5360 SW 59th Ave
Miami, FL 33155

DFE is a true community school. Everyone from the parents to the teachers and administration pitches in to make the kids' days happy and safe. The music and art program are beautiful. There are many extracurricular activities (spelling bee, sports, botany student council, chorus, and WKID News, to name a few) and PTA-sponsored events throughout the year. If you want to get involved via the PTA, many in-person opportunities exist to show up and build community. It's just overall a very positive environment where kids feel safe to be who they are. Academically, teachers and staff are there to support and engage the kids. The administration is professional, responsive, and kind. My kid is happy and thriving at DFE. I see this in her friends as well. It brings me a lot of peace to have her in DFE. 

South Miami is an OKAY school, but it isn't the best.

Seeing as how there hasn't been a recent review, I felt it was time for a current, relevant review of SMSH! Our child started this year in a magnet program as a 9th grader. After careful consideration, this was the school they chose out of the 5 they were accepted to. During the magnet process, SMSH did the best job connecting to students during a pandemic. While that was not the only deciding factor, connection was important.3 quarters into Freshman year, we have a happy teenager who is thriving at SMSH in all advanced classes. At the end of the day, a happy teenager that doesn't hate school is a blessing. The overall climate of the school is good. While there is the typical high school stuff that we hear about, it's not isolated to SMSH as every high school deals with these things. My child enjoys school, most of their classes, and their extracurricular activities and clubs. Further, they feel safe at school during and after school hours. Teachers: With the exception of 1 teacher, they have all been great. The classes have been engaging, the homework reasonable and meaningful, and communication on point. The teachers are knowledgeable and seem to really care about the student and their progress. Some are truly passionate about their subject areas. 1 is exceptional at developing critical thinking skills. I do wish this was the case in more classes. Magnet Program: So far, the program has been amazing. The content has been challenging enough to see improvement, while remaining developmentally appropriate with expectations and growth.Communication from the school's auto system is OVERKILL. Literally the same message days in a row via 3 methods: phone, text, and email. I appreciate being informed, but do not need to hear/read the same thing over an over again! I get that trying to get parents involved is important to overall student success, 9 of the same message is not the answer!AICE Program: This is a HUGE bonus! Students have the opportunity to take the AICE classes and exams and graduate with an AICE Diploma. For those going to college in Florida, this is guaranteed Bright Futures money for school. The classes are more rigorous and require the students to pass the exams for the classes taken in order to earn the AICE Diploma & their are plenty of options so that students can take classes that interest them. It's important to know the guidelines for completion of this program so there are no surprises.