The last domino has fallen.<\/p>\n
Broward, Monroe, and the Archdiocese schools opened this week and today, Miami-Dade County Public Schools welcomed back tens of thousands of students. So summer is officially over for South Florida\u2019s kids.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is my last, first opening of schools, and I plan to enjoy every single minute,\u201d said Miami-Dade Superintendent Jose Dotres, who is retiring.<\/p>\n
He started his tour of schools at the school formerly known as Miami Springs Senior High School. Now it\u2019s Miami Springs Preparatory Academy 6-12. Low enrollment prompted the district to close Miami Springs Middle School and send those students to the high school. It\u2019s one of nine \u201cconsolidations\u201d in the district this year.<\/p>\n
\u201cNow, we\u2019re like here, with all these older kids that are older than us, bigger than us,\u201d said seventh grader Jacob Marquez.<\/p>\n
Is it scary to be surrounded by the big kids?<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m looking forward to it, not gonna lie, it\u2019s like a new experience for me,\u201d Jacob said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI just want to, you know, like, explore the school,\u201d said Jacob\u2019s classmate, Malik Valdez.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is not about saving money, we have to consolidate schools when we have a small school and the enrollment is not sufficient for us to be able to properly provide the resources,\u201d Dotres said, explaining the reason for closing some schools.<\/p>\n
State funding depends on the number of students. When school enrollment drops too far, there\u2019s not enough money to provide enrichment courses, reading coaches, and other opportunities for students.<\/p>\n
For example, the middle school kids at Miami Springs 6-12 now have access to high school-level courses like a law class.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re setting a foundation in the earlier years so they can be even more successful later in the high school years,\u201d said the teacher of a law class filled with eighth graders.<\/p>\n
The juniors and seniors we spoke to say the vibe at their school is changing in a good way.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m excited to see middle schoolers actually take charge and joining athletics at an earlier age, we\u2019re offering middle school sports, run for student council, really see what high school\u2019s all about,\u201d said Evangeline Odin, a senior who plays four sports at Miami Springs.<\/p>\n
The superintendent\u2019s last stop was at his alma mater, Miami Senior High School, where he held an end-of-the-day news briefing. Dotres said it was a smooth day from morning to dismissal all over the district. He also visited Venetian Parc Elementary School, which has a unique concept in which students learn at their own pace, aided by technology.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd so that is what we\u2019re trying to do, bring innovation and compete in this interesting, dynamic, educational landscape,\u201d Dotres said.<\/p>\n
He said he was grateful that his last first day was a smooth one. Dotres is retiring from the top job at the district, but he said today that he is not done working to support public education.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The last domino has fallen. Broward, Monroe, and the Archdiocese schools opened this week and today, Miami-Dade County…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":370843,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[123,125,124,1064],"class_list":["post-370842","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-miami","tag-miami","tag-miami-headlines","tag-miami-news","tag-miami-dade"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/370842","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=370842"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/370842\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/370843"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=370842"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=370842"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=370842"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}