"I'm focused, I'm ready to win," her voice trembling and clear."If I stumble, I won't hit the ground. They can't bring me down."
Now the room is hushed. The next speaker is petite and striking, with closely cropped hair, ebony skin, tattoos on her arm, and a stroller for her baby. "I want to be a great role model for my daughter," Ebonee Parker says, her voice breaking with tears. "She's the reason why I'm standing here before you."
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Developer Mark Rodberg wanted Dwyane Wade's name on his restaurants and schools. To read more on the topic of Mavericks and South Florida education, click
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Former CEO Mark Thimmig is in a legal battle with Mavericks' other founders.
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Parker leaves the stage, but the parade of performers continues. Eight Mavericks students stand to recite the school's pledge. They are a Benetton commercial of racial diversity — blond, brown, male, female. "I am the person that directs my destiny," they pledge. "I am the best that this world has to offer. I will believe in myself even when others do not."
Finally, a small band of African-American men, including Pastor Mays, performs another song they wrote for the occasion. "You've got something good, you've got Mavericks High!" rings the chorus. The crowd begins to clap. Harmonizing voices fill the room, bringing warmth to the stale fluorescent lights and linoleum floors.
By the time everyone heads outside to cut an enormous turquoise ribbon, Liz Downey, the school secretary, has tears in her eyes. She has good reason to celebrate. Another Mavericks school was approved in early November in Orange County, and two weeks later Palm Beach County district officials would recommend approving three more. However, the Palm Beach vote was postponed after New Times published a blog about the schools.
District spokesman Nat Harrington says board members delayed the vote because they wanted more information about the grades and graduation rates at the eight existing Mavericks high schools in Florida. "Based on the information staff has received to date, there are reasons to be concerned about the strength of Mavericks' academic program," Harrington wrote in an emailed response to New Times' questions.
After cutting the ribbon, the crowd heads inside for cookies and tours of the school. Students fill the cubicles that weeks earlier had housed only rows of computers. Their teacher urges the class to listen carefully, because they have visitors.
A student sitting by the window looks confused. She has been stuck in class studying while all the singing and speech-making filled the lobby. "What they havin'?'" she asks a random visitor. She had no idea there was a celebration today.
