Her full plan →
The School Board of Miami-Dade County · regular meeting Tuesday, June 17, 2026 Item D-67 · passed without debate

School boards approve routine items together, in a single vote. On June 17, the decision to close nine schools was part of that vote.

Nine schools. One vote. Two were ours.

  • 01Rainbow Park ElementaryDistrict 1 · ours
  • 02Parkway ElementaryDistrict 1 · ours
  • 03Lenora B. Smith
  • 04Miami Springs Middle
  • 05Pine Villa
  • 06Richmond Heights
  • 07Robert Russa Moton
  • 08Phillis Wheatley
  • 09Mandarin Lakes
Debate on each school: none Votes recorded per member: none, it passed as a bundle Passed in the same vote: new boundaries for 16 more schools

Two of the nine
are ours.

Rainbow Park Elementary and Parkway Elementary hold down District 1 neighborhoods in Miami Gardens and Opa-locka. The District 1 seat has been empty since June 9 — these decisions were made without a District 1 voice at the table. Come down and see what changed.

Rainbow Park
Elementary.

A dance and performing arts school. 409 children in 2016. 128 this spring. Watch the lights go out, then come inside. Today, those doors are closed.

The kids didn't disappear.
They got farther from home.

The west side now travels 1.85 miles by road to Dr. Robert B. Ingram Elementary, and the arts program moves with them. The east side travels 0.82 miles to Bunche Park Elementary. Each moving light below is one child.

409
children, February 2016

The arts magnet
lived here.

Dance and theatre, inside a neighborhood elementary. A stage for kids who rarely get one.

The board closed it
anyway.

Parents asked to keep the building alive as a K-8. Instead the program packs for Ingram, and the room goes quiet. Now watch where the children go.

The east side rides
to Bunche Park.

Watch the lights leave Rainbow Park all over again: 0.82 miles east to Bunche Park Elementary. Two receiving schools for one closed campus.

Parkway closed.
Norland takes its kids.

Same meeting, same single vote: Parkway Elementary is shut down too. About 106 students, a building 29 percent full. Its kids now belong to Norland Elementary, 1.12 miles north. Watch them go.

0
more students reassigned
Parkway to Norland
The districtRainbow ParkThe crossingBunche ParkParkway · Norland
High night view over District 1

Two of the nine are ours.

Rainbow Park Elementary and Parkway Elementary anchor District 1 neighborhoods. The seat that should have fought for them has been empty since June 9.

Rainbow Park Elementary at night from above

Rainbow Park Elementary.

409 children in 2016, 128 this spring. The west side now travels 1.85 miles to Dr. Robert B. Ingram Elementary, with the arts program. The east side, 0.82 miles to Bunche Park Elementary. Parkway's western zone rides 1.12 miles to Norland Elementary.

The crossing routes lit between schools

Carol City raised Linda.

"I am not a stranger to these schools. I am a product of them." August 18 fills the empty District 1 seat.

What the parents said, on the record

"The end
of an era."

Crystal Walker · PTA president, Rainbow Park Elementary

Parents said the district's plan left them confused about where their own kids would go. The PTA didn't ask for a miracle. It asked to keep the building alive as a K-8 school. Instead, the closure went to a vote bundled with everything else, and passed without one minute of debate.

Linda's promise No District 1 school ever gets closed quietly again. Its own agenda item. A public debate. Every board member's vote recorded, on the record, by name. And closed buildings keep working for D1 kids, starting with the K-8 idea this community already asked for.

The bigger challenges

A career that earns
a flat line.

$52,470
Starting base salary,
2023 contract
+$219
Total base growth from
year 5 to year 20
50th
Florida's rank among the
50 states, average teacher pay
Year 1 Year 5 Year 20 WHAT A REAL LADDER LOOKS LIKE START +$219
The state's new raise money is capped at $3,000 for teachers with 10+ years, and Miami-Dade's teachers skew veteran Referendum supplements are paid on top of base pay, if voters renew them
Linda's promise Vote to lock in a clean teachers' contract fast, and steer the referendum's local dollars toward the mid-career teachers the state's formula shortchanges.

When parents and teachers speak up

Fifty complaints.
Two opened.

50→2

Last year, 50 complaints reached the district's independent watchdog. It opened investigations on about 4 percent of them, and it does not handle retaliation or everyday management problems at all. A parent with a real grievance gets bounced between three different offices.

Linda's promise One front door for parent and teacher complaints. And the numbers published every year, in plain English, so everyone can see what happened to every single one.

This seat can belong to
someone who lived it.

Carol City raised Linda Cothiere. These streets, these schools. She is running because she believes families deserve a voice before decisions like these are made — not after. Parents, educators, district leaders, and the community, working together to strengthen our schools, support our teachers, and put students first.

"I am not a stranger to these schools.
I am a product of them."

Linda Cothiere · raised in Carol City. On August 18, vote Linda Cothiere for Miami-Dade County School Board, District 1.

Carol CityComing home
Linda Cothiere smiling outside Miami Carol City Senior High at golden hour

"I am not a stranger to these schools. I am a product of them."

Linda Cothiere, raised in Carol City — a proud graduate of Miami-Dade Public Schools. On August 18, vote Linda Cothiere for School Board District 1.

August 18.

The future of our schools will be shaped by the leadership we choose today. Linda Cothiere — Carol City raised, Miami-Dade Public Schools graduate — is running for School Board District 1: real community dialogue before closures, a fast fair teachers' contract, one front door for complaints, and D1 buildings kept working for D1 kids.

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Paid by Linda Cothiere Campaign. Terrain: Esri World Imagery (Maxar). Buildings: OpenStreetMap contributors. Distances measured by road.