Despite the outpour of criticism from residents of the neighboring Highland Lakes and Skylake communities, the City of Aventura remained steadfast in its decision to support the construction of the Krop iPrep Academy on the HOM campus.

The City of Aventura voted to pass a resolution supporting the plan at a meeting on Apr. 5 in front of residents of Aventura and the surrounding area.

Among those who spoke was an emotional former teacher, Ellen Elias who equated the iPrep proposal to her memories of segregation during her middle school years. “I was a part of the first seventh grade class to desegregate JFK middle school,” Elias said. “We became better people by learning to accept those different from us.”

The opposition reiterated the traffic concerns, absence of student driving and extra-curricular difficulties that they have expressed in the past. While a large group of critics spoke at the meeting, proponents also spoke out in support of the current plan.

Frida Lapidot, the president of the Parents for Aventura Charter High School Association, voiced her rather unenthusiastic approval of the proposal. “I am not telling you that this is the best option for Aventura, but I am telling you it is an option, we need options and we are running out of options,” she said.

Commissioner Howard Weinberg expressed a similar sentiment, saying that as long as this proposal is the only option, the City of Aventura will support it. “If there’s a better solution [than to build the iPrep on the HOM campus], then I bet our resolution will become meaningless,” he said, “because we’ll probably pass another one supporting the new location.”

Weinberg made it clear that the vote to pass the resolution does not make the current location the definitive on for the iPrep, and School Board member Martin Karp said he will continue to represent the people in the area. “I will share what I hear tonight with the Superintendent and his cabinet, so that they can make the best decision possible,” Karp said.