How Miami-Dade School System Began

8thGradeFlorida History

Essential Question

What are the differences of the current Miami Dade County Public School System and the original school system of 1887?

How Miami-Dade School System Began

Florida literacy Standards Alignment:

LAFS.68.WHST.3.9Draw evidence from informational texts to support analysis reflection, and research.

LAFS.68.WHST.1.2Write informative/explanatory texts, including the narration of historical events, scientific procedures/ experiments, or technical processes.

NGSSS -Social Science Standards Alignment:

SS.8.A.5.7Examine key events and peoples in Florida history as each impacts this era of American history.

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Topic:How Miami-Dade School System Began

Essential Question

What are the differences of the current Miami Dade County Public School System and the original school system of 1887?

Learning Goals

Students will understand the changes that has taken place in Miami and how those changes have affected the Miami Dade County School System.

Overview

Students will compare and contrast the differences of the current school system and the original. The students will develop an understanding of the importance of schools in a community.

Background information

Education is for the good of all who live in the community. Individuals may personally benefit from a quality school experience, but it is the community that benefits from a better informed population and a skilled workfers. It is the community that prospers from its scientists, researchers, and engineers who know how to innovate or problem solve, and leaders who are prepared to manage the problems that the community may face.

Materials

Reading Passage: The Coconut Grove School
Reading Passage: Miami Dade Population in 1887
Reading Passage: First Coconut Grove Schoolhouse
Compare and Contrast Graphic Organizer:

Activity Sequence

Introduction (3 minutes)

Ask the students about school board members that they may have heard or know about. Write down their names on the board. (1 minute)
Introduce history of the original Miami Dade Public School Board meeting to the students. (1 minutes)
Display images of the Coconut Grove Schoolhouseand discuss the first teacher and her students. (1 minute)

Activity (5 minutes)

1.Read the two texts . (2 minutes)

2.Complete the compare and contrast graphic organizerwith the students based on information from the passage and what they know about their school experiences in Miami Dade County School System. (3 minutes)

Closure (2 minutes)

Based on what we have read and learned, how is the school system different now than when it began in 1887?

Optional Extension

Have the students research other local school board member or notable educators and have them make poster board projects based on their findings.

References

Source:

The Coconut Grove School

By GERTRUDE M. KENT* 1887

The Great Florida Sunset, 1887, Martin Johnson Heade.

What was Coconut Grove, Dade County, Florida like back in 1887? At that time it was just a small bay settlement of a half-dozen homes hidden in a wilderness of dense tropical growth. Although in the same state as St. Augustine, the oldest city in the United States (1565), it had remained undeveloped while the original thirteen colonies had grown into a nation of thirty-eight states with Grover Cleveland, the 22nd President, in office.

Soon there would be added the western states following the expansion of the railroad, while Dade County still remained inaccessible except by boat! Now Dade County in 1887 included all the land from the northern tip of Lake Okeechobee south to the Monroe County line. If that description doesn't get through to you, would it help to know that in subsequent years four counties were formed from Dade: Martin, Palm Beach, Broward and Dade.

The earliest record of any organized effort to establish a Dade County School system is in the minutes of the Board of Education dated at Miami, Florida on June 27, 1885. Present at this first meeting were C. H. Lumm, Superintendent, and Messrs. W. H. Benest, Joseph F. Frow and Adam C. Richards, members of the Board. The business discussed concerned the dividing of Dade County into four districts. Lake Worth was to be District #1; Miami, District #2; Coconut Grove, District #3, and Elliott's Key and all other islands or keys, District #4. The superintendent was instructed "to ascertain the number of children in each district and report to the Board at the earliest possible time on the most eligible sites for erecting the school buildings." He was instructed to "purchase a book to keep a record of the transactions of the Board." (We are quoting from this book!)

The next year on April 3, 1886, the Board "excepted [sic] a site *Gertrude (Mrs. F. A.) Kent, a resident of Coconut Grove since 1926, wrote this article as part of a projected history of Plymouth Congregational Church. 4 TEQUESTA for a school in District #1," and Lake Worth had the honor of the first school building in what was then Dade County. At the above meeting a site for a school in District #2 at Miami was also accepted. After the school was built the board refused to pay the contractor until "the roof be put on according to custom." The minutes further complained: That there is not sufficient paint That there is no shelf for books That there is not sufficient bracing to resist a common hurricane. Evidently the contractor was a fast worker, because just four days later they met and agreed to pay him seventy dollars for his labor (Nov. 6, 1886). This was the last official meeting of the first board. They had established one school at Lake Worth which was being taught by Miss Susie Brown. No teacher was hired for the Miami School. For some unknown reason they just stopped functioning!

Source:

Miami Dade Population in 1887

According to the state census of 1885 Dade County had a population of only 333, but settlers were even then coming in, most of them, locating around Lake Worth. A Florida State Gazeteerisued in 1887 gave Lake Worth a population of 400 and listed 42 pineapple growers. The business of the town was quite limited, however, as it reported only one store, two hotels and a machine shop. Miami with an estimated population of 150 reported two stores, a steam starch factory and seven run by horse power. Unimproved W. T. CASH 69 land around Miami sold for $1.25 per acre, but at Lake Worth it was reported as selling at from $100 to $200 per acre. But Miami was going down. At an election held February 19, 1889, the county seat was removed from there to Juno at the extreme north end of Lake Worth, over sixty miles away, where it remained for ten years. It was moved back to Miami, as a result of the East Coast Railroad's extension to Biscayne Bay.

Source:

FIRST COCONUT GROVE SCHOOLHOUSE

The First Coconut Grove Schoolhouse is significant for its place in the history of education in Dade County and as a reflection of Coconut Grove’s pioneer era. Built by the men of the community, this building has served both the religious and educational needs of the pioneer citizens. The building was constructed as a Sunday School in 1887 and served as a forerunner of Plymouth Congregational Church. The building was rented to the School Board in 1889 for the area’s first public schoolhouse. It was also the first home of the Housekeepers Club of Coconut Grove, an important early cultural institution in the community. Some of Coconut Grove’s most influential citizens attended school in this building, and its continued preservation is a reminder of the area’s early history. In 1889, the building was rented to the School Board for the sum of $12,000 yearly. First teachers at the First Coconut Grove Schoolhouse included Mrs. C.L. Trapp and Miss Flora McFarlaneThe first students in attendance included Annie and Harry Peacock. John Pent, James Pent, Trinnie Pent, Mary Pent, Lillian Frow, Grace Frow, Charlie Frow, and Joseph Frow.

Credit this photo:State Archives of Florida,Florida Memory,

(please include photographer's name when noted).

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DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL SCIENCES