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Summary Minutes:Regular City Commission Meeting October 15,2015 City of Sunny Isles Beach,Florida <br /> City spends a lot of money to ensure that school stays on top of its game and unfortunately it <br /> makes it very desirable and that means that a lot of other folks wants to go to that school. <br /> Last spring we did an internal study and we tracked a lot of the activities at the school and we <br /> determined that a large percentage of the cars that are showing up every day are not from this <br /> community or this area for that matter. About two or three weeks ago he wrote a letter to the <br /> School Board and he asked them again, if we are going to proceed with this project,we need <br /> some actionable commitment on the part of the School Board, some actionable plans to deal <br /> with what we call the district jumper issue. To their credit,they responded immediately and <br /> so we have a meeting with them coming up in about three weeks. They are going to look at <br /> this issue in a serious way finally. He can assure you that if we can't find a way to deal with <br /> this and we don't believe the School Board is really behind it then maybe not build a new <br /> school because all it is going to do is fill up and create the same problems that we have had <br /> in the past. He is all for the new school, and expanding the Civic Center but we have to do it <br /> in a responsible and conscientious matter, and it is not just getting more money. ,This <br /> problem is not solved by money,it is solved by coordination and action,and so we are going <br /> to meet with the School Board officials and see what we can do and put some plans in place <br /> that just don't happen for six months and then go away. Some problems can't be fixed,they <br /> just have to be managed on an ongoing basis, traffic on Collins Avenue will never be fixed, <br /> this is a problem that we continually manage on an ongoing basis and he believes that the <br /> type of issues that we are faced with our school are not in vain but he can assure you that <br /> your City Commission and your City staff is working hard with the School Board to try to <br /> see if we can come up with some permanent solutions for dealing with this issue. He thinks . <br /> we have a beautiful design and if we can come up with those plans we can really,have <br /> another tremendous benefit to our community. <br /> Commissioner Aelion said here is the intent, the 600 students located at the K-8 presently <br /> occupied by the 6-8 grades,they are going to go to the new section. What is going to happen <br /> of those proposed to show up with a K-5 extra influx which means that the proposed that we <br /> have currently 2,000 kids would eventually be like 2,600 students in which case it would be a <br /> complete explosion,or are we just reducing the number of children in the old school to have <br /> more quality of access? Mayor Scholl said his perspective is, in a perfect world the school <br /> would not be overcrowded,we would still have an arts program,we would still have a music <br /> program, we would have all the things that were built into that school to begin with that we <br /> paid for to ensure that our students get a well-rounded education. He thinks the school is <br /> doing a fine job but unfortunately, right now it is grossly overcrowded, so the new school <br /> would relieve the overcrowding. But our projection shows,even with the growth of our City, <br /> that we have got more kids coming on line every year so that by the time the new school gets <br /> built he would say we would reach an equilibrium. However, if we at least mitigate the <br /> district jumper problem he thinks we will create an equilibrium. Now it is a difficult thing to <br /> do but if you don't try,as he said earlier,we can't build enough schools. We have got to put <br /> the proper constraints in place to try to deal with that issue. <br /> Commissioner Aelion said then that some sort of policy has to be established,as far as filling <br /> the vacuum that would be created as a result of this move. He thinks that City Policy <br /> together with the School Board has to be very careful in this expansion but he understands <br /> the City is growing and he understands the influx of young families. But to the credit of both <br /> Vice Mayor Gatto and Commissioner Goldman pointing out upcoming issues of traffic <br /> 9 <br />