A Missing Opportunity

As published by The Islander News on January 10, 2008. See paper article here

As chair of the Key Biscayne high school initiative, I would like to draw attention to the efforts currently underway to pursue the creation of a high-quality and community-focused public high school in Key Biscayne.  Not only are our children missing the opportunity for the kind of Blue Ribbon secondary education our teachers and administration provide for them in their younger years at our much appreciated Key Biscayne K-8 Center, but we as a community are missing out as well. 

We are such a diverse community of many cultures and talents.  Unfortunately, we cultivate and nurture that talent and diversity in the fold of a community school, and then farm it out all across the county.

Our children should have the opportunity to attend a high-quality school in their own neighborhood.  How many of us were bussed into another city to go to an overcrowded high school?  How many of us left our friends and went to private school because the town in which we lived offered no other real alternative?

Our Village has recognized the handicap of a high school deficiency for many years.  Unknown to the majority of us, the Village signed an interlocal agreement with the School District in February 2003, as mandated by Florida Statutes, providing a venue for solving the school deficiency.  However, we never made use of this agreement as it was buried in the archives of the Village, where it has rested since its approval by our Council in resolution 2003 - 6.

Our 2020 Vision Plan, 2006 and 2007 EAR make reference to the school deficiency and this agreement.  However, nobody seems to have sought to address it. Our community has suffered under the illusion that the City of Miami or Miami-Dade County Public Schools would take care of the deficiency at some point in the distant future and at a location outside of our community, such as Virginia Key.

It is now high time that we, as a united community, look forward to solving our high school deficiency.  We stood as a community when our leaders at the time took the bold step of turning Charles “Bebe” Rebozo's property into the Village Green, our most precious jewel. We did it again with our Community Center, which attracted a considerable amount of controversy at the time and has since won many of its critics over by the splendid facility it provides us.  The high school deficiency presents us with another equally, if not more important, opportunity to dramatically improve the quality of life of our community.

Our vision for a community high school differs substantially from a typical school.  A community school is not just another program being imposed  on a monolithic building.  It embodies a way of thinking and acting that recognizes the historical central role of schools in our communities – and the power of working together for a common
good.

Educating our children, yes, but also strengthening our families and community so that, in turn, they can help make our school even stronger and our children even more successful.  As a municipal charter school we, as a community, design the facilities and curriculum ensuring these components will address the particular education needs of our youth while promoting better use of mix-use facilities for the benefit of our entire community, from kindergartners to our elderly. In short, our residents would enjoy increased security, heightened community pride and a more efficient use of our tax dollars.

Having a community focused high school right here in the Village is the missing link to truly being a community. Our kids will have a safe and stellar educational opportunity in their own neighborhood from kindergarten through high school graduation.  We as parents and residents of the Village will have a core group of kids to mentor and encourage as they transition from child to adult.   We can also challenge these young adults to set an example worthy of being looked up to by their younger peers through their presence in the community.

I encourage everyone to stand together in this effort to bring a high-quality high school to the community of Key Biscayne.

Angel Martin
Chair
Key Biscayne High School Initiative

January 10, 2008