0015pm Ms bellota please call the rule district one Barbara mcquinn here District Two Alexandria Ayala here District 3 Karen Burrell here District 4 Erica Whitfield here District Five Frank Barbieri here District Six Marcia Andrews here district 7 Edwin Ferguson here we have Quorum with all seven board members in attendance also joining us superintendent Michael Burke General Consul Sean Bernard Inspector General Theresa Michael and board clerk Tony bellota Senior staff members will join us periodically as directed by the superintendent tonight the national anthem will be performed by Sage Duke a sophomore at driver's School of the Arts would everyone please stand for the Pledge of Allegiance followed by the national anthem one nation under God and indivisible with liberty can you see by the dawn's early light what's so proudly we held at the twilight's last
002gleaming who's brought stripes and bright stars lost fight or the rest we watched or so gallantly streaming [Music] good Ness bursting and level through the night that our flag was still there oh say does that star spangled but not yet away [Music] or the love land the home [Music] slow breath [Applause] Miss Duke that was beautiful thank you for coming tonight board members we have six sets of minutes on the agenda we need a motion to approve Miss Miss Ayala made the motion second by Mrs Whitfield any discussion all in favor opposed motion carries 7-0 we have one item that's being added for good cause this evening item P2 the Personnel addendum good cause exists for adding this item so that employees can be enter their new positions as soon as possible Mr superintendent are
003you withdrawing any items no sir so far board members one item has been pulled Ops one is there anybody else wishes to pull anything at this time seeing none we need a motion to approve the agenda motion by Mrs Andrew's second by Mrs Whitfield any discussion all in favor opposed motion carries 7-0 are there any disclosures or abstentions seeing none Mr superintendent comments yes chairman Barbieri I'd like to share a few updates you know for the past several Summers we've been growing our student internship program and this year we expanded that Beyond just the reach of this building out into our schools to identify students that are aspiring teachers and so we had a great experience we had students that are considering being a teacher and were able to give them some hands-on experience so
004we've got a short video here I'd like to share I am so excited you all [Music] all the summer interns this is huge with growing our own teachers we don't have as many students going into education as we used to so it's important for us to identify our young people who want to be teachers or think they might become teachers to nurture them so they come right back to Palm Beach County whether you go on to teaching or go on to another field this experience should feed you and give you what you need to make it to that next level it was a challenging experience I thought it was my first time doing an internship but the kids were all nice they gave me all every single day they had a girl I went to
005give me a sticker to give me a hug to give me so I think the kids made it a really nice experience what I learned the most is how to keep up with the energy of a classroom getting a practice on getting to know a lot of people and to manage a classroom of that size was really hopefully your experience this summer is one that will go with you a long way everything that they've done in the experience this summer is going to be something that they are able to walk away with that's going to help them they're going to be able to transfer those skills that they've been involved in and learned over the summer I had many of our teachers tell us that certain students just gravitated to the interns and how they
006brighten their day how they made them focus more how they were excited to see them come in and when they could work with them one-on-one so I think our interns learned a lot but I think our students learned a lot and everybody benefited from us having them over the summer yeah so you can see that was just a great experience we're going to continue that next year as we work to grow our own teachers and we've got a lot of great candidates right in our high schools last Thursday we opened school on August 10th and as part of the reopening of schools we went from 180 to 182 schools so we're really proud of Dr Wilkin Garcia high school and West Boynton Middle School both facilities were just incredibly well built and full of the
007latest technology state-of-the-art facilities and great teams have already been established there and it was really just nice to see the the kids come on the campus throughout our district I feel like we had a nice smooth opening everyone was happy to be back and I want to just thank all the people that worked hard over the summer you know from our both our school-based staff District staff everyone I know a lot of work goes into that to prepare for the first day and it was evident to me that everyone had taking that serious and had done everything possible to prepare for a smooth opening so thank you for that we do have another short video I also want to thank the school board members were out and about on the first day of school supporting
008our kids and we got a quick video with that as well [Music] welcome everybody who chose to come here to be in a very brand new school with all the wonderful technology the security foreign financial literacy everything you could possibly want in a school is [Music] like to see the kids smiling faces back in our campuses the summer went by pretty quick there's been a lot of hard work to get ready for the first day of school so I'm proud of our team we're up to a terrific start [Music] thank you [Music] this is a huge year I just take advantage of this year's going to go by really fast [Music] business that was somebody realized I needed a hug and they're just pretty pretty generous it was nice kindergarten kids are the are the
009best but the uh the other thing just part of one of our rituals we start a new school year uh you know we have our Education Foundation I'm sure we'll hear from a little bit and along with Office Depot they've they held two start proud events uh at one at Forest Hill Elementary School one at Boca Raton Elementary School and uh some pictures are flashing up now but this this is a great program they provide uh and totally provided 2 000 backpacks to our schools all stuffed with classroom supplies worth about 125 dollars per backpack at both schools they recognize one teacher that the principal was able to select which is a tough selection but one teacher received about two thousand dollars worth of supplies and then each School received a gift card for twenty
010thousand dollars that the the collective group of teachers at each respective school will be able to go on a shopping spree uh sometime soon in the fall so I just wanted to thank our part ship there again with the Ed foundation and Office Depot and uh with that I'd like to invite up our Deputy superintendent chief of schools Mr Ed Tierney uh you couldn't start a school year without some new principles and we've been busy over the summer getting new leadership in place and we're going to take a little time here to get to meet some of our new school leaders so Mr Tierney thank you chairman Barbieri Vice chairwoman Mrs Brill School Board member superintendent Burke I am very very pleased to have the opportunity to introduce Palm Beach County's newest principles it was
011a busy summer but we're very proud of the quality of the people we have Sitting before you so we're going to get right to it as we have a number Miss Annex Charlotte is going from manager compliance special projects to Roosevelt Elementary Roosevelt Elementary School is getting a passionate vision and leader we believe is a perfect fit thank you good evening chairman Barbieri Vice chairwoman Burrell school board members and Mr Burke I want to thank you all for the opportunity to serve as principal of Roosevelt Elementary I am humbled and honored to serve the students faculty and staff of Roosevelt my vision for Roosevelt is to continue building our students academic foundations while also providing them with Dynamic learning experiences to inspire them to broaden their visions of what's possible for themselves and for their
012communities I am a proud product of Palm Beach County Schools attending Cypress Trails Elementary Crestwood Middle and graduating from Suncoast High School's IB Program yesterday I received my work anniversary email from Team Palm Beach acknowledging my first day of work first day working for the district so on August 15 2007 I began my career as an educator and now entering my 17th year I have served in numerous roles from being a classroom teacher to most recently serving as manager of strategic management and I've had wonderful people supporting me throughout my journey I would like to first thank Dr long for her supports and guidance excuse me as I've begun my principal ship I'd like to thank also my former former District principal Terry stupas for her Visionary leadership and for teaching me how to make
013a commitment to providing a learning environment that supports the lives and dreams of both the students and the teachers in my building last but not least I would like to thank my family who are here tonight to my parents whose hard work guidance and support and focus on on education had led me to the seat today to my husband I'd like to thank him for being my biggest cheerleader and who's unwavering support allows me to be successful at both at home and at school and to my son Luca whose Relentless curiosity inspires me every day to provide a wonderful learning environment for the students at Roosevelt Elementary thank you Dr Moody Fuller is going from assistant principal John Leonard High School to principal Boynton Beach High School that Community was looking for someone to be
014the recognized leader and respected leader of the community in school and understands that the community the needs of a community and we believe the perfect candidate emerged good evening chairman Barbieri Vice chairwoman Brill school board members and Mr Burt I'm honored to have the opportunity to address you and extend my most sincere thanks for the opportunity to serve as the next principal of Boynton Beach Community High School thank you Mr Burke Mr Tierney Miss Capitano Dr Lockhart for supporting and believing in me I would like to acknowledge the invaluable contributions of my mentors Miss Melissa Patterson Dr Jesus armis and Dr Susie King a special thank you to my central region family Miss Haynes Miss Wetzel the Jedi Leonard administrative team and the countless others across regions and departments who I've collaborated with throughout the
015years your support and guidance has been instrumental I'd like to take a moment to express my deepest gratitude to my wife Laura throughout my journey as an educator she's been my Pillar of Strength my constant source of inspiration and my unwavering support system her belief in me and countless sacrifices have allowed me to pursue my passion and serve this community with all my heart to the Boynton Beach staff and our amazing students you're the heartbeat of this school and my goal is to nurture and Empower you to reach your full potential lastly to the parents the Guardians the community leaders and all those who entrust us with the education and well-being of their children I extend my deepest gratitude your support and partnership is vital to Our Success thank you for the privilege of serving
016as your principal go Tigers thank you Mr Sean bond is going from AP coral reef Elementary to principal corn coral reef Elementary that staff wanted someone familiar with the community who will support the expertise expertise and instructional practice of the teachers good afternoon chairman Barbieri Vice chairman woman Brill school board members and superintendent Burke first I would like to say how grateful I am for the opportunity to be the instructional leader of coral reef elementary school thank you to the board members Mr Burke and Mr Tierney for believing in me and providing me with this opportunity thank you to the South Region leadership team especially Miss Rachel Capitano for your continued support as a lifelong resident of Palm Beach County and a graduate of the Palm Beach County School District it is an honor to
017represent the students of this County it is my privilege to lead coral reef Elementary School into the future I began my teaching career as a middle school ESC teacher I'd like to thank Mr Jose Garcia for believing me and taking a chance on me I'd like to thank Mr Philip D'Amico for giving me my first opportunity as an assistant principal and for his continuous guidance over the years I'd especially like to thank Mrs Bobby moretto I have learned tremendously through your leadership and only hope that I can fill your very large shoes I'd also like to thank Mrs Jamie Wyatt and Mr Dominic Rosati for assisting me throughout my leadership Journey filled with overwhelming gratitude and love as I take a moment to express my heartfelt thanks to the most important people in my life
018my incredible wife and my loving family to my beautiful wife Melissa thank you for your unwavering support to my children Cameron Carter and Lauren I love you and I'm excited for you as you embark on your Journeys as students in the Palm Beach County School District I'd also like to thank my father Mark our retired Palm Beach County sheriff's officer my mother Eileen a retired speech language pathologist for the Palm Beach County School District my sister Maggie a current kindergarten teacher for the Palm Beach County School District and my brother Tommy a United States Army veteran and an 8th grade history teacher for the Orange County public school system thank you all I'm excited for what the future holds at Coral Reef Elementary School the students staff and Community are wonderful and I am honored
019to be a part of this community together we will continue to strive for excellence and Achieve our Collective goals thank you Mr Orlando mastropa is going from assistant principal at New Horizons Elementary to principal CEO Taylor Kirkland Elementary that Community was looking for someone to promote a Collaborative Learning culture and has a vision for academics and we think Mr mistropa is uniquely qualified to do that thank you Mr Tierney good evening chairman Barbieri Vice chairwoman Brill esteemed school board members and superintendent Burke I want to begin by thanking the school board for the opportunity to continue to serve students in this very new and exciting capacity I want to recognize School Board member Ayala specifically for taking the time to meet with me on the first day of school and offer her support thank you
020so much as someone whose career started as an elementary school substitute teacher to now being introduced Onyx an elementary school principal I can assure you that's certainly been a very exciting journey to get to this point so with that said I want to thank all the mentors that I've had throughout my career that led me to this point including Miss Valerie Haynes and Miss Vivian Green as well as countless other leaders who have poured into my leadership Journey thus far it really is an honor and a privilege to serve the Palm Springs Community as a principal of CEO Taylor Kirkland Elementary School the school has a rich history and is recognized as one of the largest and most diverse elementary schools in our district I've had wonderful meetings with families that have met all of
021the students at our school the last few days and I'm excited to continue to build relationships with them as a bilingual Hispanic I have the benefit of personally relating to our students and their families in a very special way and look forward to honoring their culture while providing many many Equitable opportunities for academic success my strong background in multiple dual language schools has prepared me uniquely for this new role I'd like to close by recognizing some of the most important people in the room my wife Rosemary my daughter Madison my son Matthew and my youngest daughter Autumn who support throughout this journey has truly been extraordinary I would not be sitting here if not for their support and their love so thank you again for this incredible opportunity I look forward to serving the community
022of Co Taylor Kirkland Elementary School with lots of pride Miss Rosalind gray McRae is moving from assistant principal Palm Beach Lakes High School to principal Palm Beach Lakes High School in that Community simply wanted to continue the great work happening on that campus good evening chairman Barbieri Vice chairman woman Brill and school board members and superintendent Berg I would like to thank you for this opportunity to be introduced as the principal of Palm Beach Lakes Community High School I am grateful and honored to be able to serve as the instructional leader school since 2004 I'm very familiar with the culture and the needs of the school I am confident that under the leadership of Dr long and Dr Lee and with the tutelage and support of my fellow principals my supportive administrative staff and the
023teachers and staff at Palm Beach Lakes I will be able to not only keep Lakes on top but to move it to the next dimension I would be remiss if I didn't take a moment to acknowledge and thank my family watching via TV my family that's here with me my daughters Selena Patrice and Bethany I'm sorry and to my husband Mr Charles McRae for their love and their support I also honor and would like to thank my mom and my grandmother who both transitioned last year but now on my forever guardian angels they gave me the tools and the push to get to this point I also would like to thank Mr Collins my very first High School principal at Mr David Alfonso my last principal for getting me to this point to Catch the
024Wave to the ram Revolution to keep Lakes on top [Applause] it's Diana Fernandez is going from Wellington Elementary principal interim to Berkshire Elementary principle the community wanted someone to continue the great work going there and expand opportunities for acceleration for the students good evening chairman Barbieri Vice chairwoman Murrell school board members and superintendent Burke understanding that this is an honor for any of my colleagues here to have been selected to lead schools in Palm Beach County School District I am particularly honored to have been selected for to be the next principal at Berkshire Elementary because it is exactly there where I started my leadership path as a tosa many years ago if my time at Berkshire would not have been a positive encouraging and rewarding one I would likely not have continued down the path
025that I am in today it was my time at Berkshire that I began to really understand what it meant to be part of the community that cared immensely for the children they served a community that felt like home since then I have had the incredible growth opportunities that have shaped my career and I would like to recognize some of the following district and school leaders Whose advice and mentorship made a big impact on the leader that I am today prior chairman Chuck Shaw for starting me off on my journey principals under whose leadership I serve which was Maria Bishop now instructional superintendent Miss Kathy Reynolds Dr Colleen iannetti Mr Joe piscia more recently central region superintendent Miss Valerie Haynes central region instructional superintendents Ms Karen Wetzel Miss Vivian Green Dr Jennifer Sanders and more recently
026miss Robin Brown last my personal support structure and my reason for being my sons Nicholas and Andre my daughter Daniella and my husband Manny of 32 years Ami casa thank you for letting me return home and Lead what I know is the best school in Palm Beach County that's Berkshire Elementary Ms Princeton menchal is going from Sunrise Park Elementary AP to Sunrise Park Elementary principal that staff wanted someone to recognize the importance of effective communication and continue positive relationship with students staff families and the entire community good evening chairman babieri Vice chairman Braille school board members Mr Burke Mr attorney and all other guests I'm very excited to be here and honored to accept the position as principal at Sunrise Park Elementary School I would like by start by thanking the board Mr Burke Mr
027attorney and along with Mrs Capitano and Mrs Steiger for this opportunity I would like to show my appreciation for all the amazing leaders I've worked under throughout the years to Joe pisia for providing me with my first leadership opportunity to Shantae King for really pushing my thinking and challenging me to see every situation through a different lens but most importantly for believing in me to Jamie Wyatt for every conversation where you pushed me to dig just a little bit deeper and lastly to Alicia Steiger for your guidance your coaching your patience and your mentorship the last four years you have set the bar extremely high at Sunrise Park and I'm looking forward to making you proud a very special thank you goes to goes out to the staff from Sunrise Park and Pine Grove Elementary
028who have helped shape me as a leader and a huge thank you to the strongest support system out there the place where it all starts my own parents who are here today thank you for believing in me thank you for teaching me that when you work hard you can get what you want thank you to my sister and her family for being the biggest cheerleaders in the room and my in-laws especially my mother-in-law who is right there to help me with my kids on those late nights my most appreciation goes out to my husband Perry and my two children Peyton and Preston who mean the world to me I am excited and ready to stand beside the students the staff and the community of Sunrise Park and continue to show why we are the best
029school in Palm Beach County thank you Celia Taylor is moving from Lake Worth High School assistant principal to Lake Worth Middle School principal Lake Worth Middle School Community is getting a consummate professional that we know is going to do great things for that entire community noon chairman Library Cherry Woman real distinguished board members superintendent Mr Burke and Deputy superintendent Mr Tierney thank you for this opportunity to serve as the next principal of Lake Worth Middle School although I'm honored to be selected I know it would not be possible with my without my support system I'd like to recognize some individuals who have mentored me and shaped me as a leader these include Dr Cheryl McKeever who took a chance on me knew out of college 22 years ago and gave me my first teaching opportunity
030in Palm Beach County and recognized my leadership potential before I did thank you Dr Anthony Lockhart for providing me teacher leadership opportunities and Dr George Lockhart who entrusted me with my first opportunity to become a assistant principal at Lake Worth high school I'd like to thank Dr Elvis Epps and Miss Elena vilani who continued to Mentor me and encourage me on my leadership Journey I also want to extend my gratitude to my central region family Mrs Valerie Haynes and Mrs Cara Wetzel for their unending guidance and support over the years and continuing to coach me and Mentor me on this new adventure most importantly I'd like to thank my original models of teaching which are my grandmother who devoted 38 years into classroom teaching and my mom who is now in her 43rd year of
031Education in Alabama they inspired me to become the educator that I am today and I am forever grateful lastly I'd like to thank my son Krishan who always shared his mom with hundreds of other children and my husband Carl who has joined me on this journey extended his love patience and support I'm excited to join the warrior family at Lake Worth Middle School I am honored yet grateful for your trust and vote of confidence I look forward to catching the wave and leading the warrior Nation to the academic to new academic Heights and levels thank you superintendent that concludes principal introductions thank you Mr Tierney you're all an impressive group you're looking pretty good after five days of school I must say so uh we'll let you get back to it but thanks for being
032here this evening enjoyed your speeches thank you thank you all right [Applause] just uh one last comment you know I know we've got several speakers signed up to speak tonight so I just wanted to kind of address an issue up front we have a lot of speakers sign up to speak about black history and I understand uh with what's played out in the news and what the Florida Department of Education and their recent approval of African-American history standards that that's cause for concern I just want to assure people here in Palm Beach County that we will continue to teach African-American history with the same standards that have been placed for years the state has not yet rolled out those new standards and even when they do we're going to be very careful we have always
033valued teaching history history accurately and we want to maintain our integrity when it comes to that going forward so I also want to just point out that we have always taught African-American history in accordance with Florida statute 1003.42 we have a department with a dedicated staff to teaching African-American history Latino history in the Holocaust so we're fortunate we have some resources locally to help us with that our school board recently bought more instructional materials including African-American history Latino American history and Holocaust Education and I just want to just acknowledge uh kind of the the concerns in the room with what's brewing around us throughout Florida and just offer you some assurance that we we understand your concerns and that we are working hard to continue to do right here in Palm Beach County and to
034teach history accurately I've also just received some inquiries about prageru which is a new instructional material that the state has adopted and again just here in Palm Beach County we have not purchased prageru we have not sanctioned its use and it's not being used in our schools here across Palm Beach County so with that uh chairman Barber here that completes my comments making the superintendent before I uh before my board colleagues make their comments I just want to remind viewers and listeners that they can access the meeting today by either watching on Comcast channels 234 and 235 U-Verse channel 99 or by using the YouTube link on our webpage at palmbeachschools.org an event that the link is interrupted for technical reasons please switch over to the TV channels all board meetings are recorded in their
035entirety and posted on the district website within 24 hour hours we also offer a listening only option which the public can access by calling 561-357-5900 or toll-free at 1-866-930-7015 the meeting ID is one five six one eight eight zero one one two four pound sign also on behalf of the board I'd like to welcome any public speakers who are joining us today the school board supports the peaceful assembly of persons to express themselves regarding matters concerning District students employees in the community please be mindful that the board members pursuing to board policy will not engage the public during public comment today so please understand that we are not being rude when questions are addressed to US during public comment it is simply our policy that we do not engage the public during that portion of
036the meeting to ensure that every member of the public who wants to speak has an opportunity to do so we do make note of your issues and follow up with District administration as to those issues as a reminder public comments must relate to the subject matter of the agenda item for which the speaker had requested to address pursuant to school where policy speakers whose comments do not relate to the topic that the speaker indicated including but not limited to the mention of any person's candidacy for elected office are subject to having the microphone turned off and forfeiting the right to speak at the remainder of today's meeting again your attendance here at the board meeting is appreciated thank you for helping us to maintain the Quorum Civility and the orderly conduct of school board business
037and with that said we'll turn to Mrs mcquinn do you have any comments thank you Mr Burke has already thanked every single employee of this school district for opening school and it took every single one I want to thank Mr Burke for his leadership in making this happen we all know he spent many many many sleepless nights and I know there have been some glitches as always Transportation but I will tell you the fewest that I have ever received in my seven years on the board and I know that he he Mr Sanchez were very worried about the buses so thank you so much for your leadership and Mr Burke I want you to know I did my Catch the Wave training so I've got it thank you thank you Mr McQueen missile thank you
038Mr chairman good evening everyone I want to start by welcoming everyone back to school um since school started in an overwhelmingly smooth fashion I've been able to visit 12 District 2 schools to say hello and to share in the excitement and the joy there's some pictures up on the screen I was joined by Deputy superintendent Tierney and superintendent Burke at different stops at John Leonard High School Palm Springs Elementary School Palmetto Elementary School coniston Middle School Forest Hill Elementary School CEO Taylor Kirk Lane and so proud of our brand new principal Meadow Park Elementary School Palm Springs Middle School Westgate Elementary School okeeheelee Middle School Belvedere Elementary School and of course our adult education center so I just wanted to say a huge congrats to everyone for a Flawless start to the school year and
039it was a joyous occasion over the last week next I'd also like to take an opportunity to directly address the community members who are here tonight with valid concerns around recent news and headlines regarding our curriculum instructional materials and the teaching of certain subjects thank you Mr superintendent for the initial commentary on that to begin as previously stated we wanted I wanted to make it crystal clear that this district has not purchased or adopted any prageru materials here in Palm Beach County I have been informed we have no plans to do so the current approved supplemental materials that cover those topics are providing a factual and Collective educational experience for our students at the moment second I wanted to discuss AP Psychology I know there was a lot of back and forth on that the
040answer is it will be and is currently being offered throughout our school district the initial confusion around that stemmed from a state decision and immediately our District staff and the superintendent went to work on addressing that confusion the decision to continue offering this very popular elective and I heard from many families in my district and throughout the community is based on Assurance that our district has received from both college board on the topic and the Florida Department of Education that we are able to teach the course in a manner that will allow our students to earn the college credit so I understand it was a frustrating situation and I wanted to express under uh you know gratitude for the patients that all the families Express as we work through that and of course thank our
041teachers and school administrators for their flexibility in pivoting to make this happen and last but certainly not least many of you are here tonight uh to address valid concerns raised around our districts teaching of African and African-American history so I really appreciate and understand this concern and wanted to clarify our District's position directly to those that are here to talk about this our legislative platform last year if some of you read it advocated for quote not enacting new legislation that would adversely impact students or parents because of their gender race religion or ethnicity and it was to avoid this very scenario I know that a lot of you here recognize that the position of our District's legislative platform and our advocacy efforts and what happens in the Florida legislature are not the same thing that
042being said I want to be clear that here in Palm Beach County we are offering 89 sections of African-American history and African-American history honors across our school district in both middle and high schools I want our families parents and students to know that for me it's always been a priority to continue offering a robust fact-filled complete and truthful education to every student in this district and that is outlined in our mission statement and our district strategic plan so I want to thank you for your efforts to ensure that as a community we can collaborate on making sure that what we're doing what's in the best interest of our students and I wanted to cover all this because I know there's been a lot of confusion around it even for some of us with the headlines
043and hopefully um you know since it may take a while to get to some non-agenda comments tonight just give you back some of your evening but if you stick around I can't wait to hear what you have to say and address this but I wanted to make sure that I was clear on where the district is out with this among the rhetoric thank you Mrs Whitfield thank you so much first of all I want to just say a huge welcome back to school it is such an amazing time of year I love going to schools to see the kids um coming back the teachers you know full of energy from their Summers so I think it's a wonderful time I actually started the day at our newest high school at Joaquin Garcia high school and
044it was such a pleasure to see the school I would say the worst part about it was now I've seen what an amazing High School looks like and I want every other High School in the district to look like that so large large requests coming in for I know so he's showing me he needs more money but I do think that we need the staff and it was just a wonderful place and just a beautiful school to be a part of and I know there's so many families that are really excited I actually drove my daughter there on the day when we had the Press come and she said oh my goodness this is the new school I want to go to school here and I was like yeah I totally understand and I know
045we don't have a lot of time and we have so many people coming tonight so I just want to say a huge welcome to District Four to Miss celicia Taylor and Dr Moody Fuller who are going to be two of the newest principals there I'm so excited to have you and I just want to say welcome to the school district um you know and in the principal ship position into the district four and I can't wait to work with you thank you all and I hope you have a wonderful year Mrs Anders thank you and good evening to everyone I'm so happy to see everyone back it's great to start the school year having been a teacher and being in the school Center most of my life it's a great time I want to thank
046the superintendent as well as the staff everyone who really makes it happen for our children on my very first day I went to Dr Joaquin Garcia High School I wanted to be there early before most kids arrived just opening the school on the very first day and to see the beautiful children it was just so fabulous I had an opportunity to go to the school a few days early to meet all of the teachers and say hello to the principal and staff everyone is so excited to be in a new facility but it is truly all about the people who make it happen for our children and so I want to congratulate them for making history for our first new High School in almost 20 years Dr Joaquin Garcia high school and I took a
047moment to think about Dr Walker Keem Garcia who was my friend and to see his name on the front of the building and for all of the children wearing the shirts go Bulldogs go Dr Garcia they are so excited about living the legacy of working together being successful and making life great and the teachers the students and staff but I left there and I rode all the way out to the Glades to South Bay to be with Rosenwald Elementary School on the first day they were so excited Mr tyranny met me out there with the regional superintendents and we walked through some classes and they were already started on the first day no plan around here in Palm Beach County academic achievement is very great and it's very important then we rode all the way
048over to Pahokee to the Pahokee Elementary School and everybody was on task as well as going straight on over to the high school in Pahokee it was fabulous but I want to take a minute to thank the Education Foundation for all that you do for our children I see James out here tonight you gave our children a great start on the very first day for the last week or so before school started you and your truck of supporters uh the people from The Ed Foundation you carried those backpacks those school supplies to all of the children in the Glades region and I think you were doing it all over the county but I got a chance to be with you in the Glades I was so thankful and so happy for being a part of
049that and just this past Monday when a community citizen reached out to you uh Jeff and Mary and they said we need books supplies we need backpacks for Loxahatchee Groves Elementary and you said Education Foundation will take care of it you'll just have to fill all the backpacks with all the school supplies they did it and we were at Loxahatchee girls Monday morning at 6 30 making sure every child had back a backpack school supplies and was ready to go from day one and when I look out and I see the people in the audience today we are you and you are me we will never let anyone take away our history and I want you to know I am glad that you are here uh the school board of Palm Beach county is committed
050to all of our students teaching the facts and making sure that we don't hide what our kids need to know about their history so I'm listening to your voices tonight I'm so glad I see the place packed and we stand with doing the right things for all of our children as it relates to African-American children as it relates to lgbtq plus children as it relates to all children we're not going to let anybody take away our rights and this is what we need the audience packed saying what you need to say to us but you need to know this school board and superintendent we got it we know what we have to do and we'll take it to Tallahassee all the way across the country to let people know we will not be pushed around
051we'll do the right things for our children thank you Mr Ferguson [Applause] thanks Mr chair so I want to Echo the sentiments of my other board members and say welcome back to all of our students their their parents teachers and administrators I'm really stoked for this school year my youngest started kindergarten so that's been an experience for me this first this uh first week haven't been able to visit too many schools because she kind of has me on a specific list of things that Daddy needs to do each day so trying to get my legs under me uh as far as that goes but I also want to personally welcome those new principles to District Seven so Mrs McRae uh Mrs Charlotte also I didn't see Mrs Eileen but she's at Forest Park but wherever
052you are you were missed tonight but we know you're going to continue doing great things down there at Forest Park also Dr Moody Fuller wanted to give a special recognition to him I've heard a lot about you I met him one time I believe last going into the summertime and I heard a lot of good things about them then I'm so happy that he was appointed as the principal at Boynton I do just love I really do love purple and gold so I'm partial to that school so I'm definitely gonna have to get down there and and talk to the good doctor about continuing progress toward continued Excellence I want to also recognize Mr Shane searchwell he's the director of Transportation I feel like a board member McQueen kind of stole my thunder a little
053bit there but I don't want to oversell things but she's right generally the the transportation department kind of gets a bum wrap but so far so good and I just want to encourage him and his team to continue doing what you're doing for the betterment of our children and their families also just want to send out another reminder next Wednesday superintendent Burke and Mr Sanchez will be at Roosevelt Middle School to participate in District 7's Town Hall number six topic of discussion is the Roosevelt High School also known as industrial High School seating is limited but we definitely are expecting the full house if you're interested in learning more about it feel free to contact my office at 561-434-7481 yeah but I almost struggling on that again 561-434-7481 also I wanted to take the time
054to recognize those who lost their lives out in Hawaii my heart goes out to that state the families who've lost loved ones as a result of the of the wildfires any support that we can give to them you know I'm definitely asking us to to do that I'm definitely looking forward to hearing from the public in regard to some of the overly politicized educational uh I guess you want to call them laws we'll call them laws the things that are coming down the pipe from in Tallahassee we hear you I think board member Andrews said it uh succinctlyn board member Ayala said it as well all seven of us want to make sure that we're teaching factual history I know that sounds like a oxymoron but these days I think it's worth being stated um
055also I definitely want to get into the I know we're it's already been pulled but item item Ops one the teacher known as the teacher Alexandra monthly I definitely want to get into conversation about that because I think that issue is kind of speaks to some other things here in the district that I would like us to kind of work work on um but I'll cut it short now as as other board members have said we have a long list of persons who want to speak and I guess we want to get out of here by what 10 o'clock 11. yeah all right I'm done thank you Vice chairwoman Brew thank you Mr chair so I've said this before it's very difficult when you're number six speaking because a lot of things can be repeated
056so I I won't repeat a lot um I don't usually get to talk about the places I've been but this has been a very exciting and heartwarming week for me and so I'm going to speak about some of the places that I visited I was at Indian Pines Elementary School for the delivery of backpacks by the Education Foundation a special thank you to Wycliffe Charities and the C Kenneth and Bax and Laura Baxter Foundation it takes a village and your generosity is making a huge difference for these young children I also had the opportunity to join the media tours at West Boynton middle school and Dr Joaquin Garcia High School what amazing campuses these are and so many of my favorite people are now working at both of these schools on the first day of
057school I joined Mr Burke for two very special school visits first we went to Indian Pines Elementary School where we visited a new program there Indian Pines Elementary is offering our second dual language Haitian Creole program we had the opportunity to visit the English class classroom and the Creole classroom on the very first day and Mr Burke I was so impressed when you sat on that tiny little kindergarten chair and then you were able to get out out of it without stumbling and how those children hugged you your heart really showed and it was just wonderful and then we visited another classroom near and dear to my heart it was the ASL classroom that's the American sign language class for our hearing impaired students whose families want their children to learn sign language currently they
058have two units and they serve students as far north as Jupiter and as far west as Belle Glade I wrapped up the first day of school visits at the brand new Middle School very long awaited in West Boynton Beach at the media tour earlier in the week the parents and students were thoroughly excited many of them commenting about the offerings and how they exceed what's offered in private schools on the first day day of school we visited the technology classroom where Esports will be taught and the financial literacy classroom where you saw on the video a ticker tape that's going to be scrolling across the front wall and students will be able to compete as they learn about investing in the stock market so not to repeat things but ditto on the curriculum issues I
059will also add to the comments of my colleagues again reiterating what we have stated in this boardroom before we also have not banned any books in Palm Beach County so you need to know that also when we discuss our legislative priorities I am suggesting that we further craft priorities around ensuring the teaching of factual history in Florida and not removing courses or segments of curriculum that will impede our students when they apply to colleges outside of Florida so I will wrap up my comments by saying Happy New School Year everyone [Applause] so I'll be very brief from everything that I could have said has already been said other than the you know the buck stops in the chair where this man is sitting and so I want to congratulate the superintendent um the 15 years
060I've been on the board we've never had an opening like this one I mean it was totally smooth I don't think any of us got any emails but usually we get dozens and dozens of emails by 10 o'clock in the morning on the first day of school because people complaining about something whether they don't like the classrooms their kids are in or they don't like their bus ride or the bus that they didn't ride but I want to congratulate you and your staff on a job well done we also at this meeting we normally recognize those of our employees who have passed away since the last regular meeting and that we only have one tonight and that's Aretha Palmer she was a teacher at teaching math grades 9 to 12 at John I Leonard high
061school she was born May 16 1969 and she died July 7th 2023 so if we could have a moment of silence for Miss Palmer's family as we send out our condolences thank you everyone that'll take us to presentations Miss NECA Nolan from the communications and engagements Department joins us for the August board recognitions good evening Jacob good evening chair Barbieri Vice chair Brill board member superintendent Burke staff and community members so we have one recognition this evening and that is to celebrate that our school district earned another six years of accreditation this is a symbol of our commitment to providing a quality education and it demonstrates our dedication to continuous Improvement that meets worldwide standards the district recently completed a four-month audit style Engagement review for accreditation renewal this looked at our entire system including
062policies learning conditions leadership resources and cultural context the rigorous review system determines how well everything works together to meet the needs of all stakeholders the district received a score demonstrating that we meet the standards for accreditation set by cognia the accrediting agency the final report highlighted several noteworthy practices that reflected significant areas of strength in the district's educational system these included our five-year strategic plan promoting continuous Improvement processes and professional development programs supporting equity-based learning more than one thousand District staff members administrators teachers students parents and business partners participated in the accreditation process making the renewal a team effort and a testament to the effective collaboration of the community this is an important achievement for the district and proof that we place a premium on effective teaching strong curriculum and preparing each student for a
063future success as part of this recognition at this time we would like to welcome Dr Mark Quintana Southeast region vice president from cognia who would like to say a few words good evening chairperson Barbieri Vice chair brill school board members superintendent Burke and all again I'm Mark Quintana vice president for cognia Southeast region of note I started my education career at lagers Run Middle School here in Palm Beach County Andy Martinez is with me also a veteran educator born and raised in the Southeast Florida area he serves as the director for Florida and Diana weinbaum is unfortunately unable to be with us Diana is our senior director for Florida but also spent 12 years working here in Palm Beach County teaching at Manatee Elementary Sunset Palms Elementary and the school Improvement position here at the
064district office and also as the Director of Professional Standards she's caring for a family that is uh ill and out of state that's why she's not here cognito's accreditation congratulations we are the worlds and the United States largest K-12 accreditation organization with a network of approximately 36 000 education institutions of which 95 percent of them are here in the United States and the remaining are in 91 other countries around the globe we first started accrediting schools in 1895 Palm Beach counties Lake Worth Community High School is the longest accredited high school with us and that was in 1922 and the district has been accredited since 2008 which was shortly after we went to an offered district-wide models for accreditation a few years before under our former name of Advance Ed accreditation is not about passing
065a one-time evaluation it helps providers schools and also the central office your central office is now accredited as part of this process this helps you all and proves that you meet Improvement goals and sustain commitments to better learner outcomes accreditation is part of your continuous Improvement Journey as a school district it's an extremely rigorous process where only the most qualify earned cognit accreditation so congratulations to you all here in Palm Beach County and we encourage you to continue to engage and participate annually in continuous Improvement activities in alignment with our performance standards we have here for you a certificate to acknowledge and celebrate your accreditation for the next six years and your District staff has informed us that every school's certificate is in hand at the district office and they will start to receive their
066certificates tomorrow thank you and at this at this time if there are any staff members who would like to join at the front with the board members and Kanye please come forward at this time foreign thank you Dr container Mr board chair Madam Vice chair board member superintendent staff and members of the community this concludes the recognition for August thank you everyone for your attention this evening thank you okay foreign for committee reports we have no report from academic advisory no report from audit the review the construction officer Review Committee report is attached to the agenda District diversity and Equity committee has no report this evening general counsel of yemeni general counsel she's not in the room so assuming she doesn't have anything for us Inspector General no report all right so we'll call on
067elected officials and delegates next I'd like to start with Claudia Kirk Bartow the Junior Achievement of Palm Beach Treasure Coast after she speaks we'll ask for Lori salarulo president CEO of the Junior Achievement good evening we're kind of pulling a fast one on you that's right um good evening chairman Barbieri Vice chair brill board members and superintendent Burke I'm Claudia Kirk Bartow as you know Palm Beach um Jay of the Palm Beaches and Treasure Coast and my colleague is Lori salarulo from Jay of South Florida so we thought we would welcome everybody back to school together and let you all know that we're here obviously to support the school district as we educate a firm in a spot Inspire our young people and we're working together just to make sure that you know that we're
068aligned with a couple of items within the Strategic plan and I'll be like you saying a1b strengthening career pathway opportunities and coordinate Choice programs to ensure all students identify understand and prepare for careers aligned to their interest also a2a Implement Innovative learning approaches including acceleration options in all four course subjects project-based learning and authentic assessments and c1a implemented district-wide system to ensure every student has a positive relationship with with at least one adult at school and is recognized for their achievements obviously we're supporting those with all of our programs and we just wanted to say that we're working together this year to support all the school the students in our district as well as the teachers and administrators and I'll let Lori say a few words but I just wanted to we wanted to do
069it together to use only four minutes oh thank you Miss Bartow yes we're going to save you some time tonight thank you board chairs school board members it's a pleasure to be here with you thank you for the opportunity for us to serve your students as Claudia said our goal this year is to approach this in a unified comprehensive approach how can we serve as many students as possible in Palm Beach County so we serve through Delray Beach and then Claudia's area of the Palm Beaches picks up uh north of that and so between both of us uh there's so much knowledge there's so many opportunities especially right now with SB 240 that has come down with a lot of mandates around Career Tech uh the financial literacy mandate so there's so many opportunities and
070so we didn't want to miss that this year and said from now on we're coming here United to approach this together so that we can serve every child in those areas so we look forward to deepening our partnership and building on it and working with the team here and superintendent Burke to help you and assist you in any way that we can to meet the mandates that are coming down from the state around CTE so thank you so much for everything that you do thank you to both of you for everything you do for our children thank you thank you and one last thing we are so excited to support those young young people that want to be teachers through our high school Heroes program as well as congratulations to all the new assistant Prince
071I mean the new principal so have a great year we're excited to work together thank you James president CEO for the Education Foundation of Palm Beach County good evening chairman Barbieri members of the school board and superintendent Burke I appreciate the wonderful words of Miss Andrews but tonight is not really going to be about us it is about this incredible Community we serve uh and in which we work and it's a business community that has nothing but support for the school district as you're going to hear I do have to say to superintendent Burke your connection to the business Community is astonishing um you've now delivered two uh sort of state of the district presentations at respective Chambers and my phone blows up after each one I know everybody calls me to tell me you're
072doing a great job it's like I'm not his boss he doesn't work for me but the business Community respects your candor your forthrightness your humility and above all your integrity and your service so job well done sir Marsh Andrews referred to the backpack program and that's what I'm going to talk about tonight I brought notes up Frank which I never do because I don't want to miss anyone I'd like you to listen to the list of sponsors the companies in our community that pony it up to make sure that young people are prepared for this year PBSO our Sheriff's Office U.S sugar the Kenneth and Laura Baxter Foundation simpatico real estate Office Depot who did Two start Prouds one at Forest Hill and one at Boca L uh Pratt and Whitney joseernat group ncci Wycliffe
073Charities carrier gunster lesser lesser landian Smith Seacoast Bank Wharton Smith construction BNI contractors Comcast Proctor construction Core Construction vertical bridge two men in a truck the Jewish Federation of Palm Beach County the brook Jackman foundation and Coca-Cola beverages of Florida those are just the the companies who put up funds Florida had a little competition amongst the employees they raised over three thousand four hundred dollars verdix construction over three thousand three hundred dollars pH mortgage twenty three hundred dollars the Four Seasons in Del Rey over 1500 and the PBC Association of Legal administrators fourteen hundred dollars more importantly those companies who put boots on the ground and stuffed those backpacks again listen to this of our business partners the breakers Papa John the Honda Classic Mount Olive Youth Department the Ben Hotel Sounders care DSM Capital
074Partners BDO Gold Coast Federal Credit Union Ari blank and Company Chase Bank the Boca Grove Country Club Anderson Admirals Cove Country Club PT Anderson Volo Ridge HCA Florida Healthcare Poland Capital the polti group Stone group at Illustrated properties and some gentleman named Mike Burke came and spent a day working with the Education Foundation I guess I was your boss for about a half a day there now what does all that Translate the numbers just Boggle the mind we started this program four years ago five years ago passing out 3 900 backpacks then we went to 4 300. the third year we did 7220. last year we did 17 617 and ladies and gentlemen with all of those incredible business partners in the last two weeks thanks to Marsha Andrews who helped us offload a truck
075at Alexandria Ayala who offloaded a truck or two your community provided 23 695 backpacks and 39 of our district schools if you do the math we serve 21 of the school district if we were a business our Market penetration would be off the hook and all I can say to you chairman Barbieri members of the school board superintendent Burke and ladies and gentlemen this is not about the Education Foundation doing its job it's about Palm Beach County it's this community who is saying to you superintendent Burke they believe in you they're following you they want to support you and they want to support our kids we are blessed with an amazing business Community who wants a world-class education for our children and the proof is in the pudding in these numbers thank you very much
076we're off to a great year we are your Education Foundation serving the finest School District in Florida thank you thank you Charmaine postal vice president Florida PTA Deborah Robinson chair of the Coalition for black student achievement wait my time started hold on a second trying to fix the welcome back Palm Beach County Charmaine postal vice president of membership development on behalf of Florida PTA Florida PTA is thrilled to see many of our members advocating as the school year has approached I would like to keep you informed about actions we have taken in response to the current controversy surrounding the teaching of AP psychology in Florida controversy has followed closely upon earlier contentious discussions about AP African American history and standards delineating instruction on that topic as well as about the general appropriateness of K-12 instructional
077classroom and media center materials pertinent to a wide variety of subjects during the past two years the Florida legislator has passed laws that restrict K-12 instruction and K-12 students access to materials on Concepts pertaining to race color national origin and sex hb7 2022 and gender identity and sexual orientation HB 1557 2022 and 1069 2023 Florida PTA opposed all three bills based on long-standing position statements denouncing censorship and supporting inclusive curricula the College Board provided provider for all AP standards and examinations made adjustments to the content of AP African-American history a brand new course offering but bulked at changing AP Psychology which has for decades included a section on sexuality a few weeks ago the College Board formally declared that it would not recognize any AP Psychology course missing this content in response Florida education commissioner
078issued a letter indicating that AP Psychology could be taught in Florida in its entirety but nonetheless provided the caveat the instruction the age and developmentally appropriate school districts concerned that teachers administrators might be sanctioned for offering or authorizing the same instructions and materials and as an effect in previous years notified parents to inform that AP Psychology will not be among courses available in 23 2024. some districts including Palm Beach County have now issued notifications that the courses will be offered thank you Palm Beach County Florida PTA believes that the pendulum has swung too far away from the moderate child Center positions for which we have always advocated and that parent and Community engagement which we strongly support has been misinterpreted as selective parent and computer and Community absolism accordingly we have written to the commission
079of Education to request that he provide clarification that AP Psychology instruction can proceed as in previous years without repercussions to teachers administrators or school board members we have further urged him to work with Florida legislator to amend statutory language that is unnecessarily and detrimentally vague or that absurps the right of individual parents to direct the education of their children we have likewise issued a press release to acquaint the general public with our stance moreover in accordance with our mission we will be working with school boards and the Florida legislator in the coming year to place the education health safety and well-being of students once again at the center of their focus I look forward to meeting with the board members before me and district and District staff in the very near future as a matter
080as a mother of a black senior here in Palm Beach County currently in rigorous courses such as AP and Ace it is imperative that I advocate for my child your child all children thank you for advocating on behalf of all children and youth Florida PTA is the oldest and largest child advocacy Association in Florida founded in 1923 and has successfully advocated for everything under the Sun including kindergarten school lunches bicycle helmets your child my child and all children good thank you Miss poster good evening I'm Dr Deborah Robinson chair of the Coalition for black student achievement boom since it's founded in 1998 the Coalition for black student achievement has been a steadfast advocate for teaching students and adults the full picture of world history 360 degrees of course because we love ourselves we don't hate
081anyone we have consistently highlighted the contributions of the African diaspora I'm going to ask those who are here in support of teaching black facts not fiction to please stand while I speak governor and his cronies are attempting to tie the hands of teachers and imprison the minds of children we are here to announce that we will not let that happen not on our watch not in our County we will work with whoever and against whoever for our children and do not be Bamboozled by The Wizard of Oz oops no I mean the wizard of Tallahassee watch carefully what he tells when he tells Educators not to do not to indoctrinate that's exactly what he wants to do he wants to indoctrinate with the view that only white cisgendered males are valued with rare exceptions you
082know those that drink and make the Kool-Aid he wants to deny access to thought-provoking materials he wants to limit thinking thinking about teachers Thinking by students thinking by parents and community did you not read Brave New World in 1984 it appears that the wizard wants us to walk directly into those dystopian worlds where the government tells you what to think the TV watches you books are removed newspapers are Rewritten and primary source documents are hidden he does this all I blame it on someone else there is an organized moved again to feel the minds of children with misinformation and distortions we are here to say Palm Beach County School Districts stand up the Coalition for black student achievement expects that the Palm Beach County School District will include the truth of our story and classroom
083instruction as well as instructional and media materials black history is American history black history is world history now I know most most of you know this most of you not all of you know this don't tuck your tails and hide show teachers how to teach the truth without feeling endangered Florida statute 100 3.42 says members of the instructional staff of the public schools subject to the rules of the State Board of Education and the district school board shall teach efficiently and Faithfully using the books and materials required to meet the highest standards for professionalism and historical accuracy the history of African Americans including the history of African peoples before the political conflicts that led to the development of slavery the passage to America the enslavement experience abolition and the history and contributions of Americas of
084the African diaspora should be taught in that vein Coalition is here to say to teachers that you can teach black history you should teach black history we know that each one of you wants to be your student's best teacher and we want you to be I ask that you take a lesson from the great teachers of the past the ones that I call the teachers of the resistance the ones that work quietly and persistently to educate Inspire and affirm black Minds despite an educational system that was happy to imprison those black Minds please grant me the courtesy of a few more seconds sorry Dr Robinson we Dr Robin said I'm sorry we can't go over we have so many speakers and I want to make sure everybody gets through that today's teachers of Palm Beach
085County must continue the work of resistance despite Dr Carlos Diaz shared Hispanic education Coalition and Lynn Hubbard chair of the NAACP Palm Beach chapter [Music] good afternoon uh chairman Barbieri Vice chairman Brill superintendent Burke and members of the board I'm Dr Carlos Diaz I'm chairman of the Hispanic education Coalition of Palm Beach County when I was 10 years old I was in fifth grade in Marathon Florida our teaching teacher said the following to our class quote during slavery a young healthy male slave cost around fifteen hundred dollars in today's money that would be about the cost of a Cadillac and you wouldn't mistreat your Cadillac would you I remember those words as if they were uttered yesterday and they were uttered 63 years ago I thought those days were long in the rear view mirror
086of Florida education yet six decades later we have passed curricular guidelines that suggest that slavery is some sort of an early job training program I've asked myself why would adults press to teach absurdities to students why are some people afraid to teach the entire truth in an age-appropriate manner as an organization the Hispanic education Coalition believes that neither Hispanic nor any other students can get an appropriate education when teaching is conducted in a climate of fear and currently we have a climate of fear what happens when students read literature written from perspectives besides their own when they learn that history is not unidimensional but it contains facts both complementary and uncomplementary to our national image they develop empathy and the ability to see life from the Viewpoint of people besides themselves this is exactly what
087the modern day academic Puritans are trying to prevent they claim books are not being banned but at least outside of Palm Beach County some books are not available they claim that Florida is a state of freedom but I would ask freedom for whom the curriculum in the Palm Beach County Schools must reflect the totality of the American Experience not some version which has been sanitized whitewashed and filled with false equivalencies how does a teacher know in advance whether students may feel uncomfortable when they learn the whole truth about immigration slavery or the Holocaust the only way to guarantee that no one is upset is to omit the topics while this boarded Administration must comply with state laws we can give teachers interpretations of these laws in layman's language so they comply but do not engage
088in additional self-censorship I urge the Palm Beach County Schools to do this to minimize confusion and fear no one has a right to teach their to use their teaching or administrative positions to inculcate students politically but one form of indoctrination is to promote the emission of facts which may not fit your world view that is not education likewise any suggestion of indoctrination must come with solid proof and not just allegations that Florida teachers are abusing their roles I see no study indicating that this is the case the Hispanic education Coalition is deeply concerned that the curriculum is being constrained teachers and administrators also feel constrained but they must consider job security before speaking out so I will do it for them but silence is acquiescence and students who go through a sanitized will not know
089it until thank you Lynn Hubbard chair of the NAACP Palm Beach chapter Lynn Hubbard NAACP reactivation committee I was glad to hear this evening that the non-accredited Prager University curriculum has not that has been authorized is not being used in Palm Beach County the fact that that information is attempting to be used in any part of the in any part of the state shows us that it is being tested to be a part of the education curriculum throughout our our country the blatant distortions of the truth that has started to make a whirlwind in our Educational Systems we will have to pay close attention to them now that we know they aren't being used here in Palm Beach County at the moment we know now that we have to watch and see if that changes
090if that changes because it's a mandate from on high we first of all want to make sure that our parents know that they can opt out of having that particular curriculum taught to their children I think that's the first thing that uh the school board members need to make sure if something is mandated for our kids here we need to let our parents know that they that they can opt out of having that taught to to their kids the history for example one of the things that it that they're saying is that Frederick Douglass compromise slavery for the building of America he knew it was bad that but he said that hey he would compromise that for the building of Great America we know that Frederick Douglass was a great abolitionist and that he said
091that in his speech what is slavery what is July 4th to slaves he merely was trying to make a point that time like that the scorching irony not convincing argument is what was needed so there's no way that he could have been stating that slavery was good for America he said had he had the ability and could reach the nation's ear he would pour out a fiery stream of biting ridicule blasting reproach withering sarcastum and Stern rebuke now when we know that we have access to the valuable writings of Frederick Douglass we cannot sit blindly as care as we can with any other piece of history and say let's look at it from another lens there's only one lens to look at it from and that is the true facts of the matter and the
092fact of the matter is that we won't and we can't sit by we must let our community know that as Community organizations we have band together and we will continue to come out and make certain that the truth of the matter is always told one of this is this meets the standard this teaching meets the standards so teachers can continue to teach this this is one of it meets the standard ss6a a a 2.8 this is a middle school social study standard and it describes significant contribution made by key figures during Reconstruction so I say that to say to the teachers you have the tools the information is available and it needs to be accessible to continue to teach our children true history so that they can know their words where they where they came
093from and where they have the ability to go thank you Lynn Hubbard black facts not fiction all right that'll take us to agenda topic speakers we have three please come up to the microbeam closest to you remember you have three minutes to speak Jen Showalter John garan and Donald Pearson hi I'm Jen schultzer here to discuss fmpa3 the purchase of Ace examinations from Cambridge University overall I'm in favor of the AIDS program as it encourages writing skills and more in-depth look at subjects however there are some issues with the program just this week 25 students at Willington High School found out that Ace is holding their scores and in turn their Ace diplomas because of extended time issues the parents were not notified nor the students or teachers these 25 students have IEPs that are
094requiring by law to provide extra time some of these students said they never received that time when I started investigating the situation I was told by the staff that Ace frowns on too many accommodations per School hence the arbitrary hold of over two dozen students even though law requires they follow through I'm already in contact with Florida doe to oversee this issue most of these students or seniors already in the process of applying for college they are working on scholarships and this whole this hold up has massive and direct implications on those issues most of these students deal with high anxiety and are on the Spectrum so disruptions can have a large negative effect these students don't know if they'll get credit for these tests if not what happens then it is highly unethical to
095force students to re-study for classes they took a year ago on top of a new course load to take tests they already finished and were denied based on nothing that they did if the board renews this then one the board must make sure that accommodations are are provided for and carried out that should be a no-brainer as it's required by law two the board must make sure the ace acknowledges these accommodations before the student takes the exam so they don't have to take it twice if the board is serious about restoring the image in regards to special needs children then the Board needs to contact Ace and explain the rise in accommodations our County had an over 365 percent increase in speech delays alone this past year and instead of unlawfully using the Baker Act
096to arrest over 1700 students including five-year-olds handcuffing five-year-olds and a lot of minority children start defending those students making sure to provide equal opportunities and work with Ace to stop demoralizing and penalizing these students for needing accommodations the last aspect of this agenda item is the lack of equal access to these classes it's very ironic tonight isn't it very few high schools offer them and only Wellington has a large selection again if the board wants to be viewed as actually showing equality then these classes should be standard throughout every High School in the county thank you John garan Donald Pearson yeah my name is John garan I'm here to speak on two agenda items um fmpa3 spends 7.5 million dollars for the purchase of aice examinations for one year however Cambridge University press will not
097comply with Florida law their latest statement on the matter is quote we have not changed our courses exams or teaching materials including Cambridge International as and a-level psychology in response to Florida's new laws nor do we plan to if the board continue if the board passes this measure and continues to use AIC exams then the school district will face lawsuits and will lose those lawsuits the board should not approve this item the second agenda item is fmpa4 which spends over three million dollars on newsella software that personalizes Daily News for Students this shares all data on students with Newsela and the school district so they will track what articles students are reading it also shares the teacher and classmate information as well so Newsela and the school district will know which articles students all in
098the same classroom are reading moreover Newsela sells advertising and collects personal data on students in order to sell ads this is a gross violation of student privacy and there's no need to collect this information in the first place the board should not approve this item thank you Donald Pearson [Applause] good evening Don Pearson long time Palm Beach County School teacher I'm here to talk about um P1 at the the teacher Fest I spoke to Mrs Andrews and she um back in the day we had teachers who needed places to stay I remember we had lists and they could match up so I asked her about that and she asked me to get in contact with uh Tim rubric Kubrick I'm sorry and he very quickly sent something to me which I appreciate and I just
099want to say something I'm not saying this for me because I'm in my 42nd year it's for teachers in this County because it's no secret that we're shorting a lot of teachers and I'm wondering I know why some of them can't stay they can't afford it so what he sent and this is right on the school district website I on his uh the agenda item just so you know um there are 1747 separation of employment and I know some of those are three or four jobs because if a Coach leaves and he coaches two sports that counts as three but it also there's 187 other reasons personal reasons relocation for a total of 235 and then temporary um employment that people have left so I'm looking why and I know some of them it's it's
100hard it's hard to live here so what Tim sent me this is right off the the website says uh to provide the workforce in Palm Beach County the opportunity to purchase Homes at below market prices payments and closing cost assistance is available and I said well that's pretty good well they give three for incomes low income this is what the county says 58 000 to 78 000 is low income moderate is 78 to 98 moderate two is 98 to 117 and middle class income is 117 to 137. there's about a handful of teachers that make that right in that range but I just looked on the other website Zillow again right off the website and I said they had a little um calculator if you make sixty thousand dollars and you have just bills of
101only fourteen hundred seven dollars it says you can afford a house for forty forty thousand dollars if you make sixty thousand dollars and you have no debt you can afford a house of two hundred sixty five thousand if you make seventy thousand dollars with fourteen hundred dollars in debt you can afford a hundred thirty one thousand dollar home board members the only item that's been pulled is Ops Ops one is there any other items you'd like to pull at this time see none we need a motion to approve the consent agenda I'm sorry they approved the yes prove the consent agenda motion by Mrs Andrews second by Mr Ferguson any discussion all in favor Owens motion carries seven zero that will take us to new business superintendent the only Adam under there's two Ops one
102yes I recommend the board approved the notice of recommendation for 10-day suspension without pay for Alexandra monthly effective Friday September 8 2023 subject only to appeal rights under Section 120.569 Florida statute in section 120.57 Florida statute and a classroom Teachers Association collective bargaining agreement article 18. motioned by Mrs mcquinn seconded by Mrs Whitfield Mr Ferguson thank you Mr chair I pulled this because I will not be voting in support of the 10-day suspension uh and I just wanted to explain to the board my reasons for that I read the entire the entire packet I read the reports um I read the statement provided by the teacher at Wellington Landings I read the student statements and then I also looked at the video my concern is that and we had we had a not really a
103similar situation but we had a situation where a principal at Lake Worth middle got into a verbal spat with an adult after school hours in the rear of the campus and made a state use the word use the n-word and we stated well basically because he said it outside of the purview of children and it was after hours okay find a 10-day suspension is is reasonable but in this particular case looking at the video this person used the word clearly in the presence of students um and I have I have real trouble with just the 10-day suspension so I understand from speaking to general counsel that if we were not if we were to not support the 10-day suspension essentially the case would have to go back through the review process and maybe in a
104more more substantial suspension would occur maybe even termination but I I guess I want to kind of pause there because Council told me kind of just stick to the the packet itself and not really opinion on on things outside of the Four Corners if you will but again just in looking at the video reading the teacher statement several times to see whether I missed something it's a real problem here and I don't think that a 10-day suspension is an adequate and reasonable essentially sanctioned for somebody uttering the n-word during school hours in the front of children I mean it's being a teacher is a privilege and an honor so [Applause] so we can't just simply say okay I see we escalated past the written reprimand in the verbal reprimand and I'm aware of the the
105rubric if you will but again the word needs to be rooted out and I think it should start I should start but it definitely should be rooted out in our schools we cannot endorse any any adult employee of the school district I'll say it that way using those words during school hours in the presence of children is just it's just not tenable so that was the reason why I pulled this from consent and I understand what the current recommendation is but I'm I'm asking the board to support our to not support the 10-day suspension and let's kind of take this back to the drawing board and see if we can get a more reasonable punishment based on what what she did other comments from the board see now we'll take a vote all in favor
106of the superintendent's recommendation opposed motion carries six one I recommend the school board approved the Personnel addendum as submitted by Mrs Andrews second by Vice chairwoman brill any discussion all in favor opposed motion carries 7-0 that'll take us to non-agenda topic speakers start with the first three names I have on the list please come up remember you have three minutes and please state your name John Jarvis brother Carl Muhammad Ezekiel Edmonds [Music] good evening Mr Burke ladies and gentlemen of the board before I begin I just want to let everybody to know I'm not here to criticize complain argue ask you to spend money or talk to you about the extended warranty on your car I am here to present some good news tonight my name is John Jarvis I'm with music man in West
107Palm Beach Florida and I'm here on behalf of the National Association of Music merchants The NAMM foundation and its over 10 000 members around the world our mission our mission is to advance active participation in music making across the lifespan by supporting scientific research philanthropic giving and public service programs one of these programs is called The NAMM fly-in where music vendors manufacturers like myself fly into Washington DC and we Lobby and Advocate with our legislators to increase spending for education to include music and it was during one of these trips that I got to meet our Congressman Brian mast and I was in this room and it's the first time I'd been there and and I'm supposed to talk about all my talking points that I was trained for and I started flubbing my lines
108and all of a sudden I just stopped I said sir I'm sorry I'm obviously I'm not a polished lobbyist but I can tell you three things we all love puppies we all love kids and we all love music and I'm here for the puppy I'm here for the kids in the music so tonight again I'm here for the kids in the music and also to recognize sorry I'm a little nervous to recognize the school district of Palm Beach County The NAMM foundation's best community I'm here to recognize that the school board of Palm Beach County with the name foundation's best communities for music education award the best communities music education award as a signature program that recognizes and celebrates school districts and schools for their support and commitment to music education and by demonstrating outstanding
109achievement in its efforts to ensure access to music for all students as part of a well-rounded education Now understand this is not a rubber stamp award to qualify for the best communities music education Mr Malone and his team answer detailed questions about funding graduation requirements music class participation instruction time facilities and support for the music program and Community Music making programs responses verified by the school officials were reviewed by the universe music Research Institute of the University of Kansas and I'm proud to say out of thousands upon thousands of applications from districts around the country that apply for this award the school district of Palm Beach county is one of 830 selected and only one of six in the state of Florida and the best part about this is this is not the first year
110we've done this this year marks the seventh year in a row in which the school district has won this prestigious award so on behalf of the students parents and music educators of Palm Beach County I thank you and I'd like to present you thank you sorry Muhammad [Applause] car Muhammad I wanted to say um I'm very pleased to see that there are some people are finally coming out to the school district to have something to say about our black children but in the uh interim we need to take on a serious consideration the activity that's been taking place for the past year and those things that you know instinctively yourself that you know that others are might be perpetrating a fraud I want to ask you to stay steadfast because the last Workshop that I
111came to um one of the board members didn't even know the Florida statute and that was very disturbing to me um because that's it's very important to our children and what what takes place now we just finished the State of Florida task force I attended up under the new leadership upon this these people that Mr DeSantis put up foot forward and it was somewhat still the same kind of activity that we had in the past but didn't need that well they identified Palm Beach County as one of the exemplary counties Marion and um I believe it was Pinellas but but because I'm here and I'm doing work I know that we're not really exemplary and we need some more staff development inside of our community so those organizations that are here tonight I hope you
112will really come out and really pick up the amount of Peace but before you do anything you must get some training because I see that many of the people are still coming out they haven't involved themselves in no kind of new direction for our children because you don't hear it and we're trying to Foster some new after-school programming and some new other things and I know that we're going to have to come to a serious conversation at some Junction in our development because it always seemed like we have these little pity Patty things but I know that we need to come together because the only time I've seen this happen was when the we got the shock report and we discovered we was on the graduating 26 percent of our children so tonight on whatever
113the reason that everybody is out I hope you take it on a serious consideration and then I'm looking forward for what I asked you at the last board meeting if I could get some kind of direction from each one of my board members as it relates to what you're doing in your District so that we can come and assist you we're not coming to fight you we're coming to bring you the best that we have that we have developed as a result of our genuine concern for our children and we also pushing the Carter G Woodson book club because one of the greatest problems that I've seen in Palm Beach County everybody that I asked do they know Carter G Woodson they say no and then ask them have they ever celebrated Black History Month
114they say yes and I still find a problem with a person saying that they celebrate something that they don't know the nature about which it comes into existence and when we look at what is needed inside of our community it's going to really build well it's always been a challenge but we do have some people in our community that is ready to assist in some meaningful kind of way other than just conversation and we'll be able to take and do an evaluation in three months uh 90 days or whatever and this is something that needs to take place because I'm fighting for these little children in my family this is my little boy I'm I'm fine for them [Applause] Annie Ruth Harrison good man good evening superintendent Burke chairperson Bobby air school board members my
115name is Annie Ruth Nelson I live at 1400 6th Street in West Palm Beach I am an alumnus of Roosevelt High School class of 1960. also currently I serve as president of the African-American research Library Museum and Cultural Center of Palm Beach County I'm here to express my concern and support but the renovation and rebuilding of the historic Roosevelt High School campus stood as a beacon of educational excellence pride and Hope of a promising future for many generations it's valuable piece of property supported by taxpayers has been left unused and poorly maintained which has become an eyesore and a once Vibrant Community where this asset was the center of Vitality the education social and economic needs for many of its residents today those same services and hope is needed and should be provided where people
116live and have access to them rather than an area for crime and hope homelessness which is unsafe for children going to and from Roosevelt Elementary and Middle School for more than 100 years the African-American descendants in this County have played a pivotal role in the development of the county from the Eastern Shore once called the sticks now Palm Beach West Palm Beach as far west as The Glades South to Pearl City and North to West Jupiter they built schools churches businesses entertainment and Recreation facilities a hospital a bank social and Civic organizations while being invisible to the mainstream population in segregated communities the educational needs and benefits of all residents young and old and all Zips zip codes should be a priority of educational leaders for the economic social growth and quality of life that
117benefits of us all your leadership is very much a need now to set the tone of a new Renaissance for this underserved part of the city just as new development a vibrant education of facilities are going on all around this neglected area I'm asking for your support in this budget for the phase two plan for a research Library Museum and Cultural Center where stories and memorabilia of the life experiences and accomplishments of the African-American communities from their earliest existence in Palm Beach County and Florida will be collected archived preserved ma'am David Gibson David Gibson Les rivkin Deborah Walker whoever gets there first is fine good sir good evening chairman Mr Barbieri Vice chairman Miss Brill superintendent Mr Burke and our distinguished board members I'm here today to speak briefly on behalf of the industrial Roosevelt
118High School National Alumni Association and friends and stakeholders of the greater Northwest Community and its neighbors surrounding Roosevelt High School location a community I've lived in most of my life during this time Roosevelt High School serves students and the community of which I speak it produced a rich history of students staff and their accomplishments events and benefits to the surrounding Community it served many of industrial Roosevelt's graduates went on to accomplish distinguished leadership roles in politics education business and the social spheres of our local State national and Global Society I say all of this to highlight why I'm here to express upon the board that we as a community are continuing to work diligently towards and advocate for functioning vibrant educational institution as it once was and so that it could be and continue to
119serve as a center for Education culture and history it was the lifeblood of our community we all recognize the efforts that have been presented to the community it is our desire as is yours that to better prepare students for the 21st century and help them graduate college and career ready we must continue to move forward with expediency and purpose Street has taught us that strong schools build strong communities Dr Martin Luther King stated that all labor that uplifts Humanity has dignity and importance and should be undertaken with painstaking Excellence so I Echo and appeal from our residents stakeholders and organizations of the Northwest communities we have been patiently awaiting your leadership Direction and progress to help bring this project to reality now is the time and the time is now thank you very much sir
120would you state your name for the record I believe that was David Gibson Les Rifkin Deborah Walker please state your name when you start speaking sir and good afternoon I'm Les riviken I'm representing the African-American Culture Club of Century Village and my six black daughters one of which is married to a woman an eight black and two Latina grandchildren two of which are gay I'm here to say I'm sorry that your educators are subject to being controlled by a Neo-Nazi white supremacist dictatorial government thank you [Applause] one which devalues diminishes and demeans black and brown children by denying them the right to learn the full truths about their heritage one which attempts to continue Jim Crow by being emotionally abusive revisionist and dismissive my grandchildren are descendants of an African king who always had free
121citizens in his kingdom they are aware that their grandmother and I were denied accommodation in Washington D.C because of her color that she and I had to live in sin until misogynation law has ended in 1967. they are even aware that my father wanted to think of me as dead because I married a black woman they are aware that their ancestors knew how to grow foods that the pilgrims couldn't how to be blacksmiths and shipbuilders and that they were stolen from Africa because of their skills not to learn skills because they were taught at home the whole truth they were able to develop a positive sense of self-worth a self-concept that said they were as equal to others and could be as successful to others children are no better than they perceive they are don't
122teach your students alternate facts don't cheat them of the fullness and excitement of knowing their Heritage don't keep them from exploring their sexuality and reading a wide range of books uh I got a couple of seconds two of my biracial children faced a bathroom sign that said colored or white this was in South Africa you could imagine your consternation when they couldn't decide which bathroom to go to we have to stop this crap thank you ever Walker everybody evening school board members I am Deborah Walker I am a member of the first graduating class of Atlantic high school we just celebrated 50 years one year ago of our graduation from Atlantic and we had a beautiful time at Atlantic High School today I'm here to talk to you about hashtag black facts not black thick
123not fiction on on August 20th 1619 a Dutch ship landed in Jamestown Virginia bringing the first kidnapped Africans to colonial Virginia where they were told where they were sold into slavery this is a fifth grade social studies standard it describes the introduction impact and role of slavery in the colonies examples may include but not limited to cultural contributions skilled labor the move away from indentured servitude growth of plantations differences in treatment of slaves by region and assigned jobs the house Slave versus the field slave again hashtag black fact not fiction Sue Jones Nicole ladies and Gentlemen please Sue Jones Nicole Patterson Dr Avis Brown good evening to the um Mr chairman and members of the board my name is Sue Jones and I'm a resident of Palm Beach County I Stand United with the Coalition
124of black student achievement I'm here today to Advocate that black history currently been taught in our schools be factual I Believe by teaching the facts and not fiction of black stories we can Shine the spotlight on those who have made a difference in our culture and our history prime example is Philip Downing a black inventor who worked in the 19th century have you ever dropped a letter in the big big blue U.S mailbox there's a few outside of the main post office a few blocks away on then think Philip Downing his idea of the box with a hinge opening that prevented rain or snow from entering the box and damaging the mill was patent in 1891. prior to that you had to go to the Post Office to mail a letter Dan and downing's invention
125wouldn't would instead allow the drop-off of a near one's own home with easy pickup by letter carrier in addition Phillips Downing created another helpful piece of engineering on June 17 1890 the United States patent office approved Railway switches this patent was given to him because his invention created a safety net for a railroad Engineers by allowing them to use a brass arm located next to the brake handle on the platform of the railroad car to switch railway lines it also allowed the switches to be changed automatically in some cases facts align with standards SS .912.8 0.1.7 which states describe various social culture aspects of American lives includes art artifacts literature education and publications this standard is included in many septics including long studies teach black facts not fiction thank you good man good evening my
126name is Nicole Patterson I'm a former employee of Palm Beach County School District and I'm also a parent of a ESC student that carries an IEP I have a question for the board you know when you all are trying to be elected you all are out you wave and you're talking you want all attention but my question to you is how can you hire people that can't talk to your parents that refuse to refuse to return calls refuse to answer emails and I'm not gonna leave out who I'm talking about Mr Ed Sheeran Mr Mike Burke these are y'all top people and if I've reached out to you all and you all have refused to call me Mr Mike Burke has not spoken to me but I was told that he does not talk to
127parents I have a son that has been accused of things I open a professional standard investigation for school year 21 21-22 year still waiting on Mr uh Mr Fred to get back with me with the findings have not heard anything quote unquote Palm Beach Central okay um iep's not been followed exams not been given this last year 22 23 years Miss Valerie Haynes Miss Wetzel just gave my son his final exams for first semester second semester but the kid that he is yes he has some behavior issues he aced his test he went into 12th grade with 20 21.5 critics graduating in December waiting to walk but that doesn't resolve the problem that I reached out to your staff and can't get any calls back and I'm a parent I'm a taxpayer but these are
128my my child we put our kids and you all hands but we can't talk to you all when I work for the school district if a parent called I talked when a kid is flipping a desk over and you calling a parent you want to answer and all I want is an answer imma leave this leave this mic with hoping that I get a phone call from Mr Burke or Mr CUNY tomorrow [Applause] good evening board I'm Dr Avis Bradley Brown I'm a member of the NAACP reactivation committee I graduated from Suncoast High School in 1983 and started my freshman year of college at Tuskegee Institute now Tuskegee University in Tuskegee Alabama this was where I was taught about the Tuskegee experiment in 1932 the United States Public Health Service conducted a study called the
129Tuskegee study of untreated syphilis in negro males to record the natural history of untreated syphilis white white researchers did not collect informed consent did not tell the participants that they had syphilis and in 1943 when penicillin became the treatment of choice the participants would not even offer the treatment this breached an entire host of ethical issues including truth-telling Justice breach of persons and racism fundamentally flawed scientific understandings of race allow the proliferation of unethical studies and treatment as a health care provider I always question my own conscious and unconscious bias that impacts the care and need of my patients structural racism and oppression allow studies like Tuskegee to begin and persist for 30 years communication added at it at its best when it involves critical thought and makes room for Meaningful dialogue self-examination and if
130we ignore select periods of our history and this is not only dangerous but the concept of denying black history facts at our school is fundamentally flawed Palm Beach County School Board you have an opportunity and a responsibility to all children to ensure that they continually hear Black voices learn black stories uplift black culture and know black history so that we do not repeat systemic black oppression this black fact is aligned with the educational standard he 912624 evaluate how Public Health policies and government regulations can influence health promotion and disease prevention my name is Dr Avis Bradley Brown and I approve this message let let's teach our children black facts not black fiction thank you Reverend cluck Reverend ladies and Gentlemen please revelyn Reverend Claudius bardley Curtis Sherrod Jacqueline Callaway Pastor Richard Dames Chuck Ridley hello
131my name is Curtis abroad I'm a member of the Coalition for black student achievement former teacher here in Palm Beach County and former raisin saying what you're all about the same thing for the last off and on for the last 20 years black fact not fiction this is ss5 a point I mean 4.1 of the Sunshine State Standards okay it's supposed to explain identify the economic political and social cultural motivation or Colonial settlement the fact one the mortality rate of the earliest English colonies was five or six five out of six from 50 87 to 1620. I mean they had no idea what they were doing people were they called it the starving times by contrast in 1634 Methodist D'Souza who was one of only three Africans among two on the colonists who arrived and
132helped celebrate refuge for English Catholics by Queen Mary under the command of Lord Baltimore this man was so efficient about what he was doing that he was elected to the Colonial assembly in 1641 so that means he earned his freedom and impressed people enough to get elected okay so he definitely was brought here because he has certain skills all right uh by 1670 in 81 if he was still alive he couldn't vote the own land in the colony way one sale office okay why because John sorry John Locke wrote the character Charter for Carolina he considered Africans as less than human and such was subservient to white men oh by the way women were also consider subservient as far as he was concerned so for the first time he defies Africans property to be owned
133at like a cow or a dog during which time there was no animal cruelty laws so Africans would kidnapped stripped thrown the holes of ships like cattle lying their feces urine vomiting aftermath for weeks once they arrived their bread like cow offering by the use of bags placed over their heads with mothers and sons and their children soaked okay Sojourner Truth the famous uh abolitionist said she had 10 children so okay so Africans were brought here for a purpose they had skills their knowledge that was was word for it was that were needed in order for America to be America without that labor without their knowledge without their know-how that wouldn't have been a White House built or the capital all of which were built by black slaves thank you go ahead sir good evening
134everyone I am rev Richard Dames I'm the senior pastor of Hopewell Missionary Baptist Church in Boynton Beach and tonight I never would have imagined being here to express my disdain for what has taken place here in the State of Florida as it relates to black people and our history to remove the history and honest teachings of American History which includes black history from schools is a blatant disregard of the pain and problems along with the abuse and systemic racism that black people experience on a day-to-day basis I stand tonight to declare that our Coalition of pastors Community Partners and stakeholders we stand against silence in the history and culture of black people I stand here to declare that our pastors are determined to ensure that our children are taught black facts not fiction and if
135the schools refuse to teach black history then we will teach it in our churches I stand tonight to declare that our Coalition of pastors will teach our children black facts not fiction we will teach them not just in the month of February but we will teach teach them day in and day out we will teach them about about black academics and achievements we will teach them about Ella Baker who was a mother of the Civil Rights Movement along with being a field Secretary of the NAACP we will teach them that there was a time we didn't just have Wall Street but we had Black Wall Street and finally I stand to declare that our children deserve black facts not fiction and deserve to know that our ancestors under no circumstances ever benefited from slavery that
136was the oppressors who benefited from sleeping and as the governor of this state has a Super PAC who slogan is Never Back Down well we too stand to declare that as black people we will never ever back away or back down from teaching our children black facts not fiction and in the words of country Wayne let that Sizzle in your spirit good afternoon superintendent Burke and school board members my name is Jacqueline Callaway and I am here to point out that teachers can teach black facts not fiction without fear I'm asking you tonight to be my fifth grade class and tonight or to this afternoon we will be learning how slavery was impacted by sugar in this country sugar was called white gold because of the tremendous wealth it generated for the app for the
137white plantation owners who enslaved Africans I'd like you to take notes so that you can do some critical thinking afterwards Fact one the production of sugar helped to fuel slavery in America you cannot understand the significance of sugar without knowing the brutality committed against enslaved Africans back two the labor required to work on sugar Fields was more grueling than that required for picking cotton fact three the life expectancy for an enslaved worker was seven years on early slave plantations and the mortality rates were 30 percent fact four because of the grueling work and high mortality rates of Africans that the Africans that they enslaved white plantation owners sought to increase their Workforce to enslaved Africans so that they can continue building their wealth fact five enslaved African women were many times forced to continue to
138Bear more children so that their enslavers could build their workforces within the confines of their sugar plantations at no Financial cost to them fact six the amount of Worlds of the world sugar produced by enslaved Africans in 1770 was 90 percent ships carried 80 000 tons of sugar in 1720 200 000 tons of sugar in 1770 and 175 million tons of sugar in 1800 Now quickly for your critical thinking activity you will write what you consider to be the most important fact that you learned from today's lesson and then explain your reason for your choice I would then assign you to work in small groups to share your choices and explanations explanations I ask that you debate this and and give each other uh justify what your answers were then we will come back together
139as a full class and then and we will share our thoughts your homework assignment for this afternoon is to fill in the circled bin diagram that I'm giving you on one side you will list the sugar products and facts that of issues of facts and issues during the time of slavery and on the other side you will list facts and issues that you learned yesterday that are relevant for today in the center of your Venn diagram you will list those issues and facts that are similar or the same for both periods thank you we can teach black facts and fiction and still teach the content areas in our standards thank you my name is Chuck Ridley I have the privilege of being the chair of unified Palm Beach County unify exists for one simple purpose
140to build power for black people and black communities board members I'm here to speak direct to you about black facts knock fiction my topic will be the contribution of black elected officials During the Reconstruction period you see board members the reason you get to set on adairs it's because of black facts it was during the Reconstruction period that those elected understood the importance of an education it was those black elected officials who was at Congress and State level that started public education in the first place why because of their love for community and their love for generations to come so what can you learn from those black elected officials it's called courage speak truth to power in spite of what you hear and see around you you do not have to behave cowardly because you
141have a governor who chooses to pit families children against adults who want to bully and intimidate so that an elected official become a president and unfortunately he ain't even doing a good job at that so do not do not forget or just understand board members it was the folk that you see in here who love children and communities that will stand with you against oppressive legislation that come out the state why because we believe in Black facts not fiction Rory Rory Geller Muhammad pranati Kumar Reginald Cox Morris carstarfen Goodman please state your name good evening my name is Rory Geller Muhammad and I'm here in support of the black facts not fiction campaign I'm here as a mom to a kindergartner and third grader at Coral Reef Elementary School in Lake Worth I'm also here
142as a licensed clinical social worker I want to highlight how important learning accurate history is to well-being and children's development for those who are unfamiliar with the green book and Victor Hugo green I'm going to take this opportunity to share an example of inspiring American history that our kids should have the opportunity to learn I'm going to read an excerpt from the article the real story of the green book the guide that changed how black people traveled in America by PR Lockhart in the 1930s is the spread of automobiles spread American drivers take long trips to explore the country black drivers who took to America's roads regularly experience discrimination during their travels but in 1936 Victor Hugo green a black postal worker created a guide that would allow African Americans to embrace the adventure and
143road trips enjoyed by their white counterparts the results with the Negro motorist green book the most popular guide for black Travelers for three decades it was produced from the mid-1930s to the mid-1960s the book offered a road map for African-Americans navigating roads across the country showing where black drivers and their families could eat find lodgings and enjoy themselves without concerns of experiencing racism or humiliation according to a Heartland World article the books were published from 1936 to 1966. Green reviewed hotels and restaurants that did business with African Americans during the time of Jim Crow laws and racial segregation in the United States he printed 15 000 copies each year after retiring from the postal service Green continued to work on updating issues of the green book in addition he developed the related travel agency business
144he established in 1947. that being said there are so many opportunities for teachers to teach these facts and others in their classroom not only can it be used in traditional American history lessons from elementary to high school level but it can also be taught when teaching geography and social studies when exploring different types of non-fiction and teaching writing and language arts classes when teaching about building community in Civics education when Exploring Careers during career work and highlighting postal workers authors and entrepreneurs and career sorry during career week when teaching engineering and the impact that cars had on society and how people travel and when teaching entrepreneurship I imagine if I asked everyone here who has already learned about the green book and Victor Hugo Green in school when they were growing up there'd be very
145few hands raised I also imagine that if I asked everyone to raise their hands about the other facts that have been shared year tonight it would likely be the same very few hands that would be raised most of us didn't have the opportunity to learn this when we were growing up and many of us are still having to learn it now as a community we have the opportunity to give our kids the education that we missed out on let's give our teachers the support and resources they need to teach black facts not fiction [Applause] [Music] good afternoon all my name is pranu Kumar and I am the owner and founder and education leader of roki's readery a social justice-driven children's bookstore and Learning Center in Downtown West Palm I will first read a poem that
146was requested to be read by a young revolutionary reader in regards to the African-American standards right too after Claude Mckay by mahogany brown if we must live let it not be in silence each Shadow surrounding our right to be outraged let us not sit hands crossed while our stomachs growl upset full of bad food and assembly line ideas listen closely our bodies bubbling up angrily at The Lies We have been fed if we must live let no one decide how our hearts beat or how our song Should Be Sung or if neighborhoods are worth protecting or if we are allowed to walk in stores freely if we must live let it be a true life one of full choices and opportunities one that isn't designed to push us into a corner keep us quiet informidable
147keep us without unique opinions and educated understandings if we must live and we must let it be with our fists in the air to remind the people that we will speak up for what is right we will always stand up which brings harm we will demand what is just not only for our own lives but for the lives that are impacted by Injustice let us live to fight for a better day every day for everyone today I stand before you with righteous anger as Audrey Lord states with frustration and disbelief we find ourselves in a time of introspection where we must grapple with the painful truths of our history particularly the aspects that have caused immeasurable suffering and perpetuated inequity one such belief that causes an Indescribable level of frustration is the notion that slavery
148somehow benefited African Americans to even entertain the idea that the institution of slavery could be seen as a benefit is a grave Injustice to the countless lives that were torn apart families ripped from each other's arms in Generations subjected to unspeakable Horrors slavery stands as a scar on the conscious of humanity and the idea that it brought benefits to those who endured its atrocities is not only historically accurate but deeply offensive let us be clear there is no rational argument that can justify the immense pain suffering dehumanization that enslaved African Americans endure let us stand together and reject any attempt to diminish the horrors of slavery history that demands we acknowledge the pain and work tirelessly so that the trauma of the past does not go unnoticed and that still continues to take form in
149spaces today I will leave you with a quote by abolitionist Frederick Douglass slavery has been fruitful in giving itself names it has been called The Peculiar institution social system and the impediment that it ma'am ma'am you're gonna have to stop Reginald Cox Morris carstarfen Dr Tony Drayton greetings board black facts not fiction that means The Good The Bad and The Ugly what's your name sir my name is Reginald Cox I represent the set neighborhood alliance I have the pleasure of being the chair of setting every hit Alliance in Delray Beach Civic organization of 27 subdivided blocks the area of about a thousand acres we focus on Civic engagement resident leadership development voting and voting engagement Community Education and public policy to support the set and the set transformation plan I would like to thank the
150Coalition of black student achievement we stand in solidarity with the Coalition thank you coalition of their black facts not fiction campaign speaking of policy VA 912.8 0.1.9 High School standard for visual arts Humanities and Architectural design and drawing courses as well as many others describe the significance of major artists Architects or Masterworks to understand their historical influence did you know that the Rosa Parks of Architecture is Norma Merrick sluric Norm America slurric is the Rosa part of architecture she was the first African-American female licensed in the state of New York in 1954. was a scholarship in her name at Harvard University she earned a fellowship in the American Institute of Architects in 1980 and in 1985 she pardoned was one of the partners the largest female owned Architecture Firm in the United States of America
151because of her efforts there are today over 100 black architects look it up it is my pleasure standing before you today educating you and speaking to you about black facts not fiction and I do want to add to my commentary that Deborah L Robinson MD served on this in this body for 22 years I'm not mistaken and to have her disrespected as far as time in this chamber is quite disgusting and we don't like it and we'll say it and we'll say it again black facts not fiction Deborah L Robinson MD is a legend foreign please state your name Dr Tony Drayton lead Pastor St James Church and organize it with faith in Florida uh to this great body I wanted to speak as a reminder of why black history in the work of the
152prolific scholar of Vincent Harding there's a river the black struggle for freedom in America Vincent hard and he postulates that a great Black River surges in opposition to the powerful currents of slavery and racism this is my river and for many of us your River too this River is immensely representative our past present and our future the right metaphor of a river is nothing new to my history nor my faith tradition uh it's an awesome place where this River was found where only one place in the whole world and that's on the continent of Africa we must never forget that geographically in that continent sometimes called the Dark Continent where there's postulated that Enlightenment period never happened there's no need for enlightenment to come from where it originated at Continental Africa I strongly remind us
153that we're still flowing in that River and the destination is yet to reach the landfalls of equity equality Justice uh fairness in the words of Martin Luther King and Howard Thurman the place that we call the Beloved Community with Shackled we've been shackered and we've been bitten we've been brutalized voices victimized by the greatest atrocities that ever happened to us as a people North American slavery we can never forget that even to the fact that Legacy being stolen by the Greeks Aristotle Plato Socrates from the great libraries on the continent of Egypt of Africa and Rewritten as their history subsequently I won't lead you with this thought there's a river and that River we Flow by grace in that River we Flow by hope in that River where is a people who must never forget
154and never be forget our lesson that we flow with Supreme intellect we flow with optimal strength we flow with extreme courage we flow with the righteous Pride we flow with unparalleled skills that cause us to make it not because of slavery but in spite of slavery we flow with beauty we flow with a calipersian body like no others we flow because we have a rich past we have a rich present and we have a producer future that we never will forget and this River also teaches us that we don't teach the facts as opposed to fiction we we lose the most impressive persons that we have as I you our hopes and our dream and our future cannot be denied because our history has been impeded thank you Deanna Joe Booker Pastor Ray Whiteley Angela
155McDonald lady goldwire thank you [Music] that's all thanks good evening my name is Dina Jo Booker I'm a member of the organizing Against Racism and a voting citizen of Palm Beach County I stand to speak in solidarity with black facts not fiction the blatant lie of slavery containing a beneficial component component is outlandish and completely false the true facts about the State of Florida and our history of Injustice include in 1838 Florida Constitution Article 16 prohibited the general assembly from passing laws to emancipate saved people once the Emancipation Proclamation was declared the this community our community went on to enact laws to ensure the disparities continued in 1924 the City of Boynton Beach passed explicit segregation laws followed by West Palm 1929. these intentional and systemic attempts to codify racist rules are written into heart
156history and he and each time the disparity disparities and injustices were fought by citizens and leaders of this community we have been fighting for hundreds of years and will continue to fight we want our children to learn the truth of our history as Bell hook said the heart of justice is truth-telling seeing ourselves and the world the way it is rather than the way we want it to be more than ever before we as a society need to renew a commitment to truth-telling tonight we stand before you again fighting this attack on teaching the true black history our history black facts not fiction [Applause] hello my name is Angela McDonald I am a community activist for Dixie Manor which is inside of Pearl City the historic uh it is a historic neighborhood in Boca Raton
157um and that is where the black airmen's lived um back in World War II if I'm not correct but um I just wanted to say you know if you do not believe that black history should be taught in schools then you know you can have your kids come to the church or yourselves and learn a little bit about black history um but what I wanted to say is that black facts not fiction of course person I mean course personal finance and money management course 210-2371 standard m a DOT [Music] k12mtr.4141 engage in in discussion that reflects on mathematical thinking of self and others suggested black history fact Norman McGee senior Norman McGee senior an attorney and a real estate dealer found the first black owned brokerage firm to be licensed by a National Association of
158security dealers helping to pave the way for excuse me for more black African-Americans to start Financial businesses the client of McGee's and Company which was established in 1952 were primarily black and were encouraged to gain a stronger foothold in an economic in the economic excuse me in the economy through stock Investments McGee created a mutual fund in 1966 every man fund which you were focused on investing in Blue Chip stocks Fable f-i-a Voice by Christian Hyde course excess economics with financial liturgy literacy excuse me course 7 792-1022 standard mak12mtr71 Applied Mathematics to real world context subject black history fact black history fact the black and white wealth Gap thank you sir before you start we need to get a motion because at this point board policy requires us to stop and take board discussion items
159but rather than hold all of you up I'm going to ask one of the board members to make a motion to suspend that motion by Vice chairwoman real second of my Miss Mrs Andrews so if you vote in favor of this we'll take the board discussion items after everybody that's here that speaks we'll do it at the end all right all in favor post motion carry 7-0 go ahead sir state your name good [Music] my name is Pastor Ray Whiteley and I am an organizer from faith in in Florida I'm also the grandfather of 14 grandchildren 10 of whom attend public school in Palm Beach County faith in Florida is about people power and change and through a network of congregations and Community leaders in South Central and North Florida we bring people of Faith
160together to act in a unified moral voice for racial economic environmental and social justice faith in Florida represents over a thousand congregations in 41 counties in 260 000 families in the wake of our recent press conference on July 26 2023 we are thrilled to be able to collaborate with the Coalition for black student achievement and the great Dr Deborah Robinson and demonstrate our commitment to fostering an educational environment that teaches all children the truth of our history as a society we must recognize the significance of accurate portrayal of history and it shapes our understanding of past and influences our future by misrepresenting African-American history we deny ourselves the opportunity to understand the true essence of our nation's past we must acknowledge the contributions of African Americans to the fabric of our society and their struggles
161and achievements have played a pivotal role in shaping our nation's identity by misrepresenting these achievements and struggles we perpetuate a narrative that undermines their intellectual prowess and Innovation by misrepresenting African-American history we fail to acknowledge the systemic racism and discrimination that persists today understanding the historical context is crucial in addressing these issues and working towards liberty and justice for all teach black facts not fiction [Applause] hello my name is lady goldwire I am a resident of Palm Beach County and also a byproduct and graduate of the Palm Beach County School System I stand before you tonight relieved that Palm Beach County has the aptitude and the heart to hear its constituents but yet deeply still concerned and profoundly dissatisfied with the new curriculum that is being presented as a suitable alternative to Black truth one
162that centers around the theory that slavery was beneficial to Slaves this approach not only raises significant ethical concerns but also undermines the fundamental principles of accurate and responsible education black history is an integral part of our nation's story black history is profound black history is robust it is a Monumental Cornerstone to our history and its teaching is necessary and its teaching should be guided by a commitment to truth a commitment to empathy and a commitment to understanding the idea that slavery was beneficial to those who suffered under its oppressive weight is not only historically inaccurate but also deeply insensitive to the countless lives that were scarred and broken by this dark period in our past as we strive to educate the Next Generation we have a moral obligation to provide them with a comprehensive and
163honest understanding of our history it is through acknowledging the atrocities committed against African Americans and other marginalized communities that we can truly move towards healing and unity I employ this educational institution to prioritize a curriculum that is grounded in research a curriculum that is grounded in facts and the voices of those who have historically been silenced our young minds they deserve an education that challenges them to think critically confront uncomfortable truths and to ultimately contribute to a more just and Equitable Society teaching a distorted narrative about slavery's impact on those who endured its Horrors perpetuates harmful stereotypes and further perpetuates the cycle of ignorance let us be guided by the principles of Truth the principles of empathy and inclusivity so that we may ensure a brighter and more enlightened future for all if we are
164truly committed to teaching truth we have to make a conscious effort to ensure that the truth isn't sandwiched in lies I just want to add to that and say thank you all for starting out the meeting acknowledging that you guys are ahead of this and that you are committed to ensuring that you make considerable consideration for where we are and how we feel we saw what this looked like when there were some situations with other populations within the community and they came together and we're here together saying we don't want a curriculum that is [Applause] Denise Williams T Denise Williams Paige Lewis Meg Weinberger good evening everyone my name is Denise Williams and I am the President of the West Palm Beach alumni chapter of Delta Sigma Theta sorority Incorporated and we have a statement
165on the African-American history curriculum since its founding in 1913 Delta Sigma Theta sorority Incorporated has clearly distinguished this itself as a public service organization that boldly confronts the challenges of African Americans that diaspora and all Americans the West Palm Beach alumni chapter has followed suit since 1948. education has denied was denied to our enslaved ancestors is the nucleus for African Americans to be successful compete on the in the job market and live a fruitful life this year on the first day of Black History Month the College Board came to the right wing pushback against the inclusion of liberal Progressive and radical books by black authors in in the curriculum there had been protests in Florida and around the country regarding the elimination of diversity equity and inclusion initiatives in administration and hiring practices the right
166to teach factual African-American history and the history of the diaspora including racism the truth about slavery and white supremacy has been under attack these efforts are evil and demeaning and a demeaning form of indoctrination African-American studies in the history of the diaspora should not frighten you into supporting a plan to whitewash this important history and rep and present a revolution revisionist curriculum Africans were literally kidnapped Chained and forced into one of the world's worst forms of servitude chattel slavery Americans were a part of a capitalistic plot against millions of millions of Africans who were living and thriving successfully there is no legitimacy in the false narrative that they were beneficial benefits to slavery the Africans were kings and queens from the cradle of civilization where life began Africans create created Papyrus the alphabet international trade
167and chess they were ship Builders and Navigators who explored the world they created a classical kingdoms that continued to all those who study them they accrued massive amounts of wealth and their continent is the only place to have natural every natural resource in the world Africans were masters of mathematics writing language and science they planted and harvested by the moon and were experts in medicine key point the Staffing states snake symbol developed by immotep continues to be used by Medical Professional profession in our country today people from all over the world are still wondering how the pyramids were built thousands of years ago the current structure of the curriculum will only perpetuate racism we must tell the entire story and include Florida's role in slavery and oppression when you devalue my history thank you ma'am
168good man okay um good evening superintendent Burke chairman of the board and to the board my name is Paige Lewis I live in district one I'm here today to speak about reading proficiency scores in Palm Beach County I know it's a little off topic at this point but that's what I came to talk about so I have a master's degree in counseling and I'm a certified Orton Gillingham reading practitioner in 2015 I left a career in the substance abuse industry and began a two-year stint of volunteering four days a week in an after school program in Belle Glade Florida which is in District Six with Ms Andrews um I loved what I was doing out there but I was very overwhelmed about the fact that many of the kids out there can't read they can't
169read at all it's not like they're not greeting on grade level they're like not reading at all so after volunteering tearing for two years and assisting students in second and third grade out there with reading and homework I was able to secure a job serving the kids at Tamron Avenue I work on Australian Avenue and after school program I thought that once I came over to the coast maybe there were more resources and and the kids would you know be a little bit more proficient in reading that was not the case um I uh so all of this the public schools fed into our after school program so I'm very familiar with many schools and and also in district 7 which is Mr Ferguson's District um beginning in 2017 in our after school program we
170created a program based on the science of reading I became an organ Gillingham a certified reading instructor and we took school we took kids from roughly around 16 at the beginning of the year over a period of time to 67 percent now 67 percent it sounds bad but I mean we made a lot of gains and that's just in an after-school program with one hour um a day um so uh anyway so my question to the board is why why are we so low in Reading proficiency I think it averages around 50 to maybe 60 percent um that's a that's a problem because we're always talking about being a a a rated school district and I understand that that's based on graduation rates which I actually can't figure out those graduation rates I looked in
171the budget and it has a lot of smoke and mirrors about what that actually means but in ninth and 10th grade um the the kids are not they're so they're around 50 percent I imagine it doesn't go up from there I got kids I still Mentor in Belle Glade that are in 11th grade and actually can't read they can't read so we're passing kids but um I just want to shout out to brother Carl because he's the only one that ever talks about the wreaths good ma'am good evening superintendent board members and chairs famous basketball coach John Wooden said nothing will work unless you do I take these words to heart my name is Meg Weinberger I'm a community volunteer and a mother I truly believe it takes hard work to make a difference you
172on this board know this to be true as do our hard-working teachers and our district committed to helping our children succeed you are both the success of our children an important component to students achievement is engaged in powered parents there's no greater advocate for a child's well-being than the parents I asked the school board to always Endeavor to protect the role of the parents decisions that affect our children thank you for welcoming us a seat at the table when it comes to Health Care education decisions nothing should stand between a child and their parent thank you for working hard to make parents informed and involved in always given a say directing to the educational rights of their children appreciate it Jen Showalter Tim Taylor Daniel hudstith [Music] I'm Jen shelter here to discuss several items
173for people here just so you know I'm a descendant of Native Americans I also have a couple slaves in my tree and I have Irish and Scottish indentured servants there's there's a lot of that going around um but first I want to say this to the people here focused on black history I want to talk to you about some facts that are affecting you right now the fact is this board has limited funding and accessibility for poor black communities I know because I sat on the steps of moms houses in South Bay and in the muck listening to their stories about how their kids cannot read and that they have no broken equipment and complete lack of funding no reading help at all another fact is that this board was fined four hundred and forty
174thousand dollars and fi and was found by the court to have unlawfully Baker acted almost 1700 children most of which for special needs and black young children and included handcuffing five-year-old black kids so if you want to talk about equality let's talk about what they're actually doing to your kids right now second issue is the lack of bus stops they said it was a nice easy opening there are whole neighborhoods now that have no bus access after Decades of not have having a bus stop no notice was given one woman asked the county and was told her area is now considered a choice area but the boundaries hadn't changed so just be up front you have a a bus driver shortage the third issue is severely shortened lunch periods K-12 county-wide parents are stating their
175kids don't have time to eat most of their lunch and some even said by the time they get through the lunch line it's it's a lunch break is over and they can't take their food with them that would be classified as child neglect the last item tonight is the violations of state laws including the parental rights act you cannot violate state law and cherry pick what you will and will not follow how do you expect the kids to follow the rules at school if you're setting that example you have to follow the laws and then work within the law to fix it not just arbitrarily deny it we we expect our children at school to do that you must follow that same principle thank you [Applause] good evening my name is Daniel hudspeth I am
176a member of organizing Against Racism and I stand in support of teaching black facts not fiction I am here tonight as a proud parent of two children enrolled in the Palm Beach County School District who wants the absolute best education for them than an a-rated School District can provide with that being being said I expect my children to have a genuine authentic education providing this authentic education requires my children's teachers to be able to teach the truth to them without feeling the need to worry or fear of what may come out of it in all honesty I would expect those feelings from a teacher providing a fictional fairy tale-like spin on historical facts to appease those individuals who would rather their children be guarded from the truth to avoid uncomfortable discussion topics if our children
177are being taught these truths and feel uncomfortable they are being provided with an authentic factual education how do you suppose our black children and families feel when they are told that their truth does not matter or is not as important as keeping our white communities comfortable our black communities have endured this feeling of isolated uncomfortability for far too long and it is time that we make a societal shift yes our white children may feel uncomfortable learning about it and yes we as white parents may have to have uncomfortable discussions with our children but facts are facts and history is history we need to learn and grow from our mistakes and the mistakes of our ancestors and empathize with our black neighbors and friends for the hardships they and their ancestors have endured to my children's
178current and future teachers please allow for authentic uncomfortable conversations to occur please teach my children only the truth so they can grow to have an authentic education and please teach my children black facts not fiction thank you Kim Taylor Anita winkus Kimberly Spiro good evening my name is Anita winkus I'm a member of common purpose and organizing Against Racism Palm Beach County Alliance and I stand in support of black facts not fiction the idea that stolen Africans were unskilled and benefited from slavery is a blatant lie the truth is that Africans were intentionally stolen from the windward coast of Africa and brought to Florida because they knew how to build complex systems of canals and levees and this knowledge was needed by white Farmers here onesimus a stolen African taught white preacher Cotton Mather what
179he knew from Africa about inoculations against smallpox saving many lives here in the colonies he didn't learn that while he was enslaved social studies standard 5.8.3 third through fifth grade provides for these facts to be taught under topics of Agriculture and disease black parental rights matter too and I stand in support of black facts not fiction being taught to our students including my family members imagine the pain our black families and their children experience when those in charge of educating all our children deemed black students don't deserve to have their true history taught if parents of white children find that their child is upset learning that white people stole and sold and horrifically abused black people as this nation was formed I say good and congratulations because that means you have a child who has
180empathy and compassion and you've done a good job only those who have worked so diligently to further marginalize people not like themselves will experience guilt when their children learn the truth and that it was intentionally hidden from them for selfish political or racist reasons black parents rights matter not all laws are just thank you [Applause] Jane Tierney Greta Britt Erica esch waiting for Anita sorry um good evening my name is Kimberly Spire oh I am a special education attorney I am co-president of the democratic disability caucus of Palm Beach County and I'm a member of common purpose thank you for allowing me to speak about black facts not fiction the disability rights movement was inspired and supported by black civil rights figures some with disabilities and others who had an inclusive approach to their advocacy
181and internet intersectionality these leaders included Harriet Tubman Marion Wright Edelman sorry um sorry Fannie Lou Hamer Harry Belafonte Brad Lomax Maya Angelou Joyce Jackson Muhammad Ali audre Lorde Simone biles Lois Curtis and Johnny Lacy hopefully you recognize some of those names at least some of those names our children deserve to know them too in order to be informed and effective adults our children need an inclusive and comprehensive education excluding whole areas of factual curriculum and replacing it with laughably inaccurate Snippets will harm our children and put them at a disadvantage compared to students in other states who benefit from a complete and accurate history curriculum and I'm going to add a quote that is directed to the leaders of our state the sin which is unpardonable is knowingly and willfully to reject truth to fear
182knowledge lest that knowledge Pander not to thy prejudices that was Aleister Crowley thank you [Applause] good evening um to superintendent Burke school board members those in their proper protocol and those I don't know who to call my name is Greta Britt and I am the founder of United Believers of Delray Beach we are a network of pastors and Faith leaders who are working together to address injustices and ills impacting our community so I'm asking that the board will grant the same level of compassion to this community here tonight that was granted to the community that came out against your Equity statement um so I am here this evening to address the Injustice and unrighteous Act of miseducating our students on the African and African-American history John chapter 8 verse 32 says then ye will know
183the truth and the truth will set you free it is my prayer that someone will be set free to here today with the truth of black facts and not fiction the Bantu tribe originated in Western Africa and later migrated to East and South Africa they were a skillful and resourceful tribe that built the matapa Empire and the Great Zimbabwe they had many skills such as iron working iron smelting Agricultural and land cultivating their impact is known throughout the continent of Africa during the transatlantic slave trade more than 12 million Africans were enslaved and the batus made up 35 percent of the enslaved population so to say that blacks benefited from slavery is insulting is offensive and is irresponsible my people were forced to come to this country bringing their skills they already had that benefited
184this country make no mistake about it people benefited from slavery they just happened to not be the enslaved contrary to the Foolery they were beaten raped and dehumanized can you make it make sense if you truly want to uphold your vision statement the school district of Palm Beach county is an educational and working environment where both students and staff are unimpeded by bias and discrimination individuals of all backgrounds and experiences are armed and thank you for the for teaching the [Applause] good evening Jane Tierney Coalition for black student achievement and unified Palm Beach County commenting on recent legislation Manny Diaz Jr Florida Commissioner of Education said if you tell a white student that they are responsible for slavery that's a violation of this bill it doesn't preclude you from covering the topic giving your perspective
185doing everything that needs to be done to educate these students but it doesn't give you the right as a teacher to impose that on the student parents shouldn't accept it and we shouldn't well as a member of that Collective we I reject this law and its chilling effect on our schools teachers and students if only one parent complains the complete truth of African-American history can be edited out of the curriculum books can be banned in the career of a teacher can be Ended as a white American Floridian who tent attended and graduated from high school in Florida I was never taught nor did I hear a Florida teacher or any school Personnel state or imply that I or any living white person was responsible for slavery I heard many racist and ignorant statements but not
186that I was taught to be proud of our country's commitment to form a more perfect union I was taught that we had progressed throughout our history towards becoming a more just and inclusive Society from that I learned that I have a personal responsibility to protect and Advance the work of to provide equal justice and opportunity for all Americans regardless of race without the understanding of America's shameful history of slavery Jim Crow and the suppression of the civil rights of black people based slowly on their collar we are doomed to repeat it the doe allows schools to use Shakespearean quotes that don't mention sex so I'm allowed to say me thinks the Florida governor legislators and Commissioner of Education thus protests too much why the Urgent action and legislation what are they protesting why suppress African-American
187history I say they protest to cover up their efforts to return Florida to a time when white supremacy was the accepted Norm in political culture it's not the crime it's the cover-up that expresses and confirms guilt our students deter deserve the truth not have truths and cover-ups white people alive today are responsible to take action and to fight the lies and the suppression of the true history of African Americans in our country teach truth hashtag black facts not fiction [Applause] unclouded in my testimony especially after the vote for the 10-day suspension for the educator who said the n-word during school hours in front of children was not reconsidered I stand in solidarity today with black backs not fiction especially my name is Eric Ash and I'm a community organizer in South Florida with common purpose
188initiative to to State the case clearly I arrived to this moment which is not merely the present with you but an activated past an active future while I address you all here seemingly as the constituents and the constituted it is actually the historical underbelly of our togetherness in this room whatsoever which I wish to speak on tonight in solidarity with black and brown people on the national and international Liberation Front for economic social political and spiritual Liberation tonight I firstly would like to thank the Educators and Collective of folks in Palm Beach County who acknowledge and teach as well as righteously defend knowledge's power in solidarity with black and brown people on the occupied and unseated land of Turtle Island it is here we take the moment to assess exactly how functional white supremacy as
189an architectural institutional framework for oppression operates to the affected is debatable as for what constitutes history and therefore what constitutes violence and for whom other questions we might ask tonight if black history is not taught and is replaced as a legitimate and necessary curriculum in other counties aside from this one which instead with instead exculpatory TurnKey animations known for the unaccredited propaganda prageru declares we shall surely question for what Destiny is white supremacist violence constantly redesigned and reimagine in the school district and to whose true and ongoing benefit I think the notion of a child becoming uncomfortable or a parent becoming uncomfortable with their relationship to historical fact of racial class oppression helps to comprehend the somatic status of the nervous system that belongs to the so-called free America the movement is a fight and
190the movement is a fight and the argument for a form of relief from some ideology be it woke or anti-fascists in nature beat about drag in Florida or about Palestinian casualties our governor shakes every hand-doust carefully strategically in the blood of not only ourselves but our ancestors our tolerance for violence on this most local level Ripple so we refuse to entertain any Notions of the revocation of legitimate truth in the public education system in the words of Huey Newton black power is giving power to people who have not had power to determine their Destiny the school board is implored to ask itself if it recognizes the descendants of enslaved people as worthy of understanding their own relationship to Identity land diaspora devices of Destiny and its modes of Oppression every district and its staff members
191individual has one-to-one in school to school must decide the role it will take in offering the tools to navigate unprecedented hour of Earth we're in critical thinking and Community safety are threatened existentially by climate chaos due to racial capitalism our relationship as a human kind to the land and its aliveness properties Beyond its property and profit tonight we reimagine the tolerance and that which our future of intolerance and its unfamiliar tragedies The Familiar ones included mentioned tonight are only possible in a world without facts Black Box not fiction Remains the call of Floridians and in the words of Representative Justice Jones of Tennessee and New South thank you [Applause] Bryce Bryce Graham Deborah tendrick Henrich Andrea broufon Robert Rosetto hello my name is Deborah tendridge and I'm here in support of black facts nonfiction and
192and this is my personal reason as to why accurate education is essential my daughter is biracial and when she was only a few months old she was not allowed in my grandfather's home because she was part black do you know what changed my grandfather's ideology education my daughter before she could even walk taught my grandfather a lesson his education came to him in his 80s way too late in life so I have first-handedly seen how education can assist in being a cause or a remedy to racism that is embedded in our society and education is our biggest equalizer firstly thank you for not Banning any books here and for not accepting prayer you however communication [Music] communication is important and I want the collective efforts of the community to far extend far beyond Palm Beach
193County and into the entire state of Florida [Music] secondly I want you to know that you're scaring our teachers this policy and this education standard is scaring our teachers they're feeling unsafe that being said if teachers aren't safe and are scared to teach the truth we're going to lose our teachers we already have a teacher shortage the teachers need to know and be made clear that the Palm Beach County teachers will not receive punitive actions for educating students about true black history also need to be made aware she teachers are sharing with me that they will not be teaching here Beyond this year and they might not even finish they're feeling their jobs are unsafe and if they say the wrong thing they may lose their job and they are also underpaid overworked and underappreciated
194I suggest the school district create an official press conference have the principal sound out send out an email and any other necessary Communications to create a sense of security throughout the school district regarding the continuance of AP Psychology and alterations to the cricket without alterations to the curriculum and prageru Communications must be clear succinct and accessible I'm aware that there was a newsletter sent out but the information was squeezed into a newsletter and principals have already sent out information regarding the AP classes being taken away from the school so I know that an individual communication an email regarding these facts will create some sense of security for the community the teachers and obviously the concerned citizens we all showed up today for this reason because the communication is not the same going across all lines
195of communication for instance there was an email that went out hello Bobcats I want to inform you all of inform you all of an important decision that has been made regarding our course offerings the school district of Palm Beach County has made the difficult decision to remove AP Psychology from our course offerings due to uncertainty surrounding the viability of AP Psychology exam and course credits in Florida that Bryce Bryce Graham Andrew brufon good sir good I'm Robert Rosetto and I haven't had the opportunity to congratulate our newest board member Edward Ferguson representing District Seven and I still won't because frankly you're the reason I'm speaking tonight I was appalled by your comments at last month's meeting regarding our independence day especially when you said you don't recognize it as your Independence Day you incorrectly called
196it independent day and then you weren't even sure if it happened in 1776. here are some quotes if we're giving the 4th of July off which until three years ago was what we thought Mr chair for those of us that are descendants we are not going to speak to individual board members Mr Rosanna hold on a minute we're not going to do that for you General consul no I told him to stop the clock we'll give you the full time I just need an answer from the general counsel would you please advise on this sure um I believe the speaker was speaking about comments made by Mr Ferguson which is allowable but if he is speaking directly to Mr Ferguson that is something that would not be allowed by our policy all right so you
197can make your comments sir but do not direct them at Mr Ferguson enough go ahead um giving back to time on the clock Okay so if we are giving the Fourth of July off which until three years ago was what we thought of as independent day for those of us that are descendants of the so-called black man specifically of those that were enslaved in this country our independence day is effectively Juneteenth I can't see how we recognize what happened in 1776 I hope I'm correct I'm sure my history teacher will wrap my Knuckles but in any event that's not the full story we as a country weren't fully independent until Juneteenth happened so I think we need to do what is necessary now even so let's not even wait for legislative action you went on
198to say the question would be which of these days would we need to be bumped it's going to tip off somebody but I think when we talk about being Equitable and being respectful Juneteenth definitely should be a day that persons have off as a paid holiday not just you could stay home and I won't fire you for missing it it should be paid maybe Labor Day I would have great trouble taking Memorial Day Off The State uh slate for paid holidays but perhaps Labor Day might be one I know we look like the redhead stepchild but until we get that extra seventh day in Tallahassee I think we have to do what we have to do or we could just give the district a Payday on Juneteenth and dare somebody to tell us we are
199wrong and quotes you are wrong there are 11 federal holidays and Juneteenth is one of them Columbus Day is another and our school calendar doesn't even list it let alone give the day off and worse it's no longer taught in the classroom Labor Day is an annual celebration of the social and economic achievements of American workers and you want to turn that into a non-paid holiday it's ridiculous July 4th is when we celebrate the passage of the Declaration of Independence by the Second Continental Congress announcing the colony separation from Great Britain that was the beginning of our great country without it there wouldn't have been a Juneteenth or a Life as We Know It Florida was not counted as one of the original 13 colonies should we celebrate a different Independence Day here women couldn't
200vote until 1920 with the 19th Amendment so so she would've been selling celebrate a separate Independence Day same-sex marriage wasn't nationally recognized until June 26 2015. so should the gay and lesbian have a separate Independence Day July 4th is not about black or white women or men gay or straight or even blue or red it's about the United States of America which includes every American your failure to recognize our country's Independence Day is disturbing and disgraceful American facts not fiction you have Esquire after your name so I know you took the oath of admission to the Florida bar which states Mr Rosetto you cannot address Mr Ferguson you've already been advised okay uh well the Florida bar states that I do solemnly swear I will support the Constitution of the United States and the constitution
201of Florida obviously the Declaration and Constitution are separate documents but the Declaration of Independence set forth the ideas and principles behind a just in Fair government in the Constitution outlined how this government would function how can you swear in the Constitution but then [Music] Bryce Graham second vice president National national network Central Florida Chapter also servicing Palm Beach County the Reverend Martin of the King Jr said the function of education is to teach one to think intensively and think critically intelligence plus character that is the goal of Education it is disgusting that our teachers and students are in a new school year under new policies under the wizard of the state and to his minions black facts not fiction black history is American history ignored will never be history erased we don't need educational plantations
202we our children will be food into believing wrong facts about our history just so others don't have to be uncomfortable with historical realities we won't let anyone tell our story from there [Music] street so that their children won't be comfortable with it if someone's child like Ruby Bridges had to suffer survive it then your child can learn it [Applause] good evening my name is Andrea Bruton I'm an executive member of member of the South Palm Beach County chapter of the NAACP and I stand before you today I have to say I was disappointed to know that an educator can stand in a classroom with children and use the n-word and only receive a 10-day suspension by almost a unanimously bored but I'm not here to talk about that good I'm I'm here to talk about
203um speaking on behalf of our president Dietrich strong who's traveling to take his daughter to school out of state and we would like to First acknowledge what several of you all have already already said regarding the Palm Beach County not adopting any fictional curriculum with that being said I still feel compelled to read what the president has written in lieu of our awareness that you have not nor plan to incorporate fictitious black history I have to say what our president have said good evening my name is Dietrich strong and I am the President of the South Palm Beach County chapter branch of the NAACP I am here tonight in part to address my concern with what I view is the relative Silence from this Collective board on new African-American studies curriculum the politics behind the
204introduction of this curriculum curriculum is rooted in racial animus and bigotry and it reeks of plot of a plot to miseducate and Mis and misinform of black children in hopes that they will not be empowered to stand up and rage in this system of institutional racism that shackles us this board's public silence concerning the curriculum sends a message of acceptance and inequence of racial ideologies this board has taken on the duty of educating our children inherent in that Duty it is the notion that the information that you educate our children with is true and accurate the curriculum does not meet that Duty instead the curriculum provides lessons indicating that slaves somehow benefited from slavery after being pressed on this issue State officials and two of the people who created the curriculum offered 16 examples of
205slaves who supposedly benefited from slavery in fact one of the slaves was Betty Washington a white slave owner this curriculum is not fact it is fiction the presumption is that you are all you all have been apprised of the content of the curriculum so I'm not telling you something that you don't already know so where where is the public pushback by the board [Applause] Autumn coyote Ashley Abad not that's all Ashley Lavon I wanted to start with Mark 13 12. now the now the brother shall betray the brother to death and the Father the Son and children shall rise up against their parents and shall cause them to be put to death the reason that this hit so hard is because three years ago I started with a whole bunch of parents fighting for our
206medical freedoms when they were masking our kids I've constantly been coming to school board meetings and taking my time away from family to be here part of the reason is because every single board meeting I come to we're not talking about academics so we need to get back to that there is a lot going on and there's a lot of division that is being caused and it is literally from our city councils all the way up to our government every single official is part of it and many of them are bought and paid for on both sides including the center they're the division that is happening is happening for a reason they want everyone to be divided so they're not paying attention to what's really going on there are many people that have been coming
207here standing and seeing what this board has done and where the money has been spent and that it is not going to our students and our school I'm on my 12th year of teaching and my students are like my own kids I treat them as humans because that is what they are and they should be treated for that and I try and make sure that every single one of them can Excel if they just give me a chance to help them and I involve parents and for the lady who spoke earlier that said she does not get any replies from the district we understand you it's been happening for a while and people have been complaining about it I'm asking the board to please step up and start involving the parents you started three years
208ago with taking parents out of policies and procedures as a teacher and a mom I am begging you to change your ways stop bringing politics into the classroom I love this country let's all face it it's a hot mess right now and division is running rampant we need to focus on our kids because they are our future and they are here to take care of us and they need to know that they can be successful and they can do whatever they want and we need to push them to believe that so they can do whatever they want to do and be whoever they want to be thank you [Applause] Ezekiel Edmonds Reverend Claudius bardley Morris car scarf around Kim Taylor all right if there are no more public speakers we'll move to board discussion item
209Mr Ferguson bd1 thank you Mr chair so I think we all receive the email from city manager Jonathan Evans from city manager Riviera Beach I think was on Thursday of last week requesting that we schedule a joint meeting with the city council of Riviera Beach I spoke with superintendent Bert yesterday and he advised me that normally it's not our procedure to meet with the municipalities on board but I think in regard to Riviera Beach I think this is an exception this this should be an exception should be made for them the reason why I think that is because um we I think most of us know the historical struggles that we've seen in our educational centers in Riviera Beach as far as for for example kindergarten Readiness at the district um district-wide is about 52
210percent looking at Riviera Beach not one single school has ever met that District average so and if you go to math Ela English language arts social studies we see similar deficits so it leads won the largely conclude that Riviera Beach is kind of pulling the district averages down so I was very I was surprised but I was pleasantly surprised when I saw that that letter from city manager Evans because it leads me to believe that the governmental level Riviera Beach is willing is wanting to engage with us to learn how they can be a better partner in in terms of improving their educational centers there so I just wanted to speak with you all to see if you if we have an interest in meeting with them and again I understand that's not something we
211normally do and superintendent Berg Mitch to me that we had 30 plus municipalities but again just looking at the historic performances of our schools in Riviera Beach I think we should do something exceptional like meeting with them so that's why I wanted to discuss this with you all thank you Mr Ferguson Miss Pearl all right this is with you thank you um first of all I I want to um address the idea around um not talking about academics in this meeting I know that the speakers are gone but we do talk about it frequently and I think reading is is definitely one of the most important things that we can talk about here and I think um it is definitely uh not my proudest moment in Palm Beach County to see the scores that we
212have uh throughout our Title One schools and Riviera Beach is is definitely part of that um one of the experiences that I had that could be potentially offered as an alternative um is that when I went to Dr Robinson and I actually held a meeting just as the board members for the City of Lake Worth and we the two of us met with the city commission with staff to be able to be a part of that discussion so I wanted to put that out as an opportunity if you wanted to do that you know as the representative for Riviera Beach and possibly have staff go with you it was a really good meeting when Dr Robinson and I did it many years back in Lake Worth um so something I think that you could do
213but I do think that the importance around reading is not lost on this board and you know I'm really hopeful that we can tackle this in a better way I know there's a lot of efforts being made by the district to make this happen but it is a huge priority so I just want to throw my my voice behind it to say that yes I do recognize the issues around reading within this system thank you Brill and Mrs Sanders thank you so and I don't want this to sound like I'm minimizing any issues whatsoever for Riviera Beach but there are other municipalities that have their own concerns and I know I remember the city of Delray Beach reached out met with some of us individually Ms whitfield's already given one suggestion I know that we've
214heard a lot of concerns different but but similar and again academics City of Green Acres I think if we start having meetings with the municipalities we're not going to get our work done if we do it as a collective here but I think that we can do something I would certainly welcome the opportunity if they want to meet one-on-one um or you know however we would have to do it outside of the board meetings I think that we all have the same goals but I'm just concerned that going forward it's going to cause us to you know if we start with one then how do we start with one and not do it with another and not do it with another because each municipality has its own concerns about the education in their schools and
215I know that Ms Andrews serves on some boards out west I don't have the same issues I have similar I serve on education committees in my district which is unincorporated so just leave it at that and I think you get my gist Mrs Andrews thank you and one of the things I'd like to say is I think I have the same concerns as Mr Ferguson when we're talking about reading and math and our communities needing a lot of help I've actually spoken to some of the elected officials and given them some of the ideas of some of the things that I'm doing out in the Glades region because we we're struggling trying to improve literacy as well as math skills and parental involvement so we're all having the same problems and when I saw that
216letter I asked the superintendent about it Mr Ferguson and my question to him was would he be willing to take the staff to go out to the city of Riviera Beach to work with them and answer the questions I know that in the glaze you have always been willing to come out there and meet with the elected officials when they've had some of the same questions that we're talking about tonight as it relates to low scores reading ability T's math and so on so we have to kind of know that we're talking about the same thing but we do need the staff to come up and listen to us because when we're talking in these cities they're talking about budgets they're talking about programs for rental involvement as well as all of the pieces that
217you were talking about Mr Ferguson but I think it's going to be the superintendent's leadership along with staff to go out and meet with these communities where the children are having difficulty and Mr Burke just met in the Glades as well as Mr tyranny to talk about the issues that the community had as it related to not just the academic pieces and so I think that the elected officials have to reach out to the school district administrator here you're the school board member to do what has to be done and they come through me as the school board member saying to me when am I going to see the superintendent or the deputy and the administration to address these concerns and we've been on this for years making sure that we get those meetings set
218up so that we can try to improve student achievement and it's been working so I think that was something I would like to say to you that I would certainly want to share some of my ideas of what I do out in the Glades region but it it is going to come right back to the superintendent and the administration also with the budget and putting funding as well as getting the best teachers for our students who are really having difficulty in all of these areas that we're talking about tonight but certainly you know I'm always willing to share with you uh any ideas of things that we're doing trying to work together because we have pockets of poverty all over Palm Beach County with children who are still needing a lot of help all over
219so we just have to do our best to kind of bring them to the next level with all of the efficiency that we can through the leadership of our Administration on sale yeah thank you Mr chair um I would like to leave the authority to make this decision in this hands of the superintendent I I do not believe that this is at a point where it's a whole board effort I think that staff can work out a lot that the city staff can have discussions and conversations about how this city can get more involved with their City's education and make some plans around organizing committees and work groups of their own I just again it's been said in District Two I can pull up stats just like this or worse at my schools in my
220district communities and then we start having meetings with the whole board with everybody with as much as we already have on our agendas and the meetings we have and everything else we do individually that's a really big request and I I think there's a lot that can get done with yourself as the representative uh Mr Ferguson and the staff that needs to be there to have these conversations I do not feel that it is at a point where a joint meeting of all of us is a requirement um and I just scare I'm scared of the slippery slope that that brings if we want to have a conversation about making time throughout our year to meet with every single municipality in Palm Beach County then that's a different conversation but at this time I do
221not feel that this is a Equitable request person um I agree that you have significant issues in Riviera Beach and um what I suggest is you schedule a meeting with them in the superintendent or staff Chief academic officer whoever they get out there with you um because I'm I'd love to be able to meet with the elected officials in a joint meeting but the problem is that my colleagues have expressed is you know we have a significant issue with Riviera Beach we have significant issues in Delray Beach and in The Glades area and all those cities that they're going to expect us to start having meetings to discuss their their you know their particular issues so I just think like it's been said we started with one we're going to have to figure out a
222way to say no to a bunch of other ones that are going to ask but what I've done in the past is I've met with the city council members in in Boca and I've asked District Representatives come down and they have they've met with with me in different city council members and that might be the best way to go initially though yeah that's fine again at this point I hope everybody understands I'm going to ask questions I mean whatever we do as a war we do as a board so again this is my opportunity to discuss this with you so to that point I did what Mr chair I would like to follow up with board member by Ayala and board member um what time is it before remember Andrews just on two things they
223said so Borman Ayala said it's we're not at a point for a joint meeting and I understand what everybody is saying too and clearly I've been interacting with city of Riviera Beach you saw that they submitted the slideshow that we did from our state of city schools in Riviera Beach thanks again to Dr Miller for helping us put that slide together but uh board member Ayala what at what point would there would it be reasonable to have a joint meeting in your opinion obviously good thank you um in my opinion based on the information that's been laid out here and the goals they're trying to get to I think that there is significant data that needs to be pulled to be shared with them so that they're at a more knowledgeable place for example where
224are the facilities at on um enhancing them has the data been pulled with our facilities team to say here's where the referendum money is going here's where the penny sales tax is going I mean it's just going to be a lot of questions and I I can all speak for myself not for anybody else up here I am not in any way ever going to say I am knowledgeable about the specific education system in the city of Riviera Beach so if we have that meeting it's going to take a ton of time from our staff to then prepare myself and others who may not be as aware of those informations and then we have to have the meeting and then we have a back and forth when I feel that at this point it's a
225let's get a foundation of where we are where we want to go get the data and then start coming up with ideas to address that at a city level and what's appropriate for them with their resources and at a level with the resources we have not just us kind of spitballing and throwing ideas and seeing what sticks to the wall because I just don't see it being productive and the use of everybody's time for that kind of meeting and then the precedent we're going to set where 36 other municipalities say I want a meeting too and I promise you I I will get the call the next day I'm just saying putting it out there let's have a conversation if that's what we want to do and let's see how we can fit that into
226our schedules but I don't think at this point with the information I'm looking at here although I completely agree and understand that Riviera Beach has not had a positive outcome of academic achievement and success and there are many reasons for that that we can get into later um I do not believe we're at the point where a joint meeting the way that we have with other bodies in an organized fashion once a year is a good precedent to set at this time okay board member Andrews what ideas were you referring to because I was thinking personally I was thinking that maybe they the city of Riviera Beach to my knowledge is not having education Advisory Board I know Delray has one Boynton has one I believe there's one out in the Glades Royal Palm Beach
227yeah so that devil is something that should be worked on and my question was are those advisory boards Municipal uh created by the municipalities or by private citizens it is okay so I just remember yeah it took me six years to get one in Lake Worth Beach yeah Lake Worth Beach I'm sorry Mr Whitfield Mr mcquinn was next thank you okay so I'm going to use H.O Watkins that is in Palm Beach Gardens but Rachel Watkins is um primarily students who live in Riviera Beach many of them choose Hal Watkins as their School of Choice rather than a school in Riviera Beach I spoke a long time to Mr Burke yes yesterday no some of the elementary schools in Riviera Beach are not district one schools but certainly those are schools that are going to
228feed into district one schools including Palm Beach Gardens High School and Mr Burke knows I'm I'm so upset about the reading scores I'm appalled and it's every school every Elementary School in Riviera Beach and we know that it starts he spoke this morning about um this morning yeah about the fact that now this is not Ruby or Beach this is district-wide but we know that our percentage of students who are at third grade not reading on level is um there's not a direct correlation but there probably is a correlation with that's about the same percentage of kids who enter our kindergarten not kindergarten ready so they're already behind the eight ball and I spoke at the breakfast this morning to Senator Bobby Powell Jr um to talk about this issue and I was very specifically
229speaking about the elementary scores in Riviera Beach as a board you're not going to have us as a board say we're going to do something for Riviera Beach that we're not going to do for Delray Beach or a school in The Glades and we have directed the superintendent something about third grade reading and I know that that's a priority to him I look at other school districts who outperformed us what are they doing that we're not doing so I know that he has a sense of urgency about it but I don't think as a board Collective we're going to solve that problem we have to give that problem to our superintendent and to his staff Ferguson what I suggest is what some of the other cities have is the education advisory committee we'll see if
230you can get that going to Riviera Beach because they usually want the board member there because we have one in Boca and then questions they pull post questions and I get answers or I bring I've brought people from the district down to those meetings to answer the questions I think that'll you know give them a better sense of what we're doing and what we could do better Mrs Whitfield and then Mrs Andrews thank you I was just going to say this was a huge priority of mine in Lake Worth Beach because I was jealous of Del Rey and Wellington and all of their education boards so it did take me a very long time to get it to happen in Lake Worth and they're still finding their feet under them as a group I attend
231every month um but it it is it is difficult to get started um having the top like I've gone and presented to the city many times in order to convince them that we needed this I wrote an entire plan for them um you know it took a lot of time but the city has to decide and then there's the choice of whether it's an Advisory board or just a task force and so that becomes a whole thing I'm happy to share the documentation that I created around Lake Worth with you um the other thing I would like to mention when it comes to this reading on grade level issue that we have I think a lot of it ties back to kindergarten Readiness and so the work around Early Learning Coalition and the quality improvement
232around their um around their VPK centers and getting kids enrolled I think is crucial because I mean one of my schools I think actually is the one with the worst kindergarten Readiness in the district it is very very difficult to take a child who's completely unready for kindergarten and get them to reading on grade level by third grade especially when they're coming in with other are other issues and other challenges so I think that as a district we need to be encouraging that as well and that can be a district-wide initiative I know Mr Tierney's worked a lot on it recently so as another idea for your community go ahead Mr Sanders and I just want to say it didn't take me that long I mean I've been on the board a long time but
233I once I started my working with Wellington which was someone who was really very versed at it Royal Palm was already on board we were able to get Westlake up but I mean it really starts with the city the elected leaders and the community coming together so I mean we've got a lot of uh different formats I mean you can decide how you want to set Yours up based on your city but it was not anything that was really a hard thing to do when people truly want to help their Community want to help the schools and the children they come together the elected officials will come together so I think it's something that I have a whole lot to offer you with Wellington Royal Palm Beach locks you know Loxahatchee the acreage Belle Glade
234all of them have come together and they work well and they put money behind the children in their Community along with the money that comes from the school district to make sure that we can approve uh improve student achievement Vice chair bro thank you so I smiled when Mrs mcquinn was speaking because I remember before I was a school board member trying to join the Boynton Beach advice education advisory and they wouldn't let me because I live in unincorporated Boynton Beach so I'm outside their boundaries but just so you know all of you know you know my district has least number of schools because most of the schools are East we do have a cobra education committee and that committee is not um it is not an advisory it's more where we talk about what's
235going on in the schools and then they ask where can we help and I'd like to put this out there one of the schools that we've helped is not in my district it's Indian Pines Elementary School actually it's in my district it's outside of cobras boundaries but every year we help them with school supplies and things that we do I would love to help some of your schools also that need assistance as we do things we don't have money in in our community in the Cobra education a cobra education committee and in Delaware Alliance you know we have a lot of seniors who volunteer some would be willing also to drive so when you go when you meet with your group and when you form your advisory please reach out share it with us so
236that I can bring that back also to my Cobra education committee to see how we can help in that effort sounds good thanks everybody okay I'm gonna give him one more thing sure go ahead I think the uh the elected officials select their own Representatives that actually visit those schools and Report out each month it's it's kind of prestigious for those who actually volunteer to be uh the representatives for each school and then they talk about what they see they do visit the schools work with the principals and make a report out so I mean it's just really a wonderful combination with the community uh Representatives as well as the elected officials and I do attend all of them so it's a lot of a lot of attending but it's worth it because the region
237offices come with me to some of them so everybody wants to hear what's going on and we're all working together all right Mr Ferguson I'm good thank you Mr Brew thank you so I'm going to make this as easy and quick as I can I'll start off by first thanking Mr Burke through the chair to Mr Burke and to Mr Kubrick thank you so much just his background all of us know that the calendar is always so contentious and we get a lot of input from the community at our meetings I did have a couple people in my district as usual reach out asking if they could join the calendar committee and I respectfully asked the superintendent who the members are which are they're attached to your agenda item this is a superintendence committee it's
238not our committee so let's be clear about that but you'll see the members that are there and Mr Kubrick was kind enough to when he responded you know he said that he thinks it's more more productive than adding people to the committee would be um that recommending that we do more to collect input from the community and so that spurred me into thinking as we ride the wave as we're trying to Market ourselves as we're trying to engage the community I spoke with Mr Burke when we met this week and I said my purpose in this item is as a board to go back to him and ask him to think of ways that we can engage you know more formally than just saying we're going to do it whether it's you know going out
239to the community in advance whether I mean I don't know that we really want to treat it like ABC boundaries because that would be really difficult after we went through but I think as we're talking more speaking more about parent participation that that calendar has the greatest impact on our families and we need to talk about maybe also what happens when we do start school early you know we did have lower numbers on Thursday and Friday a lot of children were still at Camp you know what do we do for those students if there's a way to get them information earlier but the bottom line is I would like us to just ask the superintendent since it is his committee to maybe work with Mr Cooper can come back with some suggestions so that when
240the when we do sit down to do the com the calendar that we do have Community input that we gauge engage our constituents and that they feel that they do have some voice in it that's it okay I don't think any of us have an issue with that thank you Mr superintendent no we can look at some maybe online tools or something like we use with the Strategic plan that might be helpful so we'll see what we can do all right let's just follow up I think that's a great idea we didn't even talk about that one so we talked about all kinds of other things that might be more contentious so I think that's great thank you so before we adjourn Mr superintendent you know I would like you to consider certainly your decision
241but I would like you to consider not having your staff have to sit here all evening to listen to especially this kind these kinds of discussions I feel bad that unlike us that don't have to get up first thing in the morning be back here they've been here all day and just sit here for hours listening to a lot of stuff that doesn't affect them at all is you know it's your decision but I would just like to give them a break from Heaven they love being here I think it builds up camaraderie see I know yeah see I think they should stick around too they get the big bucks a little longer it's okay all right at least we tried all right if nobody has anything else we'll take a motion to adjourn motion
242by Mrs Whitfield seconded by Mrs Anders any discussion all in favor opposed motion carries this meeting is adjourned