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Minutes 01-08-04MINUTES OF THE EDUCATION ADVISORY BOARD REGULAR MEETING HELD IN THE LIBRARY, 208 SOUTH SEACREST BOULEVARD, BOYNTON BEACH, FLORIDA, ON THURSDAY, JANUARY 8, 2004 AT 6:00 P.M. Present Beverly Agee, Chairperson Jean Cairo, Vice Chair Lillian Artis Joan Pleasants Dr. Floyd M. Beil, Alternate Phyllis Pacilli, Alternate Kyle Dencker, Student Absent Kelly Daniels Irene Emmert Dennis Osborne Bhavisha Dhanak, Student Virginia Farace, Board Liaison At 6:30 p.m., the Boynton Beach EAB was joined by a delegation of individuals from the Delray Beach EAB. The Delray Beach Advisory Board attendees were: EAB Chair James Kemp, Marlene Brown, Sharron Ronco, Troy Wheat, and Diane Allerdys. Also in attendance were Janet Meeks, Liaison from City of Delray Beach to the EAB, Pat Archer, City Commissioner from Delray Beach, and Lula Butler, Director of Community Improvement I. Pledge/Welcome The Board delayed its meeting to wait for a quorum. Chair Agee called the meeting to order at 6:13 p.m. The members recited the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag. II. Roll Call The Recording Secretary called the roll and declared that a quorum was present. III. Minutes Approval of December 4, 2003 There were no corrections to the minutes and the Chairperson signed them. IV. Public Audience Meeting Minutes Education Advisory Board Boynton Beach, Florida January 8, 2004 None V. Chair's Report 1) Thank You to EAB from City Commission Chair Agee reported that at the December 16, 2003 City Commission meeting, the Commissioners expressed their thanks to the EAB for their work on the two resolutions sent to them for ratification: 1) Galaxy Elementary Modernization, and 2) FCAT testing. Both of the resolutions were ratified by the City Commission and sent on to the School Board. 2) EAB's Funding Priorities Chair Agee reported that she had sent a letter to Mayor Taylor confirming the EAB's funding priorities as the expansion of the City Library and the Art Center. 3) Resignation of Irene EmmertEAB Board Member It was with regret that Chair Agee shared the resignation letter received from Ms. Irene Emmert, member of the EAB. Ms. Emmert expressed regret that she was not able to resume her responsibilities as a Board member and complimented the Board on its fine work. The Board was saddened to learn of this but understood. 4) Articles in the Newspaper Chair Agee encouraged the Board members to continue reading about the many School Board and education issues in the newspapers. VI. City Liaison's Report Ms. Farace reported on a boundary issue that would be likely to have a negative effect on the ability of Congress Middle School to attract students for its magnet program. Assistant City Attorney Mike Pawelczyk will make a presentation at the EAB's February 5 meeting about public records and the Sunshine Law in the State of Florida. The cities who participated in the Principal for a Day program were recognized and presented with a lovely plaque from the School Board at the December 10 School Board meeting. When the video is ready, Ms. Shelley Parpard could present the plaque at a City Commission meeting. The plaque will most likely be put on display in the lobby of City Hall afterwards. 2 Meeting Minutes Education Advisory Board Boynton Beach, Florida January 8, 2004 Mr. Doug Dennison will be hosting a live radio show from the Glory Days Grill on Congress Avenue near Hypoluxo Road in north Boynton Beach starting on January 9 and continuing on every Friday afternoon from 2:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. He is encouraging participation by groups who wish to discuss or promote current topics. Keyes Realty honors the Student of the Week at Congress Middle School, Boynton Beach High School and Santaluces High School on this show. Ms. Farace urged the Board members to extend the invitation to any groups of which the members were a part. Other 1) Ms. Pacilli told the group about a monetary reward Congress Middle School had received from SouthTrust Bank, with which they were going to recognize their long-time volunteer, and get some long -desired supplies such as a scanner, printer, and die machine. The total award was $12,500. 2) Dr. Beil raised the idea of a visit by van to the area schools. The Board will try to borrow the City's van and Ms. Farace will chauffer the Board around so that they can get an idea of the physical location of the schools under the EAB's jurisdiction. The trip will be arranged for a Saturday morning, if possible. 3) Ms. Pacilli commented on the EAB's resolutions that were just ratified by the City Commission and asked if they could be shared with other education advisory boards in Palm Beach County. She felt that it was important to do this and to do it quickly since the other advisory boards might wish to piggyback on the Boynton Beach resolutions or make their own. If the boards were united, their impact would be greatly increased. Ms. Pleasants wanted a copy of the Resolutions sent to Governor Bush. Ms. Farace stated that the other advisory boards would be in Boca Raton, Delray Beach, West Palm Beach, Greenacres, and possibly Lantana. Ms. Farace will draft a cover letter and send it along with the resolutions to the various advisory boards. VII. Roundtable Discussion with Delray Beach Education Advisory Board The members of the Delray Beach Education Advisory Board were welcomed to the meeting and introductions were offered by all. The first topic was the South Florida Parenting Block Party, an event where both public and private schools are invited to showcase their talent on stage at Old School Square in Delray Beach. School -sponsored booths display their educational programs, school spirit, and summer camp programs. Ms. Sandy Metlock, a representative of South Florida Parenting Magazine, distributed copies of the magazine along with a flier detailing the program. Ms. Meeks, City Liaison to the Delray Beach EAB, explained that 3 Meeting Minutes Education Advisory Board Boynton Beach, Florida January 8, 2004 the City wanted a venue to showcase its schools and now had two years of success at this location and were offering Boynton Beach the opportunity to participate on Sunday, April 25. Delray Beach will be filling the booths and stages on April 25. The event runs from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. each day. Ms. Metlock stated that she needed to know who would be participating by the end of March or early April. If anyone chooses to do a school -sponsored booth, they are asked to man the booth for the entire day. Ms. Metlock will send the pertinent information to Ms. Farace and Ms. Pacilli will act as point person and get the information to all the SAC chairs. The deadline to advertise in South Florida Parenting magazine would be March 1. Motion Ms. Cairo moved to disseminate the South Florida Parenting Block Party information to the schools to determine interest in participating in this event. The motion was duly seconded and unanimously carried. The second topic was the Principal for a Day program. The participants shared their experiences and agreed that it had been a successful program. Greenacres and West Palm Beach participated as well. Delray Beach EAB felt that this year had been its best so far. They were glad that Boynton Beach had decided to participate in the program and offered some comments about their Principals for a Day. The general feeling was that it was up to the Principal to keep in touch with the Principal for a Day (PFAD), but there were some things that could be done to encourage this. Along with thank you notes for participating, there could be a query about whether the Principal had invited his or her PFAD back for a special event or to participate in some school ceremony such as graduation. A similar note could be sent to the PFAD, reminding him or her to consider inviting the school Principal to their place of business. One of the Delray Beach representatives commented that they invited their PFAD to come for school assemblies. Mr. Jim Kemp, Delray EAB Chair, stated that one principal had provided a private parking space at his school with the PFAD's name on it. One of the PFAD's in Delray Beach came to the school on Friday afternoons to work with the girls in the Cheetah Club, helping them improve their image. Vice Chair Cairo commented that part of the follow-up piece could be a question as to whether the PFAD wanted to come back again next year and if so, to which school. Chair Kemp stated that there were only a few schools where the Principal and PFAD had bonded to such an extent that they would want to continue. All agreed that it was great for the students to see a PFAD coming back again and again. The two Boards discussed having a joint PFAD effort in 2004 and a date for this was established as November 18, 2004. 12 Meeting Minutes Education Advisory Board Boynton Beach, Florida January 8, 2004 The third topic was the Vi//age Academy/De/ray Fu// Service Center. Ms. Farace introduced the topic by saying that the Boynton Beach EAB was interested in understanding the Village Academy and its connection to Delray Beach, what the Delray Full Service Center does, and the possibility of the Delray Full Service Center being moved to make more room for the Village Academy. Ms. Lula Butler, Director of Community Improvement for the City of Delray Beach, explained that the Vi//age Academy was a public, deregulated school that was born out of a desire to help the 70% of children in that area who were not graduating from high schools. It was felt that a public school with a small classroom environment and wrap-around services incorporating the entire family would improve this high dropout situation. They call the mandatory extended day program the Beacon Center. The children are in school from 7:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m., five days a week and 7:00 a.m. to 12:00 noon on Saturdays. During the extended hours, the children obtain additional tutorial assistance to give them the edge that they need. Ms. Butler stated that the Village Academy began as K-3 and was now up to K-5. It was envisioned to be K-12. The District has now approved K-8 to be incorporated on the existing site. In order for the Village Academy to go from K-12, the Delray Full Service Center (DFSC) would have to be demolished and the high school component built. The City Commission approved a resolution supporting the K-8 concept. The high school component is yet to be decided. Ms. Butler explained the history of the De/ray Fu//Service Center. The original high school for the minority community in Delray Beach used to be Carver High School. After integration it became Carver Middle School. At that time, blacks and whites were being bussed to schools and the School Board focused on building schools in neutral zones. Land was bought at Barwick and Atlantic and the new Carver Middle School was built on it. The community was concerned about the old site of the Carver Middle/High School and did not want to have it fall into disrepair. They believed that if the school were to be left vacant for any length of time, it would become an eyesore. A community group, in concert with the Education Advisory Board, came up with a concept of a full service center. Within that neighborhood, a lot of different social services were needed and they needed to be nearby and accessible. Any agency could contract with the School District to house their outreach programs in that facility. The School District at some time needed space for alternative schools and that became a component of the DFSC. Within the DFSC now there is a HeadStart program, a clinic, an adult literacy program (day and night), a number of social service organizations, and the Alternative School. There is a full gym that is used by the community for planned programs. It is run by the School District. Ms. Pleasants asked if anyone in the County could go there and avail themselves of the services and Ms. Butler answered in the affirmative. 5 Meeting Minutes Education Advisory Board Boynton Beach, Florida January 8, 2004 The students who attend the Alternative School at DFSC are assigned there and the boundaries are from Lake Worth to Boca Raton. Ms. Meeks stated that she had gotten the statistics today and there were approximately 250 students in the Alternative School program at DFSC, with the actual number varying according to need. She determined that of those 250 students, Delray Beach had 49 students, Lantana had 11, Lake Worth had 27, Boca Raton had 18, and Boynton Beach had 146. The Boynton Beach component makes up 60% of the entire student population at the DFSC Alternative School. Ms. Farace asked if they would be able to find out what high school they would have attended. Ms. Butler said that this information would have to come from a data processing source in the School District. Ms. Butler stated that the Village Academy and the Delray Full Service Center and Alternative School were on two separate campuses but were next door to each other. The next topic was the Literacy Initiative being promoted by the Assistant Principal of Carver Middle School in Delray Beach. This is a program where children in the summer camps in Boynton Beach and Delray Beach would read during the 1/2 hour at each end of the day that was not otherwise programmed. Ms. Meeks stated that getting some literacy training in the summer camps, particularly for the Level 1 and 2 students, would probably help tremendously in FCAT scores and so forth. After this idea surfaced, Carver Middle School thought of having a literacy camp at the Middle School, maybe with some help from the City. She said this was a new concept but that it could be a very positive way for the EABS to increase academic achievement. Carver Middle School is willing to send teachers in to train camp counselors about how to do literacy and this could be one of the camp group activities in the morning. They also said they would help set up libraries and get the appropriate materials into the hands of the summer camp. Ms. Farace stated that the City of Boynton Beach already brought its children into the Library during the summer camp program since the camp was right next door to the Library. The program will be tried for a month and Ms. Meeks will let the Boynton EAB know about the results of the experience. The other topic was the GG Middle School and the choice issue. Ms. Farace commented that she had just learned that Delray Beach had taken a position on choice and asked to know a little about that position. Ms. Meeks stated that the City Commission had passed a Resolution to support a choice school with priority zones that mirrored that of the 98GG4, which had the schools that are currently overcrowded - Omni, Carver, and another school. Originally there were 800 students that would be boundaried in from three schools. Ms. Pleasants thought the 700 were already boundaried. Ms. Meeks said that nobody was boundaried and the G Meeting Minutes Education Advisory Board Boynton Beach, Florida January 8, 2004 discussions were ongoing. That was just the Delray Beach City Commission's recommendation. Ms. Pleasants thought the number was 700 with 500 seats (per the literature). Ms. Meeks said that as a choice school, they wanted to have the kids in those boundaries have first choice if they were to apply to get considered before it was opened up to the general public. Ms. Meeks said it was a difficult decision and that she was on the Education Advisory Board, worked in the City, and was on the Boundary Committee. There were pros and cons, one to be boundaried and one to be choice. They felt that they had tried to do a little of both. She felt that since this was to be a technical school, the children might prefer to have a choice about whether or not to go there. They have committed to do heavy recruitment in their schools. The boundary proposal includes a portion of Delray Beach, about 300 students. The Delray EAB's recommendation to the City Commission was that because this school was a special school, if a parent wanted his or her child to go there, it should be a matter of choice. The EAB wanted those 300 seats to be priority seats that would only be given out after those 300 students were made aware and had an opportunity to apply. Ms. Pleasants had heard that Delray was asking for 300 additional students to be boundaried in there and the response from Delray was that this was not the case. Ms. Meeks said that the Delray Beach EAB appreciated the opportunity for getting together and if possible, wanted to do such a meeting twice a year. Chair Agee thought this was a great idea, especially since Boynton Beach and Delray Beach have a lot of common interests. Chair Agee suggested another meeting in September or October of this year. This concluded the joint session with the Delray Beach EAB. VIII. SAC Reports Dr. Beil noted that he had turned in his SAC report. IX. New Business The Board discussed the South Florida Parenting opportunity. The Board reached consensus that the EAB would have a tent on Sunday, April 25, 2004 at the South Florida Parenting Block Party event. X. Adjournment The meeting was duly adjourned at 8:30 p.m. 7 Meeting Minutes Education Advisory Board Boynton Beach, Florida January 8, 2004 Next Meeting The next meeting of the Education Advisory Board will be on February 5, 2004 at 6:00 p.m. Respectfully submitted Susan Collins Recording Secretary (011203) Approved: Board Chair Date: 0