Education Committee - Regular Meeting

All right, we're on air. All right, well, welcome. We are going to start to call to order. All right, can I get a, that we are here, Krista.

Pledge. I'm sorry. Pledge.

Pledge of allegiance. Oh, it says pledge. Okay, we're going to start with the Pledge of Allegiance. Sorry. Set call to order. Okay, well, we're going to start with a roll call. Let's start with, I guess, Krista? Present. Ashley? Present. Stephanie?

And then I do want to say that Ms. Myron was provided a Zoom link. I'm not sure if she's in the Zoom or not as of yet, but we will have to vote her in if we choose to do so.

Sure. Okay. Andrea? Shelly is, I believe, you mentioned she is not present. Not attending this evening. And Marcia. Present. Present. Great. Okay, we're going to start with the approval of the agenda. There is a copy in our packet, if you want to review it, from the approval of August 4th.

And then, Ms. Montesinos, now would be the time where we go ahead and make a motion if we do wish to open the Zoom link for Ms. Myron.

Okay. Is there a motion to add Stephanie Myron? I'll make that motion.

Mercia seconds it.

Awesome. Awesome. And then we can move forward.

Oh, she's great. OK. So back to the approval of the agenda. We can review the agenda and have a motion for approval of the meeting of the agenda.

Marcia makes a motion to approve the August 4, 2026 meeting agenda as is. May I get a second? Second. OK.

All opposed, not opposed, all in favor?

Aye.

Okay. All right, we're gonna also move forward to the approval of the minutes if I can get a motion.

Marcia makes a motion to approve the February 3rd, 2026 meeting minutes as is. Thank you. Second?

Is there anybody? All in favor?

Aye.

All right. Okay. Right. We have one abstain. Light.

Thank you. Does everyone have a light?

Yes. Thanks. see it as there is no old business, we're going to start with our exciting new business to the Keeley Spinelli, the grant presentations.

Good evening, Village of Wellington Education Advisory Board. Thank you for having us again this year. This is our favorite meeting of the year, just so you know, out of all of the meetings, because it allows us not only to open up another school year year of hope, year of great accomplishments that we get to celebrate from last year. But I was looking forward to our student achievement for this upcoming year. Before I get started, I do want to send greetings from Superintendent Burke, as well as Deputy Superintendent Wyatt, and of course our board member, Ms. Andrews. So greetings from all of them, but I am here to represent our district, and as well as my team, who is here this evening, and that would be Instructional Superintendent Karen Wetzel, and also Dr. Vivian Green, Instructional Superintendent for Elementary Schools, Mrs. Wetzel for Secondary Schools, and of course, the most important folks here in the room are our principals and assistant principals, administrators that are representing our 11 schools here in the village of Wellington. Um... Before I start this evening, though, I do want to also say a huge thank you to our SWAG program here in the Village of Wellington. I had the opportunity to stop by there for their 2026 graduation this evening. And it's just such amazing work. And I do believe that it should be duplicated elsewhere. But here you have it. And thank you. And I know that you've got so much to do with it, Ms. Hayden. Thank you. Excellent work. Thank you for all your support with our students. I am thrilled to share that we have maintained an A rating as a school district. So we are very happy about that. And we will continue working on our strategic plan, which actually sunsets at the end of this year. But I'm happy to report that 10 out of 14 of those initiatives have now become standard operational norms. our district and we are continuing in this school year the the last four that are that are there for you the k3 literacy is one of our most important and we're really shining a light of that to to improve that area for us that is our area of opportunities as we call it Also, Pathway to Possibilities, continuing to provide all of those opportunities, career, dual enrollment, and industry partnerships with our schools as well. We are really focusing too around the work that we do with AI, how to improve teaching and learning, and also how to allow our students to be responsible with use of AI and productive. And then, of course, we always lean on the customer service and continue to catch the wave. So, as I mentioned before, this is our favorite meeting, and one of the reasons is because we are recognizing one of our former uh principals and uh keely spinelli who has just made such a difference in not only the village but in education and she's such a legacy and you have continued that on in the village with these wonderful grants that are awarded to our schools here at the village of wellington and tonight you're going to be able to hear from all of our principals on and their administrative teams and how the plan on using those funds this upcoming year to improve education. I'm happy to report that all of our schools in the Village of Wellington have maintained their grades. Any Horizons has improved, not necessarily to an A yet, but they've improved and made some really great growth in getting closer to that A. So we're very happy to report that this evening. And as you can see, our secondary schools also maintained all of their grades A's. And now what I would like to do is I would like to bring up our instructional superintendent, Dr. Green, who will then start introducing our elementary principals that will then be able to share with you their highlights, as well as this Keeley Spinelli grant plan.

Good evening, I'm really excited tonight to introduce the principals as they come up to share with you their highlights as well as how they have used their grant funds and how they plan to continue using their grant funds. And so we're going to start tonight off with the wonderful principal at Binks Forest Elementary Mrs. Michelle Jimenez.

It was Levy, but now it's Jimenez. So we are so very grateful for the grants you guys give us every year, and we truly are. We outperform the district every year, and I don't mean to be mean, but we do. I think it's because of these grants, and we're able to use them as we need to use them and truly meet the needs of students. So we love you for that, and we're very grateful, and I speak for all the principals when I say that. Some of the highlights, Binks Forest was part of the one-cent sales tax this summer for a refurb, and so right now I have floors in. I'm still waiting on bathrooms, a parking lot. I've had a few roof leaks here and there, but so far it's beautiful. I can't wait for it to be done, and they promised me it'll be done before the 5th, so I trust them on that. We do have Meet the Teacher on August 7th from 8.30 to 9.45, and you guys are always welcome to come out to Binks. We have Curriculum Night on August 26th from 5 to 7, and then our first SAC meeting will be on September 9th, and it's always at 3 o'clock in the principal's conference room. Some of our data highlights... thanks to the Village of Wellington's Keeley Spinelli grant. Second highest in the district with 94% in reading for third grade. We were 78% of ELA students and those 25 made gains, which is huge. We started out at about 42% and now we've raised ever since the Keeley Spinelli grant, now we're up to 78%. 86% of our fifth grade students scored at a level three or higher in science, and that was also second highest in the district, so we are extremely grateful because we used that money. My next screen. I just put some of our data on here, but we do use the money to do tutorial for second through fifth graders, and we tutor them in reading, math, and in science. We start with our low 25 in August, and all the rest of them in October. Last year we ran out of money because we used some of it to buy resources. This year we've decided to put all the money in tutorial and save the resources for another day. Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you, Mrs. Jimenez. Mrs. Jimenez shared that her school was second in the district for science. Well, she was tied with two other schools that were second in the district, and we are very fortunate that those two other schools are also schools that are Village of Wellington schools, and I'll let those principals tell you about that when they come up. Without further ado, we have the wonderful founding principal of Elbridge-Gale Elementary, Mrs. Gail Pasterczyk, to tell us about what's happening there and how they utilize the grant funds as well.

Thank you, Dr. Green, and thank you again for enabling us to continue to maintain achievement at such a high level. Some of our highlights, of course, the A rating. We are a district STEM choice school this year. We had previously only been STEM for our own students, but we had room to accept others and we had over 150 students select us for STEM, over 50 in kindergarten alone. We're excited about that. We have our Meet the Teacher on August 7th from 8 to 9.30. Our first SAC meeting on the 27th, and it is always on at 3 p.m. We are one of eight schools accepted for our new program, the Guy Harvey Conservation School Program. We're excited about that. So some of our highlights were third grade ELA at 81%. And we are very proud of that because we are at about 62% free and reduced lunch. So that percentage is really high, and we've maintained that. ELA gains from 70 to 76, and science from 72 to 74. And the next slide, please. Oh, I have to hit it?

Sorry.

So for the past couple of years, we have focused on ELA. And we provide tutoring from second to fifth grade in ELA for our lowest 30%. And we fund one full-time and one part-time intervention teacher. We were one of the top schools in third grade, thanks to your assistance. And ELA learning gains increased 6%. So those are our highlights. And thank you so much for the impact that you make on our children.

Thank you. And now we have, all the way from Equestrian Trails Elementary School, Miss Allison Manning to tell you about what's happening at Equestrian Trails.

Thank you all. I'd like to, just like everyone else, thank you so much for all you do for the schools here in Wellington. It truly impacts the students and makes a big difference with the learning. We have Meet the Teacher on August 7th from 9 to 11. Our curriculum night, we split into two nights. We have K-2 on August 25th from 5.30 to 7. Our 3-5 families will be there on August 26th from 5.30 to 7. And our first meeting is on September 9th from 8 to 9 in our cafeteria. and again we welcome anyone who would like to join us for that. A few of our highlights are we maintained our A status. We were also one of the second highest schools in the district with 86% in science. We had 79% of our low 25 students make learning gains in ELA and that was one of the areas that we focused on with the Keeley Spinelli grant and it was like a 10 point increase from last year so it made a huge impact. Overall, ELA was at 87% proficiency and math was at 88% proficiency. So with the Keely Spinelli grant, we'll continue to support this year with our kindergarten through fifth grade funding of our part-time in-system tutorial teacher, and that we target academic. Our main focus is on reading, but every once in a while it's kind of hard to find exactly a spot for reading, so we might slide her in for a little bit of math or science there. The grant will also, we had some extra funding left over from previous years, so we will be looking at helping to support the Scholastic Rise Intervention, which is a system that she was using, and she found it kind of hard to support with sharing materials, so we're looking at getting her own materials this year. In addition, if we have any extra, looking at some support technology to help assist that. Again, thank you so much for everything, and we hope to see you at Equestrian Trails.

Thank you. Thank you.

Thank you. And now, all the way from New Horizons Elementary School, we have Ms. Gloria Salazar to tell you about what's happening at New Horizons Elementary School. Mrs. Haynes has already shared that New Horizons is definitely a school that's on the move.

Thank you.

I just want to echo everybody else in thanking you for all of your support. And we had an amazing year at New Horizons. We made great growth. If looking at our scores, we raised our B status all the way to 34 points, just three points short of that A that we were really hoping for. So many great things aside from the data and the scores. We built a stronger, tighter community with the stakeholders, with the Village of Wellington. I can't thank you enough to the board and to Ian who is always at a phone call length to help and support in any way that we can. Some highlights, we are a designated Guy Harvey conservation school, and we're one of three in the district, so that's something to celebrate. We have an extraordinary STEM teacher, Ms. Schuller, who is amazing and goes above and beyond, and looks out for these grants at all times. So we're great to, you know, we have other schools on board now coming on board at the district, so we'll welcome them to come and see all the great things we're doing. Our Meet the Teacher is this Friday from 9 to 11, and we've also added a sensory-friendly Meet the Teacher from 1 to 2 p.m. We started that last year, and it was wonderful. The community loved it, so we continued it this year. Our curriculum night, we have separated it by grades and teams, so VPK and ASD is 4 to 5, more of that sensory-friendly atmosphere. K2 is 5 to 6, and 3-5 is 6 to 7, so we welcome you. Our first SAC meeting is September 2nd at 2.45 in the Media Center. So we are definitely on our way to the A. Like I was saying, another great highlight is our lowest 25% raised 17% in ELA. So that was one of our focus, and we really went from 47% to 64%.

So we're proud of that.

And with the Caleb Spinelli, we have done so many great things, and a part of it is always searching for a reading tutoring to come in during the day. We weren't successful in hiring that tutor this year, so what we did is we decided to go outside of the box and have a summer academic camp, and it went amazing. We offered academic tutoring for students in second grade through fourth grade, rising into fifth, and I'm excited to see at PM1 how they did over the summer, not having that summer slide. So we incorporated that and really a focus on our tutorial students. And because I have another program that really focuses on my L25, I was able to use these funds for what's called our bubble students, our students that are right there on the cusp. So I was really able to hit both buckets using these funds. And I will continue to use that, and any extra additional funds will be used for the teachers. Most of the funds used for is teachers and their planning and collaboration. They have that extra time to get ready for the next school year and over the breaks. Thank you so much.

Thank you. Thank you.

And now, from Panther Run Elementary School, we have Ms. Risa Suarez, who will share what's happening over there and some of their data highlights.

Thank you. Good evening. I'm going to piggyback on my colleagues on how grateful I am for the Keeley Grant. I personally knew Keeley. She hired me to work at Binks for a short time when I was a classroom teacher. And so I have some fond memories of her. But I am very proud to be a principal in Wellington because of the grant, especially. I tell all my other principal friends that are outside of the Wellington area that I'm so fortunate. They're all jealous. Yeah, we get $36,000 every year. And just how much it has helped our school. So I'm very fortunate, very proud to be a principal in Wellington. Some of the highlights from my school is that we do have meet the greet coming up on August 7th, this Friday from nine to 11. We have curriculum night on September 9th. This year we're doing something different because my teachers always have, the older ones always have the later times. So this time we're just switching it around. We're gonna do K through two from 6.30 to 7.30 and I have VPK three and five from 5.15 to 6.15. We have our first SAC meeting on September 2nd and it is a four o'clock if you all are invited at any time. Some of the highlights from my school is that we did maintain our A status. We are one of the three schools that I'm proud to say they got to steal the joy first. We are the second highest science in the district at 86%, and we have an overall 14-point improvement at our school. In addition, 77% of my low 25 made a learning gain in math. We had overall proficiency at 91%, and I have overall reading proficiency at 85%.

Next slide, please.

Oh, that's me. And I was the one telling Gail to hit it. And if you know Gail, she's all paper-pencil. According to my grant, what I have done is I have hired three part-time day tutors for reading intervention. That was the first year that I was able to do that. In the past, I've only hired two during the day, but I had funds carried over from the previous year, so I was able to hire three. This year, I am going back to two. We had a total of 105 students that participated in the tutorial day program 73 of those students remained in the program from the beginning of the year to the end of the year. 68 of them scored 93% of them demonstrated gains in reading. So it just shows you the benefit of having those additional support staff during the day. For this year, I'm requesting also the funds to hire two part-time reading tutors to provide the reading intervention to our students in kindergarten through fifth grade. These students are identified by showing a reading deficiency according to the school district of Palm Beach County's decision tree. In addition, funds will be purchased any supplemental instructional materials as needed.

Thank you, Ms. Suarez. And now I am really, really, really excited to introduce to you the two newest members to our team, Dr. Shannon Makowski, the principal at Wellington Elementary School, and our assistant principal, Ms. Debbie Hanoi. So if you guys could please stand up. So we are just so fortunate to have them join our team. And Dr. Makowski, she spent summers here in Wellington with her grandmother as a child. You were in New York at the time.

They moved here in 1995. I'll let her tell her story.

Come on up, Dr. Mikowski.

Good evening. My name is Shannon Mikowski. I am super excited to be here as the new principal of Wellington Elementary School. While I did not move into the area until 2004, my grandparents did move here in 1995. and lived in Lakefield West until recently. So I know how wonderful it is to be in Wellington because I spent every summer of my childhood swimming in the rec pool and going to different community events. So I'm very excited to be back in the Western communities. After moving here, I actually grew up in Royal Palm Beach, so not far away at all. So thank you for having me back in the Western communities. And I'm going to let Ms. Harnois introduce herself as well.

Hi, good evening. My name is Debbie Harnois. I am the proud assistant principal at Wellington Elementary. I'm happy to be here. I have been in the district for almost 22 years, spending most of or all of those years at Green Acres Elementary. So I'm very excited to start on this new venture with Dr. Michalski. I personally have lived in Florida pretty much my entire life since I was nine years old. So I'm not a Floridian, but I kind of am. And so I'm excited to be here in Wellington with all of you and with this fabulous staff that I'm meeting. Everybody's been so welcoming and so nice. And so we're looking forward to a great year. Perfect. Thank you.

So I do want to thank the board and the Village of Wellington as well for this finale grant. I've heard amazing things this summer and gotten to meet so many supportive people, not only in the village but at our school, and just know how great of an opportunity this has been. Dr. Vaughn and Mr. Kerski did a wonderful job onboarding us before Dr. Vaughn retired and talking about the impact of this grant. So I'm excited to share that information with you tonight. Our Meet the Teacher is on Friday, August 7th from 9 to 11 a.m. Our curriculum night is August 26th from 5.30 to 6.30 for our K-2 students, and then 6.45 to 7.45 for our 3-5. Our first SAC meeting is August 19th in our Media Center from 6 to 7, and all are welcome to attend. I'm excited to share with you that our school did maintain and improve our A rating last year. And our school is also a recipient this year of the Jacobs Family Foundation grant, which is super important to us. We are a fine arts school. And so some of that funding will be used to hire artists and residents for our students to make that real-world connection as they go through our fine arts program. And then I'm also excited to share that last week Marjorie Condon, who is our cafeteria manager, was the nominee for the School Food Service Manager of the Year. So we're very fortunate to have her on our campus and all of her hard work. Last year, Wellington Elementary School purchased supplemental materials, Penda, Generation Genius, Vocabulary, iExcel for 5th grade math, Secret Stories, Rewards Literacy Intervention, iReady Student Books, Starfall, and Book Taco. We were able to fund over 450 hours of tutorial for students and what I really want to highlight there and something that I learned about Wellington Elementary School since I've been there is it really is a family community. Our staff is a family and so what's unique about our school is that those tutors are retired teachers who have chosen to come back to our school and continue to work with our students. Additionally, incentives were purchased for our students who participated in that tutorial program. We do have some remaining funds, so our goal this year is to continue to utilize those funds for tutorial in our core subject areas, as well as purchase some of those additional supplemental materials that are not funded through the district. And with that extra money from last year, we will continue to broaden our impact and the students who are receiving tutorial. Thank you so much.

Thank you. Thank you. And again, words cannot express how appreciative we are to you for what you do for our students here in the village. And many of the principals that came up, they shared not only did they maintain their school grades, but they also improved. And with your help, they're able to do that. So thank you.

Good evening, everyone. I'm Karen Wetzel. I'm the instructional superintendent for the secondary schools, and I'm really happy to be here tonight. Like everybody, this is about my favorite evening to be here. Kaylee and I were very good friends. We went to graduate school together, so it brings me a lot of added joy to be here on this night. Kaylee had a definite, passionate, heart for students and reading achievement. So it's really exciting as we listen to what everybody is doing with the students. I'm going to start by introducing the principal from Emerald Cove Middle School, Dr. Eugenia Feynman.

Eugenia Smith- Good evening. I am Eugenia Smith-Fahmon, the very proud principal of Emerald Cove. And I am thankful for the support and all of this grant. It really does make a difference with our students. And so thank you, thank you. So a couple of highlights I need to put on my readers. We did maintain our A rating with an improvement of 27 points for our overall school grade and we made nice gains with our ELA and our overall math scores and our lowest 25% with an increase in 10 percentage points for our ELA lowest 25%. But in addition to our our school grade and moving up, we really worked to make sure that we have opportunities for the whole child and for our students. And so this summer we had the opportunity to take four students to FBLA National Conference in San Antonio, Texas. And these were students who had placed at the state level and were able to compete in the nation. And Sabrina Ayala placed seventh in the nation in her area of FBLA concepts And so we are so very proud to be able to represent not only Emerald Cove, but Palm Beach County and the Village of Wellington. We also want to welcome our new sixth grade counselor, Ms. Sharnell Williams, and we do have a very comprehensive school counseling program at Emerald Cove. We have our BHP as well as our three counselors and a co-located therapist. And we are in the process of re-ramping for our ASCA national recognition for our counseling program. So a couple of things coming up. This Thursday we have scheduled distribution for our 7th grade from 10 to 12 and 8th grade from 1 to 3. Our Meet the Teacher for our 6th graders will be on Friday at 4 to 6 p.m. And our first SAC meeting on Friday the 13th at 6 p.m. as well. Our curriculum night will be September the 10th from 6 to 8 p.m., and we welcome you to come out and visit the cove. Last year, with our grant, we purchased iExcel for our ELA, math, and science and civics. We also purchased high-interest reading materials and resources for our tutorial and incentives, because if you know middle schoolers, it may be hard to get them to tutorial sometimes. So we have a morning, afternoon, and during the day tutorial, and we also provided incentives for them. We have a little bit of an overage left, a little over $800, but we'll roll that into our IXL for this year, as well as our Pirate Academy, and starting earlier with our Pirate Academy as well, including student incentives again. Thank you very much.

Thank you. Thank you.

Now I am going to tell you that what Dr. Feynman did not tell you is if you look on the screen, one of those three students that represented the district in Texas this summer is hers. So Kai is up there, and so I had to say that. And now I'd like to introduce Dr. Jennifer Galindo, the proud principal at Polo Park.

Good evening and I want to thank you for having us here. I want to reiterate what everyone else has said that the Kaylee Spinelli grant is absolutely a game changer for the Wellington schools and without it we would not be able to do the work that we do at our schools. So we do have some highlights. We maintained our A rating and in fact we're very proud that our acceleration score went up to 91% which is second highest in the district. We tied with two other schools for second highest in the district so Yay, they're accelerating. Our reading scores went up, our math and science scores held strong, and our civic scores did what they needed to do. But so overall, we are very proud of what our students achieved and what our teachers achieved academically. So we want to honor Ms. Crowley. She is one of our social studies teachers, but she's also our Holocaust education teacher, and she has just been recognized as the 2026 Gutterman Family Outstanding Holocaust Educator. So she actually traveled to Poland this summer and learned more about the Holocaust. She's getting her master's in it. So it really is a program that's flourishing on our campus thanks to her and her dedication. We also are welcoming two new assistant principals to our campus. We have Mr. Lloyd coming out of Forest Hill High School, joining us, and Mr. Yamshikov, we call him Mr. Y, coming out of Barton Elementary. So it's nice that we actually have now APs that come with high school experience, elementary experience, middle school experience, because we get them in coming from elementary, and we get them out to high school, so it's nice to kind of bookend it together. So they've already joined the staff and joined the team, and everyone is loving them, and they are definitely soaking in the family atmosphere at Polo Park. And then we did have a student, Nikhil, who's now an eighth grader, and he won the silver medal in the top 10 overall at the FCCLA National Conference in Washington, D.C., for sustainability. So we definitely are excited about his achievements. Our first SAC meeting is August 26th at 6 p.m., and that's where we'll be picking our SAC and doing all our voting and everything. And then we will have our second SAC meeting September 9th. You are always welcome to attend anything that we have at Polo Park. Our open house will be Thursday, August 27th from 6 to 8. And our 7th graders are actually heading out in September to Mounts Botanical Garden, so they're excited about the opportunity. The teachers are excited about the opportunity of that integration. So as far as the Kaylie Spinelli grant goes, last year we used it mostly for IXL and we also purchased six-period supplements so that our teachers could get more hands-on time with the students and extend those opportunities of working with them, as well as increasing tutorial hours. And our tutorial was very successful, as you can tell with our scores. But what we also found is our six-period supplements really engaged our students and we saw more growth in that than anything else. So we're using the Spinelli grant primarily to increase those six-period supplements, address our class size, make sure that we're offering a wide range of programs for our students for remediation as well as acceleration. So we'll be able to do that, and we're going to also be able to add more tutorial for our students so that we can capture them early and really make sure that they are achieving it the way that we know they can. So thank you for all of your support, and we appreciate everything you do.

And next up, I'd like to introduce Lindsey Ingersoll, the principal at Wellington Landings.

Thank you, Mrs. Wetzel, and good evening, everyone. I also want to express the sentiments that my colleagues here have and thank you guys on behalf of the students of Wellington Landings Middle School as well as the staff and the parents for continuing this wonderful grant that does so much for our community. I am very excited that we not only maintained our A rating, but we went up eight points this year, but 45 points over the past two years. So we're continuing in that level up motion, and that is our theme for this year. We are leveling up with our one team, six houses, and infinite possibilities. We're also extremely proud of our science scores. We increased five points in science from 70 to 75, and our acceleration is also at 90%. One of our amazing eighth grade students from last year, Alisa Straup, was named the 2026 Carson Scholar for Wellington Landing, so we're also very proud of her. Last week, on Wednesday, we had our sixth grade orientation and we had our sixth graders and our new students over at the school to learn all about the Wellington Landings Way and what our expectations are, as well as this is the first year that we were able to sort them into houses before school started. So they're very excited. They all know which house they're going to be in. And we also sorted our staff yesterday. So we've got a lot of excitement around the culture that surrounds Wellington Landings with our sense of belonging and with our CA house system. Our parent open house is going to be on September 17th. And our first SAC meeting is next Thursday, August 13th at 6 p.m. And as always, you guys are welcome as well. Okay, and as far as the Keeley Spinelli grant, we're mirroring pretty much what we did last year. It seemed to work very well for us, so we are gonna continue with purchasing IXL Study Island for ELA, math, science, and civics. also for purchasing high-interest reading materials in order to support our reading and language arts department, and student incentives to promote usage of these programs as well as growth on testing throughout the school year. Thank you again very much, and it's a pleasure being here this evening.

All right, and now off to high school. Mr. Reggie Myers from Palm Beach Central.

Good evening and greetings to you all. On behalf of the students, our staff, my amazing leadership team that's with me tonight, we say thank you for your continued support of Palm Beach Central as well as all the other schools that are located here in the village of Wellington. We do realize the impact and the impact of the grant funds make especially in supporting our ELA programs and our math programs at our schools. So I'll start by talking about some of the highlights. Palm Beach Central was able to maintain its A rating. We're very proud of that. We also was able to raise our overall points from 638 to 683, which is pretty significant. A lot of hard work that goes into making that happen. And again, the funds that we received from the village helps us in making that a reality. You can see that we had a couple of our students, Livia, Fawn, and Elise Mendoza attend the Florida Youth Institute at the University of Florida for a project that they designed to improve food security in a developing country. Again, so we have students doing great things. Again, we see Elise Mendoza received an award that represents Florida at the Global Food Prize Awards that was held in Iowa. So this young lady is doing great things. We had 16 of our SGA members attend a week-long camp in South Florida, which was a leadership training at Nova Southeastern University. Our SAC meeting dates are listed there with the first one being on August 18th. Some other highlights, actually today we held our check-ins for our seniors, and we did have some juniors show up today as well. Again, we had representatives from Herff Jones and Jostens working with our students with class rings, caps and gowns. um parking you know decals they want to drive you know they want to get parking passes uh and a number of other things that were going on a project graduation we were trying to recruit you know students and parents at that time to support our project uh graduation uh right now um palm beach central is undergoing uh several uh we call them enhancements but there are construction projects you can't see many of them from Forest Hill Boulevard, but you're welcome to visit the campus at any time. Our gymnasium floor will probably go, I know I have my colleague Ms. Gorham back here, but we're probably going to have one of the best looking gym floors in Palm Beach County. So that project should be pretty much complete. Right now we just want the floors to, you know, the waxing and stuff on there to really cure and stuff like that before we even walk on it. So we also have our VCT flooring. That's been taking place in the main building of Palm Beach Central, from the main office to our student services building to our auditorium, the cafeteria, and all of the first floor classroom hallways. We've been trying to do a lot of branding. at Palm Beach Central because we're competing for students, and so we're working very, very hard at that. One of the biggest construction projects underway at Palm Beach Central right now is the demolishing of the four stairways that lead to the second floor so in June the second week of June we had two of those stairways that were demolished completely taken down and rebuilt so stairway four and six should be operational by actually by Thursday and then in about three weeks they will begin to demolish five, and seven. So we're gonna have some construction work going on. That work will commence after school, at night, and on the weekends. Also, I'm just trying to give you a little insight on some of the things that's happening there with construction. We also are Fingers crossed that the lighting project for the stadium. We have our first football game, I think, is Thursday, August 13th. But we have a massive LED lighting project that once it gets started, was supposed to start today, but when it rains, the project shut down. But we have to have it done, or they have to have it done by August the 10th or the 11th, but if there's any delay because of the weather, I don't know what plan B is, but we'll have to try to figure it out. So those are just some of the things that enhancements that are going on at Palm Beach Central. Our parent open house is September 15th. Our freshman orientation and new student orientation is this Thursday August 6th and then again you can see on the screen there we'll be hosting the football kickoff classic with five other teams coming to Palm Beach Central we will I think host Miami Northwestern on Thursday the 13th and then Friday we're gonna go Friday okay but there's a game on Thursday Okay, so there's a game on Thursday, there's a game on Friday, and then there is a game on Saturday. And then to talk about Keeley Spinelli Grant and how we use those funds, last year we funded 50 hours of ELA tutoring and 190 hours of math tutoring. We had a math lab, we had after-school program. We purchased some supplemental materials for ELA and math. You see it there, DeltaMath, Vocabulary.com, Upfront Magazine, and a library refresh. And oh, by the way, let me just back up to construction. Our entire media center right now is being remodeled. So we're getting one of those nice ones like they have over at Wellington. So that's also undergoing. Right now, I didn't want to just remember that that was happening. So I apologize for not mentioning that earlier, but we won't have use of that media center for about the full first semester. And then we purchased some incentives for our students who scored a three or higher on their state assessments, gift cards, pizza parties, and snacks. This year, we are requesting the funds to continue to provide additional assistance for our ELA and math program. We will fund 98 hours of ELA tutoring, 282 hours of math tutoring. Again, it will be our math lab and after school assisting students in reading and algebra and geometry. And this money will allow for the school to continue to utilize some other online supplemental resources that the grant has provided over previous years. We do have some overage monies left over. We plan for that because we start our tutoring. We do some in the summer and we also do some at the beginning of the year until that new check comes in. So we try to plan forward. But again, on behalf of Bronco Nation, I say thank you for your continued support of Palm Beach Central and the schools in Wellington. Thank you.

And last but certainly not least, Ms. Kara Gorham from Wellington High School.

Hey, everybody. So the exciting piece is he's getting a floor. It's amazing what a paint job. Will do. This school looks brand new. Who knew? Yes. Right? That a paint job was going to change the world. Right? So we finally got a paint job on the outside of the building. We're very excited. The inside was painted towards the end of last year. So that's exciting. But coming up, we maintained our A rating. We are very proud of our teachers. Our ELA teachers killed it. We used... Keeley Spinelli money for tutorials. Our proficiency scores were higher than they've ever been. Our learning gain scores were higher than they've ever been. So we're really proud of our ELA team. Our social studies team killed it as well with US history. So we're very, very proud of them. New student orientation is coming up August 5. And our freshman invasion is coming up on Thursday. We've been open for the last two weeks trying to catch the wave. You know, my counselors have been there every single day from 8 to 11.30, opening up to parents and students so that they could get their schedules just right, so that they could get their parking passes and their computers and their IDs so that on day one, we can begin instruction. So we're excited about that. I think we've given out so far, it looks like 2,200 students. laptops already so I'm only looking for about three hundred more kids so We're good. Moving in the right direction. So we did serve as a summer school site this year, so that was exciting. Ms. Magda Dominique, my assistant principal, acted as the principal for the summer. She did a fabulous job. We also hosted the superintendent summit this summer where every principal and assistant principal from Palm Beach County came over to Wellington. That might be why we got the paint job. And... It was okay with it. And it is. It's why. Okay. But it worked. Right? And then our open house is coming up September 15th at 6 p.m. But our first SAC meeting, which isn't on here, is August 26th at 6 p.m. Once again, we appreciate everything you guys do for Kili Spinelli and offering us the funds. We definitely used it for IXL and EDIA licenses for geometry and algebra. We also, Mr. Rakes left it out on this slide, we used it for tutorials for ELA, which definitely paid off. We put in probably about 300 extra hours of tutorials in ELA, and the kids did amazing. And remaining funds were used to pay for Math Lab. Oh, it's there. Tutorials and biology after-school tutoring as well. This upcoming year, we're just going to mirror that and just continue to reflect and do better. Thank you.

So that concludes the 11 schools' plans and highlights for the Keeley-Spinelli grant. Before I open it up to questions, one of the things that I wanted to notice is all of those different projects that are happening during the summer from the school district, and that is all because of the referendum. All of those monies are being spent into and improving our schools. And you've heard so much work that's being done. Again, so it is thanks to our taxpayers for allowing the referendum to continue. So I just wanted to, you know, share that as well. So I'm going to open up to questions.

Does anyone have any questions? I have a few I wanted to follow up with. I'm new to this committee, so I'm hearing you guys present the Spinelli presentations. We weren't given this data beforehand, but one thing that really pointed out to me, Ms. Suarez, the Panther Run data was phenomenal. I think that type of data gives us a better perspective when you tell us exactly, she hired two or three teachers, and this is the students that she moved. Because when the other elementary schools are talking about we're using it for ELA and math, but without a regard to specific numbers, we don't see that growth. And I think that's something to really celebrate at Panther Run. Here's who we identified. what we did with it I don't know if moving forward we can request that type of data to come back so that we can reflect better on exactly how funds are being spent because that pointed out to me and then also like Palm Beach Central with mr. Myers really targeting the exact hours I don't know how he came up with 298 math hours but you know that I think that's important because either you guys are funding like you said, retired teachers, or are you guys using teachers and letting them teach after school with those funds of how we're kind of targeting those kids? And then how do you target those kids? Besides low 25%, are you letting those parents know okay, we're pulling these kids out during this period, or we're asking them to stay after school to provide whatever. Obviously high school, they mentioned it was after school, but I wasn't sure like elementary specifically, like how that ELA portion, I guess that's where my heart is, is that reading portion. And we all know next year, the goalpost is moving with school grades. So how are we really going to target those kids? So that's kind of my feedback. coming in for next year, if we could get a little bit more specific data about how it's going to be used.

Okay, so that was a loaded question. So I'm going to try and hit as many that I remember. And if not, just ask again the pieces that I'm missing. But what I heard you first ask was around specifics with the data. So it depends. So the... if you're targeting low 25% students, not all of the students actually stay after school or willing to, it depends, right? But we would know the specific students, but With the specific students, we would have to ask for their specific data to be pulled. So it's a whole different data file that would have to be triggered by a specific list and we would have to request. We have departments that can do that for us should we ask for that. As far as Other students that are being asked is, it depends. It depends, again, if the grant that they specifically feel that made the biggest difference in that particular school are, you know, for a specific subgroup. You know, English language learners or students with disabilities. So it may not be just low 25%. It may be others. Maybe students that are on the bubble, like another school had mentioned, that we want to be able to use those funds that are just right there to be able to get to proficiency. It depends. So... Each school will target the students that they are trying to be strategic about, that need the most help. And it also would require the partnership from the parent. If it's before school or after school at the elementary level, they need transportation or to stay after school. During the school day, it typically happens during a push-in approach that... I'm going to give an example of ELA, right? While the reading block is in session, an academic tutor, second teacher, will go into the classroom and as the teacher's working with small group, a second teacher is in there, academic tutor, working with the targeted students. So it could be happening during, again, the school day that way. Some schools may select to, you know, you can do a... where you do an exemption that you can be exempted from one of the PEs or one of those times to be able to pull during fine arts because of a deficiency. And so they would require parent permission for that. So again, it depends on how the grant is written. As far as the number of hours, how you calculate that is we know how much each academic tutor gets paid. So if you give a target amount of $10,000 divided by an X amount, you get these many hours. So that is how that is typically calculated. What we can do for next year as part of the grant request, because I know the grant is specific, if you want to answer that part of it, Ann, maybe you should.

Yes, and you're asking what the grant can go towards, correct? So it used to be the stipulations was the lower 25%. Since then, we have opened it up. to a however these principals best feel they can use those funds to make the biggest impact at their schools so our principals have been doing a great job and that's you know uh evidenced by the the grades as well as the statistics that they showed this evening so we just trust our principals to make the best decision in relation to each of their students at their individual schools

Thank you.

Just as a follow-up to that, because we're always trying to figure out ways that we can better support principals and support the communications, and I think if I'm interpreting your question correctly, the focus is on how do we share best practices more effectively, right?

I looked at Panther Run's data. To be able to share that and be like, we moved these 79 kids from a two to a three, that's a great picture, and I think it's also a great recruiting method when we know our numbers are already coming down. That type of... data paints a great picture of, like, this is what we're able to do because we get these funds.

Sure.

Perfect. So we can start collecting that information. I know Ms. Haynes does an amazing job. She comes each quarter when we hold a meeting, and she shares the most up-to-date data with us. So we will see that each meeting. Ms. Haynes does an amazing job, and she has a presentation such as she showed today for each meeting that we do hold.

Thank you. And I just had one question. How many schools are holding before and after school tutoring sessions? I understand we've got, yeah, right, exactly. So I know, I hear you when you're saying it's challenging for a lot of schools because you have to get the parent permission and everything else like this. But is that everybody is holding before and after school? And after, mostly after school. Before or after, okay. And... And then how many are holding before or after school sessions for that top 15% to 20% where you're trying to lift them above and beyond? So they're hitting the academic goals, but it's like that gifted cohort or the ones who could be pushed farther. Are we doing anything? SOT tutorials.

SOT.

For high schools, for high school and middle, are we doing anything at the elementary school? I know that Principal Salazar, we're always talking about that. I know we're putting the Spanish language stuff in. So I was just curious about that. That's always a selling point because, to your point, when we're out there in the community and talking about why Wellington Public Schools. There are so many great things that are going on within our schools, but the private schools are always talking about, oh, your gifted kids are going to be that much better. And I think that we've got this message that we can put out there about what we are doing. And so I just love... Any more information you all can provide for me, because I know you're doing it, any more information you can provide to all of us as a committee for what you're doing to lift up that top 20% of performers so that we can continue to maintain those kids in our schools.

Yes, and just to share, at all levels, elementary, middle, and high school, we do offer several clubs and enrichment opportunities to not only during... you know, the school day during the fine arts period in which, you know, with math clubs and science labs and whatnot, but also after school. There are a lot of opportunities for students. Not only do they also offer aftercare programs that, yes, granted, they are parent-paid, but also students that are there after school through tutorial being funded by Kelly Spinelli to be able to do some of this work. Again, it goes back to saying it depends on what group that we're focused on.

Correct. Whatever more information you guys can continue to provide us on that just to help us learn and be better at articulating.

Sure. Sounds good.

Any other questions? No. No? Any comments besides questions?

Just thank you all for all that you do for our students.

Thank you. Well, thank you for your support. And I want to thank our principals. This is a really challenging week in that we're getting the buildings ready to go and teachers trained and getting ready to open our doors on Monday for our students. But we look forward to it. We can't wait to see our kids back. And anyway, we look forward to a great school year. And thank you for your input.

Thank you. And I, I speak, I'm sure for everyone, you, everyone keeps saying thank you to us, but it's not us. It's you and your staff and your parents and everyone who surrounds you. I hope you have an amazing year this year and have the best time. And I'll be watching on Facebook. I love your reels. I'm always looking up so much fun. So I thank you all for every dedication, every day, every seven 30, wake up or five. I'm sure you guys wake up at crazy hours. Thank you so much.

And that royal blue really, really is an eye catcher. I couldn't believe it when I was driving by in Wellington High School. I was like, this is not the Wellington High School I went to. It's beautiful. It really is. All right.

And I'm going to go to a football game. That's for sure. I got to make it to this rival Wellington High School Broncos game that everyone talks about.

Oh.

I got to make it to that. So, Ian, is there something I have to do? Yes.

So now you can just make a motion to go ahead and approve the Keeley Spinelli grant. So we can go ahead and at our next council meeting in the new fiscal year, we can go ahead and give our principals those checks. Okay. So you can just ask for a motion.

May I have a motion to approve the 2026-2027 Keeley Spinelli grant? Yeah. Motion to approve. Second. All in favor? Aye. No opposed. Thank you. It has passed. Congratulations.

Can't wait for this year.

I know normally the ladies and gentlemen do get up. We do have other business. So if you want, we can take a short little break for a second. Most of you have to wake up early tomorrow, I'm sure. Good luck, guys. Thank you so much. Thank you.

We are going to move forward for us just to keep going. I promise this is the longest one we have.

All right, so our next order of business is the selection of chair and vice chair. This is for the year, is that correct? That is correct.

And then I would like to say that if you would like to continue to have the same chair, which is Shelly Albright, she would be more than open to it if you'd like to make a motion for that. Otherwise, we can make a motion for a new chair and vice chair as well. So that would be up to the committee, though.

I'd like to make a motion for a new chair and nominate Marcella as chair.

OK. And then at that point, you would have a second?

I should second? Yes. Any opposed? All in favor? Aye.

Yep.

Aye. Great. Well, thank you very much. And we will move forward with vice chair. I'd like to make a motion for Marcia Hayden for vice chair. Oh, OK. Can I get a second?

Second.

All in favor? Aye. Any opposed? No. Okay, we shall move forward. All right. So, thank you. We're going to have the assignment of school SAC liaisons. For those of you who are new, we choose two schools that we will try to attend and go to their meetings. They can be schools at however you choose. And...

Yes, and I'd just like to add, so I do know we have two new members. However, we do have some long-standing members as well that have had their schools. So I'd like to just go ahead and state what staff recommends based off of who's had what schools already and what schools are open. And if we should wish to change that around, then we can go ahead and do so, okay? But I'll just go ahead and just read what. was and what's already in place as far as it relates to our current members and then we can see if the new members want any of those older schools or they'll just take the schools that are already open okay so have you heard from Stephanie or Shelly as to their preferences So Shelly, she was at Equestrian Emerald Cove, and she's been there for some time now. Yes. Ms. Hayden, you've been at Panther Run. I don't know if you wish to stay the same. Mr. Weber was at... Palm Beach Central, but that is open. Miss Besor, New Horizons, and Polo Park. Miss Montesinos, Elbridge-Gale, as well as Wellington High School. And then our other schools, Wellington Elementary, Wellington Landings, as well as Binks Forest, are all currently open. However, we can just go ahead and reshuffle if we wish as well.

Well, I was actually, go ahead.

Oh, I was just going to ask, if you're an employee of the district, can you be an advisory?

As a SAC liaison, you don't have any voting rights or anything. You just sit and attend.

Of course not. No, I wouldn't vote or anything like that. But you can. It's an open meeting.

There's no. And they actually serve on.

Preferably not where you're working.

I was kind of where I was leading. Okay.

I would like to request Wellington Elementary just because my own kids go there. Perfect.

That's perfect.

And I wanted to ask, could I do Wellington High this year?

Yes.

And then I'd love to see you or somebody else take on the Palm Beach Central.

I'll do Palm Beach Central.

That would be awesome. Your perspective on that would be great.

I live right across the street from Village Walk. Oh, even better.

Perfect. Does anybody have Wellington Landings?

Wellington Landings is currently open.

Yeah.

But I'll take Wellington Elementary and Wellington Landings.

Perfect.

And then we have to keep something for Stephanie.

Correct. And currently Binks Forest is open and then Ms. Preston, you did say you were taking Palm Beach Central, correct? Yes, sir. Okay, perfect.

And if you want to keep Wellington High, how many do you... No, I'm going to take whatever is left.

So which school, start with whatever your preference is, and then I'll do... Because I have two.

I can just attend Wellington as an interested party.

Yeah, and my child goes, my two girls go to Wellington Landings, and I'm very active, so no, I'll be there still.

Oh, do you want it?

No. No, no, no. You'll see me. Okay. But I'd like to still be part of the PTO and stuff, so no worries.

So now, Ms. Basor, if I can just ask quickly, it will be New Horizons Polo as well as Wellington High School. Is that correct? Do you want me to take one from you?

I was going to say it occurred to me that I don't need three if some other people only have one. Okay, and which one would you like to? I'll stick with the two that I have, the Wellington, or sorry, Polo and New Horizons. And then we're going to scratch Wellington High School at this time. Well, I'll still attend when I can.

You don't want Wellington?

You want to give me the, okay. I'll do whatever you. I could take Polo if you want to do Wellington High.

Well, I have a vested interest. My son is looking at Polo, so I definitely want to say it.

Got to keep an eye on it.

I just love it. I've really developed a rapport with the folks over there, and I'm excited to have it be my third year attending there. And I'll just start attending Wellington High with you when I can.

Do you want the Wellington? No.

Not formally.

Okay. Yes. Okay. Well, then I'll continue with Wellington High School. It's fine with me.

Okay. Perfect.

Somebody needs Binks, though, right? I'm sorry.

And Shelly. So Shelly is Equestrian and Trails as well as Emerald Cove Middle School.

And then? Stephanie. Stephanie.

And then so Ms. Stephanie currently at this time, Binks Elementary would be. Okay. Perfect. Perfect.

That was easy. Yeah. And Ian, I also want to just be just for. Some of us who are new, but some of us who have been here a little bit. What our role really is, I mean, we like to attend, but as every meeting, they're making the presentation of what is up. I'm talking like my middle schoolers now. Is there some directive that the council would like us to do besides attend the meeting? Because we get the presentation from them of what they're doing.

I will say that the Palm Beach County School District has been doing an amazing job coming to our meetings each and every time that we hold a meeting. And so technically what we in our part or our responsibility would be when we go to the SAC meetings is essentially what they are doing. because they didn't come to every meeting that we held, but as of late, as of the last three to four years, I would say, they've been very responsive and they've been very, you know, making it very being very decisive in coming to our meetings and I appreciate that and I think we all appreciate their attendance so besides that if you did catch something or you heard something at the meetings that maybe they missed in their presentations then we can go ahead and say oh by the way at our SAC meeting on X Y & Z date this is also what I heard our schools are doing and then we can add to their presentations so it's just a redundancy if you will But I think it's just more powerful that we are in the know as well.

And one more thing to add. They've done a great job. And you've done such an amazing job of building the relationships with the schools. The one place where in the past couple of years on both New Horizons and then over at Polo where the folks have said it's been really helpful for them is that the schools and the administrators and sort of the official people are definitely in the know. But the parents sometimes are like, wait, what? What's going on? When is that? Can I go or anything else like this? And I've been invited to share information about what's going on at our education committee at Polo with some of the parents and then sort of answer some of their questions about what we're doing, what our utility is. And then for New Horizons, what's been amazing is every now and again I'll hear Principal Salazar mention something, and I'll say, oh, well, we were just talking about this. I heard this come down the pike through the education committee. And then I serve as a liaison and an advocate for the school that's sort of something where it's that redundancy purpose, right? I see that there's something that's missed, and I know that Ian can help. And so then we put the two of them in touch, or I reach out to them. But then the parents are also very grateful to know. this committee exists. These are the resources that you have available. And maybe just doing a more intentional job of communicating with the people who aren't necessarily in this room. And that's the parents for me.

That's very And I'd also like to add that Ms. Besor did, you know, come up with the idea that the Education Committee did approve last year that, hey, let's try to get our sacks all in the same room. And that wouldn't have been possible if we didn't have a relationship with each of those schools. The reason why she came up with that idea is because, hey, we want to see, hey, not only is Binks coming up with great fundraisers, right? We want to get those great fundraisers at New Horizons as well. And so did we have the turnout that we would have liked? Probably not, right? But I will say it's a start, and I hope that we can build on that this year as well.

That would be great if we can add that to a future agenda item on how we can engage the parents more intentionally around talking about how we can be a resource or make everybody aware of the resources that exist, for sure. Thank you.

Also, I think to kind of piggyback on the parent part of it, especially when you have your own child going through it, I would not have known how this Spinelli grant is being spent at all without this kind of insight. does the Village of Wellington put out any type of highlight reel, if you want to call it, to let their community know what that money is going towards? Because I told them, being able to see those numbers and seeing we could move these kids like this because of this money, I don't see how anybody would like, especially when we're going to come up to a funding crisis, right? We're already kind of looking at that cliff, why this wouldn't be something we want to advocate more for.

That's very true and that's a great point. So I do know in years past we have done videos where we maybe highlight two or three of the schools and what they're doing with their Keeley Spinelli as we explain what the Keeley Spinelli grant presentation is all about. We did not do that last year, but I do believe that would be a great opportunity and something great that we can do this year, especially as we recognize those schools At the beginning of the fiscal year, and then we can drop the video to let the community know on our social media platforms that, hey, this is what the Keeley Spinelli is all about. This is what Palm Beach Central, Polo Park, as well as Wellington Elementary are doing with the funds that we're providing them. And then maybe each year, like we were doing, right, we can highlight a different school and what they're doing with those funds that particular year. How does that sound? Yeah.

I like that. I just think the more that people know and the transparency there, it's going to help the community want to continue the work.

And I know I'm not the only one that reads Jim Barnes' weekly reports, but those can be very, very informative. Yeah, they are. And I think some of this information can be put Are we still keeping to the three or four meetings a year? Because I know last time we met, there was some discussion about maybe every other month now or something to that effect. Is that still on the table?

That is something. So as it stands now, it is the four. However, if there is any ad hoc items that need to be addressed rather quickly, then we can go ahead, based off of the recommendation of the new chair, Ms. Montesinos, go ahead and hold an ad hoc meeting. Does that make sense?

Yeah, Mike, do you think that maybe based on the fact that there might be that voting referendum and might be cutbacks that if we let the community know how important it is that we do have the funding for the schools and for the community that we can continue? fund this grant, do you think?

I think that's an important meeting to have. I wanted to say that. To have that discussion. I'm echoing with everyone. I think everyone's agreeing. Things like curriculum night that they mentioned, that's a great opportunity to have the village have information about what what we're what the kelly spinelli grant is about during i know that when i've gone to curriculum night i've watched a video and those are things that could be embedded into a future video of you know you know if your child is having struggling or this is this grant will be helping and support it's only here at the village of wellington i think that's very important to highlight so what we're doing go ahead

I was going to say, maybe one of the things that we could do is if you all could come up with some talking points for us to be able to take out when we go to our SAC meetings. But then maybe we have our ad hoc meeting to talk about what some of those key points we'd like to see addressed. And then you help us with the language. And then I love the idea that at every one of our SAC meetings we go to reminding them, Jim Barnes has a report where he shares all the stuff that's gone. on the village of Wellington, and if you need more information on this, and it sort of redirects them back to where they should get the information.

Now, is everyone aware where to find those Jim Barham reports, those weekly to monthly reports? Are we familiar where to find them? Because I can go ahead and send them.

I get an email every week. We just subscribe, because I only get the Parks and Rec one.

That's a good one. That's the important one.

Perfect.

I was just going to add, as a teacher in the school district, I had no idea about this grant, what the funds at the school were being used for. And as an ELA teacher, who I had some of my kids participating in the tutoring, because they were the lower 25%, and I'm going to have a lot of them this year because I have inclusion class, but I didn't know where the funds were coming from. So I know what happens is, you know, to have these after-school tutor sessions, we need to have parent buy-in, obviously, because the parent has to come. Well, the parent, number one, needs to tell their kid, you're going. I don't care what you tell me. You are going. And then, of course, the parent, you know, there's transportation. So anyway, so a letter is sent out to the parents, of course, trying to get their buy-in. So it would be nice to say, listen, we've got a grant These funds are being taken from a, community grant, however we want to word it, but kind of let the parents know, too. This is a real special thing that we're able to offer.

And it's only done in Wellington. We are the only village, community city in Palm Beach County, or even I think in Florida, that has this grant. The things that a lot of people don't realize is that our schools are not Title I schools. And so we're not getting extra funds whatsoever. I think we have one school now that's a Title I school. And one out of 11, I mean, that's not a lot. And so they do need this extra money. Because there's no extra money coming for the lower 25% of the kids. And that's where, when we saw that, and that's how this Keeley Spinelli came about, because we were not getting any extra funds whatsoever. So it's very important that, you know, the village keeps that pot of money. Well, it's also important for...

What I'm hearing is we want this to stay. It's important for parents to know how much we love our village, how much the council is supportive of this village. We want every parent to know of this. Ian, I don't know if it's possible to find out. Maybe it's being done, you know, where the parents, when their parents do sign off on this. Does it say that this is through the Keeley Spinelli grant so parents do know about this grant, that it's being covered by?

Yeah, I do not believe that is the case. Is it? And I do apologize. I can't speak on exactly how the principals go about stating how these funds are being utilized in the school as it relates to each program or supplemental resource that they bring in. I don't believe they do that.

As I'm thinking of parents receiving a letter saying your child would benefit from this tutoring session after school, et cetera, et cetera, what does it say? I'd like to know if it says if it's So they know it's from the Keeley Spinelli grant.

It probably, like at New Horizons, it doesn't say that. But our principal speaks to the Keeley Spinelli grant in our SAC meeting and the PTA. I mean, she says her name about 20 times at the beginning of the year, right? And talks about where the money comes from, where it goes, what we're using it for, all this other stuff. So it's not tied, like when we have the message that goes out about, hey, your kid's coming for tutoring. But at the beginning of the year when they're talking about this money that's coming in and what we're using it for. She is speaking to that specifically. And I would imagine that...

I think all the schools, the principals do that at their PTA and at the SAC meetings and whatever other meetings they might have.

They do mention that.

I mean, at least at Wellington Landings. The things for us that I've attended in the past in Elbridge-Gill, I've heard them, but... I mean, it's something that we want to definitely, like, you know, congratulate and keep talking about and stop.

And we want council members to know just how important this is and how important it is to keep into the budget. You know, as they're looking to make cuts that this is not one of the things we want. Yeah, we would not.

That's why I think the data is important. Because if you just say resources and you don't have numbers to back it up.

We used to have, I mean, we do have numbers from previous years as to the percentage, the increase in each area. We do have those numbers.

Yes, and so what I provide you as far as... The document that you have within your packet is just to show you exactly how much each school has spent of the funds that we've provided. It's just a way of showing, hey, that these schools actually need these funds, and they're utilizing them, right? However, I can go ahead and get you the backup or the data sheet that they've provided as well to support these funds as well. So that's no problem. I can go ahead and forward that in an email, okay?

Yes. Because when they do apply for the grants, they do have to give all that backup information. Every year. Every year. At one point, we used to get a huge packet.

With the invoices and everything. And so we kind of just like summarize it to this one document just to show you that the funds are being utilized.

But the data is there.

Well, I definitely know a meeting, an additional meeting will be important to discuss, you know, these types of things. So when is a presentation scheduled for?

So that's one thing that I did say. This will be at our first meeting in October, our first council meeting. So I will go ahead and provide that date to you all so you all can be in attendance with our principals receiving their Achilles Spinelli checks.

Okay. So the question is, are we looking to have a meeting before that? Because a lot of things...

I'm actually going to go back a little bit, because I know we talked about assignments, but do we have any public comments? I just want to make sure that we have any public... I know there's no one here, but I want to go by the agenda. Sorry. No worries. All right. We're going to do a staff report, and then we're going to add some of our closing comments. Okay.

No problem. So I know the last time we met was in February. So there's a lot of things that the community services department has done and mostly with events as well as programs within our schools as well. So the first thing is our swag program, which I don't know if did anybody attend the swag graduation today? Okay, wonderful. So you got to see how amazing that program is and the impact that it has on our high school students. And so that's a program that our Crown Pros of Wellington, in conjunction with Ms. Hayden, oversee within our high schools. And it makes a huge impact in the confidence of our students and the actual exposure that they have with the different careers or job paths that they wish to go down. So it's absolutely amazing the light that you see in these students from the beginning of the year to the end of the year when they're speaking at the graduation. It's an amazing transformation. And Gus Ponce, he does an amazing job partnering with the Crown Pearls of Wellington year after year and the relationship that he builds with the students is absolutely amazing. These students

You can say it.

They don't beg, or they don't have to be, you know, chase after to get an update. They're like, hey, Mr. Gus, guess what? I just got an awesome internship thanks to you and the Crown Pearls and the SWAG program. This wouldn't have been possible without it. And so year after year, he has those amazing stories and testimonials from his students. So we're appreciative of Gus and all that he does. We did have our Day of the Youth with our Youth Council. That went amazing. Our Youth Council is just a program in which we give our youth a voice in the community. The Day of the Youth is a opportunity for all youth within the community to come out and participate in the talent show so we had some awesome acts and we give an award for each grade level whether it be whether it be elementary middle or high school and so I invite you all to that this upcoming year and then additionally what I wish to do is actually get my youth council to come in and just tell you what they're going to be doing in the upcoming year as well and so my youth council will The applications are going to start coming in now, and then we'll go ahead and solidify those students on the Youth Council at the end of the month.

...to now be charging for lunch. So we will be able to request that data from the letter who need...

ask or receive that information, but we can say, hey, to the principals, and so forth and so on.

New Horizons is on YouTube. They're very, very active.

Right.

It's an event where we, it's a pay, it's how awesome that event, and it's an awesome. Such a great job. Harris office. Um, and he was a coach for a new basketball power program that we just started here in the village of Wellington. Um, so it's just another opportunity where he's making the impact in the lives of our youth within our community. Um, there were stories where, you know what, a kid couldn't even really dribble a ball at the beginning and he didn't have, he couldn't shoot the ball. And if he caught the ball, he didn't know what to do with the ball. Right. But Gus showed me and just spoke to me throughout the season, the progression of this kid and his confidence grew and how he was able to make a shot, right? And even Gus may have been surprised that he made the shot, but nonetheless, though, it just shows that, hey, he's having an impact in this child's life. So that's awesome. And then additionally, Just once again to piggyback off of the impact that Gus has, there was a kid that he used to coach and try to mentor when he was a student here at Wellington High School. His name's Trent Frazier. And if you know that name, you know how great that kid is. And you know the success he's had in his life thus far. Trent Frazier was a basketball player and a student at Wellington High School. He played very well. He's very talented. He went off to Illinois and had a great career, and now he's playing overseas. And because of the mentorship and the relationship that Gus has with him, he comes back every summer and he holds a basketball camp for the youth within our community. Really? That just speaks about how much of an impact that Gus had in his life that he's willing to do such a thing. So we appreciate Gus and all that he does for our community.

How is that PAL program getting the word out, the communication, or how are the kids joining it?

So based off of our Palm Beach Sheriff's Office making relationships with our students, I believe we shared it on social media as well. And so we did get some buy-in that way. But that's just how we're getting our word out, social media as well as the relationships that our Palm Beach Sheriff's Office has with students within the community.

Sure. Thank you, Gus. Thank you, Gus. Thank you, Jen. Thank you.

I don't know where you all find the time of the day to do all of that. But you have an amazing staff, Jennifer. They are so committed. And they do so much, just so much. They go above and beyond.

Yeah. Thank you, Jennifer. Like, I see you everywhere. I am so grateful you're here tonight, so thank you for being here tonight. You have an amazing staff, and your leadership shows. It shines in everything you do, so thank you so much. Are we done with staff? We're done. Okay. All right. Well, we're heading towards closing comments. I know, Krista, you had a comment here or there.

I was just going to ask, you know, it seems like particularly we've got a couple, three new members on the committee, right? That's correct. So I'm wondering whether we might not want to take an opportunity for us, because in speaking with some of our new members about their thoughts on the committee and hearing a lot of the comments that we've been bouncing off of each other tonight, it seems like it might be time for us to reassess what we want to be and what we want to do versus what our mission, our stated mission is. I know that some education committees are simply to sit on the dais and hear reports and then provide public comment, but it seems like we want to be a bit more active. be a bit more engaged in communicating with the community. I want to make sure if we are thinking about that, that that's something that's in line with our stated mission and what we were appointed to do, but also talk about if it is in line with what we were appointed to do, what we want to do as a group. So that was my request, that maybe we have a meeting before our October meeting that's just a working session or something like that, if we're allowed to, to be able to do something like that.

And the only thing is, as it relates to that, is whenever there is two or more, we do have to have a formal meeting for the public. So the working meetings I don't think is feasible based off of our conversation with the clerk's office because that's kind of what the angle that we were trying to take for the SAC meeting, remember? So I do believe that it would have to be a public formal meeting However, I'm not opposed to having a meeting if need be.

If you guys are okay with dedicating the time to it. Yes, of course.

That's my suggestion. Any comments on that?

No, I'm good. I agree to have a better framework of what our mission for the school year could be, and then either there's a five-year plan with it.

I think it's a good idea, especially as we're seeing enrollment decline throughout our schools. And of course, we always want people to come into Wellington community. And if they're not sure of our offerings, they're not sure of our scores have dramatically increased, then if we can be the liaison to the community, it might help. If parents are thinking private school or Wellington public school, then maybe that would kind of cement their decision.

Mm-hmm. And there are more private schools coming to Wellington. Yes. So it's going to be competition. It's going to be competition. So we really need to make sure that our schools are on the same level.

For sure.

So let's see if we can plan a meeting before October. It will be an open meeting, as we discussed. And if we can get on the agenda, I know something that we had talked about is asking if it's possible a PTO president or PTO president to come and present on what they're doing and how we can help them in spreading the word. I think that's through the principle that we'd have to reach out to the PTA and PTO and see if they're interested in making a presentation to us so we can help assist in spreading the word. I know that was on the agenda back in February. Is that correct, from my recollection?

My question is, if it's a public meeting, do we have to be sitting up here as long as it's a public meeting?

That's something that I would have to ask the clerk's office. I don't want to give an answer that I don't know, so I would go ahead and get clarification, and then I'll be able to advise you accordingly.

find out, because if it's possible, if it's a stated public meeting and it's a public gathering, but we're just not sitting up here, where it could be almost, if we had, say, we had a dozen parents show up, but instead of it from us being on high, it's almost a roundtable discussion. I don't know if that's something that we could do, just as a, you know, here's who we are, here's what we do. We'd love to hear what you guys would like to see from us kind of a thing. So I don't know if that's what the focus of the meeting of or if the focus of the meeting of is more just a networking, interacting, because, I mean, at the end of the day, we want to try to, whether we talk with them or not, We want to give an opportunity for the people who show up to talk with each other. Because it's not so much important that I...

I think that if... It depends, I guess. Ian, why don't you follow up with us about that? Because I was thinking if it has to be a meeting, we should have some things on the agenda. Oh, yeah. But if it's more of a roundtable discussion open to the public, that's a different story. So I guess we've got to find that out.

For sure. And then I do also want to state one item that I know was carrying over that I did not put on this evening's meeting due to the Keely Spinelli grant being on there, and I didn't know how long that would take, is wanting to hear from the Sports Academy and just, like, the academics going on over there. I know that's something that we...

Exciting.

We've been asking about that.

Yeah, so we'll go ahead and have that on the next meeting if they can be present, okay?

And then while we're having the conversations, just at some point in time, one of the future meetings, just find out whether we do have some real numbers about how many students we've lost from last year to this year to private schools and any drop-off between middle and high schools. kind of thing, if we have any real sense.

I know the district tracks it, but you have to have the parent reply. And that is, I think, when they withdraw, if they're putting the honest answer in there. So I know they're tracking, but I'm not sure if it's going to give us what the numbers are, really.

Okay. Any other comments? No. All right. So we are at adjournment. So if we're all good, I'll take a motion to adjourn this meeting, our first meeting. Adjourn. Motion. Second. I don't know who was second there. Ashley did. Oh, Ashley did? Okay. All in favor?

Aye. All right.

Have a good evening. Thank you. Thank you.