On the first day of the new job, Miami-Dade County Schools Superintendent Rafael Villalobos pauses the process examining potential closures and consolidations for more than two dozen schools.
Last week, the district’s Attendance Boundary Committee released a document naming 12 schools that are being “reassessed” and 15 that are “under review.” The document didn’t mention closures, but with the closure of nine schools this school year and a drop of another 19,000 fewer students districtwide, the list could foreshadow that potential move.
The community outreach for the process was to begin this month and the next committee meetings were scheduled for October. The move suspends that timeline effective immediately.
" I'd like to be given that opportunity to put a pause and then we can come back second week of October and still finish by December," Villalobos said on Wednesday at the School Board Committee meeting, "so that way we don't miss a beat, but that we have a better, clear understanding and roadmap making sure that we're all on the same page."
READ MORE: Miami-Dade County School Board to review future of 27 schools amid sharp enrollment decline
The new superintendent of the third largest school district nationwide wants to review the options himself with his staff, he said.
School board members said the list of 27 schools that came out last week was a shock to them. It also surprised the schools’ parents and staff.
Member Luisa Santos worried this move would create more confusion.
“I know this is sort of an adjustment year, because we're trying to do this in a different way moving forward,” she said, “and so naturally in this year, there's going to be just kinks to work out. It is worth noting though that now families are going to be told one date, then it's changing [again].”
Villalobos said messages would go out to families today and be kept in the loop about new community engagement dates.
“ It's about our communities. We want to make sure that we are transparent, that we are communicating with them and that transparency is a two-way street,” Villalobos said. “There's a lot of misinformation out there and we want to make sure that we clear up all of that misinformation and it starts with us.”
