The Miami-Dade County School Board is throwing its support behind terminating a controversial land deal in downtown Miami.
The question of what should be built at the city-owned Biscayne Park on NE 19th Street is central to the corruption case against former City Commissioner Alex D铆az de la Portilla, who was arrested in 2023 on of money laundering, bribery and criminal conspiracy.
In 2022, the Miami city commission voted unanimously to allow a private school run by wealthy conservative donors to build an athletic facility at the city-owned site 鈥� sidelining a longstanding plan to let the school district build a new public school there.
鈥淚t鈥檚 very exciting to see us take this unified stance against an injustice that was done to us,鈥� Board Member Lucia Baez-Geller said of the board's support for terminating the private school land deal.
How the plans for a new public school got derailed
Dating back to , Miami-Dade County schools officials were in conversation with the City of Miami to use the Biscayne Park site to build a new campus for iPrep Academy, a public magnet school serving students in pre-K through 12th grade.
The new building would be just a few blocks away from iPrep鈥檚 current location across the street from the school board administration building on NE 2nd Avenue, and would allow the school to double its enrollment.
The also called for building on-site affordable housing units for school staff and would set aside outdoor recreation facilities for students.
鈥淎s a mother of two children attending Miami-Dade public schools, I wholeheartedly support the proposal to utilize Biscayne Park for iPrep Academy,鈥� said parent and Moms For Libros advocate Lissette Fernandez.
鈥淧ublic lands must be preserved for community use and this initiative promises significant benefits by expanding educational opportunities rather than privatizing these valuable spaces.鈥�
But then on April 28, 2022, the city commission unanimously , granting development rights on the Biscayne Park site to the operators of the private Centner Academy.
Instead of paving the way for the long-planned expansion of the public school, the plan granted the private school the ability to build an indoor athletic facility on the site, which the public would have at least some access to.
serves students from pre-K through high school, with tuition costing as much as a year. The school rocketed onto the in 2021 when it that teachers who received the COVID-10 vaccine .
Then on Sept. 14, 2023, then-City Commissioner D铆az de la Portilla was arrested on corruption charges, including for allegedly accepting cash for his political support to redevelop the Biscayne Park site.
According to reporting by the , a major focus of the case against the then-commissioner is that he accepted hundreds of thousands of dollars in campaign cash and hotel stays in exchange for his vote for the Centner鈥檚 land deal.
D铆az de la Portilla has pleaded not guilty. David and Leila Centner, the founders of the school, have not been charged and deny any wrongdoing.
鈥淭oday's vote by the Miami-Dade School Board to support the retraction of our agreement with the City only highlights their favoritism of anointed iPrep Academy for its new school building, when so many other existing schools throughout the county are in need of repairs, expansions, and academic improvement,鈥� David Centner told SA国际传谋 in an email.
Centner noted that the land deal was unanimously approved and argued that the plan should proceed 鈥� regardless of prosecutors鈥� allegations that his family paid D铆az de la Portilla off to get it passed.
鈥淐learly one person and any alleged wrongdoing of his was not an outsized factor in the decision making process,鈥� Centner said, referring to D铆az de la Portilla.
鈥淢any individuals within so many City departments were involved in these decisions, and by revoking the deal you bring into question the integrity and competence of the numerous people that were involved along the way.鈥�
鈥淲e believe this remains a good deal for the City and its residents,鈥� he added.
鈥楶ublic land for public schools鈥�
At Wednesday鈥檚 school board meeting, iPrep parents filed into the auditorium in matching bright pink t-shirts emblazoned with the message 鈥淧ublic Land For Public Schools鈥�.
They lined up at the microphone to thank the school board for defending the plan to build the new public school on public land 鈥� and for supporting the City鈥檚 proposal to terminate the 2022 land deal with the Centner Academy.
鈥淭hank you to all the board members, to [Board Member Dorothy Bendross-Mindingall], for understanding how important this is,鈥� parent Leslie Del Monte told the school board, with her 9-year-old son Mateo standing at her side. 鈥淧ublic entities rarely take a position like this.鈥�
Bendross-Mindingall sponsored the item supporting the Miami city commission to cancel the Centner deal. Seven other board members signed on to cosponsor the item, which was approved unanimously.
鈥淚t鈥檚 been said it鈥檚 unusual for the board to take a position on other governing bodies鈥� items,鈥� said Bendross-Mindingall. 鈥淏ut we stand together to support what is best for our children.鈥�
Bendross-Mindingall鈥檚 item also directs the district superintendent to restart discussions about the iPrep expansion and relocation with the City of Miami.
Parents of iPrep students hope that the show of force at Wednesday鈥檚 school board meeting will send a clear message to city leaders. The commission is scheduled to vote on whether to terminate the Centner land deal at a meeting on Thursday 鈥� though commissioners have delayed the item before.
鈥淭his isn't even about private versus public. This is about wrong versus right. This is about being able to carry forward a plan that thought about the entire community rather than one entity,鈥� Del Monte told SA国际传谋.
鈥淚'm optimistic. I'm hopeful that the commission sees the importance of this.鈥�
