Dade School Superintendent Tours School Amid Filth Allegations
MIAMI (CBSMiami) -- Miami-Dade School's Superintendent took a tour of a school amid allegations of filthy conditions at the institution.
Superintendent Alberto Carvalho toured Miami Sunset Senior High just one day after the school's Principal Dr. Lucia Cox accepted an early retirement. While Carvalho said Cox voluntarily took early retirement, he left little question she was nudged out
The move comes after CBS4's news partners the Miami Herald found anonymous, unauthenticated pictures of moldy drinks and cockroaches inside the school posted online.
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At the school on Thursday Carvalho said, "the power of social media" brought inspectors to the school and "emergency cleanup crews" were sent in.
"I believe we need a new start," Carvalho said. "That's exactly what we are going to have here at Sunset."
Student Waldo Cruz said Wednesday he was present on one occasion when a classmate opened a carton of mold-covered beverage.
"I was in the same lunch room. I was with my friend when she opened the juice," Cruz said. "That's real. That's not fake. That comes from Sunset."
The posted pictures showing filthy conditions went viral and a Change.org petition received about one thousand signatures from people calling for the removal of Cox who had been employed by Miami-Dade schools for 25 years.
CBS4 has tried several times to get Cox's side of the story but she has refused to comment. In a phone conversation with CBS4's Travell Eiland, school board member Marta Perez said, "she said that she was doing it to keep the focus on Education." Perez also said it's time to move on.
READ: Miami Sunset Senior High Principal Out Amid Filth Allegations
On Thursday Carvalho tweeted, " Students' honest voices must not only be respected, and honored, but those that lead to systemic change, celebrated. Nice cannot trump right."
His tweet came amid reports that students who commented on social media about the filthy conditions were forced to apologize.
The school district said they were not stepping on students freedom of speech. The students were told to apologize for the inappropriate and vulgar language used in the posts because that language violates district policy.
Earlier this month, the State Health Department gave an unsatisfactory rating to the school because of it's conditions.
A school district spokesperson said inspectors came back to the school on Wednesday and the school's status was upgraded to satisfactory.
