HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes EAB 121196CITY OF PALM BEACH GARDENS
EDUCATION ADVISORY BOARD
DECEMBER 11, 1996
The Regular Meeting of the City of Palm Beach Gardens Education Advisory Board was
called to order at 7:33 p.m. in the Council Chambers of the Municipal Complex located at 10500
North Military Trail, Palm Beach Gardens, Florida.
The following members were found to be in attendance: Alan Adams, Stasia Datchko,
Monika Adams, Mary Inglis, Ron Sadaka, Bayla Singer, Howard Engel, Scott Blake, Jimmy
Chalhub, Lisa Ridgely, and Jan Porter. Also in attendance was Council liaison, Eric Jablin.
APPROVAL OF MINUTES
The minutes of the November, 1996, meeting of the Education Advisory Board were approved as
• amended to reflect that the School Board can issue a '/z cent sales tax instead of a one -cent sales
tax without approval of the voters.
GUESTS
Lisa Moore, a parent at Timber Trace Elementary School, was in attendance. Ms. Moore has
been active in the school nurse problem at the school. Also in attendance was Judy Hannerhan,
Assistant Principal at Timber Trace Elementary School.
GENERAL BUSINESS
Howard Engel reported on his findings regarding nurse staffing at the various schools in Palm
Beach Gardens and handed out a list reflecting nursing staff and how that position was funded. It
was felt that a committee of 2 or 3 members may be needed to address the shortage of nurses at
many schools. All schools reported that in case of emergencies they call 911 and that the
response from the City was excellent. Discussion ensued regarding what would happen at
sporting events should an emergency arise. The committee will research the possibility of grant
money being available to provide nurses for the schools. It was reported that Palm Beach
Gardens Medical Center has refused to participate in the program to provide a nurse to the
schools. Eric Jablin and Lisa Ridgely volunteered to serve on the committee along with Ron
Engel.
Councilman Jablin stated that he asked the City Attorney to give him information regarding
legalities concerning sub - committee meetings. As of this date he has not responded and is still
researching. Councilman Jablin stated that in talking to the City Manager and the City Attorney
-the committees would probably go back to the old way of allowing the meetings to continue to be
held in members homes. Councilman Jablin stated he would have a memo sent to the Board
members once he receives the information from the City Attorney.
• Chairman Adams stated that Stasia Datchko volunteered to write a letter to attract new members
to the Board. Ms. Datchko stated she had a letter, however, felt the Board may want to be more
specific in telling potential members what the Board did. Ms. Datchko stated that she would
advertise the letter next month after the holidays. Ms. Datchko stated that she would be going to
the SAC at the high school next year and would not be on the one at Duncan Middle School.
Chairman Adams stated that terms have expired for Alan Adams, Howard Engel, Ann Roth (who
has declined to be reappointed), Mary Inglis and Lisa Ridgely. Mr. Adams stated that those 4
terms needed to be extended and Ann Roth's position needed to be replaced. The Board
discussed what SACs did not have a Board member represented. Ms. Datchko asked for
assistance from the Board in determining the mission of the Board to be placed in the publication
• to attract new members. Chairman Adams stated that the mission determined by the Board was
to look out for the educational needs of the students in Palm Beach Gardens. Ms. Datchko stated
• she wrote the following: "The Education Advisory Board was created by the City Council to
improve and insure quality education for all the students living in Palm Beach Gardens or are
attending schools within our community." Ms. Datchko stated she was also going to include
exactly what would be expected of the members, such as attending SAC meetings, sub-
committee meetings, regularly scheduled meetings of the Education Advisory Board and any
School Board, City Council or County Commission meetings throughout the year as needed, and
that members must be a resident of the City.
A member stated that the memo received from the City Clerk implied that the Board work
- through the City Council, however, the mission statement implied that the Board work directly
with the schools without formal permission on an instance by instance basis from the City
Council. It was asked that this be clarified as to how much latitude or autonomy this Board had.
• Chairman Adams stated that a City Council member sat in on the meetings to determine whether
an issue should go before the City Council.
Monika Adams stated that there was a group known as the Palm Beach Gardens Association that
addressed certain issues and had people included such as Commissioner Marcus that determined
that the Board would be formed to have power to get some things done that needed to be done. It
was decided that Ms. Datchko also include in her letter that being a member of the Education
Advisory Board was an opportunity to make a "hands on" difference in our schools.
Chairman Adams stated that at the next meeting the Board would have a general discussion
regarding the Board's goals. Chairman Adams stated that if the sub - committees of this Board do
not meet then nothing happens because no recommendations come to the Board for their
• consideration. Chairman Adams directed that Ms. Datchko get the letter out in an effort to get
some new members on the Board.
• Chairman Adams stated that Monika Adams brought in some articles and informational lists and
made them available to all members.
SAC REPORTS
Allamanda - It was reported that nothing newsworthy had taken place at the Allamanda SAC
meetings and that the School Improvement Plan was being monitored and all goals and
objectives were being met.
Timber Trace - Timber Trace SAC discussed HT Report and began working on the school's
mission statement.
-Palm Beach Gardens Elementary - Chairman Adams stated that this SAC was going over the
School Improvement Plan and discussed the tutoring program that was set up this year for those
students in reading. Hopefully that will produce some promising results.
• Duncan Middle School - The Duncan SAC has also been reviewing the School Improvement
Plan and working on unresolved issues. However, no problems were reported from the last
meeting.
Watkins Middle School - No report
Dwyer High School - Problems at Dwyer were the same and ongoing in the area of security. The
school is installing cameras on the roof to survey problem areas.
Palm Beach Gardens High - Mr. Blake stated that the SAC discussed new tests that concerned
most SACS. Mr. Blake stated that they were not against raising standards, but against the manner
in which they would be raised. A discussion ensued regarding the problems with the new test
and standards and it was suggested that the test be published in the Palm Beach Post. The
0 standards were issued from the State and the schools have to meet those standards within a
specified time, however, there is a problem with the students that have not been trained through
the years in this testing process. Mr. Blake stated that one of the teachers at Palm Beach Gardens
High School wrote a grant that will cover the tutoring program for the rest of the year.
Student Report - It was reported that Mr. Chalhub was chosen as a winner of the Palm Beach
Post Pathfinder Award. Mr. Chalhub stated that the students wanted their test scores to raise and
would be doing individually what had to be done in an effort to raise their scores. There was an
effort by the Student Government to get assistance in getting the students involved.
STANDING COMMITTEE REPORTS
Security Committee - The committee met and has completed the mission statement to be
- included in the report. It was reported that the City would have a new Chief of Police and the
possible new chief has been invited to their meeting. The Palm Beach County Security Chief,
Jim Kelly, will be at the February 12, 1997 meeting. Chairman Adams suggested that he also
invite the City Police Chief to the meeting as the two offices interact a lot with each other. It
was suggested that a representative from Wackenhut be invited to be on the sub - committee.
Boundary Committee - The PAC regarding concurrency met on December 4, 1996, and Mr.
Blake reported on that meeting. Mr. Blake stated that they gave assignments to various members
and it was estimated that they needed to raise approximately $10,000 and reprint the petition to
change the wording. The PAC secured an attorney to ensure the legality of what they were doing
and also had a commitment from a retired developer in Boca to help the PAC. This developer
also stated that he may have a check for the PAC for the $10,000 needed. The next meeting is
February 4, 1997. One of the assignments that was given out was to create a core group of 25
people that were connected in someway to Palm Beach County with political ties. Mr. Blake
invited all Board members that were interested to attend the next meeting. Mr. Blake stated that
there was an article in the Palm Beach Post that stated that the Municipal League would have to
• go back to the municipalities for more money regarding the concurrency issue and asked that
members tell people that their Council members may have an issue before them in the next 3
months asking more money be given to the Municipal League to fight concurrency. Mr. Blake
stated that people needed to contact their municipal leaders and tell them not to give this money
to the Municipal League. Mr. Blake stated that the people from the Municipal League that were
fighting concurrency were not from large municipalities and built out communities. Councilman
Jablin stated that he felt that the Municipal League needed to be challenged regarding their fight
against concurrency because they have not had their members go to their constituents for their
-position on the issue. Mr. Blake stated that he wanted a ballot that was easy for the voters to
understand and pointed out that the new Supervisor of Elections, Theresa LePore, helped the
PAC form by doing a lot of research and gathering of information for Mr. Blake that was needed.
Mr. Blake stated that he and Commissioner Marcus sat down
with Mrs. LePore to discuss what
needed to be done.
Teachers and Administrators - The committee did not meet because they could not find a public
place to met.
Curriculum - Chairman Adams stated that this committee is broken into 2 parts - high school
level and their ability to earn a living and the elementary school reading level improvement.
Chairman Adams stated that the committee needed to meet to determine their course of action in
what information they needed to get from the schools to address reading improvement. The
members were to sit in on some classes to see if there were some improvements that they
recommend to the schools and to try to push for specific programs.
• NEXT AGENDA
Chairman Adams was requested to include on the next agenda individual objectives of Board
imembers. Councilman Jablin stated that he and Chairman Adams would be having lunch with
representatives of the Golf Digest Project regarding educational concerns. Ron Sadaka stated
that he attended a meeting of the Recreation Advisory Board and they had sandwiches and soda
and suggested that this Board have the same at their year end meeting next year.
ADJOURNMENT
There being no further business to discuss, the meeting was adjourned at 9:20 p.m.
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