School & District Management

Dade Backs Boarding School for Troubled Boys

By Beth Reinhard — March 05, 1997 3 min read
  • Save to favorites
  • Print

The Dade County, Fla., school district is seeking state money to build a first-of-its-kind boarding school for boys who are likely to get into trouble with the law.

The school board in the 340,000-student district approved a plan for the boarding school on Feb. 19. A bill authorizing four pilot boarding schools was expected to be introduced in the Florida House this week. The bill will not identify prospective locations, but its sponsors are eyeing Dade County, Tampa, Orlando, and Jacksonville.

“We think it’s a good idea to put money into prevention instead of waiting for kids to go through the juvenile-justice system,” said Rep. J. Alex Villalobos, the chairman of the criminal-justice-appropriations committee and a co-sponsor of the bill.

“If we make an investment up front,” the Dade County Republican said, “we think we’ll see a reduction in crime.”

At-Risk Youths Targeted

The boarding school in Dade County, which includes Miami, would be for boys ages 11 to 14 who have never been arrested but who fit an “at risk” profile to be developed by the district.

Red flags would include poverty, living with a single parent, low test scores, truancy, and disciplinary actions, said Associate Superintendent Russ Wheatley.

Enrollment would be voluntary. The school would accommodate about 200 students; Mr. Wheatley estimated that 2,000 to 3,000 boys would be eligible. Boys considered the most vulnerable would get preference for the school, which would operate five days a week.

Identifying boys as potential juvenile delinquents worries Frederica Wilson, one of two school board members who voted against the proposal. She views the proposed boarding school as a foster home or orphanage, and said she thinks poor children would be unfairly targeted.

“Just because a child is at-risk doesn’t mean he’s bad,” Ms. Wilson said last week. “Are we going to take a child who misses school because he doesn’t have shoes away from his family?”

The state needs more homes for juvenile delinquents, not for children who haven’t committed crimes, she added.

The number of Dade County youths charged with violent crimes rose nearly 10 percent between 1991 and 1996, according to the district.

Legal Concerns

Mr. Wheatley said he proposed limiting the school to boys because they commit the vast majority of juvenile crimes.

That could bring opposition from the American Civil Liberties Union of Florida. The group’s executive director, Robyn Blumner, said last week that publicly financed single-sex education is discriminatory.

In the past, the ACLU has successfully challenged proposals for single-sex schools in other cities.

The district would ask the state to pick up an estimated $10 million tab for construction as well as a $3 million annual contract to operate the residence portion of the school, Mr. Wheatley said.

He said the district would pay an estimated $1.1 million to run the classes.

While urban districts nationwide have experimented with alternative schools to help steady troubled or reckless children, the Dade County plan stands out because students would live away from home.

Heidi Goldsmith, the executive director of the International Center for Residential Education, a Washington-based nonprofit organization, said she knows of only one publicly financed residential school for disadvantaged children, the Scotland School for Veterans’ Children in Scotland, Pa. The school is only open to children who are family members of veterans.

Two similar projects--a proposed residence for students living in the nation’s largest public housing development in Chicago, and another in New York City--never got off the ground.

“Most places in the U.S. for at-risk youth are for residential treatment, where the emphasis is on an illness, not on education,” Ms. Goldsmith said. “Some students need 24-hour settings to be able to learn and turn their lives around.”

Ms. Goldsmith suggested that Dade County should consider other sources of money for the boarding school, such as private donations.

“After money, the biggest challenge for schools like this is to send the right message to students,” Ms. Goldsmith said. “Don’t tell them they’re one step away from jail. Tell them they matter.”

Events

This content is provided by our sponsor. It is not written by and does not necessarily reflect the views of Education Week's editorial staff.
Sponsor
Budget & Finance Webinar
Innovative Funding Models: A Deep Dive into Public-Private Partnerships
Discover how innovative funding models drive educational projects forward. Join us for insights into effective PPP implementation.
Content provided by Follett Learning
Budget & Finance Webinar Staffing Schools After ESSER: What School and District Leaders Need to Know
Join our newsroom for insights on investing in critical student support positions as pandemic funds expire.
This content is provided by our sponsor. It is not written by and does not necessarily reflect the views of Education Week's editorial staff.
Sponsor
Student Achievement Webinar
How can districts build sustainable tutoring models before the money runs out?
District leaders, low on funds, must decide: broad support for all or deep interventions for few? Let's discuss maximizing tutoring resources.
Content provided by Varsity Tutors for Schools

EdWeek Top School Jobs

Teacher Jobs
Search over ten thousand teaching jobs nationwide — elementary, middle, high school and more.
View Jobs
Principal Jobs
Find hundreds of jobs for principals, assistant principals, and other school leadership roles.
View Jobs
Administrator Jobs
Over a thousand district-level jobs: superintendents, directors, more.
View Jobs
Support Staff Jobs
Search thousands of jobs, from paraprofessionals to counselors and more.
View Jobs

Read Next

School & District Management Quiz What Do You Know About the Most Influential People in School Districts? Take Our Quiz
Answer 7 questions about the superintendent profession.
1 min read
Image of icons for gender, pay, demographics.
Canva
School & District Management Opinion I Invited My Students to Be the Principal for a Day. Here’s What I Learned
When I felt myself slipping into a springtime slump, this simple activity reminded me of my “why” as an educator.
S. Kambar Khoshaba
4 min read
052024 OPINION Khoshaba PRINCIPAL end the year with positivity
E+/Getty + Vanessa Solis/Education Week via Canva
School & District Management The Complicated Fight Over Four-Day School Weeks
Missouri lawmakers want to encourage large districts to maintain five-day weeks—even as four-day weeks grow more popular.
7 min read
Calendar 4 day week
iStock/Getty
School & District Management From Our Research Center Principal Salaries: The Gap Between Expectation and Reality
Exclusive survey data indicate a gap between the expectations and the realities of principal pay.
4 min read
A Black woman is standing on a ladder and looking into the distance with binoculars, in the background is an ascending arrow.
iStock/Getty