SOUTHWEST MIAMI-DADE, FLA. (WSVN) - Miami-Dade County Public Schools’ newest superintendent got a crash course in his first week on the job as he faced one of the district’s biggest challenges but also got the chance to highlight one of its latest investments.
Rafael Villalobos appeared at Booker T. Washington Senior High School in Northwest Miami-Dade to present the school with a $100,000 check toward its SpaceHUB program.
“It is always great to be back home at Booker T. Washington Senior High School,” he said.
The superintendent joined state and district leaders at the event to support the school’s program. SpaceHUB is a STEM and workforce development program designed to prepare students for careers in technology.
“This new frontier, this SpaceHUB frontier. It’s here!” said Villalobos.
While students and staff at Booker T. Washington are celebrating the investment boost, the talk across town is the superintendent’s decision to pause the process of examining potential closures and consolidations for over two dozen schools.
Last month, the district’s Attendance Boundary Committee released a document highlighting 12 schools that are being “reassessed” and 15 that are “under review.”
But on Wednesday, Villalobos sent a district-wide letter to parents announcing he was stopping that process to examine the issue properly.
“We are here for every child, and we wanna make sure that every child receives what they deserve,” he said. “You’re looking at under-enrolled schools, so utilization. So if you are below 50%, that’s one of the markers. When you look at factors that are creating programmatic impact to students, so if students don’t have a [physical education], art, [or] music teacher every day. There are programmatic impacts that we want to make sure students receive: that quality education that Miami-Dade offers.”
Antonio White, president of the United Teachers of Dade, called the superintendent’s decision to pause the process hopeful, saying it allows the district to make improvements.
“This also gives us an opportunity to redo some of our older facilities. We have very old facilities here that we haven’t been able to take care of properly for many, many years, so we can consolidate our resources, we can provide more things to the children,” said White.
Thursday, family members of students at Kendale Lakes Elementary, a school on the reassessment list, said they were worried about the possible changes but also saw an opportunity for improvement.
“I agree. One hundred percent, I agree. I feel like maybe bringing a little bit more into the school can bring more kids in,” said Caydi Andino, sister of a student.
The list of schools being reassessed and under review is below:
Reassessed
- Brentwood Elementary
- Carol City Middle
- Golden Glades Elementary
- Lake Stevens Elementary
- Myrtle Grove Elementary
- Lorah Park Elementary
- Paul L. Dunbar K-8 Center
- Center for International Education (CIE)
- Greenglade Elementary
- Hammocks Middle
- Kendale Lakes Elementary
- Village Green Elementary
Under review
- Natural Bridge Elementary
- North County K-8 Center
- North Dade Middle
- Emerson Elementary
- Lillie C Evans K-8 Center
- Ludlam Elementary
- Kelsey L. Pharr Elementary
- Orchard Villa Elementary
- Gloria Floyd Elementary
- Lamar Louise Curry Middle
- Marjory Stoneman Douglas Elementary
- Olympia Heights
- Riviera Middle
- Tropical Elementary
- South Miami Heights Elementary
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