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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. 0 •