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HL Johnson students and staff showcase leadership, rising test scores and unique programs
Summary
At the March 9 Education Advisory Board meeting, HL Johnson Elementary presented student performances, described a successful career day and reported multi-year gains on performance assessments while highlighting VPK and special programs. School and community partners were thanked.
HL Johnson Elementary presented a program of student performances and a detailed school update at the Royal Palm Beach Education Advisory Board meeting on March 9, 2026.
Assistant Principal Danielle Gadell opened the presentation, saying HL Johnson’s strength is “the people inside the building” and that the school emphasizes dedication, relationships and belonging. Students from the drama club, chorus and handbells performed; Miss Meeks and a music teacher (named in the transcript as Mr. Maduros/Maderos) were singled out for praise and the school announced performances on April 14 and April 16 with tickets to be sold online.
Gadell gave enrollment and program details: HL Johnson enrolls 879 students (a net increase of 13), operates two VPK classes, K–5 class counts from about six to eight by grade, and provides gifted K–5, IND, PM, two EBD classes and an ASD support class. She said 12% of students are in ELL programs and described the school’s choice programs in STEAM and Cambridge Primary.
The presentation listed staff totals and tenure: 124 total staff with 65 instructional staff and 59 non-instructional staff; several staff are former HL Johnson students and others have children who attend the school. Gadell described a recent education foundation grant that purchased an adaptive bike for student workspace and noted two speech-language pathologists won SLP of the Year honors.
On academic measures, Gadell reported three-year trends from the school’s Performance Matters assessments: reading rose from 57% (2022) to 63% to 71% with a 75% goal for the current year; math moved from 63% to 66% to 71% with a 75% target; science has improved toward a 68% goal. She also presented numbers for students with disabilities and ELLs (for example, special-assessment participation numbers and a target of 90% for a specific subgroup this year) and characterized the data as ongoing progress toward higher targets.
A student, Jeremiah, spoke and played a short video about the Future Makers Forum, a student-led leadership event that drew participants from 38 schools. Jeremiah described Safe School Ambassadors (SSA) and buddy-bench ideas to promote belonging, saying, “Every voice belongs and every student can lead.”
Gadell and others highlighted community engagement: a first-time career day hosting more than 40 professionals, visits from local police and fire departments, buddy reading by a nearby high school, and a traffic-poster contest whose final winner’s poster will hang at Village Hall. She also noted a school newscast visited WPTV and staff-led initiatives to boost morale, including a weekly staff spotlight.
Board members and the school board representative praised HL Johnson’s student leadership and community turnout. The school emphasized that its VPK program has received the highest recognition from the Florida Department of Education and said it is the only elementary school in the area running the full BPK/VPK classroom described during the presentation.
The meeting record shows the board moved on after the HL Johnson presentation to district and school updates from other principals and the student council. The next Education Advisory Board meeting was announced for Monday, May 11, 2026.
