In the battle over a piece of land between Miami-Dade County Public Schools and the private Centner Academy, one side surrendered Thursday at the Miami City Commission meeting.
“It’s surreal that we’re trying to fight so hard to give our money away,” David Centner said to the commission. “We’re pulling out.”
Pulling out, he said, of an agreement with the city to build an indoor sports facility on a city park that is across the street from his school. It’s called Biscayne Park now, which Centner Academy uses as its physical education field.
A few years ago, the school district had an agreement with the city to use that same land. They were going to build a new iPrep Academy, workforce housing, and park space on the site. The city, however, switched gears and agreed to the Centner proposal, which included a $10 million “donation” to the city, use of the park facilities by Centner students, and also the right to use the park for private, for-profit events.
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“I just want to reiterate we’re no longer in a desire to donate, donate, $10 million to the city,” Leila Centner said the commission.
The Centners watched dozens of iPrep parents, wearing pink shirts with “Public Land for Public Schools” emblazoned on them, criticize their plan during the public comment period of the meeting.
“And I want everyone to know that we’re not backing away,” said Dorothy Bendross-Mindingall, one of two school board members who attended the meeting.
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The board members and the superintendent came to press their case to revive the original plan for the land.
“We here, everybody, we stand in support of these parents,” said board member Lucia Baez-Geller. “We are the heart and soul of this community, and so we need this project, which would be so impactful to so many.”
“I believe this is a great time to be inclusive and begin to work together again,” added the superintendent, Dr. Jose Dotres.
iPrep is a public, K-12 magnet school in downtown Miami, housed in a former administration building. It has a 1,500-student waiting list, and badly needs a real school building. The Centners say the area also badly needs sports facilities, but they are bailing out of the project.
“It’s just been a process that’s been demoralizing, and frankly, we’ve had it,” David Centner said to reporters.
Touting their philanthropic endeavors, Leila Centner added, “We enjoy taking care of our community, that’s what we do, if the media and everyone else wants to put this negative twist on it, then we’re out, we don’t care.”
Commissioner Miguel Gabela sponsored the motion to kill the deal with the Centners, in part because his predecessor, Alex Diaz de la Portilla, is facing corruption charges directly tied to that deal.
“What I would like to see happen is that the school board, cooperating with us, we’re all gonna work together to provide affordable housing, to provide a bigger space for the iPrep kids, more students, so it’s a win-win for everybody,” Gabela said.
The city commission voted unanimously to cancel the deal with the Centners, but they would still have to change the zoning on the land to allow a new school and workforce housing to be built there.
The Centners pledged to fight any project for that land other than a park.
