What to expect from South Florida’s K-12 schools and colleges, universities in 2022
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South Florida 2022 Outlook
A look at the issue South Florida will face in the areas of real estate, technology, schools, Latin America and the Caribbean, major events, sports, courts and politics in the upcoming year.
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Whether you’re a student, a graduate, an educator, a parent or simply someone who likes to keep up with education news as a taxpayer, we’ve got an early start on what you can expect will happen in schools and universities with the start of the new year.
Five things to look for in K-12 schools in 2022
Superintendent searches
Of the changes to come in the new year for K-12 schools, one of the more consequential events will be the search for a new superintendent of Miami-Dade Public Schools. Outgoing Superintendent Alberto Carvalho on Dec. 9 announced he would be leaving the district to head the Los Angeles Unified School District. He was hired to lead Miami schools in 2008 and is the district’s second-longest serving superintendent.
The School Board has yet to discuss how they will go about hiring his replacement — or who it could be — but the board recently agreed to give Chairwoman Perla Tabares Hantman authority to negotiate the terms of Carvalho’s departure and to set a special meeting in January to discuss the “parameters and critical elements that will govern the identification of qualified candidates for the position of superintendent of schools.”
Broward County Public Schools also is embarking on a national search for a superintendent. The School Board hired Vickie Cartwright in July to serve as interim superintendent, replacing Robert Runcie, who resigned after his statewide grand jury indictment in April.
Initially, the School Board stipulated that she could not be a permanent hire, but the board voted at the end of October to let her apply for the job.
School construction
In 2012, Miami voters approved a $1.2 billion General Obligation Bond to renovate and update existing schools in the area, as well as build new ones. One project parents and community members can expect to see underway is the construction of Southside Preparatory Academy, which will feature a seven-story building in the Brickell area that will accommodate middle school grades and housing for district employees. District and school employees broke ground on the project in December. It’s expected to be completed in early 2023, according to the district.
Other projects, including renovations and additions to existing schools are also underway. To see the status of certain projects, visit the GOB Capital Projects Dashboard.
Could Florida do away with its standardized tests?
In September, Gov. Ron DeSantis urged lawmakers to do away with several of the state’s annual standardized tests, specifically the Florida Standards Assessments exam in English/language arts and math. Instead, DeSantis said, the state should opt for shorter “progress monitoring” tests that are already administered throughout the year.
Carvalho applauded the move at the time, telling the Tampa Bay Times “fewer, better state assessments with greater reliance on ongoing, real-time progress monitoring data” was a positive turn.
It’s unclear whether lawmakers will support DeSantis’ proposal or if another similar, yet varied version of it will move through the 2022 legislative session, which is slated to start on Jan. 11 and go through March. For example, Sen. Manny Díaz Jr., R-Hialeah, filed a bill (SB 1048) that addresses some changes the governor hoped for but not all.
Will masks be mandated again?
There’s no indication that schools will return to a 2020-21 school year model with remote learning, masks and social distancing requirements, despite the major increase in COVID-19 cases attributed to the new omicron variant. But if Carvalho has anything to say about what is or isn’t implemented, Miami-Dade schools could see another round of requirements, he told the Herald Editorial Board in December.
“If I’m here and conditions, in fact, worsen, expect me to follow, debate, argue and defend the best scientific advice that we’ll be getting not only from our local experts but also from federal agencies that opine on these matters,” he said. He announced in December he’d be leaving to lead LA schools. His last day in Miami remains unknown.
Gov. Ron DeSantis’ executive order in July banned school districts from imposing mask mandates. A Leon County judge ruled the state could not enforce the ban, but the state won approval to allow the ban pending the outcome of its appeal.
In November, in a special legislative session, DeSantis signed a new law, HB 1B, that prohibits vaccination and mask requirements in schools. In an ironic twist, the governor of California, the state Carvalho is moving to, announced in October that California will add the COVID-19 vaccines to the list of vaccines required to attend school, the first state in the nation to do so.
A fight against critical race theory, ‘woke culture’
Last year, the debate surrounding critical race theory, a concept that argues racism is embedded throughout society, gained traction across the country with parents denouncing the practice at School Board meetings and some states, such as Texas, approving measures that would determine how teachers are to discuss current events in the classroom.
The debate could gain traction in Florida in 2022.
In December, DeSantis held an event targeting the concept. The proposal — though legislation has yet to be filed — would allow parents to sue a school district if they think critical race theory is being taught, he said.
Five things to look for in universities and colleges in 2022
Mental health issues
As the pandemic enters its third year, its emotional and mental health toll gets heavier, particularly on college campuses.
Florida Memorial University will launch a pilot program in January 2022 that aims to break the stigma surrounding mental health for people of color, said Sharee Gilbert, FMU’s director of communications and marketing. The only historically Black university in South Florida will provide five free individual therapy sessions to 70 students, in a partnership with the Boris L Henson Foundation.
Barry University, a private Catholic university in Miami Shores, will launch a university-wide challenge among faculty and staff so they come up with innovative ways to support students, said Meredith Amor, Barry’s director of communications.
The president of Miami Dade College, Madeline Pumariega, told the Herald in late November that every time she talks to students, they bring up these concerns. She believes part of the challenge is also promoting the available services.
“How do we make sure everyone knows?” she wondered. “How do we get the word out?”
How will campuses deal with COVID variants?
Anytime COVID cases spike, college campuses tend to become hot spots — and the omicron variant uptick has not been the exception. Will universities, which have largely gone back to pre-pandemic conditions, enforce new rules with the start of the spring semester?
At Florida Memorial University, students must get tested before returning to the classrooms, same as the beginning of the fall semester, and then get tested weekly, said Gilbert, FMU’s spokeswoman said.
Maydel Santana, a Florida International University spokeswoman, said in mid-December there were no new protocols, but they were reminding everyone, in light of the surging omicron variant, “to take precautions and get vaccinated.”
University of Miami President Julio Frenk released a video Dec. 14 encouraging booster and other shots, and noting the indoor mask mandate will remain in place over the spring semester.
“As expected, we have seen a significant increase in infections following the Thanksgiving holiday,” he said. “We anticipate that exposure to COVID cases over the longer winter break will be even more substantial.”
David A. Armstrong, the president of St. Thomas University, a private school based in Miami Gardens, said measures will likely remain the same: no mandatory masks or vaccination; masks encouraged indoors.
Student loan relief
At the onset of the pandemic in March 2020, the U.S. Department of Education announced a pause on federal student loan interest and on mandatory federal student loan payments.
On Dec. 22, President Joe Biden announced he would extend the pause for 90 more days, until May 1, 2022, due to the recent surge in cases due to the omicron variant and the slow rebounding economy.
In the 2019-20 academic year, 47 percent of Florida college graduates had student loan debt with an average load of $24,454, according to the Institute for College Access and Success.
New buildings on the horizon
As universities grow, new facilities and renovations become a necessity.
FIU will inaugurate Tamiami Hall, a 13-story dorm with 700 new beds and two-story lounge overlooking the stadium. More than 7,000 students will live on or around campus in 2022. It will open by the fall 2022 semester.
To graduate more engineers to meet demand, FIU plans to build a $48.4 million engineering complex on the corner of Southwest Eighth Street and 107th Avenue. The six-story building will house classrooms and research laboratories, but construction hasn’t begun yet. It’s set to open in late 2023 to early 2024.
National rankings
For the first time, the University of Florida, the state’s flagship university, climbed to the top five public universities in the country this year, according to U.S. News & World Report, an online magazine that has been releasing lists of the best colleges and universities in the U.S. since the mid-1980s.
The Gainesville-based university will aim to stay among that elite group in 2022, but it could be hurt by its initial decision not to let three political science professors testify in a voting rights lawsuit against the state, a move that resulted in a national uproar over academic freedom. (The school has since backtracked but the three professors have sued UF’s top brass.)
FIU, meanwhile, climbed 17 spots on the same list of public universities nationwide — a historic improvement. The largest public university in South Florida ranked No. 78 in 2021, up from No. 95 in 2020. Its next mission: to break into the top 50.
An earlier version of this story misspelled David A. Armstrong’s name.
This story was originally published December 29, 2021 at 6:00 AM.
