Academics, Innovation, Evaluation, and Technology Committee - Regular Meeting

Yes, thank you very much, Madam Chair. And H3 is science education in Miami-Dade County public schools. While Miami-Dade County Public Schools continues truly to demonstrate strong performance on state science assessments, there's also definitely a need to reevaluate these results and to be able to target those skills and those standards that need enhancement or improvement. Therefore, it is important that the district regularly evaluate the quality, the effectiveness, and also the equity of science education across all of our grade levels. As science and technology continue to shape the futur

Thank you so much, Madam Chair, for bringing this great item. You know, we have to focus in on those core knowledge building roadblocks that our students have to really go through. So bringing science to the forefront, I think, is so important, especially in this world that, you know, so much is evolving, right? So I really appreciate you bringing that. And, you know, sometimes we lose focus on those core basics and going back to them and reminding ourselves. I myself have realized that as the past couple years has been a big focus on some of our high schools and some of our TTE programs, but

Thank you very much, Madam Chair. And H4 is school board endorsement of Hispanic Heritage Month in Miami-Dade County Public Schools from September 15, 2026 through October 15, 2026. And this is an agenda item that I've had the privilege of bringing before the board in previous years, and I'm absolutely honored to be able to present it one more time. Its continued recognition truly reflects our shared commitment to celebrating the important contributions and the achievements which it represents. And I am very proud to reaffirm that commitment by bringing this item forward to the board for their

Thank you Madam Chair and this item I brought forth last year and I bring it forth again because this year is the 25th anniversary and remembrance of the attacks on September 11th on our country and I I'm pretty sure all of us in this room can remember exactly where they were, what they were doing on that day, because it was one that was just, will go down in history, but many of our students, not all of them, because they're graduating at 18, 17, 18, they weren't even born. So I think it's imperative that we commemorate that, teach our students about that, and also make them realize the amoun

Yes. Thank you so much, Madam Vice Chair, for bringing this item. Absolutely. This is a day that we'll never forget. And actually, I was right here, right here, downtown building. I know exactly who was in that room with me when we first started getting the news, and it was terrifying. because it started with one situation, went over to another, another, and all of a sudden everybody is talking about the entire country being under attack. I am very happy to see that we continue to teach our students about the horror that occurred on that day, but the bravery that occurred on that day and the o

Thank you, Madam Chair. And sort of connected to Vice Chair's item, this is the second year we bring forward what we call American Founders Month and September Civic Observances, which includes Patriot Day, as now we know, September 11th. As I mentioned last year, a young man named Daniel Ferrer approached me at an event and said to me, you know, it was very compelling to hear a young man say, we don't do enough in our civics to teach the founding fathers their history and how they made our country. And I just finished watching. I was binging. I was binging a lot of Netflix on the founding of

Thank you, thank you Madam Chair and Board Member Espino, the maker of the item, I love this item. Anytime that we emphasize our history of our nation, anytime that we promote civic responsibility is something that I'll always support. I remember when I was in the classroom teaching on Constitution Day, we would do a very extensive lesson on the preamble. of the Constitution and the students had to actually memorize it. And I think that's something that's so important that our students know and that they understand. So thank you for bringing the item. I look forward to co-sponsoring it.

I'd like to have Ms. Diaz or Mr. Superintendent give us an update on the status of how our summer school program went this year through the chair.

Yes, through the chair, that's okay. You can get back to us. But I also would like to know, how was the attendance of the students that were eligible to participate in the summer program? Because sometimes you have a number of students that are enrolled and then they don't show up half the time. So can anyone answer that?

Okay, thank you, so if you could follow up with the exact information for me, and through the chair, I really wanna know if they were in the schools that they were registered to attend, was there consistent attendance throughout that time, or was it students showing up for two days, and not going for three days and that kind of thing. So I just want to see if the attendance was fulfilled by those who were supposed to participate during the summer period. Mr. Superintendent, you're recognized.

Thank you. So through the chair, I have two more questions and I'm done. So through the chair, the productivity for those students that were required to be there, for example, for graders that were not able to succeed passing the assessment, doing the portfolios and all of that. How was the success rate? And this I think would be probably going more to Ms. Diaz in reference to those students that had to be there so that ultimately they could be promoted to the next grade level through the chair.

Thank you so much. I appreciate that response. And my last question, Madam Chair, if I may. We're opening up within a blink of an eye. This question is more related to our classrooms. Do we have certified teachers assigned to our classrooms? And if we don't, I know you're smiling because I ask this question every year. If we don't, how many classes are still, right now, pending assignments? Through the chair.

Thank you, so through the chair to Mr. Superintendent, for day one when we open up classes, we do have, we used to call them teachers on special assignment, now they're the CC, we call them CCS, that are certified. Are they going to be deployed to schools on day one so that parents can go and see an actual teacher and not a substitute teacher in those classrooms?

Thank you. Through the chair, ESE classes? 43 through the chair.

Yeah, just the fact that that's eye-opening.