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Minutes 03-22-12 MINUTES OF THE EDUCATION AND YOUTH ADVISORY BOARD MEETING HELD ON MARCH 22, 2012, AT 7:00 P.M., IN CITY HALL COMMISSION CHAMBERS, 100 E. BOYNTON BEACH BLVD. BOYNTON BEACH, FLORIDA PRESENT: Steve Waldman, Chair Sherri Claude, Board Liaison Mary Morera, Vice Chair Carol Lundquist Loretta Wilkinson Armisha Roberts, Student Regular Voting Member Khadijah Davis, Student, Non - Voting Member ABSENT: Hattie Miller Dr. Tiffany North Libby Stroud Victor Norfus I. Call to Order Chair Waldman called the meeting to order at 7:03 p.m. II. Pledge of Allegiance /Moment of Silent Reflection The members recited the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag, followed by a moment of silent reflection. Self introductions were made. A quorum was present. III. Approval of Minutes of February 23, 2012 Motion Ms. Lundquist moved to approve the minutes. Vice Chair Morera seconded the motion that unanimously passed. IV. Approval of Agenda Motion Chair Waldman added Item B. Request to New Business and added Sister Cities under Public Audience. The amended agenda was passed unanimously. 1 Meeting Minutes Education and Youth Advisory Board Boynton Beach, FL March 22, 2012 V. Announcements /Presentations /Correspondence Ms. Claude announced there was a regular student opening due to a resignation. She also advised she received an email from Joe Ametrano from Boynton Beach High School thanking the Board for the donation made to the drama program. She also shared an article from the Sun Sentinel explaining how the participants were preparing for the state competition. Ms. Claude distributed the Recreation and Parks annual report, advising it could also be found on the City website. Vice Chair Morera advised she looked into the Microgiving organization. She found it was mostly for individual and small fundraising events. There would be a timeframe to apply and receive money. There was not much done with community support. It would be mostly for people who had been diagnosed with cancer or other diseases, lost a job, etc. It may be something the Board could help get the word out about and possibly refer it to other people. Ms. Wilkinson announced she attended the meeting held at the Sims Center this evening. This was a public meeting in light of the recent problems and crime issues that the City was dealing with. It was extremely well attended and they were just getting in to a question and answer session with the Police Chief when she left. They were talking about doing a community march to show the community support. There was great representation from the City in attendance. VI. Public Audience Jeannie Heavilin of Sister Cities offered her thanks for the donation. The first delegation went to Haiti a month ago and had a great trip. Everything that was set out to accomplish was done. Not much was done with student programs due to it being the National Carnival which was a national holiday. There are almost no public schools. The elementary and middle schools are private and there are a few public high schools. There were contacts made that could assist with getting in touch with the private schools. A presentation would be made to the City Commission regarding the trip. Ms. Heavilin passed out invitations for young artists. The deadline was initially set for March 23 but she realized it was spring break. It was moved to March 28 with the judging taking place Saturday morning, March 31 and putting the exhibit together in the afternoon at the library. The only school that submitted young author essays was Lake Worth. There were a handful of essays and the Board would read them and judge them after the regular meeting. 2 Meeting Minutes Education and Youth Advisory Board Boynton Beach, FL March 22, 2012 VII. New Business A Donation Request from Poinciana Elementary School Gloria Gibson, Poinciana Elementary School, commented that the Board was the first to support her robotics team. Four years ago, the Board made a donation, not knowing what the outcome would be. This year, she had two teams, a rookie team of fourth graders and a fifth grade mix of four returners and three new students. The results were amazing. The teams started out in the State of Florida with close to 500 teams. She shared that Poinciana hosted its first tournament this year and had 16 teams, totaling 150 students. A team from Puerto Rico attended. From the qualifying tournament, the fourth and fifth grade teams went to the regional level. From the 500 teams, it came down to five regional tournaments with an average of 50 teams. Her fourth grade team won a first place trophy for their research and advanced to state level and the fifth grade team won second place overall and also had the highest robot run on the board. At the state level, there were the top 48 teams in the State of Florida. The fourth grade team won the team spirit award, being recognized for how much fun they had, their enthusiasm and support of all the teams. The fifth grade team won second place overall in the tournament, the Florida Champions Award. They were awarded an invitation to a world tournament at Legoland. Ms. Gibson advised that funding would not be the most important thing at this time; they were just trying to get the news out of their accomplishment and get the public to understand what it was they were doing. She also wanted to thank the Board for their support. Chair Waldman noted that there was a donation request and inquired as to what they were requesting. Ms. Gibson stated they would like something to take to trade with other teams and would like suggestions. She had buttons made that had the name of the school and the team name but wanted other suggestions of other things they could trade, especially with the Netherlands team they were pairing with. There was lengthy discussion regarding ideas for promotional items through the City or otherwise. It was decided to email suggestions to Ms. Gibson. It was also suggested to wait until the next meeting to discuss possible monetary donations they would require. At this time, Ms. Gibson advised they were waiting for a grant that would cover the registration fee. They have one team shirt for four days, so having a second shirt would be a possibility for a donation. She will attend the April meeting and review what their needs are at that time. B. Request Chair Waldman shared that a few years ago he was involved in what was called the Black Awareness Celebration, which was now the Heritage Fest. Due to certain circumstances, his co -chair backed out and so he backed out too. He wanted to restart 3 Meeting Minutes Education and Youth Advisory Board Boynton Beach, FL March 22, 2012 the contest portion at the high school level next year. There had been a contest celebrating African - American tradition, culture and accomplishments. There were display boards, sculptures and displays at Boynton Beach Mall. He met with the principal and the Social Studies Department chair who suggested putting in a drama component Chair Waldman advised he had an essay, a group project, an individual project and possibly a drama component. This would take place next year. He brought this to the Board's attention to determine what the Board would be willing to help with. This would be based on National History Day where the students would present in front of judges. This could coincide with the curriculum as there was an elective on African-. American History. For the students not taking the elective, it would give them an opportunity to learn. Participation was completely voluntary. VIII. Old Business A. Youth Volunteer Bank/Bob Borovy Award Ms. Claude advised there were approximately 100 members and she was sending reminders to turn in hours by the deadline. Depending on how many responses are received, certificates could be given at a Commission meeting. Currently the deadline was April 2 It was hoped that by the meeting on April 26 it could be decided what to do for the volunteers. Ms. Claude advised there were two or three applications that met the criteria for the Borovy Award. The deadline would be April 2 as well. She advised that reviewing the budget, if the Board continued with the awards as had been done with criteria for first, second and sometimes third place, it amounted to $1,300 - $1,500 per year. She recommended to begin considering the future because if the criteria remained the same, in two more years the funding would be gone. Possibly, the second and third place awards could be deleted or the amounts of the awards could be decreased. The American Legion donated money last year and possibly a letter could be sent to them again. B. Tennis Carnival — April 28, 10 am @ Hunter's Run Vice Chair Morera advised there was no update. She was asking for approval for reimbursement of her expenditures up to $50.00. Motion Ms. Wilkinson moved to approve a reimbursement of up to $50.00 for Ms. Morera for expenditures. The motion was seconded by Ms. Lundquist and unanimously passed. 4 Meeting Minutes Education and Youth Advisory Board Boynton Beach, FL March 22, 2012 C. Shred -A -Thon Ms. Wilkinson stated there was no update. The idea previously discussed about possibly doing a shred -a -thon with the West Boynton community had not progressed. Mr. Phillips, the contact, was going to check with the other homeowners associations. There are four developments in that community and he was the president of one of them. There was also some conversation with Micro Shred, the company used previously. Since most of the community was snowbirds, the plans with them would probably not happen. The Board had discussed doing another shred -a -thon in May for the monetary benefit of this Committee. When discussing another shred -a -thon with Micro Shred last October, their response was not very positive. It cost them extra in October as many people brought microfilm and their truck was equipped to shred paper only, so they had to get a second truck. There was also a possibility of teaming with Sister Cities. The Board would need to have a discussion for dates, locations, advertising and partnerships. Christine Francois, expressed interest in a partnership and agreed advertising would be important. Chair Waldman suggested some dates in May. There were suggestions of doing it on a weeknight or a Sunday. May 6 and May 20 were discussed as possibilities. There was discussion on costs and what the Board would be willing to spend, if anything. It was preferred to have the services donated as the profits go to an award that helps send students to college. Ms. Claude suggested that if it were to be held in May or early June, the decision should be made now. Making a decision at the April 26 meeting may not give enough time for agreements and who the agreements would be with, if Sister Cities were involved. After more discussion on whether Micro Shred would donate 100% time or charge costs and whether the proceeds would be split with Sister Cities, it was decided to revisit the issue at the April 26 meeting. There was also discussion about possibly making the shred -a- thon a once a year event and the benefits and disadvantages of it. Ms. Wilkinson stated there were people who brought boxes in October that had more and wanted to be contacted for the next shred -a -thon. There was consensus to keep it at twice a year and revisit again next year. IX. Future Meeting Dates The next meeting dates were April 26, 2012 and May 24, 2012. 5 Meeting Minutes Education and Youth Advisory Board Boynton Beach, FL March 22, 2012 X. Adjournment Motion There being no further business to discuss, Ms. Roberts moved to adjourn. Ms. Wilkinson seconded the motion that unanimously passed. The meeting was adjourned at 8:31 p.m. l 0 Ellie Caruso Recording Secretary 6