The School Board In Action

Designation of Dave Thomas as a Broward County Public Schools’ Distinguished Alumnus
In 1993, 45 years after dropping out of high school, Dave Thomas, the founder of Wendy’s Restaurants, received his General Education Diploma (GED) from Broward County Public Schools. At the time, a graduation ceremony was held in his honor at Coconut Creek High School, which underscored his belief that education is a lifelong pursuit and a goal as worthy as any professional development. Because of his beliefs and support of education and children’s causes, Dave Thomas served as an outstanding role model. Earlier this year, the Board renamed a public school in his honor posthumously and recognized him as a distinguished alumnus for his support of education and children

New Grant Application to the School Leadership Grant Program
The U.S. Department of Education has invited school districts to apply for funds to help high-need, local educational agencies to develop, enhance or expand innovative programs that recruit, train and mentor principals and assistant principals. The District’s Human Resources Development Department has submitted an application to implement the Pathways to Administrative Leadership (PAL) project. This project is designed to improve the assessment of prospective and current principals, create a competency and standards-based learning approach and provide technical assistance and support to school leaders. The total amount requested in the grant application is $1,735,280 over three years.

Broward Teacher Corps
The Broward County School Board approved several milestone agreements with the Broward Teacher Corps in support of the new legislative mandate, No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, recently signed into law by President Bush. The District, in concert with its higher education partners, has established various initiatives designed to develop or recruit and retain qualified teachers and paraprofessionals in Broward Schools.

The Broward Teachers Corps is designed to support the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 and provide highly qualified educators to Broward schools. This program is a partnership with the colleges and universities that belong to the Broward Educational Consortium – Nova Southeastern University, Florida Atlantic University, Florida International University, Barry University, Broward Community College and Florida Memorial College. These higher education institutions will provide the higher learning environments, instruction and training to earn an Associate’s degree, Bachelor’s degree or certification. The Broward Teacher Corps initiative funds the preparation of teachers and paraprofessionals in Title I schools to become highly qualified educators. It also funds programs to support non-education degree majors to pursue teaching in critical shortage areas. Programs will provide preparation for out-of-field teachers to become certified in the content area they teach, provide paraprofessionals with an education and career path to become full-time teachers, and assist paraprofessionals in coursework to earn an Associate’s degree. Nationwide, this program is a cutting-edge approach that creatively and collaboratively involves the teamwork of a public school district working with local universities to attract and retain qualified educators for our students.

District Multicultural Initiatives

The District’s Bilingual/Foreign Language/ESOL Education Department collaborates with various community organizations to enhance student learning through curriculum development and major events including:

• Holocaust Awareness Day –
scheduled for December 3rd and 5th, this annual program will enable more than 1,000 high school students, teachers and district personnel to hear survivors of the Holocaust tell their stories and learn the important lesson of the resilience of the human spirit.

• African Heritage Forum:
Understanding the Legacy – On April 29th and 30th, 2003 - 1,500 eighth grade students and middle school teachers – along with elders/role models from the community – will gather together to learn about the history of peoples of African descent, the African Diaspora and contributions that peoples of African descent have made to the world.

• Hispanics: Their Legacy Annual Conference – A diverse group consisting of more than 2,400 fifth grade students recently took place in this inaugural conference, which helps promote a better understanding among cultures and foster a respect and appreciation for the contributions of peoples of Hispanic descent.

• Women’s Contributions to the United States: Honoring the Past and Challenging the Future – This manual – which serves as a curriculum complement to existing textbooks and ancillary materials – provides background information, FCAT- related lessons, activities and technological resources on women’s contributions to America.

For additional information about these events, please contact the department at 954-765-6680.

Corrections

• In the last edition of The 411, a list of Broward schools receiving Little Red Schoolhouse Awards was published. One school in the list was incorrectly identified. The correct school is Indian Trace Elementary.

• Westglades Middle School in Parkland is scheduled to open in January 2003, not October 2002.
We regret these errors.