Miami Central High School

Miami Central High School
Address
1781 NW 95th Street
West Little River, Florida 33147
United States
Coordinates 25°51′42″N 80°13′42″W / 25.86178°N 80.2283°W / 25.86178; -80.2283Coordinates: 25°51′42″N 80°13′42″W / 25.86178°N 80.2283°W / 25.86178; -80.2283
Information
Type Public
Motto ad astra per aspera
(to the stars through adversity)
Established 1959
School district Miami-Dade County Public Schools
Principal Gregory Bethune
Teaching staff 123 (FTE)
Grades 9–12
Enrollment 1,926 (2012-2013)
Student to teacher ratio 15.66
Campus Urban
Color(s) Green, White         
Nickname Rockets
Website miamicentral.dadeschools.net
[1][2]

Miami Central Senior High School, commonly referred to as Central Rockets, is a secondary school located at 1781 NW 95th Street in West Little River, Miami-Dade County, Florida, United States.[3] Its current principal is Gregory Bethune.

Miami Central opened its doors in 1959. Its school mascot and colors were chosen in honor of NASA and the inception of its space program, which was an event at the time of the school's opening.

In the early 1990s, the school acquired a computer science magnet program, placed as part of the district's initiative to devote school space to certain magnet programs so as to attract minority students to less diverse schools.

The school serves most of the northern fringes of the city of Miami, as well as parts of North Miami, Opa-locka, the village of Miami Shores, and the village of El Portal.[4]

History

Kathleen McGrory wrote in 2009 that Miami Central was "historically beset by chronic truancy, declining enrollment, dispirited staff and general disrepair".[4] That year the school was under threat of being closed and/or having special programs taken away under federal mandates that would penalize the school for a sixth failure on the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test (FCAT); for the five previous consecutive years it had received "F" grades.[4]

In 2009 Doug Rodriguez, who previously served as the principal at Ronald W. Reagan/Doral High School, volunteered to become the principal of Miami Central.[4]

In 2010 the school was chosen to receive an American Recovery and Investment Act School Improvement Grant, because it had mostly ethnic minority children and had a low academic performance. President Barack Obama visited the school when he presented the SIG program to the American people.[5]

Demographics

The demographic breakdown of the 1,926 students enrolled for the 2012-2013 school year was:

80.7% of students were eligible for free or reduced lunch.[6]

As of 2009 there were 1,600 students, with 14% in special education and over 50% from low-income families.[4]

Notable alumni

Athletics

The school's main rival is Miami Northwestern High School. In 2009 McGrory stated that the football games, especially those against Northwestern, are well-attended, and that the students at Central "take pride in their marching band".[4]

Baseball

Basketball

Football

Gymnastics

Track and field

Academics

As part of the state's Accountability program, it grades a school by a complex formula that looks at both current scores and annual improvement on the Reading, Math, Writing and Science FCATs.

These are the school's grades by the year since the FCAT began in 1998:[7]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Miami Central High School - About Our School. Retrieved on 2009-05-21.
  2. ↑ http://nces.ed.gov/ccd/schoolsearch/school_detail.asp?Search=1&SchoolID=120039000596&ID=120039000596
  3. ↑ "West Little River CDP, Florida." U.S. Census Bureau. Retrieved on March 12, 2010.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 McGrory, Kathleen. "Principal strives to remake Miami Central High" (Archive). Miami Herald. March 8, 2009. Retrieved on January 11, 2016.
  5. ↑ Saunders, Theresa. "The Opportunity for Equity: School Improvement Grants" (Racism in American Institutions). In: Drakeford, Lillian Dowdell Ph.D. The Race Controversy in American Education. ABC-CLIO, July 28, 2015. ISBN 1440832641, 9781440832642. start: p. 283. cited: p. 286.
  6. ↑ http://nces.ed.gov/ccd/schoolsearch/school_detail.asp?Search=1&SchoolID=120039000596&ID=120039000596
  7. ↑ "Miami Central Senior High School 2013 Grade". Ledger Data. Retrieved September 7, 2013.
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