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Minutes 03-07-96 MINUTES OF THE EDUCATION ADVISORY BOARD MEETING HELD IN THE COMMISSION CHAMBERS, CITY HALL, BOYNTON BEACH, FLORIDA, ON THURSDAY, MARCH 7, 1996, AT 6:30 P.M. PRESENT Anne Centi, Chairwoman Wilfred Hawkins, Asst. to the Margaret Newton, Vice Chairwoman City Manager Nellie Denahan Muslima Lewis David Weinstein Ben Demaline, Student ABSENT Rhona Schneider Renee Stern Irene Mandel, Alternate I. GREETINGS Chairwoman Centi called the meeting to order at 6:35 p.m. and welcomed everyone. II. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE The Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag was recited. III. ROLL CALL The Recording Secretary called the roll. Mr. Weinstein was not yet present. IV. MINUTES APPROVAL Ms. Lewis made two corrections to the minutes of the last meeting. First, the references to the baccalaureate programs in Item IV.A should say "International Baccalaureate". Also, she said she and Mr. Blair arrived at the meeting during Mr. Heyward's presentation, not at the end of Mrs. Weiner's presentation. Motion MEETING MINUTES EDUCATION ADVISORY BOARD BOYNTON BEACH, FLORIDA MARCH 7, 1996 Ms. Denahan moved to approve the minutes of the January 24, 1996 meeting as amended. Mr. Demaline seconded the motion, which carried unanimously. At this time, Mr. Weinstein arrived. V. PUBLIC AUDIENCE None. VI. INTRODUCTION OF SPEAKERS Chairwoman Centi thanked Dr. Abalos and Mr. Rasco for taking the time to come to this meeting this evening. She introduced Dr. Abalos. A. Joe Abalos, Director of School Improvement for Palm Beach County School District Dr. Abalos advised that the accountability legislation was passed in Tallahassee in 1991 to address school reform in the State of Florida. This legislation is known as Blueprint 2000. One of the provisions of this Act is to establish School Advisory Councils (SACs) in every school in the State of Florida, with the possible exceptions of districts that have 10,000 or less students. Palm Beach County has SACs in every school. This legislation also mandated the development, implementation, monitoring, and evaluation of the School Improvement Plan. Also, it mandated schools to communicate to every parent of every student in the school what is now called the School Public Accountability Report (formerly known as the Florida School Report). In addition, it mandates districts to set aside monies from the lottery money to provide for the school improvement funds. Every school gets $4.50 for every student it has. This money is to be used for school improvement activities. We have been doing school improvement for the past four years. The first school improvement plans were developed by the schools in 1992, and they are now in the process of refining those school improvement plans for next year. Every year, they look at their needs by conducting a needs assessment. They look at all the data they have on student achievement, student discipline, suspensions, etc. Based on that, they determine the needs that they have in the schools and develop a plan based on those needs. For the 2 MEETING MINUTES EDUCATION ADVISORY BOARD BOYNTON BEACH, FLORIDA MARCH 7, 1996 past year, the District has not dictated anything to the schools. The schools are free and open to develop their own school improvement plans based on their needs. The only caveat to that is they need to address the seven State goals and determine which ones they would like to include in their plan. We are hoping we can institutionalize the entire school improvement process in our schools, and that the SACs become meaningful units in the school and actively help identify the needs of the schools, developing goals and objectives for the schools, determining strategies by which the schools can carry out those goals and objectives, and have meaningful discussions of what is happening in the schools. Some of our SACs are still being operated like PTAs where the principal runs the group. We would like to see the members of the SACs to truly be meaningfully involved in the dialogue in the schools, look at the data, and help the principals determine how to go about improving the schools in the areas of discipline, achievement, etc. One of the problems that we have at the moment is the lack of involvement of business and community members in the SACs. A sizeable number of our schools do not have business partners. This is probably not true in Boynton Beach because the community and business organizations are active in the SACs. However, county-wide, we still need to get business members in the SACs, and we also need to get more community members. Dr. Abalos hoped that this board could help with this task. He would like the board to take a look at the schools and see if there is sufficient membership from outside the schools. We do not want the SACs to be populated only by people from the school. We want a collaborative community effort so that the communities (parents, business members, community members, teachers and support staff from the schools) contribute to the meaningful dialogue in the schools. The Economic Council would like the local Chambers in the County to get more involved in the schools in their areas. The new superintendent is in a collaborative mode. She wants a lot of people more involved in a lot of discussions and decision making in the schools. One of the major tasks Dr. Abalos has is to seek more membership through this board and the different Chambers to be able to get more meaningful community involvement in the SACs. Dr. Abalos said many of the school improvement plans are very good. The schools will be presenting their plans to their communities this month, next month, and in May. He hoped this board can get more community support, and get a lot more community members to show up for that and provide input to the SACs. He knows it is a major commitment for people outside of the school system to come to SAC meetings. However, he pointed out that involvement does not necessarily have to be at that level. People can volunteer to be on one of the subcommittees on the SACs, e.g., looking at discipline, student achievement, 3 MEETING MINUTES EDUCATION ADVISORY BOARD BOYNTON BEACH, FLORIDA MARCH 7, 1996 school safety, or adult literacy. Dr. Abalos advised that the legislation will sunset in the year 2000 and we do not want it taken away from us. What is going to happen is things will be dictated again from Tallahassee. We now have this grassroots movement, participation through the SACs, and we hope that this will stay. Unless we are able to institutionalize the SACs, it will be very difficult for us to justify continuing this beyond the year 2000. The Education Commission is now looking at accountability measures, developing tests, not necessarily paper and pencil tests, but authentic assessments, e.g., portfolios, so that there will be a lot more accountability in the schools. The Education Commissioner, Frank Brogan, has identified 13 schools in Palm Beach County as critically low performing schools. These are schools that have a high concentration of students who are performing in quartile 1 (the lower 25 percent) in the nation and in the State. They are using certain parameters like scores on norm reference tests, the high school competency test scores, the writing test scores, etc., to identify the schools as critically low performing. Fortunately, none of those schools are in Boynton Beach. There are seven in the Glades and five in West Palm Beach. The Commissioner is tightening a lot of accountability measures like those. Another set of schools will be identified based on those set of criteria (reading, math scores, writing scores, high school competency scores, etc.). Even though none of the schools in Boynton Beach were identified as critically low performing, the children performing in the bottom quartile in other schools in the County need our help. He hoped that programs we institute also will help those students. Chairwoman Centi said she and Ms. Denahan attended a meeting about the school improvement programs and one of the speakers said that we were number five in the nation and we are now down to number 60. She asked if this was correct. Dr. Abalos answered affirmatively. Chairwoman Centi advised that some of the business people are becoming disenchanted because there is no accountability. Their feeling is that if the school itself does not improve or meet the criteria, nobody gets their hand slapped. Dr. Abalos stated that the Commission is also working on measures of accountability. When this Act was passed in 1991, it was called the Accountability Act. The whole purpose of this is to hold schools accountable for the performance of their students. Unfortunately, when this Act was passed, they did not have the assessment system in place. They are now just developing the assessment system. They are developing tests. They already have a State writing 4 MEETING MINUTES EDUCATION ADVISORY BOARD BOYNTON BEACH, FLORIDA MARCH 7, 1996 test. They are now developing reading and mathematics tests that will be used State-wide as a measure of accountability. The Commissioner has used our local norm reference tests, the writing test, and the high school competency test as measures of accountability. We are working with the schools that were identified as critically low performing because if they do not improve in three years, the State will take over those schools. Dr. Abalos felt it was critical for people from the outside to come in to see the kinds of things that school systems deal with and help us out. If the schools do not improve and the State takes over, Mr. Weinstein asked what the State is going to do to improve the situation that the County is not presently doing. Dr. Abalos advised that the State has not spelled out exactly what they are going to do. The County is doing a lot of things to help those schools. Some of those schools are Title I schools so they get money from the Federal Government. The District is applying for a Growth 2000 grant where money is set aside just for those schools. We are doing a lot of training with those schools. We are providing support for them to do after school tutorials. We are helping them out with technology so that they can use technology to help the students. Dr. Abalos said there are a lot of inequities among our schools in terms of physical facilities and educational programs that need to be corrected. There is a wide achievement gap among racial groups. The economically disadvantaged students (students who receive free or reduced lunch) perform lower than the economically advantaged students. There is a high correlation between academic performance and socioeconomic status. Most of those schools have high concentrations of low socioeconomic children. There is also a high correlation between low socioeconomic status and racial factors in a high minority population. In the 13 schools identified, there are high minority groups, and low socioeconomic status students. The State has identified schools that are similar to some of the schools that are low performing in this area, and these schools are performing well. They want some of our schools to visit those schools that have similar demographics but that were not identified as critically low performing schools. The County is doing a lot more to help those schools. We are introducing a lot of new programs, e.g., a lot of reading, math, and writing programs to help those schools. Vice Chairwoman Newton asked if Holocaust Studies Inclusive K through 12 and African- American History K through 12 have been included in the curricula for the coming year as 5 MEETING MINUTES EDUCATION ADVISORY BOARD BOYNTON BEACH, FLORIDA MARCH 7, 1996 mandated by Tallahassee. Dr. Abalos did not know the status of that. Ms. Denahan stated that discipline seems to be a major issue at Forest Park Elementary School. Other than conflict resolution, she asked if Dr. Abalos had any specific suggestions to deal with this problem. Dr. Abalos stated that conflict resolution works well in some schools, and not as well in other schools. However, there are a number of other programs dealing with diverse students and discipline. One of these programs is called, "Discipline with Dignity". The SAC needs to review those programs and visit some schools that are implementing these programs to see whether they will work for their school. One of the strategies that has been used by some of the middle and high schools is block scheduling. Block scheduling reduces the discipline problems because instead of sending the students out in the hallways seven times a day, they are in the hallways only three times a day. Many of the problems start in the hallways. Ms. Lewis asked if there is a clearinghouse (a readily available source of alternatives) for school improvement committees to go to when they are trying to address a particular goal, so that they can get a sense of what other schools have done. At this point in the meeting, Mr. Hawkins arrived. Dr. Abalos advised that a school improvement unit has been instituted in the professional library. This unit provides written and audio/visual materials to the SACs. The materials are on cooperative discipline, cooperative learning, block scheduling, critical thinking schools, etc. The professional library is in the administrative center on Forest Hill Boulevard. They will also do research for people and mail them titles, abstracts, journals and articles. Ms. Lewis asked if they have a data base of what has been done within the County so that there is a lot more sharing of information. Dr. Abalos stated there is no data base, but we are aware of the programs in the schools. If you call his office, they will be able to tell you about these programs. He stated that the schools in the north area meet once a month and share those kinds of things. He said the board might want to initiate this in this area. Also, last year a school improvement conference was held and many different programs were presented to the school advisory chairs, the principals, and representatives from the schools. We are going to do this again next year, hopefully twice, so that there is a lot of sharing of best practices. 6 MEETING MINUTES EDUCATION ADVISORY BOARD BOYNTON BEACH, FLORIDA MARCH 7, 1996 Mr. Demaline said he saw an article in the newspaper about the State wanting to raise the GPA requirement to 2.0 for high school students to graduate. He asked how the County feels about that. Dr. Abalos advised that this was passed at the last School Board meeting for the class of 2000. The class of 2000 will now be required to maintain a 2.0 average to receive a regular diploma and graduate from high school. However, the State has not yet passed it. It is still in Legislation. Mr. Demaline asked if they want to reach for a lower number of suspensions in the schools in the State School Improvement Plan. Dr. Abalos stated that this will probably be covered under school safety, but it is not specific as to the number of suspensions. Mr. Demaline advised that Atlantic High School has this in their School Improvement Plan. They want to reduce the number of suspensions; however, they also want to increase safety. He wondered how they can do both by leaving these students in school. Dr. Abalos thinks one of the problems was that there were certain District objectives that schools were mandated to do, for example, lowering suspension rates. The principals were evaluated in those areas. That is why they put that in their School Improvement Plans. However, we are not mandating anything to the schools at this time. Whatever the schools put in their School Improvement Plans should be based on the schools' needs. Chairwoman Centi asked when the accountability program is going into effect. Dr. Abalos said we are still working with the Superintendent on this. The principals' evaluations have some accountability measures as part of that evaluation. Therefore, part of it is already in place. One of the big questions is what we truly mean by accountability, and how to measure it. We would like to start a dialogue with the schools and community about what accountability means and how to measure it. Dr. Abalos said we need to work with our Legislature because the class size does not help, and the reduction of money for instructional materials and training does not help. Education needs to be a priority. Chairwoman Centi advised that the State only spends $2,960.00 per student on education. Dr. Abalos said Florida is one of the states in the nation that spends the lowest per student. Vice Chairwoman Newton asked if the SACs have any impact on the curricula. Dr. Abalos answered affirmatively. Vice Chairwoman Newton advised that the SAC at Christa McAuliffe Middle School has active business representation. She suggested that Dr. Abalos meet with the business members of the SACs to find out why the business 7 MEETING MINUTES EDUCATION ADVISORY BOARD BOYNTON BEACH, FLORIDA MARCH 7, 1996 community does not have the impact that we want them to. Dr. Abalos advised that we are in a dialogue now with the Economic Council and are getting feedback about why there is lack of interest. Some of the members on the Economic Council are on SACs. A couple of reasons for their lack of interest is that they are not meaningfully involved in the dialogue and the meetings are run like PTAs. Mr. Demaline advised that Atlantic High School has had to change the admissions process to their magnet program because there were some claims that it was not racially balanced enough. Therefore, they dropped the entrance test. He asked if the County has seen negative effects because of this. Dr Abalos said the creation of magnet programs was primarily driven by the Office of Civil Rights requirement that we balance our schools. A lot of the new magnet programs have been granted to the schools because those schools are racially imbalanced. Therefore, they make those kinds of adjustments. He did not think this was the right way to do it. However, to get that racial balance, they have to do something in terms of criteria, quotas, etc. Ms. Lewis said her daughter is in pre IB and in every one of her classes she is one of two students in a class of 30 who is a child of color. This is a very significant problem in the IB program. She said quotas have gotten a bad wrap. She believes there is a lack of communication about these programs. She said certain students are recruited for these programs heavily and certain students are not. This needs to be looked at in terms of how the word gets out about these magnet programs. Dr. Abalos stated that the Office of Equity is trying to target the recruitment towards those areas that they need to racially balance. That can go both ways. It does not have to be just minority groups or white groups because in some schools they need more whites and in some schools they need more minorities. They try to target certain populations so that they can balance. Ms. Lewis said there are a lot of qualified students of color and if they knew about it and had the opportunities to be involved in it, then that is a very positive way of addressing the imbalances. Chairwoman Centi thanked Dr. Abalos for his presentation. Dr. Abalos hopes that he can work with the board and serve the community. He will take a look at our schools, the membership of the SACs, and provide the board with that data so they can see whether we have a lot of business community members in our schools. This would be a first step for 8 MEETING MINUTES EDUCATION ADVISORY BOARD BOYNTON BEACH, FLORIDA MARCH 7, 1996 the board to help recruit some members in the schools that do not have community or business members or that are not racially balanced. The SAC membership should reflect the diversity in the student population. He offered to work with the board any way he can. B. James L. Rasco, Principal of South Tech High School of Boynton Beach Chairwoman Centi introduced Mr. Rasco. Mr. Rasco advised that he has been at South Tech for 20 years. Thirty acres of land were donated by the City of Boynton Beach, and South Tech was built. The County school system took up 15 acres for a bus compound. We have grown from about 300 students to the one school in the County that will put more students on the County's computer system than any other school in the County. This past year, we put 23,000 students in different courses throughout the school. This year, we think that will increase to 33,000 or 34,000 students. There are about 17 programs at South Tech, including marine engines, auto body, auto mechanics (one of the newest auto technology programs in the State of Florida), welding, air-conditioning and refrigeration, cabinet making, electrical wiring, and day care. In addition to teaching day care, three day care centers are operated by certified kindergarten teachers at South Tech. Students who have children can keep their children at one of the day care centers for $20.00 a week. Others are charged $50.00 a week. South Tech also has a nationally-known cooking program, business ed (which consists mainly of computers), graphic art, cosmetology (including nail care and facials), nursing, and firefighting. With regard to accountability, Mr. Rasco pointed out that 97 percent of South Tech's students pass the State firefighting exam. This is the best average in the State. Ninety- three percent of the students in South Tech's nursing program pass the LPN exam compared to the State average of 71 percent, and 83 percent of the students who take South Tech's cosmetologist program pass the State exam compared to the State average of 51 percent. Also, technical schools are the only schools in the State of Florida that have to succeed by law. If you complete a program at South Tech and are declared a completer, but you cannot keep a job because you do not have the skills, you have a right to be retrained at South Tech for free. Also, South Tech lets former students come back and be trained on up-to-date techniques. South Tech likes to follow its students for a long time. South Tech has vocational education for the handicapped and works with the mentally and 9 MEETING MINUTES EDUCATION ADVISORY BOARD BOYNTON BEACH, FLORIDA MARCH 7, 1996 physically handicapped to help them produce goods and find a job. Mr. Rasco pointed out that vocational schools have had SACs for 50 years. Also, every program at South Tech has a committee of businessmen. A department called Industry Services was created. Industry Services provides services that businesses might need. For example, they will go to any business and train employees on computers. Mr. Rasco advised that five programs at South Tech have articulation agreements with the Community College. When a student completes one of these programs, the community college will give him a certain amount of college credits. Mr. Rasco also advised that 98 percent of the students are adults (16 years old or older), and many of them are single parents. In addition, South Tech has a full-time financial aid person. Mr. Rasco said there is an attitude toward vocational education. However, a study was done by Penn State University and it was discovered that a college graduate will only make $204.00 more per year than a graduate of a vocational school. According to an article in the Wall Street Journal, 18,000,000 students will graduate from college this year, but there are only 14,000,000 college graduate jobs. Mr. Rasco believes there is going to be a lot of growth in technical and vocational education. With people losing their jobs and changing careers, Chairwoman Centi asked if South Tech gets referrals from the Private Industry Council. Mr. Rasco answered affirmatively, and added that South Tech gets help for those people from vocational rehab. Mr. Demaline believes one of the reasons why college graduates are not able to find as many jobs as they used to is because of supply and demand. He asked if Mr. Rasco sees the same threats for his students. Mr. Rasco answered affirmatively. However, he pointed out that technology changes. He said the young people today have to look at life a little differently than he did, and have to be certified in at least two areas. Mr. Rasco invited the members of the Board to South Tech. He advised that tours are given every Wednesday. Chairwoman Centi thanked Mr. Rasco for his presentation. At this time, Mr. Rasco and Dr. Abalos left the meeting. VII. OLD BUSINESS 10 MEETING MINUTES EDUCATION ADVISORY BOARD BOYNTON BEACH, FLORIDA MARCH 7, 1996 A. Letter presented to Mayor and Commission at January 24, 1996 Commission Meeting Chairwoman Centi thanked Ms. Lewis for writing the letter to the City Commission about the high school. She informed the members of the board that this letter was presented to the Commission and was very well received. She stated that Mayor Pro Tem Matson said she is going to take the issue in front of the Municipal League. Since then, Chairwoman Centi received a call from them. She stated that the School Board, Commission, and Mr. Hawkins are still working on the high school issue. Chairwoman Centi advised that everyone praised this board. The Commission said it was an excellent board; one of the best in Boynton Beach. Also, Mayor Taylor said he will prepare a resolution to support House Bill #107 (lottery accountability bill) so the schools will get more money from the lottery funds. B. Commission Meeting regarding City Boards Chairwoman Centi attended this meeting. See discussion under Item VIII.A. C. Committee Reports Lake Worth Community High School - No report Congress Middle School Mr. Weinstein advised that at the February 14th SAC meeting, he was asked if this board would recommend to the Palm Beach County School Board that they provide a full-time staff technical director to Congress Middle School. They explained that they have a new computer program and a great deal of hard equipment. They have the Network and are very pleased with it, except there is no staff technical director to repair this equipment if it breaks down. All of the elementary schools have technical directors available. Also, they are going to be a magnet school and want to know if that can be accelerated to correspond to the Poinciana School in continuity. 11 MEETING MINUTES EDUCATION ADVISORY BOARD BOYNTON BEACH, FLORIDA MARCH 7, 1996 Motion Mr. Weinstein moved to ask the School Board for a staff technical director to repair the computer equipment, and to accelerate the process of Congress Middle School becoming a magnet school. Ms. Denahan seconded the motion, which carried unanimously. Lake Worth Christian School - No report Santaluces High School Chairwoman Centi reported that the principal of Santaluces has chosen a young lady to sit on this board, and she will be filling out a Talent Bank Form. Atlantic Community High School - No report Christa McAuliffe Middle School - No report Forest Park Elementary School Ms. Denahan reported that the SAC revisited the entire School Improvement Plan, and she is going to present it to the PTA on March 18th. Construction is underway. The problems of safety for the children are no longer an issue because the children are now being rerouted to enter and exit the school from the south end. Construction will be completed in 18 months from beginning to end. Galaxy Elementary School - No report Rolling Green Elementary School - No report Poinciana Elementary School Ms. Denahan reported that the SAC revisited the entire School Improvement Plan. This SAC consists of a nice core group of about 20 teachers and parents who come to every meeting. This SAC has business partnerships as well. Mark Barren spoke at the last SAC meeting. Discussion included the norm tests and the Montgomery County Schools. Montgomery County spends $33.00 per test per child compared to the $1.50 that Palm Beach County spends. 12 MEETING MINUTES EDUCATION ADVISORY BOARD BOYNTON BEACH, FLORIDA MARCH 7, 1996 At the next SAC meeting, School/Parent Compact will be discussed. This deals with parent involvement and responsibility. This is a project for any school that has Title I funding. Both Forest Park Elementary School and Poinciana Elementary School are Title I schools. This means that if 60 percent of the students receive free or reduced lunch, the school is entitled to specific funds. At Poinciana, they use those funds for teachers because if they buy something expendable like computers and the school is not a Title I school the following year, the computers will be taken away. Citrus Cove Elementary School - No report Hagen Road Elementary School - No report Crystal Lakes Elementary School Chairwoman Centi reported that she dropped off the amendment for the accountability of the school lottery funds. VIII. NEW BUSINESS A. Work toward a joint showing of Community Relations Board, Children and Youth, EAB, Mayor and commissioners to go to a school board meeting and meet new Superintendent and show unity and numbers of support for Boynton Beach High School Chairwoman Centi advised that the Commission would like more interaction among the Community Relations Board, the Advisory Board on Children and Youth, and the Education Advisory Board. She suggested that all three boards and the Commission visit the new School Superintendent to show unity and let her know that we still want our high school. Vice Chairwoman Newton suggested inviting the new Superintendent to the City. Motion 13 MEETING MINUTES EDUCATION ADVISORY BOARD BOYNTON BEACH, FLORIDA MARCH 7, 1996 Vice Chairwoman Newton moved to invite the new Superintendent, the Advisory Board on Children and Youth, the Community Relations Board, and the Commission to our next meeting. Ms. Denahan seconded the motion, which carried unanimously. B. Suggestions for a better way to cover more schools and get liaison reports to EAB meetings Chairwoman Centi advised that she has been getting calls from other schools that want us to attend their SAC meetings. She asked the members to bring back their ideas at the next meeting. Ms. Denahan suggested that each member cover one SAC every other meeting. Ms. Lewis suggested setting up a contact at each school and having that person send the minutes of the SAC meetings to this board. Since there are new members on this board, assignments to SACs will be discussed at the next meeting. Chairwoman Newton asked what happened to the consortium of the Delray Beach Education Advisory Board, the Boca Raton Education Advisory Board, and the Boynton Beach Education Advisory Board. Chairwoman Centi advised her that it is in limbo right now. C. Nurses at schools - Ms. Linda Shauv, Public Relations contact at Bethesda Hospital Chairwoman Centi advised that Ms. Shauv, the Public Relations Officer at Bethesda Hospital, is willing to attend one of this board's meeting to discuss this item. D. Larry Zabek, Palm Beach County School Board, to speak at April 4, 1996 meeting regarding various items, including new high school Chairwoman Centi advised that Mr. Zabek is going to attend the next Education Advisory Board meeting to talk about how he got the high school built in Wellington. F. Funding for the Board Vice Chairwoman Newton would like the City to fund this board, in the amount of $2,000, to 14 MEETING MINUTES EDUCATION ADVISORY BOARD BOYNTON BEACH, FLORIDA MARCH 7, 1996 disburse as the board sees fit. She felt the board would have more credibility if it could allocate some money to the schools, instead of the schools having to go to the Commission for nickel and dime funding. Ms. Lewis pointed out that this would be a way for this board to get recognition. Chairwoman Centi pointed out that Delray Beach's boards receive $2,000.00. Vice Chairwoman Newton would like this matter to be discussed at the next meeting to find out if the board would be amenable to bringing it before the Commission. Motion Vice Chairwoman Newton moved to discuss the process of funding the EAB of the City of Boynton Beach at the April meeting. Mr. Demaline seconded the motion, which carried unanimously. IX. CORRESPONDENCE AND ANNOUNCEMENTS A. Next meeting - Thursday, April 4, 1996 - election of new officers Chairwoman Centi pointed out that the next meeting falls on Passover and suggested that the meeting date be changed to Thursday, April 11th. Motion Ms. Denahan moved to reschedule the April 4th meeting to April 11th. Mr. Demaline seconded the motion, which carried unanimously. B. Awards/Recognition of Past Speakers Chairwoman Centi suggested that the board present the speakers who made 15 MEETING MINUTES EDUCATION ADVISORY BOARD BOYNTON BEACH, FLORIDA MARCH 7, 1996 presentations to the board during the past year with plaques, and serve tea and cookies in the lobby at City Hall. Mr. Hawkins advised her that the City has the capability to produce certificates. The only expenditure would be if the board chooses to frame the certificates. Motion Ms. Denahan moved to recognize our past speakers at the next meeting. Ms. Lewis seconded the motion, which carried unanimously. C. School Uniforms and Uniformity Mr. Weinstein said he read the minutes of the last meeting and did not imply that teachers who do not dress in what he thinks is the appropriate fashion are not dignified. He merely indicated that it creates an air of respect when teachers are well groomed. With regard to uniforms and the attire of the children, he said the First Lady believes that school uniforms and school uniformity among the students creates a better atmosphere. Also, there was an article in USA Today which contains a statistical analysis indicating that the number of suspensions for vandalism, fights, assaults and batteries, robberies, and academic status has been much improved by the uniformity and attire of the children in some fashion that makes them not dissimilar. It eliminates some of the gang attire that identifies them as gang members and creates an air of hostility in some of the schools. (Mr. Weinstein distributed copies of two newspaper articles on this subject.) Mr. Demaline asked if the individual schools have a choice to require uniforms, or if approval is required by the County. Ms. Lewis said in this school district, it is up to the individuals schools. D. Accountability Lottery Legislation Mr. Hawkins announced that at the board's recommendation, the Commission passed a resolution supporting the accountability lottery legislation. This resolution will be forwarded to the Legislative Delegation. X. ADJOURNMENT 16 MEETING MINUTES EDUCATION ADVISORY BOARD BOYNTON BEACH, FLORIDA MARCH 7, 1996 There being no further business to come before the board, the meeting properly adjourned at 8:32 p.m. Eve Eubanks Recording Secretary (Two Tapes) 17