Raquel Regalado is guest speaker at Rotary

The guest speaker at the next Coconut Grove Rotary luncheon is Raquel Regalado, member of the Miami-Dade School Board for District 6 and Candidate for Mayor of Miami-Dade County. The luncheon is Thursday, May 19 at the Coconut Grove Sailing Club.

The luncheon starts at 12:15 pm, is $20 per person, the Sailing Club is at 2990 S. Bayshore Drive.

Born and raised in Miami, Raquel went to Lourdes Academy and Coral Gables High. She attended Miami-Dade College and Florida International University before graduating from law school at St. Thomas University.  At St. Thomas she earned several book awards, placed first in Moot Court, served on the Law Review and worked as a research assistant and Dean’s fellow. She was a summer associate and attorney at Holland & Knight. Raquel practiced law for eight years, specializing in intellectual property and commercial litigation.

As the mother of an autistic child, Ms. Regalado noticed that the county school system offered limited choices for special needs children. This was her motivating force to run for the school board in District 6, representing children and parents from Key Biscayne through Miami, Coral Gables and into Westchester. In her six years on the board, Raquel has brought the county’s special needs education into the 21st Century with privately donated sensory rooms, choice programs for children with disabilities and more training for educators. She also made significant changes in the way the school board does business, from facilities and construction to student transportation. As a freshman board member, she pushed a five-year plan to replace old and inefficient school buses with energy efficient buses that exceed the state’s safety requirements saving the school board money in operational and maintenance costs.

Raquel has worked with multiple organizations to help fund projects and resources the School Board couldn’t — from a playground for Citrus Elementary to art supplies for classes in challenged middle schools.  Additionally, as a member of the executive board at the Adrienne Arsht Performing Arts Center, she chairs the education committee whose main purpose is to support Rock Odyssey, a program that is offered free of charge to all Miami-Dade County Public School 5th graders and is now working on providing programming to all MDCPS 8th graders.

Raquel lives in Miami with her son and daughter. She will be speaking about her accomplishments as a School Board member, as well as her goals if elected Mayor of Miami-Dade County.

Please the group this Thursday and RSVP at coconutgroverotaryclub@gmail.com.