Hialeah Gardens Middle School’s principal Maritza Jimenez waves hello to parents and signs papers handed to her from people that appear out of nowhere as she zooms through the halls of her school and talks at a rapid-fire pace about her win for District Principal of the Year.
“I’m honored, but I know it’s not just about me,” she said. “It’s the kids, the parents, the teachers, everyone who helps run this school. They’re the reason why.”
A public school veteran, Jimenez began her 21-year-long career in education as a language arts teacher for students with learning disabilities. She earned her specialist degree, a master’s in special education and opened Hialeah Gardens High School as an assistant principal. That, she says, is where ideas started floating in her head about introducing academies to middle school students.
Hialeah Gardens Middle School offers eight academies, all of which are continued on in Hialeah Gardens High School, Jimenez’s feeder pattern school, the same school that nominated her for Principal of the Year.
“I was happy with being runner-up,” she said. “You have to understand I work with amazing colleagues, truly great principals. So when they announced the runner-up and it wasn’t me, I thought, that’s it! We’ve lost! But then I hear Superintendent Carvalho say my name and, well, I couldn’t even get to the stage so many people were hugging me.”
The Principal of the Year for the District was announced at a sit-down dinner held at Parrot Jungle Island in April, and two weeks after the announcement, a white Toyota Corolla from Toyota of Hollywood was driven into Hialeah Gardens Middle School followed by a cavalcade of School Board officials and media.
“We run this place like a mini-high school. Our kids are better prepared and focused when they get into high school because they’ve already tried classes in academies and can decide whether they like them or not,” said Jimenez of their academies, among them the one-of-a-kind Agriscience Program which houses a farm on school property. “I just learned one of our cows is pregnant!”
Though the programs are one of the school’s strongest draws for students, parents, and apparently Principal of the Year awards, the crux of the school’s strength is its teachers.
“We have great programs but without the teachers, who would run them?” said Jimenez. “If I didn’t have an Agriscience teacher willing to put in the effort, or a fire captain, Captain Raymond Austin, teaching our biomedical students, what would it matter what programs we offer?”
Jimenez is up against winners of every other district in Florida for the honor of Principal of the Year for the state, but for now, she’s celebrating with her students, faculty and administration.