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Minutes 09-24-02MINUTES OF THE EDUCATION ADVISORY BOARD REGULAR MEETING HELD IN THE LIBRARY PROGRAM ROOM, BOYNTON BEACH, FLORIDA, ON TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 24, 2002 AT 6:00 P.M. Present Beverly Agee, Chairperson Dr. Floyd M. Bell Irene C. Latour Randy O'Hara Joan W. Pleasants, Alternate Virginia Farace, Board Liaison Absent Lillian Artis Jean Cairo Revia Lee Rae A. Fellows, Alternate I. Pledge Chair Agee called the meeting to order at 6:23 p.m. and Dr. Bell led the Board in the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag. II. Roll Call The Recording Secretary called the roll and declared that a quorum was present. It was noted that Ms. Pleasants would be a voting member tonight. While it was acknowledged that there is no such thing as excused absences for Board meetings, Chair Agee requested that the minutes reflect that Ms. Cairo could not attend tonight's meeting because she was at an educational event at Banyan Creek Elementary School. Ms. Fellows called Chair Agee to say she could not attend the Board meeting as she had a migraine headache and Ms. Artis called to say she could not attend tonight. III.A. Minutes of August 8, 2002 The Board received two items regarding the August 8, 2002 minutes (an addendum to the minutes and a letter from David Fellows). The members were asked to review page 3 of the minutes, item II1.C.1, paragraph 2. The Board did not agree with the addendum; however, they did support attaching a copy of Mr. Fellows' letter of clarification to the minutes of tonight's meeting. Regular Meeting Education Advisory Board Boynton Beach~ Florida September 247 2002 Motion Dr. Bell moved that a copy of Mr. Fellow's letter, dated August 15, 2002, be attached to the September 24th minutes. Motion was seconded by Ms. Pleasants and carried unanimously. III.B. Minutes of September 5 Dr. Bell noted that on page 4, paragraph 7, "Dr. Boyd" should read "Dr. Bell." Motion Ms. Latour moved to accept the minutes of the September 5, 2002 meeting as amended. Dr. Bell seconded the motion that carried unanimously. IV. Chair's Report Since it was not known whether Ms. Fellows would be able to accept the Student Advisory Council (SAC) assignment for Poinciana Elementary, Chair Agee agreed to take this assignment temporarily. In response to a question, Ms. Farace stated that there are 400 students from Boynton Beach attending Atlantic High School. It was confirmed that Ms. Pleasants would temporarily take the Atlantic High School SAC assignment. Chair Agee explained that the meeting tonight was to take the place of the regularly scheduled meeting of October 3rd. Chair Agee explained that she was not that concerned regarding formal action plans. The important thing is to know what the Board's goals and priorities are (getting volunteers and mentors for schools). Chair Agee reported that Ms. Cairo had been at a polling location on September 10th to distribute literature regarding volunteerism. There had been no problems and the people accepted the literature. However, there were not a lot of people at the voting precinct. Ms. Pleasants also handed out flyers at the polling location at the Golfview Harbor Clubhouse on September 10th. She said there was a positive reaction but there were very few people. After discussion by the Board, it was felt that polling locations might not be the appropriate place for distribution of literature. It was the consensus of the Board not to continue this during the general election in November. The Board will have a booth at the Boynton Beach Mall for the Youth Expo on October 26 and 27 from noon to 4:00 p.m. They will distribute literature and get comments from parents. 2 Regular Meeting Education Advisory Board Boynton Beach~ Florida September 24~ 2002 Ms. Latour will man the booth on Saturday, October 26, from noon to 2:00 p.m. Ms. Pleasants volunteered and will be available for two hours either day. Also, Mr. O'Hara offered to be at the booth whenever needed. Chair Agee and Ms. Cairo will also man the booth. Ms. Latour suggested that a handout be prepared, listing all schools in Boynton Beach and their SAC dates. She offered to obtain this information for the flyer. V. City Liaison's Report Ms. Farace reported on the Leadership Education Day that was held last Thursday. It began at the Children's Museum. Ms. Farace said that she had spoken about the importance of community leaders being involved in the schools. She also spoke to them regarding joining the EAB or a SAC and the importance of volunteers and mentors. Ms. Farace said that they then went to Galaxy Elementary and she was very disappointed to learn that all the work that had been done regarding boundaries to keep that school in balance was undone at the end of the summer. Only 500 out of 700 students were assigned to Galaxy, 200 students short and all from the western communities. They are losing seven teachers. When they were changing School Attendance Code numbers (SACs) for Winston Trails, it affected the SACs assigned to Galaxy. Galaxy Elementary was drastically affected and Freedom Shores Elementary wound up over capacity. Ms. Farace explained that Veronica Mackey, an activist in the community, worked with Kathy Harris, principal of Galaxy Elementary, and they put together a list of the needs of coastal schools. Chair Agee suggested focusing on volunteers at the three coastal schools. It was the consensus that a Board member should follow up with interested volunteers. Ms. Farace hoped that the outcome of the Leadership Education Day was that it would encourage the involvement of more businesses. Ms. Farace reported that she had spoken to Elizabeth Decker, Area Superintendent, regarding the School Improvement Plan presentations. After the last presentation, Ms. Decker spoke to the principals. They found that it had not been as effective as they had hoped and was not turning out community people. They are not going to do the presentations the way they have in the past. Ms. Decker made a suggestion that the Board get the word out to people to let them know where and when the plans will be presented. This should go in the Board's newsletter. 3 Regular Meeting Education Advisory Board Boynton Beach, Florida September 24, 2002 Another strategy would be for each of the Board members that go to a SAC meeting to become very familiar with what the school is doing and bring back priorities to the Board. VI. Public Audience (moved to end of meeting as no one for Public Audience was present at this time) VII. Review of action plans - Setting our priorities/goals for the 2002-2003 school year Ms. Latour said that she had called the schools regarding a Needs Assessment and their response was that they need volunteers. The Needs Assessment ties in with everything else and that is that volunteers and mentors are needed. Chair Agee said that the Board's action plans all focus on the need for volunteers and mentors. The Board's focus should also be on resources for the east coast schools and anything that involves improvement in reading. Ms. Pleasants reported on the "5-Star Award." This was developed by the Commissioner of Education and is a State of Florida, Department of Education, award that encourages schools to reach out to the community and be family-friendly. It would be a benefit to any school and is given out to any school that meets the five criteria, which are: 1. Business partnerships 2. Family involvement 3. Volunteerism 4. Student community service 5. SACs. Ms. Pleasants announced that them would be a two-hour "5-Star Award Workshop" on October 22nd from 9-11 a.m. It will be held in the main office of the School Board District headquarters. Anyone from the Board is welcome to attend. Shelly Parpard is the contact person. Ms. Latour and Ms. Pleasants will attend the workshop and Ms. Farace will ask Ms. Fellows to attend also. Ms. Farace stated that the volunteer coordinators at some schools are teachers and suggested that the Board find a "volunteer" volunteer coordinator for these schools. It was the consensus of the Board that their priorities would be volunteerism and focusing on the three coastal schools. The Board wanted to merge their action plans and coordinate them so that there is no duplication of efforts. This should be done at the next meeting. It was decided that the Board would finish their action plans and bring them to the next meeting 4 Regular Meeting Education Advisory Board Boynton Beach, Florida September 24, 2002 The next meeting of the board will be a special/workshop meeting on Tuesday, October 22nd, and the regular meeting will be held on November 7th. Chair Agee thought that the Board's plans should be in place for the year by November 7th. VIII. Selection Date for "Principal for a Day" Program Ms. Farace received an E-mail from Ms. Lee that the best date for the Principal for a Day Program would be January 14, 2003. Ms. Farace will check with Elizabeth Decker to verify whether this is a good date. IX. SAC Reports Dr. Bell reported on the SAC meeting at Citrus Cove Elementary School. He explained that the school was very upset that their three gifted 4th grade classes were being reduced to two, thereby increasing the size of the two classes. X. Unfinished Business Mr. O'Hara distributed the draft copy of the EAB's first newsletter for comments from the Board. Copies of the final newsletter will be sent to City departments, schools and included with letters sent to school principals. VI. Public Audience (moved to end of meeting) Terrence Rothman explained that he was a peace worker. He was convinced that the Bill of Rights has been jeopardized and that the preparation for war against Iraq is an atrocity. Mr. Rothman said that he is planning to initiate activities at schools, libraries, and other public places and he expects to be beaten by the police. He is convinced that this country is on the wrong path. He asked that the Board inform the schools that he will be at the schools to state his position and to let him exercise his right of free speech. Veronica Mackey stated that they were able to get bussing to Galaxy Elementary so that the children who live near Gateway Boulevard would not have to walk 45-60 minutes to get to school. She reported that there is still no crossing guard at Poinciana Elementary. Ms. Mackey said it was frustrating to learn that there are 34 students in some classes at Galaxy Elementary and Rolling Green Elementary. She said that boundary changes are in the works for next year and schools may be even less diverse. Chair Agee invited Ms. Mackey to attend the EAB's next meeting. 5 Regular Meeting Education Advisory Board Boynton Beach, Florida September 24, 2002 There being no further business before the Board, the meeting was adjourned at 8:00 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Bonnie Glinski Deputy City Clerk (2 tapes) Approved: Chairpersor~ Attachment/Letter of August 15, 2002 6 A private not-for-profit company providing consulting services for OCIPTM alternative-to-suspension programs. G. David Fellows President/CEO August 15, 2002 To; Ref.' Boynton Beach Education Advisory Board Correction to 8/8/02 Meeting Minutes Item C. 1, Paragraph 2 ESIP does not require the hosting school to provide a teaching unit for the program. The only staff' required is the Masters Level Counselor and the Counseling Intern provided through South County Mental Health Center. The Quantum Foundation is not interested in funding prevention programs at the elementary school level, therefore an alternate funding source must be located. OCIP, however, does require the school to provide a teacher for the academic component. The Quantum Foundation has requested a grant application to expand OC1P to Odyssey Middle School and Boynton Beach Community High School, Both Bonnie Fox at Odyssey and Dr. Cornell at the High School want OCIP and have appropriate space to house it. We are awaiting the School District's decision on whether or not it will fund in- school suspension units for this school year. If the units are approved, Safe Schools has said they will prioritize these schools so that we can submit the Quantum Grant Application. The District's final decision probably will not be known until after the salary negotiations with the Teachers' union are complete, hopefully by the end of August. As the Board has requested, I am enclosing a Program Outline for ESIP. Enclosure CC: City Clerk's Office 638 NE Ninth Avenue · Boynton Beach, FL 33435 · (561) 7524474 - Fax (561) 7524475 www. suspensionsolutions.org Elementary School Intervention Program Program Outline for ESIP Program Objectives: Primary Objectives 1. Modify the Precursor Attitudes and Behaviors of Potentially Disruptive Students; 2. Promote a Classroom Learning Environment Conducive to Teaching and Learning for All Students; 3. Enhance Student Achievement. Secondary Objectives 1. Keep Participants On-Track Academically 2. Provide Staff Development 3. Encourage Parental Involvement 4. Encourage Community Involvement Concept: Address the behavioral needs of elementary school students by providing the school with a Counseling Team composed of a Masters Level Mental Health Counselor and a Coun~qeling Intern. Initial Objective: Develop the ESIP program concept for 4th and 5th graders at two local elementary schools serving a common community and feeding into the same middle school (Congress Middle School) having an OCIP program. The two schools together would share the counseling team. Long Term Objective: Once the program has been proven effective at the fourth and fifth grade levels, expand the program to all grade levels using a full time counseling team at each school. Program Partnerships: ESIP partners include Suspension Solutions Inc., South County Mental Health Center, Inc., Galaxy Elementary School, Poinciana Elementary School, and a fimding source. ESIP Components: · Classroom Life Skills instruction to all students · Group counseling to identified students · Individual counseling to identified students · Family counseling · Staff development Parental Consent: All 4th and 5* grade parents will sign a consent form when their student is enrolled at the school. Assistant Principals will notify parents when their student begins to receive counseling services. Gate Keeper: Either the Principal, or a designated Assistant Principal will be responsible for recommending students and their families for counseling and for coordinating all aspects of the school's involvement in the ESIP. Space: Each school will provide furnished office space to accommodate the required counseling sessions and the necessary record keeping. Funding: In addition to outside funding, other sources of funding need to be investigated, i.e. perhaps parental participation on a sliding scale, or Medicaid billing. Time at Schools: The initial concept to be explored is two days at each school with the fifth day designated a swing day to be used at the counselor's discretion for such things as record keeping, billing, individual counseling, or family counseling where needed. Life Skills: Suspension Solutions and South County Mental Health will be responsible for developing an age appropriate curriculum that will give primary focus to the following issues: · Character Education · Personal Responsibility · Anger Management · Impulse Control 2 School Culture: The individual school, through the School Improvement Plan process, will identify its Core Values and put in place a program to recognize, teach, and reinforce these Core Values on a school-wide basis. These Core Values will provide the foundation for the Character Education component of ESIP. Community Involvement: ESIP will seek to utilize volunteers from City government, community based agencies/programs, and local businesses in order to facilitate more eonneetedness between the individual school and the Boynton Beach Community. Student Outcomes: South County will be responsible for keeping records on all students participating in the cmm~ling component of ESIP. The school will be responsible for tracking individual student improvements for program participants in both academic and behavioral areas. These changes will be tracked over the current school year and will be compared to student performance from prior years. Funding: Since these schools have a significant percentage of students on free and reduced lunches and since ESIP's involvement with its core students is year-long, it is anticipated that a significant portion of ESlP's program costs can be off-set by Medicaid billing. 3