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School is back in session, and to all of our students, teachers and administrators, I wish you the very best for the 2025-26 school year!
One of the best parts of my job is visiting schools and connecting with so many bright young people and dedicated educators. Earlier this year, I visited Felix Varela Senior High School, where I congratulated students enrolled in the Agricultural Resources Program for coming up with the winning name for our newest Mounted Patrol Unit horse—Valor. The students beamed with talent, and I left the event energized by their enthusiasm and the strong leadership at that school.
We will continue working closely with local schools to ensure that campuses remain safe places to learn. That’s why we routinely train our deputies to respond to the threat of armed intruders on campus. In such cases, our primary objective is to respond as swiftly as possible to neutralize the threat. Parents should rest assured that we will waste no time should that scenario ever become reality.
Additionally, to provide another layer of security, we have trained 12 classes through the Guardian Academy since 2018. The Chris Hixon, Coach Aaron Feis, and Coach Scott Beigel Guardian Program—named after three of the 17 people killed by a gunman at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School on February 14, 2018—was approved by the Florida Legislature in the wake of that tragedy. It allows trained and vetted school employees to serve as armed school guardians.
Our firearms instructors at the Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office Training Center put every volunteer who enrolls in the Guardian Program through a rigorous program that requires them to qualify with their firearm at a level that exceeds that mandated by the program.
Children are the future, and we will do everything in our power to keep them safe. That commitment also extends to making their walks to and from school safer, through our highly trained school crossing guards—a vital component of our Community Services Bureau. For anyone whose morning commute passes through a school zone, please slow down and stay alert. Put extra time into your commute to accommodate heavier traffic, pedestrians, and bicyclists.
We also recognize that the start of the school year can strain household budgets, especially in homes with multiple students. If you haven’t heard, qualifying school supplies will be exempt from sales tax throughout the entire month of August. Also, for the third consecutive year, our Robbery Bureau’s Robbery Intervention Detail (RID) has donated backpacks to underprivileged schoolchildren in honor of Cesar “Echy” Echaverry, who sacrificed his life on August 17, 2022 to protect the community from a dangerous felon. RID typically donates as many as 300 backpacks a year to students enrolled in Miami-Dade Public Schools.
Let’s gear up for another safe and successful school year!
