John A. Ferguson High School

John A. Ferguson Senior High School is a magnet and academy high school located at 15900 S.W. 56th Street in Miami, Florida, United States. This Miami-Dade County public school mainly serves the outer portion of Miami's West Kendall suburb. The 2015-2016 principal is Rafael Villalobos, supported by an administration team including Mindy Acosta Leon, Kathryn Guerra, and Stanley Thompkins. The school's purpose is to promote a culture of academic excellence by providing equitable, effective, appropriate, and engaging instructional strategies and by using data to drive instruction.Construction began on Ferguson in March 2002. It was built to alleviate overcrowding at G. Holmes Braddock High School and Felix Varela High School, which had reached populations of over 5,000 students. The school began in Summer 2003, with only ninth graders. For the first three nine-week periods, the students were housed at G. Holmes Braddock Senior High School, in the back portables. John A. Ferguson High School now has one of the highest student populations in Florida, at over 4,500.Ferguson is a certified Magnet Program School in Florida, and has six academy programs: International Baccalaureate (IB), Information Technology (IT), International Business & Finance, Medical & Biomedical Skills, Design & Architecture, and Hospitality and Tourism. These academies are small learning communities that offer students career-related curricula in their subjects of choice.The school is organized by a A/B block schedule which allows students to take eight courses every school year, attending four classes every other day. This gives students the opportunity to take more courses and experience a larger variety of curriculum.