Page 106 - Superintendent Report 2023-24

Teacher Fest

Teacher Fest is a collaborative effort between the District and the Palm Beach County Classroom Teachers Association. It is
also the largest onboarding event in the District. At this conference-style event, new and returning educators receive a warm
welcome from District leaders, attend small group professional learning sessions, and have the opportunity to network with
District departments and business partners. The FY23 Teacher Fest was the return to a face-to-face exhilarating experience
and the most successful to date, with an overall 97% positive rating from feedback survey respondents.

Over 800 new educators registered for the event, including:
• 265 teachers with zero to less than one year of experience
• 101 teachers with one to three years of experience
• 448 teachers with three or more years of experience

Event staff included:

• 36 Professional Growth team members
• 12 District partners
• 82 session facilitators
• 130 professional learning sessions
• Staff and leadership of Park Vista High School
• Classroom Teachers Association (CTA)

Empowered Educator Conference
The Empowered Educator Conference was a follow-up to Teacher Fest for all new teachers. On February 23, 2023, at
Palm Beach Central HS, the Department of Professional Development hosted the Empowered Educator Conference. The
conference was the first face-to-face conference for new educators in the Educator Support Program since 2019, and was
curated to support new teachers who were unable to attend Teacher Fest. The Empowered Educator Conference provided
an evening of relevant and engaging professional learning for new and developing educators. Conference attendees received
a warm welcome and encouragement from Superintendent Burke. Attendees could choose from breakout sessions hosted
by eight different District departments on classroom management, understanding data, using educational technology, and
more. Attendees walked away with more knowledge about how to “Educate, Affirm, and Inspire” their students and their
professional practice.

Technology Security For All

The IT Security and Governance team is committed to providing safe and secure internet access for devices, applications,
data, and infrastructure for all District users. The team is responsible for providing oversight, compliance, and answering
audit responses to ensure that the District adheres to best practices and standards. Due to new Florida statutes, applications
and technology in use or proposed will require additional reviews through the District’s Technology Clearinghouse
Committee to improve data security and privacy for students and staff.
Other significant security initiatives in FY23 include the Annual Security Awareness Campaign, auditing and managing
access for our Enterprise Resource Planning system (PeopleSoft), Student Information System and other large applications,
providing security awareness training and education, ongoing penetration testing and vulnerability scanning, and internal
phishing exercises.

The IT Security team is dedicated to continually improving the District’s overall security posture, responding to threats as
they arise, and protecting the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of District systems and data.

106 // Superintendent Annual Report 2022 - 2023