STATEMENTS MADE BY DEMETRIO PEREZ, JR. REGARDING STUDY INCLUDING DCPS
STATEMENTS MADE BY DEMETRIO PEREZ, JR., VICE CHAIR OF THE MIAMI-DADE COUNTY SCHOOL BOARD, IN RESPONSE TO A NATIONAL STUDY, INCLUDING MIAMI-DADE COUNTY PUBLIC SCHOOLS.
A national Study highlighting the increase in poverty and overcrowding in our schools as part of the educational deficiencies of our area was released today. This document considers Miami to be the 5th poorest city in the nation. In light of this, I feel that it is necessary to restate the goals that I have proposed since my election to the Miami-Dade County School Board. These projects coincide in great part with the needs that this study identifies. These findings are the same ones that I, without a great investments, originally discovered and proposed in my campaign. I gathered this data through personal visits with the residents of Miami-Dade and the more than 25,000 people who supported my platform: Dade Educational Challenge '96.
The 270 page national study states the need for smaller schools that would permit more direct contact with families; the importance of moral and financial support from the State; the need for more flexible regulations that ease procedures; greater educational competition through new alternatives; reducing the number of children per classroom; as well as the creation of more preschool programs among other issues.
Although the reality of poverty is unfortunate, we cannot blame the school system for its increase, which has been widely recognized and presents a challenge for all of us to meet and defeat.
I want to state that I have insisted and worked together to overcome those deficiencies from our first day in office. Tho those realities we can also add the reality of violence in our schools, which we are adopting stricter measures in an effort to eradicate said malady. We also have to take into consideration the fact that a significant number of our students come from 150 other countries, and speak among them speak 80 different languages. In their acculturation process, they are at a disadvantage when it comes to national tests.
I have also insisted on the need for countrywide textbooks, without infringing upon individual teacher’s academic liberty to utilize outside resources to supplement their lessons. This proposal requires an amendment of state statutes due to the severity of existing regulations when it comes to the acquisition of textbooks. Currently, public schools are only allowed to purchase their basic textbooks from one distributor in Jacksonville.
We need to give early childhood programs the attention that they deserve. This issue was well documented and recognized at our recently Early Childhood conference session. We also need more flexibility from the State so that the resources that we receive locally can be utilized to their maximum potential with a minimal investment encouraging competition, austerity and creativity.
Those are precisely the basic objectives that motivated my candidacy for the Miami-Dade County School Board. Today, a national study highlights these same objectives. I will not cease to repeat and work for these goals, as I have been doing since November 19, 1996, when I was installed into office.