001thank you good evening welcome to the school board meeting of September 18 2019 the board also participated in a close risk management session prior to this meeting the regular board meeting is now called to order mrs. bass will you please take the role district one barber McQuinn here district two Chuck Shaw district three Karin Brill district 4 Erika Whitfield here district five Frank Barbieri here district six Marsha Andrews here district seven Debra Robinson all right we have all seven board members present we'll take a motion in a few minutes to authorize mrs. Whitfield to access the meeting by telephonic attendance also in attendance a day as the superintendent dr. Donald Ferno general counsel Julie Ann Rico inspector general Leung Chiu and Palm Beach County student council president Jayden Manuel I'd like to remind all we'll
002be speaking today that this meeting is being transcribed in real-time so can be viewed with closed captioning please speak at a reasonable pace so the transcribers can fully capture what you are saying this evening there is one proclamation on the agenda acknowledging September 15 through October 15 as Hispanic Heritage Month at this time I'd like to ask everyone to please stand for the Pledge of Allegiance to be led by general consul julienne Rico here to present the flag is the Boynton Beach Community High School marine corps our Junior ROTC under the direction of master sergeant Patrick Barber and singing the national anthem as the Palm Beach Gardens High School chamber course under the direction of Ashley Taylor Rosario [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] Thank You Boynton Beach Camille high school and Palm Beach Gardens High School
003Chamber course we need a motion to approve mrs. Whitfield attendance by telephone motion by miss mcquean second by dr. Robinson any discussion all in favor all opposed motion carries 7-0 superintendent you have any items to add to the agenda this evening mr. Chairman I have nothing to add items you withdraw yes sir I have several items to withdraw CEO m5e lr3 ELR six I one and st3 all right then we have two items been pulled by the board PC three are there any other items the board members want to pull okay and also where the Aitu has been pulled we need a motion to approve the agenda motion by a parent yes I have to pull the item I didn't realize I have to do that to recuse myself okay so miss mcquean is going
004I - all right motion to approve the agenda as modified motion by dr. by dr. Robinson second I'm mr. Shaw any discussion go ahead dr. Robinson I'm sorry I just want to be clear my items were pulled PC 3d threes pulled yes yes I just didn't hear them announced and then FMP o2 and PA - they're on our green sheet I just didn't hear them read okay thank you all right so those items also been pulled they say don't state them again dr. Robinson thank you it's on PA - PC three and FMP oh one - all right let's take another motion to approve the agenda is further modified motion by dr. Robbins a second of my miss Brill any discussion all in favor all opposed motion carries 7 0 disclosures and abstentions dr. Robinson
005thank you yes I'll be abstaining on PC three all right informant 8b I understand has been attached to the item of and miss McGuinn yes I'm recusing myself from I too for I have family involved in the case all right and for maybe for miss mcquean has been filed with the clerk do we have any other disclosures or abstentions between those two okay superintendent mr. Chiu pretend you have comments yes sir I'd like to begin by acknowledging Hispanic Heritage Month which as you heard a moment ago is celebrated annually from September 15th through October the 15th during this time the dish knowledge is the culture and traditions of students teachers staff and community members who trace their roots to Spain Cuba and other spanish-speaking countries in North America Central America South America and the Caribbean
006Hispanics are the fastest growing ethnic group in Palm Beach County the school district serves more than 65,000 Hispanic students representing 21 spanish-speaking countries we are so proud of the Spanish dual language programs offered at several of our schools as I mentioned numerous Hispanic heritage events and activities are scheduled in our schools and throughout the community please find out more about these events by visiting Palm Beach schools org I'd also like to share information with you about the recent arrival of Bahamian students displaced by hurricane doing so far 92 students from the Bahamas have been welcomed into our school since during devastated large portions of the Bahamas here's a here's what that warm welcome looks like allamanda elementary school broken by the hurricane I saw one of my students and I told her that we were
007getting a new student the next day from the Bahamas right away her face lit up and she was really excited she wanted to do something special for him she told me that we were getting a new student in our class so I was really excited that I need a new friend from a different and I thought to make him really welcome so I made him a welcome to America card so I just want you to feel as welcome as possible we teach the kids about kindness all the time and I kind of tell my students too that it's like a domino effect you're kind to one person then they're kind to someone it's very nice to see that two sons now actually getting used to our school I had three more students then who piggybacked
008on that and and made him a card and made him a craft and it's really been special because he's only been here for about two days and it's been a pretty wacky week this week that's a good thing it makes it starts friendship and and then it spreads more and more and more that's means you have more friends absolutely I like to pass personally let's give him a round of applause I'd like to personally welcome Keyshawn and all the other Bahamian students who ever been recently admitted into our schools and finally I'd like to congratulate Dianna Federman our assistant superintendent of teaching and learning and her team doctor Federman and her team worked more than a year to secure a generous grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation the grant will help the district
009provide professional learning for new teachers to support a new math curriculum for middle school students receiving a grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is an honor and I believe that this partnership will lead to better outcomes for all of our students and help prepare them for postgraduate success mr. chairman at the end of my comments thank you when you have any comments yes before we get to the general council and superintendents evaluation place on the agenda I do want to particularly thank mark Howard who is so very helpful and kind in walking us through the process it appears the technology changes every year and I emailed him late yesterday evening and of course it got right back with me here's myself and need to call me so I just want to thank you
010for making this process as painless as possible Thanks thank you mrs. Whitfield thank you yeah I do have some comments I would love to make really quickly and I do apologize for not being there I wanted to talk quickly about the changes to the snap guidelines that are coming out from the federal government we actually have an opportunity as a community to put in public comments on these guidelines changes these policy changes up until September 23rd and I would encourage everyone to consider doing this the guideline changes that they are looking to make would have an impact on about 500,000 children in the country 7,000 of them here in Long Beach County who would not no longer be receiving federal funding from the USDA for food so the snap is where we get get food
011for our federal from our federal government of USDA and the other thing that's very important about it is the way that it affects our school food service program and the way children are immediately cut from snaps into being approved through school food service this would have a very big impact on our students here locally so 7,000 students who would no longer be automatically included and potentially not be able to receive food through our schools so if you are interested in that I will give you the website you can go check it out and see some more information about it it is HTTP colon slash slash bit dot ly / NAB's rule campaign - so that's HTTP colon slash slash bit dot allies slash snap school campaigns do and that's it for my comments and I
012thank you Thank You mr. Whitfield hope you feel better miss Burrell thank you and I just have a couple of brief comments today I attended two events at two very special schools that I want to share with you the first was the groundbreaking last week for South tech Academy which was a groundbreaking at the old Odyssey middle school for those of you that don't know South tech Academy is a conversion charter school that offers a full array of technical and vocational programs and as my colleagues know I sit here in lament all the time that district 3 only has one high school so I am very happy that the students in my district are going to have another alternative to attend I also today had the opportunity to attend and speak at the Palm Beach
013school for autism's project next program ribbon-cutting that program focuses on job training building independence and community inclusion at the school for autism now I have to tell you that when we attend graduations and we see the students with their excitement walking across the stage we shake their hands and congratulate them we often ask them where they're going to go to school and there's a there's an excitement and a passion in the air well for these students with disabilities when they graduate in many cases that's the end of the road for them they sit at home if they don't get that job training if they don't have the skills and so today I had the opportunity to see some of the young people at the school for autism learning job skills such as and life skills
014such as cooking vacuuming folding clothes - all of you that might not sound like much to do but for those of us who have students with disabilities children with disabilities that's life-changing so I just wanted to bring that up because education is provided in a variety of ways and I'm very proud of the partnership we have with our schools that address some of our students with special needs and finally for those of you who are celebrating I just want to wish you a happy and a healthy New Year's Shanah Tovah thank you thank you mr. brill mrs. Andrews thank you and good afternoon to everyone today I had the pleasure to be with the League of Women Voters our superintendent was the guest speaker speaking on educational updates I love the League of Women Voters
015they are so involved within our Palm Beach County area and they have been so supportive of the Palm Beach County School District we thank them personally for their support with the referendum the penny sales tax and everything that they do for us so it was a great time at the luncheon today yes we're celebrating the Hispanic Heritage Month it's a big time when we think about Palm Beach County we're looking at the Hispanic population it's growing by leaps and bounds 37 plus percent of Palm Beach County population is Hispanic when we think about celebrating we need to celebrate our diversity every single day and I'm asking all of you to look at the different events that will happen this month and participate and as we move forward with working together in diversity within Palm Beach
016County Schools let's remember our Hispanic heritage right here in Palm Beach County and lastly I'm just returning from Osceola County representing you the school board at the legislative meeting for the Florida School Boards Association and we were working on the state priorities for the Florida School Boards Association and yes Palm Beach County will right in line with the kinds of priorities that the state Florida School Boards Association is looking at too you will be receiving the lists that we voted on and approved last week and I know that we'll be talking about our local priorities and we all come together to make it happen for the school districts all across the state thank you thank you miss Sanders dr. Robinson thank you this month's black history fact I actually wrote last month but then I
017was sick so I hope that I keep the tents correct so the the the topic tonight is the 1619 project and much of what I will say will be taken from the New York Times in their series on 1619 so in August of 1619 just 12 years after English the English settled Jamestown Virginia one year before Puritans landed at Plymouth Rock and some 157 years before the English colonists even decided that they wanted to form their own country the Jamestown colonists purchased twenty to thirty enslaved Africans from English pirates the Pirates had stolen them from a Portuguese slave ship that had forcibly taken them from what is not a country of Angola those men and women who came ashore on that August day four hundred years ago were the beginning of American slavery they were
018among 12.5 million Africans who would be kidnapped from their homes and brought in Chains across the Atlantic Ocean in the largest forced migration in human history prior to the Second World War almost 2 million did not survive the grueling journey known as the Middle Passage so according to the author Nicole Hannah Jones the purpose of the 1619 project is to reframe our country's history understanding that 1619 was our true founding and placing the consequences of slavery and the contributions of black America at the very center of the story we tell ourselves about who we are from the projects Lee Reporter the 1619 project underscores the black condition in America we are the constant reminder of the lie at the origins while Thomas Jefferson was writing the Declaration of Independence his enslaved brother-in-law was there to
019serve him and make sure he was comfortable according to her if you believe that 1776 matters if you believe that our Constitution still matters then you should also have to understand that the legacy legacy of slavery still matters and you can't pick and choose what parts of history we think are important and which ones are not just a few more according to the New York Times conveniently left out of our founding mythology is the fact that one of the primary reasons the colonists decided to declare their independence from Britain was because they wanted to protect the institution of slavery by 1776 Britain had grown deeply conflicted over its role in the barbaric institution that had reshaped the Western Hemisphere in London there were growing calls to abolish the slave trade this would have up ended
020the economy of the colonies in both the north and the south hence independence from Britain to maintain the cash cow so in closing I just want to tell you that a recognition of the ancestors the n-double-a-cp organized the Jamestown to Jamestown project participants in this historic event including our own state president of SEIU fps you Alphonso Mayfield participated and visited the historic jamestown visitors center to symbolize the ancestral arrival at Point Comfort near Jamestown Virginia they wrote letters to the ancestors and placed them in a fire a symbolic African tradition they visited the National Museum of African American history and culture and then on to Jamestown Accra Ghana where they were warmly greeted by the President and chief and Queen mothers who welcomed them back home attendees visited the slave River where the enslaved Africans
021had their last bath before their Trek to the coast for shipment to the Western world never to return again they visited the WDB Dubois Center for pan-africanism and then they walked through the door of no return we must never forget and our children must learn thank you thank you dr. Robinson mr. Shaw thank you very much when mrs. perrault was talking about the Palm Beach School for autism one of the things that that we saw there today as part of this next program is concern the the partnerships that have been built within the community with businesses particularly Duffy's restaurant worked with them in equipping and installing a complete commercial kitchen at that school for the students to work with they have also partnerships with several hotels and other businesses and the partnerships that they've done
022is something that is really something to recognize the school for and my only other comment was at the League of Women Voters meeting today dr. Foy was speaker oh I can't believe he's not in here right now my chance to give him a hard time and he's not even gonna be there very good I'm glad you're back when I got here he said how did I do with my speech today and I said dr. Furr know you're you were a rock star with them so he is now our rock star with that but it was an amazing meeting and a and he did a very good job and represented our district well my final comment was last Saturday I had the opportunity to be at the West Palm Beach or the West Palm Beach Veterans
023Memorial Cemetery for a program that's on Saturday morning to recognize POWs and MI A's and this was a program that was coordinated and has been done for several years by a young man by the name of Joshua Kat an Eagle Scout and the scouts put this entire program together really Joshua put the whole thing together himself it was an amazing program and something that makes you very proud of our students in Palm Beach County for what they do and the efforts they put forth Thank You mr. Shaw as to my report the Chairman's report is attached to your gen you all have a copy of the over the various meetings that I had as board chair over the last month in addition to the meetings that are scheduled I had of course the regular meetings
024with the superintendent deputy superintendent chief operating officer and the other administration and the upper administration I want to point out a couple of things a couple of meetings I had a meeting with chairman Wilhite of the Palm Beach County legislative delegation chairman Wilhite indicated he would like to help help Palm Beach County with respect to the ambiguities and the recently enacted statutes dealing with safe school officers and he asked if we could get him information as to the ambiguity so that he could understand them and help us with those I asked mrs. Rico's office to if she would provide him with an explanation for the issues in that area and she's agreed to get that information to him chairman Wilhite also ask some questions about security issues in the schools and I suggested he made
025with chief get sorrow to review those concerns I spoke with chief kits row and his office is arranging that meeting also I was asked to attend the Golden Bell of Foundation breakfast and be the keynote speaker and on behalf of the board and superintendent thanked the foundation for its long history of supporting our schools principals and teachers from 20-plus schools were in attendance as well as miss brill deputy superintendent Oswald chief of staff attorney South Regents who talakad in the South Region instructional superintendents at that meeting Golden Bell gave grants to 20 plus schools totaling approximately $100,000 bring the total that Golden Bell has given to our schools to over 1.8 million dollars finally I want to thank dr. Geralyn Johnson director of choice and career options for organizing the very successful 9th annual Constitution
026Day program here in our boardroom on September 30 13th I was asked to give a brief welcome to the nearly 300 criminal justice and law Academy students from our middle and high schools who attended the event and I thank Judge Rover the 15th Judicial District and the other attorney panelists for taking the time to meet with our students the rest of the meetings that I had are for your reviewer on the agenda item that is attached and with that we are now ready for presentations now miss Nick naked no limp