Private school’s $10M ‘sports dome’ deal with Miami should be overturned, School Board says
In an uncommon move, the Miami-Dade County School Board on Wednesday unanimously supported a political proposal to undo a Miami City Commission vote that granted a private school the right to develop a city-owned plot of land — a move that overrode a competing plan to expand a popular Miami public school, iPrep Academy, at the site.
The School Board formally endorsed an effort to cancel an agreement that allows the operators of the private school, Centner Academy, to build a $10 million athletic facility on a city-owned property called Biscayne Park, about a half-mile away from iPrep. The Miami City Commission’s approval of that contract in 2022 sidelined a separate effort to relocate and expand iPrep Academy at Biscayne Park, a concept that could’ve included workforce housing. The shelved iPrep expansion concept would have allowed the school to double the number of students it served.
“It’s unusual for the board to take a position on other governing bodies’ items,” School Board member Dorothy Bendross-Mindingall, whose district includes iPrep and who sponsored the item Wednesday, said during the meeting. “But we stand together to support what is best for our children, families, and the residents of District 2 and the community as a whole.”
With its vote, the School Board backed a proposal by Miami Commissioner Miguel Angel Gabela to break the controversial Biscayne Park contract between the city and David and Leila Centner, the owners of Centner Academy, a private school across the street from the park. The Miami City Commission is expected to vote on Gabela’s proposal Thursday.
The School Board took the atypical action Wednesday likely because Thursday’s vote in the commission requires atypical support. Undoing the Centner contract requires a higher-than-usual threshold: four-fifths approval from the five-member Miami City Commission.
“We support Commissioner Gabela’s leadership,” Bendross-Mindingall said. “And we’re ready to get to the table to work on next steps as soon as the item passes.”
The Centner agreement allows the private school to use Biscayne Park, a coveted piece of land in Miami at 150 NE 19th St., for 10 years. In exchange, the Centners must invest $10 million to build a recreational facility at no cost to the city.
By signing off on that deal in 2022, the Miami City Commission discarded another plan dating back as early as 2017 to use the land for a new iPrep building — much-needed space because of the school’s popularity, the Herald reported. For the 2023-24 school year, iPrep received more than 3,200 applications but could only fit 800 students.
School Board member Lucia Baez-Geller called that an “injustice.”
“It’s very exciting to see us take this unified stance against an injustice that was done to us without us even really knowing,” she said at the Wednesday meeting.
During the public comment portion of the school board meeting Wednesday, Jocelyn Bagge, a parent of iPrep Academy students, gave board members a stack of drawings of school buildings that kids created for the cause. The prompt at the top of each page read: “Design iPrep a new school.”
Bagge also played a recording of a first-grade class screaming: “Thank you School Board for supporting us!”
“They’re leading the way in their advocacy,” Baez-Geller said, pointing to one of the drawings. “And so anything that our district could do to find a more equitable resolution for this and to continue to provide opportunities for our students is greatly appreciated.”
READ MORE: Miami Commissioner Díaz de la Portilla arrested on bribery, money laundering charges
Gabela will ask the Miami City Commission to break the Centner contract after former Commissioner Alex Díaz de la Portilla — who sponsored the Centner deal and pushed his colleagues to approve it — was arrested and charged in September with money laundering and bribery in a case related to the deal. He has pleaded not guilty.
State prosecutors allege the Centners funneled $245,000 through their lobbyist to secure Díaz de la Portilla’s support for the project. The Centners have not been charged, and they deny any wrongdoing.
If the Miami City Commission overturns the contract, the superintendent will discuss options to expand iPrep with the commission and Miami’s Omni Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA), a taxpayer-financed agency dedicated to funding economic development and public infrastructure projects.
