EAMONN FRANCIS' school garden & STEAMLab

Hi! Eamonn is a pre-k student at David Fairchild Elementary (DFE), a Miami-Dade County Public School. Eamonn is well-loved at DFE. I am so impressed with the care and love that Eamonn receives at DFE. The school is such a supportive and positive community for Eamonn. We are so blessed. 

Eamonn’s pre-k teacher Ms Sabatier and her aid, Ms G are talents & treasures, they’re so communicative, compassionate, patient, intelligent, and enthusiastic. 

The Principal and Vice Principal are always accessible. The Principal and Vice Principal are always around especially in the morning. They're available for even the smallest questions. 

The people in the office (Ms Julie and Ms Maggie) are so caring, diligent, professional, competent, and approachable.

The security Officer Perez and Ms. Shay keeps the school safe with playfulness and care.
The school nurse is so knowledgeable and kind.  

The other parents are so invested in their community. There are so many volunteers and I am the parent coordinator for our class's Lunch Bunch!

Eamonn knows all the cafeteria workers (and they all know him)! There is no way to quantify that feeling of our child's safety and love. Ms. Chris works in the cafeteria and helps with the before school care and after school care. We love talking with her. And we adore Eamonn's after school teachers, Ms. Carmen and her co-teacher. 

I am grateful that we landed at the vibrant DFE. In fact, DFE is not even our home school. 

[FYI: Coral Gables Prep is technically our “home school”, we live a few blocks from that school but we weren’t able to enroll Eamonn in the Pre-k lottery because we have a month-to-month lease. 

After completing the information on the Miami Dade School portal, Coral Gables Preo required an in-person “interview.” I had to physically go to the school and talk with the administration. 

Despite submitting our  our FPL bill and our rent payments, on the portal the Coral Gables Prep refused to accept these documents as proof of residence. They said that I had to bring physical copies of the documents. I returned to Coral Gables Prep with the documents. 

It seems like Coral Gables Prep has their own rules which differ from the other Miami Dade schools. Coral Gables Prep school has put so many hurdles. In March 2025, we found out that Eamonn wasn’t enrolled in the lottery.  Subsequently, we found out that there were pre-k spots at other schools like David Fairchild Elementary. ]

I had driven by David Fairchild  Elementary on the way home from Eamonn's pre-k 3 school, L'Atelier and I just felt the positive energy.  And I found out that one of my favorite Miami friends' send their kids to David Fairchild!   We are so privileged to have the resources to drive and pick up  our child to another public school outside of our home-school.  

(Although we could do without the homework! There is supporting research that homework is not helpful to learning. I digress.) 

Jerry and I refer to the school as David Foster Wallace School.  David Fairchild was a botanist

This year, David Fairchild Elementary PTA is working hard to create a brand-new STEAM Lab and Learning Garden where  Eamonn & his buddies can explore Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Math both indoors and outdoors. Eamonn can’t wait to get hands-on with projects that make learning fun and creative! (As most of you know, Eamonn is technically an 'outdoor baby' as Jerry refers to him. Eamonn is not housebroken.)

David Fairchild Elementary has a robust Art program. 

Every dollar helps us learn more, do more, and dream bigger. Will you please help me reach my goal? We know that these have been rough economic times, and the minimum $25 gift makes an impact (sorry we didn’t institute the minimum. We wish the minimum was lower so the contributions could be more fiscally assessable especially considering the current economy).

Thank you for investing in Eamonn and DFE! 💜

Love, Arcy 

DFE PTA will receive 100% of your tax-deductible Give Miami Day contribution!