Miami Palmetto was built in 1958. Miami Palmetto had a cost of $1,654,400 (equivalent to $ million in ). The expected enrollment was 1,500. It serves a culturally and socioeconomically diverse population. Miami Palmetto is the home school for the residents of Pinecrest, Palmetto Bay, West Perrine, and Palmetto Estates. The school enjoys strong support from the municipal governments of the two primary areas zoned to Palmetto Senior, the Village of Pinecrest and the Village of Palmetto Bay. Both provide noteworthy cash or in-kind donations and have active Educational Advisory Compact agreements that facilitate working with MDCPS. Pinecrest gives $10,000 to the school every year, and Palmetto Bay in 2015 sponsored a community-wide 5K Color Run fundraiser benefit. An active PTSA also contributes substantial resources (funding, programming, volunteer manpower). Palmetto, for years, was a three-year high school, but after the 1997 addition, it expanded to be a four-year high school. In the school's history, a few scandals have surfaced, one in which lacrosse players shared racist remarks through a group chat to later be counseled, and an incident where a student stabbed a classmate and her teacher with scissors. Miami Palmetto is currently participating in a pilot program of
AP Capstone. In 2017, Miami-Dade Public Schools began an extensive three phase reconstruction of the school which was originally budgeted to cost $44 million. The overall remodel includes 120,900 square feet of new construction including a new three-story building to house administrative offices; student services; vocational labs, such as Web Design, drafting and design, health science, and business technology. The remodel also includes a new art wing, photo studio lab, gymnastics space, dance room, music room, and black box theater; new cafeteria building, technology labs, and an indoor and outdoor dining facility adjacent to a central courtyard. The new building, which was completed as Phase 1 of the project, opened in January 2020. ==School Trends==