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New School Plans Respond to Crowding: Miami-Dade Public Schools Plans to Build a New Middle School and High School at Southwest 84th Street and 110th Avenue. MacArthur South Senior High Would

Posted on: Sunday, 25 June 2006, 15:00 CDT

By Ani Martinez, The Miami Herald

Jun. 25--Miami-Dade Public Schools has a plan to relieve crowding in Kendall with a new middle school and high school.

They will both be located on school-owned property at Southwest 84th Street and 110th Avenue, where MacArthur South Senior High is located.

The high school will hold about 1,600 students to relieve Killian and Palmetto high schools.

"We need to be sure we meet the class-size reduction amendment with the new school and the addition at Killian," said Carlos Fernandez, administrative director for Region 5.

This past school year, about 3,848 students attended Killian, which is bursting at the seams at 133 percent capacity with portables. Without those portables, it would be at 157 percent capacity, Fernandez said.

The new middle school will hold about 1,396 students and relieve Kenwood K-8 Center and Arvida and Glades middle schools.

Arvida, built for 1,300 students, was close to 1,800 this past year and expects 1,500 students next school year.

"Smaller usually is better," said Herbert Koross, principal at Arvida Middle. "If they build another middle school, the disadvantage is that you get paid with how many kids come to your school. It's a concern because you can't offer as much in your budget."

Although construction is tentatively planned for the 2007-08 school year, the date for opening has not been set.

"Until the planning phase is complete, this is very speculative," said Victor Alonso, construction officer for Miami-Dade County Public Schools. "We could find there are all kinds of issues with this site."

The school would first open with ninth grade and add one grade every fall, Fernandez said.

George Alexander, a board member of Kendall Acres West, a neighboring condo in the area, is concerned the MacArthur South High campus, which holds 200 students, will hold more than 2,000 students.

"I don't think they'll be able to do it," Alexander said. "There is no way of getting in and out except through 84th Street."

"You couldn't get that many buses in there," he said.

MacArthur South, an alternative high school whose students come from as far as Homestead to north of Flagler Street area, would be moved to Naranja or Princeton in South Miami-Dade, MacArthur South High Principal Steve Rummel said.

"To move us 20 miles south is not going to cause a problem," Rummel said.

Miami-Dade schools' last attempt, a middle school at Ron Ehman park on Southwest 112th Street and 97th Avenue, was taken off the agenda after neighbors complained.

"The school district doesn't reveal sites they may be interested in because they may boost the selling price," said John Schuster, Miami-Dade Schools spokesman.

Schuster said the increasing number of students in the area, as well as the expected growth, means new schools must be built.

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Copyright (c) 2006, The Miami Herald

Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.

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Source: The Miami Herald

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