Air Base Elementary School

Air Base K-8 Center, The Center for International Education, is a primary school located at 12829 S.W. 272nd Street in unincorporated Miami-Dade County, Florida, United States, northeast of Homestead. Its principal is Raul Calzadilla Jr and it is part of the Miami-Dade County Public Schools System. The school's mascot is the Falcon, and its colors are black, teal, and white. Its total enrollment for the 2005-2006 school year was 451 students in kindergarten through fifth grade. The school has been recognized as a National Magnet School of Merit.The school opened in 1958. The following year, on September 7, 1959, Air Base Elementary and Orchard Villa Elementary became the first two desegregated schools in the system.The school originally was built to serve children of families at Homestead Air Force Base. After Hurricane Andrew damaged the air base in 1992, many Air Force personnel were relocated and student population dropped. To maintain enrollment, in the 1996-97 school year the school was converted to a magnet school offering an international program. Extensive foreign language instruction is offered, including English for Speakers of Other Languages, Spanish for Spanish speakers, and Spanish and French as second languages. It offers a fee-based pre-Kindergarten program and has special before and after school care programs.