It’s been a very busy couple of months in the School District. Even though schools were on summer recess until August 18th, the District was buzzing with activity. All principals and assistant principals of our 186 schools were required to attend 6-day workshops with top Administration officials to familiarize themselves with new standards and procedures which the Administration is implementing this school year. You may have seen news reports discussing the reaction of some of our parents and teachers with respect to some of those changes. One major change which resulted in much discussion – some of it very heated – is “departmentalizing” all of the elementary schools in the county.
 
 Most of us are familiar with the concept of departmentalization even though we may not recognize the name. In middle school (junior high school for us older folks) and high school, we all remember moving from classroom to classroom to receive lessons in different subjects, but in elementary school, most of us remember having one teacher the entire day who taught us math, science, English, etc. Departmentalization now requires all elementary school children in grades 3 through 5 in Palm Beach County to move from classroom to classroom to receive instruction in different subjects, just as we did in middle and high school. Although departmentalization was not required for grades Kindergarten through second, the Administration has given each elementary school principal the authority to decide whether those lower grades would be departmentalized. Some of the elementary school principals decided not to departmentalize the lower grades, others decided to do so. For example, Sandpiper Shores and Del Prado departmentalized grades K through 5, Waters Edge and Whispering Pines only departmentalized grades 3 through 5.
 
 Many of the parents and teachers in my district were very unhappy with departmentalizing elementary schools, others thought it was a good idea. I, personally, do not agree with departmentalizing Kindergarten and 1st grade, as I believe those children need to become acclimated to the school environment and to being away from mom and dad all day – a new experience for many of them. These 5 and 6 year olds need to learn that school is a safe place even though mom and dad aren’t there to hold their hands, and I believe that it is easier for them to come to that realization through the bonding process they experience when they are with one Kindergarten or first grade teacher the entire day. I have made my views known to the Administration, but the School Board didn’t take part in this decision since it is within the purview of the administration to make procedural changes such as this.  I, and others, will watch how the new procedure plays out over this school year to see whether it was or was not a good idea.
 
 Some of you may also have seen news reports of my opposition to purchasing public broadcasting station WXEL. The Administration wants to spend approximately $4.5 million to purchase WXEL from Barry University claiming owning WXEL will allow the District to better carry out its obligation to educate the children in the public schools in Palm Beach County. I absolutely disagree. The District already owns and operates a television station (it used to be on Comcast Channel 19 but last year was moved to Channel 97) and in these difficult economic times when our teachers don’t even have enough money allocated to them by the District to buy supplies they need to effectively educate our children in the classroom, we don’t need to be buying another TV station for millions of dollars. In addition to the up-front purchase price, the operating costs for WXEL are projected to be in the range of $10 to $12 million a year. The Administration claims it is working out a deal with “business partners” who will cover that cost. I’m anxious to see who these business partners are and how we are guaranteed that they are going to come up with the funds each year. The final decision will come before the Board in a few weeks, although we have had several Board discussions about it over the last few months. Those decisions have resulted in the Board approving steps to move forward with the purchase based on a vote of 6 to 1. I guess I’m the only one of the 7 of us who feels that if we have an extra $4.5 million dollars in the budget during a time when we are telling our teachers and other employees we have no money for them, we should be putting that money where it is needed most – in the classroom.
 
 The School Board meets every Wednesday afternoon, usually at the District headquarters at the Fulton-Hollad Educational Services Center, 3300 Forest Hill Blvd. in West Palm Beach. The meeting times and agendas are available at www.palmbeach.k12.fl.us (when you get to that website, click on the “School Board” tab on the left) and all meetings are open to the public and are televised on Comcast Channel 97.
 

Frank Barbieri