Sorry, I got carried away. Good evening everyone. >> Good evening. Good evening. Good evening. This is Reggie. Hi Shine. >> Hi dear. How are you? >> Fine. >> Evening.
>> How are you? >> Melissa, were you able to get in touch with um somebody from Maria's office? >> I did not yet. It's okay. I'll in the new year. >> Okay. >> We'll make it happen. But I appreciate it. Thank you. and I apologize. Thank
you. >> No, that's okay. Okay. Since it is Since it is um 54. Okay. I'm gonna move my phone in the other room. I have it turned off. M Can everyone um turn off
your mics for now and let's see if that helps. Okay, this is the only meeting that I won that I'm having this week to. I don't know if it's from the um board room
that's causing the feedback. I think we're muted. Can you hear me now? >> Yeah, I can hear. See, when I talk it, it's staticky and so in the event because Gloria had mentioned last time it might be from my phone. So, I turned
my phone off. Uh, [clears throat] so and I don't have this problem when I'm doing other meetings. Now, right now, I didn't hear that. So, the static, the feedback Anyway, everyone, it's 5:46. Mr. Marco, would you please call the role to see if
we have a quorum? >> Good evening. Barbara McQueen, District 1, >> here. Thank you. >> Christine Tips, District 2, >> present. >> Elisa Casiliano, District Three, >> present.
>> Nathan Collins, District 4, >> present. Dr. Holly Seinfield, District Five. Laura Felman, District 6. James Waldron 3, District 7. >> I'm so sorry.
>> Sherman Postal, County Council of PTA, PTSA. present online. >> Latoria Hiller, Coalition for Black Student Achievement. >> Regginald Dandes, I Inc.
>> President online. Randy Gabriel, District ESC Advisory Committee, Sher Scott Lubman, Palm Beach State College. >> We have a quorum.
>> Thank you. And do we have uh Miss Gloria Branch with us from school board tonight? >> She she will not be here this evening. She let us know. >> Thank you. I didn't want to leave her out again like I did last time. So, thank you. We have a quorum. Welcome
everyone. How was it already December? No idea. Anyway, um I know that we all received the minutes. So, is there a motion to approve the minutes from our November meeting? >> I motion to approve the minutes from
last month's meeting. >> Thank you, Mr. Baldwin. Do we have a second? >> A second. >> Second. >> I think that was Mr. Marco. Do you have the second? >> May Collins second.
>> Thank you, Mr. Collins. Um, any discussion? Um, amendments. Okay. Since we're since we are in person and raising hands, I will ask you to if you um disapprove the minutes, would you
please so indicate? All right. Hearing none, minutes unanimously approved. Do we have anyone here for public comments online or in person? Hearing none, let's move this over to
our chief academic officer, Miss Bishop. Good evening everyone. I hope everyone had a very nice Thanksgiving. Enjoyed some good family time or time with friends also. I know we did around here. It was nice to have that weekl long break um to get caught up with our
family life and all of that. So, we're happy to be back here. Um so, this month we are busy here with in the district. Our students are busy taking their tests. Our elementary school students are um in the midst of taking their PM2
assessments and their IR diagnostics, our secondary students are taking their um exams and preparing for these other assessments. So, we're pretty much right now just focusing on um our assessments because it's the PM2 is progress
monitoring too in which we take our second round of state assessments. And this data is one that we're really looking forward to taking a look at and analyzing because it will let us know where we stand, where our students stand in
comparison to the goals that we've set. Um it it's a good time for us to monitor and um know whether the work we've been doing so far is working out where if we are on track to meet our goals, our student goals and then it will also help
us uh guide our work for the second um half of the year. We'll come back in January. We'll analyze all this data. We will uh then create every school usually creates their action plans. um and kind
of sets the course of the remainder of the year that way. So, we're looking forward to that when we return. Let's see what else we have going on. Um we are getting ready to close our schools for the winter break. So, this is always such a lovely time of the year here in
the district because at all the schools we have the opportunity to celebrate different holidays around the world. Our students are performing. Um, every school has some kind of event, all different kinds of activities. Um, I
know that, uh, I just attended, for instance, last week the Drifus School of the Arts at the Kravis Center, their prism concert, which is amazing. It was my first time attending. I was very, very impressed. But, uh, here in the district, we have our art show, their music programs all over the county. So,
great time to be here enjoying, uh, the time of the year. So, I did also want to bring back um some questions that we had from our last presentation last month. If you kind of go back to that, you just took a look at
our minutes. Um I wanted to talk a little bit first with our VPK. We had lots of questions about that data um what it really meant. So I wanted to start out by clarifying a couple of things when I went back and listened to
the recording. Um, so we discussed we were looking at data that our VPK students took at the end of last year. We call that progress monitoring 3, PM3. And we were looking for students that scored a level of 707 and above. Then
that would designate those students as being ready for um kindergarten at that time. And the students did take the star early literacy assessment which is the same. And that's I wanted to clarify is the same assessment that
our kindergarters take in PM1. It is the early literacy assessment. Um I just wanted to also mention that our kindergarteners will now start transitioning to the star reading test.
So in kindergarten students can take two tests. the early literacy assessment and if they do well with that then they transition to the um star reading assessment which is we'll assess them on kindergarten standards
both tests are adaptive um so then we are comparing we looked last time at the performance of our students when they were in VPK u how they did in PM3 and if I look at the data should have probably included
that here but I have it here. Um, we said that our students in BPK at the end of the year were scored 72.8% which meant 72.8% of those students were ready for kindergarten because they
scored 707 and above. Um, but then when we took a look at the students that were in VPK, we were at 52% ready. So we had a lot of conversation about the reason why there was that
drop. Um I looked at it a little bit more closely and one of the reasons that we want to say is that uh back then we had about 22 about 2200 students took the VPK um took the test when they were in VPK.
And then we only had about um what did we have about um 900 students that were scored at that 52 at that 707% and above. So 52%
and 831 students um did not meet that criteria. So that's about 1,700 students. So we were missing a you know many students right from the 2200 students. So what is that about 700
something like that students. So that the denominators are different. So that contributes to some of that the scores being lower. Um we also said something that was important is that when our VPK students took the exam on PM3 that
assessment it was in May. So most of the students were very familiar with their schools, had relationships with their teachers, you know, were accustomed to the environment, the classrooms, um, and all of that. And then it is important to
note that when they take it here in August, they've only been in school a couple of weeks and so they're not as comfortable yet in our environment. They have a new teacher, um, you know, new surroundings. Um also I think they take the testing conditions are slightly
different also um some of the students in VPK setting take it like in lab lab kind of settings where there's computers and they go in there and all take it at once. Um that's not necessarily the way they take it here at the in kindergarten. Um so it's
a little bit different. So so we have those differences and also the summer slide. So, we're interesting to see how they do right now for PM2 to see if that makes a difference. The other question that came up and and again I just want
to go back and reiterate that this is new data, new assessment. We have not been able to this is the first time the students take the same assessment as VPK students and as kindergarten students. So, we're still learning and still looking at um statewide um you know
about the the assessment results and actually we're going to see if we can do it. But what would be really beneficial is to track those VPK students, those students that took the PM3 and are now sitting in our classrooms that took PM1 and compare those students and see what
the how they did um from VP from PM3 to PM1. we could really assess that difference there if we did it student by student. Um the other thing that I also we also
talked about was the the category on the data that was referred to as um other prek. We were wondering which students that was referring to. And so going back to VPK students are
students that were in our system, state system, county system listed as VPK. Um, so we have other students that and first of all that information is collected by the parents. So the parents self-report when they come and register
their students for kindergarten whether or not their students have had VPK or preK. So we feel like the students that were here with us in pre VPK classes in our district classrooms
were counted as VPK. Our students that were in our inclusion classrooms, our SWG students were also counted as VPK students. We do have some students that are here in preK that are not in VPK. Um, these are some of our students with
disabilities and also those other preK may be private preks like we talked about last time. Um, and so just because they attended preK doesn't mean that they actually had the BPK certificate. So those are some
differences there. Again, we're looking as as as a county to see if we can get better data and better definitions there. So those are things that I wanted to bring back to you. Also, I just wanted to bring back
another question that came up was about our gifted students. We share the data in grades three through 10 um for ELA and math by subgroup. And I know there was a question about our gifted students. So I
did bring that data back to you. I added that last row is our gifted student. So, as you can see, it's pretty our students scored very high. Um, comparing it again like we did last time from FI24. This first set of columns, we look at
we're looking at our 310 ELA and the first column is FI24, 96.9, FI2 5 97.5. So, it's very very insignificant difference, but you can see it there. For math 3 through eight, we they went
from 97.2 2 to 90 98.1. Algebra 97.3 to 98.1. Um, geometry 99.1 to 98.8. So, just a slight decrease, but overall they held their own. So, that was just interesting to see it
that way. And then we continue with science and social studies. Um, fifth and eighth grade science. Um, FI24, 84.9, FI25, 94.7. Um so there we did see an increase u it
went up to nine 9.8 points. Biology they were 100% both years and civics um 98.8 to 99.4 just a slight decrease and we don't have any data for US history because that's typically taken at the high school level
and um we don't have our gifted students labeled um at that point. And so students to be counted in this gifted subgroup, these are students that have current EPS in the system and
that's how they get coded for gifted. So that was something I brought back to you. That is all I have. Do you have any questions? >> Before we take questions, thank you for those um very comprehensive answers. I
appreciate that. You're very welcome. >> Do we have questions? Do I see any hands? I don't think so. So, we will turn Oh, I'm very excited about Oh, was there a question? >> No. Thank you for bringing us this
information that's coming up on choice and career programs. I'm looking forward to it. >> Yes, you asked and here we are. So, we have a very special guest with us today. Our deputy superintendent, uh, Mrs. Jamie Wyatt is here to present the
exciting news about our choice and career programs and I'm going to there you go. >> Make it a selection. >> Hi, good evening everyone. Um I don't know how special I am but I'm happy to be here with you guys tonight to and I
what I will say is this presentation is kind of a repeat. I don't. So, for those of you who may have seen it um on the November, I think it was the 19th board meeting. I apologize if this is repetitive. Um I'm going to go a little bit more quickly than that I did in the
night of the um workshop. >> I'll be sure to take any questions when we're done. >> Okay. This is the November 5th workshop. It wasn't the 19th. It was the 5th. That's right. Okay. Um anyway, we just really put this slide in here to remind
everyone that this started quite a few years ago. Um this work I should say because this initiative A1A was really um put back into our strategic plan almost five years ago. Um when we talked about strengthening our career pathways and choice programmings choice
programming back then. Um we do we really do feel like we have robust programs. Um, we do have a continuum of choices for all of our students. And what we what we like to say is that all of our students should have the opportunities to leave our schools
either ready to be enrolled into some unto college or universities, enlisted into the armed forces, or employed. Some of our students clearly are going directly into the workforce or going into the workforce or or going into
adult ed or vocational programs and then into the workforce. This is a Do I want to show the video? >> Yeah, sure. We're going to show the video. That's just kind of a highlight of what we do um here in Palm Beach County. All >> pathways to possibilities are endless in
the school district of Palm Beach County. Where will your path lead? With more than 330 innovative choice, career, and technical education programs, we've built the road map to success. No matter your passion, we have the specialized
program to turn it into a profession. Thanks to local voters supporting our schools on the ballot, we can offer a diverse variety of programs with dedicated and expertly trained teachers leading the way. >> The Fire Science Academy at Washington is a very unique program. You instantly
come out with a trade that you're able to apply towards your community without having to leave. >> This is where education meets industry. Our programs deliver more than 100 different industry certifications that employers recognize and value. In one
year alone, our students earn over 10,000 certifications. That's thousands of students who are college ready, career ready, and debt-free. Ready to join the next generation of health care professionals? We have medicalies that partner with hospitals like Jupiter
Medical Center to give students the hands-on experience they need to achieve their goals. Want to build a home or design the next great office building? The Whites Company helps make it possible. Or maybe your path takes you to serve your community in law
enforcement. Agencies like Delray Beach Police are right there in the classroom with [music] our aspiring officers. We have 400 community partners that invest in our students and guide them toward their future. The proof is in the numbers. More than 35,000 students
participate in our choice and career programs. At our annual showcase of schools, the programs are all on display to help students find the path that fits them best. Not sure which path is right for you? The school district of Palm Beach County is all about choices. You
can attend your zoned school, which may even have its own in-house programs, or you can choose to apply to another school's program that fits your goals. Our students seize the opportunities in front of them and go on to become prestigious doctors, lawyers, teachers,
firefighters, service members, and even Broadway stars. >> Either be an FBI agent or become a lawyer. They're both in the same path, and so I know where I'm heading. And the Criminal Justice Academy is a way to get there. >> From the Glades out west to West Palm
Beach, from north to south, [music] and everywhere in between, there are options in every part of Palm Beach County. The pathways to possibilities are open, preparing today's learners to be tomorrow's leaders. Which one will you choose? The school district of Palm
Beach County is your best choice. So, you know, by watching that video, one would think like, wow, you know, we do such amazing things, and we do. So, I don't want to say that we don't. But I will say that, you know, over the past couple of years, we've been hearing so
much uh about workforce development, career pathways, the really I would say the we we spent a lot of time with the economic council, with the business development board and and and community and industry partners and they've been
very clear that, you know, things are changing out there in the landscape and they really want to make sure that our students students are prepared for what they have to offer and what their needs are. And so for it had been some time um that we were thinking about you know
through this initiative through the strategic plan you know what can we do differently what can we do better and you know at during that time we also wound up taking two trips over the over a period of two years we actually went with the economic council and we visited
Nashville and the year after two years later we visited Dallas and really I think that Dallas trip really sol solidified it for us that um we we need to do more and we need to take a look at what we're doing and see what what we
don't know, right? Because some of the program highlights um that we saw out particularly in Nashville was the industry partners. They have a huge robust industry partners and that was something that was very that stood out. And in addition, a lot of the career
technical programs that were happening in both of those districts were happening differently than how they were happening in our school district. Not necessarily better or worse, but just differently. But one thing that also stood out was just their pathways that their students in middle school would
leave middle school and really have clear career pathways, whether that be through school or whether that be through college. I mean um through a uh straight into the workforce. So when we got back from the trip, we were brainstorming, brainstorming, and you
know, sometimes you just know that it's time to have someone take a look with an outside lens, right? You know, there's only so much you can look at yourself sometimes and you you miss things. So from that, we decided to hire an outside consultant to do an external review. And
it was interesting because that review happened over a year's time. And during that external review that took about a year, they were feeding us some information along the way which then kind of prompted us to understand a little bit more what they were doing to
dig down deeper and kind of side by side do a deeper internal review. So the external review really focused on well what are the high wage in demand jobs in the local market because that's changed that's changed over time, right? Um also
what our programming looks great and it is but how much of it is aligned to high wage in demand jobs for our students and what is the level of our industry partners. Now, as you can see, the whites construction and you know, we uh bank of America and and the sheriff's
department and we have a we have so many partnerships, but some are robust and some are not so robust, right? So, what's the level of that engagement? And then lastly, do our stakeholders really know what we have to offer and do our students really understand what we have to offer. So while the this inter
external review was being conducted, we also took a look at some of our own programs like our community of value programs which may not necessarily fall under the category into the category of high wage and demand but they are valued by our community like our teaching
programs um like let's say the fire academy um that that is that's a high um high wage but it's not so in demand only because people don't leave that job once they get into it. So, it didn't really fall into it, but yet it's something
that we value in our in our district as well as our arts program. Our arts program is certainly not something that we would we would ever consider, you know, getting rid of. So, you know, we continued to work with our partners and career source as this entire as this
review was continuing. So out of this massive review and there's a huge report that was created from this um really four major focus areas um emerged and one again was again
career pathways just do our do we have clear pathways and are they leading our students to the right places and giving them the right opportunities. Do we have a robust enough career advising such that our kids we you know once we have the pathways do our kids really know how
to choose them correctly? Um again how do we strengthen our industry partnerships? Um thinking about work-based learning opportunities etc. And then how do we engage our families and making sure that they're helping their children make the right decisions
about what it is that we have to offer and what's the best fit for them. So, what I'm going to do is really quickly go through each one of those buckets. What we're going to do is kind of talk about the highlights and opportunities that came out of those buckets. Um, and then what we're going
to do about it. So, the first bucket we talked about again is the career pathways. We found out there were 42 high wage in demand occupations. But we also learned, you know, and this was a tough pill to swallow, that three out of the four high wage in demand jobs do require some education beyond high
school. So that is something that we we we had to take into consideration. The good news is that you know while we have 350 choice programs and 37,000 about students are in those programs about 70% of our students that are in choice
programs select choice programs that are aligned to high wage in demand occupations. So there's a very small percentage of students that are in other a variety of programs such as the community valued programs etc. The other thing that we
found you know is that there is some opportunity in our district to enhance regional accessibility which means if I have I'll give a quick example Don Estridge high-tech middle school is in the south. We only have one high-tech middle school. So you know is that really accessible to students in other
parts of the county? So, how do we take a look at, you know, making sure that we have high wage in demand opportunities for students across our district? Um, acceleration options were were big. We do a ton of acceleration in our district
and I think you've seen the data on that but are we providing acceleration opportunities within CTE which means is CTE you know within that program of study do students have the opportunity to take
acceleration um through that program and we're going to talk a little bit about that later you're going to see some really cool things that we have in store for our students um and okay the recommendation out of that It was just hey let's reimagine what our high school might look high school experience might look like for
students and make sure that we are actually engaging our students and demand-driven interest aligned pathways starting in nth grade. The other thing that this is more if we look at our adult ed learners,
we have well actually it's it's not just our adult ed, it's more of our CTE and our high school adulted learners. We have some really neat career exploration programs. You you might have heard um for our high school like the John I Leonard program who want who you know
who's wired to be an electrician. And we have the Forest Hill program. Um, and there's one at um, you know, can you dig it? And then there's another one, the there's a license to chill, which is an HVAC program. And, you know, these are
great, but there's three in our entire district. And how can we be more innovative and think about expanding that for our high school students so they get they are really getting in immersed in hands-on learning. Um we do offer really extensive pre-apprenticeship and apprenticeship
programs through our adult ed. That is one area that we came out shining pretty strong. Um Fred Bart has done an amazing job um expanding the apprenticeship programs through that pro through our adults ed. Um, and also you're going to hear me speak a lot about career dual
enrollment because it ties in to acceleration, but it also ties into allowing our students in high school to be able to take um college level courses the and get 300 hours of career
dual enrollment. So they they're getting the acceleration, they're getting 300 hours, and then they can take the other 300 hours at Palm Beach State once they graduate. So they're getting a So we, you know, one example of that right now that we're doing is the welding program in the Glades where that those students
and we have two full three buses of students that come over at different times of the day to take their welding career dual enrollment and it is just amazing and you know we're excited for those students to be able to metriculate into Palm Beach State. So those are the opportunities that you're going to see
us talking a little bit more about for our high school students. Um the goal then again if this is uh the goal and the benchmarks are outlined on this page. I'm not going to read every single bullet but basically it's to make
make sure that we have student learning that is aligned to our market needs that we are expanding expanding our industry certifications. the the more credentials of value that our students get in high school, the more marketable marketable
they'll be entering into the work field, even if they're going into college first. So, giving them that head start. Um, and again, the career dual enrollment and career exploration that we talked about, those are some of our benchmarks for career pathways.
In addition, um, our second bucket, career advising, and I think that this has been a tough one for us because most of our middle school students that were surveyed through the external review did express that they are interested in the high school careermies
and programs, but they didn't really all understand and know about them. Um, while we do have counselors on our campus, you know, we know that the ratio between counselors and students is is large. And so we do use a tool called Zello. It is uh through the state which
allows students to create sort of um a career pathway an initial career pathway through these tools beginning in eighth grade but we really really need to expand that. We do have some care career fairs in eighth grade, but again
ultimately we know that our hot spot is we need to provide more career advising starting in seventh grade for our students so that they're actually ready to choose um either chose programs or careermies in eighth grade so they're
ready to go in ninth grade. So again some of those buck this is the goal for career advising which I kind of just talked about. We're going to make sure that there's a divi there are defined pathways every eighth grader. We're going to
strategically use Zello which is the the the tool the AI tool. But it's interesting we've already talked to Zello and they are going to customize their tool to meet the needs of our district. So students will actually be able to access careermies through Zello
that are specific to Palm Beach County. And then again identifying additional career advising tools, even if it is other AI opportunities and having our counselors have some tools to work more closely with our students. The third bucket, industry partners.
Again, there are varying levels of engagement with industry partners across our 69 CTE programs in high school. Um, while we have robust work-based learning experience, some places it's not everywhere. Um, so we want to just, you know, there's just more opportunity to
su to scale the successful workbased programs that are already occurring in some of our high schools. And we talked about leveraging some of the current relationships that we have with with already known industry organizations. When we think about the economic council and the BDB, we have such great
partnerships with them that we really want to leverage the partners that work the industry partners that work directly with the council to help us connect more programs with more partners. And the the ones listed on this slide are just a few. There's many more, but these are
some of the big ones. So again, the goal is to increase internships, u guest speakers, hand on hands-on learning opportunities, work-based learning experiences embedded into their programs. Um, making sure that we secure a dedicated business
partner for each one of our programs, and really expanding those career exploration opportunities because otherwise it's just paper and pencil, right? Our students don't really get to see what those occupations and those careers are going to look like out in the real world.
And lastly, our last bucket, our student and family engagement. What we found is that the community valued programs and high interest programs are very important to our families. Very there is definitely a need to increase student parent and community knowledge about
what opportunities we have to provide. And there is an opportunity for the district to do a better job of marketing our programs and using some of the m updating some of the materials that we have. The choice booklet is overwhelming for our parents and they don't always
know how to access that information. So we're already working on developing a comprehensive communication and marketing strategy to support the students and families. benchmarks are not only a marketing to are not only to us to engage in a
marketing um campaign but also we are uh currently creating that comprehensive catalog and um you're going to see an example um of um page in our new career pathways um document or I should say booklet
that's going to be shared with our students in middle school. You're going to see that in just a few minutes. Here it is. Okay. So, this is kind of a sample of one academy that's laid out. It's going to be, you know, one of many that will be
in a booklet for our students. Um, and this is, let's say, applied cyber security is one of our programs. And across the top in the dark blue, you will see the coursework that they are required to take in this particular academy. So, it's one course per year.
The reason you see in ninth grade IT fundamentals or ACE is because we talked about adding acceleration opportunities into the careermies. Otherwise, students will not want to participate if they're not able to get the acceleration points
as well. In the light blue on the right hand side, you're going to see some of the certifications that students are going to get in applied cyber security. on the bottom in the gray that's just the general coursework that students have to take in their high school years.
So parents and students can see what's what's different the cyber security classes and what is required the 24 credit stand the standard credits and on the bottom we're then I mean on the right hand side in the white and blue
you're going to see we we offer opportunities for acceleration we talk about requirements for university some dual enrollment opportunities and other other things that may be pertinent to this field. This is an example of building
construction and management. I'm not going to go through the whole uh slide with you again, but you can see this is something that's more in the trades. So, a student is going to be able to see with every single academy, the entire picture, not just a sentence within our
choice bullet, you know, you know, booklet, but this is really what it's going to look like for you over four years. And these are some of the opportunities you'll be provided. Okay. So, thinking about the many phases of this program, of this project, we
can't do everything at once. So, clearly this is going to be over a couple years. We decided to jump in all hands on deck and try to get something off the ground in phase one. So, we approached some of our principles where it seemed fitting.
And already we are opening up four new programs next school year starting with Palm Beach Gardens High School. We have an AI program, Atlantic High School of Biomedical Engineering, Royal Palm Beach High School, quantum computing. I can't even begin to tell you what that means,
but I can tell you it's important and they're talking about it in the in the community and the industry. Construction trades at St. High School and we just put the career dual enrollment welding because we're expanding that next year. Okay, this well we talked about that
career dual enrollment earlier, you know, where their students get 300 hours um at the high school level and they actually travel to the career tech centers to get those 300 hours and then finish out at Palm Beach State. Right.
Right now we currently have five um technical centers and we really want to grow these programs. So this is we have Westech, Chuck Shaw, Historic Roosevelt, Northtech coming on board and historic Carver. This these are not the adults ed
programs solely. These are the career dual enrollment programs that we want to start over the next few years. And on the bottom, you're going to see the actual icons for the different programs that we would like to start. Again, the only one that's fully in in swing right
now is the welding. And look how many programs we have slated to start either next year or the year after for our students. This is just another view of those technical ed programs seeing it a different way. You can see that the new programs this year under each one of
these sites, those are your adult ed programs. and under the future programs um those are your career dual en enrollment programs and it kind of gives you an idea you know just a different way to look at it and then that we finish off with Chuck
Shaw and Westech. Those are the only two sites right now that we say are accredited by COE that are currently able to take on career dual enrollment but we have applications going for the other um technical sites to be able to begin as soon as possible. So those are
some of the programs listed under there. All right. So we've already hit some milestones this year and really over the next few years, our biggest challenge is determining as we start new programs, which programs do we want to add based
upon this report? Which programs do we want to replicate across our district? and which programs honestly do we need to repurpose because we don't have many students enrolled in them and they're not leading our students to anything that's valuable. So that's going to take a little we are currently you know
working through that. We are working through those uh buckets. We're going to be providing a lot of professional development. We're going to be working with different industry partners and just really trying to grow this model for our students.
And that's it in a quick nutshell. It's it's really a big deal, but this is just kind of a quick overview of where we've been and where we're headed. If you have any questions, I'm here to answer them. >> Are there Well, so surely there are I
have questions, but I know that I will I will address them not in in this meeting, but I will come back and tell you all what I find out. In full transparency, when I joined the school board, what was nine years ago, I had
not been aware that the North Technical Education Center was no longer open for our high school students. And several of the teachers um that I met on my campaign trail um were lamenting the fact that we didn't have North Tech for
high school students anymore. Um, so that has been just that was one of my huge missions. So I just wanted to let you all know that. And while I very much appreciate our quality programs, I also feel very strongly that we have opportunities during regular school
hours that our high school students are not metriculating with adults. And that would be my only commercial. Any questions or comments? >> I think I we see a hand up. It's hard to see from >> I'm gonna let you guys do that from there. Thank you.
>> There is a hand up, but we can't see it because as we're we're really far from the screen. >> Someone whose hand is up. >> It's me. >> Thank you. Go ahead, please. >> All right. Well, first, that was a great presentation. Thank you for that and for taking the time to come and speak to us.
>> Uh, when it comes to the promotion, I've had some experience in promotions. Everything that you said sounds spectacular. Um, and I know you said you were going to start marketing out to everybody and I also understand that we kind of lost some students this year to
the tune to about 6,000, >> right? If if you were to explain this in maybe a large scale format, maybe some sort of town hall, maybe through some commercials throughout the year and at key points in the year like at during
maybe during holidays or the the end of schools during the summers or around like that. I'm sure this these discussions are happening. But I I think that this would draw people back and it would make people excited about the experiences that can be had here in the
county. Thank you. >> Yeah, I appreciate those comments because you're right on point and that that is part of our marketing plan is to really get out there in the community and start talking about this as we move along this path. So, you are right on
point. Thank you for that. Miss Castle, I can't read. Hi. How are you? Sorry, it's just so hard to read. Thank you. >> It's okay. Fantastic presentation. I am so grateful that we have these opportunities for our students in our district. I know from a parent standpoint and um from hearing from
other parents, everyone is concerned with I'm going to speak to maybe the IT or the engineering program. What are we doing in preparing our students for the future of the IT or engineering where AI is taking over those fundamentals and
how are we preparing those teachers and educating them to maybe change course a little bit with those programs? >> Yeah, I mean I think it's a good point. And I think our we have had some engineering programs around the district and a variety of IT programs, but I'm
not so sure to your point that we have been thinking globally about the importance of, you know, expanding those programs and providing more opportunity for students to really understand what that's about to be able to be be
prepared to go into those programs for that for those four years. And that's I think part of that trickle down effect of you know us starting down in middle school. Um I think the AI spa space is really really new for us. And um it's
funny because we are we are actually working on you know reddrafting and reddrafting an AI policy that's going to be going to the board here sometime this year. We brought it once and realized there just wasn't enough robustness in it. And and then the other thing is we
are going to be creating an AI workshop for the board as well because it's it's so everchanging but we are really doing some really great work in this space. You know our partnership with Khan Academy and our KIGO and our Gemini
teens and we're just we're doing a lot. I just don't know if we're getting that information out there quick enough to families and parents and to teachers. Um, and so that's something we're working really hard on. But I I you
know, I I appreciate your point and I think that that it and engineering is going to be expanding in our phase two because I don't think that we have enough programs regionally across our district. So that is something that we're looking at, >> right? and even um through expansion
just kind of revamping what we're actually exposing the kids to that is a little obsolete at this point or will be obsolete by the time they you know get into the industry. Um example is you know basic code where debugging is a lot
more uh needed than coming up with basic code. Um so things like that just to think about looking into the programs like that. Yeah, I I appreciate that we have that's why we have really smart people in our work team that know a lot about that because you're right um
coding really is obsolete and we were pushing that hard for a while. So we do have a group of people that have been selected to deal with each bucket, right? So like there's a career pathways group, there's an industry partnership group, and the people that are sitting in the career pathways group are tasked
with reaching out to local industry, you know, figuring out, you know, what is it that they're looking for, looking at even like the metriculation into college and what these because that's part of this entire review is to take a look at our programs and see how do we
repurpose them or revamp them so that they are up to date. So that you're right on point as well. >> Perfect. Thank you. Thank you for that, >> Miss Kim. >> Yes. Thank you so much for the presentation. That was a lot of um great
information. Um I just want to speak to I guess you had mentioned the the choice booklet and um all the programs being overwhelming to parents and students. And um having to go through that booklet
myself this year, I can say that I myself was a little bit overwhelmed at the amount of information um that you know parents have you know a certain deadline to consider um before making you know their their choices for their
with their children in mind. Um so I'm just wondering just on two points um well I guess it's they're the same point. Uh, is there a way to clarify, I guess, certain, I guess, preferences that are being allowed at certain
schools? Um, because I know there's the principal's 20%. And I know there's a deadline for principles to utilize that 20% or not utilize it. Um, is there a way to put out the information or I
don't know if you do do that about which schools utilize that 20%. Um, and then is there a way to clarify the strand preference? Um, like which elementary schools would be considered a
strand program for middle schools and then which middle schools would be considered a strand program for choice high schools. Yeah, that's a good question. Um, you know, I I don't I don't want to respond to it and give misinformation. I think it's a good question to take take back
to the choice team. um I haven't been intimately involved with the creation of those strand preferences as well as I there are some principles that do the 20% and some principles that don't. But I I honestly feel like it's kind of part
of our overhaul because one of the things that we're looking at is the criteria that may be stopping some of our students from getting into these programs. So I will definitely take your question back. Um, but I also think that
your question leads to some of our thinking back at the table of how we want to proceed and move forward. Like I'm not sure if things are going to stay the same in that aspect or if there'll be some changes made as some of our programming changes or as we become more consistent across the district. So I we
wrote it down over here and I will certainly take it back to the team. >> I see Mr. Waldron's hand up. >> Uh, yes. I'm sorry. One one last thing that I kind of miss Melissa spoke on that was a really great question as far
as do you have the staff and team ready to tackle some of some of the upcoming things and your answer and I want to make sure I'm understanding it correctly is you are currently working on getting your teachers and some of the even the principles to even understand the
concepts of AI and some of what it can do and some of the uh harms and benefits. and things like that. >> We are we are >> I happen to know a couple people in the industry, one of which, you know, wanted me to be a part of his um program that
he's starting up when it comes to quantum computing. Uh and he is a great person that's been in this industry for almost 30 years. He's well known around the city and perhaps he could be when you get to that part of course if not it
this I know this is not going to happen anytime soon but when it when you get to that part of maybe okay you can talk to this gentleman and maybe he can introduce you to other people and say listen what do our teachers need to know what do our staff need to know how can we educate our people because yeah I
mean when we talk about quantum computing you're talking about computing that's going to make current passwords and encryption uh arcane. >> Yeah. >> Very shortly. So, yeah, I'm um it's one of those things where you are probably going to need to get on the ball pretty
quickly with that. >> Yep. We we are and um I would love to have that person's name. We are open to all in, you know, all all that want to help. We've been working with some other districts around the country and state as well looking at other um what other
people are doing and other policies and guidelines for teachers as we're kind of learning about this ourselves. Our team has been out there but there's so much to learn and we want to do this right. So any input that we can get as we're we're continuing because right now the
the AI that we're working with whether it's KIGO or Gemini is all a very safe space, right? Because it's within sort of a protected what we call kind of a protected garden. Um, and while they're right now we're working on creating guidelines for teachers, the dos and the
don'ts, um, it's a little less scary because they're not out there using tools with our students that have no guard rails. Most of the things that we're using have guard rails. Um, but you know, to your point, I definitely
don't think that we're experts in this field right now. And any support that we can get in terms of continuing to educate our our our teachers as we move forward in this work, we would certainly welcome. >> I'll drop some. Thank you. Miss Wyatt,
could we have would you see that someone I don't know where it's choice programs or whatever, but reach out to um uh reach out to and I all of a sudden I've just lost the name, Mr. Waldron. Would you have someone reach out to him to get that information?
>> Absolutely. >> Not sharing it with the world here. >> Absolutely. >> Thank you. And Charmaine, >> I was just going to ask um Miss White if she can also reach out to me. I can um connect you with someone also who's in
the community who actually um have offered before. I know who did some offered some things for my nonprofit, but he has offered for several other organizations. Um I don't know if this may sound familiar, but have done some
work in the community. Glenn um Benjamin with Len Infoch who is the like cyber security um group over uh Florida Panthers. Um I can definitely connect you with Ted. >> Yeah, that'd be that would be wonderful.
And you can also ask him if he wants to be a business partner. >> Which which program does he want to support? >> I I will definitely um connect the two of you, Jamie. >> That's fantastic. Appreciate that. You're welcome.
>> Forgive me. I'm going with first names now. Melissa. >> I think Melissa's on mute. >> Ah, Melissa on mute. >> I am. I'm sorry. Uh, I know Florida in general has a AI task force that I see many of our district members have um
asked to be on it because you there's like a list of >> uh members who are already there. So, I see that we are moving ahead and very much so that >> very much so >> parent myself and with things that I'm doing so fantastic
>> so I just wanted to say that we are doing things >> yeah our edtech team and we've been talking about this for quite a while I was actually very involved in the first this is a couple years ago and we uh partnered with the Styles Nicholson Foundation and brought Kamigo on right we it this was like the first time that
our teachers actually interacted with again a safe guardrail pro guard rail program for our students and it was there's a teacher side of it and there's a um there's a teacher side of it and a and a student side of it and we were really excited about it and we've come a
long way with it but since then there's been so many other new programs so it's just a constant you know there are constantly new programs coming aboard and we want to make sure we're on top of it and yes our team will continue to be part of that task force and do the
Do we have any other questions, comments? >> I I wanted to mention one last thing if you don't mind in closing because I just think that this is really um timely. Last week, this is really strange, right, how this happened, but um Career Source, I don't know if all of you are
familiar with Career Source. We work very closely with them in terms of getting our students through certain pathways and into careers. um they're great partners of us um of ours and they were hosting um I I don't know if you want to call it
a summit or a conference of with industry partners and Palm Beach State and um they had asked us to participate in that conference as well. Um and what happened is that was on a Thursday and this was right before Thanksgiving. We
got a call like the the Friday before Thanksgiving um that and that the deputy let me just say it right. I always have to make sure Keith Sonderling who's the deputy secretary of labor. Now I'm not sure everyone understands or knows that
the K12 education space has from the US government has now been shifted and it moved under the department of labor. So K12 education and postsecary education sits under the department of labor. not here to really talk about whether that's
good or bad or otherwise. But what I am here to say is that the deputy secretary was invited to come to the um the summit because now workforce development is obviously intertwined with a lot of this work that we're doing. So we got a call
the Friday before and said, "Hey, we're coming down an early a day early." Got a call from Washington and said, "Can we visit a couple of your schools? this is the day before Thanksgiving and I know that they're coming the week, you know, after the Thanksgiving break break to
this summit. And I said, "Sure." Mr. Burke said, "Sure." Long story short, we um he came with the director of workforce and an entourage, I may say. um some security detail and handlers and
all that stuff. But at the end of the day, we went we decided to show them the continuum from middle school to high school into adult ed. So we visited West Boon Middle School where we had
some preIT ummies as well as our new our esports. I know uh Miss McQuinn, you're really familiar with esports because of Palm Beach Lakes program. Um and uh they have a huge gaming room room, but this there's a lot
of iter IT careers that can come out of esports, believe it or not. And then you know we we saw their finance program as well where they have stock tickers tickers on the on the wall and so forth. We went to St. Alia's high school which has sevenmmies. We visited four their
JOTC. We visited their cyber security academy, their sheriff, uh, their criminal justice academy, and their culinary academy. And then we scooted down to historic Carver because they wanted to stay on the south end. They were staying
south. And Fred Barge amazed them with all their convers with all the different programs that are happening at adults ed. And we talked about career dual enrollment and our, you know, he showed them the medical program and the HVAC program. And you know, of course, we were excited just to showcase our work.
And I will tell you, he was floored. And even though we all know we have work to do, right? You've seen, you've heard about the presentation that there's plenty of work to do. He had visited other places and he was absolutely floored with our careermies and, you
know, the level of professionalism of our principles and the programs. He spoke to students that when he went to the summit the next day, all he could talk about was Palm Beach County. and he had visited a couple of their pieces uh places. Uh he was actually a very laid-back downto-earth guy and I already
got a call from his department saying that they really want to look at us coming that they feel like we are an exemplar. We're not even there yet, right? We're talking about how much more we have to do and talking about grants opportunities for us and sharing our story with other districts. So, I just
wanted to share that with you that that was really cool. if we can get some money out of this deal, I'm thinking this is good stuff, right? But anyway, just wanted to end on that note. >> Thank you so much for that. And let me please echo the others who have thanked
you for a great presentation and the opportunity in the smaller group to be able to ask some questions. So, we really appreciate it. Um, Charmaine, do you have your hand up or No, you don't.
I can. No, you don't. >> I don't. >> That's okay. There we go. Um, and I think we're ready to move on to um, library media service updates. >> Yes, that's correct. Let me see if Mr.
Nolan Ro is on. See if he has any updates for us. >> And I know that I I only finally got back on doing mine again today because I um have been down of course over Thanksgiving and everything, right, with but not feeling great. But I I've
started back. I'm I'm I'm on target again to do my list. So if those of you who can things happen and you can't always get to your lists, but if you can to review those book lists, it really is very important. So um Mr. Rollless,
you're on. >> Thank you, Miss Lun. Um, so yeah, you guys, you should see a downturn coming um in the posting because we're going to have um like the two week window is kind of up before we get to winter break. Uh once we do get to the winter break, then
um once we get past it, then there'll be a lot of big uptick um with everybody trying to get everything in for second semester. So um that's really all I have. You guys are doing a great job as far as the feedback. So I definitely appreciate that. Uh keep it coming and then uh I hope you guys have a great
holidays. I'll keep it really short this time. If does anybody have any questions for me? >> Anyone? Because we do have a few new members also. So, if you have a question there, >> I don't have a question, but I do um I I
just wanted to ask a question, Nolan. I know I I've been trying to stay up and I've been sending my updates. Um do do we have a um Oh, what is my question? I just thought, "Oh, today was the math
rubric review and I just wanted I I came and I had to eat something because I've been in meetings all day. So, by the time I got there, I got there a little late." Um, and I know it was cancelled. Do you know if that's going to be updated? >> Yeah. So, >> we we did have an opportunity to talk in
the room. Um, there there were no community members that were able to attend this time, unfortunately. Uh, so but we had talked with Dr. Robinson kind of before and one of uh we took some things into account that she had wanted. So um we're going to make some adjustments to the rubrics and then we'll send those out once they're
updated uh so that everyone can have an opportunity to look at it and give us some feedback from from that perspective. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Of course. >> Thank you very much. And now please no one be shy. If there's someone who would
like to just make a statement for the good of the order, if anyone has a general question, now is your time. Or again, I think um Miss Bishop that you already have your um you have your ideas from our previous
meetings about what you'll be doing with our committee starting in January. So, I don't think we have to do that again. Um but is there anyone else? Just take time and and no one be shy about speaking up, please.
>> Yeah, we do have those topics, so we'll go back and review them, Miss McQuinn. Um, and bring something forward for next time. Thank you. >> This was so great. Thank you so much. I really appreciate that we got to have this. Um, and it sounds like staff is
you sound very excited about this, too. And um, and I love that we, of course, Palm Beach County always is ahead. in the nation with most things that we do. But it's good to it's good to know that somebody in Washington agrees with that.
Um no no political statement meant by that. Charmaine, go ahead, please. >> Um yeah, all presentations and all of the the good news um is awesome. Tonight, uh I did have just a statement. I think we're at like just
announcements. Um so there's two things. One I wanted to share is there um on My daughter is doing a student teacher interactions in classroom environment questionnaire and she needs 500 students questionnaire. So, if you have any
students that would like to complete this questionnaire, I promise it's part of her um I guess Advent class or not ADVID, I'm sorry, what is it? ACE, one of her ACE assignments. And she need 500 students. So, if you have a student,
please don't be shy. Um I think it's going to be some quantitative and qualitative data from it and it's going to be amazing. But if you have a student that would like to participate, they must be a high school student. They do not have to attend Palm Beach County schools. Um, but they have to be a high
school student. I just wanted to throw that out there since we're here and we're we're students. >> Anyone else? Okay. Are you sure we aren't going to see each other again until Jan? Okay. Melissa.
>> All right. Um again, wonderful presentation tonight and it's uh wonderful seeing the innovation and everything that's going on. One thing that I would love to talk about, I know it's come up again amongst the parents and that's why I'm here um you know to
help others and to advocate for them and the kids. One thing that keeps coming up amongst our elementary schools is that our math tests are not allowed to be sent home for parents to review and go over their uh work with their children. And I know I would love some
clarification on that for to bring back to parents. Um I'm I'm seeing it's a school by school basis, not so much a school policy. Um but it it's just been a a topic and a frustrational point
amongst parents. uh not to be able to receive those tests. So if that's something we can bring up going forward, I would love that. Doesn't need an answer now. >> Are you asking about um school specific tests or standardized what what tests
>> is it the USA? I think it must be the units that are taken at the end of each unit. Correct. >> The end of the unit tests. Um and right and not being able to review with your child only being given a standard and unless you're in education that standard
um you know is pretty vague to uh most parents who don't understand what what that is or what falls under it. Um and those who are looking to get tutors for their children and help in those areas. I know it's been a little bit of a frustrational point for parents. So, I
don't know if it's set policy not to send them home or um I've seen it vary from school to school. So, if that's something that can just provide clarification, >> we will bring it back. But there are um tests that are we do want to maintain
the security of those assessments, but there are other tools that you can use. So, I'll bring back that information. I know there's tools in performance matters that can give you specific tasks to work with your with your child and so forth, but I'll bring that back without seeing the test. We want to make sure you understand the concepts and all
that. But I will be happy to bring you back lots of good information and resources and actually it's really great timing as we come back uh from the break with the PM2 results and we want to make sure that we engage our parents in assisting their students. So, perfect. >> Thank you, Christine.
Oh. Um, I just wanted to add that must be a school by school thing because my daughter's in third grade and we get the tests for all all of the ELA's, USA, like all the assessments that she's taken. We get the questions and the
answers and the scores. Um, and we sign off on it and send it back to school. >> Yeah, that that should not be happening. That is an issue because we do want to make sure that we protect our tests just like the state does with our tests and all that. But we will work on that. >> Okay. I don't want to knock on my school or anything.
>> No, I won't ask you your school, but I know it's inconsistent practices across the district. >> We're doing otherwise I wouldn't understand you know what's happening. >> You would you would and we do have other assessments like FSQs. The USA are only um required assessments that we provide
all the students. But um we will because it is the standards. It is we do model those assessments with the what the state assessments are what the units require and it should be a direct reflection of the work that they're doing on a daily basis. So did you want
>> James Mr. Waldin hand? >> Sorry about that. [laughter] Just want to say happy holidays to everybody. Enjoy your time and see you next year. And you know, this is a really cool committee to be a part of
and to kind of get the background information of what makes the school system works and things like that. So, I appreciate it very much. >> And I always appreciate your comments. I remind you this last time about today because we wouldn't be together again um
before that happened. And I know our schools have some amazing um programs and um and I did have something else to say about that, but I don't remember what it was. So I'll think of it for
next time. But all of you Oh, that's that's what it was. is that um you are the voice of all of your various communities, you know, whether it be to a specific committee or or a um you
know, or North County or whatever it is. But um I love that you're bringing um questions that you all know what parents are talking about in the parking lot and it's very helpful to staff who don't always get to get that information. So,
um I appreciate your bringing those up and I know that Miss Bishop and Miss Wyatt all appreciate your bringing those things to their attention. And did I see another hand? >> I'm so sorry, Miss McQueen.
>> Don't be >> December this week. Um that's this Wednesday, December 10th. Yeah, December 10th from 7 to 8. Uh Florida PTA is having a
webinar on the topic of colllocation um and collocation in Florida schools. Uh so it's an impact briefing. We have our very own Dr. um Oh my goodness. Don't kill me. I cannot Oh, um Oh,
Yolanda Morgan. Dr. Morgan, chief of staff will be presenting as well as um some schoolboard members uh from other areas of the state as well as um a state PTA president from um New York State who
can opine on what's going on in New York State with their collocation program. Um and so that is I can share the link through staff if anyone is interested in attending. It's a webinar. Um, it's free and it's open to the public as long as
you register via Zoom. Um, so I wanted to share that. And then also have a happy holidays, happy New Year's, and for those who are Haitian, have a happy Independence Day on January 1st. >> Okay, everyone, thank you so much. And
if there is nothing else, then we will adjourn the meeting at 6:57 p.m. Happy holidays, everyone. Thank you. Happy holidays on our behalf, too. Enjoy the time with your family and friends, and we'll see you next year.
Can you believe it? School year 2026. Happy New Year. >> Happy holidays. >> Happy holidays.