Centner Academy, incorporated in 2018 and taking students for the first time in 2019, is a

private school A private school or independent school is a school not administered or funded by the government, unlike a State school, public school. Private schools are schools that are not dependent upon national or local government to finance their fina ...

for pre-Kindergarten to eighth grades with a total of about 300 students and about 75 employees in

Miami, Florida Miami is a East Coast of the United States, coastal city in the U.S. state of Florida and the county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade County in South Florida. It is the core of the Miami metropolitan area, which, with a populat ...

. The main elementary school campus is in the Design District, while the preschool is in Buena Vista. The school is known for its

anti-vaccination Anti-vaccine activism, which collectively constitutes the "anti-vax" movement, is a set of organized activities expressing opposition to vaccination, and these collaborating networks have often sought to increase vaccine hesitancy by dissem ...

stance.

History

It was co-founded by David and Leila Centner, who were unhappy with the other schools in the area. Leila Centner is the former Chief Financial Officer of the Highway Toll Administration. She has worked for

Arthur Andersen Arthur Andersen LLP was an American accounting firm based in Chicago that provided auditing, tax advising, consulting and other professional services to large corporations. By 2001, it had become one of the world's largest multinational corpo ...

and

Deloitte & Touche Deloitte is a Multinational corporation, multinational professional services network based in London, United Kingdom. It is the largest professional services network in the world by revenue and number of employees, and is one of the Big Four a ...

. In August 2019 it had acquired the former Aspira Arts Charter School, made up of two buildings west of Edgewater, which it intends to use as a high school facility. On January 1, 2020, it bought Metropolitan International School in

Wynwood Wynwood is a neighborhood in Miami, Florida. Wynwood is known for being an entertainment district, with artwork, restaurants, breweries, clothing stores, and dance venues, among other retail options. Formerly an industrial district, the area i ...

. The merger was effective that year. The elementary school is housed in the former Metropolitan International School. Centner Academy also bought Buena Vista area houses that are to be used as residences for instructors.

Controversy

In 2021 the school hosted multiple presentations for students by anti-vax conspiracy theorists. In April 2021, Centner banned teachers who received

COVID-19 vaccine A COVID19 vaccine is a vaccine intended to provide acquired immunity against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), the virus that causes coronavirus disease 2019 ( COVID19). Knowledge about the structure and fun ...

s from contacting students, citing scientifically false claims about potential harm to nearby people who had not received the vaccine. Teachers who had previously received vaccines to protect themselves against

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. In January 2020, the disease spread worldwide, resulting in the COVID-19 pandemic. The symptoms of COVID‑19 can vary but often include fever ...

, or who got the vaccine later in the year, would be removed from the classroom and not allowed to have contact with students. Centner had criticized vaccinated employees during a

Zoom Zoom may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Film * ''Zoom'' (2006 film), starring Tim Allen * ''Zoom'' (2015 film), a Canada-Brazil film by Pedro Morelli * ''Zoom'' (2016 Kannada film), a Kannada film * ''Zoom'' (2016 Sinhala film), a Sr ...

call. She also stated that vaccinated teachers would not be hired for the following school year and that employees would have to disclose their vaccination status to the school if they had previously received or were planning to get vaccinated during the 2020–2021 school year. In October 2021, the administration stated that students taking COVID-19 vaccines would have to quarantine for 30 days after each dose, due to the unsubstantiated claim of “vaccine shedding” infecting unvaccinated students.

References

External links

The Centner Academy
Private K–8 schools in the United States K–8 schools in Florida Schools in Miami Private elementary schools in Miami-Dade County, Florida Private middle schools in Miami-Dade County, Florida

History

Controversy

See also

References

Further reading

External links