Education Committee - Regular Meeting

To call the meeting to order.

Yeah. Awesome.

And if we could all stand for the pledge of allegiance, please. I pledge

allegiance to the flag of The United States Of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Thank you. So Ian, should we just go down the line to do the roll call?

Yes, please.

Okay. So we're going to do a roll call, and we'll start on this side. Oh, Marcy Hayder.

Perfect. John Weber.

Shelley Albright. Christina O'Brien. Melissa Ranieri. Krista Beasor.

And Marcella did reach out, and she told me that she would not be in attendance this evening. Thank you.

So opening comments. We'll start the same way. Would you have any opening comments?

None. Hope everybody had a great summer, and it's good to be back.

I'll pass for now. JESSICA Welcome. You're welcome.

And I'd like to welcome Krista, who's our new member. We're so glad you're with us. And she happens to be a dear friend, so I'm glad she's here.

Likewise. Thank you very much for including me.

Any opening comments? Oh, Just ditto, ditto, ditto.

No comments.

Awesome. Wonderful.

Right. So it's time to approve the agenda. So I need a motion for the approval of the 08/05/2025 meeting agenda.

I'll move to approve the agenda.

Second. I second.

All those in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Okay. And then next order of business is to approve the minutes. So I'd like someone to make a motion, please, to approve the minutes of the March meeting.

A motion to approve the minutes from the 03/04/2025 Education Committee meeting.

I second.

All those in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Okay. Any old business? No. No old business. All right. We're on to new business. And we're up for our presentation from the school. No, All on the, I'm sorry, I didn't put my glasses on.

It's okay.

Okay. For the school zone speed program.

Good evening. I'm Nicole Coats. I'm the Public Safety Director for the Village Of Wellington. And we have Hassan Dabat Jahe here to present on our School Zone Safety program. And with that, I'd like to introduce him up to get us started.

Thanks, Nicole. Good evening, everyone.

Good evening. Before

I start, I'd just like to congratulate and thank Nicole and her team for the outstanding job of collaboration between the two teams in working on this program. This program is very, very crucial and important to be able to have, you know, from the village's side, a staff that's been unbelievably phenomenal, exceptional, committed to making this a success. It makes our job a lot easier and it's a breath of fresh air. So without further ado, let me just talk a little bit about the program. Basically in July 2023, the law was passed allowing municipalities to install speed enforcement in a school zone locations.

And the program has several procedures to follow, and some of them are listed over here, starting with the enforcement. The speed enforcement has to be 11 miles above the speed limit. So for example, here in the village, most of the schools are 20 miles an hour plus 11. So anybody that's going over 31 miles an hour, then they get a violation. It also calls for signage where it lists, the school zone speed hours, so from 07:30 to 03:30 or what have you.

And it requires at least one sign to be posted. Genoptix to definitely ensure that the drivers are fully aware and better visibility, we're going to install two signs. So you'll see in the school zones at the beginning and at the end two speed signs displaying that information. Apologies, I drove two hours, so let me just take a deep breath. It also the program also requires that the municipality does a public awareness campaign. You know, educating the residents about the program. When is it going to start? Is there a warning period? Where do I pay? What's the hearing process?

And so forth. So all that awareness to be deployed at least thirty days before the start of the program. And in terms of enforcement time, it could be thirty minutes, up to thirty minutes before the school starts, during the school hours, and then thirty minutes after the school session ends. And it also requires, you know, for those that want to contest the violation, some sort of a process, a hearing process to be in place so they can follow that and it gives them their own rights. And last but not least, there are no points associated with this violation.

And the insurance companies will not be notified. When it comes to pedestrian fatalities, you know, nationwide unfortunately is definitely a serious issue as most of us know, all of us know actually. And sadly to say, the Florida ranked number two in pedestrian fatalities in 2024. And as part of the village's Vision Zero initiative, definitely take that very seriously. So protecting the students, cross guards, loved ones is definitely very important, and hence the reason why the village made the decision to go on and implement this program in the 11 schools.

Back in May, before the school ended, Genoptix did a speed study in two of the schools. And during those fourteen days, we cited five forty three vehicles going over the 31 miles an hour. And down on the right hand side, if you see that little spreadsheet, it details, it breaks down the speed of those five forty three vehicles. What's really alarming is the number of vehicles going between forty one and sixty miles an hour. 20% of the drivers were going between forty one and sixty.

And then 2%, which is 11 vehicles, were going over 60 miles an hour. I mean, it's one vehicle or it's 100 vehicles really, shouldn't be the case and that's alarming. This is just an example of a vehicle during that speed study that was going 40 miles an hour in a 20 miles an hour zone. And then the next video, just a short video, a ten second video, that will show the speed of that vehicle. So that's during the 20 mile an hour school zone, going 40 miles an hour.

And here's a list of the 11 schools that the program will be implemented in along with the start and ending timeframe for each of those locations. Part of the program requirement is to have a warning period. So on August 11, when the program will launch in the village. And from August 11 to September 15 will be the warning period. During which, if somebody is speeding, going above 31 miles an hour, they will receive a warning notice in the mail.

They don't have to do anything other than pay attention, slow down, and so forth. Then come September 15, then actual violations will be mailed out and sent to those potential drivers that go over the speed limit of 31 miles an hour. At that time, once they receive the notice of violation, it's very well detailed. Apologies, I keep looking at this. I should also steer that way.

They should definitely pay attention to that notice of violation. It definitely has all the details, all the programs, an overview image of the vehicle, of the license plate, of the driver's information, and so forth. Where to pay it, how to pay it, if they want to contest it, and so forth. So all the information is right there at that notice of violation. They can either pay it within thirty days, or they can contest it. Both options are available to them. If they pay it, it's done. If they contest it, there's a process that they can follow. And then they can pay it either online on specific website that's listed here, trafficsafetycitations.com, or by mail or by phone. And also the village will have a kiosk in here.

So they can walk in, they can view the violations and so forth, and then decide what action to take. It's pretty much as we try to make it collectively as simple and as transparent as possible. As mentioned earlier, one of the requirements is to educate the public about the program. That you know, the school zone speed program is coming to the village. So back in on July 11, we collaborated with the village.

And the village did deploy, sorry, did launch the public education awareness program. From having a fully website dedicated to frequently asked questions, what the program is about, when does it start, what school locations are, and then the start and ending time and so forth. So all the information about the program is on the village's website, school. And then there's also a dedicated email addressphone number and so forth if somebody else has if someone has additional questions or further inquiries. And a QR code is made for that particular website as a link for quick access and so forth.

Among other venues as well, too, is reaching out to all the principals and sending them flyers about the program, describing the details and so forth. And other methods of communicating the public awareness program is the monthly e news letter, along with reaching out with the flyers to other venues within the village that are listed here, some of the examples. And social media, definitely the program is being informed throughout the village's social media venues and so forth. And last but not least is many of the past events and the upcoming ones. We're also building the awareness about the program in there.

And the primary goal there is, first is to educate the public about the program coming in. But more importantly, what's really we'll definitely pay attention to and be committed to is fast forward, say, ninety days after you deploy the program. We want to run the same study, a speed study, and say, did it improve? 95% of the time it should. And we want to communicate back to the public, hey, look, we deployed this on September 15.

Fast forward, pick a date, say November 15 or December 15. You know, we went from 100% violations to now we're at 70%, hopefully. That's the good news. Or 60%, whatever that is. So we don't want to just communicate, quote unquote, the bad news that we have an issue here. But we also want to communicate the progress that we've made. And we look forward to the day that, you know, we collectively make the decision that we see improvement and there's no need for those systems to be here. So as a vendor, as a company, as a whatever the case might be, at the end of the day, it's about changing the driver's behavior and protecting the students. So that's what the program is all about. And without further ado, I'll turn it over to Nicole if you have any questions.

Not me, no, just kidding. Feel free, please. I know we've said a lot, but sorry, and this is an example of the notice of violation, what would it look like. I believe that's it. Sorry, a little bit about Genoptix. We're right down the street from you guys. We have 150,000 square facility. It's huge. That's where the Mars Rover lenses were built. We'd love to have you guys come over there.

It's an innovation company. Two twelve employees, so fully dedicated to what you guys need here. So rest assured, look, we will have issues with technologies. Things will go wrong, but we're right down the street from here and we're committed to making this a success. And customer service is there. Notice of violations will be issued from there. There is no third parties. There is no foreign entities that's doing any of that information. Everything is protected. Everything is within the states right here in Jupiter as well, too. Languages as far as customer service, English, Spanish, Creole and a couple of other ones. And Arabic if anybody wants to. I'll manage those calls myself.

Thank you so much.

No, you're welcome. Thank you. Thank you.

So yeah, I just wanted to reemphasize that the cameras will be rolling and enforcing during arrival and dismissal hours and in between. And the arrival and dismissal, those cameras will be enforcing at the 20 mile per hour school zone speed limit. And during the day, while school is in session, that's gonna start enforcing at the normal posted speed. For example, if that roadway is normally 40 miles per hour, at 51 is when somebody will get a citation. And that's the limit of the law that allows us to do that.

So we're enforcing the speed limits that have always been here in the village of Wellington. These cameras will give us a consistent enforcement tool. But that doesn't mean that PBSO will still be out there enforcing beyond, you know, when these cameras stop. So we'll take any questions from anyone.

You have a question?

Well, first I wanted to thank you very much for incorporating some of the suggestions about getting the word out to the PTA, to putting it on the marquees, because I know that was different from the presentation this summer. So thank you for listening to the feedback. The questions that I had is, first, this is going to be enforceable when the lights are flashing or when the school is in session? Because sometimes the lights will flash on days that the school have off, like a Monday or Tuesday randomly. Is this just always and I don't have a problem with it always being enforced, but I'm curious about how that's going to play out. MS.

Right. And that's a good question. We've tried to program those flashers, so they are not doing that. But as an extra assurance, we've provided the school district calendar to our camera vendor, so they will be programmed out. They will not be enforcing on those days. And if somebody mistakenly got that, we would then void that. In addition, emergencies. We're in hurricane season. If schools closed, that's not something they had planned for, we would let them know, and we can void those out as well. Perfect.

And my second question is the consequence for nonpayment of the fines. So if someone doesn't pay the fine, that will eventually turn into a uniform traffic citation. Again, that's per the state law. And a uniform traffic citation so the notice of violation is $100 civil infraction. No penalties from insurance. That's a civil infraction. No points on your insurance. When that turns into a UTC, that is a $2.00 $6 ticket, essentially, by the sheriff's office. So yeah, the incentive is to pay the fine and not have to risk getting a UTC.

And are we communicating that as what happens if you don't pay it? The only concern I have is that people may perceive this to be just, oh, this is not the sheriff's office who's doing this, so what happens?

Yes. We actually put that on all of our literature, and we're trying to stress that. But that's a very good point, and I think in our future post. And we're going to heavily be promoting this out in the community. We'll make sure we highlight that even more. Thank you. Of course.

Any other questions?

I do have one question. So looking here on this photo, this is what the camera is. It's solar powered? Correct. At And the is there is one like for both ways? Or is there one here and one here?

Do you want to speak onto the camera?

No, no problem. Absolutely. So the trailer solution has two cameras and and one facing each direction. The camera itself is bidirectional. It captures traffic from both directions. But since we're here in the Florida, we only have license plates in the rear. Doesn't. But short answer, yes. It has two cameras, one for each direction. Yep, absolutely. And this is temporarily. And then the fixed solution, once the permits are in, then it'll we'll remove the trailer solution, and it'll be mounted on

the Permitting?

Exactly. Exactly.

I guess follow-up question. I'm sorry. Just thought of it. So for example, my kid's school is on a corner. And so the traffic speeds this way, and they also speed this way. Is there two per school?

Yes. So which school is that?

Wellington Elementary. Yes. Okay.

So we're monitoring both directions in the whole school zone area.

Okay. So the three directions, I guess. Because they speed off a paddock, they speed off a

big bloom, they speed

all the ways.

Given our experience, you should definitely see improvement. We should. We better. For the sake of the students, absolutely.

What's the appellate procedure for anybody who feels they got an improper ticket?

Do you want me to speak to that?

Yeah, go ahead.

So someone gets a notice of violation, and they feel that this was not correct, there's something wrong, they have two options. One is that you can schedule a local hearing with the magistrate. And you can contest the ticket. And that's available on our website. You would put in your information. And you'll get scheduled on a hearing. And then the magistrate from there would decide, in addition, a PBSO deputy would be there to testify. So they would review the evidence package. They would say yes. And prior to getting to the hearing, they would say, you know, this is a legitimate violation.

I can testify on behalf of this. If that is not the case, that would be a voided ticket. But if it continues and gets to the magistrate hearing, and then the magistrate does ultimately find that that was a just violation, then they would be due the payment. We would be due that payment for that violation. Now if somebody wants to fill out an affidavit of defense, they could say, that wasn't my car. I sold the car. It wasn't me. It was my brother. It was my mother. We can reassign with the proper documentation. Or my vehicle was stolen. That is an option as well. And that information is all on the notice of violation. So those are kind of the two options. When it turns into a UTC, that's just like any other traffic ticket.

And that would go to the clerk of court, and you can appeal or contest through that manner as you would a normal one: ticket from the sheriff's office.

And

the fine, if you do go through the magistrate, is that still $100 or is that an increased amount?

It's $100 plus a $50 hearing fee.

And

how were the money that hopefully won't be coming in, but will almost certainly be coming in, how is that being apportioned and distributed?

I don't have the exact, but we have about half of that goes to the state for FDLE. There's a portion, I want to say $12 goes to so out of that $100 $50 of it, it's going to FDLE, the school district. And $5 goes to the crossing guard program. Then, so say that's $50 About $10 of that goes to Genoptik as our camera vendor. This program is not costing the taxpayers anything. This is all cameras provided by our vendor. So it's all revenue paid for by violators. And the money that the village of Wellington does receive, that goes to public safety programming.

That's great. And how much is that?

How much comes to the village of Wellington? Roughly $40 per violation. One:

A question on that. Is that money going to like the lottery system, where it replaces the money that was already allocated? Or is it additional money toward the crossing guard program, toward the public safety program?

It's additional money. Beautiful. Thank you. We've already budgeted, we pay for it. Nothing's going away, or nothing's contingent on this money.

JULIE Sounds great.

GREGORY Are there other municipalities in the area that have had this program in place?

JULIE Well, could say, yeah, south of us. So these programs are coming up all throughout the state. And if you research, you can see definitely very prevalent down in Miami Dade. Miami Dade County itself has the program. And it's in 200 school zones down there. Broward. And speaking of Palm Beach County, it's coming online, unincorporated. Palm Beach County is looking into this. BOCA has a program that I think is launching in their schools. I don't know the exact date, but I want to say that they're looking for this new year.

I don't know if it's exactly August 11. Green Acres is looking at the program. They already have a camera vendor, as well as Loxahatchee Groves and Boca. Boca. I might have just mentioned that. Boca.

Thank you.

Any other questions or comments? Thank you.

Thank Thank

you very much.

Thank you so much. Okay. So our next item on the agenda is the Keeley Spinelli twenty twenty five-twenty six grant presentations.

Good evening, Village of Wellington, always a pleasure. Welcome to another wonderful school year, school year twenty twenty five-twenty twenty six. With me this evening, I have the rest of my team, Mrs. Wetzel for secondary schools, and also Doctor. Green, our instructional superintendent as well for elementary schools. And they will be presenting their Achilles Spinelli grant plans for their respective assigned schools. But before we do that, I do bring your greetings from Superintendent Burke and also from Ms. Andrews. They could not be here this evening, but they, of course, are very excited for us sharing the information. Okay.

Of course, all of our work is always anchored around our strategic plan. We're actually getting ready to get started with the planning and developing of a new strategic plan as we are continuing to beginning to sunset this one. Now, next year, this strategic plan will sunset. We still have work to be done within this strategic plan, but we're making some really good progress. And that progress brings us to the success of many of our schools here in the village of Wellington.

Our school district, as you know, is once again A rated. We are very, very proud of that work. We do believe that our public schools is the best choice for our families. And so one of the things, Sue, that I want to share with you is the success of your Village Of Wellington schools as well. Our elementary schools performed extremely well this year. We're still working on New Horizons. We do have a new principal, Gloria Salazar, who has literally just, you know, running right in. And they've had an amazing start to the school year welcoming the teachers this year. And they are ramped up and they are pumped up. And we do expect for New Horizons to reach that A at the end of this year.

So we have a lot of strategic plans within the school to be able to reach that goal. And also the rest of our elementary schools have once again performed beautifully and extremely well. We do have, and I'm so glad to see that they're here this evening, Mr. Myers and two of his assistant principals, Doctor. Oh, oh, you're Okay, Mr.

Willard and Doctor. Butler and Mr. Sunderland, who are here to celebrate. I want to first highlight Palm Beach Central High School and then continue to, of course, celebrate the rest of our secondary schools in the village of Wellington. But I want to give them a huge round of applause and congratulate them, moving back to an A, where we know that Palm Beach Central absolutely belongs as an A school. And so we are so happy for their efforts, and we expect that they will continue the student achievement that we are seeing. So congratulations, and So always, you know, forever we're very close to the straight A's. And so this year we're going for

it. Okay.

And so now I would like to take an opportunity to welcome Doctor. Green up so that she can start sharing the Keeley Spinelli grants for elementary schools, their grant plan. There are a few schools that have overage from last year or from prior years. It too will be explained here as to how they expect to spend those monies. But before we get started with that, I do want to thank, as I do every year, for the generosity of the village of Wellington for always investing in their children, investing in the schools, knowing that in the end it is good for all.

And so know that we're really good stewards of the monies that are being given to our schools to be able to meet the needs of all of our students. And this really does help our students to be able to reach them all. So without further ado, Doctor. Green?

Doctor. All right. Good evening and welcome back to each of you. I hope that you have been able to rest, relax and recharge this summer as well. And if you've been busy with your children, you're probably ready for school to start as well.

To reiterate what Ms. Haynes has said, I just want to say thank you again for what you do on behalf of the six elementary schools here in the village of Wellington. And we are really excited to share with you how we plan to spend our grant funds this year, as well as to share with you how we plan, those of us that have leftover funds, how we plan to utilize those funds as well. So starting with Banks Forest Elementary School, where Michella Levy is the principal. This school year, their plan is to purchase Generation Genius for grades three through five, the Science Coach Workbooks for fifth grade, as well as scholastic news and story works for their classroom resources in K-five and vocabulary in K-five.

Their goal is to utilize the funds as well to pay for the salaries of teachers for tutoring and to purchase workbooks for their tutoring as well. At Elbridge Gale Elementary, Principal Gail Pasterzic and her team are planning to hire reading tutors, a non instructional reading intervention tutor, and an instructional reading intervention teacher that's a tutor as well. They plan to purchase research based resources for reading and utilize their remaining funds for tutors to begin tutoring immediately. And they will also purchase resources to support that tutoring. At Equestrian Trails Elementary School, we also have a new principal there, and we're excited to introduce her at an upcoming meeting.

Ms. Allison Manning is the principal. And at Equestrian Trails, their plan is to purchase a part time in system reading intervention teacher, as well as instructional materials for the intervention teachers, SPIRE level one workbooks, vocabulary, UFLY teacher manuals, magnetic reading books, as well as Scholastic RISE materials. At New Horizons Elementary School, as Ms. Haynes has already shared, we have a new principal there and we're excited about it.

If you well, you guys probably weren't there, but I was there yesterday when they welcomed teachers back and it was absolutely exciting. She had on a shirt that read Coach and the Assistant Principal Assistant Coach and it was a soccer theme and they're getting ready to make a lot of goals over there. They plan to utilize their grant funds this year to provide tutorial for their students in grades three through five for ELA, math, and science, as well as provide tutoring for reading in K-five, purchase incentives to impact the social emotional learning of students in kindergarten through fifth grade, as well as provide teacher substitutes for planning and professional development in kindergarten. With their remaining funds, they plan to start tutoring sooner this school year, as well as purchase materials to support tutoring and provide substitutes so that they'll have opportunities to analyze their student data and have common planning. At Panther Run Elementary School, Ms.

Risa Suarez is in her second year as principal, and we're really excited to have her there as well. And at Panther Run, they plan to utilize their grant funds to maintain their two part time reading interventionists by targeting students with reading deficiencies. Their plan is to initiate before and after school tutorials in the beginning of the year. And their plan for their remaining funds include utilizing to start two part time interventionists earlier in the year and to purchase additional supplemental materials. And last but not least, at Wellington Elementary School, where Doctor.

Maria Vaughn is the principal, they plan to implement tutoring before and after school for ELA and math. That is something that at Elbridge Gale and at Binks Forest that they've done for quite some time. And the principals in the village very comfortable collaborating. And this summer they had very many coffee meetings where they got together and they talked about things that they're doing in their schools. So some of the things that some of them are trying, others have already tried and they're implementing them based on some of the successes that they've experienced.

At Wellington Elementary, their goal also is to purchase iReady magnetic books, technology programs, iExcel, vocabulary, Generation Genius, as well as provide part time tutoring positions for during the school day. So they want to be able to catch their kids while they are there. Equestrian Trails has experienced a lot of success with that strategy, as well as incentives for tutorials. And that's how the elementary schools here in the village plan to utilize their incoming funds as well as the funds that were remaining from last school year. Thank you.

And now I'm going to turn it over to the wonderful Karen Wetzel.

Thank you. Always got to do that, too. Thanks.

Well, good evening, everyone. And I want to kind of echo that thank you for the opportunity to have that Kili Sminelli grant in our schools. Some of you may not know that, but Kili and I were actually very good friends. We went to graduate school together. We have kids about the same age. So every time I get an opportunity to do this or be in the schools and see it in action, it does my heart some good. Because it really centers in the place of exactly who she was, which is making sure that all students receive an appropriate education. So, you'll notice when you look at the middle schools between Emerald Cove, Polo Park, and Wellington landings, there are some similarities. Like the elementary principals, the middle school principals get together. They actually get together every single week.

And they talk strategy and kids and all of that. So they are really looking at being a united front for Wellington. So at Emerald Cove, their plan this year is to purchase that supplemental technology resources such as IXL, other supplemental materials for classrooms, especially the science classrooms, math and ELA tutorial, and then some incentives to get those middle school kids to participate in those tutorials. Then you'll take a look at Polo Park. Again, we've got supplemental technology.

You can see they talk to each other. They also use it for additional six period supplements, so when teachers teach an extra period, may have a smaller class size, they have an opportunity to pay them to do that. Wellington Landings, you can see that they're also using iExcel. They also incorporate Study Island. They also provide some instructional salaries to support their mathematic and ESE students as well. They purchase some engaging books and magazines to enhance those classroom libraries, and again, student incentives. Palm Beach Central High School, which again, we have to say congratulations for that A. We worked really hard over there. So glad to see them here in the audience tonight. They will continue to fund the Math Lab.

And I'm just going to invite you Okay, Mr. Myers? I'm going to invite you to come and see Math Lab in action at some point in time, because that's where the money goes. It is so exciting to walk in there during lunches and watch the teachers and the kids in the math club work with the other students on mathematics. There is so much energy in that room, and it's all generated around mathematics.

It is just the most exciting thing to see. They also use it to increase incentives again for those high school students, purchase some classroom materials that they need some support with, and fund those snacks and beverages, because you know that also gets kids to stay after in the afternoon too. Wellington High School has done a lot of tutorials for individual students and small group. They provide site licenses for IXL and EDIA for mathematics and geometry. They're actually going to use some of their rollover funds, or actually all of their rollover funds, to continue with IXL and EDIA licenses for FY 'twenty six so they can expand that. And any questions?

In the past, the principals have had problems getting tutors. There's been a shortage of tutors. Has that continued to be a problem, or is that less so recently?

So, Mr. Myers, or Ms. I'll let the principal speak to that, because he can probably answer that much better than I can. Come on. Let me put you on the spot.

He's like, you're making me walk?

Yeah, speaking from Palm Beach Central, basically we use our, we have a math coach that works closely with the assistant principal that oversees math, and we also have mister Lewis back here, who is the assistant principal that oversees our literacy department, which includes our ELA teachers and our reading teachers. So, it's all literacy. So, we have been pretty successful in getting some of our teachers to buy in to being tutors in our math lab, in our reading lab, Even though they have, you know, schedules that are packed, some may teach extra periods for us, normally they teach five, they may be teaching six. But, like I said, we haven't had to twist many arms, but we've been pretty good about getting them and then getting the kids coming up with a strategy to get kids to buy in, especially during lunchtime, right? Because they want to socialize and be with their friends.

So, that can be a challenge sometimes, but we again, we've had some success and on the weekends. And, must say too, know when we're talking about tutorials and I'm going get away from this mic here real quick, but you know we tend to think about our students that are struggling, right? And, so that is an area of need, but we're also looking to provide support for our students who are in some of our accelerated programs as well. So, I do want you to know that we're trying to touch, you know, all students here, here and those students that are continuing to excel at the high level because they do need that support, right? They have packed schedules, you know, we have some very competitive schools not only in Central, but at Wellington students that, you know, taking ACE, AP courses and their their load, their plate is heavy.

So, they do need that extra support as well as those in our Honors classes. That's the long answer for you with regards to Palm Beach Central. So, hopefully my other colleagues being able to have that same success as well. So thank you very much and again, thank you guys for the monies. We couldn't do it, you know, we couldn't do it without you and we're trying to be very fiscal responsible when we do spend those funds as well. Thank you.

Several of us were able to see you in action. We had the tour of the school, which was absolutely phenomenal. It was amazing. If you would like to do it again, I would encourage other people to go.

I want to see that math lab.

I know, right?

Yeah. Don't think

we that up.

But it was, right? was

amazing. Unbelievable.

The students were totally participating. The teachers were on target and really inspiring. There was one thing on weather that we had to leave early because he was about to get to the main point. I'm like, Wait, wait, wait. So, I mean, you guys have just done a phenomenal job and we are so grateful that you included us on that tour so that we could see, you know, because we don't always get to see. My kids aren't in school anymore, so I'm not in the school seeing on a regular basis. It was really phenomenal. Just great job.

Sorry. That's okay. We love to hear how great our schools are doing. In addition to that, we also have very creative ways in which our schools hire tutors. We have what's called academic tutors during the day. We oftentimes recruit retired teachers and substitute teachers that are really talented to work with our students during the school day. We really like academic tutors because it doesn't cause the students to miss any of their after school activities, such as sports or aftercare and whatnot. So we do hire those. And then our district also has outsourced some of the tutoring through third parties tutoring programs that our schools are able to hire. And tutors are hired through that program.

And then we just pay them. So there are very creative ways in which we find tutors. And we like the tutors mostly during the school day. We find it to be the most beneficial for our students.

Good. I'm glad to hear that. I know in the past we've had the principals tell us that they've had trouble finding. It sounds like there's been more kind of collaborative with

And that it reason for outsourcing.

Yeah. So that's good to hear.

I do have, just kind of to add another question to that same topic. If, say, we know somebody or we want to help in the recruiting whole aspect of finding tutors, do they apply through the district website? Is it a district job?

It is actually a temp job, like a temporary job. So it would be directly done through the school.

So just have them contact whichever Okay.

That's right. Yes. I do want to share, that if you notice, I mean, I'm so glad that Palm Beach Central is here with us this evening. But asking for forgiveness, I did share with the principals, like we did last year, that we would present on their behalf. This week is especially a hard week for them, as they are working with their teachers and professional development and preparing for school opening next week. So I did suggest that they didn't have to come this evening. So I

do ask for

forgiveness. But we really need for them to focus in getting the schools ready and teachers ready to go for Monday for our students.

We do miss seeing their smiling faces. They'll be here

next time. They'll be here the next time. It's just that the timing is a little

No, of

course. Totally

understand that.

We don't do it kind of in this timing. Normally it's kind of after school started.

I'll

JULIE Plus, must say that I believe that last time you really liked this format, that it was just It is smooth.

It is. And then you can

see the patterns, because we do vet everything that's on there.

Yep. And I do want to make a comment. What I've seen over the course of years I don't know. I feel like I've been on this committee a long time. But over the course of years, a true unity form. Like when we first started, not everybody was working together. But it's really great to see the relationships that have been built between the principals and the schools and the teachers and how collaborative they are. I just think that completely benefits the community and probably them, right, to have some support and outlet as well. So I just kudos to whatever leadership out there allowed that to happen. I think it's just really been greatly beneficial.

It's a team effort. Any other comments or questions? No. Thank you.

Thanks. At this time you can make a motion if you wish to approve To approve the the

We don't approve the actual Yeah. Right. So would someone like to make the motion?

I'll make that motion to approve the Achilles finale grant.

And we need a second?

Marcia makes the seconds.

Perfect. All those in favor of approval?

Aye.

Any opposed? Terrific.

Perfect. And that being said, I'll go ahead and send a calendar invite for everyone to attend our meeting in October in which we will do a presentation of the Keeley Spinelli checks to the schools.

When do they actually get the money in their hand though? Do they get it before that?

That year.

Oh, it's good. Was hoping they'd get it faster. Okay, great. Awesome. Okay, so next is we have to select our chair and vice chair for this year. And we can take nominations. Do we start with vice chair?

Yes, we can go ahead

and take do nominations for vice chair? Speaking on behalf of Marcella, she did say she'd be open to doing it again, but she's not here. So are there any other nominations for vice chair? No.

That was your nomination, correct?

It's not my nomination. I just will relay what she

said. I nominate Marcella.

I agree. Okay.

Then we do we make a motion on that as well?

Yes, please.

Okay. I didn't know if it needed to be separate.

Yeah.

So can someone make a motion to approve Marcella as the Vice Chair? I'll make a motion to approve Marcella as Vice Chair. And second?

I'll second.

Okay. All those in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Okay, great. So now it's time to select the chair.

Nominate Shelly Albright. I second. Okay.

Although that threw me. That me for a second, sorry.

A motion to approve. Motion to approve. Second. Is the

And all those in Aye. Any opposed? Nope. I reject it. No, just kidding.

So Okay, Congratulations.

Thank you. And

now we'll move on to the assignment of the school SAC liaisons. And my suggestion is that we stick with what we've had Perfect.

And so, I do have some staff recommendations. I did reach out to each and every one of you to see if you were aligned with who I recommended. It did seem as though that you all were. So, that being said, if you don't mind me just reading it out quickly just to ensure that we're all on the same page. For chair, Shelly Albright, have Equestrian Trails Elementary as well as Emerald Cove Middle School. For miss O'Brien, I have Wellington Elementary. For Marcia Hayden, I have Panther Run Elementary. Mister Weber, I have Palm Beach Central High School. Miss Basor, I have New Horizons Elementary School as well as Polo Park Middle School. Miss Montesinos will be Elbridge Gale Elementary as well as Wellington Community High School.

And then Miss Ranieri, I have Binks Forest Elementary School as well as Wellington Landings. And so that being said, if everyone is aligned, Shelly?

We have a motion to approve those assignments?

I motion to approve the SAC assignments for this year.

I second. All those in favor?

Aye.

Any opposed? Great.

I do just have one quick question.

Sure.

Will the our information will be sent to the schools and then the SAC chairs will be in touch with us about the meeting dates and times and everything?

And so I'll go ahead and get the meeting dates from the schools, and then I will inform each of you respectively.

Thank you.

You got it, no problem at all.

And then you'll just show up and say hello. Know you there, right? No, you're good. They'll be like, oh no, no. All right, so now it is time for any public comments. Any public comments? Okay. And staff reports is next.

Perfect. So, the community services has been very busy. We've been doing quite a few different events here at the village of Wellington. So, we did do our Great American Cleanup. And, let me go ahead and take this one off. Perfect. Because it's been quite a while since we've been able to catch up. So, in April we did do our Great American Cleanup in which we just try to make an impact within our very own community. We partner with the boys not the Boys and Girls Club, the Boy Scouts to assist us in cleaning up our community and they do an amazing job year after year in assisting us with this event. For the very first time, we hosted our amazing event which was called the Taste of Wellington.

If you got to come out to that, you saw how beautiful of an event that was. It was part of our business development economic initiative. And Heather Navarro, to our left and right, was overseeing that event and she did an absolutely amazing job. If you don't mind, can we just give her a little love? Lovely.

Following that event, we did do our back to school bash which took place on July 26 in partnership with the Wellington Community Foundation. They did an awesome job in bringing that event together. Additionally, we also had our party in the park which just took place last Friday. Some events that are not up here is our three pop up lakeside markets that we do during the summer which is an absolute great opportunity for small vendors and businesses to come out and show their services at our Thursday night food truck and concert. And then additionally, we just held our swag graduation.

Marcia as well as Shelly, they both have a direct impact in that program. Shelly has a worksite as well as she was the founder in bringing that event to, or the program to the village of Wellington and the Crown Pearls of Wellington

Have taken it to a whole new level.

Taken it to another level, right? So, we had 35 interns this summer which is the most that we've had in that program. And if you've got to see the impact that they have on those kids year after year, it's an absolutely beautiful thing. So, community services, that's what we've done thus far and we can't wait to, you know, go into this new school year with more initiatives, activities, and events for the community.

One thing that I was thinking as I was hearing Genoptik presenting is I wonder whether they would be open to taking some interns from the program. That

would

be a great opportunity for us to be able to blend two things that are going on there.

100% and I definitely will reach out to them because I do know that's a goal of ours to ensure that we're still reaching out and not being content with their current job sites, but reaching out to our community to see what other opportunities we can provide for our students. And that does wrap up the staff reports. Thank you.

That's awesome. Okay, so that was so concise. Closing comments? We'll start on this side.

Yes. I actually and I don't know if this is the right time to bring this up. I had met with some of the members of staff to share some of the ideas. First, I have to thank Maria Antonia for nominating me to this position. It is such an honor to be working with you guys and with the village.

Really excited about everything we're going to be able to do over the coming year and going forward. One of the ideas that I had that I wanted to throw out there for discussion now or at a future meeting is building on the collaboration that we're seeing exists with the principals and a lot of the teachers that are going on in the community. I was wondering whether we might be able to put some kind of a similar initiative together for the PTAs and the SAC chairs. We had talked about the idea. I spoke with staff, they said that they would be open to finding a space for it, providing refreshments.

And really, we can start as big or as small from a vision standpoint as you all think is appropriate. But I go every single year into my kid's school, and I hear the same thing. Well, what are they doing at the other schools? Are they doing this there? Are they doing that there? And I'm thinking, we need to get everybody together and start talking. I think we're going to be able to see some of the same successes that we've seen in the elementary, middle, and high schools if we do that with the SACS and the PTA. So I don't know if we want to talk about it tonight or schedule it for a point of discussion. But kind of even informally, the sooner the better we can get the word out and start getting people together. I think it's going to show some great results this year.

That's a great suggestion. I think we had talked last year about inviting the PTAs and SACs to one of our meetings. I think it was like towards the end when they were like, oh, we didn't even really realize you were doing this. I don't remember which meeting do you remember which meeting that was, Kyle? Do you remember? Or maybe James would know. But I don't remember which one it was. And then we weren't able to pull them in at that last one. Because we wanted to have speakers come in and educate us and educate the community. And that would be a great opportunity to at least start. Do you think we should have a working meeting, kind of like we did last year?

Yeah, that sounds I

think we should do that. So last year was the first time we did, but just a working meeting where we came with ideas, threw them out, discussed them. And then and that's how we talked about having speakers come in and educating us and things like that. Perfect. So that might be helpful.

Wonderful. And just so I can add this to the equation as well, I do want you to know that we've already started taking steps as far as receiving that information from the schools for their SAC information as well as their PTA so we can have a database and we can reach out to them and let them know, hey, we're having a meeting today. If you have something that you want to tell us, come out. And then additionally for these work meetings, hey, we want to invite you to just come spend some time with us so you can speak to our education committee members and let them know how you're feeling and what concerns and issues that you would like them to address.

So I know at our community partner meetings that we've had some of the PTAs, I think the high school ones. I haven't really seen the elementary ones. But maybe, again, because that calendaring issue is so important for all of us as we're doing events, right? And we don't want to compete.

Precisely.

Maybe that could be a way to help.

If you'd like, I could put down a couple of the ideas on paper. I'm happy to take a leadership role in this initiative. I don't want to offer this and say, Okay, who's going take it on? So if you all wanted, I'm happy to put down some ideas for what I had in mind. Mine was more just a very informal, like, people get to know each other and see what ideas kind of percolate up.

That's great.

And at the end of the day, we're hoping to be able to take a little bit of the pressure off of the principals and the teachers in getting all the information out, you know, that we give to them. Because it is like a fire hose all year long.

For sure.

Thank you. Awesome.

Okay. Anything else?

JULIE: That's all I have for now.

Thank you. So then we'll talk about scheduling a meeting, like, after we do

our Wonderful.

It was pretty amazing to be at the SWAG graduation for the second year in a row, bigger and better. I can't wait to see what happens in the future. With that, thank you for sharing the plans for the Keeley Spinelli grant. That's always such a great thing for our village. I love the focus on school safety. I'm excited for the school zone cameras. I'm excited for the school zone coming to Wellington High School. I think that's needed and important. The increased presence at the end of last school year in front of landings with the officers giving e bikes and golf cart education to parents and students. I love that.

I hope it continues on. And just to continue to see safety as a focus in our village. And then working with parents to increase their involvement in those conversations about safety and how they can talk to their own kids at home. But that's it. Thank you.

I don't really have anything. Just I am also, to reiterate, excited about the safety program. I think this will just really apply to all of the schools and all of, you

know, all of

the grades because it it it's a safety safety concern no matter the age of the student. Because, like I said, even even the elementary students who can't drive themselves and are probably not an issue are dealing with parents and

Right.

You know, just residents trying to get through on their way to work and stuff. Very exciting.

Thank you.

I'll let you go, Jay.

Oh, okay. First of all, it's great to see everybody again. And Chris, it's a pleasure to meet you and welcome aboard. This is a great committee. It's an important committee because we do things like the Keeley Spinelli grant.

And that's, I think, I'm a broken record on this, but I'll do it again. This is one of the things that separates Wellington from every other community in the Palm Beach County. And it just boggles my mind that there more municipalities that do this. This is the easiest thing that we do as a village, I think, is give this money. And one of the things that I learned very early was, although the money is targeted at our lowest 25%, money's fungible.

So that targeting allows resources to flow upward and we heard that from Palm Beach Central's principal today. I do have to admit, I'm a little disappointed not to see all the smiling faces. But it's done great things and it's over the years, we've seen how it's gone from more haphazard to really well organized. I'm really happy to see the district become much more intricately involved in that. So that is a wonderful thing that we do. And I think that's really all I have

to say. Go

ahead. And I do apologize for not being at SWAG meeting. That's another one of those things that I love to see. It's truly inspirational, unfortunately. Lawyers don't almost know how

to stop talking.

You were

missed, though. But just to piggyback a little bit on what Tom was saying, I am so impressed with this village and council and the folks that work in the village for the support that they give to the schools. That's a rare event. And today, at graduation, I think the first graduation we had was 10 kids.

I believe so.

It was 10 kids. And in four years, we've graduated now 35 kids into the internship program. But beyond that, monthly, we do go into the two high schools, and we meet with the students. And we are there for them all year long. Other municipalities have called us and said, can you come make a presentation?

And I'm like, I only have 78 mothers here. I don't know how we can get out to other communities to do the same thing. But they are calling because they see what's happening here in Wellington. They see how it benefits the students. And so I just want to take my hat off to Village of Wellington Council and staff, and staff especially. The hours that they put in over and beyond their nine to five is absolutely amazing. So thank you all very much.

Truly. I mean, I couldn't say that any better. The staff is just so integral and intentional in everything And they it just it shows. It really, really shows. I did have one quick question. I believe we had talked last year about attendance issues. And I was curious as to whether or not that shifted at all. Or is it still, like, going to be the same?

We did note slight improvement last year, but minimally, right? So it's marginal. So it is still an area that we certainly need to improve upon. Okay. Yeah. It's marginal. And what it is, is that it's a pocket of students, right? It's not majority of the students, but it's a pocket. But that large pocket of students have almost truancy, like high numbers.

So it's here we are giving this money to help fund, but if you're not in school, you can't even learn. Right? So that's such an unfortunate thing. Well, maybe, Krista, you could also put your thinking cap on about how we can do some things. And I know we had talked a little bit about how we could get the word out there, but I'm not sure that parents fully understand the impact that it has on the students and the schools overall when the students are attending.

I'm not sure I entirely understood it when my kids were going to school. But there's a way that we can maybe get involved with when we are talking to the PTAs. I think it's probably the PTAs that are going be more influential within the schools because they're moms and So dads talking to each it might be something that we can even if we can get the PTAs together and it's casual, we can have like a little message. Here's your first part yet. But not too harsh.

Anyway, I just want to thank all of you for all the work you do in the village and in the county for our schools. It's so important, the work that we're all doing together. And it really is a pleasure to be a part of the process and to see all the wins because there's an awful lot of wins out there. So thank you. And at that, I'd like to adjourn the meeting. All right.

A motion to meeting. Adjourn sorry. I'm sorry. All

right. Can someone And can I have a second?

Second.