Public pleads with Brevard school board to keep Cape View open

At Brevard's final school board meeting of 2025, parents and community members once again brought forth concerns about the potential closure of Cape View Elementary School , Cape Canaveral's only public elementary school.

It's been a topic of conversation for a couple of months now. While the topic of consolidating Cape View with Roosevelt Elementary School in Cocoa Beach due to declining enrollment and an aging population was initially broached at a spring work session, it didn't gain traction among the public until October, when parents, teachers, students and other concerned citizens began to rally against the school's closure . Since then, they've spoken at every board meeting and met at a special city council meeting in Cape Canaveral, where the city council approved a resolution asking Brevard's school board to keep the school open and to work with the city on improving enrollment .

Still, there has been little feedback from the board indicating that the school will not be closed.

"We have been pouring resources into this school," board member Katye Campbell said at the Dec. 9 school board meeting, adding that the district is spending about twice as much per student at Cape View as compared to how much they're spending at other schools. "What we have been doing over the last many years is serving these few (students), and I think the work that they've done has been just totally commendable and I appreciate that."

Ultimately, the board moved forward with scheduling a public hearing for the next meeting on Jan. 20, 2026. At that time, they'll vote on whether to close the school.

Public offers personal experiences, potential solutions

During the agenda-related portion of public comment, all 11 speakers addressed concerns about Cape View, with everyone speaking in favor of keeping it open or urging the board to consider how families would be impacted by its closure.

Eli, a third grader at the school, said he and his classmates love the teachers. They don't want the school to close, he said.

"I've been here for five years, and every year, I've seen how much better it's gotten," he said. "It's an A-rated school, and it does not deserve to get shut down."

Mike Mongo, a teacher and single father, asked the board not to do "what is convenient" by consolidating Cape View.

"We may lose the school, but we will not do so quietly," he said. "All the world gets to know how some of us stood up and called forth those who, while elected to serve us all, instead elected to serve a few."

Others suggested options to help the school's enrollment, with Gina Derenge asking if the board had considered partnering with Brevard Zoo to turn Cape View into a STEM academy with the aquarium nearby.

"Let's not be too quick to close a school, and look at our options for having an outstanding STEM program with the aquarium," she said.

Bernard Bryan said pushing for better marketing of the pre-kindergarten programs at both Cape View and Roosevelt could help increase enrollment.

"I think this is an opportunity for Cape View," he said. "I look at this as an opportunity."

In the end, the board made little comment about how they would be moving forward, though Campbell reemphasized that enrollment has long been an issue at Cape View.

"(What) we've actually been doing over the last many years is serving the few and sometimes to the detriment of the many," she said, adding that even if every student within the school's attendance boundary were to go to Cape View rather than a charter, the school would still be under-enrolled.

Board member Gene Trent of District 2, where Cape View is located, thanked families for coming out and sharing their positive experiences with the school. But, he said, an easy solution to fixing enrollment issues at Cape View and Roosevelt doesn't exist.

"Nobody's targeting schools because of their letter grade, we're not picking on other schools because their grades are lower, it's just a circumstance," Trent said. "Solutions matter, and like Ms. Campbell had said, it isn't so much the need for more programs or more advertising ... or whatever, we just don't have students in either one of those communities."

Finch Walker is the education reporter at FLORIDA TODAY. Contact Walker at  fwalker@floridatoday.com . X:  @_finchwalker . Instagram:  @finchwalker_ .

This article originally appeared on Florida Today: Public continues pleas to Brevard school board not to close Cape View