##VIDEO ID:40c5n59G1yA## [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] good afternoon ladies and gentlemen I will now call the regular school board meeting to order at 5:00 p.m. Mrs Sinclair please call the rooll district one Barbara mcquin Mrs mcquinn is absent District Two Alexandria AA here District three Karen bur here District Four Erica Whitfield here District Five Frank Barbary here District Six Marsha Andrews here and District Seven Edwin Ferguson here thank you since Vice chair Barbara mcquinn is not in attendance tonight I would like to call for a motion to appoint Frank Barbieri as Vice chair for tonight's meeting do I have a motion motion by Mr Ferguson second by Mrs Andrews any discussion all in favor all opposed motion carries unanimously also joining us tonight is superintendent Michael Burke General general counsel Shawn Bernard Inspector General Teresa Michael and board clerk Tony Sinclair senior staff members will join us periodically as directed by the superintendent tonight the national anthem will be performed by box string quartet though we have a trio tonight um from box middle School of the Arts would everyone please stand for the Pledge of Allegiance led by superintendent Burke followed by the national anthem pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the rep for it stands Nation indivisible with liy and justice for all [Music] h l [Music] all [Music] [Applause] thank you to the students and I would also like to acknowledge band director misss BBE thank you so much for joining us tonight with the students viewers and listeners can access the meeting today by either watching on Comcast channels 234 and 235 you verse channel 99 or by using the YouTube link on our web page at Palm Beach schools.org in the event that the link is interrupted for technical reasons please switch over to the TV channels all board meetings are recorded in their entirety and posted on the district website within 24 hours we also offer a listening only option which the public can access by calling 561- 35759 or tollfree at 1866 93070 one5 the meeting ID is 1561 88124 pound that will now bring us to the minutes which we don't have any to approve tonight I do have one item to add for good cause okay good cause exists for adding this item it's pt2 Personnel addendum um good cause exists for adding this item so that employees can begin in their new positions as soon as possible Mr superintendent do you have any items to withdraw no Madam chair board members do you have any items to pull from consent seeing none I'll take a motion to approve the consent agenda motion by Mrs Whitfield second by Mr Barbary any discussion seeing none all in favor all opposed motion carries unanimously board members any disclosures or abstentions seeing none that will now bring us to superintendent and board comments Mr superintendent thank you madam chair just a a few comments I want to recognize we're going to have a presentation later for the Education Foundation but I also want to just mention that they have helped us provide over 27,000 backpacks across 44 schools to start the school year which is pretty incredible when you think about that and there was a couple major events I just want to highlight we had uh at Hope Centennial Elementary School the annual start proud event that is supported by Office Depot and there's a picture there picture there and also uh so at Hop intenna we provide over th000 backpacks and then over at uh Forest Hill Elementary School in chair wom bril I know you were there with me um we also provided backpacks and that was help made POS possible by Amazon and so there's a picture there and I've just got a short video that will show you that start proud event and this is an ongoing partnership with Office Depot and they're just a great uh business partner here that's headquartered in Palm Beach County it is the best day of the year it's start proud we're the recipients of the start proud we give a backpack to every student in the school we had Office Depot here to help us celebrate and we are so thankful for them for providing all of our students supplies and backpacks and then we recognize one star teacher that gets a boatload of office supplies and equipment from Office Depot here in Palm Beach County we are so blessed because the business Community steps up the business Community says we believe in super attendant Burke we believe in the Palm Beach County School District we're going to make sure these kids have the best teachers the most trained teachers and the best equipped students that's how you have a first class worldclass education for the volunteers to come and devote their time and give back to us the community makes us know that they believe in us and we're so happy that they do once again thank you to office Depo without your partnership every one of these kids here at Hope Centennial would not have the start they're having having to this year you make them start proud you make us start proud and we're proud to work with you all right and you can't start the school year proud without a principal and we were busy this summer making sure we had a school leader in place at all of our schools I'd like to welcome up our Deputy superintendent Mr Ed Tierney and we have three new principles that have hit the ground running and we would like to introduce them formerly to the school board in the community so Mr tney will you handle the introductions please thanks chairman vill Vice chair Mr Barbary school board members superintendent bur I am very pleased to have the opportunity to introduce Palm Beach County's newest principles Meadow Park Elementary School was looking for a leader possesses successful experience with complex programming and experience in analyzing student achievement data we believe we found the perfect candidate Miss saprina Higley thank you thank you good evening board chair Brill Vice chair mcquinn she is not here Vice chair barbier school board members superintendent Burke and Mr Tierney thank you all for the incredible honor of having been selected to serve as the new principal of meow Park Elementary I take this responsibility very seriously and I am deeply committed to ensuring that all students staff and families in the Meadow Park Community are safe feel valued and supported and receive the best education possible each and every day I would also like to thank some of the leaders that have mentored me and prepared me to take on this most important role I would like to thank Dr Jesus armis for his remarkable leadership and his faith in me throughout the many years we work together I would also like to thank Miss Becky subin for her encouragement and believing that I would be here today thank you also to the amazing team of leaders in the central region office Miss Haynes Miss Brown Mrs Wetzel Dr Dr Green and DR Sanders it was a wild ride and a most valuable learning experience finally I would like to thank my family my husband Brent for his unwavering support and encouragement and our two children Nate and Tessa who make me a better educator every day thank you for being my biggest cheerleaders I feel exceptionally grateful to be joining this amazing community at Meadow Park and I look forward to not only continuing the great work that is already happening there but also leading our Eagles to even higher Heights thank you again it is truly an [Applause] honor quinsana Elementary School was looking for a leader to promote a culture of high expectations and to continue to engage and Empower families and community members I very pleased to introduce Miss Shannon Stockman good evening board chair bril Vice chair mcquinn school board members superintendent Burke Mr tney I want to say thank you to all of you for giving me the opportunity to be part of poin Sienna elementary school as a proud new principal po s is a special place in the short time that I've been there I've been able to call it home and I'm proud to be part of that family I've had the honor to meet some incredible community members in the past few weeks the churches the city officials the local organizations have been wonderful and a special thank you to board member Ferguson for stopping by and speaking with me my first week there I want to say thank you to the mentors I've had along my journey Miss sonan for leading me into leadership Mr McNichols for pushing me down the administrative route Mrs Gladis Harris for mentoring me as an sscc under her for a few years Mrs Margie Row for allowing me and believing in me to lead beside her as her assistant principal DR Sanders for seeing the potential in me and pushing me to my highest limits and most importantly my friends my family my other half for being my biggest supporters my biggest cheerleaders and my biggest rock listening to me day in and day out I am so grateful for being part of such an amazing team right now I look forward to not only continuing the success at po Sienna but leading us to the highest levels of success that we know we can achieve thank you again anther Run Elementary School was looking for a leader to demonstrated a track record of success leadership in a high performing Elementary School and we have believe we have the perfect candidate in Miss Rea Suarez good evening board chair bril Vice chair mcquinn school board members and superintendent Burke and Mr Tierney thank you for this incredible honor and trusting me with the role of principal at Panther Ron elementary I have been the proud assistant principal for the past seven years and I'm looking forward to continuing the work that I started there this school has a strong Foundation built on a commitment to academic Excellence Excellence School Safety and fostering well-rounded students I am committed to continuing these core values while creating an environment where every child feels valued supported and challenged to reach their fullest potential I am eager to work collaboratively with our dedicated staff supportive parents and the engaged community members to create an exceptional exceptional learning experience for our students I am extremely grateful for my mentors who' shaped me into the leader that I am today starting with my first principal in Palm Beach county in her memory Penny Lopez along with Suzanne Watson thank you to Jeff EA and Katherine kerer for seeing my leadership qualities Christy Schwab for planting that seed that led me to my leadership journey and for being that role model of exemplary leadership my super my supportive superintendent in the central region Miss Haynes and Dr Green who truly inspires and motivates their team a special thank you to adilia de laa for trusting me with my first AP position and demonstrating what true leaders are thank you for seven Great years of your mentorship but especially your friendship I will miss our team pink and blue to my family who is here John Julie Larry and especially my mother who has been my biggest cheerleader in life and my children Jordan Victoria and Nico who I've always instilled The Importance of Being a lifelong learner and to always reach for your goals to my friends and family who are home watching thank you for always having my back and last but not least a big shout out to the best staff in Palm Beach County my team let's do this go [Applause] Panthers all right well thank you we're all counting on you so go out there and have a great school year umy I've got a a couple special guests also I want to invite up uh thank you we had uh you know we had a good strong school year last year tremendous learning gains but we had two leaders really uh hit the ball out of the park that we'd like to take a minute to recognize so I'd like to invite up Dr Derek hibler principal of Katherine E Cunningham Canal point also have not sure Rhonda Smith principal pomosa if she's here I know we're battling bad weather and traffic out there but Dr hibler please join us at the table Dr hibler raised the letter grade of his school there at Katherine E Cunningham Canal Point by two letter grades from a d to a b which is pretty expect you don't see that very often so [Applause] Dr hward just wanted to recognize you and you're welcome to share any words or wisdom or thoughts you have with us thank you well good afternoon everyone uh to the board to superintendent uh to the chair Vice chair I wasn't prepared to speak tonight thought I was just going to come up and take a quick picture and and go but uh this has been a great year and we really first of all I want to thank thank the board for your support and giving us the equipment the support we need in the schools with our teachers especially for our teachers the classrooms are very supported uh with materials uh and all the district support that we received from um math support coming out to work science support coming out to work reading support coming out to work with our teachers and small groups and really making a difference for our kids uh without that commitment it just wouldn't happen uh one other um thank you I really want to say to is our committed Board member Miss Mara Andrews uh she walks our campus all the time uh she comes out and she's always looking uh for anything that we need she she's always asking if I need anything uh just making sure that I'm taking care of she looks at me first um but I always tell her if my teachers are happy I'm happy and I always say that if I can keep my teachers in a happy place um we're going to have a great year and I'm starting off again that year in the same process of making sure my teachers are happy um we will have a great year so again I want to thank uh this honor for um recognizing our school but again I always say don't recognize me I like my teachers to be recognized I like my staff to be recognized because those are the people that are really working with the in the trenches with the kids uh I do have my support help here my assistant principal Miss eloria Henley uh who's always on my my side for working in the trenches with me so again this is a job that you just can't do by yourself and I I learned that a long time ago so again thank you Bor thank you um for all that you do for our school thank you Dr hibler I appreciate your humility that's why you're such a strong leader out there great job um doesn't look like Miss Smith's going to be able to join us this evening but it's not been able to get through the traffic okay well I will share our appreciation with her and uh again we just want to recognize these two principles for doing the amazing work of going up two-letter grades so great job thank you madam chair that concludes my comments thank you Mella thank you madam chair good evening everyone I hope that everyone has had a happy return to the new school year I've certainly enjoyed visiting the campuses in my district and seeing the excitement um I've really felt excitement Joy eagerness to be back from the students the teachers I mean the energy on campuses is palpable and I also want to give a shout out to every principle who is back and ready these students were learning real content on day one right we weren't you know messing around they're ready to go this is an a-rated district and we're going to keep it that way so seeing that energy and that excitement was huge um I have some pictures that I wanted to share thanks to our Communications team for getting those ready for me um they'll be coming up shortly but I had the chance to visit um that's Forest Hill Elementary School the a-rated Forest Hill Elementary School uh Su Deputy superintendent TIY joined me on that visit along as alongside Green Acres Elementary School as well we visited um Co Taylor Kirk Lane Elementary I visited them with the Education Foundation to give our backpacks that's us at Green Acres um we visited Pine Jog Elementary and Mr Burke joined me on a visit to Palm Springs middle which we all saw that video last week and there's a photo in here with Miss toay right there she was my dance teacher when I was a student at Palm Springs Middle School and now she is the magnet coordinator for Palm Springs middle which is our choice School of the Arts as we like to call it so it's always special to go home and be able to be around the staff that made this District such a special place for me and see them continuing to do that um these are some nice momentum you know momentos I'm honest I'm trustworthy I'm blessed I choose to be happy just love seeing the energy back on the campuses so to everyone um I hope that you have an amazing next week and an amazing year I look forward to seeing you all soon throughout my visits and moving on to the agenda portion I wanted to highlight an item that we'll be discussing later today um we'll be voting to approve a grant that will encourage and Advan student careers in stem and that is going to be a Johnny Leonard High School also my alma moer and this is possible because of the work of our Education Foundation which is the best Education Foundation in the state and if you don't have your license plate yet get it I flash mine everywhere I go um this will provide opportunities for industry relevant certifications for rigorous college level courses for these students to be able to excel to even um higher levels of achievement so huge thanks to our Ed foundation for making this possible thank you to um the Palm Beach International Boat Show which this grant is awarded on behalf of and that is done through the marine industries Association of Palm Beach County so thank you to everyone involved and for always putting our students first in this community thank you madam chair thank you Mrs Whitfield thank you um first of all I just want to say welcome back to everyone as well also I'd like to congratulate all our staff and our um supervisor Administration on the a that was a very exciting moment um to be able to see that a being put back up in the front of our building here I was uh particularly thrilled to text Mr Burke to ask him how quickly he could get it back up so I think that is something that we're going to have to um just really appreciate for this year and all the hard work that went into it I wanted to take a minute to just talk really quickly about the homeless Advisory board that I serve on um it I went this past week and I had an opportunity to work with them I'm the board representative for for the school board I've been it for the entire time I've been on the school district in the school board right now so um I went and I had an opportunity to speak to them uh last week and we had our numbers um go up even more from last year so I wanted to share that with you all you may have seen some of the articles that came out um but our numbers in Palm Beach County right now are um from last school year 6,133 children were um experiencing housing instability um that is a large number it has gone up from uh the year before 5828 so just a little more than 300 people um that were um experiencing that housing instability which is really um I think it continues to be a call to action for everyone in this community to figure out how we can best service those children and make sure that they have as much stability and services wrapped around them and caring wrapped around them as we possibly can um some of these children are are actually outside which I know I mention uh quite frequently and uh it's something that we should all be really concerned about the homeless Advisory Board was great in giving some support to us um through how ways that they can support um the students and the schools but that's something that I'll be reaching out to the entire Community we will be making our data available in the upcoming months on um what is going on with our students and how many children in which schools have the highest percentages so I'm hoping that the community as a whole um will respond to that by coming out and helping support these students in the best way that we can so that we can make sure that they all have the ability to enjoy the education here in Palm Beach County thank you very much thank you Mr Barbary yes I i' like to make two comments tonight one was with respect to um all four of the high schools in my district are a-rated I'm very proud of um Olympic Heights West bokeh Spanish River and uh and uh I'm having a senior moment boka High School bah High West bokah High Olympic Heights and Spanish River but especially Spanish River which uh I understand is the highest rated Comprehensive High School in Palm Beach County so congratulations to Spanish River High School principal castalano for a job very very well done um with respect to bokeh High School uh when I was elected to the board 16 years ago the first gentleman I met in my community who was very very forceful and vocal was a man by the name of Don Rogers and I understand that Mr Rogers according to Dr King she doesn't know how long he's been there but it's at least 22 years he was he's a parent and his kids of long graduated but Don has been involved in that school ever since and he's an extremely uh well respected person in that community and he fights for everything that you know that bah High needs so uh he told me probably my first week on the board he contacted me and said bokeh high school has a Fieldhouse that's been sitting here for for for years since the school was rebuilt and you can't use it um because it's never been finished apparently back when bah high was built there was a choice between the pool or finishing the Fieldhouse the pool got built the Fieldhouse has been sitting there in fact it's been sitting there for the entire 16 years that I've been on the school board although I have tried with five different superintendents before Mr Burke to get them to agree to finish that High School Fieldhouse that's just sat there while the kids on our teams have to go to the buses when it rains because they can't uh they have to go to buses the visiting team goes to buses and the other kids have to go into the school somewhere to get out of the stor uh but thank you to Mr Burke and and and to Joe Sanchez I told Mr Burke there's only one more thing that I want to accomplish for the kids in my district before I leave the board in a few months and that's that I like to get that Fieldhouse finished because I've been promising those kids for the last 10 years that I would get it done so if you put the pictures up finally couple weeks back um I was at there at bokeh high school with Dr King and the Fieldhouse thank you again Mr superintendent the Fieldhouse is finished there was dozens and dozens of parents there that I got to cut the Red Ribbon to open the doors to the Fieldhouse but the kids were thrilled that uh that they finally had a Fieldhouse the lockers are in it's a beautiful Fieldhouse and 16 years late but at least it's there now and it's one of the things I'm proud that I was able to leave in my district for the kids there so thank you again Mr Burke for making sure that that got finished thank you Mrs Andrews and thank you and welcome back everyone and thank you for making Palm Beach County a-rated again we're just so thrilled with that a couple of things I'll talk about tonight and you may see some pictures as I move through first of all I want to tell you how happy I am to be a palm train Champion I talked a little bit about it the last time we had our meeting but I represented you and I've been on the Palm Tran bus riding around and Palm Beach County and I invite you all to ride the Palm Tran bus because Palm Tran does a great job with tr and getting our children to school every day and I encourage you to park your car and get on the bus and ride the Palm train for safety they are just number one and they're doing a great job with our children this morning I had an opportunity to be in the Glades with all of the Mayors and leaders uh in The Glades region because we had the uh Vice Chancellor from vanderville University he drove all the way from the East to the West he wanted to see with the new campus coming in West Palm Beach he says I want to hear from the the leaders of The Glades how can vanderville University make a difference in the Glades region so we were all there this morning we uh welcomed him to the Glades to let him know that we want all of our children as well as our adults to have an opportunity to experience the wonderfulness that will be coming to Palm Beach County with vanderville University Vice Chancellor Nathan green I think Mr Burke you've already met with him he wants to partner with the school district but he wanted to see The Glades region which is a unique region of Palm Beach County and he wanted to make sure that we were not left behind and I want to tell you uh there is an agenda item DS2 with the lak worth drain drainage District a collaborative partnership with westtech our CDL program is fabulous when you're in the Glades drive by and see all those big tractor trailers making a difference but for the lak worth drainage District we will be training many of their employees uh their EMP employees will be coming uh to our site uh they will get the basic skills training they will get uh training on being behind the wheel making a difference but that partnership with uh lakew drainage district and the uh school district of PM Beach County but especially West Tech is amazing so I just want you to know I'm so excited about that and looking forward to uh seeing them the employees that will get the training and getting the skills to help them do the best that they can be in life and lastly I want to say to the Ed Foundation you all awesome I saw you all with those backpacks we went to almost every school James gorilla you were back there in the back and you had on your red I had on my red you were ready with those backpacks for students on day one this was a little different from years past when we went to every school in The Glades region I saw those backpacks already in those Cubbies at the schools and the schools were inviting parents to come up to kind of see the schools before day one and guess what the children says oh my backpack is already here so thank you Ed foundation for what you do every year getting our kids ready for school on day one for a wonderful marvelous year thank you thank you Mr Ferguson thank you madam chair I think I have a few photos that are going to pop up on the screen here any second on and if not welcome back everybody okay well there we go uh so I been out of I've missed a number of meetings over the summer so this is a photo of myself with the uh EPS uh group out of delr Beach uh thank you board member Ayala and some of the other uh concerned citizens out in Del for helping to uh get me down there we had a really good uh meeting I'm very enlightening to myself and I hope it was enlight enlightening to them as well also in July former sunos uh scholar athlete Nia Simone Francisco she's a burgeoning author I went to her initial book signing uh for the book called the loudest mind I actually purchased a copy of it it's it's quite quite good it's a compilation of a poems that she wrote uh starting back in 20 during the uh Co pandemic up through I believe 2023 so very proud of her and can't wait to see what the future holdes for her um also on the first day of school had a chance to get down to pamosa with the aforementioned principal Smith uh and the best superintendent in state of Florida superintendent Burke uh to to celebrate them for uh regaining I believe regaining and a rating at pamosa that's really a top-notch school this young man Jackson Barnes uh well he he's amazing so first of all he's like a bersing Walter kronite whoever you want to pick from UH 60 minutes he did an exceptional job of probing questions at superintendent bur he had them he had them all in stitches but this young man um he was looking up to me and I was looking up to him at the same time he really is a bright star I cannot wait to see what the future holds for that young man and I salute his family for raising such a he's just a great kid and I know we have many other children just like him but Jackson he he may be one of one I really made an impression upon me on the first day of school also I was at Roosevelt Elementary which is in in West Palm Beach we have a new principal there as well Miss Tanya McDow I really expect her to maybe be the first principal to actually jump threel grades yes mix medal I hope that you hear that I am putting the pressure on you to raise threel grades and we'll maybe even give you a nice little plaque here um but in any event about 30 or 40 of us were there at Roseville Elementary on the first day of school to welcome the students back it was very powerful very impactful also this Saturday of course it's it's time for project uplift again we will be at 1220 La kirsy Street in West Palm Beach which is which is the address of Roosevelt Elementary sign up is in person so you have to students you will have to come with your parents to have them sign the the waiver form sign up will be from 8:00 a.m. to 8:30 a.m. and then we will so long as the weather allows us we'll proceed to clean up uh the areas around Rosevelt Elementary and the neighboring neighboring uh neighborhoods as well uh three hours of community service I know we get a lot of questions about that three whole hours so please be in the place is always a great great event we'll have food Refreshments for you as well Mr superintendent board member Barbary say the spanis river is the highest rated Comprehensive High School in Palm Beach County when did sunos lose this I think we got to have a brain Bowl Mr Barbary I I don't know if I can abide by that but again I want to salute the sharks of Spanish River I'm sure it was well earned uh B sunos we got we got some work to do um as far as that goes and lastly in my last 45 seconds I want to congratulate all the parties who put themselves out to run for public office many of you did were not successful that doesn't mean you were failure and I hope you choose to stay engaged in in this very honorable uh space of our society and for those who have won uh I salute you as well and I'm looking forward to working with many of you I know we have some runoffs so I guess the die still not set for districts 1 and five but I'm sure um by November we'll have a winner and that you all be up here and enjoy joining this amazing board focusing on doing what we can do at all times for the the thing that's most important which is the betterment of our children here in Palm Beach County and with that Mr superintendent I'm done thank you thank you so you know normally I don't like to repeat things that other people have said but I tonight I just absolutely have to thank all our principes all our staff I think this was the smoothest opening of schools that I have ever remembered in the years that I've been on the school board and especially I want to thank the principles who you know you're going to have little hiccups but they all address them right away and the parents all knew the children were so excited and yes we're going to be thanking the Education Foundation but I will tell you it was it was a blast being at Indian Pines Elementary School to see those backpacks that were almost bigger than the students they put them on and you couldn't even see the child it was a lot of fun um I do want to take one moment out though tonight to recognize an unsung unsung hero that sits up here with us on the de people who have been writing into us have noticed that we have a constituent process and our constituents are getting answers really very quickly and that's because in huge large part due to our board clerk Mrs Sinclair who routes all of those messages and ensures ensures that people in the community get a response so I just wanted to take a moment out on behalf of the board to say thank you because we don't get the chance to recognize you I know I'm embarrassing you but I just had to do it tonight so thank you so much for your hard [Applause] work so at every regular board meeting we recognize with a moment of silence our employees who have passed tonight we will be recognizing and remembering three employees Monica Hicks was a school bus attendant working for transportation services who passed away on May 17th 2024 Diane Owens was a specialist to and Grant compliance School transformation in our federal state programs she passed away on June 20th 2024 and then Maria Smith was a teacher of Elementary gifted K3 at Addison Meisner School K8 she passed away on June 19th 2024 now ask for a moment of silence in memory of these employees thank you so that's now going to bring us to our presentations and tonight miss Debbie Stewart from the communications and engagement Department joins us for the August board recognitions good evening Debbie good evening Madame chair bril Vice chair Mr Barbieri board members superintendent Burke and staff and of course community members this evening we have one recognition on the agenda a certificate of appreciation to the Education Foundation of Palm Beach County our partners at the Education Foundation of Palm Beach County enhanced the school district's efforts in so many ways this evening we acknowledge their efforts along with support from the Frederick a DeLuca Foundation which helped to launch the cyber security Academy at Santa Luca High School back in 2020 having just completed their fourth year of operation we are so pleased to share that this past summer five cyber security Academy students worked in paid internships with with the Education Foundation at this time we would like to invite Mr James gaberlo to talk about this program and the partnership with Duca Foundation accompanying him are our five paid interns uh who just completed their summer and Dr tamaa Robinson first of all I thank all the the great comments like being alive for your own funeral it's wonderful um and I I do want to thank you for for mentioning Dr hibler I I have to tell you my first year here at the foundation during backpack delivery we were at KC Canal point and I'm offloading the truck and there's this tall strapping good-looking gentleman helping me unload the truck and we're all hot and sweaty and gross and disgusting and we finished is there anything else I can do for you I said yeah could you find the principal he looked at me he said I am the principal and it was Dr hibler Who was out there offloading the truck so leadership by examp example leadership from the front uh Madam chair uh to this specific recognition tonight and it is not about the foundation it's about this amazing principal and teacher behind me and the young people from Santa lucous go Chiefs by the way I'm an honorary Chief I have my t-shirt um four years ago the Frederick ad DeLuca Foundation came to us and they wanted to do something Broad and impactful for the school district and they gave us a grant of 3/4 of a million dollar it was a $750,000 grant to plant a cyber security program they said we want you to pick a school where we can find uh children from underrepresented populations in this profession where we can do some career Readiness and set these children up for post-graduation Success we work very closely with School administration with the District administration and we found a Powerhouse principal that we knew could carry it off uh it's the first time I get to publicly say Dr Robinson uh we found Dr Robinson and to be Frank when the the representatives of the Frederick a DeLuca Foundation along with members from the business development board Kelly smallridge was there that night when we met with then principal Robinson uh we walked away from that meeting and Judith Fletcher from the DeLuca Foundation turned to me and said this is the school this is the principal make it happen uh we started I think with 20 kids there are 120 young people in that program right now who are all receiving industry certification for cyber security these gentlemen behind me are part of that program some of them are going on now to college at Palm Beach State into their cyber program more importantly they are so prepared they are so educated not only did they get summer internships around with different groups we hired them and we turned them loose on our security and boy did they find the gaps Madame chair if you're looking for some people to find some gaps in your security speak to these four gentlemen behind me so they're not only earning a certificate uh they've earned a paycheck courtesy of the Frederick a DeLuca Foundation who could not be here tonight and so while we appreciate the kind words it's not about the Ed Foundation it's about the Frederick Duca Foundation who believes in the Chiefs it's about Dr Robinson and Angelo angion the the the teacher who makes this program happen but it is absolutely about these young people uh it's it's amazing what our young people are capable of so Gentlemen please come forward and receive your due recognition we want to express our congratulations to the following Santa lucus Community High School students who served as cyber security interns with the Ed Foundation Mr Jonathan Rodriguez class of 2024 salutatorian who has enrolled in Washington University in St Louis Missouri to pursue degrees in computer science and computer engineering Dominic Deco also a class of 2024 graduate who has enrolled at Florida Atlantic University and to seniors Benjamin saravia gilero Luis Delgado La boy and Daniel Oar a special thank you to Santa Luca Community High School principal Dr tamaa Robinson and cyber security Academy instructor Mr Angelo angion if you would please join me in giving them congratulations thank you to these talented young Specialists the cyber security Academy at Santa Lua high school and of course our gratitude to the Duca foundation and particularly to the Education Foundation of Palm Beach County who always shows up in phenomenal ways for the students and educators of the school district of Palm Beach County join me again and grateful Applause to all of them this [Applause] evening Madame chair bro Vice chair barbier board members superintend staff and community members that concludes this evening's presentations enjoy your evening okay board members that's going to bring us to our committee reports I don't believe there's anybody here from the academic advisory committee is there oh okay okay please state your name Laura Felman okay thank you good evening board chair Brill school board members superintendent Burke and staff hi I am Laura Felman speaking for the academic advisory committee during our first meeting of the school year on Monday we held our elections congratulations to Charelle golden for being elected as the committee's vice chair I am thankful and honored to have been elected to be the committee's chair during our meeting we heard updates about summer learning the achievements from last school year and the plans for this school year we also heard about the progress in the ELA instructional material adoption for the next school year with their progress the materials will be available for feedback from all ELA teachers in the district during the second week of September congratulations to the students teachers and staff for their success in earning an a rating for the school district the committee was particularly impressed with the gains that were achieved in The Glades Ela and Algebra 1 the sustained excellent instruction and monitoring were credited for these gains for next year to excel even further the district will engage in more professional learning and instructional support which will focus on the science of reading small group literacy framework with the US UF lassinger Center and foundational literacy this was all part of the report from the deputy superintendent administrators will be included in this professional learning to ensure that principls Regional administrators and central office administrators have the same deep understanding to support effective monitoring and feedback the UF lassinger Center is currently working with 59 schools the district is shifting into a train the trainer mode to expand the program to even more schools the district will also continue the grade level and course cadr content clinics for teachers and coaches the curricular changes that will be implemented are the following secondary Ela and K through2 mathematics have Incorporated the state's achievement level descriptors into the look for documents to support the monitoring of highquality instruction during classroom walkthroughs modifications were also made to the fsqs and fsqs and usas as well as the assessment blueprint documents to ensure students receive practice on needed material scope and sequence and scope and sequence pacing calendars for all content grade levels have been modified to incorporate more teacher feedback on pacing and organization of unit topics and benchmarks they also are updating the unit slide decks for K through five teachers to add additional resources it was also mentioned that the district identified the following opportunities for growth to establish and Norm all school and District administrators on what the expectations for rigorous engaging and student focused teaching looks like within the various content areas and ensuring that teachers administrators curriculum staff and regional office staff have time devoted to attend and engage in professional learning as well as monitoring the implementation of highquality practices once teachers and school-based leaders have engaged in the Prof professional learning to ensure that strategies and learning are put into practice at the end of our meeting the committee discussed possible future topics which included a more detailed information about the UF linger literacy program which we will be covering in our September meeting the analysis of opportunity gaps over time especially with regards to access to Advanced coursework for all students in our district no matter what school they attend have any of these opportunity crap gaps decreased over time to go over pilot projects planned for this year and next year's school year analysis of students academic growth with a comparison from school to school and by demographic and socioeconomic data expanding the amp program to science English and social studies Advanced coursework for elementary middle and high school students artificial intelligence absenteeism and quarterly updates for grade three Pro progress in ela as well as Innovations and education to move student achievement thank you very much thank you Miss Filman in the future if you're going to present just let our board clerk Mrs Sinclair know before the meeting thank you okay that brings us to the audit committee report which is attached to your board agendas construction and oversight Review Committee their report is also attached to your agenda Madam chair yes with respect to the cork rather than pulling fc3 which is on our agenda tonight if I could just take a moment to point out an issue that cork had um so that we don't have to pull fc3 off fc3 involves uh the uh some uh some change orders at the the new Walking Garcia high school and and one of the committee members had an issue with respect to um there's four electrical charging stations on that that are being built on that campus I have no problem with that and neither did the board Committee Member but he suggested that the board should to take a look at having some kind of Standards put in place so that we know how many are going to be built in each campus and there's some so when we build future schools because this was done as an apparently an afterthought and they had to go back and cut some concrete in order to put them in the other thing is I think the superintendent needs to put some guidelines out because if you have four and they're supposed to be only for administrators at the school uh if there's only four and you have five administrators that have electric cars we need to to have some kind of policy or procedures in place so that we don't get into a situation where there's not enough and people are complaining um so I I just we need to have something in place for the future schools and if we're going to retrofit the older schools we need to have some kind of procedures in place Mr superintendent okay thank you okay thank you and for the public that who was listening thank you Mr Barbary because he's our representative at cork so thank you for reporting back to us the district diversity and Equity committee we don't see that there's anybody that signed up for that general counsel do you have a report no report um Inspector General no report thank you so that's going to bring us now to our elected officials and delegates I'll call you up one at a time tonight uh we'll start off with the president and CEO of the Education Foundation Mr James gravillis is he still in here okay he's he's gone okay that will bring us then to the vice president of programming for Junior Achievement of the Palm Beaches and Treasure Coast Erica h good evening chairwoman bril Vice qu Vice chair mcquinn board members and superintendent Burke my name is Erica hen VP of Education with Junior Achievement of the Palm Beaches and Treasure Coast it's a pleasure to be here this evening the team at Junior Achievement has enjoyed participating in many back to-school activities it's an exciting time for all these include the Palm Beach North Chamber of Commerce back to school breakfast with superintendent Burke the Chamber of Commerce of the pond Beach's back to school breakfast also with superintendent Burke the pond Beach North chamber uh principal's breakfast we enjoyed participating in that as well as many professional development sessions with CTE CTE teachers at Park Vista and the elementary teachers at Palm Beach State College moving forward we are really excited about the initiatives that we have coming forth this year we have our ja career exploration fair for all 11th and 12th grade students I know that it's an item um that's being voted on this evening through for theou and we're grateful for your support we're also extremely grateful and huge shout out to Diana Schneider who's been instrumental in this initiative we're also currently working on recruiting vendors for the many career fairs that are taking place starting September 6th and run all the way through February the first um career fair is taking place at L lakew Worth Camp Palm Beach State College lakew Worth Campus but will be taking place at all of the Palm Beach State College campuses additionally for our Middle School students we are planning ja Inspire which is more than a career fair in giving them Hands-On opportunities and then of course our traditional programming for elementary students with college champions from Palm Beach State Kaiser and other local colleges and universities as well as our high school hero uh program where they volunteer and come out to teach our programs we are really looking forward to a productive and sex successful year thank you thank you CTA president Gordon lher good evening chair bril uh board members uh Mr superintendent honored guests uh Gordon long Hofer uh classroom Teachers Association president pleased to be here tonight a lot of talk tonight about the a rating of our district there was a couple of mentions of that earlier in the summer it's certainly something to be celebrated um it's a lot of work to do that on a regular basis we've had a long history of that so the blip on the radar um a couple of years ago uh we're very happy to see that that is indeed a blip on the radar um it's it's heartwarming to hear the appreciation that you've already uh expressed tonight for uh for the stakeholders doing the work that they've done especially uh with Dr hibler as he was here tonight uh giving praise to his faculty for the two-letter grade jump that they have made and we know that of course expectations are always high goals are always set high so that they can when they're achieved there is that great Euphoria of success um teachers are the most important factor in a school-based setting about moving student achievement and and so obviously that's why I'm here tonight again with Dr hibler giving that praise and you all heaping that as well just to bring that to the four um regardless of what the state may do I mean it's we we know the state's history it's often a moving Target from year to year about what needs to be done to get a particular school grade or a rating what have you but regardless of that moving Target teachers walk into their rooms year after year looking at their students getting to know them find out where they uh where they struggle and where they succeed and then adapting being creative uh taking individual approaches to make sure that each one gets the the education that they need to move their own achievement and then collectively at the end we see things like this return to our a rating one of only two large urban districts uh given that there's seven that over 100,000 that actually did that this year so I think it's a a noteworthy uh it's noteworthy that that we're amongst those those top two yet again um obviously that comes back to the teachers doing that work and doing it for so long needing to understand that but for a proper package of salary and benefits they don't have a reason to stay in an area where costs can easily overrun what they're trying to do um they sacrifice each and every day to make sure that their kids get there I'm asking you to make sure that as we are getting into this bargaining season as you're looking at possible ways to make sure that a rais commensurate with the success that they've demonstrated in these last 12 months for the students and getting us back to our a rating that that actually shows up in their paychecks in a way that allows them to live and Thrive this helps to fulfill that promise of a better life that I was talking about at my last opportunity to speak to you tonight so please keep that in mind there are all kinds of fixed costs in our district teachers salar are one of them um you can name a host of others do not let any of these fixed costs get in the way of teachers being able to live and thrive in the community where they they are doing this Tim honored and most important work moving student achievements so they can have successful lives as adults thank you all again for this uh this evening and have a good evening thank you Vice chair of the Hispanic education Coalition Mabel Melton good evening um good evening Madam chair board members Mr superintendent Mabel Melton on behalf of the Hispanic education Coalition first we would like to recognize and thank the outstanding job performed by thousands of our District employees to open the new school year without any major complications to every school support staff and to all of our bus drivers to all of our teachers and to the superintendent and all of his administration colleagues we salute you for a job very well done second we also congratulate this board's vision and commitment to restoring our district to an a rating by the Florida Department of Education for the 2023 2324 Academic Year among doa's evaluation criteria were student performance in English language arts math science and social studies along with graduation rates superintendent Burke and your entire Administration and faculty share in this important accomplishment however sustaining the district's a rating will require continued hard work so Hispanic education Coalition believes that one obvious area of emphasis and opportunity for student achievement is our dual language programs there are now 38 but with nearly 40% of the county white student body Hispanic or Latino growing the number of those programs certainly would give many more students a greater opportunity to flourish in the classroom third we would like to commend all eight candidates who offered themselves for public service in the Schoolboard District 1 and Schoolboard District 5 the voters yesterday gave us two remaining candidates in each district and we will await the electorates final judgment on Election Day November 5th and we look forward heck looks forward to collaborating with those new board members on behalf of public education throughout P Palm Beach County finally please mark your calendars for December 1st as La welta um Palm Beach returns for its second year as you know this is Hispanic education coalitions fundraising event and the inaura welta was a huge success all funds raised are earmarked to provide scholarships to our student this year um the Hispanic education Coalition awarded seven scholarships of $2,500 each most of those kids do attend local college so with your support this December we are working hard to increase that number of scholarships aiming to award them at every single high school thank you for your time thank you president of the League of Women Voters Dr Kathy gunlock is she here I don't see her okay it doesn't look like she was able to make it through the traffic so that's going to bring us to our agenda item speakers on behalf of the entire School Board I'd like to welcome public speakers who are joining us today please address the school board as a collective body and do not address individual board or staff members directly our policy provides that we do not respond to or engage with our speakers however we do make note of your issues and we will follow up with the District administration regarding them as a reminder agenda speakers comments must relate to the subject matter of the agenda item which the speaker has requested to address additionally all non-agenda speakers comments must relate to educationally relevant topics or the operations of the school district pursuant to Schoolboard policy speakers whose comments do not relate to the topic that the speaker indicated or are not otherwise educationally relevant as required for non-agenda topics speakers or whose comments disrupt or interfere with the order of the meeting may be subject to removal from the meeting or having the microphone turned off and forfeiting the right to speak at the remainder of today's meeting you will have three minutes to address the board in accordance with the school board policy the microphone will be turned off when the time limit has been reached when you speak please state your name for with the record we also request that you provide your address School District number or city of residents thank you for joining us tonight so we have one agenda item speaker and that is Mr Donald Pearson so please come right up good evening uh Don Pearson West Palm Beach Palm Beach Central High School Thursday will be my 43rd anniversary in this District uh what I want to speak to is P1 the agenda uh separation of employment uh and especially right to um the termination uh where it says certification issues uh 67 uh teachers is is what it looks like um have the issues with their certification I know four of them have asked me questions just because you know they they've asked how do you get help when there's certification issues if the school district doesn't help when they reach out now I don't know what the issues are in that sense but what I said I would say is uh you know like we were seeing tonight everybody's getting accolades for doing uh great jobs I'm just saying if this is happening to 67 of our teachers and our employees and it's just it's a certification issue if they can be helped I would be it would be nice to have an Avenue to where they feel like they can be helped um because it's really tough sitting and just feeling helpless so that's what this um agenda item is for and I said I would bring that up thank you thank you board members that's going to bring us to the consent agenda okay I will now take a motion to approve the consent agenda motion by Mrs Whitfield second by Mrs Andrews any discussion all in favor all opposed motion carries unanimously we don't have any unfinished business um under new business Mr superintendent Personnel addendum yes I recommend the school board approve the Personnel addendum as submitted motion by Mrs Andrew second by Mrs Whitfield any discussion all in favor all opposed motion carries unanimously okay that will now bring us to our non-agenda speakers I'll call you up two at a time you can go to either microphone we'll start with Carl Muhammad and Dr Tanya Small Carl Mohammed um I want to start today I want to thank miss Andrew for coming to our community coming to the upper room and having a personal conversation with us about our reality as African-Americans inside of the Palm Beach County School District and we're going to leave that door open for all of the rest of you and all particularly the ones that are new um because we understand the difficulty that it is in order to uh connect with our community and um it was strange that I ran into Dr Johnson um sitting on the other side of the room and I brought in tonight um it was for you Mr Burke it was a a copy of the um the idea of trying to really support African-American children's inside of the Palm Beach County School District this was done at the um NAACP um um dinner here in Palm Beach County Al Shon was the the host and you got letters from um quite a few people in here but the letter in here with the instructions that came from the superintendent of Palm Beach County Schools I think it really need to be looked at and if the rest of you would take a review because I'm sure that you don't have this this was out in 2004 and we're in 24 so this was 20 years ago but these were the things that was promised to our community and you always say a promise made is a promise kept so I'm hoping that you will look into that at at some juncture and then I want to also say that we have reached out to the well we're partnering now with the branches of the NAACP and they sent their love and they was the one that asked me to bring this copy to you Mr um Burke and um we're just trying to sit into place some real um accurate things for our community that coming from our community and we need that partnership to start now because most of the time for the least for the past four or five years I've been coming up giving the same projection and we've been getting the same results and it's disappointing I know I can't call out names but I thought Mr barer I thought we was going to do something fantastic and great before you left the scene but maybe what uh when you get back into the public sector maybe we can still hopefully do something meaningful to shine some light on some of the things that you and I know that are disparity inside of Palm Beach County and with that um the mayor of the city of of Redberry Beach is interested in in education inside of the city the city manager we've all been meeting and we have hopes that we're going to come together but when when you come please this year remember that when we did the equity study that we discovered that the children of the slaves was not even in your thought process so I'm hoping that this time we we get ready to go start this year you will take a critical look at us because we are a reality inside of your um system and we're not being mentioned in a proper kind of way and you need to talk to us that are in the community so that we can give you some light on some of the things and y'all know that I got all of the documentation that comes from our relationship between the school district and the black community and I have a lot of things that many of you haven't seen so I have that door open for you and it's we need to do some kind of training so that we can be ensured that we have thank you so Dr Tanya Small and followed by Belinda Leon good evening board I'm Dr Tanya Small from Royal Palm Beach and my topic is um academic disparity and um what does that mean for us well academic disparity is just the you know we're seeing our children and even though everyone talking about us we're we're great a schooling congratulations but you know really I would like to see that we get that a because every one of our children get an A you know but we know that there's a lot that goes into those factors to get the school in a all right we're large school district okay and on average we're doing okay because when you look at the data spread and all the data have just come out again and when you look at it and you know we pride ourselves in on saying that an average of our kids are scoring at or above um the the proficiency level right but um when you break that data down and you look at how many children are getting Level ones level twos level 3es the data is always really thick in those areas and as you go towards the level five few children are getting are showing Proficiency in that level and I just feel like the new level five was the old or that was the level three the new level five was the old level three you know and and we've had to lower the bar just to help our children to to to look better but i' want I would like us to consider what I offered before the last time I'm sorry for the nerves but we'll get past that we are a stronger foundation and uh years ago when Dr Art Johnson was in office I came and I presented this same program and I said I want an opportunity to help to raise achievement I feel like you know my calling this is my purpose this is my calling that's why I'm here and I just feel like one of these children that's in the level one and two that thick data they have a cure for cancer they're the one with a cure for arthritis and uh I I was happy to hear Mr Ferguson when you talked about that young man Jackson okay what I'd like to see is a class of 20 that have at least 19 Jacksons in it not one Jackson and the others are you know where they are and I believe that it's possible we do have a program a stronger Foundation it's the academic success plan for kids I don't believe we need better teachers we have the best teachers I mean that we have the best school district the best curriculum I mean it's Untouchable but what we need is to process the information our children are not processing we know what the educational psychologist say about how children learn we cannot get away from that they simply need a process we would love to collaborate with the district we'd love to partner with the district and play that role okay we focus a lot on parent involvement that's beating a dead horse that's not going to happen we want to take on that role of the parent involvement and help to the children to develop those skills and we will see achievement Skyrocket thank you thank you good evening Madame chair school board members and Mr superintendent I am Dr Belinda Leon I am the new program director for women of tomorrow I wanted to formally introduce myself but I've actually been with the organization on and off for about 20 years as a mentor women of Tomorrow has been around since 1997 we are a program that works with Palm Beach County Brower County and Miami day County public high schools we have an army of mentors all professional experienced women that will report to an assigned high school once a month for about an hour to Mentor they will have a group of about 30 no more than 30 mentees and mentoring can be on we're going to work on college applications we're going to put our resume together we're going to practice our interviewing skills these are all young ladies at risk for graduating high school our goal is number one that they graduate and two that they either pursue further education or that they're on a well defined career path in addition to the mentoring they will do field trips where they will will either explore higher ed or a career option I like to mix both of them together so I may have a group of girls who will go to FAU learn about majors and financial aid have a presentation on financial literacy and listen to a panel of women that are all working in stem we have over $8 million worth of scholarships that we have awarded since 1997 they qualify when they are seniors and I'm very grateful for the support over the years I hope that we continue to work together I look forward to meeting more of you and I I'm going to drop off some folders that has just more details about the program some more numbers the young ladies that go through our program they have a 99% High School graduation rate 96% of them say they do want to continue their education also I've got some information in here about an upcoming event that we have at Top Golf because we have over 27,000 alumni and we want them to also have some benefits and services that they started with as our mentees so thank you very much for the time and I look forward to seeing more of you this Academic Year thank you okay Daisy Daniel followed by Terrence Hart [Music] good evening my name is Daisy Daniel my employee number is 10983 70 I brought an article with me that uh I read back in April of 2023 it's entitled FAU gets 6 million to increase mental health counselors in schools they have a program it's called The Waves program I first heard of this program when I was teaching in 2018 and I had learned about it through the school counselor that was at that school at the time she informed me that she was able to get into this program work as a school counselor no longer be a teacher and I thought wow that's great I tried to reach out to FAU because I was curious how long these grants have been in place because as you know I've been trying to come here to share awareness more Awareness on the shortage of school counselors I have not heard back but at least I know from 2018 so this $6 million was spread out among five districts Palm Beach County was one of them my principal was excited about it he wanted me to apply at the time I was working as a school counselor but getting paid as a substitute and we'll talk about that in coming months my experience with all that I went ahead and I applied and to tell you the truth it was a very frustrating experience first of all I speak Spanish they needed Esau counselors I'm like oh this is great I speak speak Spanish this year should be easy well not really uh they told me basically that even though I'm a certified teacher and I was working as a school counselor that I was not a professional and the reason they said that was because at the time I was under the title of substitute teacher it takes literally 1 minute to look up my credentials but they turned me down simply because I was working as a sub doing the job of a school counselor that was frustrating so then I heard that they had another waves grant that one I would have had to pay 30% of the tuition okay fine I'll do that applied for that got turned down again we'll talk more about this next month thank thank you Terren Hart Donald Pearson uh Don Pearson West Palm Beach pal Beach Central um this is probably a a good time to talk about this from our last speaker that's exactly what I'm talking about when there is no real support um last uh last month um I addressed the board and I was interrupted so I was that kind of hurt a little bit but uh you explained that to me and I was going to write and I am going to write an email but the reason I didn't write the email is because in the past I've not gotten an answer except for the you know the AI boom just a response hey we got your email now I'm told that uh and some people have responded just to be clear but mostly I don't get a response but if you remember a couple years ago I did get a phone call from an area superintendent that told me not to contact school board members so all that made me do is write more so uh the email I'm going to send I I will send that I was going to read it now but it's probably better just to send it because I I I didn't write it when I was upset but still it's probably better to send it to you but I still want to read two quick paragraphs that are in there I have I have consistently been respectful when addressing the school board avoiding the mention of specific names and focusing only on the situation I believe there are many issues that are not that you are not fully aware of because certain individuals may be withholding certain information uh particularly regarding the treatment of teachers and one more there are many matters kept from the board and I sincerely hope that you will work better to educate your leaders so they can affirm and Inspire our teachers so I'll send that email thank you thank you Adrien Smith followed by Sylvia Hall hi how you doing this evening Adrien Smith uh greetings to you Shalom I'd like to speak about couple things things that I had non-agenda topic and I'm essentially uh going back to the essence of the topic of the themes that are presented to be the monthly themes at the schools and so my concern has been such that uh I had come before you and spoken on this before and in opposition to it and it's specifically regarding the lgbtq plus program uh theme that you have that you announced last October and has have put that as part of the agenda for students uh by the way just as recently as this last month Miami Dade had a discussion about presenting this exact same theme to their district and they outright rejected it they said that it was it was not appropriate for students and it would cause too many conflicts between parents and uh and and children to have that kind of a topic as a theme at the school now I bring this up because primarily what we're talking about is okay and on the on the sympathetic side okay I understand that you are trying to represent all social groups and you are trying to have balance and so forth the problem is that this specific issue okay is dealing with a group of people that is not a demographic it's not a like the African history month or Asian history month and and Latin you know American History Month this is not talking about a lineage of people this is talking about a social behavior a group of people that practice this par particular social behavior okay and this is damaging for children to be exposed to this okay we have LGBT they continue to have more definitions I just read one recently a new one a newer definition where a mistress is held uh to the side of the person between the wife and this is a new definition of that and what we are having is you would not for example take topless bars and say well we need to represent this group so that they're acknowledged the pornographic industry we're not going to have pornographic uh month where we recognize the history of pornography and you look at all these other aspects of things that are going on in the news just recently was in the news about a military person who would practicing pornography with his uh his wife and they were doing all these things and by the way if a doctor in a hospital just is recently happened had uh taken tens of thousands of videos of naked children and do something that mischievous the students can too thank you Sylvia Hall um thank you very much for for letting me speak I am Sylvia Hall I am the sorry I am the PTA president for the PM Beach County uh PTA and PTSA for the next two years so you will be seeing me here for the next years every month and probably and other other committees so I am syia H I am from Raton I am a proud mother of two children who graduated you know uh voah high and my daughter is about to go to college on on Saturday um so um I'm going to start by reminding everybody of the mission of the PTA uh our mission is to make every child's potential a reality by engaging and empower in families and communities to advocate for all children and I'm going to say all children capitalizing Al L because we care about all the children regardless of race ethnicity uh sexual orientation religion etc etc um and uh when uh we have been around for like 127 years only so we've been around for all this time and we are the oldest um children and advocating um organization in the country and we have been um the conscience of the country when it comes to Children and Youth issues and through the advocacy as well as family and Community Education PTA has established programs and call for legislation that improve our children's lives such as the creation of kindergarten classes child labor laws of the they came back you know they made that you know they came back this year uh again Public Health Service hot and healthy lunch programs Juvenile Justice System um mandatory immunizations um arts in education and school safety uh that's I wanted to remind all of you of that because sometimes we I get you know people say what does PTA do you know we have done all of this for 127 years years um and I would like to make a couple of announcements we just attended um leadership convention uh last July and our county is having our first general meeting on September 9th 20 of this year of obviously at the South Civic Center in the ray that will be our first general meeting uh and full training for for all of our local units and I would like to thank uh superintendent B because you will be there thank you very much and with that I am done thank you very much thank you so board members that will now bring us to our board discussion item bd1 Mr Ferguson thank you madam chair so we started uh conversing on on fsba membership for the board at large last month and I I want I'd like us to kind of make a decision on whether we choose to join this as a board my recollection ction from I believe it was a meeting in 2022 is that there was a a high ranking member of fsba who as best I can tell was a racist said some very inflammatory and insensitive things against um Hispanics and because of that we rightfully decided to disassociate ourselves from fsba but it's also my understanding that that person is no no longer affiliated with fsba and that fsba was a great resource to the board while we were members of fsba so seeing as the offensive person is now gone and equally if not more important than equally important um fsba at least from what I gather from the majority of you all was a very uh useful tool for us to use and considering the fact that we will have not one not two but three persons who have never been on boards before it seems to me that that would be a prudent use of District funds for us as a school district to rejoin fsba so I just wanted to hear from you all and Hope hopefully we can come to a decision on that matter thank you madam chair Mr Barbieri I think it's time that we rejoin especially as Mr Ferguson said we have three new board members coming on um while I was chaired during several years um we had masterboard training which is extremely important especially for new board members um we keep we did that through fsba so you know and they give us a lot of advice when we have issues um they've helped on lobbying issues when the state laws look like they're going to hurt us um so I think you know it's time for us to rejoin as Mr Ferguson said that the the lady that was there that was U was a racist chose to say some nasty things about Hispanic people is gone and uh I know that that's the reason we decided to withdraw is because she was in charge and since she is now gone I think that uh it's time for the board and I hope that the board will you know after I'm gone uh if you join fsba we'll bring back fsba to do the masterboard training because I think that's critical to new board members to understand their role in in the governance of the district Mrs Andrews thank you I agree that we need to get back there uh I was very active with fsba uh served on the board of directors and I was there during the time when we had a president who was unethical and said the uh really really uh poor remarks discriminatory remarks about children and I think we did the right thing by taking a back seat but I do agree that with the three new board members that are coming on board uh we need to get back there the person is no longer there and when I worked very closely with fsba I learned a lot I mean I did the training uh and I know the training is very helpful to new board members and so just do believe that we have to get back there uh because there are people coming from Across the Nation as well as around the state giving information to uh school boards uh within the State of Florida and we are a Florida school board representing Palm Beach County so I do believe we don't want to miss out on anything and that uh we need to get back there especially with those three new board members that will be coming on board thank you Mella yes I disagree about joining the organization um to give some historical context to my newest colleague one of the issues was Chris Patria who was president of fsba at the time um she made completely unacceptable disgusting remarks not only about hispanic students but also about lgbtq students we heard from our community center in compass we heard from the Guatemalan Mayan Community Center over email and in person and commentary that they were no longer supporting of us having a relationship with them the Guatemalan Mayan Community Center had extended an invitation to her to go and they revoked it because she just doubled down on these comments um she is neither here nor there what the concern is she is who she is she said the things she said they're reprehensible to me and unacceptable so I chose to resign as an individual member I will preface all of this by saying that at any time since you've been on the board since we left as a district anyone on this Das has had the opportunity to be a member of fsba individually so if you'd wanted to go to any conference attend any training get any enrichment you feel you need to do your job that has been available to any one of us up here this is about a simple business issue to me she said the thing she said the organization then kept her on for three years she was involved from 2020 until 2023 as immediate past president they did nothing then it became a legislative issue for me I heard a colleague mention that when there have been issues that have concerned us at the state level they have been supportive I find that really hard to believe I have done this before I'll gladly go through it quick again I have a two-page list of legislation that we opposed in our legislative platform that we sent letters to the legislature opposing explicitly that they were on the complete opposite side on right when it comes to the contentious bills we dealt with over the pandemic they were on the other side of that when it comes to the universal School voucher bill or hb1 they supported that when it comes to including nonpartisan races continue in this state which is on an amendment question in November I have seen no advocacy on that position position and this is going to turn into a Banana Republic of partisan politics if that goes through they have not taken a stance on that when it came to term limits going from 0 to 12 to 8 they did nothing to oppose that when it came to board member salaries being reduced or eliminated they did nothing to oppose that so put aside what happened with Chris Patria she's a despicable person who did not belong in a leadership role this is about for me a business issue we're talking $30,000 I know that in the district5 billion doll budget in the grand scheme of things it seems like nothing I will never join this organization as I felt as a new member I gained nothing from it of value to myself and if the trainings are a concern I will share that we already pay many memberships to organizations such as the great the great uh Council of the great City Schools we pay to be in the Consortium where they offer trainings that are very extensive and very comprehensive for new board member trainings for governance if it's an issue of training we can find it something that was personal and that I can not put aside from this whole conversation because I wasn't the only one who dealt with this either was what was happening to board members during the time that I've been on this board you know we've probably served the last four years the most difficult time to serve on a school board in history that people can imagine right during that time we were receiving personal threats we were being I was being followed I was being recorded what did I do I called Andrea massina the executive director she wouldn't put it in writing because she doesn't want a trail but she called me on the phone and said sorry there's nothing we can do so then why are my member of an organization that says they're for Schoolboard members when you're telling me my colleague in bravard my colleague in Broward all young women who were being just completely treated in a way that no one who's in public service should ever be treated telling us we had no Avenue for help so for me it's it's a it's a no I will not regain my individual membership I will not vote in support of the district being a member again you all know and it's very known that I will be gone in November you may do what you choose at that time if the rest of the board is is uh in support of that but I believe if what we're seeking here is truly a supportive organization that's in alignment with our legislative priorities and with what this board has stood for that I've been proud to stand with you all for four years and if we are saying we want training and we want things that are of value we're not going to get that with fsba Mrs Woodfield thank you um this is something that was really important to me as well um when we um when we went through this with the former um head of the organization and I was very disappointed in their response the response that they had to us at the time um which we said you know we won't be a member of your organization and I did not feel that we got um the response that I was hopeful that we would get which was some action on this um however um that being said as disappointed as I was I do feel like it has been many years and what is happening right now is that our voices are not being counted and we represent a huge portion of this state and we are not there for any of the lobbying that is going on we are not there to have any of the influence that we should have as such a large school district and I feel that us not being there has not moved the needle the way that I would like it to go I would like to see us be more inclusive the LGBT community of the Hispanic community of the things that she said of the things the organization did not stand up for but we are not there to be able to stand up for them and I personally would like to see Palm Beach County be counted again in this organization I don't think our absence has done any any good whatsoever um and I fully stood up for it and I did fight very hard at the time that we did step away from that organization because I was so angry um for the the things that were said but I do think that this state is heading in a direction um that does not align with the values of this community and doesn't align with the values of this board and so I want to be part of that conversation and so I think that it is time that we join back with fsba thank you thank you so I'm going to add in my comments and I don't disagree with anything that anyone said I agree with Miss aella I also agree with the other board members but what I do know is that um we have a lot of issues that are coming forward and I do think that you have to get to the table with the people who you disagree with because that's the only way you make change regardless of of how I feel um we have a majority of the board that's interested and as a housekeeping chore right now a duty that we have I just want to make you aware that um we'll bring this back we're instructing the superintendent to bring it back for a vote but we all need to be aware and it's important that we vote ASAP because their next meeting their new Schoolboard member training I believe is December 3rd their meetings are the 3rd to the 6th um and so that's going to impact our board meetings we do have a board meeting already a special meeting um set up for that week so if we are going to join and the majority of the board are going to be at the Florida School Board Association I want to allow the superintendent and the board clerk to make the changes that need to be made to our agenda so Mr superintendent please make sure that we bring this back for a vote at our next board meeting yes be sure to do that okay so with that our meeting is over I'll take a motion to adjourn motion by everybody but by Mr Ferguson second by Mr Barbary any discussion all in favor all opposed motion carries unanimously we are now adjourned at 6:33 p.m.