Approve Education Advisory Council meeting updates

s PINECREST VILLAGE OF PINECREST Education Advisory Council MEETING MINUTES October 21, 2025, 9:15 a.m. Pinecrest Community Center / Pine Room 5855 Southwest 111 Street Pinecrest, FL 33156 . Welcome and Introductions: The meeting was called to order by Councilmember Shannon del Prado at 9:15 a.m. who chaired the meeting on behalf of Chairperson Jerry Greenberg. Former Mayor Lerner gave an introduction on the history of the Education Advisory Council (EAC) and welcomed the attendees. II. Presentations: Speaker was not present. 1. Reports/Updates: a. Principals’ Updates: Principals Eric Torres and Christina Diaz were not present as they were attending a district meeting. 1. Pinecrest Elementary Principal Fraginals gave reports on behalf of Howard Drive and Palmetto Elementary School. 2. Pinecrest Elementary Principal Fraginals gave Pinecrest Elementary reports on various accolades including 15-year Fairchild Challenge School of Excellence award, upcoming events and celebrations elebrations and events coming up including tours, Halloween events, college day, world mental health day and accepted a green school of community involvement award and is a green school of excellence. PES Celebrates Breast cancer awareness month, encouraging students to wear pink each Wednesday. Pinecrest elementary is celebrating united way ribbon week, upcoming parent tours, and a parade on October 31. 3. Palmetto Middle School Vice Principal Boyd gave updates in absence of Ms. Valero. Announcements include upcoming extracurricular (wrestling, volleyball, bowling, drama etc.). PMS is hosting an event to bridge elementary and high school, with a domino tournament. Gives an update of recent ‘coffee and convos’ event where parents are welcome to come, talk and learn. 12645 Pinecrest Parkway, Pinecrest, Florida 33156 T:305.234.2121 | F: 305.234.2131 www.pinecrest-fl.gov Ba October 21, 2025 EAC Meeting Page 2 of 5 4. True North Classical Academy - gives updates on new clubs and upcoming events at True North. With the new addition of 7t grade, True North opens new clubs and opportunities. Mentions that instead of Halloween celebrations, True North will host a historical festival, where students celebrate all of the different time periods throughout history. 5. Miami Palmetto Senior High Principal Dobbs gave an update on MPSH becoming a CENTEGIX school for safety and in a trial period. CENTGIX prepares and helps teachers deal with dangerous events on campus by providing each teacher with a lanyard for quick access to first responders. Dobbs also gave updates on various Halloween events and programs, and gives thanks to PPD for extra support at recent fall parade. Hosting Music of the world to showcase music programs in the feeder pattern schools. MPSH has many accolades in sports including golf, bowling, and football. b. School Board Report: Office of Luisa Santos for District 9- Luisa santos reminds group of schoolboard office website to provide resources and support for schools, especially for post-secondary school age students looking for community service hours. School board is working on reimaging the Food for the Future services in the schools, noting that due to the low numbers of students using SNAP and reduced lunches, in next years, free and reduced breakfasts and lunches may be discontinued within our district. Gives an update on the beginning of PMS cafeteria GOB project, and how the renovation of this cafeteria became the pilot for all schools moving forward. On sustainability, a check was received by the school board for 50 energy efficient buses, to move forward in modernizing the fleet of buses under the inflation reduction act. Gives additional updates on palmetto middle school GOB projects, as well as the shared use agreement that the schools are entering into with the Village of Pinecrest. Santos notifies the charter school bill that passed; where charter schools can occupy building and spaces within the school district without application through school board, and funds will be shared with any public school. Santos iterates that receiving the charter school ‘take over’ will cause a fundamental shift in what we are able to do in public schools, and how the costs are shared. Gives an update on a visit to DC where Santos met with senators to educate them on our entitlement funds on title 1-4, and what these titles mean in terms of funding for public schools. C. October 21, 2025 EAC Meeting Page 3 of 5 Region Report: Ana Othon gives an update of upcoming meetings and events. Ana mentions the region is working on marketing and branding efforts, with some schools with scheduled photoshoots and video filming. Othon mentions the Fair Expo at Miami Dade College Campus, where all the south region schools will be present. . District Report: Khristal Gooding provides updates on the legislative sessions, noting over 200 bills that have been filed. Charter School Colocation and property taxes are the topics that the district is following the most closely. See attached list of legislative bills. Legislative Update: Nancy Lawther gives an in-depth report on the current legislative bills, and highlights colocation, ‘School of Hope’, explaining that 7 charter school providers are authorized to establish a School of Hope based on a specific guideline. The guidelines allow the charter to take over a low performing school and convert it to a charter school. The ‘school of hope’ guidelines have changed, increasing from 51 to 267 schools of hope, or low performing / low attendance schools. School of Hope is now able to commandeer any school, low performing or not, and claim a portion or all of the school. Nancy gives various examples of public schools with current school of hope bids on them in counties throughout Florida. Any school not at capacity in Miami Dade County is susceptible to School of Hope taking over some or all of the space within a school. Former Mayor Lerner provides insights on and implores the district to consider revision of the school voucher program. f. PTA/PTSA Reports: Palmetto Elementary - Kari Vidal gives updates on Palmetto Elementary events including book fair, watch dogs, spirit week, math night, STEAM night, Halloween parade, etc. MPSH- Andrea Gonzalez gives note of an upcoming teacher planning and development day, a school tour on Nov 4, blood drives, a senior night event with FASFA application assistance, haunted house, and a legacy brick sale fundraiser. Palmetto Middle School- Norma Schwartz gives an update on school clubs kicking off including green club, garden club, cooking club, etc. Volunteerism in the middle school is high, including the Watch Dogs for dads and men on campus, parents’ night out inviting parents to the school in the evenings to experience community on campus for working parents. October 21, 2025 EAC Meeting Page 4 of 5 Pinecrest Elementary School- Haifa Matos-Elefonte lists upcoming events including trunk or treat event occurring Friday. Italian night, PTA engagement and volunteering have been very high. g. Library Updates: Ellen Book gives an update on current and upcoming programs at the library. She reminds the group that students can and have hosted programs at the library (flyers attached). Ellen reminds the group of new museum passes. Upcoming seed swap, overdose informational program, cooking program, and reminds the group that the mdc libraries are happy to help and participate in any event or outreach effort provided. h. Pinecrest Gardens Updates: Lacey Bray notifies the group that the 12 annual student art contest opens in November and encourages the group to participate. Lacey recaps the most recent events at the gardens including Garden Day and Jazz that occurred on October 18. i. Pinecrest Parks and Recreation Updates: Parks & Recreation Director, Rob Mattes mentions kicking off event season with Zombie Run with record numbers of participants and volunteers. A free track or treat event will be held on October 24 at Evelyn Greer Park with opportunity to trick or treat from 50 businesses and organizations, a movie and community engagement. Additional upcoming events include Veterans Ceremony and breakfast at Greer Park on 11/11, and camps offered for days off from school. Mattes gives updates on construction projects including Matzner Park and Veterans Wayside with a timeline for both. Suniland park construction completion, scheduled to reopen this week. Aleyda Mas Park is in the design phase. Mattes asks principal Dobbs a question about the CENTRIGX program and gives kudos for the program. j. Village Council Report: Councilmember Shannon del Prado lets the group know that Chairperson Jerry Greenberg will ask the council to support the school board legislation at the next meeting. Councilmember Meyer reminds groups of the strategic plan to share public plan for private use, and thanks the district’s office for their commitment to finding a solution on shared use. k. Communications/Social Media Updates: None IV. New Business: None V. Announcements: None VI. Schedule of Future Meetings November 18, 2025 — Community Center/Pine Room January 20, 2026 — Community Center/Pine Room October 21, 2025 EAC Meeting February 24, 2026 — Community Center/Pine Room April 21, 2026 — Community Center/Pine Room May 19, 2026 — Community Center/Pine Room X. Adjournment The meeting was adjourned at 10:35 a.m. Submitted on this 23 day of October, 2025, by: r, Committee Staff Liaison Education and Visitor Efigagement Specialist Page 5 of 5