Lunch bags were stuffed, pencil boxes filled and backpacks packed as students across Miami-Dade County returned to the classroom Thursday. Some schools greeted them with balloon sculptures, others hung “First Day of School” banners.
Outside Westland Hialeah Senior High School, dozens of students with matching backpacks walked through the front gates, serenaded by the school’s band, which included a tuba, two clarinets, a trumpet, a trombone, and drums. The cheerleaders cheered for the “Wildcats,” the school’s mascot.
After a long, stressful summer for Miami-Dade’s school district with a federal funding freeze that had the superintendent mobilized to get lawmakers to step in, the first day of school kicked off on a more positive note.
The funding freeze began June 30, just one day before federal grants were expected to arrive. The White House Office of Management and Budget paused about $6 billion in funds nationwide “pending review.” Miami-Dade district had $35 million in federal grants that were frozen at the time affecting English language learning, science and technology innovation, teacher training, migrant education and adult education.
To prepare, the district was tightening its belt, halting ordering supplies such as textbooks, as well as postponing professional trainings and other “non-essential functions.”
By late July the funding was ordered to be released and the whole district breathed a sigh of relief.
“This is a very exciting school year,” said Superintendent of Schools Jose L. Dotres, speaking from a classroom at the high school filled with prom dresses and suits for students who can’t afford formalwear.
“It’s really encouraging seeing the energy level of kids going back to school,” added Dotres, who earlier in his career was principal of Hialeah Gardens Elementary.
Westland Hialeah Senior High has something to celebrate. The school, which has approximately 1,193 students – roughly half of them still learning English, according to Principal Lucy Trillas – finally regained its A-rating this year after 14 years.
The students were also excited at Westland Hialeah High, but less about the school’s A-rating and more about the most coveted back-to-school accessory: a faux-leather backpack designed by the company Sprayground, the signature one with a shark-teeth design. The backpacks also glow in the dark. The red tags that come with the backpacks, students explained, are prized – and sometimes get swiped.
“The tags become an issue in school because the kids try to take them from each other,” said Trillas, the principal. “I hate those tags.”
Some students had the tags hanging from their belt loops.
“It’s cultural. They have throwbacks,” said Jazzlyn Diaz, the activities director at Westland Hialeah High. Her own son, a 10th grader, has one of his own.
Versions spotted Thursday included Pink Panther, Snoopy, and all-black.
“It’s like this huge deal,” said Diaz.
Doral’s first-ever magnet school
At Dr. Rolando Espinosa K-8 Center in Doral, Dotres joined students and faculty to celebrate that their school is now a communications magnet school. It is the first magnet school in Doral.
The school is named after Rolando Espinosa, an educator from Cuba who came to the United States and worked as a teacher, helping professionals fleeing Cuba without documents find a way to continue their careers.
The magnet school is the brainchild of Phil Mato, the school principal, who said he always wondered why there was no magnet school in the area. The communications program will eventually be school-wide, and kindergarten through 5th grade already have communications integrated into the curriculum. The upper grades also have some communication elements, but it is not technically part of the curriculum.
The Doral Family Journal, a community newspaper in the Doral area, is sponsoring the magnet school and will publish some of the students’ writing as the school year progresses. Doral is home to the Univision Network and close to the NBC-Telemundo studios as well.
In a 4th/5th-grade class, students practiced their communication skills by sharing two facts about themselves and then shaking the hands of their classmates.
“I like chasing ducks, and once I caught a duck with my bare hands,” said John Norem.
“My name is Martina, and my two facts are that one time when I was little, I touched snow, and I thought it was a cloud, and I started eating them.”
“One time, I climbed a tree and fell on my spine and broke it,” said another student.
One student shared that his brother and cousin are the only ones in their family born in the U.S., and the rest of them are all born in El Salvador.
The school’s library has a podcasting area equipped with microphones. Aran Gonzalez, 11, said he is already thinking about possible themes, such as, “How can the weather affect your job?”
Jacqueline Basallo, executive director with the innovation and school choice division, said the idea of the magnet is for every student to “learn how to find their voice” by integrating communications throughout the school day.
