Fort Lauderdale Proposes Repurposing Closed Schools as Cemeteries amid Burial Space Shortage; Josh Gad’s Parents Sue Over Sold Grave Site at Jewish Cemetery

FILE – Headstones in a rural cemetery.
Amid concerns over a lack of burial spaces, some officials in Fort Lauderdale have proposed an unconventional solution to the problem: repurposing closed schools as new cemeteries by 2025. The idea was raised during a commission conference on April 16 by Mike Watson, who represents District 1 on the city’s Cemetery System Board of Trustees.
Watson urged his fellow officials to be aware of this need and suggested that closed schools could potentially accommodate more burial grounds as Fort Lauderdale currently operates four municipal cemeteries, including Evergreen Cemetery – a historic site – and Lauderdale Memorial Park Cemetery, which is known for hosting one of the city’s largest annual memorial events.
The issue was first raised during a meeting on March 14 when the board voted in favour (4-1) requesting that commissioners consider turning closed schools into new cemeteries to address space shortages. The proposal has sparked controversy, with some expressing concerns about repurposing former school buildings for burial grounds.
Meanwhile, parents of actor Josh Gad have filed a lawsuit against Eternal Light Memorial Gardens in South Florida over allegations that the cemetery sold their designated grave site to another party despite promises it would be reserved solely for them and their Hebrew faith-aligned relatives. The Schwartz couple had planned to join Susan’s parents, Holocaust survivors Evelyn Greenblat and Joseph Greenblat, who are already interred in adjacent spaces at the cemetery – formerly described as a ‘premier all-Jewish burial site’.
The lawsuit claims that Eternal Light Memorial Gardens sold Stanton Schwartz’s plot to another party without their knowledge or consent. The family only learned of this breach through third parties, and despite requests for the unauthorised remains to be removed from the designated space, they have not been rectified – causing significant distress among affected individuals involved in this matter.