South Florida parents push back over school-repurposing plans

MIAMI - Changes could be in store at some Miami-Dade public schools and it's not sitting well with some parents .

One proposal would move children out of Shadowlawn Elementary in Little Haiti to two different schools, miles away.

Shadowlawn which was built 100 years ago has a little more than 130 students and has lost population in the past few years.

Still, parent L'Chaundra Willis, whose son is in second grade, worries that a transfer will have a negative effect.

"The teachers at Shadowlawn care," she says. She points out that Shadowlawn is a 'B' rated school and many of the teachers speak Creole or Spanish and that is a help to families.

She and parent Zico Fremont say that the district did not make it clear to parents what they were considering and when they offered an alternative, they say it wasn't entertained.

Under the proposal, Shadowlawn would become an ESE facility for students with special needs. So would Parkview Elementary.

Myrtle Grove would go from a K-thru-8 program to K-thru-5 and middle school students would transfer out.

Calusa Elementary and Claude Pepper would have boundary changes, meaning some children zoned for those schools could find themselves in a different school and others going to a different school could switch there.

"You say repurposing. I say re-envisioning," said Deputy Superintendent John Pace.

Pace says the voluntary work of the group proposing the changes, the attendance boundary committee started reviewing all schools last October.

They spent months pouring over data before coming up with recommendations.

He admits not every parent understood what the committee was about and that was addressed with parents. He says the committee considers twelve factors that include construction in an area, attendance and whether the academic program is appropriate.

He said the district has been transparent in the process and parents have alternatives.

"We are a choice district and parents who don't like the assigned schools can always find a different school," he says.

The next step will be the school board voting on the proposed changes in June.