Education Advisory Board Report - May 21, 2009

The Education Advisory Board met on Thursday May 21st. They are now meeting in the Commission Chambers instead of the Cafeteria. There are quite a few new members & there were 8 present. Laura Clark has been reinstated as Vice Chair.

There was  a lot of discussion in reference to the 3 schools which had been adopted by this Board:
Lauderdale Manors which is having   renovations of class rooms as well as the Cafeteria. This was a concern of some Board members as Teachers will be laid off due to the budget cuts why this is now being done. This was confirmed by Charles Webster that these are Capital Funds & different. These plans had been approved previously.  Also there had been some plans for this Board to assist with  needs of the school but due to the re organization of the Board that has been put on hold.

Sunland Park- Once again this school will have a new Principal as the acting retired Principal is now retiring again. The Board will wait to meet with the new Principal.
Arthur Ashe- This school also will have a new Principal .
The Chair, Jacqueline Ackerina proposed that a committee be set up with Board members for each school & they determine the needs & how the Board could best help each school.
Ms. Ackeina further discussed the class on Best Practices & the need to meet on time & for all members to attend the meetings & follow the guide lines. Several members had attended this class & it was suggested that all members attend.
The discussion to have a Student member was again discussed.The Board felt this should be offered to the 3 high Schools not to only 1 high school. The responsibilities of this representative will be discussed at the next meeting. It has been determined that this student will also be given Community Service hours.

The Centennial Celebration was  discussed & how this Board could participate. It had bee discussed previously for schools to have  some type of contest with incentives to winners. It was also noted that the Chamber of Commerce would also be 100 years old & maybe there was something schools could participate with them.Lu Deamer also mentioned the Southside School. Since there were new members, some of them  had not been aware of what this Board has been doing.
Charles Webster, The School Board Liaison gave his report.

He announced that 15 students had received scholarships as finalists for the 2008 Broad Prize, one of the nation's most prestigious education awards. The Broad   prize  is sponsored by the Los Angeles, Calif. based Broad Foundation. The awards ceremony was held at Ft Lauderdale High School as they had 5 students who received the award. Each student attending a four year college will receive $20,000 in scholarship money.

He reported that the 3rd grade FCAT scores for reading & math were about the  same as last year but were better than the surrounding counties.

The Broward County has a $160million gap & monies from reserves had been used last year. There will be some lay off of teachers & administrative staff.  He also stated that there were paper issues in all the schools as to the number of copies being made & that expense.
Chair Ackerina ended with the following 3 thoughts for Board members to bring back to the next meeting:
1 What reasonable goals should this Board try to accomplish.
2 A student member,the number of students & what their responsibilities should be.
3 Goals for the adoption of schools  & how they should be addressed.

A very well run meeting with a lot of participation from members.