Enrollment and facilities may be key to which Broward schools close, says superintendent
The Broward School Board held its first workshop about school closings Wednesday, and at one point Superintendent Peter Licata asked the nine board members to define how low they thought student enrollment has to be at a school to consider closing or repurposing it.
He got nine different answers.
Still, Licata said he got the guidance he needed and will propose specific actions at the next board meeting, on April 16. Licata said he will create a “list of proposals” including academic changes, school mergers and partnerships with cities.
“It’s going to be a large menu format, and we’ll talk through it,” he said.
After Wednesday’s workshop, Lori Alhadeff, the board’s chair, told the media that those involved succeeded because they exchanged ideas in a public format, and that that had been their goal.
“It was a very robust conversation that the board had,” Alhadeff said. “It’s our way … to basically talk to the superintendent and let him know what we are thinking as a School Board — we all have different ideas, what’s important to us — and then kind of give it to him and leave it up to Dr. Licata to sift through that information and be able to come back to us with his thoughts as far as moving forward.”
Last July, the Broward School Board directed Licata to close or repurpose at least five schools by 2025. “Repurposing” means the school district could use an entire school campus or part of it for other purposes like affordable housing, day-care centers or technical classes.
Broward school district officials haven’t released a list yet of schools they’re considering to close or repurpose, but the board wants to vote on a final implementation plan in June. Licata has said there “could be” up to 30 to 40 schools out of the total 239 that end up being affected.
Board members want to close or repurpose schools because the district has lost about 58,000 students in the last 20 years — a trend they expect will continue — and that loss of students has translated to
wand.
Armstrong was arrested and charged with aggravated assault of a law enforcement officer and resisting arrest without violence. Mercado has been administratively reassigned and remains working from home. She patrols Model City, the neighborhood next to Liberty City where Armstrong was shot.
SHOOTING VICTIM’S RECOVERY
Miami Police Chief Manny Morales said he visited Armstrong in the hospital and he’s expected to make a full recovery. Morales said Armstrong’s uncle said he was high on “Molly,” a form of ecstasy that usually makes a person feel euphoric.
“He told me he was high, that he took some bad shit,” said the chief. “But he’s going to make a full recovery and hopefully it will be a life-changing experience.”
The shooting and cellphone footage that captured the moment when Armstrong was shot has drawn the ire of family members and the wrath of community organizations that make up the Healing and Justice Center in Miami.
During a gathering last week, the community groups blasted police for the incident. They also argued it could have been handled better by the Freedom House Mobile Crisis Unit, a civilian group that urges residents suffering similar crises to Armstrong to call it rather than police.
Program manager Chettarra Thompson called the police shooting a “sad, sad grave injustice.”
VIDEO SHOWS MIAMI OFFICER OPENING FIRE
The cellphone video shows Armstrong in distress on his front porch of his home near Northwest 58th Street and Seventh Court, waving something long and thin in the air that has been described by observers as everything from a screwdriver to some type of wand. As he screams “Shoot. Shoot in the heart,” several officers aim their guns at him and repeatedly tell him to move away from someone he is standing next to on the porch, believed to be his mother, said a neighbor who saw the shooting.
A woman believed to be his mother is heard pleading with police to not kill her son. Two officers fire Tasers. At one point, Armstrong begins falling forward with whatever he’s holding up in the air. That’s when Mercado seems to fire the first shot. More are fired as he is falling and after he’s on the ground.
“The police life wasn’t in danger,” Armstrong’s cousin Lonnie Armstrong said Saturday. “That wasn’t called for. They didn’t have to shoot my cousin that many times.”
Two years ago, Mercado was praised by the city’s Civilian Investigative Panel for de-escalating a situation involving her partner, according to story from WTVJ Channel 6. Body camera footage showed her partner in a tense situation with another male.
At one point her partner tells someone he’s arguing with not to let the badge fool you, “I’m from Little Havana first, bro.” Mercado then gets her partner to back off before there is any force used.
Miami Herald staff writer C. Isaiah Smalls II contributed to this report.