In response to Mrs. Sally Balch’s comments about the new resolution of the Royal Palm Beach Education Advisory Board (Royal Palm EAB Deserves Thanks, June 15), some clarifications need to be made. First and foremost, decisions that are made impact the entire village and need to take into account all 38,000 of us.
The June 7 council meeting agenda was publicized the same way all council meetings are publicized — a week in advance on the village web site (www.royalpalmbeach.com), official social media outlets, and the Mayor’s Vector. In addition, I posted the information on various Facebook community pages June 1 with a reach of 592 residents, and on Nextdoor to 3,466 residents.
There were several points changed with the new resolution that I think are very good: staggered terms, all meetings to be televised (previously the annual planning meeting wasn’t), the board selects the chairman and vice chair versus the council liaison, board members are a liaison to one of the seven schools in Royal Palm Beach, each school will be showcased, and the chair shall have an initiative.
There were several other points that I didn’t agree with: not all residents are eligible, residents that are current educators or employees at schools, even outside the village, are not eligible, and “a person or their outside employer or business that is under contract with or provides services to the school board or charter school” can serve on the EAB.
I voted the exact opposite of “attempting to exclude all future applicants with any day-to-day knowledge of operation with the Palm Beach County School District.” In addition, having a child that attends an RPB public school is the exact opposite of “not a strong supporter of public education.”
In the end, I voted against the resolution. Mrs. Balch and I agree on one thing: thank you Klemie, Renatta, David and Lynn for your service.
Please watch the meeting at www.royalpalmbeach.com/civicmedia.
Selena Smith, Vice Mayor, Royal Palm Beach
