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District 7 school board member urges early-childhood focus, outlines plan for Riviera Beach high school
Summary
Edwin Ferguson, the District 7 school board member, told the council that kindergarten readiness in Riviera Beach is well below district averages, linked early reading to later proficiency, praised local school improvements and described advocacy for a new Riviera Beach high school and programmatic outreach.
Edwin Ferguson, the Palm Beach County School Board member for District 7, briefed the Riviera Beach City Council on Oct. 1 on local school performance and district initiatives he described as relevant to the city.
Ferguson said kindergarten-readiness rates are low across Riviera Beach and argued that early literacy predictors often translate into third-grade English-language-arts proficiency. He cited district averages and singled out three District 7 elementary schools with widely different kindergarten-readiness outcomes: one with roughly 21 percent readiness (and corresponding low third-grade proficiency) versus another with roughly 70 percent readiness and far higher third-grade performance.
Ferguson praised turnaround work at John F. Kennedy Middle School and at Lincoln Elementary and credited principals and staff for progress. He said a plan for a new Riviera Beach high school (discussed in tandem with district decisions) had advanced after the board reversed earlier opposition, resulting in a new 5-2 vote in favor. Ferguson told council members he had advocated since 2022 and that his outreach helped secure capital funding and support.
He also described scholarship (Bridal Futures) and choice-program outreach and said FAU and other partners will host listening sessions in Riviera Beach to gather community input about course offerings and career-education tracks for the future high school.
Council members asked about immediate funding and suggested allocating available leftover REED dollars to schools; one council member proposed directing $25,000 to each elementary school as an immediate stopgap and asked staff to return with options. Ferguson offered to coordinate listening sessions and to bring district staff, including adult-education and choice-program leads, to future meetings.
The presentation was provided for information; council indicted interest in further collaboration and in considering immediate, small-dollar allocations to local schools as a near-term response to low early literacy.
