Four Miami Lakes Educational Center (MLEC) students, Alejandra Mendoza, Salwa Raza, David Pacheco, and Julissa Higgins spent the end of 2014 celebrating after learning they had been accepted early to prestigious universities across the nation. Mendoza, a Questbridge full tuition scholarship recipient, was accepted to Columbia University. Raza, a Posse scholar, was accepted at Mount Holyoke. Pacheco was accepted to Massachusetts...

  Perla Tabares Hantman, chair of Miami-Dade School Board, digs in at the groundbreaking for the school district’s General Obligation Bond construction project at Hialeah Senior High School. She is joined by (from left) principal Heriberto Sanchez, Chief Facilities Officer Jaime G. Torrens, and Superintendent Alberto M. Carvalho. The $15 million project includes major building improvements, upgrades to lighting, plumbing,...

  U.S. Paralympics, a division of the Olympic Committee, is partnering with Miami-Dade County Public Schools to implement a school-based Paralympic sports program. This program, made possible through a grant from the Craig H. Neilsen Foundation, will provide a pathway for students with disabilities to participate in extracurricular athletics, specifically track and field in the 2015 spring semester. The team from U.S. Paralympics coming...

  Nancy Handley retired from Miami Lakes Educational Center (MLEC) ending a huge chapter in her life and in the lives of countless students. “Work is not work if you love what you do,” said Handley, a phrase that has defined her career, spanning 44 years in the classroom. Handley began her teaching career as a home economics teacher, then worked as a health teacher and then a physical education...

  Around 400 students from 11 middle schools across South Florida competed in Monsignor Edward Pace High School’s 2014 Spartan Academic Olympics in early December. The annual event celebrates the academic achievements of middle school students in multiple subject areas, such as English, Math, Foreign Languages, and Science. Academic Olympians arrived at the Pace campus early to register and take their exams in Pace classrooms....