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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 • • 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 • 2 • 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 • 3 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 C] 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. 4 • 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 5 • 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 • 6 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 i • 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. z • 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. 10