HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes EAB 011597i
CITY OF PALM BEACH GARDENS
EDUCATION ADVISORY BOARD
JANUARY 15, 1997
The January 15, 1997, meeting of the City of Palm Beach Gardens Education Advisory
Board was called to order at 7:30 P.M. in the Council Chambers of the Municipal Complex
located at 10500 North Military Trail, Palm Beach Gardens, Florida 33410.
ROLL CALL
The following appointed members were found to be in attendance: Alan Adams, Howard Engel,
Scott Blake, Jan Porter, Mary Inglis and Bayla Singer. Also in attendance was Councilman Eric
Jablin and City Attorney David Acton.
APPROVAL OF MINUTES
• A motion was made and seconded to adopt the November, 1997, minutes, as amended. The
motion was unanimously carried.
PRESENTATION BY CITY ATTORNEY DAVID ACTON
City Attorney David Acton stated he was in attendance to give information to Board members
regarding The Sunshine Law and to answer any questions members may have. Attorney Acton
stated that The Sunshine Law used to be a Florida Statute, however, is now part of the State's
Constitution and basically says that public business must be conducted in the public. Attorney
Acton advised that the Board's meetings are regulated by The Sunshine Law. Attorney Acton
read portions of The Sunshine Law to the Board members, particularly those sections that applied
to the Board. Attorney Acton pointed out that public meetings must be open to the public at all
times and that official acts, meeting at which official acts will be taken, or at which the public
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• business of such bodies may be transacted or discussed shall be open and noticed to the public.
Attorney Acton explained that just because the public was not giving input into a meeting, it did
not mean that they are not allowed to be at the meeting to watch a body conduct a meeting.
Attorney Acton stated that this Board was appointed by the City Council to serve in an advisory
role to them. Attorney Acton read from a Case that occurred in 1988 in Miami involving an
advisory board where it was determined that all meetings must be held in the public.
Attorney Acton stated that the standing committees responsibility, as far as The Sunshine Law
was concerned, was to have the meetings open to the public so they can attend those meetings,
and that minutes be kept of the meetings. Attorney Acton stated that it was not necessary that the
standing committee meetings be recorded, but the minutes could be hand written. Because of the
work of the standing committees, i.e. doing the work of the Board, and based upon the fact that
the committees are composed of two or more members of the Board, the meetings are subject to
The Sunshine Law in that the meetings should be noticed in advance, conduct the meetings in a
place that is open to the public, and minutes be kept of the meeting. Attorney Acton advised that
the meetings did not have to be in a public building, but a place that was open to the public.
Attorney Acton advised that a week's notice of a meeting was reasonable, and explained that
notice of a meeting would be a posting of the City's bulletin boards. Attorney Acton stated that
as far as the meetings being open to the public it had to be a place that would be open to the
public for them to observe. If a number of people show up at a meeting, accommodations had to
be made for those people. Attorney Acton stated that if the standing committee meetings were
going to be held in a private home, then the address of the private home would have to be noticed
and any member of the public that wanted to attend would have to be accommodated. Attorney
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• Acton stated that while it was not necessary to meet in a public building, it would probably be
easier for the standing committee should members of the public want to attend. Attorney Acton
advised that the minutes of the standing committee meetings must be turned in as they are
considered public record and are to be made available to members of the public should they
request same. In response to a question from the Board, Attorney Acton stated that members of
the public could be charged for copies of the minutes pursuant to the policy set forth by the City.
Chairman Adams stated that the standing committees and ad hoc committees of this Board
brainstorm ideas to form recommendations to bring back to the Board. Chairman Adams
explained that once the Board agrees to the recommendation, then the standing committee can do
whatever they said they would do. Attorney Acton stated that when the committee comes to the
Board with a recommendation the Board can immediately act on that recommendation without
any further discussion among themselves, leaving no opportunity for public participation before a
decision has been made.
Councilman Jablin asked if it would be possible to set aside a "public" portion of the monthly
Board meetings to give the public the opportunity to address anything on the agenda. Attorney
Acton stated that it was good in that it allowed the public to participate, but it did not overcome
the fact that they were not allowed to observe the process of public officials engaging in
discussion, debate and deliberations regarding public policy.
Attorney Acton read an opinion from the Attorney General regarding "remoteness ", which
basically stated that remoteness has never been held to be a grounds for settling that a sub -group
is outside the sunshine. Attorney Acton stated that individual members meeting with another
public official from another City's Education Advisory Board or a County Board did not have to
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ibe noticed because they could not reach a decision together, however, if there were two or more
members meeting with a member from another group, then it would be subject to The Sunshine
Law. Attorney Acton advised that two or more members of the Board could attend another
meeting together and as long as they just listen and not discuss with each other what happened at
the meeting, then it did not have to be noticed.
Councilman Jablin asked if this Board could request an opinion from the Attorney General's
office, doing a service to other advisory boards of the City as well. Attorney Acton stated that
they could and pointed out that the Attorney General's opinion is treated just as a court order.
Attorney Acton pointed out some of the responsibilities of the Board, including that the Board
were the official liaisons between the School Board and the City Council and obtain identifying
and attempting to obtain State and Federal programs and grants that would benefit City schools.
• Attorney Acton stated that the Attorney General would look at these responsibilities before
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forming his opinion.
A discussion ensued regarding "reasonable" notice, and Attorney Acton stated that in most
instances one week's notice would suffice. In response to a question from the Board, Attorney
Acton stated that the only ones able to ask for an opinion from the Attorney General was a City
official such as the City Council, City Manager, City Attorney, etc.
A question was asked if a member could call another member of a Board to clarify something
that was said at a meeting. Attorney Acton stated that officially one should wait until the next
meeting to ask the question.
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• ANNUAL REPORT
Chairman Adams stated that he had the first draft of the annual report that covered through
December, 1996. Chairman Adams stated that he would like each standing committee to read
the draft. Chairman Adams stated that he wrote the first two or three pages, which discuss the
organization, the list of members and the activities, however, when it gets into the standing
committees he needed new mission statements, areas of concerns and initial plans. Chairman
Adams stated that since he received nothing in writing from some of the standing committees, he
just updated that which was necessary, but kept the mission statement and areas of concern
basically as it was in the last annual report. Chairman Adams stated that he wanted final input
from each of the standing committees by the next meeting.
BOARD'S ORGANIZATION
• Chairman Adams stated that there were a lot of comments and questions at the last meeting as to
what this Board should be doing and if it was being done in the right manner. Chairman Adams
stated that this was on the agenda to get ideas from members as to how the Board can improve its
effectiveness. Howard Engel stated he has looked at the list of responsibilities that the Board has
that has been set down by the summary of the City's ordinance authorizing the Board. Mr. Engel
felt that the Board does almost everything set out for them, however, some people felt that they
wanted to go out and physically do something. Mr. Engel felt that members did not have the
power to do that and pointed out that the Board had no finances to give something to the schools
that they might need. Mr. Engel stated that the duties and responsibilities are being
accomplished by the Board.
A member stated that if the Board has the authority to obtain grants then perhaps they had the
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• authority to have an auction to raise money or some type of charitable event to raise money.
Chairman Adams stated that the Board is capable of doing something along those lines and if any
member had any ideas regarding that subject they should bring it before the Board.
Howard Engel asked if the Board was allowed to develop a bank account from donations of
various forms and then have the power to disseminate that money or City schools. Councilman
Jablin did not think the City Council would like this idea because everyone would be asking for
the funds. Chairman Adams stated that the Board sent letters to the school asking them for a
wish list. Chairman Adams thought that an ad hoc committee should be formed to take those
wish lists to determine what could be done to satisfy some of the needs of the schools. Chairman
Adams thought that businesses could be approached to satisfy some of the needs.
Mary Inglis stated she saw the Board more as a "watch dog" group that insures that the quality
and freedom of the north area schools. Ms. Inglis did not see the Board as auctioneers or fund
raisers, but saw the Board enabling schools to do for themselves through things that the Board
could help with connections. It was stated that the Board would have to market itself since
nobody knew they were in existence. Scott Blake stated that when you talked about the entire
population of Palm Beach Gardens, very few people knew what the Board did.
It was suggested that a booklet be made for distribution that is published by the Education
Advisory Board in an effort to make people aware of their existence. Chairman Adams
suggested an "ad -hod' committee to formulate ideas and get the booklet together.
Chairman Adams stated that the Board now had 4 standing committees and asked members if
they felt the standing committees were the right committees covering the subjects that needed to
be covered. Chairman Adams stated that the philosophy that the Board has followed to date has
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been that the Board is not a "do gooder" group like the PTA, but are a watchdog group. The
Board is not a group whose purpose it is to toot the horn on how good the schools are and all the
wonderful things that are going on. The Board is really in existence to look over the schools as a
watchdog group to make sure things are going right. Chairman Adams felt that there were
enough other organizations that served the other purposes. Chairman Adams felt that the board
should look at what they thought were the shortcomings of the schools and do what it could -
providing the leverage, etc - to try to solve some of the problems in the schools.
A member questioned what the Board has accomplished in the last year. Chairman Adams
explained that in the area of curriculum, the Board has members sitting on the Tech -Prep, School
to Work Program, trying to push the philosophy. The Board is trying to get something going in
the elementary schools on reading curriculum. Chairman Adams stated that if the Board
• members get into the schools and push those programs things would get accomplished.
It was suggested that the Board come up with specifics instead of just meeting to discuss items.
Mr. Engel stated that the Board has already discussed this item and felt that once the annual
report was completed there may be some feed back, allowing the Board to go on to other things
that would be specific in stating duties and responsibilities. Mr. Engel stated that if the specifics
are not what the Board wants to do they could be changed or rediscussed.
Councilman Jablin stated that one of the successes of this Board was to convince the City
regarding the school concurrency issue. Councilman Jablin did not feel the pressure to support
that issue would have been there if it wasn't for the Education Advisory Board.
Chairman Adams suggested that members look at the annual report and look at the actions under
each of the standing committees they would realize the effect the Board could have if those
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• standing committees actually acted forcefully on what the plans were. Chairman Adams stated
the standing committees have not been active committees. Mr. Engel disagreed, stating that he
did not see things as negatively as Chairman Adams did and felt all the members were doing as
much as they could. Mr. Blake stated that he could not be part of an organization that, at least
when they see good things, can't tell people about it. Mr. Blake felt that this was the only
marketing arm the Board had because nobody would look at this Board if all they did was mouth
bad stuff. Mr. Blake stated that if the Board was a watchdog group then 90% of the time people
would only come to the Board if there were problems. Mr. Blake felt that if the Board expressed
some good things once in a while it would help when there are problems at the various schools.
Chairman Adams stated that this should be in the standing committee plans in order to be
accomplished. Chairman Adams did not feel that the Board should beat the schools down, but
• work to solve the problems quietly with the power the Board has.
Mr. Blake suggested that the board try something different this year by having their monthly
meeting at a different school each month. Councilman Jablin stated he would bring this
suggestion up at the next Council meeting. Various forms of notification were discussed,
including school bulletin boards, SAC mailing lists, etc. Chairman Adams suggested that
members contact the local radio stations so they can let people know about the meetings. It was
suggested that this item be placed on the next agenda for discussion. Chairman Adams
suggested the Board set up an "ad hoc" committee to make this happen A discussion ensued
regarding whether the Board could meet at Gardens High School in March, a middle school is
April and an elementary school in May.
. SAC REPORTS
Howard Engel reported that the Dwyer SAC did not meet this month.
STANDING COMMITTEES
Security Committee - Howard Engel stated that his Committee met confirmed that their next
meeting would be February 12, 1997, and that Jim Kelley, Chief of Security for Palm Beach
County Schools would be in attendance at 7:45 P.M. Also, Palm Beach Gardens Police Chief,
Jiro FitzGerald, would be in attendance at the same time. Chairman Adams asked that all
members be on time for the meeting. Mr. Engel also reported that the committee heard there
was a position created for someone in the district who would be in charge of alternative schools.
Mr. Engel pointed out that there was only one alternative school in the north area, and he would
invite this person to a meeting of this Board.
Teachers and Administrators - This committee was unable to meet due to a conflict of time. It
was reported that looking over the membership of the committee, it was stated that a review of
the validity of the committee be done, feeling that it was something that could not be acted upon.
Mr. Blake stated that such small groups have a greater chance of not being able to meet on any
given night. Mr. Blake felt that committees of 6 or 7 would have a greater chance of meeting.
ANNUAL REPORT
Chairman Adams passed out a draft of the Annual Report and asked that each member go back to
their standing committees and review the things that were to be done and try to answer if this was
a full time job for the members or can it be rolled into another sub - committee. This item would
be discussed next month.
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• CONCURRENCY
Scott Blake reported that on January 23, 1997, the Municipal League, County Commission and
the School Board will meet to discuss concurrency. Mr. Blake stated that the PAC would be
meeting on February 4, 1997, with all those supporters of concurrency.
ADJOURNMENT
There being no further business to discuss, the meeting was adjourned at 9:40 p.m.
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