Former head of Broward School Board TV station
The longtime director of the Broward School Board’s educational TV station, Phyllis Schiffer-Simon, has died. She was 64.
In more than five decades on the air, BECON — the Broward Education Communications Network — grew from a simple schoolsystem television station into a channel with a reach of more than a million viewers. Programming ranges from Broward Teen News and Countyline, a Browardcentric show dedicated to municipal and community issues, to New Haitian Generation, a show devoted to success stories from Broward’s Haitian community. When Schiffer-Simon came on board in 1997, she dubbed BECON’s content “edu-tainment.”
“All family, all educational, all the time,” she told the Sun Sentinel in 2005.
“Her employees truly loved working for her,” her only son, Dan Klenetsky, 32, of Daytona Beach, said Thursday. “She empowered them to help come up with solutions instead of just directing. It was always a team effort with her.”
Schiffer-Simon’s expertise covered several educational arenas, including elementary education, exceptional education, staff development, distance learning and educational broadcasting.
According to the website for the mentoring and scholarship program, Women of Tomorrow: “Schiffer-Simon demonstrates creativity, leadership, and enthusiasm for making a difference in the world of teaching, learning and communications.
“She dedicated her career and life to education,” Klenetsky said. “I think she just realized at a young age that she liked helping people.”
Creative, inspiring and always up for a challenge, Schiffer-Simon died Sunday after an 18-month battle with cancer, her son said.
She grew up in Long Island and began her career as a teacher to gifted students in New York. When she moved to South Florida in 1972, she taught school in Pembroke Pines. Over the years she earned four higher-education degrees.
Even after her September 2014 retirement, Schiffer-Simon kept a busy pace, working as a consultant, teaching online and writing curriculum, Klenetsky said.
Schiffer-Simon is survived by her son, Klenetsky, her husband, Dennis Simon, of Boynton Beach, and three grandchildren. A funeral service was held Thursday at Riverside Gordon Stanetsky Chapel in Delray Beach.
For those who would like to give, Schiffer-Simon’s family asks that contributions be made in her name to the American Cancer Society.