Black history, vouchers, teacher vacancies. Miami superintendent’s concerns as school begins

Roughly a week before Miami Dade County Public Schools welcome back students on Aug. 17, Miami-Dade Schools superintendent Jose Dotres laid out the priorities for the new academic year on Friday: Recovering from the pandemic’s learning losses, promoting the school district as the “best choice” to counteract an expanded state voucher program and reaching out to “thought partners” to contend with new laws and policies sent down from Tallahassee.

“This is a significant moment,” Dotres, who’s starting his second school year as superintendent, said in a press conference after addressing principals and assistant principals at Miami Senior High.

The event attracted a few hundred administrators and marked the official end of summer. A student sang “Feeling Good” by Leslie Bricusse and Anthony Newley. The band performed while dancers did ballet.

“We have a great sense of excitement and enthusiasm,” Dotres said.

The superintendent cited national data that shows students are still five to six months behind in their learning because of the disruptions caused by the coronavirus pandemic, which began in March 2020 and resulted in the closing of schools and remote learning. He said the school district will use intervention programs and added hours of instruction to close the achievement gaps.

“Let’s not be confused,” he told the press. “The ramifications of the pandemic are still there. We still have work to do there.”

Public schools also are facing the impact of the expanded taxpayer-funded vouchers, part of a bill signed into law in March by Gov. Ron DeSantis. The vouchers allows families, regardless of income level, to get about $8,000 per student from the state to attend a private school, providing the school is participating in the program.

Dotres said the school district will dial up its marketing, with an “MDCPS, your best choice” slogan. During his speech, he asked educators to engage with parents “now more than ever.”

READ MORE: DeSantis signs school voucher expansion into law — what it will mean to families, schools

Black history standards, LGBTQ affairs and other controversies

To face the “complex, sensitive and new” issues sparked by new laws signed by DeSantis and new rules coming from the Florida Department of Education, Dotres said he wants school district staffers to find “thought partners.”

“We need to make sure we talk about them and that we do not go solo in making these decisions,” he said.

One of the most “sensitive” issues at hand involves the new standards for teaching Black history that the Florida Board of Education adopted in late July, which led to uproar among many because the middle school instruction suggested that some slaves benefited from their bondage. On the high school level, one of the standards suggested an equivalence between racial violence against Blacks and Black Americans’ resistance, another topic that angered many.

Black parents and politicians gathered in a Miami Gardens church Thursday night to discuss the new standards. The event organizers had invited Florida Education Commissioner Manny Díaz Jr. to attend, but he canceled Wednesday night.

Asked why he didn’t attend the town hall, Dotres said: “I was not invited to the event, although I know it was an open event. I, as a superintendent, have to be grounded in making sure that we follow state statute ... I am very much aware of the concerns that are being expressed by the community across the board.”

He added the Black history standards will be assigned to courses around October, and plans to discuss the topic before then.

Heat, teacher shortage, immigrant influx

Other matters discussed Friday include the excessive heat, an increased influx from immigrant students, and the retaining and recruiting of teachers.

Dotres said he hopes the district’s new programs like the new teaching academies at high schools will guide more people into the profession. He also said he hopes the new teacher raises and a closer culture will help. Last month, the teachers union, the United Teachers of Dade, and the district reached a tentative agreement on a new contract that calls for pay raises ranging from 7 % to 10% for the coming school year.

Just last week, he said, the school district brought on about 600 new employees, but as of Friday, about 280 instructional vacancies remained. The most lacking areas are special education, and high-level math and science.

Because of the excessive heat warnings this summer, Dotres said the school district started testing air conditioning systems on campuses earlier than usual. To ease any concerns about heat dangers, he said schools already use protocols that restrict student activity outside if the temperature rises to certain degrees.

Last year, 20,000 immigrant students enrolled in district schools. It’s impossible to know if that wave will come again, but Dotres said the district is ready.