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Minutes 03-24-11 MINUTES OF THE EDUCATION &. YOUTH ADVISORY BOARD MEETING HELD IN COMMISSION CHAMBERS, CITY HALL, BOYNTON BEACH, FLORIDA ON THURSDAY, MARCH 24, 2011 AT 7:00 P.M. PRESENT Steven Waldman, Chair Lisa Landis Carol Lundquist Hattie Miller Loretta Wilkinson Sherri Claude, City Liaison, Recreation and Parks ABSENT Mary Morera, Vice Chair Myra Jones April Nobles, Alternate Dr. Tiffany North, Alternate Emily Schweitzer, StudentjRegjVoting I. CALL TO ORDER Chair Waldman called the meeting to order at 7:01 p.m. II. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE/MOMENT OF SILENT REFLECTION Chair Waldman lead the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag. A moment of silent reflection was observed. All members introduced themselves. III. APPROVAL OF MINUTES OF JANUARY 27, 2011 Ms. Lundquist moved to approve the minutes of January 27, 2011, seconded by Ms. Landis and unanimously carried. IV. APPROVAL OF AGENDA Chair Waldman added item Band C under New Business to discuss the boat park celebration and Old High School. Ms. Claude added Donation Request to New Business. No other changes were made. MEETING MINUTES EDUCATION &. YOUTH ADVISORY BOARD BOYNTON BEACH, FLORIDA MARCH 24, 2011 Motion Motion to approve agenda as amended was made by Ms. Landis, seconded by Ms. Lundquist and unanimously carried. V. ANNOUNCEMENTS/PRESENTATIONS/CORRESPONDENCE None VI. PUBLIC AUDIENCE Ms. Malik, a teacher at Boynton Beach High School for five years, and sponsor for the Student Council, introduced a student and member of the Student Council, Kadesha Davis, who is a junior, to talk about a project being planned. Ms. Davis explained that on April 2nd, the Student Council plans to give Boynton Beach High School another makeover. Students recently planted numerous plants and received compliments and positive feedback from staff and students. Last year, they performed a campus cleanup and planted shrubs and plants that beautified the campus. Ms. Davis asked the Board for a $250 donation to help cover the cost of planting due to It not being a part of the school district budget. Chair Waldman asked if there were enough people to do the work and Ms. Davis advised several students are participating from the Student Council, Spanish Honor Society, and National Honor Society. Ms. Landis asked if students receive volunteer hours for their work and Ms. Davis answered that they do. Ms. Landis further inquired about other sponsors. Ms. Davis indicated Home Depot and Lowes have donated, as well as a local nursery. The $250 would be used for mulch, shovels and other equipment. Chair Waldman asked if Home Depot or Lowes is contributing any of these items. Ms. Malik indicated Lowes had given the students a $50 gift certificate which covered shovels and gloves which added to what they had last year. There is a small amount left over in the grant that will pay for a butterfly garden and for some of the native plants that will be planted there. The shortage in the budget is for the mulch. Two pallets of mulch costs approximately $200, plus delivery. Last year, 40 students performed work and completed it in one day. All the maintenance is done by students. The campus cleanup is scheduled for April 2, 2011. Chair Waldman indicated that if the money was approved, the funds would not be available by that date, due to the processing by the City. Ms. Malik said it would be fine, as long as they knew it was forthcoming. 2 MEETING MINUTES EDUCATION &. YOUTH ADVISORY BOARD BOYNTON BEACH, FLORIDA MARCH 24, 2011 Motion Ms. Landis moved to give Boynton Beach High School Student Council $250 to help with the planting. Ms. Wilkinson seconded and it was unanimously carried. Chair Waldman inquired about the volunteer forms and was advised that two students signed up. He suggested that possibly if a student assists with planting, they could fill out volunteer forms and use the hours that way. Chair Waldman also informed the school representatives that this donation comes from the Harvey Oyer, Jr. Community Contribution Fund, which was renamed in his honor to give donations to the schools. The next audience member to speak was Pastor Guerrier from Haiti. In 1989 a school was started in Haiti by Pastor Guerrier but he left Haiti to come to the United States, where he met Ms. Annette Scalzo, a teacher at Odyssey Middle School. He told Ms. Scalzo about the school in Haiti and advised the school would soon be closed. Ms. Scalzo was willing to assist and they united together to create a non-profit organization called Children Project for Haiti. Ms. Scalzo handed out a packet of information to the Board introducing their project. Ms. Scalzo has served the Haitian community as a teacher since 1997. The group is a 501(c)(3) registered, non-profit corporation which is composed of a Board of Directors and a group of Advisors, all of whom have been working in Palm Beach County as teachers or counselors for over a decade. All members currently teach or have taught at Odyssey Middle School. This project was born out of a school in Boynton Beach. The mission of this non-profit organization is to support education, health and vocational projects for children in Haiti. Ms. Scalzo further stated they focused on developing vocational projects which will help students at the school to become self-sufficient individuals. The best way to empower children anywhere is to help them develop the skills they need in order to survive on their own. Ecole Mixte Aide Aux Enfants is a primary school, K-8 and is located in Cite Soleil, Haiti which was considered to be the worst slum in the northern hemisphere. Before the earthquake, it was inhabited by approximately 400,000 people in an area of eight square miles, most of which were children. There is sporadic electricity, no sewers, a few stores, and approximately 12,000 U.N. troops patrol the area due to civil strife and oppression. Many of the students come from Port Au Prince and the surrounding area. Ms. Scalzo indicated she initially went there because she wanted to see where the Odyssey children came from and wanted to learn more about their culture. When she travelled to Cite Soleil with Pastor Guerrier, the school was getting ready to close. When she returned home, the children from Cite Soleil were constantly on her mind. Ms. Scalzo advised her intention was not to start a non-profit, she only wanted to help the children and keep the school open. In the summer of 2008, the non-profit was started and it was organized through Odyssey Middle School. Since that time, we have engaged in fundraising and have been able to keep the school open, and raised enough 3 MEETING MINUTES EDUCATION &. YOUTH ADVISORY BOARD BOYNTON BEACH, FLORIDA MARCH 24, 2011 money to repair the school, replace the doors with iron doors, hire community members to build furniture, blackboards, and desks and to purchase books and assist in paying the children's tuition. In the past two months, latrines have been built as the school had no bathrooms. There was also no access to clean water and they were able to obtain a water tank so the students and their families had access to clean drinking water. In addition, Ms. Scalzo advised she wrote a book, a collection of short stories and poems, with guided reading and extended reading and writing tasks, which focuses on critical thinking types of activities, and is currently being published by EducaVision. She hopes the book will be used to train teachers both at Odyssey Middle School and in Haiti. There are costs encountered each month and they were currently researching the possibility of the rental of a larger space or the purchase of another building so that the program will be eligible for free food. This will allow the students a hot meal each day. The students are also being engaged in a vocational project of sewing and considering how the production of small solar flashlights can be explored through the use of materials found in common items, like plastic bottles. When funds are raised, they go directly from our hands to the children so there is no middle organization. The purpose here today was to inform the Board and community and ask for ideas and suggestions on what avenues to explore in order to raise funds to continue ther work. Chair Waldman mentioned the suggestion made last month about putting coin boxes in the schools. Ms. Scalzo advised that possibly could be done at the high school level, and there may be a group interested in creating a project which will help with fundraising. It could also be done at the middle school level if teachers would be interested and principals would allow the boxes in the classrooms so children could drop change in them when they had it. Chair Waldman indicated it may be more difficult to put them in classrooms than to have them in certain locations. He advised he discussed this with Principal Oswald. Ms. Malik indicated the high school has done things like this in the past. Usually, these fundraisers will run for several months but usually do not collect more than $200. Ms. Malik would recommend the Student Council and suggested the International Club and Education Rocks could also be an organization to join forces with. Jerry Groeke at Boynton Beach High School started a non-profit organization where the kids raised $1 a day. They had a pen pal and they sponsored one student. That may be worth exploring also. She stated it helps to have someone on the ground on the other end to help facilitate the translation of letters and photos that go back and forth between our students and the students there. Chair Waldman suggested talking to the Chamber of Commerce and provided Ms. Scalzo with a contact person. Ms. Lunquist suggested possibly talking to the Boy 4 MEETING MINUTES EDUCATION &. YOUTH ADVISORY BOARD BOYNTON BEACH, FLORIDA MARCH 24, 2011 Scouts as well, as they participate in projects to earn badges. There were numerous suggestions made. Chair Waldman introduced Jeannie Havelin, who was present on behalf of Boynton Beach Sister Cities. Ms. Havelin advised the organization has been in existence for nine years. She advised they are in the process of reorganizing the Board to regroup and recruit new members with fresh ideas. They had an art exhibit fundraiser in January, and raised approximately $700 for the Young Artist Program. Ms. Havelin advised they are actively pursuing additional sister cities, one of them being Qufu, China and will be going before the City Commission on April 19th with a request to pursue a sister relationship for a community in Haiti. With the huge Haitian population here, it seems natural and beneficial for both communities. She advised they are looking to do some education exchanges and pen pal programs and would like a contact person at Education Rocks. They are also looking at two cities in Finland. They have been approached by the Finnish American Chamber of Commerce to consider a city in Finland, because of the Lantana/Lake Worth Finnish population, which is beginning to move south. Ms. Havelin stated they were looking at Pori, Finland which has expressed interest or Porvoo, which is closer to Helsinki and are leaning towards Porvoo due to the logistics of being halfway between Helsinki and LaPanata, which is Lake Worth's sister city. Ms. Havelin reminded the Board that Young Artists is quickly approaching. There are usually 40-50 entries from Boynton Beach and approximately 40 from Qufu. The exhibit will be at the City Library and will be set up on April 2, 2011 from 9am-noon. The exhibit runs through April 30, 2011. The awards reception will be on Thursday, April 14, 2011, from 6:00pm-7:30pm. Ms. Havelin requested the Board or Ms. Claude assist with the Certificates of Participation. Ms. Claude could not promise this, due to other commitments within the City. Ms. Wilkinson offered to print the certificates. Ms. Havelin inquired about refreshments as Ms. Wilkinson has provided water in the past. Ms. Wilkinson advised she has not been able to reach her water contact and could not promise she could provide water for Ms. Havelin's event. Ms. Havelin advised they are not asking for money this year, as they are scaling back cash awards, but would appreciate if refreshments could be provided. Chair Waldman expressed his desire for Ms. Havelin and Ms. Scalzo to meet and discuss what Sister Cities could do for Ms. Scalzo's project in Haiti. Chair Waldman reminded everyone about the shredding party. We will get a truck and will charge a fee to bring a box of paper for shredding. He will confirm with Principal Oswald whether this event could take place at the entrance to the school. The tentative date was April 30, 2011; however, the Board feels they will not be ready by that time. Chair Waldman asked the audience to help spread the word to lawyers, CPA's and 5 MEETING MINUTES EDUCATION &. YOUTH ADVISORY BOARD BOYNTON BEACH, FLORIDA MARCH 24, 2011 teachers to bring anything they can for shredding so the Board can make money which helps the schools and the community. VII. NEW BUSINESS A. Bob Borovy Student Citizen of the Year Award Ms. Claude reminded the Board of the April 1, 2011 deadline and advised the only application received was from a non-resident. Ms. Claude wanted to confirm the amount of the award and inquired if it would remain as a first, second and third place award. The Board briefly discussed the issue and decided that if more than ten applications were received, there would be a first place second and third place award. B. Boat Park Celebration There will be a celebration at the Boat Club Park on Saturday, April 16, 2011. Ms. Claude confirmed it will take place from 10:00 a.m. to noon. The celebration includes a ribbon cutting for the public art that has been added in the park, in the area of the ramps, as well as the Florida Fishing Academy which took over the old bait shop building. A young 15 year old artist painted the building and another artist has come in to finish the work. Ms. Claude will email information to the Board. C. Old High School Chair Waldman advised that on Saturday, March 26, 2011 from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. there will be a gathering at the library to discuss new ideas on what to do with the Old High School. Lunch and snacks are provided. D. Donation Request Ms. Claude advised this topic had been previously discussed in the public audience. This was the request the high school made for the $250 donation. VIII. OLD BUSINESS A. Florida Fishing Academy Grant Update Chair Waldman indicated at the last meeting, it was decided to act as the Steering Committee for this grant. According to the City, because we are a City board, we cannot serve in that capacity. The grant that was desired will name us as a resource, 6 MEETING MINUTES EDUCATION &. YOUTH ADVISORY BOARD BOYNTON BEACH, FLORIDA MARCH 24,2011 rather than a Steering Committee. Ms. Claude indicated the City has sent a general letter of support for the grant. B. Tennis Carnival Chair Waldman announced there would be no tennis carnival this year. Phyllis Stern was unavailable and the tennis instructor was on vacation and returned late. Ms. Morera has been in touch with Ms. Stern and it does not look like it can be accomplished. For the future, we have to make sure planning begins in January so we do not have the same problem. The carnival is a great program. The kids go to Hunter's Run and receive tennis lessons, games and other things and it is unfortunate we cannot have it this year. Ms. Claude suggested getting information together by early November. Chair Waldman will ask Ms. Morera to contact Ms. Stern and Ms. Claude and coordinate a date. C. Bowling Tournament (March 6, 2011) No update. D. YEC Update Chair Waldman advised there is a new grant through the Criminal Justice Program that will be functioning with a small number of at-risk kids. A case manager will be hired for 12-15 students they are looking to target. These are kids that have already had experience with the criminal justice system. E. Sister Cities Update This was discussed earlier during the open audience. F. Youth Volunteer Bank Ms. Claude advised she sent a letter as a reminder along with a volunteer tracking form. A reminder postcard was also sent and another reminder postcard will be done in the future. G. Fundraising Ms. Wilkinson updated the Board on the Shred-a-thon. The shredding company that is willing to help is Gator Shredding, out of Miami. They serve north to Jupiter. Ms. Wilkinson spoke with Fernando, the owner and main operator and he is very excited to 7 MEETING MINUTES EDUCATION &. YOUTH ADVISORY BOARD BOYNTON BEACH, FLORIDA MARCH 24, 2011 help out. He is fully aware that it is a donation in exchange for advertising. Ms. Wilkinson advised him that the City needed a letter for the lawyers on both sides to review and approve. Ms. Wilkinson read a standard letter to the Board which included the details of the event and insurance requirement by the school district. Ms. Claude requested Ms. Wilkinson to email her a copy of the letter so she can forward it to the City Attorney. There was a lengthy discussion on possibly pushing the date back on the Shred-a-Thon due to time constraints of advertising and approvals. The Board also discussed possible people to contact that would have a lot of papers to shred. Chair Waldman will contact the Chamber of Commerce for possible business contacts that may be interested in this event. A tentative date chosen was May 21st. This should give enough time to advertise through flyers, email and possibly through local media. The Board discussed how much to charge this year. Last year, they charged $5.00 for a ream sized box of paper. Maybe an incentive could be offered this year, such as the more boxes brought for shredding, the less would be charged per box. For example, up to 50 boxes would be $5.00 per box, 50 to 75 would be $3.00 per box. This year they want to solicit more businesses to get them to participate. A suggestion was made to possibly advertise on the Palm Beach Bar page to get attorneys to participate. IX. FUTURE MEETING DATES: April 28, 2011 May 26, 2011 X. ADJOURNMENT Chair Waldman moved to adjourn. Ms. Landis seconded the motion that carried unanimously. The meeting properly adjourned at 8:12 p.m. [I ((~~ L- 01/tAA-<2-<.r Ellie Caruso Recording Secretary 8