[Music] good evening everyone the February 27th meeting of the Maring County School Board is called to order at 5:44 p.m. mirroring and modeling the way our students begin each day I ask that we observe a moment of silence at this time please join me thank you board member James will you please read our board commitment statement I'm sorry I thought I was goingon to have a printed copy oh okay there you go got it we are the Maran County School District leadership team when we come together to work we are efficient effective and productive our three most important characteristics are dedicated transparent and individually responsible to work well together we must demonstrate respect confront reality and be accountable we will always put students first we will leave a legacy of success thank you board member James for the courtesy of those listening to the meeting I am requesting everyone in the audience to please turn off your electronic devices or put them on vibrate later in the meeting up to 30 minutes will be provided for individuals to address the board on matters concerning the operation of the May and County School System or the school board only presentations to the board are limited to 5 minutes and are televised if you wish to address the board regarding a regular agenda item or matters on which the board customarily takes action you must first complete a peach form located in the lobby if you wish to address the board regarding a public hearing or a student discipline matter please complete a lime green form these forms must be fully completed and received by the board clerk no later than 5:40 p.m. the procedures applicable applicable for each are on a separate sheet board clerk please call the role Dr Allison Campbell district one here Mrs Lorie Conrad District Two here Mr Eric Cummings District three here Mrs Nancy thower District Four here Dr Sarah James District Five here student board member Blake Barnes from Forest High School here student board member D nandor from Vanguard High School here Dr Diane gullet superintendent here Mr Jeremy power Schoolboard attorney here thank you Miss Martinez good evening Dr goet will you please introduce the member of your team who will be helping us with tonight's inspiration and pledge good evening Madam chair members of the board student Representatives great to see you all this evening Let Me Clear My Throat one more time I am pleased to have Kathy Audi come forward from uh Career and Technical education who is our coordinator and she is going to introduce some very talented students that I also want to say a special thank you to Lori zinc um because of her work in our community we had a one of the best kept secrets in town as the um Okala film Derby and so you're going to hear a little bit more about that tonight board thank you thank you Dr Gull good evening good evening chair thrower Vice chair Conrad board members and superintendent golet last year our business advisory committee for the digital video programs came up with the idea to create a brand new competition for video students this advisory committee is led by Lorie sink as she just mentioned who championed the idea and created the first annual Okala film Derby which took place this past September students in the film Derby spent four days working on a video to enter into the competition which culminated in their videos being shown at the Marian theater and awards given out students worked in teams Guided by a teacher and an actual Mentor from the video industry tonight we have the winning team of students mentors and teachers here to recognize first I'd like to introduce Lor Lorie zinc our advisory chair who made this event possible if you want to join us down next I'd like to introduce Mike Palmer who served as the industry mentor on the team and then the teachers who created this team and um helped this come to fruition we had Mara do andai from Vanguard High School David guest from Forest High and Frank gallager from Belleview Middle Travis Bennett from Lake wear high and Andrew Opitz from Westport HIgh good evening to all of you step down towards the stage if you want I think Y and now we'll introduce the winning students from Lake we High we have C S Stevens and Edwin Cole from forest hi Parker 2 Serana M Samantha Anderson and Louise Simi day and from Belle Middle School Ella gutier we can't wait any longer so please join me in congratulating all of [Applause] them and we do you actually have the winning video for you guys to watch as well as a Sizzle reel for next year's [Music] competition [Music] just this please that's odd you paying cash or card um cash and what's your name Morgan [Applause] [Music] [Music] Morganstern [Music] [Applause] Morgan Morgan's turn after all this running I finally caught you so Majestic it's so fragile [Music] you stay away from me you're so beautiful what do you want you know what I want more than orer you don't want to do this yes yes this is the die yes finally I have the ancient Aztec totem wait wait wait whoa you don't want to kill me this this is what I wanted all along ancient mystical magical [Applause] what [Music] [Applause] [Music] I was just gonna say absolutely please come forward to the mic not at alls you all understand a little bit better that um this was actually a uh 9h Hour film challenge so these kids at 8:00 on a Friday morning were given a card and on it there were four things that had to be in every single film one of them was a line of dialogue which was this is the hill I want to die on the character name which was more Morgan Morgan Stern um the each time we're going to do a downtown Landmark that has to be in every film and this one was one of the Walk of flame Fame plaes and the paddle was a prop and so every team and every student had to work their script uh their dialogue everything around these four items so I Know It uh it's a little difficult when you don't see it if you see them all when you get a chance I hope you'll look at all of them and you'll see how they were used and this winning team not only won the People's Choice and the judging they also won the best use of prop so anyway so I just wanted to make sure that uh you all understood what that was all about so thank you madam chair may ask um one other item missing you and I talked about the ability for our students to engage with people they haven't worked with before during this challenge which is also and I think another critical skill could you talk about that this is this is uh not a schoolto school competition um the schools which I'm very excited to tell you that all seven high schools have signed up for the uh 2024 um competition and four three middle schools at this point um and what we do is we take the kid the teachers of each individual School uh the kids that are interested and are selected to be in it then those teachers identify if that's student is an editor a screenwriter a camera person uh you know whatever student the teachers can speak to that and then what we do is we pile them all together like in a in a big bowl and we pull the camera well like it'll be like this is for the cameraman and so and we make sure that none of these uh uh teams are stacked with one school or the other and every team for instance this year we will have seven teams of 10 people and they will consist of um eight wait is it it's seven high school kids two middle schoolers and one alternate and so we always want to put the middle schoolers too with high schoolers so that they can have that opportunity to really learn and be able to also see and understand and meet some of the people that are in the programs they might ultimately choose to want to go to or attend so that was um yeah I think that's that's and we're and we're very excited this year last year I think the the students will tell you that they won some nice prizes for their winning film but our ultimate goal or my goal this year is to include in um our winnings or earnings or awards are will be scholarships for students uh that are have an intention to go to college so that's uh Our Big Goal this year and we already have our dates set so we're looking forward to uh being able to share all this with you throughout the year um I do we do have a Sizzle reel that can uh tell you a little bit about this year but our dates are and we hope you'll put it on your calendar um September 18th will be our opening reception the 19th will be a workday with all the teams team selection is the 18th work day including five different workshops for the students on the 19th and then the 20th will be filming and then the 22 will be the awards presentation at the Maran theater so we really hope to see you all at all are part of those so thank you again for all your support absolutely and and thank you Miss Inc for providing all of the the the context and it's the whole process is just incredibly professional and and creative and and fun as I was watching the movie I thought at the beginning this is kind of riveting and and then borderline scary I didn't know where it was going to go and I'm not really a fan of those kinds of movies I got funny at the end and I would be remiss if I didn't uh have the opportunity here to thank our downtown retailers and organizations that helped us uh Okala Main Street provided a golf carts uh we had uh restaurants and sponsors and everybody who were involved to provide food and to do the awards and everything else there's a quite a team uh involved in driving this forward but I think these students here would tell you that it was uh worth it yeah I bet you had a great time doing this and and you're so right it takes a vibrant connected Community to help make vibrant connected schools and on behalf of the mar and County School Board we could not be more grateful um to the adults that and the work that you put in and your passion and dedication to kids and this industry um to help make this happen and and pull it off so well so I'll be looking forward to watching the rest of the videos and this committee these teachers are the Okala film Derby committee and I want to recognize my Mike Palama with Palama Productions who was the mentor for this winning team and every team has um mentors that are industry professionals so my hat is off to all of them yes congratulations and and thank you very much for for partnering with with our kids so we'll go ahead and do the pledge and then we'll come down and take a picture or maybe make a video please stand for the pledge delg to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation God indivisible with liy jusice okay let's go down and take a picture sounds like you've done this before so miss doin me you know what I'm gonna say everybody wants to be on the back row Reverend CS if you'll scoot in just a little bit I can get you there we go everybody's looking right right here and a couple more one more great thank you long night y'all marking it down a real real I got my snacks we had the sizzle reel a yeah have a reel feat it's a double feature you doing the other video EV said there's nothing he can do about though so I'm so sorry guys we will we will keep calm and carry on let's go you're good oh we have one more segment to watch no no no I no but we don't now okay okay thank you for your clarification so we will move on to our final recognition Okay uh Dr go I understand we have one more recognition this evening please introduce the member of your team who will be helping us with this recognition certainly my pleasure Madam chair members of the board I'm happy to have Deb rle come forward who is going to introduce some special guests to help us recognize black history month thank you thank you good evening Miss r good evening good evening everybody at this time I would like to introduce principal Newman from fendon ele Elementary with her special recognition fantastic good evening principal Newman good to see you greetings good evening um greetings have actually already been established so we're going to move right into our recognition um we wanted to take a moment to really just kind of share out with you guys that we had a very special event at our school and it was called called Legacy Day 2024 and it was a black black history Community engagement event one of the things that we're trying to establish right now is to really build more Community Partnership in that area and our PTO and our alumni association um they've been doing this for some time but we wanted to do something on a larger scale so we kind of went towards community so we had several folks out there the mar County Public Library was there with us NAACP we had representatives from the um loal Correctional that helped us with grilling and everything so we're just trying to build Partnerships but tonight I want to recognize one of my students I was actually recognizing two um but one of them had to be taken to the hospital after school so prayers for her and but the other is here and this student is one of our students that we like to say they have big voices because even though they like to talk they talk with purpose so tonight we want to share with we want to have her share with you tonight this is Ria best one of our fifth graders from fezan elementary thank you hello Miss best let's pull the microphone down so we can hear you hello I am Rah best and I'm here to tell you about the history of fan on February 17th 2024 our schools celebrate a legacy day our theme for the day was remembering our past celebrating our present and preparing for our future we want to share the presentation we I presented on that day first our we will remember our past in 1889 fidan was built by Ferdinand fidan he founded the school during the time when segregation was prominent he opened fezan Academy for all black students so that they could get proper education after Mr Fant passed away the school was able to increase the teaching Style staff and the student body to over 200 students by 1903 bidin became an all black high school which was the only black school of its kind in this area and I feel like Mr Fen did the right thing to build a school for the black people how do you feel about this now it's time to talk about the present now that it's 2024 we have a school with all kinds of color and we have amazing teachers and now we are now we have over 400 students here and we are very happy we do a lot of events to keep the happiness and Mr fent's name alive in the world like this with all the events that we do and with all the kids that attend to the school there are a lot of kids that are grateful to be in this school every day now it's time to talk about the future of bident Elementary over the years we're going to have more students as time pass and the future is inside we know that visiant elementary school will continue to grow and be a legacy for generations to come shout out to our amazing fifth grade teachers Miss Des miss deur and miss Graham and our amazing leaders and staff members of bident Elementary for the constant support help and knowledge they share with us daily and love they spread thank you have a great evening thank you we definitely want to come down and take a picture with you young lady but principal newans did you have something else um I just want to thank you guys for the opportunity um I shared with Miss redo when she um showed up Dr gallet was there also miss throw was there we were able to honor our PTO rather was able to honor nine of our black administrators on that day Miss roow was there to help with that um we had about even though we had rain we had about 200 um that actually came through so we're just super excited about what's happening at fean so thank you again for the opportunity to recognize our babies thank you and it was an incredibly special morning um for for everyone and and that includes me and to hear anayia share her special essay for the second time I got it's just it's really pretty neat isn't it to go to a school that has such special and significant history I would think that would be pretty cool as a student and now you know so much about it so that's pretty neat they get very quiet but we want to come down and take a picture with you young lady is that okay yes ma'am all right here we go come on ulous job young lady well done well done clap her out okay it's always an amazing way to start the evening with the the recog and all the special activities and accomplishments of our students and all of the adults that support them but we do need to move on um Dr gullet will you please make a recommendation on tonight's Schoolboard meeting agenda certainly I recommend approval of the agenda for the February 27 2024 Schoolboard meeting with the materials in the board packet those materials distributed to board members at the meeting and the audio recording included as part of the official record of the meeting with the exception of the following items d 20.1 d2.2 d2.3 d204 d205 d206 d207 and d208 had have been placed under discussion thank you thank you Dr gallet we have a motion on the superintendent's recommendation motion to approve motion by Vice chair Conrad second second by board member Campbell all those in favor say I I I motion passes unanimously 5- Z may I have a motion to approve the minutes for the January 25th 2024 administrative briefing and work session so move move by board member Cummings second second by Vice chair Conrad are there any additions or corrections to the minutes hearing none all those in favor say I I motion passes unanimously 5-0 may I have a motion to approve the minutes for the February 1st 2024 administrative briefing and work session motion to approve motion by board member Campbell second second by board member James are there any additions or corrections to the minutes hearing none all those in favor say I I I motion passes unanimously 5 Z Miss Martinez please provide the proof of publication for tonight's school board meeting the notice for the February 27th 2024 board meeting ran in the Okala Gazette on February 16th 2024 the proof of publication has been attached in board docks under proof of publication thank you Miss Martinez I will now ask the school board's attorney to explain the rules governing persons who wish to address the school board this evening good evening attorney Powers good evening thank you madam chair in compliance with section 26.0 one14 of Florida Statutes the school board has adopted uniform procedures for public speakers who wish to speak at this evening's meeting either regarding one of today's agenda items or a matter relating to the operations of the school district these procedures will ensure the public has a reasonable opportunity to be heard on school board and School District District matters a written summary of these procedures are available from the table in the lobby public speaker forms are also located on the same table the completed forms were due to the school board's clerk no later than 5:40 p.m. this evening speakers will be called prior to the business portion of the school board meeting in the order of Reed by the Schoolboard clerk before you begin speaking please State your full name for the record and spell your last name each speaker will have five minutes of time however if there are more than five persons who wish to speak the board May seek consensus to limit each speaker's time to three minutes when the speaker has one minute remaining the speaker will receive a visual notice to complete his or her comments speakers may not yield their time to other people speakers and me meeting attendees are expected to conduct themselves in a respectful manner therefore verbal attacks and profanity are strictly prohibited pursuant to the procedures for public comments item six speakers are not to identify specific individuals other than themselves or their child unless the statement was provided 24 hours in advance the board is here to listen to your comments only you may be directed to an administrative staff member following the conclusion of your comments for further assistance or to address your concerns if there are matters dealing with student discipline including expulsions they will be scheduled at the conclusion of the televised portion of this meeting parents May address the board regarding a discipline matter at that time to ensure student privacy only a parent or Guardian may use a student's first or last name identifying references to or identification of other students or their families are also strictly prohibited a speaker's speech does not reflect the endorsement sponsorship position or expression of the school district thank you for your attention to the board's requirements Madam chair that concludes my explanatory remarks thank you attorney Powers Miss Martinez do we have any speakers this evening yes Madam chair we have two speakers Melanie Slaughter thank you good evening Miss Slaughter good evening um Melanie Slaughter s l Au ght R I'm here to talk in favor of cive handwriting um I have a number of people that I help that cannot sign their name that don't can't read a birthday card from their grandmother because it's written in cursive and the Brain development for cursive handwriting shows that it helps students stimulate synapses in their brain between the left and right hemispheres it helps them develop fine motor skills it helps with cognitive development it helps in language development when they are trying to learn another language and it also allows them to remember more if they write something in cursive study shows that they remember it more than if they don't and what happened was Common Core took over and when my son was in the fifth grade my oldest he wrote every week in cursive he wrote an essay every single week and then when Common Core took over they did away with writing and our students do not have the ability to read and write in cursive they can't read the Constitution they can't read the Declaration of Independence in the original document because they cannot read cursive and I think we're doing a disservice to our children that they cannot do that and so I don't know what what the solution is I'm glad Common Core is gone because I don't have to watch YouTube to help my elementary student with math because I didn't learn it the way that they taught it in common core but not being able to write is a disservice to our students in cursive and not being able to read the documents that this count country was founded on is a disservice to this country and to our ability to educate the next generation of how important those documents are so I'm asking the board to consider implementing some type of ability for our students to learn how to write in cursive that's all I have thank you thank you Miss slaugher Dr gullet I'm under the impression that there is um some instructions still continuing in cursive handwriting but I think it's on a teacher by teer basis I know it's not uh part of curriculum stand standards and things like that anymore which is a shame but I just wasn't sure if there was more information that you may have that I didn't to that someone could share with Miss Slaughter on what we're do currently doing sure um you're correct chair um the former standards have changed so they're not explicit instruction many teachers teach them incorporating those with other standards um in in in context but um Miss rle is in the audience can provide some examples of how that's done but but they have changed the standards have changed and they're not as explicit as they once were okay yes it would be good for Miss ridle to at least share with Miss Slaughter what we are doing and and with us too if us too yes you can share with us too chair if I may go ahead um yeah I I also wanted to note that yesterday just on a tour uh of our culinary programs we learned that we have some students who are exemplary culinary and baking students but are not able to get their Wilton certification because they're unable to write incursive for birthday cakes and that's required for them to be able to actually get that certification so miss Slaughter your um suggestion is heard loud and clear now the question is do we actually need to work with doe and potentially even the legislature to fix something in statute and doe standards and that's a fight that this board is willing to take on if that's what it's going to take Miss rle yes hi and and Dr gullet is correct um we don't explicitly teach it necessarily every grade level has writing benchmarks within the communication benchmarks um third grade does have a cursive component but that is the only grade level um that explicitly has cursive well I say explicitly not explicitly but there are cursive benchmarks in third grade um typically during that third grade year students do learn and practice it but it is not um something that's required thank you thank you very much appreciate that and um yes I Echo board member Campbell there's nothing wrong with uh talking about making that one of our legislative priorities for next year um this has been an ongoing concern in the community a lot of us have heard about it um a lot of us as teachers see the change and so I think that it was a point very well made tonight thank you thank you thank you Miss slaugher we'll take our next speaker April Rose McCoy good evening Miss McCoy evening my name is my name is April Rose McCoy that is r o s e hyphen MCC y good evening chair thrower superintendent gullet and board members I'm a special needs pair at Forest High School I have I'm here to officially introduce myself as the new Marian educational support professional Union president over the past few months I have had the opportunity to visit nearly all of the Maring school and their work sites meeting with members of the bargaining unit the mesp represents three dozen job class classifications and well over a thousand employees I may be a bit biased but without us the the school system could not function work site after work site I continue to be amazed at how dedicated our employees are this is not a career this is a career excuse me it's not a job and it's one that each and every one of us take great pride in and they deserve much respect in my travels I have found that our employees are EX exhausted they are feeling the effects of the continuous shortage that we're having whether it's from our unit or the instructional side pair professionals are teaching full time clerks are assisting in the clinics ipcs are bringing home work because students can't learn if they are not properly registered in classes those working at non School sites are feeling the pinch too as they continue to be stretched to the Limit many leave their work sites each afternoon and they actually head to a second job just to make ends meet many of them have asked me what can be done to recruit and retain and employees and I often hear if the board only knew what we do every day recently they have asked me about the compensation and classification study that the district is conducting esps and those working in the public school are overworked and we're underpaid maybe that's the reason why we have so many vacancies in Maring County and across the state something needs to change I would like to challenge the board to walk in our shoes as you visit the schools spend some time with our esps and Shadow them as they provide the services which our kids and schools need every day I think you will be very impressed once you're finished maybe we can sit down and discuss how we can make Marin County Public School a place where there will be an overflow of job applicants as I said earlier our educational support professionals deserve much respect for what they are bringing to maryan County school system and remember that you can't get respect without ESP thank you thank you Miss McCoy and I will share with you as an employee since that started in 1997 as an ESC classroom pair professional at $5 an hour and had to work two other jobs I certainly do and I know the rest of the board does empathize and also really appreciate and respect the work that the unit does on The Daily so thank you very much for coming before us tonight welcome to your new position and we certainly look forward to working collaboratively with you thank you thank you do we have any other speakers no Madam chair okay thank you very much all right this next item is for information board items 8.1 through 8.3 are information only per board policy 6345 the superintendent is authorized to approve and execute any Construction contract change order that will increase the Construction contract amount by $25,000 or less or that will decrease the construction amount moving on May I have a motion to approve consent agenda items c1.12 c19.com D 20.6 d207 and D 20.8 that have been placed under discussion may I have a motion motion to approve consent agenda motion by board member Cummings second second by Vice chair Conrad all those in favor say I I I motion passes unanimously 5 Z we'll move on to our discussion items for tonight may I have a motion to approve the First Amendment with cognia Incorporated motion to approve motion by Vice chair Conrad second second by board member Campbell Dr gullet do you have information you would like to share regarding this item thank you madam chair board you may recall that um some time ago I brought forward um a recommendation for us to move forward with District accreditation with cognia I think it was important to move Beyond just our high schools to all of our schools and set the bar for our students and so this contract uh recommendation this amendment is to extend the contract so that we can continue the work we hope to hear um final word on our district accreditation status soon but this will allow us to uh work through June of 2025 and if there are any additional questions we're happy to answer those thank you Dr gullet it's great to know that we will have the opportunity to be an approved District as you said across the board not just high schools it seems like a worthy uh worthy cost of of a $100,000 to make that happen is there any other discussion from the board before we vote hearing none all those in favor say I I I motion passes unanimously thank you may I have a motion to approve the agreement with Cambridge assessment Incorporated LLC motion to approve motion by board member Campbell second second by board member Cummings Dr gullet do you have information you'd like to share regarding this item certainly this item is a fairly high dollar amount over $900,000 and wanted to have some context provided as you recall from our strategic plan one key area that we're focusing on is adding rigorous courses to our schedules for our students to be able to be competitive when they when they graduate like our wonderful Schoolboard Representatives here tonight and so this is a request to um approve the agreement with Cambridge thank you Dr gallet is there any discussion from the board okay here hearing none it's just a great opportunity to support our students that are working in such an accelerated way all those in favor say I I I motion passes unanimously 5 z may I have a motion may I have a motion to approve the RFP 4037 RC for contracted alternative school provider move move by board member Cummings second second by Vice chair Conrad Dr gullet you have information you would like to share regarding this item yes and Dr Henri Dr living good are going to come forward but board this is a request to reject the bid we received one bid on this um item it was considered non-responsive and and Dr henbrook and uh Dr living are going to provide some context to this and our plans with alternative programs thank you thank you good evening Dr henr and Dr living good good evening chair thrower Vice chair Conrad board members and superintendent gullet as a superintendent mentioned um we have an RFP that was advertised on January the 10th and um it was a request for proposal for a contracted alternative school provider all those proposals were due February the 9th at 2: p.m. and mcps only received one proposal by the deadline and that proposal was deemed unresponsive and so So today we're asking you to reject the RFP for the contracted alternative school provider but to ensure that mcps students receive R rigorous education opportunities and then also to meet any exceptionality needs and services a committee is working to identify how we can best accomplish this last year we started with adding an alternative program um at MTI um that was a first step in addressing our student needs so the committee is developing program options for the 2425 school year and we look forward to bringing the proposal and plan back to the board in the near future thank you Dr henr um Dr James to clarify we contract currently with a couple different um programs sery New Leaf is the names we use often can you clarify for everyone does that mean that we will not be contracting with them next year the committee is right now looking to see what we can do what so what exactly are the needs for our students what we can um do what facility needs and so we're determining that now and then we'll bring that back to the board so can what was the purpose of this are were they supposed to apply for this and did not right so the current contract does expire June the 30th of this year and so this RFP was set out there to solicit additional proposals okay but the existing individuals we contract with were not expected to apply to this or they were we send it out to all of those vendors that are listed under this umbrella for um for them to submit a proposal I'm gonna ask a more pointing question the absence of applying for this RFP is that an indication that they are no longer interested in working with Maring County Public Schools so we did receive one proposal and it was considered our um unresponsive and it was our current contract provider but outside of that we're assuming that this is the state of where we are okay I just wanted to make sure that was crystal clear thank you um I think board member Campbell had something and then we'll go to you Mr thank you so my understanding of where we are currently is the existing provider that has been providing services for us did send a proposal in that mirrored exactly what their proposal has always been it did not respond to the stipulations within the current RFP because this the team has worked diligently on this RFP to ensure that it provides some of the things this board has talked about with the academic rigor and the attendance requirements and things that we really are looking for in an alternative provider whereas we do have an alternative provider currently their response to this was just their current Arrangement and not with the rigor that we have included in this RFP and that's the recommendation to reject the RFP so that we can wait on the team is that my understanding Dr Hur that is correct okay I just wanted to make sure that was clear right sure okay that's what I had thank you you bet board member Cummings okay clear up it was the same okay all right is there any other discussion all right hearing none all those in favor say I I I motion passes unanimously 5 Z thank you moving on may have a motion to approve the memorandum of understanding with the Maran education support professionals motion to approve sorry motion by board member cuming second by Vice chair Conrad Dr goet do you have information you'd like to share regarding this item certainly thank you again board um this item is a request to consider a uh anou a memorandum of understanding that was created with the Maran education support professionals to that defines hybrid work U guidelines so they may participate and uh Miss Morant uh leads that work with our uh negotiations team and is available with any specific specific questions you may have thank you Dr goet we'll open it up to the board for discussion any comments yes Vice chair comment I just have a few comments I I first want to thank Miss Mor she got back with me rather quickly today um when a few uh conversations arose um within the community I am a a supporter and have been asking for hybrid work options I think it's important in our Recruitment and our retention um where I just want to make sure that we're clear uh and I was looking through the guidelines this afternoon um some concerns that have been brought forward to me are and I'm just going to read it off the handout must have a home office living space isolated from distractions the space should be isolated enough to establish when an employee is working and when they are not and so that's a concern that's been um brought forward in other hybrid situations and I just want to make sure that we are setting ourselves up for success as our staff members are working from home and we're clear about that expectation as our staff reach out to get problems solved get questions answered um that that response is timely and thorough and professional and so I just wanted to bring um some light to that situation that although I'm excited uh for these opportunities I do think we have um to be vigilant and making sure that we are receiving the best from our hybrid um staff members so thank you thank you Vice chair comrad is there any other discussion from the board I would say that I certainly Echo um Vice chair Conrad uh you know we have passionate dedicated employees many of whom uh overwork on a constant basis and uh but the expectations of the job are the expectations of the job no matter what the location is that's my interpretation I do have one more thing I think um just in looking at this I I think there's an added challenge uh for our supervisors to make sure that hybrid work is being done correctly and our supervisors can't correct or encourage better Behavior if our staff members and administrators don't bring concerns forward so there's a lot of parties that are responsible um to make this a success and so I just wanted to bring a little light to this as we move forward um in offering hybrid opportunities so we make sure we're meeting the needs of all of our staff thank you V sh comrade anything else from the board okay ready to vote ready to vote all those in favor say I I motion passes unanimously 5-0 thank you may I have a motion to approve the construction of an elevator lift at building four for Vanguard High School which is Project number 23-38 I never realized a elevator would cost $76,000 motion to approve motion by board member Campbell second second by board member James Dr gullet do you have more information you would like to share regarding this item I just shared my astonishment at the price well precisely chair you said it uh and I was going to say board the next four items are grouped together purposefully because they're construction related and due to the cost we wanted to bring these forward under discussion but precisely that this first item is to meet ADA compliance and and it is costly especially with aging facilities thank you Dr gullet is there any discussion from the board comments okay hearing none all those in favor say I I I motion passes unanimously 5 may I have a motion to approve the demolition of old cafeteria building and pl courts and construction of a perimeter fencing system at Phoenix Center as part of new technology Information Services Center project 24-100 motion to approve motion by Vice Sher Conrad second second by board member Campbell Dr gullet do you have information you would like to share regarding this item thank you yes again more than $750,000 is requested here to take and repurpose the land that we already own to make way for that techn technology information center and prepare the site thank you Dr gullet is there any discussion from the board okay um all I wanted to share was this is just another step towards um moving all of our staff out of the old school board building downtown into a a new facility we all know how important technology is to our Core Business these days so it'll be wonderful to have an updated um place for them to be precisely and that vacates that that block that we had in our old district office so more to come right that's right that whole block yes certainly and then there's some buildings behind the old school board building as well that's correct right okay um is all all ready to vote right all those in favor say I I motion passes unanimously may I have a motion to to approve the Lighting systems upgrades at Vanguard High School which is Project 23-37 motion to approve motion by Vice chair Conrad second second by board member Campbell Dr gullet do you have information you'd like to share regarding this item bless you yes this is another one of the um pieces of evidence of our aging um facilities the buildings that we're trying to update the lighting is 17 years old and so we have brought this forward for discussion due to the age of the building and the cost it takes to to do the LED lighting at Vanguard High School thank you Dr G is there any discussion on this item just one quick comment Y um and Miss dobins correct me if I'm wrong because we got a lot of information the other day on our facilities tour but as we were going through lakee high school there were um Pockets within the school where it was much brighter and illuminated so much better it was just clearly evident we were having some conversation about that as we walked through and it really and truly made a difference not just in the atmosphere as we were walking through um the school but as a student having better lighting of course you know is is so important so I just wanted to make sure that I got that right because there was a lot of information that we got on that date yes so we visited several schools the other day and Dell and middle school I think was the one we pointed that out um but you can see it in any of our schools if they have fluorescent lighting they're different shades of uh lumens and we do have code to meet the Lumen requirement in classrooms but most of all the baces are Obsolete and getting those replaced it's just uh more efficient to upgrade them to LED thank you Miss doin thank you very much board mem Campbell sure while we're on the subject of lighting I was in one of our newer schools today probably one of the um newest schools that we have which is still what 20 years old or whatever um but I was in one of our newer schools and the reception area didn't have the lights on immediately over the uh reception area and I said oh you're in the dark and she said yes because it's like a sauna in here because of the lights so they literally don't have the lights on at the reception desk because it becomes the so yeah so we're ready to make efficieny a good thing and the this is costly to become more efficient but hopefully once we have the cost of the LED system put in then we won't have to replace those bulbs for 20 or 30 years hopefully yes if I could add so the bulb replacement is less saving money in the long run it's less electri electricity to run them and then you save on um air conditioning due to the heat uh output being lessened so thank you thank you thank you Mr board member James just for perspective since it got brought up north Maran Middle School got everything redone um in the last school year and so if you have been out there it is noticeably just a better quality light um I was in the auditorium for the kickoff to Black History Month at the beginning of the month and well you were there too and it just feels so much brighter and lighter um like a cleaner light uh and so it was a I mean I was chatting with Mr Johnson through it and it was a lot it's a big undertaking um because it's a significant change for an entire school but when you get to the other side of it it really is a really high quality product for the teachers and the students so solutely thank you thank you Miss doin you good okay there's no more discussion we'll go ahead and vote all those in favor say I I I motion passes unanimously 5 Z thank you we will move on may I have a motion to approve minor Renovations um $2 million worth it seems like an oxymoron door and window replacement at North Marian high school project 23-17 may I have a motion please so move move by board member Cummings second second by board member James Dr gullet do you have information you'd like to share regarding this items well I think you covered it shair just to um add that the buildings where this work is going to be done that we're requesting for replacing needed windows so they close properly and doors um those buildings were um built in 1963 so you know what happens to windows and doors after a lot of use by our students absolutely thank you is there any discussion from the board sounds like more than ready all right all those in favor say I I I motion passes unanimously 5- Z all right I think we made it through all of them yes all right thank you board uh we'll move on to board committee reports and concerns uh first we'll start with legal nothing additional from legal thank you thank you attorney powers and and thank you for your continuing great work you on your team and on all of our initiatives that require your close precise attention thank you Miss Martinez anything from your seat no Madam chair thank you Miss Martinez Dr gullet yes briefly just a few items Bard thank you it is celebrate Public Schools week appropriate when we talk about making sure that our facilities um provide an environment conducive for learning I want to remind everyone that the South Eastern Youth Fair concludes on Saturday already so I know we have a lot of great um participation by our students and our community did want to follow up to an item I we provided an update on at a recent work session um a street in aola with the potential for them to consider a K8 model and they have concluded the surveys and Miss Kinder I think she contacted all of you board members um they're not moving forward everything's going to remain as it is um based on all the feedback from the stakeholders and with the notion of celebrate Public Schools week I want to do a special thank you to miss Dobbins we are Midway through this week's facility tours as you've referenced earlier and we appreciate um all of the media and Community involvement and support and and what we're showing um as a as a critical need for our schools I've been asked repeatedly especially by media why do we need to show this and it's because it's a need not a want and our students deserve the right to be in in healthy and safe buildings that are conducive for learning so um more to come we are working on plans to extend tours in the future as we continue to go forward and I think that will be important but appreciate um our elected officials that have come out thank you board for participating and I know we'll see um more people and um community members on Thursday thank you thank you Dr gullet it really is important to share our schools they are our community schools and and to share the need and I would say you know that a lot of times um we hear different things in the media about schools there we wish were more positive but I feel like we're getting a lot of positive balanced accurate you know reporting on on the critical needs that we do have and and our plans to to make everything so much better so that's wonderful I think while we're on this side we'll go ahead and move on to our student board members and I'm so sad that this is your last meeting with us it went by like that and you and you kind of got cheated because we had one board meeting because of the weather you know when when we didn't have you here but it certainly has been a joy um to have both of you so we will um start with Miss Divia hi um I just had a little bit of commentary to add to some things that we've seen tonight from a student perspective so uh regarding the cursive I completely understand and support the usage and the implementation of that in our schools um not only because it's been important in things like forming a legal signature for me but also in some of my IV exams were actually required to use different fonts like in paper one of the Spanish exam were required to make a brochure and we have to use a different font for subtitles and headings and um as someone who was taught cursive in elementary school I have greatly appreciated it um also just with the Cambridge assessment um again just great things happening because I saw that with that in the commentary it comes with the bright future scholarship and that also comes with IV and that has been greatly helpful as someone who's going to college next year so um yeah and then just at Vanguard with the elevator at building 4 we only have two buildings on campus that have two floors um and building four is the one that does not have an elevator and with someone who has had a leg injury and crutches um and has seen like entire classrooms move from the upstairs to the downstairs simply because because students can't make it upstairs um that will be greatly helpful uh and yeah just thank you for having both of us and thank you for giving us time on the school board and giving the student body of voice you absolutely it's it's certainly been our our pleasure and and we always appreciate uh your input and your participation it it's really been so beneficial yeah yeah so and we'll move on to uh to you BL yes ma'am Dr golet chair thrower um Vice chair Conrad Miss Campbell um Mr Cummings Dr James Attorney Powers um board Clark Martinez thank you all again for having me in this position it it truly is an honor to be able to serve as a representative of my school um and to witness and be involved in you know the the the policies that affect all of Maran County all of their students students um as a student currently in AP research um I've chosen to study the impact of student leadership organizations on school climate um and in my studies I have found that the student voice is one of the most underused Outlets of change and yet it stands as one of the most important factors in creating a successful policy I believe that this position makes Incredible strides to increasing student involvement it creates a space for for uh the student voice to become consistently heard um and it allows a glimpse into the broader workings of our school system I could not be prouder of my school district um for implementing this position and I believe this is a remarkable step for the entire Community again thank you guys so much for having me during these few meetings and allowing the student voice to be heard loud and clear I hope this District can continue to move forward in the same exemplary manner thank you all for your time and commitment to the school system thank you thank you student board member Barnes and it means a lot to to me personally as as the chair during your time here to to have you with us it was our intention um for a long time to do this and the pandemic kind of derailed things like that and then um board member Campbell really resuscitated the idea and and put the work in as the board member you know being the liaison um to bring this to life and certainly very very grateful and and appreciative I I sit here and I wonder did have you picked a college yet I'm um very um very close to deciding we're we're almost there okay well you'll have to email us all right am yes please reach out to board member Campbell so she can share with the rest of the board yes um I'm about 85% I'll be attending the University of Florida but I'm still waiting to hear back from everything out of state at the end of March so all right all right considering taking your talents to UF all right well wonderful it is it's we certainly wish you well and please keep in touch and and I think board member Cummings has said to each of the students you know this it doesn't stop here starts here so anything we can do to help reference letters things like that let us know thank you he's like okay all right great thank you all right board member James we'll shift down to you awesome good evening um I want to start by saying we started the night with some Monumental um approvals as a board that I'm really excited about I I asked Miss Boston Ellis if the district had ever borrowed money like this before and she said no um not to her recollection and and I I think that it just marks the start of a really great journey as a board we're leading this District in making some tremendous decisions and addressing pain points that have been around for a while and I just wanted to acknowledge the work of everyone who's played a part in getting us to this night and the difficult decisions that we have collectively made together to move this work forward so I just wanted to take a moment to say that speaking of that do we um I just had a few quick questions I know that the board of County Commissioners is having a public hearing on March 5th regarding the impact fees is there a date set for them to have a follow-up meeting to vote on the impact fees I'll check on that and email to each of the board members I believe it was March 27th or 8 I I have to look at it though so okay thank I'll find that and get that information to that would be wonderful yep we want to get that on our calendars for sure yes um are we moving forward I know a couple of us including I think Dr Campbell in the last meeting have mentioned the wear house do we have a Miss dobins probably knew I was saying this do we have a date on when we're going to be able to get that appraisal or or moving forward or what does that look like I'm sorry Dr James the echo it's hard to hear what's your question I know it's hard the the warehouse um the parcel that we vacated downtown we are going to get an appraisal on that at per our last conversation the team's working on that so that will be something the board has to approve we'll be bringing that forward to the board when we have the appraisal done that was based on a conversation we had at a work session correct we moving forward with timeline we established for that that would be great if we could um get that shared we'll send that to you okay thank you um I know you'll make sure all board members get us okay correct final question I have did we make a decision on a separate meeting for um the discipline offs okay perfect if you're going to bring it up that's perfect um so the last thing I want to mention is um Miss Slaughter came for W and talked about curse of instruction this evening and I having been a high school English teacher myself I definitely recognize that there is a a gap for some students but I also want to acknowledge that there are a lot of teachers teaching cursive in elementary school and I don't want to discredit the work that they're doing my daughter's in first grade and her first grade teacher is teaching her cursive so I just wanted to take a moment to acknowledge the work that a lot of our staff and teachers are doing to deliver curse of instruction throughout our schools um I think it's definitely a place where we could strengthen our instruction delivery but I wanted to give credit where credit was due so that is all I have for tonight I'm proud of the work we're doing as a district and I look forward to keep on keeping on great thank you board member James board member Cummings good evening um to everyone um please forgive me I've been some things to tickle in my throat so that's why you hear on this coughing and stuff um this has been a very very uh very informative meeting we've done some Monumental things tonight uh in the in the early parts of our meeting um huge huge um steps going in the right direction as far as construction um making sure that we we're moving our district in the right um with the right momentum into getting better school SCH or bigger schools more modern updated schools so I want to thank the board for for proceeding forward with that a couple of things um I uh had the pleasure to uh last week and this week to visit a couple of schools um one was Forest High School my alma ma Blake um it was good I was there Dr camon and I were there for their black history um program truly it was a a wonderful wonderful even they had food from everywhere and all kind of stuff and um I want to thank Miss April Rose McCoy who who did push that um program out and principal Rimer but then also on uh yesterday I got invited to go to Sunrise Elementary and um they had a tremendous tremendous uh project they had black history project it wasn't a program it was a project and um I was was invited by Miss uh Hazelton and Miss Capers uh they are second grade teachers but they don't teach second graders they teach students who are almost third graders that's how they Define it and um it was truly an awesome awesome event I saw kids that were um did projects on historic figures um that were uh vital to the United States being what the United States is is and I was amazed at the uh caliber of the presentations that were given and how these kids were able to articulate um their their projects sometimes we think with black history that you'll only hear the pro you hear the the uh people of Dr Marther King or uh Michael Jordan but I was pleased to hear some of the kids' presentations on May Jameson and um Alma Thomas and uh one of my favorite artists Stevie Wonder so it was truly a good good morning to hang out with those kids over at Sunrise and again shout out to them for all that they are doing uh it was truly a wonderful wonderful wonderful um morning I do want to commend our student board Representatives you guys were truly uh a pleasure to be here with us this this past few weeks um even though is at our rival School Vanguard but my son's there so I got to like Vanguard have to support them all and then U Blake Mama Al ma uh I appreciate everything that you guys brought to the board um your comments were um very informational they were pointed and they were on point they were on point um you represented the wildcast very well uh so I'll give you that um I encourage you to continue to do whatever your your passions put push you to do I think you guys have a wonderful wonderful future bright future ahead of you and again as board board chair Thor said if there's anything that this board member I think this board can do um as far as you going forward please let us know don't hesitate to let us know um what you need um my final thing my final thing I um oftentimes I I get phone calls and emails from from folk um from parents from community members about something that's going on at the school or something that's going on in the classroom or or and and often times it's like you board that board this board has made decisions and we let me let me let me try to say something and I pray that I saying it right when I look at education when I view education when I view the Maran County Public School District I don't view it as a you or us against them or we against them or them against us I see this as a team effort I see the team um working for a common goal that's education on that team I see the students on that team I see the parents on that team I see the teachers the principles and the administrators I see the complete team I see the district as a whole so often times um teams don't do well when they don't communicate with each other so I want to encourage our community I want to encourage our our parents and our students um to not necessarily circumvent or jump things um go beyond if you haven't talked to the next teammate talk to the person that's at that school talk to the teacher have conversations and and let me say this and I I'll say it and I'll people may get mad but social media is not how you talk you don't talk to parents and teachers using using social media you pick up the phone and you call them and say can I have a conference or you send an email and say can we talk about this situation because ultimately it's about the student it's about doing what's best for students and helping the students succeed you don't have to jump straight to a board you don't have to jump straight to the superintendent the teacher is the one that sits with that kid every day and knows best what's going on with the classroom and if if you doubt that things are not what the teacher is saying then ask that you come and look in the window I think sometimes we'll be surprised at how our kids are when they're not with us so uh I encourage us to to to remember that that proverb that it takes a village to raise kids and we're all in the same Village and we want to make sure that these kids get everything that they need and we want to make sure that we are good teammates in this process of education so again um we're heading in the right direction but we can't head in the right direction we're not communicating with each other so again I want to encourage our teams our members of our teams to start talking a little bit better and please don't do it on Facebook because Facebook is not the way to do it that's my comments on tonight thank you board member Cummings board member Campbell thank you um and thank you board member Cummings for saying that I I distinctly remember one of the reasons at least why we talked about having a district Facebook page was potentially to comat the existing Facebook page that started apart from the district having a Facebook page and still trying to circumvent all of the things that are continuing to be discussed but thank you for those comments for sure I I'll kind of go in order of the things that were discuss tonight so first of all thanks to miss Slaughter for talking about cursive handwriting my youngest son was in the third grade whenever third grade curs was upcoming after spring break and then we went on spring break that lasted forever and never they never came back so he completely missed that uh there are teachers that are teaching cursive handwriting but I do believe there has been a gap for sure uh when common Corp was really present and so um students that are in advanced grades we we have a gap and so I would welcome the opportunity to potentially Champion that as one of our causes in the future similar to what we talked about and recently in a work session about Transportation being one of our you know priorities in the future legislative sessions about how we're not funded fully for transportation and how the formula potentially could look different for those districts that don't have access to public transportation and have the land mass that size ours is so I I'm looking forward to some of these conversations because I think we're already formulating future legislative priorities that I think could really be we could be champions for in the state while I mentioned that legisl session currently is in budget conferencing you probably all have seen that so both houses are in budget conferencing and we're just awaiting those final details on a lot of the legislation that's still you can kind of follow the media really to see what bills are not getting traction like they thought they were going to and what things will be picked up in the future uh but continue to appreciate our lobbyist and and our Florida Schoolboard Association to continuing to update us on where we are and where we land tonight in the consent agenda we approved three deductive change orders while we didn't have to approve them excuse me they were points of note that we don't have to officially approve but they did Total more than $113,000 so anytime we can save money always appreciative of that so wanted to make that uh comment also tonight we approved in the consent agenda the public hearing for March 26th to approve our revised board policies that this board has worked diligently on we have the responsibilities of budget and policy and so anytime we can do deductive change orders that's budget well anytime we do anything money related its budget uh but anytime we're working on policies then that uh just culminates what our official responsibilities are looking forward to March 26th and actually being able to put that stamp of approval on all that hard work we've already done one of those board policies that we will be approving hopefully all things considered will be board Poli policy 01 41.4 which is student representative to the board and so we started this ahead of actually having the policy fully approved we already knew this was the direction that we were wanting to go but I'm grateful for the student voices that we've had thank you to both of you for being wonderful Representatives not only of your school but just of students in general in Maran County part of how this continued to come about I know the board previously had talked about it but how really this came about even more so was sitting in front of students and talking to them as a guest speaker and telling students the role of a Schoolboard member and asking them if they had any idea how many student emails we receive and when I told them the number is I think maybe one in two years even on start time you know start time changes even on any major decisions that this board has the number of actual Communications that we receive from students are few and far between so having you sitting here provides that voice provides the constant reminder that we are helping every student succeed and we have students here telling us that every day so thank you I'm grateful that this board has moved forward with this and that we will be able to solidify this in policy on March 26 also wanted to note as Dr goet said about celebrating Public Schools week um for those of you who follow speaking the Facebook who follow um Florida Schoolboard Association U CEO Andrea massina she put out the question this week where did you go to public school and so I'm saying loud and clear while my education was not in Florida it was in Cleveland Tennessee I went to Mayfield Elementary Cleveland Junior High and Cleveland High School it was the last year for the junior high they moved to Middle School the year after I left uh but I'm still a huge fan of the junior high model so I was a proud public school student and I have three proud public school students currently in our district and I am the mentor to a proud public school student who my mentee showed her lamb at the Southeastern Youth Fair so I got to see that in action on Friday and just all the great vendors even there that are supporting and being available for students and just all the families there and all the sales all the I I heard that the steer sale I think went till or went till 11:30 last night so um nevertheless just grateful for all of that work that's being done and the number of students that are participating and the life skills that they're learning even in arts and speech and cooking baking all there's there's something for everyone at South Eastern Youth Fair so it it really is just a great time and looking forward to that wrapping up they're just great partners and so appreciative um the last thing I wanted to mention was uh in light of all the money that we are now asking for and going out for ETC the Florida Schoolboard Association is having an advanced School Finance Forum two-day session coming up in Gainesville in April I only bring this up because we have a Schoolboard work session currently scheduled for that April 18th date I know we only have two work sessions I'm not able to look ahead to see what currently is coming on that April 18th work session but I just wanted to bring it up to the board I know I certainly would like to attend the sessions in Gainesville because it's been a couple of years since I've been to it and it does seem like what they're offering this time is going to be incredibly relevant for the direction this board is currently in and moving toward so if we could at least this is early you know we're in February still but if we could have conversation possibly about that April 18th work session what that would look like if we needed to move the date or if we needed to collapse some of those things and that will that's my recommendation to see what we could do to move forward so that as many of us who wanted to could attend it it is in Gainesville so it wouldn't require a hotel stay um so it shouldn't even require board vote necessarily we always have to vote on them when they're in Tallahassee and we're going really far in Tampa and we're having overnight stays this would would just be the cost of the registration um so that's my request and recommendation and potentially if Dr gulet can get back with us on what that might look like for April 18th so that's all I had thank you Cher thank you thank you board member camel and I too would be interested in going I think I saw a vice Chair comrad say that she'd like to go and board member Cummings and you know so that's already uh four and I'm not sure you know board member James please check your schedule and and see what you want to do but Dr gullet um this would be something that would be really worthwhile for the board to attend for sure certainly I can tell you right now that we have in draft for the 18th an update on the funding program what part one of two and recommended instruction materials for adoption for 16 courses I would have to see if we could move those as you may recall the other work session is the week prior and we already have four items there I don't know if those items that I've just me mention to you would be ready for the 11th and I will have to check with the team and get back with you okay wonderful thank you very much for that okay Vice chair Conrad okay um I do have a couple of items good evening everyone um we did facility tours and I know um several people have shared about that already um but I just wanted to say thank you specifically um to several people because there was a lot of work and a lot of preparation um that went into the first day we have a second day um approaching here on Thursday Dr gullet um Miss Dobbins Mr Duncan Mr Knight Mr Christian uh Mr Jones at MTI Miss Thomas at Bell Elementary Mr mcateer at denell and middle and Mr Martin at dullen High um it was really very informative uh it was so nice if your wheelhouse is not construction or Plumbing or electricity to be able to walk through and see exactly what Plumbing from 1963 looks like what what an electrical box from 1971 looks like and to and to have them walk you through what the needs are and to be able to see them so I I know everybody had to set aside what what they're doing to help us um go and visit and tour schools our principales had to stop what they were doing you know academically at their schools and so I just wanted to give you my sincere thanks for taking time and all of the preparation that went in and planning for that um I will have to mention that I was disappointed that we didn't have more elected officials I know that they were all invited um even if theyve could have made one stop at one school um they could have seen the struggles that were up against as a district in our aging school so thank you again uh to that team I also wanted um Miss Boston Ellis and attorney Powers you guys have been running a marathon for us between impact fees and sales tax and getting funding and loans for our schools and so I know that you've been burning the midnight oil and I just want you to know I appreciate it um it's such an exciting time but I know you guys have been diligently working behind the scenes to get us to where we are today and I'm extremely grateful for the work that you are doing so thank you thank you um I wanted to say again that the South Eastern Youth Fair is still going on we were at the lam and goat show this last weekend and we'll be be at the pig uh show in sale this coming weekend but there's a lot of great things um just if you're out and about you just need a something uplifting to attend it really um it really is inspirational the kids do a great job so I encourage you to stop by there if you have a minute um I had a comment also I know Miss Slaughter shared about cursive writing and there's been several um comments on that and and I'm just going to speak to you from a teacher perspective because teaching cursive was a challenge for me as a fourth grade teacher and someone shared a couple of weeks ago we keep adding things to our educator plates social emotional learning's been added water safety's been added um Internet safety you know keyboarding and our writing assessments have turned to online tools and so just putting on my teacher had it's really frustrating you know we only have so many hours at a day and the list of things that we have to accomplish just continues to grow and so I just encourage uh our District staff and our district leaders we have to make some priorities and and we have to acknowledge that there are not enough minutes in the day to do everything that we're asked to do um especially if you figure in anything like fire drills Alice drills all of the other requirements that we have that do take they're important but they do take instructional time and so I just want to acknowledge that that is a real challenge our our classroom teachers are facing um and I know I enjoyed when I had the opportunity to teach cursive my students enjoyed it they they would beg to do it um but it is a challenge to find the time during the school day and so maybe there's someone that's out there doing it well and they want to share share their strategies of how they're incorporating it into into their day so I just wanted to acknowledge that um Reverend Cummings I want to thank you for your comments about teamwork I too recently this week received several calls from parents and they were upset about a situation and it I just can't express how important it is that you reach out and talk to the teacher first talk to the dean or guidance counselor reach out to the direct administrator um because they know where where your child is and what's going on and and we're here to help you if that plan is not working if you're not getting any response there so thank you for sharing that I I think it's so important to um to follow the chain of command so we can get things done and last but not least I had the privilege um of attending the public Education Foundation meeting and although I've kind of been on the outskirts of activities that happen in that organization I really was humbled um this morning and really grateful for all of the things that the foundation does for our staff and our students and so so I just had a couple things I wanted to share with you from that meeting um they are still looking for four volunteers um to help with mentoring and so there's a young lady at dellan high school that's in need of a Mentor lakee High School Vanguard High School and Westport HIgh School and so I know everyone here is is is doing their part but if you think of someone that might be interested in that position I just share that out um in case they would be interested in in mentoring another exciting thing that happened is our middle schools and our high schools are going to receive some extra funding um from some money funding that was collected from W so our middle schools are going to receive $22,000 for their culinary program and the high schools are going to receive $3,000 for their culinary program and so that was really exciting we know there's needs um in all of those areas um a lot of work's being done to help with our mental health health um issue and initiative so that was exciting to hear and also the partnership with UF there's a new world reading initiative I don't know a lot um about that program but they shared that there would be free books for students so I was 100% on board with that um families being able to get good literature to have at home and and remove that barrier of maybe not being able to get to the library or or have access online so just a lot of great things um that the public Education Foundation is is helping um provide for our staff and our students so just wanted to give a shout out to them for the hard work that they're doing and I think that is all chair thrower thank you all right thank you Vice chair Conrad and and yes uh globally let the Great work continue um everyone has just stepped up with all of these initiatives to get them across the the Finish Line uh the the work definitely continues the the momentum is there and the appreciation is certainly there across the board to everyone that is sitting up here I want to give a special thank you also to attorney powers and Miss Martinez um as they have had to collaborate on all kinds of uh different uh details you know so many details um but if it but if it wasn't for the collaboration between all of the Departments and staff then we would not have been sitting up here tonight approving what we approved so um thanks and gratitude um to all and I just wanted to share a couple of meeting reminders the next administrative briefing and work session has been scheduled for March 7th 20124 the following administrative briefing and work session has also been scheduled for March 28th 2024 and it seems impossible to believe that uh this is our last board meeting before spring break which is right around the corner and so I want to encourage everyone to uh unplug and spend your best time doing what you love the most and most importantly remember to come back on the very first day of school don't extend your spring break uh we need you here I I hope you stay healthy and stay very safe um it always there's never a good time to go into student disciplinary matters but tonight I'm going to be reading if I counted it write 30 names of of students and it has a JD in front of each one and that stands for juvenile delinquent I mean that's awful you know we've just sat up here and talked about all the amazing things we have going on in our school district and it breaks my heart to know that there's going to be quite a few students due to their choices that they have made um maybe they didn't read the quote of student student conduct maybe they didn't think it would come to this I don't know um but but we have got to reverse this tide and and continue to reach out to our families and ask them to partner with us as board member said and the other board members too you know it is a bidirectional thing and and together you know we can reverse this and and we really need to sooner than later because we have way too many exciting cool things going on to be missing out on so um with that I'll conclude my comments and I will say that before addressing expulsion matters I wish to acknowledge that board members have received the alternative placement list for students through January 25th 2024 Miss Martinez are there any parents who have submitted a timely request to speak on the child's disciplinary matter yes Madam chair we have five off air thank you we'll continue that um off a for now may I have a motion to approve the expulsion of students jd24 d159 jd24 D1 60e jd24 d161 jd24 d163 jd24 d164 jd24 d165 jd24 d166 jd24 d167 jd24 d168 e jd24 d169 e jd24 24-17 0 jd24 d173 jd24 d175 jd24 d177 jd24 d179 jd24 d181 jd24 d182 e jd24 d183 e jd24 d184 e j jd24 d185 jd24 d186 jd24 d187 jd24 d188 jd24 d190 jd24 d191 jd24 d192 jd24 d193 jd24 d195 jd24 d196 with Educational Service for the remainder of the 2023 2024 school year and the first second and third quarters of the 2024 2025 school year may I have a motion please motion to approve motion by Vice chair Conrad second second by board member James is there any discussion hearing none all those in favor say I I the motion passes unanimously 5 may I have a motion to approve the expulsion of student JD 24-17 8e without Educational Services for the remainder of the 2023 2024 school year and the entire 2024 2025 school year may I have a motion please motion to approve motion Vice by Vice chair Conrad second second by board member Campbell is there any discussion hearing none all those in favor say I I motion passes unanimously thank you everyone um I will now call this meeting into recess at 7:28 p.m. to give us a little time to clear the room have a wonderful spring [Music] break