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Minutes 03-22-07 MINUTES OF THE EDUCATION &. YOUTH ADVISORY BOARD REGULAR MEETING ON THURSDAY, MARCH 22, 2007, AT 7:00 P.M. HELD IN THE COMISSION CHAMBERS, CITY HALL, BOYNTON BEACH, FL PRESENT: Steve Waldman, Chair Mary Morera, Vice Chair Susan Buchanan Pamela Camel Hattie Miller Loretta Wilkinson Robert Chiste, Student Christine Hogenkamp, Student Sherri Claude, City Employee Representative ABSENT: Alyssa Ewing, Non Voting I. CALL TO ORDER Chair Waldman called the meeting to order at 7:02 p.m. II. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE/MOMENT OF SILENT REFLECTION Ms. Hogenkamp led the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag followed by a moment of silent reflection for men and women in the Armed Forces. III. APPROVAL OF MINUTES OF FEBRUARY 22,2007 Ms. Claude requested the minutes be corrected to reflect on page three, line three, that Hunter's Run has two golf courses, not gold courses. Motion Ms. Morera moved to approve the minutes as corrected. Mr. Chiste seconded the motion that passed unanimously. IV. APPROVAL OF AGENDA Motion Ms. Wilkinson moved to approve the agenda. Ms. Morera seconded the motion that passed unanimously. 1 Meeting Minutes Education and Youth Advisory Board Boynton Beach, Florida March 22, 2007 V. ANNOUNCEMENTS /PRESENTATIONS /CORRESPONDENCE Ms. Claude commented she attended the recent City Commission meeting and had listened to the presentation of Kathleen Perry, Principal of Boynton Beach Community High School. She indicated Ms. Perry had provided handouts and the presentation had gone well. VI. PUBLIC AUDIENCE None. VII. OLD BUSINESS A. Youth Volunteer Bank /Bob Borovy Award Ms. Claude had sent two letters to advise Youth Volunteer Bank members that the deadline to turn in hours was April 1 2007. To date, she had received one response. She planned to send out postcards at the end of the month. Chair Waldman suggested Ms. Hogenkamp and Mr. Chiste send in their hours if they had not already done so. Both of them indicated they were unaware they could "bank" their volunteer hours by signing up with the Youth Volunteer Bank. Ms. Claude indicated she would send them applications. (Susan Buchanan joined the meeting.) Conversation was held on the Bob Borovy award. Ms. Claude had received one application, but the applicant lived outside the City limits so she had to return it. Information noting the deadline of April 6 2007, had been sent to the schools and published in the newspapers. Chair Waldman inquired if the Principals and Guidance Counselors needed to be contacted again. Ms. Claude anticipated most of the applications for the $1,000 award would be turned in at the last minute, as they had been in past years. Ms. Buchanan advised that all the Principals and Guidance Counselors had been totally occupied with FCAT. She suggested a reminder regarding the Youth Volunteer Bank would be a good idea. Chair Waldman, hoped to receive at least two applications for the award and inquired if Alyssa Ewing, not present at this meeting, lived within the City limits. She was a senior and he hoped she would apply for the award. Judges had already been chosen. 2 Meeting Minutes Education and Youth Advisory Board Boynton Beach, Florida March 22, 2007 B. Fundraising Chair Waldman spoke about upcoming events and invited everyone to attend the board dinner, the City's event honoring board members, to be held at Benvenuto's on April 18, 2007. Ms. Claude suggested everyone RSVP to the City Manager's office whether they were attending or not, since she would be asked to contact anyone who had not responded. The Youth Volunteer Award Dinner was scheduled for May 11, 2007. And the Oceanfront Concert on April 20th, 2007, from 6:00 - 9:00 p.m., would serve as a fundraising opportunity for the board. Panera's had confirmed it would donate cookies for the Oceanfront Concert fundraising efforts this year. It was possible Chair Waldman would not attend because he had a League of Cities meeting scheduled for that day. Ms. Buchanan volunteered to be there from 6:00 - 9:00 p.m. to sell cookies and indicated she would send a follow up letter to Panera's confirming the cookie donation and pickup. Ms. Morera would pick up the cookies right before the event. A huge crowd was not expected. Last year, the cookies did not sell well until the price was lowered later in the evening. The possibility of lowering the price was discussed and the board decided to charge the same price as last year, one dollar each or four for three dollars. Chair Waldman hoped everyone would attend the event. (Ms. Miller and Ms. Camel joined the meeting.) Ms. Buchanan inquired if they had considered selling popcorn because it was inexpensive and smelled great to attract people to the table. A brief discussion ensued to identify if anyone had a popcorn machine and the need for an electrical connection was noted. This year they would sell cookies and, in the future, popcorn would be considered. Ms. Wilkinson, Ms. Morera and Ms. Claude would pick up the necessary supplies. C. Golf Clinic {April 28 @ Hunter's Run> Ms. Morera confirmed everything was ready for the event that would begin at 2:00 p.m. She recommended board members arrive at 1:30 p.m. to check in at the clubhouse pro shop. Ms. Claude confirmed the roster of participants, including board members, would be given to the Hunter's Run guard desk prior to the event. Ms. Morera indicated she might be out of town that weekend; however, the golf personnel at Hunter's Run were handling almost everything, so the event should not need much additional supervision. She would shop for snacks and drinks prior to that weekend and give them to one of the other members to bring to the event. 3 Meeting Minutes Education and Youth Advisory Board Boynton Beach, Florida March 22, 2007 Ms. Claude indicated an informational flyer had been distributed to all recreational facilities, the library and the museum, and a press release had informed the public. Six or seven children had already registered. Chair Waldman indicated he would drop off informational flyers to St. John's Church and Ms. Claude indicated she would deliver some to the Chamber of Commerce. Chair Waldman pointed out only thirty children could be accommodated at the event. D. Adopting a School (Tabled on February 22, 2007) Chair Waldman inquired if anyone wanted to take this item off the table, which required a two- thirds vote. He advised he had met with the manager of Staples regarding the possibility of donating items, such as ink cartridges, to the Royal Palm School where Ms. Wilkinson taught. The Staples' manager had responded positively and requested paperwork detailing the project. The goal was to facilitate direct communications between Staples and the Royal Palm School. In response to conflict of interest requirements, Ms. Wilkinson could not participate in the project discussions or vote thereon. Ms. Camel remarked it would be a shame to disappoint the folks at the Royal Palm School since they had already been contacted and had sent a wish list. She also opined that Boynton Beach Community High School, the City's namesake, should be considered to be a recipient under the program. Chair Waldman stressed a two- thirds vote was needed to permit discussion on this item. Members were confused regarding taking the item off the table. Ms. Wilkinson clarified that previous "tabling" of the item meant they could not talk about it. Motion Ms. Camel moved to take the Adopting a School item off the table. Susan Buchanan seconded the motion that passed six to two (Mr. Waldman and Ms. Wilkinson dissenting). Ms. Camel expressed that the door had been opened to support the Royal Palm School and she hoped the Staples connection would fulfill the school's wishes and needs. If not, she believed the board should try to quickly find another philanthropist or corporation to donate. She also asked the board to consider designating Boynton Beach High School as a recipient versus another elementary or middle school. Chair Waldman clarified that they were not taking the Royal Palm School out of the equation, simply trying to help in a different way. By "adopting" the school, they would try to find out what was needed and align the school with a source for those items. Ms. 4 Meeting Minutes Education and Youth Advisory Board Boynton Beach, Florida March 22, 2007 they needed to plan how they would accomplish the task and determine who would do the work. Chair Waldman responded that once it was determined what the school needed, they could earmark funds raised. He clarified that the Royal Palm School had been chosen because the board knew someone inside that school (Ms. Wilkinson) who could make the original contact and help move the project through the system. Chair Waldman inquired if anyone had a contact within Boynton Beach Community High School and Ms. Morera asked who would do the work with that school. Chair Waldman volunteered to make the first contact to find out who could be assigned within the school to handle the project. Ms. Camel suggested the magnet coordinator would drop right into that role to act as a liaison. The High School had indicated it needed transportation for field trips. Chair Waldman reiterated all the board could do was initiate the discussion and ask questions. The board could not, for example, provide a bus for transportation. In fact, the only resources available to the board were the board members themselves, and no assumptions could be made regarding the securing of other resources from the City. Ms. Wilkinson reminded that the original plan had been to come up with a way to provide for a school. For example, if Boynton Beach High School needed groceries from Publix and the board simply provided the school with the name of a manager at Publix, the burden to move forward would be placed on the school. Ms. Buchanan suggested nothing should be offered until it was confirmed the board could follow through. Again, it was stressed they had chosen the Royal Palm School because they thought Ms. Wilkinson could manage the project through the system, even if it was a modest start for the program. The board's choice of the Royal Palm School did not infer that Boynton Beach High School was not deserving of attention and assistance. Ms. Buchanan indicated they would like to help every school, but had to start with one. Considering that it was almost April, she didn't think there would be time to get anything done this year for Boynton Beach High. She suggested brainstorming to identify resources and manpower for assisting the school next year. Ms. Camel stressed there were other substantial ways to help Boynton Beach High School now. They had asked Ms. Perry to come in and present to the City Commission, where she had indicated the school needed mentors and other items that did not cost dollars. Perhaps the board could email City employees, who could volunteer hours as mentors, thereby freeing up the teachers to do more with students in need. Volunteering to read to the children was priceless. The "dollars" tallied would be the value of the hours donated as in-kind donations. For example, if a school needed banners for an event, the goal for this activity could be "fifteen volunteers from the City" to paint banners rather than buying them. Time could be a valuable investment. 5 Meeting Minutes Education and Youth Advisory Board Boynton Beach, Florida March 22, 2007 A discussion ensued and it was decided the board should review the wish list from the Royal Palm School to determine what could be done before the end of this school year. Ms. Wilkinson would email the wish list to all board members and it would be placed on the April 26th meeting agenda. Ms. Miller reiterated the Mayor had already toured Boynton Beach High with Ms. Perry, and it would be proper to do something with Boynton Beach High this year. Chair Waldman stated he would make contact with Ms. Perry and the magnate coordinator to set up a meeting. Ms. Camel suggested securing a calendar of events for the last month at both schools to help the board determine if assistance could be provided. It was agreed by consensus the board would attempt to do something for both schools this year. E. Sister Cities Chair Waldman informed the board the Sister Cities had held an art contest. As one of the judges, he had seen a great deal of beautiful art from China, but nothing from American Schools had been displayed. It was unknown whether the artwork had been received from Chinese middle school or high school children. The pen pal program was being pursued and the Wheelchair Foundation was donating wheelchairs to Chinese children. Each donation of $60 was matched by the wheelchair foundation and on May 15, 2007, 200 wheelchairs would be delivered to Chinese children. Ms. Camel informed the board that curriculum planning for most schools was held during the August/September time frame, and art was generally mapped out very early so supplies could be ordered while funding was available. If an annual art contest was being planned, the board needed to communicate with the curriculum planners in order to get American children involved. Chair Waldman indicated he would communicate this information to Jeanne Heavilin of the Sister Cities Program. Additionally, board members who wished to visit China should contact Ms. Heavilin. Mayor Taylor had already signed up to go. F. Bowling Tournament (July 15 @ AMF Lanes) The bowling tournament scheduled for July 15, 2007, had been set up the same as last year. It was planned to be a fun day with minimal fundraising anticipation. The proceeds would benefit the Bob Borovy Fund. 6 Meeting Minutes Education and Youth Advisory Board Boynton Beach, Florida March 22, 2007 VIII. NEW BUSINESS Brian Miller of the Community Relations Board had provided information on upcoming events. A spring cleanup would be held in the Heart of Boynton on Saturday, March 31, 2007, starting at St. John's Church. On April 11th, 2007, a disaster preparedness Town Hall Meeting would be held in Chambers from 7:00 - 9:00 p.m. Mr. Miller also provided recycling collection information for distribution. Chair Waldman noted the Community Relations Board was doing a nice job bringing people together. IX. FUTURE MEETING DATES April 26, 2007 May 24, 2007 X. ADJOURNMENT Ms. Wilkinson moved to adjourn. Ms. Buchanan seconded the motion that passed unanimously. The meeting adjourned at 7:45 p.m. ,~ \ \"'fl1~Way'\ Robin He~gWay ,J \j Recording Secretary 03-22-07 7