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Minutes 02-06-03MINUTES OF THE EDUCATION ADVISORY BOARD REGULAR MEETING HELD IN THE LIBRARY PROGRAM ROOM, 208 SOUTH SEACREST BOULEVARD, BOYNTON BEACH, FLORIDA, ON THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 2003 AT 6:00 P.M. Present Beverly Agee, Chairperson Lillian Artis Dr. Floyd M. Bell Jean Cairo Rae A. Fellows, Alternate Joan W. Pleasants, Alternate AItagrace Medastin, Student Virginia Farace, Board Liaison I. Pledge of Allegiance Chairperson Agee called the meeting to order at 6:15 p.m. and 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. II1. Approval of Minutes - January 9, 2003 Ms. Farace stated that she had a correction to the minutes, but did not have them with her at this time. She pointed out that there was a video on Principal for a Day furnished by Delray Beach that would be viewed at the end of the meeting and suggested that the minutes be addressed at that time. IV. Chair's Report Chairperson Agee reported on the following: 1. Presented a copy of the newspaper article on the Delray Beach Principal for a Day. The program has received a great deal of good publicity and hopefully, Boynton Beach will achieve the same positive results. Read a letter of resignation from Board Member Irene Latour, who is no longer able to participate on the Board, due to family obligations. A copy of the letter was furnished to the Recording Secretary to be placed on file. Meeting Minutes Education Advisory Board Boynton Beach, Florida February 6, 2003 Urged members to find new applicants to fill the vacancies on the Board. There are now three Regular and one student openings on the Board. Chairperson Agee has spoken to several people in an effort to recruit them to become members. The I.D. Coordinator at Atlantic High School will be assisting in locating a student from that School to participate on the Board. Ms. Fellows reported that two people on the Rolling Green SAC indicated that they would be applying for membership. Mayor Broening has the student appointment for the next meeting. Commissioners McCray and Weiland have the regular appointments. Dr. Bell pointed out that most members' terms are up in April 2003 and questioned how many members intended to reapply. Dr. Bell pointed out that he is in the process of adopting two teenage boys and would not be able to return to the Board. Chairperson Agee requested that Ms. Pleasants, who is now an alternate, apply for one of the regular appointments. The Peacemaker's Program, presented to the Board by Leon Jenkins and Steve Miller, and which this Board supported, received funding in the amount of $17,000 from CDBG Funds. (Ms. Altagrace Medastin arrived at 6:30 p.m.) 8. Reviewed, distributed and discussed various newspaper articles dealing with education and related issues. Ms. Farace will be retaining these in her files. 10. Discussed the pros and cons of smaller schools versus larger schools. She pointed out that there is a new law in Florida that schools are not to have more than 900 students; however, there are ways to avoid complying with this ruling. Discussed the status of the Delray Beach Full Service School taking over South Technical. Ms. Farace has seen articles in the newspapers indicating that those plans are moving in that direction. Chairperson Agee questioned the necessity of the Delray Beach Full Service School moving into South Technical. 11.Suggested that Mr. and Mrs. Owens, the operators of the Boynton Beach Charter School, be invited to speak at the next Board meeting. 2 Meeting Minutes Education Advisory Board Boynton Beach, Florida February 6, 2003 12. Pointed out that at the last Principals' Roundtable, the principals expressed concern regarding the lack of traffic lights. With the assistance of the City Commission and City staff, traffic lights have been installed where needed. Also, the City has contracted out for crossing guards in order to free up police officers to do their regular jobs. Dr. Bell pointed out that by hiring the private crossing guards, it is costing an additional $24,000 per year; however, previously when crossing guards were out sick, police officers had to fill in for them. This is no longer the case. He felt that this method would prove to be beneficial in the long run. V. City Liaison's Report VI. Public Audience None VII. Volunteers Chairperson Agee quoted from a recent newspaper article where the County is paying to have "foster grandparents" read in the schools; whereas this Board has been trying to recruit volunteers to go into the schools without pay. Ms. Medastin suggested recruiting high school students as volunteers, since this is a requirement for credits. Ms. Medastin reported that she already volunteers at Forest Park Elementary School in the afternoons. Ms. Fellows reported that she has received two positive responses from communities indicating that they would like to set up a meeting. She also spoke to people at her SAC meetings, and she turned in the names of people who indicated that they were interested in volunteering to the Volunteer Coordinator at the School to follow through on. Chairperson Agee said that she received a call today from the Area 1 Coordinator for Volunteer Mentoring, who works for Shelly Parpard. Ms. Farace reported that she emailed Ms. Parpard who indicated that she would be glad to assist the Committee on how to approach this. Ms. Cairo thought that it had been agreed at the last meeting that the committee would not meet with Ms. Parpard until there was a plan in place on how to approach the homeowner associations. Members discussed the best way to approach this and Ms. Farace suggested that either Ms. Cairo or Ms. Fellows contact Ms. Parpard before the committee members speak to the associations. Chairperson Agee suggested inviting Ms. Parpard to the next Board meeting. Ms. Farace recommended that the committee meet with Ms. Parpard separately so as not to take up Board time 3 Meeting Minutes Education Advisory Board Boynton Beach, Florida February 6, 2003 on one issue, nor would it be necessary to have a quorum present since it would be a committee meeting. Various times and dates were discussed. Ms. Farace reported that she spoke in depth with Ms. Parpard and urged those members who are interested in working with the volunteers to meet with her and explain to her what the committee is trying to accomplish. Ms. Parpard could then take it from there. Ms. Fellows asked members if they wished to take on one project at a time and to pursue the Principal for a Day Program at this point. Chairperson Agee noted that it was previously agreed that both programs would be the Board's priorities this year. However, she pointed out that it was too late for volunteers to assist with the FCAT, but the Board should continue its efforts to recruit volunteers and that volunteerism should be a continuing priority. Ms. Fellows said that the members need to consider if they are trying to do too much. Because of a lack of members currently on the Board, it may be too much to tackle both projects at the same time. Dr. Bell felt that both issues were tied together. He suggested not meeting with the homeowner associations, but to hand out flyers and spread the word about volunteerism and to continue to plan the Principal for a Day event. Ms. Pleasants noted that efforts have been made to recruit volunteers and people who expressed an interest were directed where to go. Ms. Pleasants felt that this Board has done as much as it could at this point. Dr. Bell felt that the reason people left the Board was due to the overload of meetings and responsibilities, and the Board's activities should be limited to a monthly Board meeting and attendance at one SAC meeting. Chairperson Agee inquired if a message on volunteerism could be placed on the City's water bill. Ms. Farace said that she did look into this, but some decisions on what to include needed to be made. Chairperson Agee would like to pursue this and have a message included in the water bill. Ms. Fellows suggested that the City should consider hiring a school liaison. Ms. Farace pointed out that every board has a liaison and that the liaison is present to handle these various requests. Ms. Farace will pursue getting a message on the water bill. Ms. Farace also suggested that the City's Neighborhood Specialist could be asked to include a flyer dealing with volunteerism in his mail outs to the homeowner associations. Ms. Fellows said that she would be willing to work with Ms. Farace and Mr. DeCarlo on this. Ms. Cairo also requested that a message on volunteering be placed on the City's marquee. Ms. Artis pointed out that February 10 through the 14 is National Volunteer Week and she suggested that the schools put the message on their marquee. 4 Meeting Minutes Education Advisory Board Boynton Beach, Florida February 6, 2003 Members recommended that the following actions be taken: (1) Ms. Cairo requested that the City place a message on the City marquee that would read, "Volunteer at Your Local School" during the week of February 10th through the 14th. (2) Dr. Bell requested that a message be placed on the water bills regarding volunteerism. (3) Dr. Bell suggested that the City's Neighborhood's Specialist include something on volunteering in the schools in the packet that he sends to the communities. (4) It was suggested that the words "Call Today" be added to the marquee message so that the message would state, "Volunteer at Your Local School--Call Today." Ms. Farace will contact Ms. Parpard for a contact number. (5) The Chamber of Commerce will be contacted and asked to include an article on volunteering in their newsletter. Chairperson Agee will follow through on this. (6) Dr. Bell requested that an article also be included in the City's FunFare Magazine. Ms. Farace said that she would contact Ms. Parpard and arrange for a meeting among herself, Ms. Parpard and Ms. Fellows. Ms. Farace will contact all Board members to apprise them of the meeting date and time in the event any other Board member wished to attend. IX. Principal for a Day Program Ms. Cairo distributed sundry materials that she prepared for the Program. She reported that she and Ms. Latour had a subcommittee meeting. She has viewed the PENCIL website and downloaded the necessary documents. After reading the material, she did not think it would be necessary to get permission to use the material, as long as the City did not use their "PENCIL" logo. She noted that Delray Beach did not obtain permission to use the material. Ms. Cairo will be setting up a database that will include all the principals, schools, phone numbers and other pertinent information. From this material, she will be able to send out the necessary letters. Ms. Cairo also presented a list of potential participants that she obtained from the Chamber of Commerce and through recommendations and requested that members review the list. If anyone has any additional names that they would like to add, please bring those names 5 Meeting Minutes Education Advisory Board Boynton Beach, Florida February 6, 2003 with you to the next meeting. None of the people on the list will be contacted until all the names of the participants are determined. Ms. Cairo will also be preparing a different list for sponsors of the event. Discussion ensued on whether the charter, private and parochial schools would also participate, and Ms. Cairo stated that these schools were included on the list. Ms. Cairo inquired if members wanted to include Gulfstream as well, since Boynton Beach students attend that school. Ms. Cairo also requested that members review all the material and advise her of any changes or suggestions. Ms. Cairo thought it would be a good idea to have a letter prepared that could be used when members go out to solicit donations and contributions and inquired if it would be possible for the letter to be printed on stationery with the City logo. Ms. Farace will check to see if this would be possible with the City's Public Relations Director. Dr. Bell suggested that the Education Advisory Board create its own letterhead. Also, Ms. Cairo noted that it would be necessary to have photographers at every school to take pictures and she would also like to have the event videotaped. It was suggested that South Technical and Congress Middle School could provide these services. A tentative date for the breakfast is June 9th and the actual event would take place on Thursday, November 13th, which would coincide with Delray Beach's program. After discussion, it was decided to contact the Holiday Inn- Catalina to determine if they could accommodate holding the breakfast on that date. Ms. Farace will be contacting the Area Superintendent to obtain her endorsement. X. Boundary Update Ms. Fellows thought that Ms. Farace's "plate was overflowing" and that this Board could help out more. Ms. Farace announced that she has been appointed to the School Boundary Committee, even though this Board recommended David Fellows. She will now be required to attend a three-hour boundary committee meeting every other Thursday. Chairperson Agee felt that at some point the Board's meeting date might need to be changed. Dr. Beil requested that at the next Board meeting, application forms for reappointment to the Board be provided so that members could complete and submit them to the City Clerk's Office. Ms. Pleasants was requested to contact Commissioner Weiland and inform him that she would like to be moved up from an Alternate Member to a Regular Member. 6 Meeting Minutes Education Advisory Board Boynton Beach, Florida February 6, 2003 Ms. Farace would like to form a boundary committee to assist her. She has already asked Mr. Fellows if he could help her and he has agreed to do so. She would also like one member from the Board on the committee. Ms. Farace will report at the next meeting what schools would be looked at. She felt it was important that they focus on the Boynton Beach and Atlantic High Schools. Xl. SAC reports (in writing, if possible) Members that had SAC reports submitted them in writing. XlI. Unfinished Business None Because of the time and because members wanted to view the videotape, it was decided to approve the minutes at the next meeting. XlI. Adjournment There being no further business, the meeting properly adjourned at 8:15 p.m. to allow members to view the Delray Beach Principal for a Day Video. Respectfully submitted, Barbara M. Madden Recording Secretary (two tapes) Approved' (February 7, 2003) Chairperson 7