NMB High School was a pioneer in school construction; it was the first high school in Dade County to be built with no windows, and was therefore completely air-conditioned.
History
NMB High School's style of education, with no traditional letter grades, created tension within middle- and upper-middle-class North Dade County families, whose older children had attended and graduated from traditional Dade County schools. They were not happy that their younger children would be placed in an experimental school that eschewed the traditions the parents knew, as the Miami Herald reported at the time. However, by the time the school was four years old, the non-traditional approach had been abandoned.
NMB had an award-winning TV Production program led by teacher Patrica Nelson Miller from the late 1970s through the 1990s and early 2000s. The revolutionary program included a video yearbook, daily closed-circuit newscast and both prosumer and professional equipment. Alan Page was responsible for all technical facilities and worked closely with students and teachers to maintain equipment. Mr. Page in 1996 started a fist fight with the then General Manager Robert Berger. The student in question (Robert Berger) subsequently broke Mr. Page's jaw. The video yearbooks would have a student general manager and utilize a different theme each year. In 1994 the theme of the video yearbook was "Friends" and utilized a shot for shot recreation of the opening of the then wildly popular Warner Bros. sitcom "Friends".
The high school's newspaper was called The Charger Times. Among its editors was David Rutman.
NMB High School has a Biomedical and Environmental Advancement Magnet program (BEAM) available to all students in the district. The program gives higher education credits to students wishing to pursue a career in medicine or environmental sciences.
In the summer of 2005, the school added a two-story building to its campus.
NMBSHS is 72% Black, 21% Hispanic (of any race), 3% Asian/other, and 1% White non-Hispanic.[3]
Academics
North Miami Beach High School offers three magnet programs: AP Capstone pilot program, BEAM (Biomedical and Environmental Advancement Magnet Program) and iPrep. Students who successfully complete the Seminar and Capstone courses, and who earn a 3 or higher on three or more Advanced Placement courses, earn a Credential of Program completion.[4]
Sports
Until a regional high school football stadium was built in the 1990s at the northern Biscayne Bay campus of Florida International University, the NMB Chargers football team played both its home and away games at the northern regional football stadium, Traz Powell Stadium. Located at the then Miami-Dade North Community College campus, now called Miami Dade College, it was more than seven miles (11 km) away from the NMB campus. It is 24 acres (97,000 m2).
