By Callie Sharkey
Wellington’s Education Committee met Tuesday, Dec. 4 and included a summation of activities and successes at many local schools, along with a discussion on future plans for the committee, including the proposal of an essay contest supporting safety initiatives.
Ron Herman, the newly re-elected chair of Wellington’s Public Safety Committee, presented the essay contest idea to the Education Committee.
“We want to increase awareness and attendance,” Herman said. “How do you get them here? By engaging children. We want to create a texting while driving essay contest for high school students.”
The contest will encourage high school students at Palm Beach Central and Wellington high schools to compete amongst each other to create a 300-word essay addressing the problem of texting while driving.
“Everyone at a red light, look next to you and everyone is on their phone. It’s a big danger affecting kids and adults in the Village of Wellington,” Herman said.
The Public Safety Committee has criteria in place and a rubric to ensure all essays are equally measured. Herman requested support to take the program to the next level.
“I think it’s a good idea,” Education Committee Chair John Webber said.
The rest of the committee agreed, and the Public Safety Committee plans to begin reaching out to schools directly. Herman and the committee discussed enticing students in all high school grades to participate by offering recognition and possibly prizes.
Some of the suggestions mentioned by the committee ranged from gift cards to parking spaces, but it will be up to the discretion of individual school principals to determine what is appropriate. Over the next few months, the essay contest titled “Distracted Driving: Texting Your Life Away” will take place.
In other business, the committee welcomed new Committee Member Jana Bolinder. The guidance coordinator has extensive experience working with students at the Alexander W. Dreyfoos School of the Arts and Spanish River High School.
“I’m very happy, very proud to be here. I have resided in Wellington with my husband for 35 years,” Bolinder said.
Wellington Community Services Director Paulette Edwards, the committee’s staff liaison, provided a report on recent happenings. She described a successful 2018 with programs including the recent Hometown Holiday Food Drive and the ongoing Hometown Holiday Toy Drive.
“We have an affluent community, but still a community in need,” she said. “We had one individual who actually walked over a couple of blocks to get her food because she didn’t have transportation.”
For both the food and toy drives, the village reached out to 11 local school principals and guidance counselors so they could better serve those who need help the most. The toy drive distribution will take place with community partner St. Peter’s United Methodist Church on Thursday, Dec. 20 at 6 p.m. To enroll in the program, parents or guidance counselors can fill out a registration form at www.wellingtonfl.gov. For more information, call the Community Services Department at (561) 791-4796.
Committee members also provided summations of recent successes at many of Wellington’s schools. Committee Member Beth Gillespie spoke of Elbridge Gale Elementary School receiving a School of Excellence award.
“There is always a large science presence, and they have really kicked it up a notch. It is STEM everything,” Gillespie said. “Lots of coding is going on at the campus all the way down to kindergarten.”
The Palm Beach County School District is making a huge push to promote studies in science, technology, engineering and math, also known as STEM.
Wellington Elementary School, a School of Excellence for the fifth year in a row, is also boosting its tech-savvy presence in the classroom.
“We had seven Google-certified educators complete the level one program offered through the county. We each have more than enough Chromebooks for every student in our class,” Committee Member Ruthann Retterbush said.
Schools throughout Florida are hardening their campuses in the wake of February’s Parkland tragedy. Some schools are taking another step and reaching out to fathers of students. Wellington Landings and Emerald Cove middle schools both hosted successful Dads & Donuts events designed to better connect underrepresented male parents with students.
In addition to positive results in ACE and FSA testing, schools continue to provide opportunities for students to earn community service hours. One major fundraiser for the Children’s Miracle Network is the annual Dance Marathon, and this year both area high schools are teaming up for one large-scale event.
Committee Member Donna Baxter explained that aside from raising awareness on childhood diseases, the fundraiser has broken records, and the students take great pride in the competition.
“It shows how much they feel about this charity,” said Baxter about the schools hosting a joint event.
The committee also began the process of revising its mission statement to better reflect the current climate and work of the group. An updated version could be ready for review and approval by the committee’s next meeting.
The next Education Committee meeting is scheduled for March 5, 2019. Later that month, a joint meeting with the Public Safety Committee is in the works. The texting and driving essay contest winners might be decided at that time, in addition to guest speakers and an after-action report on the recent shooting incident at Palm Beach Central.
