Loading...
Minutes 12-02-04MINUTES OF THE EDUCATION ADVISORY BOARD REGULAR MEETING HELD IN THE LIBRARY PROGRAM ROOM, 208 SOUTH SEACEAST BOULEVARD, BOYNTON BEACH, FLORIDA, ON THURSDAY, DECEMBER 2, 2004 AT 6:15 P.M. Present Jean Cairo, Chair Floyd Bell, Vice Chair Margaret S. Newton Melinda Mallon Joan Pleasants David Weinstein Jeffrey Andre, Student Member Virginia Farace, Board Liaison Absent Barbara Brunetti Christine Moeller Erica Hammond I. Pledge Chair Cairo called the meeting to order at 6:30 p.m. and led members in the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag. II. Roll Call Members introduced themselves and gave a brief background for the benefit of new members, Melinda Mallon and David Weinstein, who were welcomed to the Board. III. Minutes The following changes were suggested to the minutes of the November 4th meeting: · page 3, Section VI. City Liaison's Report, 1st paragraph, last sentence should read, "The tax starts January 1,2005;" · page 4, 3rd paragraph, 1st sentence should read, "This year the Luncheon and Town Meeting will be held in the auditorium at Boynton Beach High School;" · page 4, 6th paragraph, last line should read, "...she is making them;" · page 5, 5th paragraph, change "Knowland" to "Nolan" in both places; · page 5, remove 7th paragraph. Ms. Newton asked that her name be removed from the absent roll on the October 7th meeting minutes. She was not notified of her appointment to the Board until after the October 7th meeting. Meeting Minutes Education Advisory Board Boynton Beach, Florida December 2, 2004 The minutes were placed on file as amended. IV. Public Audience None. V. Chair's Report Chair Cairo welcomed the new members to the Board. VI. City Liaison's Report Ms. Farace informed the Board about the Boundary Input Meeting to be held on Tuesday, December 7th at 6:30 p.m. Members were encouraged to attend. The meeting would encompass school boundary changes across Palm Beach County. There are 3 changes that will have a direct affect on schools in Boynton Beach: 1. The opening of a new elementary school northwest of Boynton Beach will have a ripple down effect on Citrus Cove Elementary. Incorporation is underway to include the Renaissance Commons development at Military Trail and Gateway Blvd. which would affect Galaxy Elementary; and 3. The opening of a new middle school (Lantana Middle School) will have a ripple down effect on Christa McAuliffe Middle School. The Chapel Hill area was slated to become part of Boynton Beach High School's boundary. The Chapel Hill residents protested at the last meeting, stating they wanted to stay within Atlantic High School's boundary and felt that they were being punished by the proposed boundary change. The committees took the residents' comments literally and have kept Chapel Hill's boundary the same. Ms. Farace distributed season ticket information flyer for the Boynton Beach High School Theatre Academy. The first play, "Little Shop of Horrors," is scheduled for December 4, 2004 and will be performed at a variety of times. "Twelve Angry Men" will be performed during January, February, or March and "The Pajama Game" will be performed in the spring 2005. The cost is $20.00 for the three plays. Reserved seats are $30.00. Anyone having an interest in purchasing tickets was asked to complete the form on the flyer and return it and their money to Ms. Farace. Ms. Farace distributed the December 2004 Friend to Friend newsletter published by the Friends of the Boynton Beach City Library. The newsletter included a picture of those persons who participated in the groundbreaking ceremony for the new Library. A Barnes & Noble coupon was also included on the back of the newsletter. This coupon Meeting Minutes Education Advisory Board Boynton Beach, Florida December 2, 2004 is to be presented at the time of purchase on December 2nd, 3rd, and 4th and a percentage of the sale will be give to the Friends of the Boynton Beach City Library organization. The 2nd Evening of Appreciation will be held on December 6th and the theme is "Good Books, Good Wine, Good Food, Good Friends". Past Perfect Florida History, Inc. will have books available for sale after the authors speak. Guest authors will include two cookbook authors. Bob Tata will select the wine to accompany the appetizers and desserts being served. Space is limited and tickets are $5.00 (donation) at the Accommodation Desk. January begins the 2005 Brown Bag Series. Through March, seminars will be held in the Library every Monday at noon. Ms. Newton expressed concern that all the bookstores located within Boynton Beach are not highlighted in the newsletter. Ms. Farace explained that the Library partners with each bookstore throughout the year for special events. This month's event is the Barnes & Noble bookstore that is providing funds to the Friends of the Boynton Beach City Library organization as a percentage of net sales. Ms. Farace commended the Board for their participation in the Principal for a Day Program. She gave special praise to Chair Cairo, Vice Chair Bell, and Ms. Pleasants for their efforts. VII. Principal for a Day Program Chair Cairo commented that the Principal for a Day Program was a tremendous success and she thanked all the Board members for the participation. Testimonials received during and after the event include: The Regional Director for American Express did not initially want to participate but was encouraged to do so by his wife. He was surprised at the quality of the education, the wonderful students, and how hard the administration works to meet the needs of the students every day. His children are in a private school and his experience has been that the private school expects the parents and students to meet the needs of the school. Kristen Conti was moved so much by her experience as a business partner that she solicited Thanksgiving dinner from the community for the school and matched the funds that were donated. The funds were given to the Principal just before Thanksgiving. Ms. Conti is also forming a coalition in an effort to spread the word to the community regarding the school's needs. 3 Meeting Minutes Education Advisory Board Boynton Beach, Florida December 2, 2004 Chair Cairo asked Ms. Conti to keep her informed as to her progress on the coalition. Another participant has formed a program that provides frae dance lessons to kids who are keeping their grades up. At the end of the school year, the dance studio will award a scholarship to one child at the school. The business partner at Park Vista is coordinating community leaders to speak at the school. The business partner at the Survivor School spoke at an event recently and he pleaded with the audience to hire the children graduating from Survivor because the reality is they will be the next skilled group in the community who are available for hire. · The chef who participated at South Tech did a tremendous job. Chair Cairo will try to get him to do the luncheon for next year's event. The post event feedback received to date from the forms that were placed in the Business Partners' goodie bags included: · Host the recognition event on a separate day. The day was too long a period of time. · Change Luncheon setup to a forum style so that everyone can see one another in order to exchange ideas while eating. A meeting for Business Partners and Principals to meet prior to the event is essential. Business Partners and Principals wanted to meet prior to the event to strategize about the day. It was missed this year due to the hurricanes but had been a part of previous years' events. · The program is worth repeating. Look for additional ways to get business partners involved. · Invite Student Council members to attend luncheon. · City Manager's presentation was good. · Have the press cover the event The Board discussed ways to improve press coverage and the following suggestions were made: 1) work with Ned Harrington in the Public Relations Office at the School Board early in the year to utilize their resources in order to gain press coverage, 2) 4 Meeting Minutes Education Advisory Board Boynton Beach, Florida December 2, 2004 nudge the School Superintendent more, reminding him of the event, 3) tape a promotional video early in the year to have aired on the Education Network channel just prior to the event, specifically on Debbie Stewart's and Chuck Shaw's programs. Use Doug Dennison and Kristen Conti as the business partners for this video, along with the Principals with whom they participated, 4) expand the event to encompass the County. It may make the event more interesting for local papers. Deiray Beach held their event the same day and also did not have any press coverage. Chair Cairo spoke with the education writer for the Sun-Sentinel several times prior to the event this year but it did not help. The Boynton Times also did not cover the event, despite the many press releases sent to them. Chair Cairo will be sending thank you notes to the event sponsors, including Boynton Beach High School, Sign Company, and JJ Muggs. She will go to the Commission meeting to personally thank the City Manager and Vice Mayor McCray provided she can be added to the agenda. Vice Chair Bell will provide the tape of last year's event. Chair Cairo will obtain the tape of this year's event. VIII. SAC Reports (in writing, if possible) SAC Assignments Boynton Beach Hiqh School Ms. Farace distributed the minutes for the October SAC meeting of the Boynton Beach High School. Highlights of the November SAC meeting included a discussion on tolerance. The school is participating in a program called Promoting Empathetic Teens (PET). The program provides blue blazers with emblems on them to identify its participants. There will be a block schedule for reading at the High School. Students must read either a fiction or non-fiction book. Magazines and comic books do not count. Books can be checked out at the library and the school has also purchased additional paperbacks. Prizes will be given in accordance with the amount of reading completed. Read Boynton is a program that joins reading teachers together with students. The students would gain public service credits if they work within the school library system. The program starts in middle school and the service credit points would follow the student through high school. A discussion took place regarding Cultural Congruency. This program enlightens teachers on the different cultures that are found in their community and their students. Crosspointe Elementary 5 Meeting Minutes Education Advisory Board Boynton Beach, Florida December 2, 2004 Ms. Pleasants stated that Crosspointe Elementary held its first SAC meeting for the 2004/2005 school year. Approximately 2/3 of those persons who attended the Thank You Dinner participated in the meeting. Given the issues with being able to maintain a quorum during last school year's SAC, this was seen as a very encouraging sign of the participation level for this school year. The School Improvement Plan was reviewed at the meeting. Ms. Pleasants distributed the Board's FCAT Resolution to the SAC. The Committee expressed concern about what is happening in education and the grading structure of the FCAT. The Committee feels that the FCAT grading structure is unfair and they are being discriminated against because Crosspointe has a large population that participates in the free lunch program. Mr. Weinstein and Ms. Mallon were asked to decide which school's SAC they would like to participate in. Their choices are Odyssey or Congress Middle Schools. They will inform the Board of their decision at the next meeting. Ms. Newton clarified she will participate in Galaxy Elementary School's SAC. IX. New Business The Principal's Roundtable will be scheduled for early Spring 2005. Chair Cairo explained that this event is a great way to brainstorm ideas regarding recruitment of the business community to get them involved in the City's schools. This would not only be beneficial for the Principal for a Day Program but also throughout the year. Student Council members should be invited to attend the Roundtable as well, Ms. Newton asked about access to FCAT Explorer. It was explained that each child in the public school system is provided a password to log onto the site via the Internet. Each school is issued a password and all the children at that school use that same password. She will work with Rick Contarsi at the School Board, who is responsible for establishing the passwords, to gain one for the Hester Center and the Boynton Beach Library. She will also address with him the issue that tutors and adults at the various childcare and learning centers in the community do not have the password. It would be beneficial for those persons working with the students after school to have access to a password, or at least the list of passwords for each school they support in order to better assist the children prepare for the FCAT. Ms. Newton informed the Board that the Anti Defamation League (ADL) is holding dialogues with the City Manager and Police Chief Gage to potentially enter into a contract for workshops on anti-prejudice and tolerance. ADL is looking for business partners in the community to either host the workshops or provide other resources to their efforts. She will keep the Board apprised of their progress. 6 Meeting Minutes Education Advisory Board Boynton Beach, Florida December 2, 2004 X. Next Meeting The next regularly scheduled meeting will be held on January 6, 2005 in the Library Program Room. X. Adjournment There being no further business, the meeting properly adjourned at 7:50 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Deanna Ewing ~ Recording Secretary (120804) 7