School Board in Action
School Board Approves Teachers Union Contract
The Board gave its approval to a new teachers' contract. Broward Teachers Union members approved the agreement in early February. The agreement includes the following: • a 3 % salary increase, including a salary step increase, effective the first day of the 2003/04 work calendar;
• a 3 % salary increase, including a guaranteed salary step increase, effective the first day of the 2004/05 work calendar;
• a 3 % salary increase for the 2005/06 work calendar with a salary step increase contingent upon the state providing at least a 1.5% increase in funding for wages; and
• a three-year phase-in to the Straight-Leveling program for health insurance, including a $6,000 incentive for employees to move from a PPO provider to an HMO provider.

Broward Cultural Council for Arts in Education Agreement Inked
Since 1984, the School Board and the Broward Cultural Council have worked as partners to provide cultural and artistic services to schools. Ten years ago, the parties redesigned cultural services to specifically support student learning objectives identified in school improvement plans. In passing this item, the Board gave its approval to an agreement with the Council that will include annual evaluations conducted by the Department of Research and Evaluation on the Arts in Education program. The evaluations will ensure that program objectives are being met, facilitate student achievement and enable students at all levels to become appreciators and providers of the arts.

Smith College Interns Working in Broward Schools
Smith College, one of the nation's oldest educational institutions offering training for teachers of the deaf, has begun placing graduate student interns in selected locations within Broward County Public Schools. Smith, which offers the only Master of Education of the Deaf degree program in America, has graduated more than 1,300 teachers who have served deaf children in 50 states and 34 foreign countries in residential and day schools, day classes and mainstream settings.

Participation in New Junior Achievement Efforts Approved
Junior Achievement (JA) of South Florida's goal is to significantly transform how local students are taught to view the world of work, free enterprise and their possibilities for success. Anchored by two new experience-based JA programs (JA Enterprise Village for 5th graders and JA Finance park for 8th graders), Junior Achievement has plans to occupy an Institute for Free Enterprise Education, dedicated to the effective and practical teaching of business, entrepreneurship and personal financial responsibility. This new facility is a dramatic representation of a shift to a site-based "mini-city" model where 5th and 8th graders can learn. The centrally located facility is expected to be ready by early spring 2006.

Agreement Signed With Technological Research and Development Authority
A partnership agreement with the Technological Research and Development Authority (TRDA) Endeavour Academy is enabling Broward County science teachers to participate in a series of workshops designed to provide them with new resources and instructional strategies. Many of these workshops are also aligned with the subject material included in the new FCAT Exam covering science. The TRDA - established by the Florida Legislature in 1987 - delivers the successful and cost-effective transfer of cutting-edge technologies to schools and small businesses throughout Florida. Through strategic alliances with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), the federal government, the aerospace industry and state partners - including the Department of Education, Enterprise Florida and the Department of Community Affairs - TRDA is giving Floridians the edge to succeed and compete.

Southside School Site Sold to City
The Board approved the sale of the historic Southside School site to the City of Fort Lauderdale. The Board acquired the Southside site in 1917 and built several buildings on the property. In 1923, the Board constructed an additional building on the northeast corner of the site, which sits diagonally on the property; this structure - known as the Southside School building - was designated an Historic Landmark by the City of Fort Lauderdale in May 1996. The building cannot be demolished because of the landmark designation; its exterior must be preserved. The city will restore the building and the remainder of the property will be added to Florence C. Hardy Park at Andrews Avenue and Southwest Seventh Street.