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Minutes 01-06-00 MINUTES OF THE EDUCATION ADVISORY BOARD MEETING HELD IN THE LIBRARY PROGRAM ROOM, BOYNTON BEACH, FLORIDA ON THURSDAY JANUARY 6, 2000 AT 6:00 P.M. PRESENT ALSO PRESENT Dawn Russell, Chairperson Virginia Farace, Education Advisory Heidi DeVries, Student Board Liaison Lora Edwards, Student (arrived at 6:30 p.m.) Michael Hazlett, Voting Alternate (arrived at 6:30 p.m.) Revia Lee Dr. Leon G. Schwartz Diana Tedtmann, Voting Alternate ABSENT Ron Ehster Eddie Mitchell Harvey Oyer, III Arthur T. Rowe ALSO PRESENT Bruce Thompson , Coordinator of Community/Business Partnerships, Palm Beach County School District Shelley Parpard , Volunteer Coordinator, Palm Beach County School District David Fellows , former Board Member I. GREETINGS Chairperson Russell called the meeting to order at 6:14 p.m. and wished everyone a Happy New Year. II. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE Members recited the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag led by Chairperson Russell. III. ROLL CALL The recording secretary called the roll and a quorum was present. MEETING MINUTES EDUCATION ADVISORY BOARD BOYNTON BEACH, FLORIDA January 6, 2000 IV. MINUTES APPROVAL DECEMBER 2, 1999 Meeting Chairperson Russell asked if anyone had any changes or additions to the minutes of the December 2, 1999 meeting? Hearing none, the minutes stand approved. V. CHAIR’S REPORT Chairperson Russell noted there have been many articles in the newspapers regarding school business including approval of the school calendar for the next two school years, the testing of students and FCAT preparation. Chairperson Russell noted that Dr. Marlin has replaced Dr. Kowal as School Superintendent. VI. CITY LIAISON REPORT A. Presentation on District Volunteer Initiative by Bruce Thompson, Coordinator of Community/Business Partnerships, Palm Beach County School District Ms. Farace noted that at the last meeting she was requested to contact Bruce Thompson to invite him to give a presentation and he is present tonight with Ms. Shelley Parpard, School Volunteer Coordinator. This resulted from Mr. Baron speaking at the last Board meeting where he spoke about the initiatives that the School District was taking to train volunteers to work with the “F” and “D” schools. Mr. Thompson said his primary function is to determine the needs within the districts of particular schools that require some business input and then to find businesses that would be willing to partner up with a school. A partnership is developed between a business and a particular school and there is a coordinator for each school district. In addition, each school has a multi-business partnership coordinator to help implement the activities at the school level. Mr. Thompson explained how the program was set up. Training sessions are given to new volunteers to instruct them on how to be a good mentor and a good tutor. One area being targeted is the FCAT writing skills and then the next step would be implemented through tutoring in the high-need schools. There are seven elementary schools in Palm Beach County that are “F” schools and these are the schools that will be focused on. The schools being targeted will be given the option of whether or not they want to participate. Therefore it will be necessary to get each school to participate in the program and the schools will be tailored to the program on an individual basis to see how it would best suit their needs. 2 MEETING MINUTES EDUCATION ADVISORY BOARD BOYNTON BEACH, FLORIDA January 6, 2000 The training component would take approximately two hours and the training has been coordinated through the curriculum department of the Palm Beach County School District. The training would consist of the following: ? How to be a tutor. ? Cultural sensitivity. ? Specific skills including what is included in the FCAT test. Mr. Thompson pointed out there is a booklet entitled Questions for Critical Thinking” which is being utilized. The booklet contains six levels and a great many schools are already making use of the booklet (a copy was handed out to the members to review). Mr. Thompson also made available to the members a copy of the page that contained Level IV from the booklet entitled the “analytical level”. He reviewed the questions that would be asked at this level. Being a volunteer doesn’t necessarily involve just one on one and could involve two or three students at one time. Ms. Farace asked what grade level this booklet pertained to and was informed the booklet pertained to all levels. Mr. Thompson was not sure if the program would be instituted in Forest Park this year. The first step would be for the coordinator to speak with the school about the project to determine if they would be interested. Both current and new volunteers would be trained. Employees in State government office have been offered an hour a week off to go into the schools to volunteer. It is anticipated that there will be some training sessions in place by late January. Ms. Farace asked where the training would take place? It is hoped that the training sessions could be done at the schools. Also, training could be done in the State office that is doing the volunteering. It is anticipated that a lot of the mentoring could take place after school. Also some schools have tutoring periods during the week and on Saturdays. Ms. Tedtmann inquired how far they have gone with getting Forest Park onboard and Mr. Thompson said they have not spoken to the principal as yet and is hoping to set up an appointment within the next week. Ms. Parpard pointed out that on November 25, 1999, the Legislature approved that all State offices could give one hour of administrative leave to all employees to volunteer in schools for mentoring and tutoring. Ms. Parpard said they have contacted every State office to try to recruit volunteers and the Department of Juvenile Justice was the first office to sign on. Since the Department of Juvenile Justice has seven offices throughout the County, it was decided that each of their 3 MEETING MINUTES EDUCATION ADVISORY BOARD BOYNTON BEACH, FLORIDA January 6, 2000 offices would select a school that is located nearest to that particular office. Ms. Parpard said that they would first concentrate on writing skills. Mr. Thompson felt if the program could get up and running this year, they would start with the fourth graders. Chairperson Russell pointed out that there is a field test for the FCAT in March. Ms. Farace noted that this Board has various committees and one of the committees is entitled raising test scores/parental involvement committee and asked if this would be an area that this Board could assist in to get parents more involved? Ms. Parpard said that the largest group of volunteers are parents. Ms. Farace inquired if Mr. Thompson had any specific recommendations he could make to this committee. Mr. Thompson stated that the committee could work on getting more parents involved and to try to get the parents that are currently involved in becoming tutors. Ms. Farace inquired if the Library could be utilized as an off-site training site and Mr. Thompson said it might be premature to make this decision. Mr. Thompson said that when they meet with the principal of Forest Park and the volunteer coordinator, someone from the Board’s committee could also attend at the same time. Ms. Farace said she would be willing to attend. Members discussed how the Library could assist in recruiting volunteers. Ms. Farace noted that the Library has begun its own tutoring and mentoring program for middle school children. Ms. Tedtmann reminded members that the Board had considered putting something in the City’s Visions, Views and City News about volunteering and tutoring. Ms. Tedtmann said that she had spoken with Forest Park School and thth determined the only tutoring taking place at the School was for 4 and 5 graders through teacher recommendation only. Mr. Thompson stated it is not uncommon for schools to identify children that need tutoring. Ms. Tedtmann also feels there is a need for tutoring for adults in the community and perhaps the Library could be a resource for this. Ms. Farace said that the Library provides adult literacy tutoring, as well as Internet computer training. Ms. Farace said that the Library has a “why not club” which is an alternative to hanging out on the streets, and which is attended by middle school age children. Mr. Fellows suggested utilizing the retirees in the City for volunteering. Mr. Fellows also thought it would be a good idea to have an aggressive marketing program with the neighborhood associations to seek out volunteers. Ms. Parpard stated that last year there were approximately 19,000 volunteers in the school system with over one million hours in time volunteered. Volunteer Coordinators do a great deal of networking and sharing of ideas. There are 4 MEETING MINUTES EDUCATION ADVISORY BOARD BOYNTON BEACH, FLORIDA January 6, 2000 intergenerational programs with the senior communities and this is a growing area. Ms. Parpard also advised that they have been doing many presentations with neighborhoods in the western areas of Boynton Beach. Chairperson Russell also thought the new City’s Senior Center might be a good resource for volunteers and Ms. Parpard said that she recently met with Mr. Herb Stevens, the RSVP Coordinator and he agreed that the Senior Center would be a good place to recruit volunteers. Ms. Parpard distributed a Handbook on Volunteers in Pubic Schools (VIPS) to members, which contains a list of all available volunteer job descriptions available in the schools. The book is available in English, Spanish and Haitian Creole. Mr. Thompson said he would set up a meeting with Forest Park School and will get back to Ms. Farace on the date and time. Chairperson Russell also would like to attend if possible. Ms. Tedtmann also suggested contacting the Leisureville Communities and High Point, which are senior communities, located near Forest Park School. Ms. Farace noted that the City had been approached in the past to allow City employees time to volunteer in the schools, but this never came to fruition. Mr. Thompson noted that volunteering has increased the morale of employees and makes them feel more involved in the community. There are a great many positive benefits that come out of volunteering for just one hour away from work. Members thanked Mr. Thompson and Ms. Parpard for their very informative presentation. VII. COMMITTEE REPORTS A. Alternative to Suspension Program-Russell Mr. Fellows had left the meeting earlier and Ms. Farace said that there is a bill that will be presented to the State Legislature to make it easier for schools to adopt the OCIP Program. Mr. Fellows had also informed her that the funding committee has approved recommending to the Board funding for Congress Middle School. Ms. Farace thinks it looks good at this point. B. Raising Test Scores/Parental Involvement-Russell, Rowe and Tedtmann Chairperson Russell noted that Mr. Rowe was at a SAC meeting tonight. Ms. Tedtmann was going to contact some of the schools; however Ms. Tedtmann stated she hasn’t made much progress because of the new school year. She had intended to call all the schools to determine their tutoring programs. Chairperson Russell suggested that when members attend their next SAC meetings they 5 MEETING MINUTES EDUCATION ADVISORY BOARD BOYNTON BEACH, FLORIDA January 6, 2000 should find out what type of tutoring is available at the school for school age children as well as adults. C. “Gathering Storm” issues – Mitchell Mr. Mitchell was not present to make his report. D. Legislative Issues –Oyer Mr. Oyer was not present to make his report. E. SIP Presentation-Hazlett, DeVries Mr. Hazlett said he contacted the City’s Clerk Office to determine if he and Ms. DeVries could meet to discuss ideas and to keep notes of what transpired. Ms. Farace stated that City Attorney Cherof said that their meeting must be noticed, but did not have to be recorded, and that notes must be taken. Ms. Farace said that all Boards are supposed to follow this procedure. Mr. Hazlett was advised that when a time and date are set for their workshop to call the City Clerk’s Office with this information. F. Principals’ Roundtable-Lee, Edwards Ms. Lee and Ms. Edwards determined that they would meet on Monday at Ms. Lee’s school. G. Forest Park-Ehster Mr. Ehster was not present to make his report. H. SAC Representatives – All Atlantic High School – Chairperson Russell stated she was unable to attend the SAC meeting because she was in the middle of exams. Rolling Green Elementary – Ms. Tedtmann announced that the December SAC meeting was cancelled. She did attend the November meeting which went very well. Santaluces High School Ms. Edwards did not attend the SAC meeting this month. 6 MEETING MINUTES EDUCATION ADVISORY BOARD BOYNTON BEACH, FLORIDA January 6, 2000 Galaxy Elementary Mr. Hazlett reported that Galaxy didn’t have a December SAC meeting. South Technical High School Ms. Tedtmann said that she is on the SAC at South Tech and discussion is underway on a new name for the school. It appears the School District would like more a high school oriented name and also that it might be named after a person. Ms. Tedtmann said that if anyone on the Board had any ideas, please feel free to make suggestions. There are new career academies that will be starting up next year for cosmetology and computer technicians. Poinciana Elementary Ms. Lee reported that she did not receive notice of a SAC meeting for December. Congress Middle School Ms. Farace reported that Congress Middle School has a very interesting SAC meeting and next Thursday is their open house at 7:00 p.m. The School will be showing their new computer lab, which the City funded in the amount of $100,000. There will be a ribbon cutting ceremony for the computer lab around 5:00 p.m. and urged all members to be present. Ms. DeVries still does not have a school assigned to her yet. Ms. DeVries will check when the Citrus Cove SAC meets. Ms. Farace explained to Dr. Schwartz that one of the requirements of serving on the Education Advisory Board is that each member serves on a School SAC. VIII. UNFINISHED BUSINESS Chairperson Russell reminded members to continue working on their reports in order to track progress that is being made. Ms. Farace distributed to all members a copy of Legal Obligations of Municipal Boards that was prepared by Assistant City Attorney Nicholas Igwe. Ms. Farace also has the goals from three committees that have submitted them to date and asked members if they would like to wait until all the goals are received before distributing them. It was decided to wait until all goals have been received. Chairperson Russell requested that all goals be submitted by next month’s meeting. 7 MEETING MINUTES EDUCATION ADVISORY BOARD BOYNTON BEACH, FLORIDA January 6, 2000 Ms. Farace reported that there is a new high school web site. It can be located by accessing the City’s web site, which has a link on the homepage. The City’s www.ci.boynton-beach.fl.us web site is . IX. NEW BUSINESS Chairperson Russell reported that Pamela Owens, who is in the process of forming a charter school in Boynton Beach, has contacted her. Ms. Owens informed the Board that the mission of the charter school is to prepare students for the future and enable them to achieve their full academic and social potential. They plan on becoming an educational technology institute and a foreign language institute because the school will be focusing on computers and foreign languages. Ms. Owens requested to speak to this Board about the school and Chairperson Russell asked if the Board would like to invite her to speak to the Board. This would be the first charter school in Boynton Beach and would be an elementary school, K through 5. The target population of the school would be students from schools that received a grade of C, D or F, as well as students of parents from economically and educationally disadvantaged backgrounds. It was determined to ask Ms. Owens to speak to the Board at the February meeting. X. PUBLIC AUDIENCE None XI. ANNOUNCEMENTS Regular Board Meeting Chairperson Russell announced that the next would be held on Thursday, February 3, 2000 at 6:00 p.m. Quarterly City Board Forum has been Ms. Farace announced that the scheduled for February 19, 2000 at 12 noon in the Library Program Room. Chairperson Russell urged all Board members to attend. XII. ADJOURNMENT There being no further business, the meeting properly adjourned at 7:35 p.m. Respectfully submitted, ______________________________ Barbara M. Madden Recording Secretary (two tapes) 8