— Commencing with the New School Year —
Today, the City of Miami Beach and Miami-Dade County School Board have authorized placement of Miami Beach Police Officers at all public schools located within the urban-island — making it the first municipality in the County to reach this agreement.
“It is our hope that dedicated law enforcement will be integrated into the fabric of the school community, and be a positive, reassuring force for our youth,” said Mayor Dan Gelber. “We look forward to protecting the sanctity of our local public schools through this partnership.”
The City of Miami Beach will be fully funding the cost of officers and coverage will include South Pointe Elementary, Fienberg Fisher K-8, North Beach Elementary, Biscayne Elementary, Nautilus Middle School and Miami Beach Senior High School.
Miami-Dade Superintendent of Schools Alberto M. Carvalho attended today’s City Commission meeting and thanked the Mayor & Commission for being first in line in making a commitment to not only Miami-Dade Public Schools, but to the youth in our community.
“School-based law enforcement officers are invaluable to the school community,” said Superintendent Carvalho. “School and student engagement with police departments facilitate problem-solving, crime prevention, and critical dialogue related to appropriate student behaviors and to campus security and safety. The partnership with the Miami Beach Police Department demonstrates our continued mission of providing a safe learning and teaching environment for students, teachers, and staff. We look forward to formalizing similar agreements with all local municipalities in the coming weeks.”
“What we are seeing today is a greater level of cooperation from our stakeholders specifically at the school site. Now, more than ever, when students, teachers and parents are privy to information they are quick to share it with us, which helps our district tremendously,” added Miami-Dade County School Board Vice Chair Dr. Martin Karp.
