All Angels Academy in Miami Springs permanently closing on Saturday

An upscale private school in Miami Springs that opened in 1982 and served dozens of kindergarten-through-eighth-grade students will close on Jan. 22.

The school had announced in November that it would close. Aimee Adler, a spokeswoman for the school, confirmed the date of closing earlier this week.

“For almost two decades, All Angels Academy has offered a high quality, Christian education in a small environment,” the school said in its November newsletter. .... “However, like many other schools in the county, the state and around the nation, our beloved All Angels Academy recently became the latest victim of the pandemic, low enrollment, and a severe shortage of teachers.” A decision was made to close the school “because it was just not financially sustainable.”

Annual tuition for the 2021-2022 school year cost $7,500 per year for kindergarten through grade 5, and $7,700 for middle school-ers in grades 6 through 8, according to the school’s student handbook.

Other fees included $3,200 for the “SMART” program, $900 for “supply and activities,” and $350 for “growth and development.”

Approximately 90 percent of the students who attended All Angels were receiving a Florida Choice Scholarship from the state, according to a school spokeswoman. A public records request by the Herald to Florida’s Dept. of Education seeking scholarship amounts paid to the school is pending.

When the pandemic hit, All Angels Episcopal Church, at 1801 Ludlam Dr., applied for a loan from the Small Business Administration’s Paycheck Protection Program. The church claimed it had 14 employees and in 2020 received $69,400 in PPP funds, which was later “forgiven,” according to ProPublica’s Tracking PPP database.

This was not unusual. Other Miami Springs’ area churches also received federal pandemic dollars. However, All Angels has faced other financial headwinds.

About two years prior to the pandemic, All Angels filed a lawsuit against Miami-Dade County’s Property Appraiser and Tax Collector over its religious tax exemption.

The Miami-Dade County Property Appraiser determined that a portion of the Rectory had not been entitled to the religious tax exemption for tax years 2010 through 2016, according to the county.

A notice of intent to lien sent to All Angels, in 2017, by the county property appraiser said: “In lieu of recordation of the lien, you may pay the taxes and penalties and interest (if applicable) in the amount of $27,365.49.”

In 2020, All Angels paid a 2018 homestead penalty of $5,125.57, according to the Miami-Dade County tax collector.

A school spokeswoman did not answer emailed questions by the Herald asking whether the lawsuit had anything to do with All Angels’ closure.

The City of Miami Springs has been a longtime supporter of All Angels. In 2009, the city co-sponsored “movie night” with the church at the town circle. In 2012, Miami Springs held its inaugural farmers’ market in front of the school, and that same year city leaders helped fund an on-site basketball court.

In 2015, the Herald reported that Miami Springs leaders honored All Angels’ Terry Alexander after she was named Florida’s Patricia Behring Teacher of the Year. Alexander, a former attorney who was disbarred in 2006, went on to become the school’s academic dean.

“Our hope is that all students experience a seamless transfer to new learning institutions and that the Episcopal congregation continues to endure,” said Miami Springs Councilman Bob Best, who has lived across the street from the school since 1989.

Most of the school’s 42 students transitioned to other schools before Christmas break, and many teachers have taken on new jobs, according to a school spokeswoman.

The school sat on a former 3.5-acre fruit orchard across from the Ludlam Road canal, and the property has a 2021 assessed value of $1,650,576, according to the Miami-Dade Property Appraiser’s office.

“At this time, there are no plans to sell the property,” Adler, the academy’s spokeswoman, told the Herald. “All Angels Episcopal church will remain open and determine what the future holds for the property.”