Escuelas Publicas en Doral : Entrevista a la Doctora Carmen Marinelli.
Por Dominique Barba.-
Las nuevas propuestas del Directorio de Escuelas de Miami Dade han generado diversas reacciones en el Doral, unos a favor, otros en contra, la ciudad se ha polarizado. También ronda lastimosamente la desinformación, ya que hay muchas dudas en el aire y muchos conceptos erróneos que prevalecen.
De lo que no hay duda es que ambos grupos tienen posiciones importantes que defender y derecho de expresarlas.
Afortunadamente la oportunidad de ser escuchados, de preguntar y también de opinar, la está ofreciendo la Superintendente de la Región I, la Dra. Carmen Marinelli, este Lunes 21 de Marzo en la Escuela Elemental John I Smith, a las 7 PM. A esta reunión están invitados todos los padres de familia de la comunidad y será la mejor opción para plantear tantas dudas que hoy circulan.
Doral Family Journal entrevistó a un grupo de padres quienes expresaron sus inquietudes mas preocupantes, y a su vez se las planteó directamente a la Dra. Marinelli.
Aquí la entrevista :
DFJ: Doctora Marinelli, gracias por contestar nuestras preguntas, hay muchos padres interesados en sus respuestas. Aquí va la primera: Que va a pasar con Doral Middle School (DMS), sus maestros, los clubes y los electivos?
Dra. Marinelli: Los maestros contratados mantendrán sus puestos de trabajo. Es importante saber que aún que DMS continúe no hay garantía de que clubes y que electivos podrán continuar. Cada escuela escoge, según la elección de estudiantes o padres, que electivos ofrecer. Los clubes también serán seleccionados de acuerdo al interés de los estudiantes.
DFJ: John I. Smith tiene espacio para implementar un 6to grado? No está la escuela superpoblada? Se respetaría la ley de numero de estudiantes por salón?
Dra. Marinelli: John I. Smith tiene aún mucho espacio disponible, no hay problema de superpoblación y definitivamente se respetará el número de estudiantes por aula, según lo indica la ley.
DFJ: Existe el temor que en las escuelas K-8 los niños grandes interactúen con los pequeños y se puedan dar situaciones de abuso?
Dra. Marinelli: En el Doral existen dos escuelas K-8 que funcionan óptimamente y les puedo asegurar no existe ningún reporte de abuso al respecto, sin embargo la Región esta abocada en tomar las mas estrictas medidas en contra el Bullying o cualquier otro tipo de falta. Los padres no deben de preocuparse, eso sí, deben de colaborar informando acerca de cualquier anormalidad y deben de saber que cuentan con nuestro apoyo incondicional .
DFJ: Ronald Reagan Doral Senior High tendrá la experiencia de manejar dos edificios? Que nos puede decir de los horarios, las horas de llegada, los buses.
Dra Marinelli: Tampoco esto es motivo de preocupación, tenemos la experiencia de la escuela Michael Krop SHS y el Distrito sabe muy bien como manejar esta situación. Tenemos ejemplos de horarios y también sabemos como manejar el asunto del transporte. Hay pleno conocimiento y experiencia para trabajar y ofrecer lo mejor a los estudiantes.
DFJ: Nuevamente le agradecemos su tiempo y dedicación, estamos seguros que nuevas preguntas se asomaran al escenario, la molestaremos nuevamente.
Dra. Marinelli: Siempre estoy dispuesta a responder todas sus inquietudes. Los conmino también a asistir al la reunión del lunes 21 de Marzo en John I. Smith Elementary, tenemos mucho que compartir con la comunidad y no duden en ningún momento que lo que estamos buscando es la mejor solución para todos.
To: Dr. Carmen B. Marinelli, Region Superintendent, Region I
Mr. Alberto M. Carvalho Superintendent of Schools
Regarding the ABC Recommendations for Doral Schools:
I am still appalled, after attending tonight’s ABC Community Meeting, at the disconnect between the Miami Dade Public School System, in particular the Region 1 Officials, and the Community, Children and Parents that it serves.
For starters, not allowing open microphone access to the attendees at this meeting was a slap in the face to the packed standing room only audience (I wonder how many of these you get on a regular basis), filled not only with parents and children, but also Principals and PTSA officials from all Doral Schools, Community Leaders and City representatives. Not having an impartial mediator fully read the written questions, but rather having Dr Marinelli decide what questions to read from the 6-inch pack of index cards showed a complete lack of respect to the multitude of parents that had explicit concerns regarding the unprecedented recommended closure of an A+ rated School (9 straight years!).
I would assume that anyone who reads the proposal would understand the aberration that is being recommended.
You would close a School that has earned excellent Academic scores from day 1 of opening, widely recognized for its Music, Sports, Arts and extra-curricular programs that serves an entire community to offer the choice of a K-8 Option to an Elementary School that represents less than 1/5th of the overall area/population that would be affected from this decision .
So what would we get from this lack of common sense? In 3 years we would have a JIS Middle Learning Center partitioned in 2 campuses with 7th and 8th grades being housed in the current building of Doral Middle School. Students from all 3 Elementary/K-8 Centers affected would lose the option of attending a traditional Middle School within our City (Ruben Dario’s offering is inacceptable for reasons detailed below) and the loss of the rich Sports, Music, Arts and Club programs of DMS. Completely obliterating the history and legacy of an amazingly successful Middle School. In addition to the administrative cost of shutting down a school (loss of teacher positions, admin staff, restructuring of infrastructure, etc.) and having to open (expand/increase) a new MLC center (teacher positions, admin staff, programs, equipment, etc.) . All this at a time, as Dr Marinelli “brilliantly” pointed out, when lack of appropriate funding and the need for cost-saving measures is the reality of the County, State and Country – (is any of this making sense yet).
How is this better than allowing the current Doral Middle School to continue being successful?
The open student stations available at DMS will be filled out with the 9th Grade students from Ronald Reagan Doral High School regardless of the decision affecting the Middle Schools.
Why do I believe that attending a School outside of our City would not be a valid offering? Because unfortunately, when my oldest daughter started attending High School, there were no options in Doral and the only choices were to attend remote Magnet programs or be bused to Miami Springs High School. So I have lived through the issues that this entails: impossibility to attend extra-curricular programs, annihilation from social activities, long commutes to get to and from school.
Fortunately for her, she had the strong Academic base that DMS had provided as well as the eagerness to learn instilled in her by really dedicated teachers, the knowledge that she could achieve anything she set her mind to do provided by amazing role models and the pride in being a Blue Dolphin.
That I know of, in its relatively short life (10 years) DMS has produced at least 3 Silver Knight winning young ladies (tremendous achievement for any School in Miami Dade!), as well as multiple sports, cheerleading, music, arts and academics award winning teams.
At a time when MDPS has even retracted on closing repeat failing F Schools based on community outcry, it would seem insolent on part of the MDPS Board to ignore this community’s opposition to this recommendation, as evident as it was in tonight’s meeting.
Do not commit the atrocity of closing down a successful, proven school in our City. Don’t you dare.
Alejandra Moreno – Doral Resident & Parent
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