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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes EAB 051398--· ... • • • CITY OF PALM BEACH GARDENS EDUCATION ADVISORY BOARD MAY 13, 1998 The May 13, 1998, Regular meeting of the City of Palm Beach Gardens Education Advisory Board was called to order at 7:44 P.M. in the Council Chambers of the Municipal Complex located at 10500 North Military Trail, Palm Beach Gardens, Florida. The roll was called and the following were found to be in attendance: Alan Adams, Monika Adams, Ron Sedaka, Ilene Gerber, Nona Helsel, Wayne Anderson, Leslie Millar, Mary Inglis, Murtaza Kakli, Alan Sara, Paul Friedman, City of Palm Beach Gardens Liaison, and City Council Liaison Eric Jablin. Students were also in attendance. Jan Porter arrived at 8: 15 p.m. Alan Adams critiqued the minutes of the April meeting, and stated that the normal procedure was that he received a faxed copy of the minutes which he corrected and faxed back to the City for correction; however, in this case the copy that was furnished to the members was not the corrected copy. Mr. Adams stated that Leslie Millar's and Anne Berg's names had been spelled wrong, and George Mastic was marked absent but had been present. Wayne Anderson made a motion to accept the minutes of the April 7, 1998 meeting as amended with Mr. Adam's corrections. Ron Sedaka seconded the motion, which unanimously carried. Since the guest speaker had not arrived, the business meeting was conducted. Mr. Adams described the procedure which would be used for the upcoming election of Board officers in June for Chairman, Vice Chairman, and Historian. The election would be held in June, there would be no July meeting, and the August meeting would begin the new school year with a new set of officers. Mr. Adams announced that some members had conflicts which would not allow them to attend in June on the usual meeting date, and another meeting date was discussed. Leslie Millar made a motion to move the June meeting to the first Wednesday in the month, June 3rd. Wayne Anderson seconded the motion, which unanimously carried. Mr. Adams distributed a handout listing all of the members' names, addresses and phone numbers . ' .... ' • • City of Palm Beach Gardens North County Education Board Consortium May 13, 1998 Page 2 Adopt-A-School Ad Hoc Committee Leslie Millar reported she had shared information regarding how to bring the community and school together from a convention she had attended in March. A flyer had been designed for distribution to businesses to inform them about the program. The Committee's goal was for the whole group to work together on this project, which could help with obtaining a grant. More information was to be obtained regarding the grant. A contract with each business was proposed, with the business community to be divided into areas for members of the group to contact. The flyer would contain a list of items the school could do for the business, and also a list of items the business could do for the school. Ads could be placed in the school newspaper so that parents would know who was supporting the school. Mr. Adams recommended that the North County Chamber of Commerce Education Group be contacted. A seminar to be sponsored by the North County Chamber of Commerce was announced and discussed. Eric Jablin suggested that the Ad Hoc Committee begin the program by writing a letter to businesses regarding the Adopt-A-School program and then follow up with a phone call. Wayne Anderson made a motion that the Board proceed with this activity and analyze it as it proceeded. Leslie Millar seconded the motion, which carried unanimously. A suggestion was made to include a student on the Ad Hoc Committee. Discussion ensued regarding contacting businesses, and their willingness to participate. Parent liaisons in the schools was discussed. A member of the Board requested clarification of the motion. Mr. Adams stated that the motion was that the Board would support the plan put forth by the Ad Hoc Committee, which consisted of four members. Mr. Jablin clarified that approval by the City Council was not necessary, however, he would report the plan to the City Council. School Board Election Forum Ad Hoc Committee Eric Jablin reported this committee had not yet met; however, he had spoken to Adelphia Cable who agreed to air a tape but not to produce it. Mr. Jablin had called Principal Paul Houlihan to see if Palm Beach Gardens High School could do the production, and he had not heard back from Mr. Houlihan. Mr. Adams reported he had contacted representatives of the Jupiter, Lake Park, and Riviera Beach Education • Advisory Boards, who all expressed interest but needed to get approval of their boards . . • • City of Palm Beach Gardens North County Education Board Consortium May 13, 1998 Page 3 to participate. A meeting was scheduled for all the boards to meet on June 2, at which time Mr. Adams hoped to get a report whether they would join in participation of the forum. Mr. Jablin reported the School Board would be asked for their permission to air the tape county-wide. It was suggested that a professional production company be used. Locations for the forum were discussed. Nona Helsel did not think it was legal to use students to do the production, regarding which discussion ensued. City Liaison Paul Friedman suggested that if someone would get the Administrative Code for the School Board, the group would be able to find answers to questions regarding what could or could not be done. The group discussed using public facilities for political purposes, other facilities which might be used, advertising for the event, and airing the tape on Channel 20. STANDING COMMITTEES Curriculum Committee Mr. Anderson reported the Committee had met and discussed the progress of the school work program and the student tutoring program. The Committee had decided to go the schools earlier next year to get the tutoring program in place before other programs were set in motion. Mr. Anderson reported all the elementary schools wished to participate. Mr. Anderson reported that Allamanda School had a successful tutoring program, and that needed to be expanded to all the schools. While Mr. Adams reported there had also been two volunteers for the adult program, it was in error. The Committee members had volunteered for Pupils Progressive Plan Study. The Pupil Progression Plan was discussed. Mr. Adams reported elementary schools would be required to test K, 1, and 2 students and to remediate those not up to a particular standard. Students remediated who did not come up to standards would be required to be retained in their current grade. The scoring system was discussed. Mr. Anderson reported schools in this area had scored slightly above the State average. Mr. Adams reported the School Board met with the Palm Beach Community College on May 4, and distributed a handout of the items discussed, all of which had been passed. Mr. Adams reviewed the items on the handout. ' .. . . • • City of Palm Beach Gardens North County Education Board Consortium May 13, 1998 Page 4 Mr. Anderson announced that the Committee had decided not to meet next month. Boundaries Committee There was no report from the Boundaries Committee. Public Liaison Committee Mary Inglis advised that after she found no newspaper articles had been published, she had contacted Weekday, Gardens Neighborhood News, and Jupiter Courier who all reported they were not receiving faxes from the City. City Liaison Paul Friedman advised that releases were religiously faxed to the newspapers, and he would follow up to see what the problem was. After discussion, Mr. Adams suggested the Public Liaison Committee meet with the three newspapers and work out a system and then the City would be contacted to be sure they were getting the information out properly. Mr. Friedman recommended that he speak with the City Manager regarding this situation before further action was taken. Various procedures that could be used were discussed. Making the Education Advisory Board responsible for the articles rather than the City was suggested as the best procedure. Mr. Jablin described a City program under development which would facilitate getting information to the public. SAC -Timber Trace Mr. Sedaka reported the school improvement plan had been reviewed and approved and a copy had been provided. Ron Sedaka left the meeting at 9:00 p.m. SAC -Allamanda Mr. Anderson reported a new organization called Pie which would be in addition to the PTO. SAC -Palm Beach Gardens Elementary Mr. Adams reported that at the meeting pizza was served and new officers were . . . . ~ • • • City of Palm Beach Gardens North County Education Board Consortium May 13, 1998 Page 5 elected, and no meeting was scheduled for next month. SAC -School of the Arts Jan Porter reported dress code and neighborhood issues had been discussed; and that out of the 2400 students who had applied for School of the Arts, 350 were accepted. Ms. Porter reported she had attended the gifted student task force, and they were trying to get away from using IQ scores and use different tests which would be more sensitive to minority groups. SAC -Palm Beach Gardens High School The representative had not attended the meeting but did get the final plan, and also announced the School of the Arts Summer Program would be coming back. General Business City Liaison Paul Friedman commented this was not the only City Board that had term limits of only four year, although all the City Boards had limits. Discussion ensued regarding members who were absent more than two meetings in a row. Mr. Friedman explained that after that point the Chairman could recommend that person be removed so they could be replaced with a new person to fill that vacancy. Mr. Jablin commented he would present a proposal to the City Council that after any member of any City Board missed three meetings in a row that the Board be able to replace them. Mr. Adams reported the current criteria was that if a member missed more than three meetings in a row or four meetings during a year that the Board could recommend their replacement to the City Council; and reported that he did keep a tally. The need for committed people to serve on Boards was discussed, and it was suggested that Mr. Adams be permitted to continue to serve beyond the four-year limit. Mr. Jablin discussed problems of losing people on this and other boards. Mr. Friedman discussed the attempt by the City to standardize rules for all City Boards, and the work entailed in re-writing the ordinances. A member suggested that a motion could be made to look into the possibility of extending terms or providing documentation that would allow a member to serve in an ex-officio capacity. Mr. Friedman commented that although Mr. Adams' term would be up and he might be required to wait a year before running for office again, he could still attend the meetings as a citizen and make public comments. A Board member reported other cities allowed terms to be renewed I I • • •·. .; ~• City of Palm Beach Gardens North County Education Board Consortium May 13, 1998 Page 6 indefinitely unless there was a problem. Another Board member urged that Mr. Adams be kept in office if it were at all possible. Mr. Adams expressed his appreciation for all the comments, but commented that a new group must be allowed to run the Board and that he would be happy to provide assistance to any of the new officers to impart his knowledge and experience. Discussion ensued regarding the need to have more than one person running a Board. A suggestion was made regarding having a Chair, Vice Chair, and Chair Elect and rotating the positions, so that a person would have two years experience before becoming Chair, and the Chair could also sit on the board for a year after leaving office to act as an advisor. Comments were made that absenteeism be carefully tracked, and if more than three meetings were missed then the Chair should make a recommendation to the City Council. Jan Porter left the meeting at 9:25 p.m. Mr. Adams announced there would be election of officers at the next meeting . There being no further business to discuss, the meeting was adjourned at 9:28 p.m. Beautification and Environmental Committee Summary Notes Wednesday, May 6, 1998 Jeff Renault called the meeting to order at 5:40 P.M. The following members were in attendance: Jeff Renault, Bettie Marks, Joe Royals, Sally Wilks, Susan Wood, Audrey Marton. City Staff Liaison Mark Hendrickson was also present. Jeff asked for approval of the March 4, 1998 B & E Committee meeting minutes. The motion was made to approve the minutes, it was seconded and passed. Staff Liaison, Mark, began his report by giving a letter from Ballenlsles Country Club to Jeff Renault to read, which thanked the Committee for their Beautification Award. Mark also passed around pictures of the award's presentation at City Council. Mark gave the members their copies of the City street and boundary map. He apologized for canceling the April meeting. Jeff asked Mark about the meeting at the Community Center. Mark had called the Committee members to advise them of Palm Beach County's public meeting on the Frenchman's Forest Natural Area. The PBC Natural Areas Management Advisory Committee held a "open house" and public hearing on the draft management plan on April 9, 1998. Mark talked about the Frenchman's Forest site, and how the City is involved. No one present indicated that they attended the meeting. Susan asked about the Hood Road alignment. Mark stated that the alignment still cuts through the preserve. Mark had taken another tour of the Forest with three City Council members, and they all thought the area was beautiful and was very excited about the opening of the Forest to the public. Mark talked about the opposition to the Nature Center proposal. Sally Wilks explained that she once had opposition similar to this when she lived near at lake in Orlando, Florida, and in her case, nothing bad everjoccurred after the improvements were installed. The conversation concluded by Mark explaining that the County Commissioners will ultimately decide on the nature center. Susan Wood asked if anyone had seen the City signs. Some members had seen the 1 -95 and Alt. A1A signs. The next signs will be the PB(j signs. Mark will ask -- Greg Dunham the status of the gateway at PGA and the Turnpike. Mark did tell the Committee that the "Tree City USA" sign is now next to the mock gateway sign. The City Council agreed with the Sally's comment that the back of the gateway sign will need landscaping with the new sign design of having a backing. Under old business, Jeff brings up nominations for chairperson and secretary. Sally nominates Susan Wood, and Joe seconded. With some discussion, the vote was taken and approved. Nominations were opened for secretary. Joe nominates Connie, and Susan seconds. The vote was taken and approved. The topic of goals and calender of events was next. Mark talked about the April 18, 1998 Clean -up Day. There was not a big turn out of volunteers, however the mostly City crews cleaned up the Military Trail /1 -95 intersection and the PGA Boulevard /1 -95 intersection. Bettie tells the Committee about the Fire Department's white Lab puppy that is in training for search and rescue work. Short discussions about Arbor Day, the Environment Award, the next Beautification Award occurred. June 14, 1998, Sunday, at 2PM was selected for the next City tour for the selection of the next Beautification Award. This will be added to the Calender of Events. The environmental awards application was discussed. Mark asked the Committee if any changes needed to be made to the application before it went out to the public. Mark thought of one comment that needed clarification. The question was asked of the Committee whether the winner of such an award had to be from the City of Palm Beach Gardens. Bettie leaves early. The Committee agreed that anyone in the world could win the award as long as the rp oject was in the City limits. Jeff brings up the topic of a mini trophy for a desk. Mark stated he will take any proposal the Committee wishes to request to the City Manager. Joe suggested a wall plaque would be nicer than a paper certificate. The Committee wants Mark to research getting plaques. Mark reminds the Committee to look at the ten year Tree City USA Award, which is sitting on the front counter of the City Administration office. The Committee votes on accepting the draft Environmental Award Application, and it is approved. New business discussion about selecting a site for Arbor Day. Susan suggests planting a tree by the little City limit signs or the gateway sign. Planting something at Frenchman's Forest. Mark suggests the Forest area may be pre- mature until all the work is finished. If the Arbor Day celebration is on property other than City property, Mark needs more time to coordinate with the property owner. Joe suggests that while the Committee is on the field trip in June, they could look for places to have Arbor Day. suggests looking at an area near the Post Office. It was settled that we would look at Fairchild Gardens Avenue. The next meeting will be June 3, 1998. Adjournment at 6:45 PM. Calendar of Events - 1998 January 7: Regular meeting February 4: Regular Meeting February 21: Frenchman's Forest tour w /City Council and Park & Rec. Broad February 22: Pre - Beautification Award field trip March 4: Regular meeting April 1: Regular meeting April 18: Beautiful Palm Beaches Cleanup April 24: Alternate date for the Frenchman's Forest tour May 6: Regular meeting June 3: Regular meeting June 14 City field trip to look at nominated sites for the non - residential Beautification Award. July 1: Regular meeting. August 5: Regular meeting September 2: Regular meeting October 7: Regular meeting November 4: Regular meeting November 19: Proclaim Arbor Day and tree planting ceremony December 2: Regular meeting