Coral Gables Elementary School
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Coral Gables Preparatory Academy Lower Academy
(listed as Coral Gables Elementary School) |
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| Location | Coral Gables, Florida |
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| Coordinates | 25°45′13″N 80°15′28″W / 25.75361°N 80.25778°WCoordinates: 25°45′13″N 80°15′28″W / 25.75361°N 80.25778°W |
| Architect | Richard Kiehnel |
| Architectural style | Mission/Spanish Revival, other |
| NRHP reference # | 88000750 |
| Added to NRHP | June 30, 1988 |
Coral Gables Preparatory Academy, formerly Coral Gables Elementary School, is a public K-8 school in Coral Gables, Florida. A part of the Miami-Dade County Public Schools, it has its elementary school classes in the Lower Academy, in the former Coral Gables Elementary building, while the middle school classes are in the Upper Academy at the Merrick Educational Center. The school was given its current name in 2010.
The lower academy facility is a historic school building designed by the architect Richard Kiehnel of Kiehnel and Elliott. It is located at 105 Minorca Avenue. On June 30, 1988, it was added to the U.S. National Register of Historic Places.
The school has an excellent academic reputation. For the past seven years, Coral Gables Elementary has received an "A" rating from the Florida Department of Education.
The school is 64% Hispanic, 31% White Non-Hispanic, 3% Black and 2% Asian/other.
Coral Gables Elementary School opened as Coral Gables Grammar School in October, 1923, with 39 pupils and one teacher, Mary Feaster Jackson. Abigail Gilday served as its first principal until 1945.
The school was financed and built by George Merrick, founder of Coral Gables, with the understanding that the Dade County School Board would repay him $10,000 for the land and $25,000 for the school building. Upon completion of the third phase, in 1926 the school had grown to 1,000 students.
Because Merrick believed that "beautiful things inspire higher ideals in the minds of children," he commissioned the nationally known architectural firm of Kiehnel & Elliott to build a school of Spanish colonial architecture. In recognition of the school's major role in the architectural and cultural history of Coral Gables, it was made a "City of Coral Gables Landmark" in 1982, and placed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Between 1936 and 1948, Coral Gables Grammar School included grades 7 and 8. In 1970, in response to a federal court order for desegregation of the Dade County Public Schools, the school was paired with George Washington Carver Elementary and became a kindergarten, 3-6 center. Today Coral Gables Elementary (CGE) is paired with Carver Elementary and Sunset Elementary in the District’s Controlled Choice Program, which allows students to be assigned in grades K-5 based on school boundaries, space availability, parental choice and random selection.
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