The Miami-Dade County school district is resuming the plan to potentially close schools. As many as five are expected to undergo changes, if not outright closure, but a total of 34 schools are the latest named in the review process.
The Attendance Boundary Committee, which makes the suggestions of which schools to look at and the plan of action, labeled schools on the new list “targeted” or “advised.”
There are six “targeted” schools — the five that could face closure and one that could be expanded to be a K-12. “Advised” schools are under close watch and undergoing further review before decisions about their futures are made.
Golden Glades Elementary, Myrtle Grove Elementary, Carol City Middle, Lorah Park Elementary and Hammocks Middle could be shuttered. Southside Preparatory Academy could become a K-12 (it is currently a K-8).
It’s a shorter list than what the committee put out earlier this year, which looked at 12. That list was thwarted when superintendent Rafael Villalobos paused the process on his first day on the job in September.
This time around, “ it's more of an in-depth process,” Villalobos told WLRN on Thursday.
At the forefront of the mission is making sure all students receive high quality education in school, he said, which may not be happening to the fullest extent in underenrolled schools, where funding is limited.
Miami-Dade County Public Schools, the third largest school district in the nation, faces an underenrollment crisis that’s playing out across the country, including in neighboring Broward County. The Broward County School Board has voted to close seven schools in two years and is currently considering another 10.
“ Those schools that are underenrolled, they may not have an art teacher every day. They may not have a music teacher every day. They may not have a physical ed teacher every day,” Villalobos said. “So those are things that are inequalities in education because schools are funded independently. But if you go to a school now that is at the capacity that they need to be at, they're going to have all of those things every day.”
When a school closes, neighboring schools receive the students. Under the released list, this is what those consolidations would look like:
- Students from Golden Glades and Myrtle Grove elementary schools go to Carol City Elementary
- Students from Carol City Middle go into Miami Carol City Senior, reconfigured as a 6-12, and Lake Stevens Middle
- Students from Lorah Park Elementary go into Earlington Heights, South Hialeah and Lincoln Diaz-Balart Hialeah elementary schools
- Students from Hammocks Middle into Felix Varela Senior, reconfigured as a 6-12 school
The original plan was supposed to be voted on by the School Board in December. Now, the vote will take place in March, Villalobos said.
