THE LIBRARIES DIVISION RECOMMENDS THE RETROACTIVE APPROVAL OF THE ABOVE MOTIONS.
Approval of this item will support the Board's Value to cultivate community culture, arts, recreation and life-long learning and the Goal to provide diverse artistic, cultural, educational, and historical amenities and programs that contribute to a vibrant, multi-cultural and economically-viable community. The Libraries Division is requesting retroactive approval as the agreement was finalized on May 15, 2017.
The Space Science Institute’s (SSI) National Center for Interactive Learning (NCIL), in partnership with the University of Virginia and the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), was awarded a $1.1 million-dollar grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to develop and implement a three-year program, called Project BUILD (Building Using an Interactive Learning Design). This project will advance efforts of the Innovative Technology Experiences for Students and Teachers program at the NSF to better understand and promote practices that increase students' motivations and capacities to pursue careers in fields of science, technology, engineering, or mathematics (STEM). The project team will engage youth (grades 2-5), their families, librarians, and professional engineers in an informal learning environment with age-appropriate, technology-rich STEM learning experiences fundamental to the engineering design process. The overarching aim is to better understand how youths' learning preferences or dispositions relate to their STEM learning experiences while also building community members’ capacities to inspire and educate youth about STEM careers.
Building on the success of NCIL’s ground-breaking STAR Library Education Network program, Project BUILD will collaborate with six public libraries (three urban and three rural) and their local ASCE Branches. Two libraries have been selected to serve as pilot projects: High Plains Library District in Colorado and the Broward County African-American Research Library and Cultural Center.
The County Attorney's Office and Risk Management have reviewed and approved as to form this agreement. The County Attorney's Office requested that the dispute resolution provisions are disclosed to the Board, including: the Parties agree to attempt to resolve any disputes through negotiation; any disputes that cannot be resolved through negotiations shall be submitted to non-binding mediation prior to filing any legal action; costs of mediation to be shared equally by the parties; and neither party may file suit unless the mediator certifies in writing that mediation efforts have failed and further efforts are unlikely to resolve the issue. Any litigation will be conducted in location mutually agreed upon by both parties. |