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Minutes 03-03-05MINUTES OF THE EDUCATION ADVISORY BOARD REGULAR MEETING HELD IN THE LIBRARY PROGRAM ROOM, 208 SOUTH SEACREST BOULEVARD, BOYNTON BEACH, FLORIDA, ON THURSDAY, MARCH 3, 2005 AT 6:15 P.M. Present: Jean Cairo, Chairperson Floyd Bell, Vice Chair Christine Moeller Joan Pleasants David Weinstein, Alternate Member Virginia Farace, Board Liaison Absent: Barbara Brunetti Margaret Newton Melinda Mallon, Alternate Member Jeffrey Andre, Student Member Also Present: Patricia Judge-Lashley, South Area Volunteer & Business Partnership Coordinator Palm Beach County School District Anthony Gaspard, Student I. Pledge The meeting was called to order at 6:24 p.m. and members recited the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag. II. Roll Call The Recording Secretary called the roll and declared a quorum was present. II1. Minutes: February 3, 2005 Ms. Farace requested that the following corrections be made to the minutes: On Page 2, under City Liaison's Report" in the second from the last paragraph, the name of the elementary school is "03V", not "03B." In the next immediate sentence the words "if the recommendation is approved" should be added after the words "Boynton Beach High School." On Page 3, under the heading "Read Boynton" in the second sentence, the words "the Principals and Assistant Principals" should be changed to "the Principal and his Assistants." Meeting Minutes Education Advisory Board Boynton Beach, Florida March 3, 2005 On Page 7, in the third full paragraph under "SAC Reports," it should read that "all libraries" sponsor reading programs, not just the "County." The minutes were accepted as amended. IV. Public Audience Ms. Farace requested the Board members introduce themselves to Ms. Patti Lashley, the new South Area Volunteer & Business Partnership Coordinator for the School District of Palm Beach County. Ms. Lashiey gave a brief presentation of her background. After having been an active volunteer with her children's school, she decided to take this position with the School District. The area she covers is West Boca High School to Lake Worth and encompasses approximately 42 schools and is responsible for coordinating the volunteers at all 42 schools. Ms. Lashley explained how the volunteer system worked. One of her responsibilities included finding volunteers, tutors, mentors, and clerical assistance. Ms. Lashley would like to target Boynton Beach as an area to recruit volunteers. She started this position on January 10, 2005 and presented members with a handbook on volunteering in public schools. One of her responsibilities is to provide volunteer training for groups that would like to become involved in the schools. She provides refresher courses, as well as new training, for the new sign-in tracking system in the public schools. Ms. Lashley explained how the sign-in system worked. All persons doing volunteer work must go through a background check conducted by the School Police Department. One of Ms. Lashley's priorities is establishing business partnerships with the municipalities and the schools. Mentors are needed at Boynton Beach High School to assist students to prepare for college. Ms. Farace offered to help reactivate the volunteer program that the City was involved in a few years ago. This program involved City employees having one hour a week off from work to help out in the schools. Ms. Farace noted a few years ago one of this Board's major goals was volunteerism. Ms. Pleasants explained that when the Board became involved with Principal for a Day, this program created business partnerships with the schools. Vice Chair Bell stated that this initiative resulted from the Principals' Roundtable because so many principals asked for help in finding volunteers for the schools. Ms. Pleasants explained that originally Board members went to various homeowner associations throughout the City to recruit volunteers. Vice Chair Bell thought they were not successful because no one from the School District trained the volunteers or even contacted them. Ms. Lashley said it was important to identify those people who want to volunteer and bring them in for training; this is one of her responsibilities. Whenever she Meeting Minutes Education Advisory Board Boynton Beach, Florida March 3, 2005 becomes aware of a person who wants to volunteer at a particular school, she contacts the volunteer coordinator at the school to follow through to find a place for that person. Ms. Farace noted they offered the Program Room as a training site in the area and Board members were willing to address the volunteers, but this never came to fruition. Chairperson Cairo pointed out that through Principal for a Day thers were 27 business partners that participated in the program. She felt that these 27 people would probably like to do more with the schools, but they need help in doing do. Ms. Lashley felt she could help with this. Ms. Pleasants stated some schools need more help than others. Chairperson Cairo also thought that when a person volunteered, they already had a particular school in mind and this could pose a problem. Ms. Farace reported that some members from the Boynton Beach Woman's Club have adopted Galaxy School and this might be a good contact for mots volunteers. Ms. Farace will provide Ms. Lashley with a contact number at the Woman's Club. Mr. Weinstein recommended contacting retired schoolteachers. He lives in Hunters Run and felt there were many potential volunteers residing in this community. He recommended that someone attend one of their homeowners' association meetings for this purpose. Ms. Lashley did not think it would be possible for her to visit every homeowner association in the City. She preferred to have people bring her groups that she could train. Ms. Farace will provide Ms. Lashley with a list of homeowner associations in the City. Vice Chair Bell recommended that Ms. Lashley visit the Senior Center. She noted that volunteers did not have to volunteer with actual schoolwork, but could perform clerical and office duties. Ms. Lashley indicated she would be open to using the Library Program Room for training. Chairperson Cairo felt City schools most in need of volunteers would be Galaxy, Rolling Green, Congress Middle School and Boynton Beach High School. Ms. Farace was not certain about Galaxy since the Woman's Club adopted them. Vice Chair Bell thought all the secondary schools were in need of volunteers. Chairperson Cairo pointed out that often volunteers are not properly utilized. Ms. Lashley discussed the computer matching system they use that matches volunteers with jobs they can or want to perform. All volunteer coordinators are trained at the beginning of the school year how to handle the volunteers. They also do a principal survey to determine the needs of the principal. Mr. Weinstein felt it was important for the people that coordinate the volunteers to show them respect and dignity. Chairperson Cairo stressed there should be someone at the schools to greet the volunteers. Ms. Lashley noted the importance of tracking the volunteers because volunteers can be utilized where they are most needed. Meeting Minutes Education Advisory Board Boynton Beach, Florida March 3, 2005 Ms. Farace felt it would be beneficial if the tracking system was not limited to one school, but should be citywide so if a particular school needed a volunteer for a particular job, that volunteer could be located through the tracking system. Ms. Lashley responded that currently each school has their own tracking system. If a person wanted to volunteer in more than one school, they could register in the computer at one school, but someone in the District needed to be told that this person wanted their information listed in additional schools. Members felt it would be beneficial to have a pool that the schools could draw from. Mr. Weinstein thought it was important that the senior volunteers are aware that they do not need to have computer literacy because many seniors are scared of computers. There are many educated, capable seniors that could volunteer to do things that do not require any computer skill. Chairperson Cairo confirmed what Mr. Weinstein mentioned. When they were trying to recruit seniors, she learned that many were afraid to go into the schools because they have the misconception that all work done in school is on a computer. Chairperson Cairo stated it should be impressed upon volunteers that they do not need any special skills to volunteer and they do not have to be computer literate. It was recommended that there be a place on the form where a person could check they do not want to do anything that involved a computer. Ms. Lashley noted that on pages 10 and 11 of the booklet contained most of the volunteer job descriptions, many of which do not require any computer skill. Some schools have additional volunteer needs not included in the booklet. Ms. Lashley also pointed out volunteers could perform more than one function. Ms. Pleasants stated that volunteers should be listed at all schools instead of having a list of jobs for each school. Ms. Lashley stated that people sign up in the school they volunteer in. Ms. Pleasants recommended having other public places where people could sign up to volunteer. Ms. Lashley acknowledged that a person must go to the school to sign up because there are security, safety and privacy issues involved. The names cannot be listed in any computer that could be accessed by just anyone. Ms. Lashley pointed out that there are people that visit schools for the purpose of signing up to volunteer. They leave their name and number and the office staff would provide them with the Volunteer Coordinator's name and number to contact. They try keeping the volunteers from Boynton Beach in the Boynton schools. Chairperson Cairo requested that a volunteer form be sent to Ms. Farace. She did not want the Board to take this on as a project and then have it go away without any success because people are never contacted. Ms. Farace asked members if they wanted to form a subcommittee that could be an intermediary for people that want to volunteer. Members of the subcommittee could actually bring the volunteers to the school to meet with the Volunteer Coordinator. 4 Meeting Minutes Education Advisory Board Boynton Beach, Florida March 3, 2005 Ms. Pleasants referred to the list the City sent the Board that contained the tasks they would like the EAB to focus on and one of those tasks was mentoring and volunteering. Ms. Lashley furnished her phone number, which is 561-434-8273. She noted this is her voice mail number. Members can leave a message and she would get back to them. Members thanked Ms. Lashley for attending the meeting and she thanked the Board for providing their input and concerns. Ms. Lashley will be invited to the Principals' Roundtable. V= Chair's Report PFAD Planning Chairperson Cairo referred to the information included with the agenda. Members were encouraged to go to the official PENCIL Website that will provide a better understanding of the program. Chairperson Cairo reported they have a new President who has added more impetus to the program. She is now receiving regular updates from a contact person. Chairperson Cairo referred to the flyer she designed for Principal for a Day and requested they be placed at City Hall in the Mall, the Library and City Hall. She also planned on distributing them to various businesses to recruit new business partners. Her greatest emphasis was to recruit people from businesses in Boynton Beach because she felt this was more of a grass roots program. She put out a challenge to the members to find one business partner for the next Principal for a Day for next November. Also included in the agenda packet were newspaper articles. Two of the articles dealt with the voucher program and another about school suspension policies, Chairperson Cairo noted that the suspension policy article stated "Suspended students would not have the right to receive a good grade on work they missed when they were out under a policy approved on first reading Wednesday by the School Board." Members discussed the effect this kind of policy could have upon poorly performing students. Dr. Beil noted that students that are suspended spend time in a detention room with nothing to do. This results in the student falling further behind and serves absolutely no purpose. Students needing the most attention receive the least, Chairperson Cairo felt the Board should prepare a resolution and submit it to the Commission that this policy is out of control. Ms. Pleasants recommended communicating with the School Board on how this Board felt about this proposed policy. Ms. Farace stated if any member would like to draft something and provided it to her, she would review and submit it to the School Board. Ms. Farace noted there was not enough time to get it on the March 15th Commission agenda, but they could speak during public audience. Ms. Pleasants pointed out there was no correlation between misbehavior in a school and an academic punishment. Vice Chair Bell recommended that students on detention be required to perform community service. Chairperson Cairo will draft a statement and forward it to Ms. Farace. Meeting Minutes Education Advisory Board Boynton Beach, Florida March 3, 2005 Mr. Weinstein was not in favor of this Board recommending students perform community service as a form of punishment because there are Constitutional issues when dealing with these types of punishments. Ms. Pleasants pointed out that some School Board members were against the proposed policy and Ms. Robinson would like suspended students to do extra work in order to achieve a good grade. Motion Vice Chair Bell moved to authorize the Chairperson to work with Ms. Farace on drafting a letter to be sent to the School Board with copies to the City Commission. Motion seconded by Ms. Pleasants and unanimously carried. Chairperson Cairo would like the Board to review the Ordinance governing the Board and the initiatives that resulted from the Board's strategic meeting at the next meeting. She thought the Board should solidify its mission statement. At the beginning of each meeting, after recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance, members should read the mission statement so they could remain on course on what the Board wanted to accomplish. Vice Chair Bell recommended holding a workshop for this purpose. Ms. Farace noted the new Board members are appointed in April and she would recommend waiting to hold the workshop in June or later. Ms. Farace reminded those members whose terms are expiring to get their applications in as soon as possible. Chairperson Cairo read in prior By-laws that a person was not automatically removed from the Board if they missed so many meetings, which is the current rule. Ms. Farace responded that it has always been the City's policy that a person was removed after a certain amount of absences. Chairperson Cairo would like to amend the Board's By- laws so that members would not be removed due to absences. Ms. Farace pointed out that the Board only meets 12 times per year and people should be able to attend at least nine meetings. VI. City Liaison's Report Boundaries Ms. Farace reported the first reading of the boundaries was approved that would move Chapel Hill students to Boynton Beach High School; however, it is still subject to second reading. "Read Boynton" Ms. Farace stated that the first two sessions were a great success. There will be no sessions in March due to FCAT and spring break. The sessions take place on the second and fourth Thursday of each month at 6:00 p.m. in the Library Program Room. Ms. Farace reported that over 50 children participated and some of the volunteers doing 6 Meeting Minutes Education Advisory Board Boynton Beach, Florida March 3, 2005 tutoring were from the Rotary Club and Community Relations Board. A brochure regarding the program is being designed and Ms. Farace would like to include some of the EAB projects in it. VIII. Principals' Roundtable Chairperson Cairo telephoned Carole Shetler, but she has not gotten back to her with a date for the roundtable. Ms. Shetler is coordinating the date with all the schools. Chairperson Cairo informed Ms. Shetler that the Board was flexible with the date. She reviewed the information from the prior Principals' Roundtable and it appeared that after the first principal spoke, all the other principals echoed what was said. Chairperson Cairo would like to come up with a questionnaire that could be sent to the principals in advance to determine their concerns and needs. She did not want the entire roundtable devoted to safety and volunteerism since there are more important issues that need to be addressed. Ms. Pleasants suggested providing a list of priorities and Chairperson Cairo thought this was a good way to proceed. Ms. Pleasants also recommended having a space on the questionnaire for the principal to write in anything they would like to address. Chairperson Cairo felt there was little structure to the last Principals' Roundtable. She also pointed out that the principals have not maintained a relationship with the businesspeople that participated in the Principal for a Day Program at their school. These people would like to be utilized and remain involved with the school, but the principals are not responsive. Chairperson Cairo would like to show the video of Principal for a Day during the Principals' Roundtable and Vice Chair Bell will work on getting it ready. Chairperson Cairo would like to find out from each school (1) how many members are in their PTA; (2) how many in the SAC; (3) how many volunteers they have; and (4) the name of their Volunteer Coordinator. Ms. Farace recommended sponsoring a program on volunteering and to invite the public to attend. Chairperson Cairo suggested disseminating information to the homeowners' associations. This could be accomplished by utilizing Dan DeCarlo's list of homeowners' associations. Mr. Weinstein recommended sending a letter to the presidents of the homeowners' associations asking them to bring it up at their meetings. Chairperson Cairo prepared a timeline for Principal for a Day of things that need to be done. At the next meeting she will have a sign up sheet for members to select what they would like to do and to start recruiting a businessperson to be a ~hrinc pal for a day. She has tentatively scheduled the event for Thursday, November 10 h, pending confirmation with the School Superintendent. Chairperson Cairo will also confirm this date with Ms. Shetler. At the last meeting there was discussion on holding a science and math fair. Ms. Pleasants contacted Mary Morera who serves on the Advisory Board on Children and Youth about their Board participating in this event with the EAB. Ms. Morera thought Meeting Minutes Education Advisory Board Boynton Beach, Florida March 3, 2005 that this would be something her Board would be interested in. Ms. Pleasants suggested that they could hold the fair in conjunction with the Youth Expo at the Mall. Members brainstormed various ideas for the science and math fair. Ms. Pleasants pointed out that the School District puts on a science and math expo and all schools are invited to participate. At the last meeting Ms. Brunetti stated that there were certain components missing at these school fairs. Chairperson Cairo recommended including something in the questionnaire that would be sent out for the Principals' Roundtable. Ms. Pleasants questioned if the Board had enough time to become involved in another project. Chairperson Cairo recommended having a "traveling" fair that could be put on once or twice a year at various venues. Ms. Farace felt they needed to speak with the principals before proceeding to determine if they want to participate. Ms. Pleasants inquired if she should get back with Ms. Morera. She pointed out the reason Ms. Brunetti brought this up was due to the fact that the schools did not have time to become involved in these types of fairs and she wanted to have it be more of a community expo. Ms. Pleasants will contact Ms. Morera and tell her that they are still in the planning stage. VIII. SAC Reports (in writing if possible) SAC Assignments attached Not addressed IX. New Business Mr. Farace reported that the Library now offers, at no cost, live Internet homework help from 2:00 p. m. to 10:00 p.m. for fourth grade through high school. Subjects available are science, math, English, essays, writing that is offered in English and Spanish. The site is interactive and provides chat mail with a teacher. The Web-site address is www.cola.org. Adjournment - Next Meeting April 7, 2005 at 6:15 p.m. Library Program Room There being no further business, the meeting properly adjourned at 8:40 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Barbara M. Madden Recording Secretary (March 4, 2005)