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SCHOOL BOARD TO DISCUSS CONVERSION OF MIAMI – Downtown commuters would get a new middle school option through a proposal the Miami-Dade County School Board plans to discuss regarding the conversion of Ada Merritt Elementary School to a K-8 Center at its Wednesday, Aug. 17 meeting. Ada Merritt Elementary, which reopened in 2003 as Miami-Dade County Public Schools’ first “commuter school” near downtown, is slated to add grades six, seven, and eight under a proposal made by the Parent Teacher Association (PTA), and Educational Excellence School Advisory Committee (EESAC) of Ada Merritt Elementary. The plan for converting the school would allow the continuation of the school’s unique International Studies/International Baccalaureate programs into the middle years. The conversion would also extend the District’s foreign language initiative. Current language course offerings include Spanish and Portuguese. Currently, the school serves more than 300 students in grades pre-kindergarten through 4. Next year the school is slated to expand to fifth grade. If the conversion is approved, sixth grade will be added in the 2007-2008 school year, and seventh and eighth grades will be added in subsequent years. The projected population of the proposed K-8 Center would be 728, taking into account the state’s class-size reduction requirements. ### 05-LJG/026/DF |
