##VIDEO ID:IT3mLH9lGgI## I will now call the regular school board meeting to order at 5:00 p.m. this is Sinclair please call the RO district one Barbara mcquin here District Two Alexandri AA here District 3 Karen will here district four er Whitfield is abent tonight District distri [Music] andard Inspector General teres Michael board clerk Tony Sinclair and student County president Isabella miss marisola senior staff members will join us periodically as directed by the superintendent tonight the national anthem will be performed by the Sun Coast charger Sonic sound band from sunos Community High School and I'm now going to embarrass one of their members to your left at the end is our very own ER Miss Erica Whitfield our school board member's daughter Noel so all eyes are on all of you and especially Noel sorry about that so would everybody please stand for the Pledge of Allegiance led by the superintendent Michael Burke followed by the national anthem I PL allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Reps na indivisible jusice for all oh oh [Music] a [Music] [Applause] viewers and listeners can access the meeting today by either watching on Comcast channels 234 and 235 Erse channel 99 or by using the YouTube link on our web page at palom beach schools.org in the event 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 so that will now bring us to minutes we do not have any minutes to approve I have one item to add I'm adding P2 good cause that's a Personnel addendum P2 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 seeing none we'll we going to approve the agenda I'll take a motion to approve motion by Mr Ferguson second by miss aella any discussion all in favor all opposed motion carries unanimously with six board members present any disclosures and extensions seeing none that's going to bring us over to superintendent and board member comments Mr superintendent yes good evening well well I want to point out that on uh Sunday September 15th we started Hispanic Heritage Month and that'll run from September 15th through October 15th we're going to honor that later this evening with a proclamation but we are always proud to acknowledge the culture and traditions of student staff and community members who Trace their roots to Spain and other Spanish speaking countries in North America Central America South America and the Caribbean also want to point out that it's attendance awareness month and I really want to do everything we can to raise awareness around the importance of attendance every day of school matters every class is important our teachers work hard to provide vital instruction all day long and when you miss a day at school you miss a lot and it's you know it's tougher to come back from behind than when you're there in you know in person every day keeping up with your classmates so we really you know we coming out of the pandemic we we've seen a rise in absenteeism we're working hard this year to try to make sure people understand the importance of making it to school each day on time and so this is a great month just to again reinforce that message also want to point out coming up in October we've got some exciting events on October 1st we'll have our annual College and Career Fair at the South Florida Fairgrounds and this is when we're bringing about approximately 100 colleges universities and career programs and Military representatives to be there there's also sessions to help families complete the FAFSA form and that's the form that's critical to opening the door to assistance with post-secondary education and then I'd also just like to mention that we've been uh we put out a survey recently and Mr Sanchez has been leading some Community meetings to bring awareness to a law that was passed that would require us in the 26 27 school year to change our start times again that's a couple years out but it has dramatic implications uh this law would require that middle schools could start no earlier than 8: a.m. and high schools could start no earlier than 8:30 a.m. and when we look at our options uh there's a lot of unintended kind of not pleasant uh implications resulting from that we utilize our school buses and our drivers have to serve all three School levels elementary middle and high and when you put those stringent starttime requirements it leads to some of our schools could experience a very late day or very early morning and uh create some Child Care challenges and all that so we want to make sure the community is really informed and then also uh in a couple weeks when we talk about our legislative priorities I'm hopeful that this this will be something that we do look for flexibility from Tallahassee on and through my association with the superintendent across Florida I believe there is some appetite in the legislature to maybe grant us that flexibility so we don't have to uh disrupt our families and in hard bell times that have been working well for us the other thing is just a piece of late breaking news I'm really happy about and I want to commend uh the classroom Teachers Association and their bargaining team as well as our district team led by Mr Tim kubric uh and all everyone that served on that team they've worked hard and as of yesterday afternoon they were able to reach tenative agreement on a contract a new contract and the salary increase so that'll be coming back to the board in a couple weeks and uh of course CTA will need to go through the ratification process and all that but it's really nice to be relatively early in the school year and being able to get that nailed down so our employees our teachers can know what to expect in terms of a raise and uh we'll get that money to him as soon as we can so that Madam chair concludes my comments thank you Mella Mr Barbary Mrs Andrews thank you and we may have a few pictures first of all the Year is off to a great start just a few places I've been that I'm excited about first of all thank you Mr Burke we got the Pavilion at Katherine E Cunningham canel Point Elementary School what a beautiful beautiful time thank you uh Mr Sanchez and David Dolan we dedicated it we cut the ribbon it was just a lovely time now the children uh in our most northern West school will be able to have a wonderful area to play to be excited and to uh enjoy life and certainly with wonderful privilege where there will be a restroom for them to uh actually go to when they have emergencies and also for safety and I do want to say uh we've been out and about at the chambers and Mr Burke you're doing it uh just hitting it at the Ballpark at our chamber breakfast uh the central chamber the Palm Beach County Chamber you're doing it you're making sure that the community knows exactly what's going going on within the school district of Palm Beach County and I had a wonderful opportunity to be at Cypress Trails Elementary School about a week ago and I was able to visit the Ron Clark Academy and to see all the leadership uh the programs there for the children to learn to work together grow together and have the house system set up where they can actually know that they can work together teamwork is work for all and they are good and so I was having I had a chance to actually spend the wheel and I was able to select the house and get my shirt and it was a lovely lovely opportunity and go of Elementary we're celebrating Hispanic Heritage Month the Spanish Honor Society students who are dual language learning English and language at go elementary school they were inducted in the Spanish Honor Society it's a wonderful wonderful time for them they are doing it and the parents were so excited Honor Society is a big deal but when you're in the Dual language Honor Society it's to be commended we thank uh the principal at go Elementary Miss Thomasson and all of the parents and friends who came out to celebrate the students and lastly I thought I would have the pictures up here but I don't but I'm going to say it our assistant general counsel Jean Marie Middleton you're awesome just Saturday night you received the Legacy award from St Paul am church I hope that we can put the pictures up later or at a later time congratulations to you it was outstanding seeing all of your family there celebrating you the work that you've done here at the school district of Palm Beach County uh Miami Dade just your legal experiences and the work to make students great we thank Eugene Marie congratulations thank you thank you Mr Ferguson thank you madam chair I have a few photos as well um everybody going to start all right I'm assuming they're going to come up but in any event I had the opportunity to to visit spy Elementary for a national read I read a book day that photo that you see right there is myself with the principal Miss Tata um after after taking that photo with her we had a chance to go to a second grade class and that was a lot of fun uh we read this book called ribbet so you can see me there as the largest uh second grader in Palm Beach County uh listened to one of the students uh read to us uh that's me there trying to to read Ribbit and then we had another young lady who I and I actually asked them hey why don't you guys come up and read to us as opposed to me reading so it was really interactive really really really cool experience and then of course we took the group photo and everybody of course had to get their obligatory high fives from the largest second grader in Palm Beach County um I also had a chance to stop by Atlantic High School to say hi to Dr Edwards and her new assistant principal Mr tler MC Lawrence Go Chargers um they're off to a really good start of their school year so got a really good report from Atlantic and I feel like Atlantic is going to be pushing closer and closer to that a which is just around the corner also yesterday myself superintendent Burke um and a few other staff members from from the district were able to attend the prisms uh introduction and training um that happened at Roosevelt Middle School we have five schools Lakeworth middle Roosevelt Middle School Congress Middle School Palm Beach Lakes High School and Royal Palm Beach High School that are using this prisms technology and we think it has some prospects for helping improve student performance in the areas of math and science um and as you can see there the teachers were putting the uh VR glasses on um yeah it was it was definitely an an experience um as far as upcoming Community Action events we have of course project uplift that will be taking place next Saturday September 28th at Roosevelt Elementary we rained out last month had a huge turnout 40 upwards of 50 cars came in the rain just for me to tell them while trying not to drown that hey the events cancelled today so we're hoping that we have much more uh sunny weather on next Saturday and it'll be like I said at Rosell Elementary starting at 8:30 um be sure parents to accompany your child so that you can the the necessary waiver form so your child can participate and last but not least we'll have our first town hall of the Year Town Hall 14 titled reshaping Elementary education in Riviera Beach that will take place next Tuesday September 24th at 600 p.m. at sunos high school which of course is located at 1717 Avenue s inside the auditorium we have a pretty good uh amount of interestes already and so we're expecting to kind of pack out the place but if you're interested in what we have planned for Rivier Beach I strongly encourage you to come out and we have great Pro we have we feel really confident that this is going to be something that can be used in other areas of the of the county where we've seen um systemic underperformance shall shall I say so if you have interest in learning what the district has come up with in terms of that plan please be in the place next Tuesday at 6 p.m. thank you madam chair thank you Vice chair mcquinn thank you so you know we have such a huge school district and you hear us often say it takes a village well we do have a fantastic Village of business supporters and business assistants and so I wanted to share with you that you and you may not be aware that in Mrs mcquinns District Palm Beach Gardens Elementary School has a wonderful stem program program for those young minds there stem you know is the wave of the future it's the way to stimulate these Minds to go into the Sciences to go into medicine and thanks to the MOX plun Florida Institute for Neuroscience um they actually literally provided a vehicle to help teach and stimulate these young minds so I wanted to take a moment to share with you a video from the event when they presented ask Max and we'll wait for great to be with you here to celebrate Science Education and its critical importance for the future of our community and our world today was the ribbon cutting for Max Plank's new mobile lab called ask Max ask Max ask Max this is a van that has new technologies that we will be bringing to the schools in Palm Beach County we have all that we need to bring fun and exciting scientific and Neuroscience activities to the classroom open squeeze nice we're really showcasing a partnership with Max Blanc where we've got scientists coming into our classrooms and giving students awesome opportunities to learn more about stem education stem is critically important for the future of our community and the future of our world it's important to expose children our students at the earliest age possible because you just don't know when it's going to click we want to find out what kids are excited about early in academic careers because we have those programs they can pursue throughout their academic journey and get them on that pathway to pursue their dreams I tell my students every day you can do hard things if that's what you truly want to do every child has the opportunity to be successful and it takes one adult to help them realize that potential and just put push them to be their absolute best every single day thank you and I know Mr Burke would like to add something yes we have another special event here tonight I'd like to welcome up Mr Ed Tierney our Deputy superintendent chief of schools and our newest principal Miss Ivy Shelton Miss Shelton is the proud new principal of citrus Cove Elementary School and hopefully this completes our hiring for this school year we've got all of our principles in place now and Miss Shelton comes to us from SD spy where she did an excellent job as assistant principal and now she's hit the ground running at Citrus Cove Mr Cherney chairwoman veril Vice chair miss mcquinn school board member superintendent Burke I am very pleased to have the opportunity to introduce Palm Beach County School District's newest principal Miss Ivy Shelton will be new principal of citrus Cove Elementary that Community was looking for someone who could Implement a rigorous curriculum offer meaningful extracurricular activities and partner with parents and Community we believe we found the perfect person good evening board chair bril Vice chair mcquinn school board members Mr Burke Mr tyrany and other guests I am very excited to be here and honored to accept the position of principal of citrus Cove Elementary School I'd like to thank each of you along with Dr katano and DR Sanders for this opportunity I would also like to thank the leaders who helped to shape me Mr Nate Collins who was my very first principal um and gave me my first administrative experiences also to Miss Valerie Jones and Adrien Griffin for supporting me uh Miss shant King Jamie Wyatt for always requiring me to look beyond the surface as well as Miss Joel Robinson for helping me to become a well-rounded leader and Miss Rona tata for teaching me the importance of community within our school and I have to thank my family my parents uh my sisters my friends and of course my husband uh Lamont and my three beautiful children jayen LJ and Taylor and I want to share that I'm excited and I'm ready to stand beside the students the staff and the community of citus Cove where we will continue to believe achieve and succeed thank you all thank you Miss Shelton we're all proud of you and look forward to more great things at Citrus Cove thank you for being here this evening thank you so every month at our regular board meeting we we remember our employees who have passed away tonight we will remember Sher colbrook sanss she was a behavioral physical needs assistant at Citrus Cove Elementary School she passed away on August 5th 2024 Kesha Harrington was a teacher middle school media specialist at Woodlands middle she passed away on August 16 2024 and matern isof was a teacher of Middle math 6 to 8 at trade WIS Middle School who passed away on July 23rd 2024 now ask for a moment of silence thank you so board members we do not have any presentations tonight and you may notice that we have a new member on the deis with us it's now time for our Student Government report our student government representative is Isabelle marisola from Dr wiin Garcia High School Miss marisola You can give your report and welcome good evening superintendent Burke chairwoman bril Vice chairman chairwoman mcquinn members of the board and esteem members of the general public I'm honored to stand before you this evening as I attend my first school board meeting my name is Isabella mirola and I a student at Dr walking Garcia High School where I serve as the student government president in the class vice president additionally I am the varsity cheer captain and I have the privilege of being the county president which includes my role as the student representative on the school board today I want to express my gratitude for the opportunity to speak about an initiative that holds great importance to me and our community I'm continuing that impactful work initiated by our previous County president fisel focusing on the critical issue of hunger in Palm Beach County collaborating closely with no kid hungry fisel and our school food Food Service team we are gathering essential information about food insecurity that affects many families in our community to facilitate this initiative we plan to create engaging posters for each School distribute informative Flyers to every classroom and utilize Google forms for data collection our goal is to obtain the most accurate and comprehensive data possible and we aim to launch this initiative in October as we embark on this important Endeavor I want to emphasize the role that all of us students teachers parents and board members play in combating Hunger within our community it is crucial that we Foster an environment where every student feels comfortable sharing our experiences and where their voices are heard by empowering our peers to participate in this initiative we can build a stronger more supportive community that seeks to eliminate barriers to exess for all students together we can create an atmosphere of kindness and understanding that prioritizes the needs of those who are struggling I also want to highlight that we are excited to host our first County meeting in Just 2 days on September 20th we anticipate welcoming approximately 300 Student Government members from across Palm Beach County this Gathering will provide us with an invaluable opportunity for collaboration and to further address the issues that matter to us our students through workshops and discussions we will not only strategize our efforts regarding food insecurity but also find innovative solutions to other challenges our peers face in closing I'm filled with optimism about the the potential we have as a collective to make a meaningful impact in our schools and our community I believe that together we can foster an environment where every student feels valued empowered and heard thank you for your attention and your dedication to the students of Palm Beach County I look forward to the journey ahead as we work together to enhance the experience and well-being of all students thank you thank you and we look forward to having you join us and give us giving us your input so that's now going to bring us to our committee reports academic advisory committee Laura Felman chair Laura here okay I don't see her um we don't have an audit committee report the construction oversight Review Committee report is attached to your agendas there's no report from the dist District diversity and Equity committee general counsel do you have a report for us tonight no report thank you Inspector General do you have a report for us no report well moving right along that will bring us to our elected officials and delegates first we will have Mark Howard program and Grant specialist for the Education Foundation and welcome back Mr Howard thank you very much it's an honor to be here and represent your Education Foundation I can't do the magic that James does but I'll do my best to give the report good evening chairwoman Brill superintendent Burke and esteemed members of the board as you know the Education Foundation of Palm Beach County brings the business and philanthropic Community together to support high quality public education here in Palm Beach County the foundation accomplishes this in partnership with the school district and the local community through an extensive program portfolio one of the foundation's Premier programs is go teach classroom grants these are direct to teer Grants Which F fuel class classroom Innovation and help move the needle for students by closing achievement gaps and addressing needs in literacy stem financial literacy College and Career Readiness and skills for living and learning in the 2324 school year alone the Education Foundation awarded 80 go teach classroom grants totaling more than $185,000 in funding collectively this program impacted 1,700 teachers 24,500 students and 61 schools throughout the district as a result of this programming 83% of the students experienced uh academic Improvement learning gains 90% 95% of teacher grantees reported having experienced an increase in teacher quality furthermore 60 teachers participated in the Ed foundation and teacher-led professional learning communities as part of the program collectively teachers earned 335 in service points for recertification uh also thrilled to share that this year the foundation will award 86 go teach classroom grants totaling more than $190,000 to support our local teachers students and schol schools the number of Grants and the amount of funding exceeds last year thanks to the generous business and philanthropic Community partnering with the Education Foundation teachers will be notified later this week regarding the status of their Grant applications and awardees will be recognized at this year's go teach classroom Grant award ceremony on October 24th save the date and join us that will be at the Boon Beach Cultural Arts Center and you'll get more information on that I'd also like to express our gratitude to the members of the Education Foundation of Palm Beach County programs and grants committee the board of directors and Community leaders who served on the grant scoring committee Miss Whitfield thank you um Eva swier Aon SSH all participated in uh the grant evaluation process this year for um you know dedicating the support to our teachers for this important program on behalf of the entire team thank you for your support of the Education Foundation of Palm Beach County in carrying out our mission to serve the students teachers principal schools and families in the 10th largest school district in the nation thank you thank you Erica hen vice president of Junior Achievement of Palm Beach in the Treasure Coast is she here okay um Gordon loffer CT president thank you chair bril Vice chair mcquinn uh superintendent Burke members of the board honored guests Gordon long Hoffer CTA president I'm happy to be here tonight and yes we did reach a tentative agreement um we've got the ratification process ahead of us um I hope that we can get through that as expeditiously as possible if we follow recent tracks we should be able to finish that process by the end of October so that uh switches so to speak can be flipped and teachers can see those adjustments in Pay during the month of November well ahead of the winter holiday season we all know what people need money for during that time of year um I also want to mention a couple of things because I guess uh tonight my agenda might be a little bit like a a couple of my other colleagues who are up here from time to time I've got two or three topics uh the sales tax referendum is before us I can tell people how to vote and uh and I'm happy to be able to do that in my position um it is up for Renewal the 2016 referendum is sunsetting a year early because it produced the money that was needed to fund 10 years worth of projects in a shorter time they're going to get done and that's a wonderful thing for taxpayers because it already saves them a little bit of money over what they thought it might be even when they were willing to put that money out there um of course we re we must recognize and I know we do here it's kind of like preaching to the choir if this is not renewed the negative impact on accounts especially those associated with student uh instruction is tremendous in some cases degrading those accounts so much that uh things that we would want to do to really move our students might not even be able to happen so we want to make sure this gets approved um it is only a half penny and that's a difference from the one penny reduced uh approved before and that's an effective tax reduction for the citizenry of Palm Beach County um given the need and given the actual reduction in the rate I'm asking anybody who hears me talking tonight to vote Yes on that sales tax referendum again that's cuz I can say that if somebody else can't um email uh let's see the finally legislative priorities are also on the horizon uh the session begins in March committee weeks are in January Now's the Time to be looking at what those priorities to do uh need to be we must and when I say we I mean me I mean everybody up at the deis other senior administrators who might be here tonight we must Lobby the legislature for significant State Fund fing increases per pupil spending in Florida is 42nd in the nation the state population rank is third if Florida were an independent country its economy would rank 16th in the world and we fund State education at 42 out of 50 states most of whom wouldn't even rank on world economy uh rankings that's got to change and worse is where teacher average salary is everything that the state touts that they've done for teacher salary has made such tremendous progress that we've moved from 47th all the way down to 50 that's absurd we have the responsibility jointly all of you up there and me to stand together and work to lobby for what needs to be done doing what is necessary to guarantee that our students have what they need in order to be educated and guarantee that teachers have what they need to be able to pay their bills on one job go to the doctor when they need to and take their family to the doctor and that extends to all of the health care support that goes all the way through the system even down to employers and ultimately be able to be free of financial worries to focus on student achievement and retire with dignity I know you join me on all of those things let's stand together let's Lobby Tallahassee and get the job done thank you all in have a good evening thank you Sylvia Hall PTA PTSA president Hi I good evening um um I would like to start thanking I would like to thank you uh uh superintendent BG uh he attended our first um general meeting on September 9th and uh and the presentation that um you you did was excellent I think not many people probably many parents in the country realize of the amount of work and the programs that we have in the district so that was excellent and I would like to say we have shared that with our membership and in our social media I would like to say that our County supports the penny referendum and I myself I recorded a video um on Monday u in support of that so I'm looking forward to we can can tell people what you know that how to vote in that case so we are supporting that the other thing I would like to say is uh regarding the start uh the start times and the late times um that we have shared the Google uh the Google Input with our membership with our local units and I've seen it posted in many local units I wonder uh the response of the parents I don't know you can give us an update on that but I would would like to know if the parents are actually responding because this is a typical example of uh uh good intentions with very un intended uh consequences and it's probably it's going to be a nightmare for many parents the last thing I would like to mention is that um September is a PTA membership month and um and I know we have a proclamation but I hold up so I would like to say um we hope that will you you know you will join our local unit in your District um our membership is open to everyone and PTA supports critical academic um needs we are an active voice on decisions that impact your child's health safety and and quality of education and build an stronger more inclusive School community so we invite you to join an PTA for your child because increasing your membership even by one makes it possible to advocate for all the children PTA is only 127 years old young so we've been around for a very very long time and we plan on being around for even you know another 127 years um and we are the oldest and largest child advocacy Association um and comprised of all volunteers and we are here to help make every every uh child's potential a reality and that is our mission and with that thank you very much thank you Kathy gunlock president of the League of Women Voters I always have to do this everybody's taller I am Kathy gunak I am the President presid of the Palm Beach County League of Women Voters good evening chair BR Vice chair mcquinn board members superintendent Burke and members of the Das I would like to say thank you to miss aella Mr Barbieri and Mrs mcquinn for your dedication to the children parents staff and community at large your dedication perseverance and bravery in leading the school district through some difficult times is greatly appreci apprciate it all of the other board members so grateful for the time and commitment that you give to Palm Beach County Schools I also want to thank superintendent Burke and Mr long Hoffer for addressing the league today and offering thoughtful insight into what is going on in our school district and explaining the half cent sales tax I am happy to inform all of you that the league board of directors unanimously voted to support the sales Sal tax in furtherance of this support we are providing informational sessions on the ballot including explaining the referendum and the leak's support it is also included in our printed voters guide and on also online on vote411.org I want to invite all of you and the members of the audience to attend our I don't know if I can do this election Expo which will be held September 30th from 5:30 to 7:30 at Palm Beach State College at the Lakeworth campus this event is held in conjunction uh with Palm Beach State College the league and Leadership Palm Beach County 39 candidates will be in attendance for the public to interact on a one-on-one basis there will not be any speeches there won't be any forums it's for people to talk one-on-one with the candidates running in their districts the supervisor of elections will also be on hand with two voting machines one that is for disabled people our members will be registering voters and our voters guide will be available you can register at lwv pbc.org this is a free event and there will be food with my favorite being the ice cream our voters guides are available to the community and will be distributed countywide they they will be also be included in the palmm Beach post and again you can get voter information on vote411.org so if you are not registered to vote register the books close on October 7th check your vote by mail status to make sure it is still active as it's changed since the last election make sure you make a plan to vote and vote the entire B ballot go to the bottom because that's where the referendum will most probably be so vote Yes on the half cent sales tax so we can continue to support our schools in Palm Beach County thank you thank you very much and so that now brings us to agenda item speakers and we don't have any so our next item is the consent agenda I will take a motion to approve the consent agenda Mr Barbary made the motion Mrs Andrew second any discussion all those in favor all opposed motion carries unanimously we don't have any unfinished business so that now brings us to new business brd1 the superintendent's annual evaluation this evaluation instrument has been completed by all seven board members and the scores had been compiled and resulted in an overall evaluation of the superintendent of five which which is excellent I recommend the board accept and approve the superintendent's evaluation motion by Miss Zella second by Mrs Andrews any discussion all in favor all opposed motion carries unanimously congratulations Mr superintendent thank you very much greatly appreciated thank you so that will bring us to the next item co1 yes I recommend the board Proclaim September 15th through October 15th 202 for as Hispanic Heritage Month motion by Mrs Andrew second by Mella Mella I understand you'd like to read the proclamation yes thank you madam chair I'm really looking forward to being with our students around Latinos in Action and other events throughout the month as we celebrate a year-long celebration of our cultures whereas Hispanic Heritage Month begins on September 15th to celebrate the anniversary of when Nicaragua Honduras cost R El Salvador and Guatemala became independent countries that are part of Central America and whereas Hispanic Heritage Month celebrates the rich culture and traditions of Hispanic Americans whose roots go back to Mexico Spain the Spanish-speaking nations of South America Central America and the Caribbean and whereas we honor the contributions Hispanics have made to Palm Beach County and we highlight an important part of the rich diversity that keeps our community strong and whereas Hispanics of every race class and and nationality have made historic contributions to the growth and strength of Palm Beach County in countless recorded and unrecorded ways and whereas the Hispanic Community plays a vital and integral role in shaping the present and the future of Palm Beach County in business education law science technology and numerous other fields and whereas it is vital that the representation of Hispanic Latino cultures and history are infused into the curriculum to Foster the academic success of students now therefore be it resolved that the superintendent and School Board of Palm Beach County do hereby Proclaim September 15th through October 15th 2024 as Hispanic Heritage Month done this 18th day of September 2024 in West Palm Beach Florida thank you any discussion all in favor all opposed motion carries unanimously that will bring us to CO2 I recommend the board Proclaim September 2024 is National PTA members sh month motion by Mella second by Mr Barbary any discussion all in favor all opposed motion carries unanimously C M3 I recommend the board Proclaim September 2024 as Suicide Prevention month motion by Mr Ferguson second by Mr Barbieri Mr Ferguson I understand you want to read that yes Madam chair Proclamation Suicide Prevention month September 20124 whereas the objective during this time is to raise the visibility of Mental Health Resources and suicide prevention services available in our community and whereas the goal is to start the conversation about mental health and the impact of suicide to help dis stigmatize the conversation and help connect people with the appropriate support services and whereas suicide is the second leading cause of death for people ages 10 to 34 in the United States and whereas more than 49,000 people died by suicide in the United States in 2022 which is one death every 11 minutes and whereas every suicide directly impacts many additional people including family friends co-workers neighbors and community members and whereas the school district of Palm Beach County places its full support behind those who work in the fields of mental health education and law enforcement and whereas Global organizations and our local behavioral and Mental Health Partners serve on the front lines of a subject that many still have difficulty discussing as stigma regarding suicide and mental health issues is far too prevalent and whereas we encourage all residents to take the time to understand the importance of mental health education and recognize that taking care of ourselves and others includes taking care of mental health now therefore be it resolved that the superintendent and School Board of Palm Beach County do hereby Proclaim September 2024 as Suicide Prevention month done this 18th day of September 2024 in West Palm Beach Florida thank you any discussion all in favor all opposed motion carries unanimously item P2 I recommend the school board approve the Personnel addendum as submitted motion by Mr Barbary second by miss aella any discussion all in favor all opposed motion carries unanimously that's now going to bring us to our non-agenda speakers on behalf of the entire School Board I'd like to welcome any 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 follow up with the District administration regarding them all non-agenda speakers comments must relate to educationally relevant topics or the operations of the school district pursuant to school board 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 or whose comments disrupt or interfere with the order of the meeting may be subject to removal from the meeting or having the microphone phone 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 Schoolboard policy the microphone will be turned off when the time limit has been reached when you speak please state your name for the record we also request that you provide your address School District number or city of residence and we thank you for joining us so our first speaker is Mr Carl Muhammad all Muhammad and when I come here each and every time for the past few years um I always come like um in the book of Isaiah the 40th chapter where it talks about John the Baptist and how he had to come in the wilderness to try to make straight the path of God and inside of the dialogue amongst the school district of Palm Beach County uh we still have as of yet heard a real substantive conversation as it relates to the difficulties that uh African-American children are receiving inside of your system now the last school board meeting I brought a copy of the former superintendent um Art Johnson who laid out uh beautifully the idea of trying to help our children in some kind of meaningful way and I shared that um information with each and every last one of you and I haven't had a response on any of the kind of activity that was fostered by um Dr Johnson I also went to our classroom Teachers Association and I found find out they're busy trying to get the half penny sales tax pass and everybody seem to be busy as it relates to what it is that they're doing but none of them have the ability to assist us in the African-American community and if I'm in error I always like to leave that kind of room for someone to correct me and I don't seem to have that kind of ability to have that kind of connection with anyone that you have within your system and I know that the world of Academia the whole world of Academia suffers because we refuse to take on the challenge of dealing with the worst part of the real uh reality of what is taking place inside of public education which is what your Equity study proved to us when you came back and shared with us that only 67% of your teachers had any kind of idea about our children regardless to what kind of position they were in and I would like to take the time to um possibly um I know it would be the first time in the history of the state of Florida but the black community I believe have matured to the point where we're able to have a decent conversation with any school district on a serious level as opposed to just coming to meetings where you dictate to us what the reality should be it's time for that kind of activity to change and it's time for us to have the opportunity as a community as a people to have a conversation in truth as it relates to our babies as they involve themselves inside of your school system now we haven't heard nothing from no nobody and it's important that we do hear something from somebody so I'm going to leave you with the voice crying in the wilderness right and that's a I know a lot of people might not believe in the Bible but I do believe in God and many times when human beings can't reach their perfection they reach for the wisdom of God and I pray that all of you would reach for that and include African-American children in your conversation some kind of way in the very near future and thank you for the opportunity to have a conversation with you thank you thank you Danielle hurt Danielle hurt Jill Coleman hi my name is Jill Coleman I live in Palm Beach Gardens and I have two girls ages eight and nine I'm here today to support the full removal of phone access from children during the school day for the following important reasons Common Sense Media reports that 97% of kids use phones during the school primarily on social media gaming and YouTube and most kids get over 230 notifications per day a recent study proved that the mere presence of a phone reduces available cognitive capacity teens and pre-teens everywhere are struggling with social media addiction and that starts and ends with access to a smartphone teens spend nearly 5 hours a day on social media apps and the US Surgeon General put out an official advisory last year St very clearly that three or more hours a day on social media doubles the risk of poor mental health and a science direct study found that each additional hour of scream time directly increases the Aza suicidal Behavior the CDC reported last year that 10% of high school students made a suicide attempt and when kids have smartphones at school they don't have the opportunity to be bored a neuroscientist who studies kids brains recently said that boredom is a fertilizer for creativity forcing our students to sit in boredom use their imaginations and talk to fellow students all help establish important brain connectivity and soft skills that they will use for their entire lifetime kids are also using smartphones to cyber bully both students and teachers you probably read the news out of Pennsylvania where a group of middle school students create fake Tik Tok accounts of the teachers and did horrible disgusting posts and bullying these days is quiet it's Anonymous and it's happening during the day on social media causing kids to be very stressed and when kids are allowed Smartphones at school they are accessing inappropriate material like pornography onethird of all students have seen pornography at school through phones schools that have enacted smartphone bans have experienced less bullying and when the program is communicated well with parents teachers and students schools report how successful it is and how parents who were resistant are now fully on board for these reasons and many more I encourage the school board to implement a complete bell-to-bell phone policy at all schools in the County this will result in less distractions and cyber bullying fewer fights drama and stress increased engagement in academic outcomes improve teacher morale and retention teachers are tired of being phone police we can't leave it up to them to enforce that's why schools are most successful when they lock up the phones uh that make them inaccessible and pouches are containers one company for pouches is called Yonder and other schools are using phone lockers located in the main office there needs to be consequences if students are are found with with their devices and in addition to phones the policy must include airpods earbuds and SmartWatches many of the stats of sharing are related to teens and high school students but the full impact can be much worse on younger kids whose exposure to to screens decreases grade matter and tissue loss in their brains a bell-to-bell phone free policy provides students with 7 to eight hours thank you Dwight Walton Dwight Walton Dr dearra re Thomas Dr dri Reed Thomas district 6 and I do have handouts for the board members good evening board members School District personnel and Community stakeholders I am the founder and CEO of Thomas head Learning Center as a former Palm Beach County School District teacher learning team facilitator specialist and high school assistant principal I have firsthand knowledge of the importance behind mental health and the challenges our students face managing both academics and social emotional well-being the two entities are not mutually exclusive rather they are a harmonious Symphony that when fine-tuned produce a beautiful Orchestra of globally competitive citizens at Thomas Ed Learning Center we make the model of Education by Design and tailor our support for homeschool FLVS public private and charter school students in need of holistic educational Support Services if the covid pandemic taught us anything it was the state of Youth mental health the US Department of Education Center for statistics shared these alarming numbers during the covid pandemic 55% of public schools reported providing diagnostic mental health assessments to students 42% reported providing treatment to students for mental health disorders the truth of the matter is this is not a task that the school district can and take on Al loone and therefore requires the Cooperative efforts of all stakeholders including community-based small business vendors with the quickly approaching deadline of Esser funds Elementary and secondary school relief set to expire the need to strategically allocate funds is crucial the need to engage in supplemental resources that are evidence-based mitigate the pandemic learning loss and tackle the mental health of our students can all be achiev through holistic high dosage tutoring Thomas saided incorporates a framework of the three PS Pilates for the mindset photography for a visual creative space and podcasting to tell the story of various organizations and the impact they have CommunityWide at thomased Learning Center our support is far-reaching because we see the big picture one student at a time one school at a time one District at a time thank you thank you Jennifer Jones Jennifer Jones Adrian Smith good evening to Adrien Smith uh back together uh with you here to discuss with you the concerns about the uh effect on children of uh the items that affect children such as uh sexual predators and protecting children from being subject to influences of uh sexual immoralities and this is a huge problem and that's why I demand that you must remove the lgbtq history month from your school agenda as I stated Dade County flatly rejected it it's it's inappropriate and it's it's unacceptable now you think to yourself what is it you're promoting when you put this as a theme an agenda on campus for students and what you have is you're promoting exactly what it says LGBT lesbian gay uh bisexual uh trans uh transgender and these are issues during a period where children are adolescence and they're in the development stage they're vulnerable this is unacceptable to do this and it's frankly it's borderline criminal to do that so I'm asking you to do the right thing now you think to yourself well what are you going to talk about and what would the theme illustrate you know there are many uh dangerous views that are going around right now now as a matter of fact and you can look this up yourself on social media but the fact that uh uh having sexual relations with children is becoming more and more acceptable in fact the psychiatrists are considering this a a condition however the act itself is still as of yet criminal however they are you can look it up yourself this is a movement that's going on there is a lot of uh additional uh description items that they're using lgbtqa plus there are many items that they've already added on and it's dangerous to children it's also subjecting them to ideas bringing them ideas to share at school to share with social media there's no place in that for our school that needs to be renounced you think to yourself polygamy is illegal right so we already have multiple sexual partners as part of the lgtbq platform so are we going to also add polygamy which has already been illegal and has been banned in in many states and is illegal but now we have a new agenda sexual immorality uh advocacy is not a place for the schools and that must be renounced thank you for your attention thank you so board members um Laura Felman the chair of the academic advisory committee is now here I'd like to recommend that we return to the committee reports in order for us to receive her report motion by Mr Barbary second by Mrs Andrews all any discussion all in favor all opposed Miss Felman come on up motion carried unanimously thank you very much uh my name is Laura Felman I'm chair of the academic advisory committee and I apologize for the uh traffic and the rain it was quite a travel up here uh good evening uh everyone during the academic advisory committee September meeting we heard a presentation about the K2 linger and K2 phonic initiatives our district has undertaken these initiatives to better enable us all to meet the goal to increase third grade reading proficiency so that 70% of all third grade students are proficient by 2027 the last iner initiative works on all six components of reading through small group instruction during the presentation we learned of the success of of this program within Palm Beach County and elsewhere at this time the program is implemented in only some elementary schools in the district since there are not enough funds to provide the program throughout the district the data for a school's students reading proficiency determines whether the school is currently participating in the program and whether the school is supported by UF or District Personnel in this program directly you know who's providing the actual support one-on-one the schools which initially participate in the program had fewer than 50% of students who are reading proficient in second grade seeing the initial gains and the success of the program elsewhere the committee moved to support the continued implementation of K2 lassinger initiative and the programs expansion to all elementary schools this is important as each school has some K through2 students who are struggling readers in October our committee will be discussing absenteeism thank you thank you very much so board members that's the end of our agenda I will take a motion to adjourn motion by Mr Ferguson second by Mr barier any discussion all in favor all opposed motion carries unanimously have a good night everybody be careful going home