A long time ago, in a galaxy not so far away, a General Obligation (GO) bond was passed. It’s not really as interesting as jedis and light sabers, but for Miami-Dade County Public Schools, the bond is definitely something to be excited about.
Passing the $1.2 billion GO bond in 2012 required a minimal tax increase for homeowners in the area – only 5 dollars more the year it was passed – to raise funds for constructing new schools, renovating others and introducing new technology to schools throughout the county.
At the time, almost one half of the district’s schools were over 40 years old, and studies by county demographers showed signs of rapid population expansion in the coming years. Either the bond was passed, or taxpayers would soon face the burden of paying for the full construction cost of a new school.
“There was a history of money not going where it was voted, so getting the bond passed wasn’t easy,” Aventura Mayor Enid Weisman said in a Jan. 5th press conference with The Lightning Strike. “The whole campaign took almost eleven months.”
Since then, over 10,000 Promethean Boards have been installed in classrooms district-wide, and 20 million dollars have been allocated for the renovation of Madie Ives K-8, Virginia A. Boone Elementary and Ojus Elementary, with another 12 million set aside for the construction of a secondary facility for Krop Senior High.
Krop’s new iPrep Academy would add 500 much-needed seats, considering that the main campus is already at 125 percent capacity.
School board officials have proposed the academy be built on the Highland Oaks Middle campus on Ives Dairy Road, where lack of parking space would prevent students from driving to school. Transportation to and from the academy, including bus transportation to Krop’s main campus for sports and activities after school, is currently in the planning stage, but School Board Representative Dr. Martin Karp and Regional Superintendent Vivian Pardo have promised that students attending Krop’s iPrep academy will be able to partake in after-school activities.
Students who wish to attend can apply during subject selection and will have to meet certain requirements (see sidebar). The restrictions placed by these requirements raised concerns about accessibility of the academy in the student body, who fear that such restrictions would decrease diversity on Krop’s main campus. Yet Pardo begs to differ.
“Over 50 percent of students within Krop’s attendance boundary now graduate eighth grade having already taken algebra I,” Pardo said. “There has been a much larger push for students to begin taking advanced courses at an earlier stage.”
Students who meet the academic requirements must also be selected in a lottery drawing in order to attend the academy. If they decide that they would rather attend Krop’s main campus, they’d have the opportunity to switch back.
“It would be as easy as getting a schedule change,” Principal Allison Harley said. “And when someone switches to the main campus, someone on the waiting list would be able to transfer to the iPrep academy.”
The academy would follow the traditional iPrep model, which emphasizes the use of team building and blended learning, a mixture of online and physical instruction, to prepare students for future jobs. Students are required to participate in an internship during both their 11th and 12th grade years to give them more appealing skill set than the average student.
As of right now, Krop’s iPrep academy will open in 2018 with an opening class of 125 ninth and 125 tenth graders. Yet many questions remain unanswered, and many details are yet to be solidified. Stay on the lookout for the latest on Krop’s iPrep Academy on www.lightningstikenews.com and this month’s newspaper.