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Minutes 02-02-06 i I MINUTES OF THE EDUCATION ADVISORY BOARD REGULAR MEETING HELD IN THE MEDIA CENTER OF GALAXY ELEMENTARY SCHOOL, 301 GALAXY WAY, BOYNTON BEACH, FLORIDA ON THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 2, 2006 AT 6:15 P.M. Present: Jean Cairo, Chair Melinda Mallon Christine Moeller Susan Buchanan Marlene Ross (left 6:35 p.m.) Absent: Floyd Beil, Vice Chair Cheryl Black, Alternate Maria Ferreira, Student Also Present: Guarn Sims, Principal, Galaxy Elementary Schools Nine Galaxy Elementary School Teachers I. Call to Order/Roll Call The meeting was called to order at 6: 15 p.m. Chair Cairo announced that the Board Liaison, Virginia Farace, was out of town. The Recording Secretary called the roll and declared a quorum was present. II. Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag The participants recited the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag. III. Approval of the January 12, 2006 Minutes Not addressed. IV. Public Audience The Education Advisory Board (EAB) members and the faculty of Galaxy Elementary School (Galaxy) all exchanged brief biographies and information about themselves. Chair Cairo announced one of the major reasons for the meeting was to open a dialogue with Galaxy Elementary School in order to extend and strengthen the relationsltlip between the EAB and Galaxy. During the recent Principal's Roundtable, several principals, expressed a desire for a closer relationship with the Education Advisory Board, and this me~ting represented the first step towards that goal. The EAB Board also had a long-term goal of visiting each school in the City of Boynton Beach. Meeting Minutes Education Advisory Board Boynton Beach, Florida February 2, 2006 Chair Cairo extended an open invitation for the faculty of Galaxy to attend the meetings of the EAB on a regular basis if they so desired. Chair Cairo referenced a visit to Galaxy by Mr. Donald Bryant, a local benefactor. When Mr. Bryant made a $10K donation to Galaxy recently, he asked for a report card on the progress made as a result of the donation. Galaxy had suggested ten programs to Mr. Bryant, who funded five of them. Mr. Bryant visited Galaxy yesterday with more gifts and ideas. He wanted to start a new program called "Most Improved Student of the Year" from each class, and also discussed other awards for the Best Teacher, and recognition for other teachers and volunteers. Chair Cairo mentioned one of the biggest problems related to the Principal for a Day program was that the Principals did not make their business partner(s) aware of their schools' needs. She suggested each Principal make up a "want list" containing the top ten needs of the school and give it to their business partner during the April 5, 2006 Principal for a Day program. Chair Cairo mentioned a donor with a copier and a flatbed scanner who was looking for a school who might be in need of it. A home was found for it, but her point was made. Chair Cairo hoped Mr. Sims could spread the word to the other Principals about this. The Community Relations Board wrote a letter to Chair Cairo in which they expressed ways in which they could help the community, including participation in some school Student Advisory Councils (SAC). Chair Cairo planned to attend the Board's next meeting on February 8 at 7:00 p.m. at City Hall Chambers and suggested Galaxy might wish to attend also. Mr. Guam Sims, Principal of Galaxy Elementary School, lifetime resident of Boynton Beach and former student of Galaxy Elementary School, addressed the audience. Mr. Sims has been Principal of Galaxy for three years. He expressed appreciation for all the EAB had done for Galaxy in the past, particularly in regard to the modernization issue. The City and the EAB had helped Galaxy move from number 15 or 20 on the District's modernization list to a planning year date of 2009, a beginning build date of 2010, and move-in date of 2011. While Galaxy was happy to experience this improvement, it was still disturbing to see younger schools ahead of Galaxy on the schedule. However, there had been some dialogue with District officials who indicated there was still some hope. Mr. Sims did not want to become political about this and did not want to become a "one-note" school where modernization was the one and only issue on the radar screen. He felt the modernization issue was beginning to define the school. Reporters, for example, began to focus on that issue and ignore other news of a positive nature about the school. Mr. Sims felt it was important the school be rebuilt to fit into the infrastructure towards which the City and Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA) were aiming. Many Board members felt this was an important avenue to explore. Mr. Sims had spoken to representatives of the City's Recreation & Parks Department, in which he mentioned he would urge the District to go into partnership with the City or just buy the adjacent park and make it a part of the school. It could be turned into a community park with basketball and tennis courts. Kids were climbing the gates now to play basketball on the weekends and the park was now a very under-utilized facility. Mr. Sims had been approached with the idea of changing the name of Galaxy Elementary to Boynton Beach Elementary, but while the idea was attractive in some ways, it would take a lot of thought. Mr. Sims realized how prominent his school was, right next to 1-95, and felt it 2 Meeting Minutes Education Advisory Board Boynton Beach, Florida February 2, 2006 should look very attractive to entice people into wanting to live and work in the City of Boynton Beach. The Board was in support of that, saying Galaxy was on an important gateway to the City and should have the right "look." The main thing Mr. Sims wanted the EAB to do for Galaxy was to keep the vision of what the school could look like and its importance as a gateway marker to the City in front of the City Commission, the Mayor, and the CRA. These entities could interface with the District on issues of design and planning. Chair Cairo pledged the support of the EAB toward that end. Mr. Sims thanked the EAB for coming to the school to discuss these matters. V. Chair's Report Not addressed. VI. SAC Reports Ms. Ross announced the Crosspointe Elementary School's SAC meetings were held on the first Monday of the month at 6:00 p.m. She planned to attend the next meeting. The SAC for the Galaxy Elementary School is also on the first Monday of the month at 6:00 p.m. Ms. Buchanan had a SAC meeting coming up on February 13 at Rolling Green. Chair Cairo said representation on school SAC groups would be something the Community Relations Board could do. The SACs were looking for community members for their Boards. VII. Other Chair Cairo announced the EAB would be having a meeting that would be of interest to many people. Art Whitman from the School District would be making a presentation on the School District's demographics and the five-year capital plan. Chair Cairo was interested to see how these plans would work with concurrency and class size reduction. It seemed that the District could not build schools fast enough to accommodate the number of students in the area. Mr. Sims verified the plan was to accomplish the class size reductions by 2010-2011. He stated there were funding penalties attached to the measure. The shortage of qualified teachers was discussed. Although some people were switching from careers in engineering and other specialties to teaching, the stakes were very high and the schools could no longer spend the time they could formerly on grooming and training these teachers. They almost had to "sink or swim" in a very short period of time. Mr. Sims stated 50% of the schools in this district had vacant teacher positions. Mr. Sims commented the population in his school was very mobile since it was comprised primarily of the children of renters. This was another reason they felt they had a hard time enlisting the support of parents for such issues as modernization, since the parents were not economically tied to the area and moved often. Mr. Sims noted the State had a new way of counting students for purposes of the FCAT test, and this was something for which the Principals had fought. 3 Meeting Minutes Education Advisory Board Boynton Beach, Florida February 2, 2006 When the FCAT test first came out, every student at the time of testing was counted towards the accountability of a particular school. Now they did an official headcount in September, October and February and a student has to be in a school for all three counts to be tested and counted towards the accountability of a particular school. This was a distinct improvement over the former method. VIII. Adjournment There being no further business before the Board, the meeting was duly adjourned at 7:00 p.m. Respectfully submitted, 5:-;0tU{ ~:rJ Susan Collins Recording Secretary (020306) 4