The Village of Palmetto Bay conducted a meeting on Tuesday, Feb. 19, with representatives of Miami-Dade County Public Schools (MDCPS) for the purpose of discussing and signing a Memorandum of Understanding for school resource officers in the village.
Although already planned for this date, it fell shortly after the first anniversary of the shootings at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland.
Taking place in the village council chambers, the meeting was attended by MDCPS superintendent Alberto M. Carvalho, District 9 School Board representative Dr. Larry Feldman, MDCPS Chief of Police Edwin Lopez, Palmetto Bay Mayor Karyn Cunningham, Councilmember Marsha Matson, Village Police Commander Major Maria Guerra, roughly a dozen village police officers and Adrian Picado, a sixth grade student at Southwood Middle School, who spoke briefly before introducing Carvalho and Feldman.
Carvalho said how much he appreciated the village’s support to help protect the students.
“What we’re doing here today is incredibly powerful in terms of demonstrating this community’s commitment in collaboration with our school board, to ensure that what took place in Sandy Hook, Virginia Tech and Marjorie Stoneman Douglas never happens in Miami-Dade County,” Carvalho said. “Safety in schools is not a privilege, it’s a right, an assumption that should never be denied. Nothing is more important.”
Carvalho added, “We will become the first district in South Florida to open the school year with a professional law enforcement entity designated to every single school in Miami Dade. I believe that the rightful protectors of our schools ought to be those who are professionally trained to do so, law enforcement officers — police officers — not teachers, not security guards, not counselors with weapons, not coaches with weapons, but law enforcement entities.”
That brought applause from those gathered at the meeting. Then Dr. Feldman thanked everyone, especially the mayor and village staff, for their support. He praised the village for helping to provide an ideal and safe learning environment.
“Here in Palmetto Bay, it’s all about family,” Feldman said.
Mayor Cunningham proclaimed Feb. 19, 2019 as “Alberto Carvalho Day” in Palmetto Bay.
“We are taking the superintendent’s pledge of ‘Beyond the Promise’ very seriously, and there is nothing more important as a community than making sure our children are safe,” Cunningham said.
Southwood Middle School student Adrian Picado said after the meeting that he enjoyed participating in the important event.
“It felt good,” he said. “I got to see how much people care about the schools and us — the kids.”
