Most people don’t get a standing ovation on their first day at work. Rafael Villalobos did, from the Miami-Dade County School Board this morning.
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“Day one, I’m ready to go. This is what it’s about. It’s making sure that we make our school district better,” Villalobos said.
On day one, the new superintendent of the nation’s third-largest school district jumped right into the deep end, tackling the school closure and consolidation issue. Enrollment is down so far this year by about 15,000 students, so the district has no choice but to close some schools.
“We were in the business of building schools and now, unfortunately, we have to reduce because of the reduction in students, so I just want everyone to understand that this will be the process going forward,” Villalobos told board members at a committee meeting.
“Thank you for addressing the elephant in the room,” said board Chair Mari Tere Rojas.
The district has 26 schools listed as either “reassessed” or “under review.” That means enrollment at those schools is severely low, and they are likely candidates to be merged into another school.
“You know it’s really important for parents to understand that when you have schools that are underenrolled, there are programs that are lacking that, ultimately, students are suffering because they are not receiving them,” Villalobos said, making the argument that the educational environment is far richer at schools with solid enrollment.
Kendale Elementary School is on the reassessment list. Parents there are mobilizing to save the A-rated school.
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“I challenge anyone to come up with an elementary school that’s functioning better than this school. Then you’re going to tell me they’re improving the education of our children by closing this school?” asked Ruben Cao, who has a child at the school.
Blanca Cuervo has two children at Kendale and said she chose it because it offers the Cambridge magnet program.
“So it’s really hard to see why it would be justified,” she said of the possibility of closing the school.
School board members discussed the issue today and said schools on the reassessed list have already been analyzed.
“If we’ve been through the year of community input and feedback and we do have a better solution, it’s also not fair to misguide a community and say, ‘Yeah, you have another chance,’” said board member Luisa Santos.
“When enrollment is at a level where we cannot provide services to families, we have to be honest and say these are the numbers,” added board member Roberto Alonso.
The district held an informational meeting at Kendale Elementary tonight, the first of many such meetings scheduled at schools on the list. But Villalobos told the school board that after tonight’s meeting, he is putting those events on hold until mid-October because he wants to personally review each school’s situation before final decisions are made.
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