like Amanda George, the change is welcomed.
“It feels like a family here. We didn’t want to leave and now they get to continue through middle school years which is a tough transition, usually,” said George. “It feels like home, we are happy to be back.”
This year, all students will continue to receive free breakfast despite cuts in funding. However, students will have to fill out a form to ensure they secure their free and reduced prices lunches.
Despite the changes, students express their excitement for returning to school.
“A lot of work, but mostly it was fun making new friends,” said a student.
Students enrolled in Catholic schools will return to campus on Tuesday, while Miami-Dade County students will return on Thursday.
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