Council reaches agreement to create new high school

During a special session on Tuesday, Apr. 24, the Town Council of Cutler Bay unanimously passed a resolution adopting an interlocal agreement with the Miami-Dade School Board to create a high school in Cutler Bay for this fall.

The first such local school in the community will use both Cutler Ridge Middle School and Centennial Middle School facilities to establish a grades 6-12 Cambridge Choice school program that will include a COAST magnet (grades 6-12), a Liberal Arts academy (grades 9-12) and an iPrep academy (grades 9-12).

Initially, Centennial will house grades 9 through 12 and potentially select middle school grades, depending upon enrollment needs. Grades 11 and 12 will be housed exclusively at Centennial. Cutler Ridge will be used for grade 6, and “based on enrollment and availability of student stations, for grades 7 and/or 8, based on the combined attendance boundaries of both Cutler Ridge and Centennial as existed at the start of the 2011-2012 school year, or as may be amended by the board.”

The town council and many residents expressed desire to have a high school located within the boundaries of Cutler Bay for some time. Negotiations between town officials and the school board have been underway since last year.

The plan will use Cutler Ridge as a Lower Academy, primarily comprised of grades 6 and 7, and to use Centennial as an Upper Academy. It is expected that there ultimately will be at least 600 student stations for grades 9 through 12 at Centennial, including iPrep.

 The town will pay $450,000 to the school district for the establishment of an iPrep Academy for approximately 100 student stations at the Upper Academy campus for a three-year period.

 Cutler Bay also will make a one-time capital investment of up to $2 million to establish four new state-of-the-art science laboratories for the senior high school program and ancillary site work improvements at the Upper Academy campus.

Phase 1 will involve remodeling at Centennial to include four science labs or classrooms, as well as the conversion of classrooms to the iPrep Academy and creating a separate campus entry for Upper Academy students. This is expected to be completed by August of this year. Phase 2 will be limited to select remodeling or renovation of instructional spaces at Cutler Ridge, subject to additional funding, and is expected to be substantially completed by August 2013


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