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Parents of G.W. Carver Elementary School were honored by the Miami Dade County PTA for their galvanizing, against-the-odds campaign to stop a WAWA gas station from being built just 300 feet from classrooms.
The “Legislative/Advocacy” award recognizes local PTAs that promote the protection of children through meetings with elected officials, media outreach and interactions with municipalities, the School Board and other governmental entities.
At Saturday night’s gala ceremony, attended by Superintendent Alberto Carvalho, Little Carver also took home a “standard of excellence” award while Principal Patricia Fairclough was a finalist the Miami Dade PTA’s highest honor for administrators. Two other Coral Gables-area PTAs — from Ponce de Leon Middle and Coral Gables High School — were also recognized.
“Advocacy is a daily commitment that happens one conversation at a time,” said Carver PTA president Estelle Lockhart. “When others have moved on from the front-page story, advocates continue the conversation, largely unnoticed. Thank you to the Miami Dade Council County PTA for recognizing our advocacy efforts regarding commercial developments around schools. It’s a valuable, timely discussion and we are proud to be a part of it.”
Little Carver’s advocacy project began in the Fall of 2020 when a rumor started spreading that a six-pump gas station was to be installed in a lot in front of school that had sat empty for decades. Neither the school nor its administrators were ever notified despite significant health and safety risks as well as EPA guidelines that recommend against the locating of gas stations within 1,000 feet of schools.
City of Coral Gables commissioners initially dismissed parents’ concerns, insisting that their hands were tied by a legal settlement with the developer to fast track approval of a commercial project on what was once County-owned land earmarked for affordable housing.
WAWA and the developer similarly ignored parents and hired a lobbyist, who did not register with Coral Gables, to move forward with plans to bulldoze two decades-old Oak trees to make way for the gas station.
In January, PTA members along with residents formed the Gables Accountability Project, a Florida non-profit organization, and worked with attorney David Winker to sue the City of Coral Gables over the way the project was approved without public input.
To date, the group has the support of more than 300 individuals and has made important outreach efforts to environmental activists and community groups in the historically Black west Coconut Grove neighborhood where Carver is located.
After parents rang the alarm bell, a similarly outraged Miami Dade County Public Schools Board unanimously approved a resolution requiring that the Superintendent be notified in writing via certified mail prior to the approval of any commercial development that is to be built within 1,000 feet of a public school.
More information: gwcarver.elem.pta@gmail.com and on facebook at https://www.facebook.com/GablesAccProject
