MIAMI, FL — Families tied to one of Miami-Dade County’s oldest Black schools are watching closely after the district paused its process for deciding which campuses could close. The temporary hold has given parents at Paul L. Dunbar K-8 Academy in Overtown some breathing room, but it has not removed the threat.
New Superintendent Rafael Villalobos said he wants to review every school on the reassessed list before making decisions. The district has lost about 15,000 students this school year, and officials say the decline is tied to lower birth rates, private school vouchers, and families leaving because of the high cost of living or immigration enforcement.
Why Paul L. Dunbar K-8 Academy is drawing so much concern
Paul L. Dunbar K-8 Academy is not just another school on a spreadsheet. Parents say its history in Miami’s Black community gives it a meaning that goes beyond enrollment totals and facilities planning.
Mekka Jeanty, who has a fourth grader at Dunbar, said the possible closure feels especially painful because the neighborhood already lost an elementary school last year. She described the academy as a place that still matters deeply to families in Overtown, where people see it as part of the community’s identity and memory…