High school would be on grounds of K-8 Center
Published in The Islander News Janyary 17, 2008
By: KELLY JOSEPHSEN. kjosephsen@islandernews.com
Parents who are pushing for a public high school in Key Biscayne have a specific idea of where the school should go on the land-strapped island — the grounds of the Key Biscayne K-8 Center.
Angel Martin, who is spearheading the High School for Key Biscayne Stakeholders Group's efforts, said buildings at the K-8 site could be rebuilt and reconfigured to leave plenty of room to accommodate elementary and middle school students and still build a state-of-the-art high school.
The Stakeholders met January 9 to provide more information and get input on their ideas. About 100 people attended, including Mayor Robert Vernon, Village Council members Michael Davey and Pat Weinman, Village Manager Chip Iglesias and Building, Zoning and Planning Director Jud Kurlancheek.
Martin was going to speak at the Village Council's meeting this Tuesday, but decided to postpone the presentation until his group formalizes its plans. He told The Islander News "positive developments" over the past few days led the group to review and reschedule its planned presentation.
"We will be ready to present a more comprehensive proposal to the community and Council within the next few weeks," Martin noted. "The outpouring of support from the community has been exceptional and we want to make sure our proposal incorporates the model most appropriate for our Village based on the feedback we are getting and a detailed examination of all possibilities."
However, Wednesday's meeting offers insight into the direction the Stakeholders wish to take.
Martin said a feasibility study shows the school should accommodate 400 students —there are about 640 high school-age teens in the Key, and around 350 - 400 would likely attend the school. That means the school should be close to 55,000 square feet, he reported, based on State of Florida requirements.
With those numbers in mind he said, members of the Stakeholders Group analyzed the K-8 Center lot, and quickly learned it would be able to accommodate the building.
One option is the northeast area of the lot — Martin said the site would accommodate a building with a 27,000square-foot footprint, and currently houses only a parking lot and dumpsters. However, he added, the building would basically have to look like "another block of concrete."
Constructing the building on the north part of the compound, however, which is currently occupied by the two old elementary school buildings, might be the better option.
According to Martin, the concept makes a lot of sense, as the K-8 Center's 53-year-old elementary school buildings need to be rebuilt anyway. He said years of hurricanes and poor maintenance have left the buildings in "decrepit conditions," and they are in need of a "complete renovation."
He said both ventilation and air conditioning are poor, and there are legitimate concerns that dangerous mold is growing in the buildings. Furthermore, "Parents of kids attending school at KB K-8 receive a disclaimer each year advising them of the potential exposure to asbestos," he added.
Martin went on to note that even thought the K-8 Center provides a topnotch education for students at all grade levels, "The conditions of these old buildings is deplorable, and our community should not tolerate having to send our kids to these kind of facilities where even the poorly-run air conditioning system needs to be turned off for our kids to hear their teachers at lecture time."
Martin said a new compound could be built at the site that would be large enough to accommodate both 400 high school seats and the 380-pius kids who are currently located in the two older buildings. In essence, he said, the plan would convert the K-8 Center into a state-of-the-art K-12 compound, which could be segmented for elementary, middle and high school populations. Even better, according to Martin, the concept would add open space and playgrounds for student and community use.
On a final note, Martin said, the idea is financially feasible — Stakeholders Group members report the project would pay for itself with the revenue generated by new public school students.
He added the Village contributes a lot of tax money to the Miami-Dade County Public School District — $51.8 million last year — and has been ignored for too long.
"As a united community, led by our Mayor and Council members, we need to reach out to Miami-Dade County Public Schools to assure public education needs of our community are effectively addressed," he said.
Martin said more information will be available in the weeks ahead as he Stakeholders Group fine-tunes its plans and gets ready to make its presentation to the Council.
Additional information on the Stakeholders Group is available at www.hs4kb.com.
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