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

Yeah. Welcome to the Academics, Innovation, Evaluation, and Technology Committee meeting for August 5th, 2026. I now call to order the meeting. The time is now 1116. Before we get started, I'd like to state the committee membership. Dr. Dorothy Bendros-Mendigo is committee chair. She's unable to be here today, and so as your vice chair, I will be running the meeting. As members, we have Mr. Robert Alonzo, alternate members, Mr. Danny Espino, Ms. Luisa Santos, and then our ex-officio members, Madam Chair, Madam Vice Chair. Our first order of today's business is to approve the committee meeting minutes of July 15th. Any questions or concerns from my board?

No, move it. Second.

Second. Do I have a second? All in favor? Thank you. All right, next order of business will be to move the C items to the floor. Can I have a motion? Move it. A second? All in favor? Aye. Thank you. Our first, we have two C items. Ms. Diaz, take it away.

Thank you, Madam Chair. C1 is request for approval of the testing calendar for the 26-27 school year. Any questions or comments from the board members? Okay, Ms. Diaz next. Thank you, Madam Chair. C2 is requesting authorization to enter into contractual service agreements with six community agencies to operate programs for children with disabilities in an amount not to exceed $5,552,364, effective July 1 through June 30th, 2027.

Board members, any comments? Nope. Nope. Thank you, Ms. Diaz. I know those are items you bring to us every year. Next item, or next order of business will be to move the H items to the floor. Can I have a motion? All right, we do have a few H items. Madam Chair, the first one is yours. Oh, thank you. All in favor? Aye. All right. All right, Madam Chair, H3 is yours.

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 future of our workforce and our society, the district must ensure that our students have access to high quality instructional materials, well equipped science laboratories, sufficient instructional time, particularly at the elementary level. and meaningful hands-on experiences. One of the areas that I hope will be considered is the possibility of implementing the interdisciplinary approach to instruction, which would be very positive if done correctly with a collaboration of the science teacher or the PE teacher, music teacher, art teacher, and all the other special area teachers who could be involved in this process, therefore reinforcing science instruction throughout all of the different courses that are offered at our elementary schools. I've had conversations with reference to this with Ms. Diaz and looking forward once the item has been finalized to addressing this particular arena. Additionally, the districts should also be examining the effectiveness and opportunities for our educators the integration of online and digital learning resources, and other factors that may influence student achievement and engagement in the science arena. So basically, in summary, this agenda item is seeking to initiate a comprehensive review of the district's science education programs, the resources that are available, the instructional practices that we have in place in order to identify the areas of strength, but also to address the areas that need improvement. and ensure that all students are prepared for success in college and whatever careers they decide to embark on in an increasingly science and technology driven world. So, ultimately, we have to be proactive instead of being reactive so that our students can achieve, all of our students can achieve the proficiency levels that are required so that they can be successful in science. That's the item, my colleagues. Thank you. Any questions or comments?

Board Member Alonso?

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 we have to also go back and focus in on these areas. So thank you so much for bringing this up. And at the right time, I would like to co-sponsor. Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you, Board Member Alonso. Any other board members, questions or comments? I do have some comments and questions, and I'm glad I see Dr. Baglos, because one of the questions might be more appropriate for you to answer, but the other one, Ms. Diaz can start. I do recall, I want to say it was maybe last year, Board Member Colucci brought an item on having the labs at the elementary level schools, and I was just wondering to get an update where we are with that.

through the chair and thank you for that question yes we last year we established we were able to provide materials for schools for over 100 schools to to add dedicated labs and in most schools there was space in a few schools they they didn't they didn't have space so they were doing them in the classrooms and then we're actually doing that right now again we're taking an inventory to see the elementaries and the k-8s that have the dedicated and what additional materials they have so we can help them to supplement we worked with different organizations, we worked with education fund and some of the schools did donors choose and different grants and different things to make sure that we were stocking those labs and then as part of our plan for this year, we will be particularly in the schools that scored below district average on the assessments, we will be working to model inside of those labs so that not only are they there but that the teachers know how to properly use them when they bring their classes in and out. So we have a plan already. We've identified the schools that we're going to start with and then work our way through the others to make sure that they're utilizing them and that we help the schools build a schedule that is as efficient as possible in getting not just the fifth grade classes but the fourth grade and maybe even the third grade to go through the labs and model the labs for them so that they can replicate them confidently with their students.

That's great. So I think I've mentioned this before. I started off as a science teacher, but I didn't have a science degree. And so one of the things, just as a teacher, it's so important to make the subject relevant and exciting. And I think that's why I ask the questions about the labs, because when we talk about science, so much of it is so abstract that having that hands-on hopefully would help, Madam Chair, with some of the things that you have in your item. But I'm noticing a trend in some of the... in some of the other schools that I know, not necessarily in our district, and that's what I want to ask, it's becoming very difficult to find science teachers. And so I can't help but wonder if that's something that perhaps, I don't know, we might need to address in finding a way to attract scientists, right? to come into our teachers. So just kind of wondering where we are with that in science teachers. Is it hard to fill those positions, especially at the high school level?

Through the chair, it's an excellent question. High school science has historically been one of our more difficult to staff areas, particularly chemistry and physics.

Absolutely.

Are the two that historically are more challenging. Last year, I want to say you'll remember in the previous strategic plan, In fact, one of our goals for HR was to increase the number of qualified applicants, specifically in chemistry. And from what I recall, we met that goal. We did significantly increase the number of qualified candidates for our principals as a pool from which to choose for chemistry. But it is an area that we continue to focus on in terms of high school science. Now we're blessed, as you all know, recently we even had the TAP ceremony, the pinning ceremony. TAP has been an opportunity for us to bring on folks who have kind of degrees outside of the educational space, science being one of them. Miami Dade also provides science applicants for us in terms of folks who are going into education specifically for high school science. So that's been another pipeline that we've been leveraging recently. And then we also just historically have had a Teach Strong program with FIU where we focus on math and science candidates coming over and then working on a summer internship with us. So we've developed some additional pipelines, which I think is what helped us meet the goal as part of the previous strategic plan. But yes, it will continue to be an area of focus for us. OK.

I'm glad to hear that we already have some of those pipelines in place. Just from my experience, we're having a lot of turnover. We're getting a lot of young people who want to go to medical school, and they're teaching for a year or two. And we'll take it, because it's so hard to fill. So I was wondering what our status is with that. Thank you. All right. Cosponsors for the item? Can I get a motion?

Second. All in favor?

Motion to move the item as amended to the board meeting. A second? All in favor? Thank you. All right, item H4 is next. Madam Chair.

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 consideration. Miami-Dade County Public Schools proudly joins the nation in celebrating the national Hispanic Heritage Month. This is when we are recognizing the rich history, the vibrant cultures that we have, enduring contributions which have been made by Hispanic Americans to our community and to our nation. As one of the most culturally diverse school districts in the entire country, MDCPS embraces continuously the traditions, the achievements, and the values that have helped very much to shape South Florida and enrich the educational experiences for our students. Reflecting the community it serves, We have approximately 76% of our district student population identifying as Hispanics, making this observance especially meaningful as we celebrate the heritage and the experiences of the majority of the students and their families. This year's theme is Unidos Somos Mas, Together We Are More. And this reflects the power of unity, of collaboration, and a shared purpose. It celebrates the strength in our diversity and reminds us that by working together, we build stronger schools, empower future generations, and again, we create a more inclusive and vibrant community. This agenda item recognizes Hispanic Heritage Month and reaffirms the district's commitment to honoring the heritage, the accomplishments, and lasting impact of Hispanic students, families, educators, staff, and our community leaders throughout Miami-Dade County, Florida.

Thank you, colleagues. This is my item. Thank you, Madam Chair. Thank you. I know you bring this item every year. Definitely something that we want to continue recognizing. Any comments? Co-sponsors? Motion? Second. All in favor? All right. Can I get a motion to move it as amended to the board meeting? Second. All in favor? Aye. Thank you. Next H item is H8 from Vice Chair Colucci. Thank you.

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 amount of bravery and the heroic acts that went into saving lives on that day. You had people who ran, first responders that ran into that building to save lives and I remember clearly I was teaching and my class was in PE and all of a sudden I start getting calls, this was a long time ago, through the intercom So and so is going home. So and so is going home. Can you send her to the office? And I said, well, they're in PE right now. And the next thing you know, all of the students were being picked up by their parents. That was the amount of fear that was going through our community and our nation. So I think it's very important that part of this day we commemorate and we also remember the heroic acts of our first responders, of our nation, and the call that we have to always remember that. So I respectfully ask my colleagues to support this. It's that the School Board of Miami-Dade County, Florida commemorate the 25th anniversary and remembrance of the September 11th 2001 terrorist attacks on the United States of America. And that is the item. Thank you.

Chair Rojas, you have some comments?

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 outcomes that still today are being seen by first responders. who now because of what they did have had cancer and other health related issues because of the amount of time and effort that they had to put into the recovery process as well. So we have schools and I happen to have one school in particular that's South Miami High School that does an exemplary job on an annual basis teaching the students and showing them what happened on that day because you're right Vice Chair Colucci a lot of these children weren't they were not even born they don't even know what really occurred except some here and there that might have heard stories when they look at the video that I look at every year I cry every year when you look at that video it is It's so impressive. It is something that's impactful to a level that I can't even explain. Because it shows the human aspect and how many families lost their children, their siblings, their parents, members of the family and friends. It is horrific. And it shows you, now I am X years old and my dad or my mom could not attend my wedding, could not attend my graduation, could not see my first child being born. could not be here as grandparents. I mean, it is truly an impactful video that we see. Mr. Superintendent and Dr. Lewis, you've been together with me. And I hope that more schools, and I don't know if they do or not, and possibly they do, but I hope, Mr. Superintendent, that a lot of schools, as our vice chair is proposing in her item, really do remember that day. because it's a day that will go down and infinity will never be forgotten. So thank you, I'd like to be Vice Chair at the proper moment, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Any other comments or questions? Thank you, Vice Chair Colucci, for bringing that item last year and again this year, extremely important. Can I get a sign for co-sponsors? Move it. All in favor? Aye. Motion to move it as amended to the board meeting. All in favor? Aye. Thank you. Our next item is H9. Board Member Espino.

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 the American experiment. And they often say that the amazing thing about America is its people. The amazing thing about the founders and the people that founded our country were people that lived under oppression. And how many people that have lived under oppression have come through Miami-Dade County? So I find that there's a tremendous amount of similarity between the context the founding fathers developed the American experiment and people coming to this country and the spirit continues. So the idea is to, in the same way that Vice Chair Colucci mentioned, imbuing our students with history, imbuing our students with civic history and American history, by the events that are identified, certainly throughout the month of September. I think it was successful last year, and the idea is to build on it for this year as well. That's the item.

Thank you, Board Member Espino. Any comments? Vice Chair Capucci?

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.

Thank you, any other comments? Okay, motion for co-sponsorships? Move it. All in favor? Aye. Motion to move it as amended to the board meeting? Move it. All in favor? Aye. Thank you. The next item is my item, H11. I brought this forth last year to recognize and observe September as a Childhood Cancer Awareness Month in all of Miami-Dade County Public Schools. That is the month that this is nationally recognized, given that who we serve is children, and cancer, sadly, is the leading cause of disease-related death in children in the United States. I just think it's important, and I keep tying back with our new strategic plan and that portrait of a graduate. We talked about developing a student who is compassionate, community-centered, and understands the needs of their community. It's so important to highlight these things for them, make them aware of other children who are suffering and how they can be there to support them. It's not just highlighting the tragedy, but how community can come together to support. So the item asked to recognize September as Childhood Cancer Awareness Month in all of the schools. to authorize a superintendent of schools in collaboration with the Office of Community Partners, Education, and Business Access to engage with the local organization and entities with a mission to spread awareness of childhood cancer such as, but not limited to, Live Like Bella, Nicholas Children's Hospital, the Children's Cancer Fund, Sophia's Hope, and Sebastian Strong Foundation to raise awareness. And I believe a few of those did participate last year. Some of those are even connected to or headed to other members of our own MDCPS family. And then three, to direct the superintendent to provide a report to the board as to how the schools participated, how many schools and the community partners that were able to be involved. I'll take any questions or comments.

Co-sponsor. Okay.

A second? Second. All in favor? Aye. Motion to move it as amended to the board meeting?

Move it.

All in favor? Thank you. Any new business from board members? Yes, Madam Chair. Thank you, Madam Chair.

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.

through the chair uh i don't actually have those numbers with me i usually try to predict the questions that the board is going to ask i did not bring those but it did conclude on july 21st um the the k-8 portion the students that the high school students that participate through adult ed mr mantilla shop they ended a week earlier um i'm drawing a blank right now on the numbers but we certainly share those the students did test the third graders i shared that last at last committee were testing and so we're in the process of those that passed the assessment, making sure that they're promoted to fourth grade and going through that so that they're ready to begin in the appropriate grade level. I apologize, I don't have those counts, but we can certainly share those.

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?

Through the chair, yes, I'm trying to remember. I think it was approximately 10,000 students that attended and participated through. If I may, one second. Approximately, that was the number, about 10,000. We had 47 sites open for the different programming, and that was roughly the number that participated.

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.

So Ms. Rojas, yes, the one thing that I want to provide clarity is that we had multiple schools in a summer center. And what we try to do, the most successful thing is done is the summer site principal tries to hire teachers from those particular schools that are going to be part of that center. So and your question was, was there a match? In these 47 centers, we have multiple schools within each center, okay? And you know, the attendance for the summer I know that they monitor it very well, and usually the students that do not show up for the first couple of days, they will not show up for the rest of the day. So that's typically the pattern of the past. We will be looking at that this year, but what we used to experience, I know you're probably talking about what happened in the past, they would just come in like three times a week. Those were the days where we had summer school was lengthier. We had many more weeks. Our summer schools now are very targeted and not like many, many years ago where it was longer and all type of options were provided. So I think the attendance issue has been much more stable versus what maybe you and I have experienced from the past because summer school looks completely different. it is more targeted, it is more specific, and there is a heavy, heavy focus on the rising third graders in the elementary school. But we can get back to you on patterns of attendance school to school. Do you have that, Mike?

Yes, I do, sir. Through the chair, Ms. Rojas, in reference to the question about enrollment, third grade, we had over 18,034, and... I'm sorry, 1,834. Thank you, Ms. Diaz. In reference to attendance, like the superintendent said, we've gotten pretty good at it. Pretty much those students that were identified to attend summer school, pretty much it was a requirement because there are courses that they needed to take to move forward coming into next year. So from an attendance standpoint, it was pretty solid. When I use the word solid, attendance were monitored on a daily basis, but more importantly, Um, the, um, students were very consistent when it came down to attending schools and like the superintendent also reference, um, normally the very first two days that they've missed, they automatically get dropped. Um, just time around, we were very proactive in the sense that we were making sure on a daily basis that those that were required to be there, that they were in attendance. And if, if not, we were making, um, doing an outreach, making sure that they know that they had to be in school. And it was very comprehensive if I must say so myself.

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.

Yes, thank you. So through the chair, yes. So I wanted to just, if I may say one thing to add to what the superintendent said. We did this year consolidate the sites where we opened mostly K-8s, and I just wanted to point out and thank the team in transportation because they, being able to bring students from so many different sites into one, It was really superbly organized and they turn it over in a really quick amount of time because it's only a week or two between the end of school and when summer begins. And so having the students centralized in the K-8 centers allowed us to have more supervision because we had a lot of different, the principals from all the different schools could be there. and we had all the different grade levels, including ESY, and that is another large group, as you know, that normally has very strong attendance, because the students, they need to come, they need to receive their services and so on, so in the grade three, we had just about, shy of 2,000, like Dr. Lewis said, we had 1834, and then overall, for all the programs, we had about 13,000 students. in all of the different programs combined. I'm waiting for a number about the grade three to come in in one second. So of the students that were enrolled, 33% of those passed.

33%.

And again, these are the children that are struggling. So the fact that we were able to bring another third of them up, they've already had multiple opportunities. They've had the PMs. They've had the AP3. They've had many different opportunities. So the fact that a third of them additionally passed is strong. Obviously, we'll continue working with them. They do have the opportunity again to promote after PM1. So what we used to call mid-year promotion is no longer in January. The state kind of moved it up a little bit, which makes sense, right? Like promoting a student in the mid-year is harsh because they're behind on the math side because they haven't been doing the grade level math. So the state wisely moved that up. So after PM1, which starts, the window starts the very first day of school and runs through the end of September, students that achieve the appropriate score there can be promoted to fourth grade as well. So there's still one more opportunity, and that would be like the fifth or sixth time. for them, so to answer in a very long-winded way the question, we saw very strong attendance because the students that are participating as the superintendent said were very targeted. So we had like the pre-K bridge students, we had the ESY, we had the rising third, we had the retained third, and then of course the middle grades and the senior high that are doing course and credit promotion, recovery, sorry, they need that to promote. So we see strong attendance in those programs. And the other students, I do also want to say, thanks to my colleague, Dr. Lewis, in the principal-operated camps and our partner camps, we had students also participating. We had an academic framework that we provided to those camps for the students to still get enrichment and other opportunities when they're participating in the camps. So that was something else for families that maybe they wanted their kids to have a different setting, but not necessarily school all day, but we still made sure that there was literacy activities. We put a reading framework in and also a technology component that they could use different times during the day, if it's a rainy day, after lunch, at arrival, at dismissal, so that the camps had academic pieces as well, even though it wasn't a full day of summer.

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.

Through the chair, as of yesterday. With our 150 that we welcomed. Those are the new teachers. And we were very happy to see them this week at new teacher induction. But vacancies yesterday, we were just under 200 total. However, we were still in the process of placing surplus and also in the process of still hiring. So we expect that number to continue to reduce as we head into the start of school.

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?

Mr. Superintendent, you answer.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I need Dawn to, Dr. Bagels, to clarify that number because sometimes we report vacancies, and number one, when we say, where are the vacancies? You have core area classes versus others, right? And then some vacancies are not necessarily attached to students because right now, as a result of our enrollment, some of our principals are being a little bit cautious about hiring in the event that the students don't materialize. So Don, you want to break that down a little bit further because I want to make sure that we have an understanding of, and that's the issue, right? The state asks us for vacancies and vacancies have all these different parameters. So what our staffers do is although our system throws out a number, they break down through phone calls to each school what each vacancy represents. So if you can just give them, and then Madam Chair, Madam Chair, regarding the first day of school, first week of school, second week of schools, we have an immediate deployment plan planned out. We're getting really good at doing that. We were very effective last year. Dawn and her team have done an amazing job how they brought everybody together. And so we'll be prepared to do the same. We are prepared to do the same.

Thank you. Dr. Baglos, go ahead. Through the chair, thank you, Dr. Dutris. And yes, I gave the global number. But if I look and I break it down according to what the principals tell us are positions that are attached to students, right? Not just all of their positions. We have 45, 45 vacancies in core subject areas that are attached to students where we need a teacher placed. But as of yesterday, like I said, we were still placing surplus. So we feel very confident heading into the opening of school that the number is going to continue to reduce in terms of a vacancy where we have a class of students.

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

43 vacancies for? Attached to students. So the number, if I look at schedules attached to students, We are below 100 between core and sped, right, special education. Below 100 with still a week to go and still surplus to be placed. So if I may clarify, it's 45 gen ed and 43 sped?

Special education. Or the 43 of the 45 are sped? 45 core and 43 special education. Madam Chair, were you done? If not, I'd like to ask some follow-ups. Thank you.

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

How many teachers currently are surplus that you're looking to place? Yesterday afternoon, we were down to 60 to be placed. And the team is working today. Right. They've been working every day. So assuming they're accepting, we're down to about 30 spots. And hires have begun. They're in the process of hiring. Okay.

Thank you. Madam Chair, did you have any further questions? No, ma'am. Thank you. Okay. Anyone else? A new business? Okay. We all received the ETO update from Dr. Tri Diggs. Any questions on that? Thank you, as always, for that update. Well, if there is nothing else to be discussed, I make a motion to adjourn today's meeting.

Move it.