Cracked Foundations: School District of Palm Beach County (FL)

On December 13, 2016, the School Board of Palm Beach County signed a grant agreement with the Wallace Foundation for $50,000 to participate in the Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) initiative strategy. The goal of the initiative is “to foster children’s social and emotional learning (e.g. emotion management and social skills) through partnerships between school districts and out-of-school time intermediaries (OSTIs) that enable leadership and staff in schools and OST programs to effectively teach and develop these skills.” As part of the initiative, the district will work jointly with CASEL to “develop a detailed, multi-year SEL plan for implementation.”

The Social and Emotional Learning Initiative agreement was amended on February 21, 2017, with an increase in funding to $212,000.

The Wallace Foundation approved another one-year grant on August 24, 2017, for $1,565,305 as part of the district’s participation in the foundation’s “Partnerships for Social and Emotional Learning Initiative,” or “PSELI.”

The initiative “strategy and purpose” is to “align policies and practices in school and OST settings to create an overall environment — from classrooms and OST programs to hallways and playgrounds — that support students’ social and emotional development.”

The SEL initiative includes data collection and sharing of the student population’s social emotional skills coordinated by RAND Corporation, which includes assessments of students in the Prime Time Palm Beach County after-school program. On August 28, 2017, the district, designated as the “data provider,” signed a “data sharing” contract with RAND. On September 19, the district entered into a second data sharing agreement with xSEL Labs Incorporated. As part of the agreement with xSEL Labs, the contractor was to collect personalized student data such as ID number, grade level and birthdate, in addition to the individual’s responses to assessment items. According to the agreement, xSEL Labs “requests permission to keep and use de-identified data for the purpose of analyzing data for research purposes.”

As part of the initiative, the School District of Palm Beach County entered into a one-year contract with the Collaborative for Academic, Social and Emotional Learning (CASEL) on October 19, 2017, for $150,000. The scope of the services offered included “support, training, and guidance in developing and executing a plan for systemic implementation of social and emotional learning (SEL).”

On July 19, 2018, the Wallace Foundation approved another one-year grant to the district for $1,570,471 to “participate in the second year of Wallace’s Partnerships for Social and Emotional Learning Initiative.” In addition, the district renewed its year-long contract with CASEL on August 1, 2018, for $150,000.

The School District of Palm Beach County was awarded a third-year grant from the Wallace Foundation for the initiative of $1,422,628 on August 31, 2019. In addition, the district renewed its contract with CASEL on September 26, 2019, with a financial impact to the district of $150,000.

The Wallace Foundation also extended the initiative funding in August 2020 by granting the district $1,549,000 to continue the partnership through August 2023. In tandem with the initiative extension, the district renewed its yearly contract with CASEL for $120,000 in September 2020, another $135,000 contract in 2021 and a $110,000 contract in 2022.

The School District of Palm Beach County became a partner with Florida Atlantic University as part of the Wallace Foundation’s “University Principal Preparation Initiative.” The sub-grant to the district of $547,381 was part of a larger grant of $2,337,499 awarded to FAU. According to a press release from the university, FAU would “receive guidance on redesigning its programming from the University of Denver” and also would “create and refine three university-district partnership professional development programs that lead to state certification as assistant principals and principals.” According to 990s from the Wallace Foundation Financials website, Florida Atlantic University has been awarded $5,072,493 since 2016 for the principal preparation initiative. In April 2022, the district partnership with FAU was extended through to January 31, 2023.

According to the Florida Atlantic University College of Education website, the Leadership for Excellence and Equity (EXEQ) program looks to be the “premier provider of school leadership professional learning programs” by “developing the strongest school leaders and leadership teams.” The program’s purpose is to “prepare leaders to create a healthy, sustainable, and regenerative society.” As part of its leadership development, it helps school leaders become “transformative decision-makers,” which includes leaders recognizing the “transformative and political process” needed to “bring about positive change.” School leaders will also “understand and demonstrate the capability to evaluate the moral and legal consequences of decisions” based on the goal of “maximizing student learning through the values of social justice and democratic community.”