Miami Central opened in 1959. Its school mascot and colors were chosen in honor of NASA and the inception of its space program, which was an event at the time of the school's opening.
In the early 1990s, the school acquired a computer science magnet program, placed as part of the district's initiative to devote school space to certain magnet programs so as to attract minority students to less diverse schools.
Kathleen McGrory wrote in 2009 that Miami Central was "historically beset by chronic truancy, declining enrollment, dispirited staff and general disrepair".[5] That year the school was under threat of being closed and/or having special programs taken away under federal mandates that would penalize the school for a sixth failure on the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test (FCAT); for the five previous consecutive years it had received "F" grades.[5]
In 2009 Doug Rodriguez, who previously served as the principal at Ronald W. Reagan/Doral High School, volunteered to become the principal of Miami Central.[5]
In 2010 the school was chosen to receive an American Recovery and Investment Act School Improvement Grant, because it had mostly ethnic minority children and had a low academic performance. PresidentBarack Obama visited the school when he presented the SIG program to the American people.[6]
Demographics
The demographic breakdown of the 1,926 students enrolled for the 2012–2013 school year was:
Male – 60.3%
Female – 55.7%
Native American/Alaskan – 0.1%
Asian/Pacific islanders – 0.3%
Black – 85.7%
Hispanic – 25.7%
White – 0.5%
multiracial – >0.1%
80.7% of students were eligible for free or reduced lunch.[3]
Miami Central has a large Haitian student population.[citation needed]
As of 2009 there were 1,600 students, with 14% in special education and over 50% from low-income families.[5]
Academics
As part of the state's Accountability program, it grades a school by a complex formula that looks at both current scores and annual improvement on the Reading, Math, Writing and Science FCATs.
These are the school's grades by the year since the FCAT began in 1998:[7]
1998–1999: D
1999–2000: D
2000–2001: D
2001–2002: D (280 points)
2002–2003: D (283 points)
2003–2004: F (268 points)
2004–2005: F (264 points)
2005–2006: F (278 points)
2006–2007: F (351 points)
2007–2008: F (376 points)
2008–2009: D (417 points)
2009–2010: C
2010–2011: D
2011–2012: C
Athletics
The school's main rival is Miami Northwestern High School. In 2009 McGrory stated that the football games, especially those against Northwestern, are well-attended, and that the students at Central "take pride in their marching band".[5]
Notable alumni
Academic
William Cordova, Class of 1988 – Internationally accomplished Contemporary visual artist, activist, mentor, philanthropist. Attended Miami Dade College (1988–1994), The School of the Art Institute of Chicago, BFA (1996), Yale University, MFA, 2004. Cordova was recipient of the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellowship (2021).
^Saunders, Theresa. "The Opportunity for Equity: School Improvement Grants" (Racism in American Institutions). In: Drakeford, Lillian Dowdell Ph.D. The Race Controversy in American Education. ABC-CLIO, July 28, 2015. ISBN1440832641, 9781440832642. start: p. 283. cited: p. 286.
