Increase in School Population
Enrollment had increased by 214 students as of September 14, 2009 (is “2009” necessary?) for the 2009-2010 school year at Miami Beach Senior High School due to the national economic recession and MBSH’s educational developments and renovated facilities.
According to _____ Lopez, MBSH Registrar, about 35 students from private schools and about 42 students from charter schools contributed to this year’s school population of 2,148 students.
Rosann Sidener, MBSH Principal, attributes the population increase to, “a combination of things- the new building, the school grade, the increasing numbers of advanced academic classes, the International Baccalaureate program and the bad economy.”
Alix Braun, freshman, got an administrative transfer from the county in order to attend MBSH instead of Dr. Michael M. Krop High School and participate in the IB program.
According to the International Baccalaureate Organization’s website, “The International Baccalaureate offers high quality programs of international education to a worldwide community of schools.”
“We are [an IB] candidate school, said Sidener. “We have an authorization visit the first week in December and if they grant us status, we will be IB authorized to offer in August of 2010.”
According to Sidener, MBSH’s school grade increased by 144 points between 2007 and 2008, rising from a ‘D’ to a ‘B’.
Laurie Kaye Davis, parent of Catherine Davis, transferred her daughter from the private school Carrolton School of the Sacred Heart. “The fact that the school went from a D to a B significantly impacted my decision to give this a shot,” she said.
“[Private school transfers are also] thinking, ‘Why am I paying 25,000 dollars tuition when I’ve got a nice, brand new school down the street that’s a ‘B’ school and has great programs?’,” Sidener said.
“We’re not paying private school tuition,” said Davis, “and hopefully, [Catherine] will receive the same quality of education that she was [receiving] at Carrolton.”
In order to accommodate MBSH’s increased student population, “We had to open up 20 more classes after school started,” said Sidener. “A lot of teachers took on an additional class [during their planning time]. I’ve got quite a few teachers who are teaching 8 classes.”
[LUNCH SITUATION]
[affects]
(Looking forward: Nautilus and Magnet School, Building 8, affect on increase)
According to Martin Karp, Miami-Dade County Public Schools District Three School Board Member, county-wide enrollment has remained relatively stable. Between the 2008-2009 and 2009-2010 school years, the Dade County student population increased by only 0.02 percent, making MBSH is an exception to the county-wide trend.
