The beast that is Miami-Dade County Public Schools is awake and growling.
The nation's third-largest school district has its 350,000 student and 17,000 teachers back in the classrooms Thursday.
Superintendent Dr. Jose Dotres was set to pay a visit to Charles Drew k-8 after visiting American Senior High School.
“Is everybody happy to be back in school?," Dotres asked students. "Let’s try that again, is everybody happy to be back in school? I got a si over here!”
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American Senior High School Principal Stephen Papp had a positive outlook for the upcoming school year.
“It’s an exciting day, I know students are like, 'oh, I gotta go back to school,' but once they’re here, they’re excited, the teachers are excited, I’m excited," he said. "It’s gonna be a fantastic year here at American Senior High School.”
Dotres explained the importance of the first day of school to NBC6, saying that it matters that teachers and students begin the year with the 'best possible feeling.'
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“It takes a team of individuals across the board to create a school that’s inviting, the culture of schools are really important, and that’s what we’re trying to do," Dotres said. "We’re trying to build really good cultures where teachers feel validated, they feel supported, the potential of children are being acknowledged.”
He then added that teachers and faculty have to focus on educating and supporting student and not allowing the "narrative of the politics" to deviate them from that focus.
The superintendent was referring to the new laws which restrict what teachers can say in the classroom.
He was at a school with a large population of kids who are just learning English and Dotres said if any school district knows how to absorb immigrant students, it's Miami-Dade County.
The district has a policy of accelerating learning for those kids to boost their achievement as soon as possible.
