Dr. Bridget McKinney, principal of Miami Carol City Senior High School, shared news of a potential opportunity for her students while speaking at Pretty Hustle Link Up XVI on Sunday, Sept. 20.
McKinney said an executive from Mark Cuban’s office called and offered to fly her to Texas to see the program’s facilities. She told the audience Cuban’s team wants to bring a Suit Up program to Miami Carol City. She did not announce a start date or describe a finalized agreement.
McKinney’s remarks came during the event’s Legacy & Leadership panel, which also featured Dr. Regina Martin and Claudienne Hibbert Smith.
McKinney told the audience she returned to Miami Carol City as principal to find a school she no longer recognized. Enrollment had fallen, classrooms stood empty, programs had closed and the school had become part of a conversation about possible closure.
“I look at deficit as possibilities,” she said.
McKinney said she focused on changing the school’s mindset and culture, putting stronger structures in place and bringing back programs that would give students a reason to enroll. She told the audience she did not have to fire a teacher to make those changes.
Under her leadership, McKinney said, Miami Carol City earned its first A school grade in 30 years. The school then earned a second A, a result she described as an even greater test after the state raised the bar. She also highlighted the addition of Cambridge and what she described as a K-12 electric vehicle automotive program.
McKinney connected the call from Cuban’s office to the attention the school had received. She said it came after she left a district meeting about a social media post that had gone viral. When her phone rang, an executive from Cuban’s office wanted to fly her to Texas to see what his organization had built.
“He said, ‘I want the principal who set the standard, and that’s where I’m going to put the program,’” McKinney told the audience, recounting the message she said she received.
McKinney described the Suit Up proposal as another possibility for the school and its students. She said the conversation had already prompted her to think about the resources and people needed to move it forward, but she did not give details about how a program at Miami Carol City would operate.
Even as she spoke about the attention coming her way, McKinney kept the focus on the school.
“I don’t have a name,” she told the audience. “My name is Miami Carol City Senior High School principal.”
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