Incoming superintendent hears Coral Gables concerns over crowded classes, staffing and traffic

By Coral Gables Gazette staff

Rafael Villalobos is on the verge of becoming the superintendent for the third largest school district in the United States. But last week, the incoming superintendent, who is scheduled to officially take over the top spot in early September, was a guest at the Coral Gables School Community Relations Committee’s August 21 meeting.

And in case he didn’t know some of the challenges that lay before him, he is sure to know now. That’s because Villalobos had a front-row seat to the challenges confronting local schools, from shrinking enrollment and staffing shortages to overcrowded classes and funding pressures.

The complaints were pointed, but hardly hostile. Parents and committee members repeatedly acknowledged the larger forces confronting Miami-Dade County Public Schools, including declining enrollment, competition from charter and private schools and financial constraints. But they also made clear that those challenges are having very real effects in classrooms.

Crowded classes put teachers in ‘triage’

Michelle, a parent and former educator, said she was concerned about the size of classes, particularly in elective courses. Her second-grade daughter is among students affected by the changes, she said, and she was speaking not only as a parent but as someone who had spent 10 years teaching in high school.

When classes reach 35 or 40 students, Michelle said, the focus shifts from teaching to managing the classroom. “It no longer becomes a class where you’re focused on content, it becomes a logistical problem,” she said, adding that teachers wind up “running triage” rather than concentrating on instruction.

Another parent, Elizabeth , who spoke on Zoom, said she has children at Sunset Elementary and Carver Middle School, and raised a different issue affecting many Coral Gables families: traffic and parking around Sunset Elementary, which is located just outside the city but draws many Gables students.

Elizabeth said families have dealt with worsening traffic and parking problems since she enrolled her children at the school in 2019. She said parents face daily difficulties getting children to and from school, while residents also have to contend with limited parking and code enforcement.

Staffing arrangement raises questions at Gables Prep

Committee member Miguel Vias then described a staffing issue involving Coral Gables Preparatory Academy and Silver Bluff Elementary. Gables Prep went from 18 homerooms in grades 2 through 5 to 15 this year, while Silver Bluff has eight homerooms in those grades. The schools were paired to share teachers, including teachers in special-area subjects such as music and Spanish. Vias questioned whether a better pairing could have been found that would not place an additional burden on the larger school.

Vice Chair Cecilia Slesnick said she understood that Silver Bluff deserved quality arts and language teachers, but questioned whether the arrangement was inadvertently hurting Gables Prep, a community-based K-8 school competing not only with other public schools but also charter and private schools.

She said a music teacher at Gables Prep gave up a planning period and lunch to split a class of more than 40 students after children had been sitting on the classroom floor. Slesnick said the situation could ultimately encourage families with the means to leave public schools.

Enrollment losses drive the squeeze

School Board Chair Mari Tere Rojas acknowledged that the meeting had produced an unusual amount of public comment, saying there were “a lot of boiling issues” percolating. She also explained that staffing levels can shift as enrollment figures stabilize, with another round of staffing allocations coming in October.

Rojas also put the local complaints in a broader context, pointing to declining enrollment, competition from charter schools and private schools, vouchers and other alternatives to traditional public education. She said the district must confront the reasons students are leaving while advocating more aggressively for funding in Tallahassee.

After Rojas introduced Villalobos, he appeared receptive to the concerns, saying he was glad to hear them because they would help the district “do things better” and promised to investigate the specific issues.

Villalobos promises a closer look

On the Sunset traffic problem, he said he would speak with the principal and have the district’s safety team conduct a traffic review. On the overcrowded elective classes, he said the situation concerned him, particularly reports of students sitting on the floor, and promised to determine why staffing calculations had produced such large classes.

Villalobos also acknowledged the fundamental problem underlying many of the complaints: enrollment drives funding. As enrollment declines, he said, schools can lose staffing and special-area teachers may have to be shared. He said he would review the Gables Prep-Silver Bluff arrangement and determine whether it made sense.

“We are in a different time,” Villalobos said, citing declining birth rates, the lack of immigrants coming into the country and Miami-Dade, affordability and competition from vouchers, charter schools, private schools, homeschooling and other alternatives. But he said the district could overcome those challenges – provided it confronts its problems honestly.

“I’m glad that I’m here today,” Villalobos said. “I’m glad that I was able to come to this meeting, and I can listen to you, and listen to these concerns, because I need to address them.”

Author: Coral Gables Gazette News Staff