for me that um to understand and this is to get uh questions answered for later um we had several people that contacted me that were from local fire departments that um had applied for that vacancy and um those vacancies were filled by our new employees which is one of our vendors and my question is this is there a difference in the quality qualifications of the cap employees versus local fire departments who have applied for vacancies within the Chief Fire officials office that's question one I'm being quick as I can question two how long are those individuals hired from government work for us and how do we justify the increases that are tens of thousands of dollars um okay and once again this was a uh a practice where we brought them in at a lot more money than the people that are sitting beside them so um I think a review of this would be helpful and um I appreciate it and thank the time for for Madam chair for that thank you thank you and Dr H will'll follow off with your questions to the board now we're going to go to committee reports first up is the audit committee a committee Broward County Association of student councils and student advisor to the board Brower Council Brower County Council ptas ptsas br educ ation Foundation District advisory council did not think I was going to be first up today anyways good morning Chuck Harper District advisory Council chair and I want to start my report this morning with two items that uh were not finished at our May 8th DAC meeting both were motions brought forward by the uh the North Area advisory Council and uh I promised them that uh I'd get it in front of the board before I left um the first motion was uh from North Area um and it was I move that every school be required to report all open seats including those not intended for school choice to the office of school choice in order to maintain compliance with state law and in order to compare that data with current enrollment data to ensure accuracy the second also from North Area um we move to establish uh live comprehensive teacher training programs during both school hours and flexible hours addressing all aspects of curriculum and adequate training for teachers to meet the needs of all students including but not limited to Esau gifted and ESC this is because of the lack of attendance for Saturday and after school sessions it's crucial to offer accessible and continual professional development opportunities to Foster continual growth and efficiency of uh Educators as uh I alluded to moments ago this is my last meeting in front of you you all as uh BR County School's district advisory Council chair it has truly been an amazing journey for a dad who just wanted to uh to help his football team out and I have learned so much from everyone here on both sides of this little retractable rope um from Scott Jarvis who was my first uh you know liaison and in his immense help uh with me kind of getting off the ground aspect to all five superintendents that I've had the pleasure of working with along with you the board we uh sometimes may uh disagree on on on the best way to solve problems but we're all here to solve those problems um I have never once thought that you have not had the best interests of our of our students working for uh common goals truly played out last week when uh Jennifer kirkoff and Elaine Tolson um both behind the scenes um made it POS made possible a meeting at Coconut Creek High School where the North Regional staff along with Dr Hein Miss Rupert the Broward Education Foundation and the leadership of Coconut Creek High School all worked on a new vision to redefine what the look of the COC Creek Zone will look like in the in the immediate future it was an amazing meeting and now we just have to show Broward County and Broward County's parents and students what amazing is like and I think that's part of our biggest problem we have to show what amazing is once again you know it has truly been a pleasure serving as the district count uh District advisory Council chair and I want to thank you all for your help and the knowledge that I've learned thanks so [Applause] much thank you so much to your dedication and commitment to our students of brow County Public Schools and you will be greatly missed diversity committee all right good morning board members uh Dr superintendent should we say it like that from now on Dr superintendent I like that and staff okay the committee had um one final site visit but has been postponed until further notice um the last site visit we did do was at Cypress Bay High the committee observed security is a bit laxed over there upon entering the buzz uh the buzzer system was not utilized as directed upon leaving the campus um one of the camp Des monitors was asleep next to the gate um but I was assured by the school that they have rectified that situation um school is clean and aesthetically appealing all students observe the ID badge displayed staff is friendly and welcoming students are well behaved however there are way too many instances of dress code violation especially with the girls um classes observe students and teachers are fully engaged internal suspension students were engaged in um in work facilities are overall in good shape with minor areas of concern which are the auditorium cafeteria basketball and Tennis Courts um enhanced educational program is in abundance at that school and the district should really take a note on what it is working um on what is working at these schools and replicate them throughout the the district especially during redefining uh we continue to see Inc consensuses with the St uh standard of service and reassignments throughout the district I've asked staff to provide me with an explanation of standard of service I have yet to receive that I said that last month as well the office of school choice um the department of demographics and the director of uh School counseling Mr shapira were all at our last meeting to uh help ask us for input on their um policy review uh because of time constraints and fluctuation of Quorum um our committee was unable to give full input to school choice in demographics however I subsequently sent an email to uh Mr Beck who's in demographics now and um I'm supposed to be meeting with somebody in school choice so we'll see how that goes um we also had the advisory chair meet with Dr hebburn many of us left it uh left feeling as uh the the meeting was productive we also felt welcomed and heard um we are optimistic and look forward to appr proactive and positive collaboration moving forward so I want to take take the time to tell Dr superintendent heurn thank you very much um it felt uh better than it was before and I am very very optimistic so I want to tell you thank you for that lastly as a board begins to the um begin your process of appointing appointing and reappointing committee members please make sure that you are vetting your appointees explaining the time commitment and participation needed for adver uh the advisories to be productive and provide this board with meaningful input I would also like to ask that would you consider when appointing not to appoint us with a whole bunch of Staff members although we believe staff members input is very valuable however when you um when there's more staff members than there are non-staff members it's very difficult for information to be um for input to be valuable in the sense that uh staff doesn't have to worry about retaliation so uh we look we we hope that you would take that in consider consideration because it does kind of hinder us well I could say me for my my it hinders my my my ability to really kind of provide the recommendations and considerations that would be uh beneficial to the district um so if you would please do that but also you know have a good conversation with those who are um looking to be appointed that they understand the commitment level we have a huge issue with uh Quorum um and also participation some people just come and they just sit around and do nothing I'm going to be honest um and it's not fair to the district and it's not fair to the kids because I believe that full participation um and input is vital so um that's it for today for me um and I look forward to you guys working real hard on this redefining thing thank you thank you and you bring up a really good point the Dr heper can staff provide to the board if there is specific timing rules for the Committees that so that we make sure that we appoint and that our appointees know uh the commitment that they need to make for each of the committees as we move forward and transition to next year yes chair we'll provide a followup with that specic specific information thank you BTU bpaa asab poopy Koopa PBA ESC advisory Council good morning Jackie luskin chair again of ESC advisory um our uh autism committee held its um um monthly or its quarterly meeting on matriculation supporting parents of uh children as they move on up the school system um meaningful inclusion committee um discussed Behavior protocols and brought up an important motion that we'd like to pass on today uh we looked at a particular Behavior protocol that has been used in some other districts with amazing results uh in terms of training staff and behavior management and we would love for brow schools to consider its use here too um we bought a motion being that the collaborative and proactive Solutions model from lives in the balance is recognized as an empirically supported evidence-based treatment has been demonstrated in districts in Maine and New Hampshire to significantly reduce the number of referrals suspensions expulsions and other Behavior related con consequences in schools and is able to be incorporated into current behavior practices including functional Behavior assessments and behavior intervention plans we recommend that BCPS incorporates this model as one of its Behavior methodologies so I will hand that in and we would love it looked at um at our main ese advisory meeting last week we learned all about great work being done by the ESC department on various areas including inclusion ensuring that all schools have an inclusion plan an inclusion Champion infusing best practices in inclusive education across all school activities and we heard about a grow your own initiative in which they have been helping to train up staff to to move into becoming ese Specialists which is a role we all as parents hugely respect they are under resourced they are overstretched and uh having to grow your own scheme really was uh it does show good initiatives so we're grateful for the work going on one thing that we did not hear about though until I asked about it uh in order for it to be drawn into the public domain um was the phase out of the AM PM program and this is a language-based halfday prek model that provides age appropriate experiences to enhance vocabulary development Q&A skills social use of language and preacademic concept development um it it has a reading read Readiness curriculum um and it provides for students with speech language Andor mild developmental delays and exists in uh and assists in areas of need in language and communication that may impact social emotional cognitive Andor independent functioning importantly this is also a Gateway into Broward schools this is how you're hooking in young families providing this kind of unique programming so that their children can come either in the morning or in the afternoon for their few hours of intensive um uh uh um needs that they have uh to be met and uh this is run by speech language Pathologists um with the teaching assistant for those speech language pathologist to be finding this out through the Great Vine for us to be finding it out through the Great Vine as parents through the rumor mail through the backd door rather than the front door there is a lot of um annoyance about it a lot of anger a lot of upset a lot of insult firstly phasing out any program right at the moment when we're trying to revamp Broward schooles and show that we can be adaptive to parent and family needs and student needs and hearing that we're phasing something out and that is the ESC Department's language phasing it out um is is to us heartbreaking um it's it's been very insulting to staff who have not been told about it to the slps that Faithfully run this service um we did I did speak at the weekend with one of the ESC directors who called me after all this blew up on Facebook but it shouldn't have had to um she was apologetic but I'm still not aware that any apology has been offered to the staff who heard about this um don't know what's happening with their jobs um and they are dreadfully worried that students will be placed potentially in a more restrictive environment simply because they have speech language skills that could be serviced in this kind of program but now it's going to be close to where do you put them um the ESC Department can tell you what their arguments are about that uh but but given that this was uh kept under um behind closed doors is uh is not acceptable finally you'll have all received in your email some light reading with my 42-page report on Ed plan please please please listen and read the facts within it because facts they are and I like facts false and misleading information false narratives misinformation and missteps um have guided the decision to uh close Ed plan and move into a module that is unproven untested and underdeveloped it is dangerous you're standing on the edge of a catastrophe for Ese and please please please read that report thank you thank you so much es saw Leadership Council theil's task force gifted advisory Council human Relations Committee is your microphone working I have this effect on technology apologies that's why I'm not on the technology task force uh Nancy fry chair of the human Relations Committee uh good morning School Board superintendent staff uh first off I would like to congratulate the new student advisor uh Landon spelberg uh as a uh Western High alumna uh good good to see a fellow wildcat in that seat uh and that is my segue to uh the first thing that we discussed at our last meeting which is uh the importance of student voices in our discussions we need to know what's happening on the ground in our schools and we need to find more ways to bring in those voices and how to reach more students than just the couple that we always hear from um and we need to do more to talk to the kids directly uh for example we discussed the uh Community conversation on drugs and while that was a fantastic program we're very grateful ful that we had that there was concern that maybe we're also preaching to the choir and the people that are showing up to those programs already know that information or are more receiving of it and uh we need to find ways to kind of broaden our approach uh uh also we discussed about uh appointments for next year we uh again to Echo uh diversity chair uh Pier Grant's uh request to vet your appointees we also would love to see for those that did show up this year and really part we would love to see some reappointments uh to maintain continuity uh we also want to remind again going back to student voices uh we're allowed to appoint uh two student members as well and also any of those seats can be filled by students uh we had a phenomenal Vice chair this year uh Maya Who uh just take a point of privilege uh congratulate her for having the most service hours in the county this year so uh that's fantastic and we would love to see uh more of that kind of participation as well in in addition to uh the wonderful folks that that have been participating this year and also just to encourage maybe a little bit more of a variety of people so that we're not always appointing the same people and hearing those same that same input uh because what I'm hearing a lot from all of us that are doing this volunteer work because we're all very tired we have a lot of commitments and uh people like me don't know how to say no so when you ask us we'll say yes but I think um maybe looking for uh some new people that need to have their voice uplifted a little a little bit more and maybe aren't pushing toward the front so much um another issue that was raised uh was we got word from uh some of our high schools that the um reproductive curriculum forms the opt out forms there are certain schools that were basically encouraging the students to forge signatures for their parents or looking the other way when that was happening uh to encourage them to opt out of the curriculum uh which is a huge concern it's it's a disservice to our Equity diversity and school climate Department who have been spending countless hours educating our teachers and our staff on how to implement the curriculum properly and all the work that everyone has done to make sure that this is an appropriate legal and safe curriculum uh we have some the highest incidences of HIV in this country here in BR County we need to make sure the kids are getting the education and we should not be encouraging them to opt out for non-legitimate reasons or encouraging them to uh not let their parents know what's going on in the school if we talk about uh uh parent input and we talk about parental rights we need to make sure the parents know that these forms are supposed to be going home and they're supposed to be signing it so I don't know if there's a download that we could be sending out instead of sending the papers with the kids some kind of workaround but um we would like to let you guys know that this is happening that's a word that we've received um additionally uh another item that was discussed uh we were so happy that there was uh a day off to not for e but in order to accommodate the uh operational impacts of Eid however only the students got off this year and if we're trying to be Equitable with other religious holidays that allow uh staff in the district to be off we need to do the same across the board so uh when we're looking at the calendar for next year if we can please uh look at e the the day that Eid falls on as being a day off for the district not just for the students because we have plenty of Muslim teachers staff District employees that uh would like to have the opportunity to observe as well uh without having to sacrifice a day off um and with that I just want to uh thank everyone for all the work we've uh gotten to do together this year I'll have my final report next month uh for the wrapup but uh as always I continue to look forward to working with everyone uh regarding inclusion belonging and equity in our schools thank you thank you so much multilingual advisory committee par and Community involvement task force good morning Mary ferdig on behalf of the parent Community involvement task force as we approached the end of the 2023 24 school year I wanted to take this opportunity to share how much we appreciate the many dedicated members of your staff who work with our task force on producing parent University uh when we first proposed parent University we were really thinking about inperson meetings and in fact that's what it was for a while but um about four years ago uh we transitioned with Co began our virtual parent universities and they've just been tremendously successful our two most recent programs the kindergarten campaign and getting focused have been shorter single topic uh programs and we are looking at this model of trying to keep it 30 to 45 minutes instead of an hour and a half to two hours we see we keep more people online um we're also exploring other methods of commun of of communicating on issues with our parents and Community such as podcasts um the members of our task force who work on the parent University programs are are many of us are longtime volunteers and I have to tell you our experience in working with the staff to produce these programs has has given us A Renewed appreciation for the many talented people who work for brard County Public Schools um we're already discussing our programs for late summer and early fall so if you have any ideas please let us know um we are hoping to have a date soon for a nonprofit Forum which we're looking to do over the summer and we're in the early stages of of planning our empowering parents conference which um isn't is held in four languages I want to thank each of you for your appointments to our task force this is one of the best committees I've ever sat on and in and and that is many in many ways that is due to you all because you have just appointed such excellent people and um so I want to thank you for that and I want to Echo the comments on Dr heird and the meetings he's had I have felt there has been an erosion of public input in recent years but after the last um few meetings the town halls and the community and the meeting with chairs that he had on Friday I just have a sense of hope that we are getting ready to see A Renewed Resurgence of parent Community involvement thank you thank you so much small business advisory committee technology advisory committee good morning school board members chair and Dr superintendent take a Chapter from her um we did not meet Quorum at our last meeting and I will be sending each one of you uh a recap of your rep representatives and their attendance and their input um in in reviewing our technology policy I found that policies are not being cross referenced with other policies an example is language that's being stricken in the technology policy yet is referenced in the student code of conduct uh the other one is the purchasing policy of today 3800 pp2 striking through purchasing language for various departments not being allowed um not being addressed in those departments or departments policies uh we will also be looking at the Internet safety policy as required by Florida Administrative Code 6A 1.95 2 which was supposed to be implemented by September 1st 2023 and board approved every single year uh concerns were raised about the SSS module training question questions asked were not being addressed in um in terms of how it is to be implemented we were told that functionality was what um people were being trained on the processes is what they are going to be trained on from the ESC staff the delivery method of the training needs to be reviewed some people learn differently as we teach our children our teachers are products of that learning uh thank you Dr heern for meeting with the chairs on Friday uh the chairs felt that we were um starting on a clean slate until yesterday's memo I am looking forward to meeting on June 25th with the board and I wish you a happy summer until we meet again thank you thank you this is a time of the agenda where we have split the general public speakers to incorporate a morning session each registered speaker will be allowed three minutes and a reminder reminded to address matters of re relevance to public education and Dem proper decorum no heckling shouting comments from the audience verbal outbursts or any other disruptive behavior shall be permitted no signs or placers shall be allowed in the board meeting no derogatory comments using the person's proper name shall be permitted therefore speakers are to demonstrate proper deorum and model the district's eight character traits cooperation responsibility citizenship kindness respect honesty self-control and tolerance persons exting the boardroom shall do so quietly further at the conclusion of public speakers the chair will be provid an opportunity for the superintendent his cabinet as as his discretion to provide comments regarding any subject matter or issues raised by public speakers additionally superintendent may have members of his staff to speak to individual public speakers in an effort to address their concerns and provide any followup to the public speakers concerns the first speaker is Dolly Fernandez Michael Sawyer Brown Angela Pinkney good morning board my name is Angela pikn head facility service person at Endeavor Primary Learning Center I have been working for in brow County schools for 28 years 22 years at Endeavor I love my job and take pride in working that endeavor never had a cleaning issue potential 3 days suspension administrator Rond Thomas on January 10th Mr Thomas came from behind the front office counter yelling waving his hands in my face telling my supervisor he needs to make me pressure clean I will serve with a correction Action Report saying I don't care there was no reason for me to say that report Article 5 grievances procedures was cancelled by the principal a 3-day suspension letter was sent on octo on April 15th Mr Thomas called me over the radio to meet in him in the back I I had I had a delivery I I am done I I had I have a delivery when I am done I will call you Mr Thomas came to the delivery area saying uh in front of the driver Mrs pikney I need to see you in the back I followed Mr Thomas down the hallway he stopped by the media center picked up two kids proceeded with them to the back stating ICA spider Weare and saying the iguanas kicked on the sidewalk I said will take care of that he also stated there are limbs in the field I've discussed with Mr Thomas the lawn crew picked up the limbs in the field he stated are you saying you're not going to do your job I'm going to write you up as I walked down the hallway Mr Thomas yelled saying Miss pikney are you not going to pick up the limbs I sent the email to the lawn supervisor he stated he will be here the next day I informed Mr Thomas on October 31st I submitted vacation for March 20th spring break the principal did not sign the form so the VAC the vacation time was taken out of my sick time um those hours need to be back put back on my time for vacation an unprofessional behavior report was sent to my email stating I was being unprofessional Mr Thomas and Mr Thomas is creating a hostile work environment using kids to create an unprofessional report I have had perfect attendance for a while Mr T uh I I have had perfect attendance for a while thank you Dr heer good morning Miss Pikman one of our staff Miss Dr uh pton will follow up with you just to hear your concerns okay Dr n Lynch Walsh Emily Haka good morning my name is Emily fona my child's name is Nathan Doro he's a student at s Piper Elementary um my child is on a form of chemo and I have been trying to get services in school and I have unfortunately I haven't been able to they have been telling me that they cannot give him any services in school he had two seizures on campus they sent him down to walk by himself after having two seizures even with a doctor's note stating that that wasn't safe for him to be basically walking after a seizure alone he also had another seizure on you guys School Bus he threw up all over the school bus um and all this stems down to basically him not receiving his medication I have been speaking with student health services from Brower County Public Schools and I haven't been able to get get a solution with anything of basically him getting his medication and the proper care in school um he has basically almost hurt himself in you guys school with no one there you guys have sent over two nurses to train the teacher's aid that is in his school and when he had that incident the teacher's aid unfortunately didn't help him at the moment so I had a meeting with the school with the with the principal with the ESC specialist everyone that I have and she said that uh we we would have to basically take this down to Tallahassee so I came down here to see what can you guys do for me if we can't get a resolution here then my next step would unfortunately be Tallahasse because he can he can get hurt in you guys school and I'm not there to leave work all the time to come to school to administer his medication you know and the chemo medication that he is on is not a shot it's not IV he does get IV but it's IV monthly and he is he does get admitted to the hospital you know he just came back from hospital homebound you know I've been trying to like re get resources help and nobody has been able to help me and unfortunately you know I'm scared that something is going to happen in in your school you know and even the school has been you know adamant like trying to push for us to get Services you know but the hold here is student health services with Brower County Public Schools I have every note from doctors neurologist he has lupus history of blood clots seizures uh a whole bunch of health issues um my other child is in his class that has that has the same history seizures feeding to he has a nurse in the class 24 hours at home also so she was willing to administer the medication but unfortunately Brower County public schools has put me in a hold Dr Dr heing can you please weigh in and then also I would like to have a followup to the board at later period of time on the resolution yes good morning Miss F Miss hudge and also miss hollandsworth is going to assist you thank you thank you may I have a motion and second on H1 second move by Zan second by Hixon public comment board member comment M rert um Madam chair would would it be okay if we pulled H1 H2 and H4 at the same time uh let's just go one by one cuz I already moved it okay they were all mine so I thought I could get it done we have other people though okay um underne H H1 that we have nine Child Care instructional leaves and this is once again me trying to remind everybody that we have employees that have children between the ages of0 and three that are unfortunately going on leave because they cannot afford to be able to do this so uh I like to be the little nudge because it it takes a lot and I know Dr heurn is working on it but I also want our employees to hear we hear you and I would love an an update as to where we're at thank you Dr any other comment on each one all in favor of each one say I hi hi opposed say no H1 passes unanimously may have a motion second on H2 so move second move by Zan second by hickon public comment board comment Miss Hixon thank you I just wanted to say congratulations to the 22 retirements that we have on here and especially Jazelle Bishop she's a longtime staff member at Hollywood Hills Elementary and we wish you all a great new chapter in your life thank you m rer thank you um once again same topic there's 145 uh resignations I went through every single one of them crossed out that's where they are um Child Care instructional leaves and I would love to have an answer as to where are we in this process so I guess H1 and H2 um Dr heurn Dr heurn yes so we've completed the the survey that we've administered to teachers and also School administrators we'll send that as a memo to the board hopefully uh by the end of this week or early next week and we're also we we also know what schools provide those zero to3 options so we'll make sure Mr azero has that information to provide to all instructional and non-instructional staff and then as we move forward to see how we can scale those opportunities out also thank you I appreciate that but the the schools that do accept Z to 3 years old there's a several hundred uh person weight list so that's a problem um which was the reason for the surveys that we showed that there's the need and they would love it if there were other schools doing it um so that's I I don't I don't think that that Dr heern was given the right information because it's it's urgent to be able to keep our employees um that's it for for me 145 resignations so there we go any other comments Madam chair yes we have a public speaker register for item H2 her name is Katherine Palmer if she's in the um audience hey you can come the podium Palmer Madam chair if I can chime in um Miss Palmer was under the impression that um this was going to be heard in the afternoon she's a teacher and she's been texting me at different times to make sure that she was going to be able to speak the same afternoon you want to make a motion to table this this afternoon I would love to make that motion thank you is there a second second moveed by fam second by Austin comment on the motion board member comment on motion all in favor the motion to table this to this afternoon for H2 say I I I those opposed say no I am esta may have a motion and second on H3 moved move by Zan second by hick oh four mov moov by uh Zan second by Fen holy public comment so Madam chair Miss um Pinkney did register to speak to this item but I believe she is out speaking with um Dr fton right now she she left okay thank you Miss Hixon sorry again I would like to congratulate the three managerial retirements on this item and the 21 non-managerial retirements congrat congratulations and looking hope you're looking forward to your new Journey thank you Miss rert thank you um looking through the non-instructional terminations on page five um I have a question there m I'm just going to say this Midway down the page we have a an employee who was hired as a tire repair person and the reason that we are terminating is that he is not qualified so my question is there has to be a level of trust where we board members can expect staff and the employment onboarding process to go well a and honestly the low bar should be hey do you meet the qualifications minimally or even more than minimally but minimum would be what we need to be doing to make sure at least um followup is how long has this employee been working for us and have all the cars slash Vehicles been inspected to date that this person repaired the tires on I I mean I I can't tell you how stumped I am with this one and I'm telling you over the years there have been a lot of bizarre things a not qualified Tire repair person I don't even know what the background screening was so to me epic fail non-instructional HR people Dr AB thank you chair we'll provide a followup specifically to how long the employee has been working for us and all the vehicles that this employee has worked on has have those Vehicles been um inspected thank you and and I brought this up for 12 or so years there should be and I think we're going to require it now if my colleagues agree there's got to be a box that somebody in non-instructional and instructional who's doing the onboarding have a check box that says do you meet the minimum requirements for your job click you know have you actually seen if this person has verified job experience click so then we wouldn't have embarrassing things like this thank you chair uh Mr Aero and myself we will sit down and go through the entire hiring and on boarding process just to make sure we fill any gaps with the with the appropriate steps thank you thank you so much all in favor of H4 say I I I those opposed say no H4 passes unanimously may I have a motion and second on H6 so moved second move by Zan second by roer public comment yes Madam chair we have Raphael yay thank you for that hi everybody Ralph iello uh Coconut Creek Florida um Madam chair uh Dr superintendent members of the board uh former colleagues as well uh previously was the district director of School counseling and Brace advisement here in Brower County public schools for 12 years and I spent a lot of time on the opposite side of this uh rope and stanion as well uh and I always wondered if I ever took my three minutes as a private citizen to stand before you what would I say and I'm very proud to be able to stand here and uh discuss this job description change for our guidance counselors to become school counselors um you guidance counsel actually formally was changed over 10 years ago by the state of Florida um it was a nominal change and now there is a actual standards that are accompanying that because guidance counselors no longer are about schedule changes or credit checks and yes they do have an element of ensuring that students progress through our schools appropriately uh but they provide comprehensive individual small group and large group counseling services to meet the needs of all children um no matter what background they come from for their academics their life skills and their College and Career Readiness um and they are the first line of defense for mental health as far as mental health professionals are concerned um they're oftentimes who the students come to when they have uh social emotional needs they're who the parents and the teachers come to um when they need additional support and assistance and we need to make sure that those counselors are available um and they are trained and they are supported so they can do their jobs appropriately um so I'm very proud of the district for moving this uh job description forward um but I also want to make sure that we have we support uh the other professionals our administrators our principales our assistant principles who have to operationalize this uh because they're going to need additional support additional resources and additional things to make sure that counselors do have the opportunity to do these these tasks and these activities um whether that's training or additional person or so on and so forth uh because we want to make sure that our counselors don't just have something on a piece of paper they actually have something in their schools um that's actually allowing them to do their jobs and do it appropriately so again thank you for moving this job description forward um all three of them for the elementary middle high in the the director role as well um and I'm very proud to have served in this District in this role and I'm very much looking forward to what's coming uh in the future for our school counselors and how they can support our children families and our schools so thank you very much thank you any other public speaker Madam Sher Chris Nelson I just want to let you know there were a couple of people on the wait list for the am speakers this morning myself and this gentleman over here and there were people that didn't show up to speak um can we speak okay so what I'll do is I'm going to continue with the items if stff can meet in the hallway and get a list of the names and then I can p back okay thank you um Mrs fam H6 one second M do you want me to go Miss ton okay do you want me to go to miss zon I'm back you yeah okay yes zon thank you um I appreciate that these are coming back to us we asked a while ago for um us to look at these positions so I'm very glad to see it come back I just have a question and actually it's on six and 8 it's the same question on page two under the um duties and responsibilities on the very last bullet it says perform other duties as assigned by the immediate supervisor or design in times of emergency or extenda circumstance ances this particular bullet was one we all asked for it to be removed because that was the problem they were having to do lunch duty and bus Duty and all of these things and I did ask this question before the meeting and you know I I know that it's said it says now in times of emergency or extenuating circumstances but I feel like there needs to be guard rails to maybe be very specific on what an emergency or an extenda circumstance would say because what's an emergency to me may not be an emergency to someone else and the whole point of changing this was to let them do their job not these other duties that were necessary so I don't my preference is not to have that at all but um I I was told that we did do that for the mental health and a couple of other positions but I would say there needs to when we're doing the procedure of this there needs to be guard rails and specific outline of what would constitute an emergency or an extenuating circumstance so um and that's for both H6 and h8 and seven I guess technically Dr he does staff have a recommendation Mr sure um so I think it's important to um be able to reach a middle ground on these um job descriptions um as far as being able to protect staff um and the supervisors that in an in emergency situation or extenuating circumstances however they want to Define that uh that they are able to manage their campus and be able to um ask employees to perform other duties as assigned um I think it it like you said it has to be in in times where it is extenuating because their main job is not to to do bus Duty or whatever else but I think we still need as a district to have that flexibility yeah and I'm fine with the wording what I'm asking for is there to be some guard rails or description on what an emergency or an extenuating circumstance would be if it's just you know something something happen and I want you to cover this but someone else could have done it there's just a concern here because this was really what they came to tell us they're having to do all these other duties so I don't know what it looks like but I think we need to put guard rails around that so if I may maybe a procedural um guidelines could be developed um with staff yes thank you we can do that thank you I have uh Miss fam are you ready yeah thanks okay thank you madam chair um there's one question and I have three suggestions one is um we've removed all the meeting requirements as far as um present explain results and and and meeting with teachers I think that we should have in here a requirement that says um participate this would be for the counselors participate in monthly meetings with guiding counselors and occupational Specialists and if needed more times that you know meet more times if necessary I think that should be put back in um I think the a unique benefit to that I think people can brainstorm they can discuss what's going on in the schools they can get um ideas from fellow team members and suggestions on how to handle situations I think there's a lot of positives to doing that especially in light of that we took out the meeting component on the essential performance responsibilities in addition I think that we should [Music] um change the language you're trying um you're pulling out some language about some things that the secondary guidance school counselor should do and I think what we should do is in insert something in place of that and it should be provide ongoing support and counseling for students and parents which involve educational counseling for course selection and occupational opportunities because I think that comes out throughout the year uh students change their mind in the direction and the path they want to take and I think there should be ongoing support for that it shouldn't be only certain times during the year where we focus on this and everything else gets shelv until that mad rush so I would suggest that be ad him and the last thing is that we took out here it says um we're removing a ranged student parent and teacher conferences so who is going to coordinate the teacher conferences then or are they just going away Happ thank you um traditionally the office staff the uh clerical staff would assist in scheduling parent teacher conferences okay I just that should be clarified in this job description that that would be coordinated by staff just so they have some kind of Direction but those are my recommendations thank you than Zan thank you chair um this issue is uh a big issue to our community I'll remind my colleagues uh 40% of high school students in County have a symptom of mental illness not 4% 40% two out of five 20% of our high school students know how they're going to commit suicide they'll give you the plan they'll tell you exactly how they're going to do it not 2% 20% 10% of our high school students have tried to commit suicide we need to think differently about mental health this isn't a administrative issue this isn't you know a debate about budget dollar here dollar there we are in the middle of a crisis in barard County related to mental health and we have to do everything we can uh to make sure that the staff that is fully qualified as our public speaker just mentioned are able 100% of their time to do it so to miss hixon's point I I disagree with our Council I think that the last bullet is exactly what we said we did not want I'm fine with in times of emergency but not extenuating circumstances because that's too vague um and I'd love to hear uh from my colleagues on that but 40% have a mental health symptom 20% know how they're going to commit suicide and 10% have tried already this is a house on fire issue it'll come up again during the or chart because we're uh bear hunting with a buggy with if we're going to bury mental health director underneath six layers of management we're not giving it the kind of priority that it needs I'll remind you uh if you uh need any more evidence about the community's interest in this that there's only three things we said we would do with referendum money and think about how important they are we're going to pay people better pay Educators not just teachers but Educators we're going to apply a significant amount of adjustment to Safety and Security funding and the third thing was mental health we approved last year a $5 million increase in our budget to increase counselors and we hired very few we did not get uh the hiring actions that we expected with that $5 million uh in mental health these people in items 6 seven and 8 are folks who can contribute tremendously uh I don't think that anybody should be worrying about extenuating circumstances uh they need to be working on the 40% the 20% and the 10% because all of these kids need more help and with more help their behaviors and their actions will change thank you very much chair and when uh when you're ready I'd like to make a motion I'm ready ma'am uh I would just like to strike in the last bullet under essential performance responsibilities the three words or accentuating circumstances second been moved by Zan second by wholeness public comment on the motion on the motion yes Chris Nelson Fort Lauderdale um I know you're talking about suicide that's so sad I I talked to a guy have you guys heard of NAMI it's the national mental health um assistance um I spoke to this guy at the uh Fort Lauderdale commission his name is Dr Joe um orz and he was telling me how he's working within um Broward schools to help kids that are struggling with suicidal thoughts and he I mean he sounded spoton uh with this program so I'm hoping that that that you guys are using Nami and know about it and I think that's that's uh something that could help with this thank you thank you any other public comment on the motion my name is Bill Russell I am from Oakland Park I do have a comment on this I think I my comments play quite well into this conversation thank you so much I don't know your name I'm doesn't matter and and and to you Miss rert for bringing up a suicide uh earlier today I'd like to add to this um that the suicide is second leing leading cause of death among young people aged 10 to 14 and the third leading cause of death amongst people 15 to 24 the popula the lgbtq population is four times more likely to attempt suicide than their peers uh 1.8 million LGBT plus young students 13 to 14 seriously consider suicide each year in the US my point is so and this gentleman commenting on school counselors if what we have done perhaps is by removing books in our schools that might help these kids to figure out who they are other minority students as well which are actually the majority in our Public Schools uh Black and Latino students are the majority uh what removing books might do sir this is your warning you need to speak on the motion which is to remove extenuating circumstances oh am I not I guess I didn't okay I perhaps I've made my point you so much sorry thanks Bill any other speaker on the motion on the motion removing insinuating circumstances um oh sorry yep so I agree with that Dr Zeman and I would also ask maybe uh like uh Miss Hixon mentioned about guard rails is there maybe you know cuz what she meant why emergency could be different for different people um I heard you say something about procedures but uh in my experience those counselors were doing everything else except for their job and so I appreciate you taking out the in circumstances because um it's very been very difficult and as this gentlemen mentioned you guys are the first line of defense after parents and you spend more time with the kids obviously uh and so we want to be able to have that that opportunity so they can kind of really identify these students and make sure that they're providing parents as well as students the proper services and um resources so thank you very much for making that uh that uh removal and I hope that Dr hebburn superintendent Dr hebburn um you can also work to expand that um and make sure that we have qualified people helping because it's really bad out here with these kids so thank you very much thank you or member comment on the motion Miss rert thank you um and thank you to my colleague Miss Hixon 100% agree with it and I just want a 10 seconds tell you Coconut Creek Elementary School I had the privilege of shadowing the school counselor there m and that was a best practice situation you know there were many 10minute times where kids were sent to the counselor and they got what they needed in that 10 minutes and I I thought wow this is incredible and I was there for over three hours and that school counselor never stopped you know she kept going and kids were sent to her and what I heard was the right expression of what they were feeling you know thank you Miss I just felt like my head was going to blow off I mean those are normal feelings but how wonderful are we doing with our school counselors we can do much more if they're not pulled away so um thank you to them and thank you um Miss hion I'm certainly going to support this dress thank you madam chair so um I am in complete support of Dr Zan's motion I can speak from personal example and I'm sure many of us who are teachers or who were teachers um have seen it where our guidance counselors are pulled in every direction and they're lucky 30% of their day is actually guidance counseling so I think that removing the extenuating circumstances um will ensure that principles and the leadership of the schools understand this job description and that these individuals have to primarily focus on what their job responsibility is which is guidance Counseling in addition to that um I would still like uh to prevent any any concerns of these individuals being pulled out of what is perceived as emergency which would be relative that we have some procedural guidelines for emergency because emergency to one person may be different to another um so I'd like the superintendent to um to have uh uh some sort of a procedural direction or information on what emergency is in addition to that I believe once we approve this job description it's important that all our school leadership understand the job description um and I would as a result I would also like to ask the superintendent in his leadership meeting with the principles that they understand a new job description for guidance counseling um in order for this to be adhered to thank you thank you okay we have a Time certain item at 10:30 so um we can if we're ready to vote just on this motion I'd like to do that famam can we ask move no I what I have to say is very important um Mr rert I want you to thank you for bringing the fact that some of our employees are not qualified and we're not vetting very well and I just want to share an example that touches on Mental Health that I had a sixth grader that was sent down to a counselor um because they thought he might be depressed or having some other issues and he alleged that the mental health counselor started to masturbate under the desk the parents were not contacted and when the parents found out when the student got it home they were livid so I just want to stress the importance that we look into the backgrounds of these people I agree that we need milary health counselors but we don't want Mental Health Counselors they're going to mess up our children's heads and and and do things that they shouldn't be doing in front of them or try to get them to participate in it so um I thank you for bringing that forward because we really really have to look for quality people and that begins with the money it really does thank you six on the motion thank you just real quick whatever we do for this I think we should also do for the mental health and the suicide counselor so thank you I all in favor of approving the motion which is to perform other duties as assigned by the immediate supervisor or designate in times of emergency all in favor say I I I those opposed say no motion passes is there any other board member with a motion on this on this that wants to make a motion on this item yes ma'am I okay then I'm going to make a motion to table this item to later in the agenda second moved by alaf second by Zan public comment for comment all in favor to table this say I those say no item is table we're going to take a two-minute recess [Music] for [Music] for [Music] for [Music] [Music] for [Music] two one thank you welcome back the next item of business on the agenda is bb4 a motion to approve the mutual separation and consultant agreements between the school board of Brower County Florida and Peter B Lata May the chair have a motion and second on item bb4 move second move by Zan second by gooli it has been moved in second to approve to bring the item to the floor right Madam chair that's all motion is for it's not approving anything is that correct yeah be I just want to be very clear on the maker of the motion in a second just moving the item to the floor thank you that's correct Miss Miss Batista thank you Madame chair um so this is the as you mentioned this is the separation um agreement for Dr Lara and um the parties negotiated um the agreed upon terms are summarized in the item but for uh the sake of a summary now and and just to remind everyone uh the main Salient um items and provisions of the agreement are that Dr lcar remained an employee during a transition period through July 1st 2024 then subsequent to that that he uh consult for n weeks and the payment of attorney's fees up to $3,000 provided this mission of appropriate invoices and there is also a mutual non- dispar disparagement Clause applicable to board members and Dr L and right now it reads that the time that is effective is um starting with April 16th 2024 um as the board discusses this item I just want to bring to your attention that because there is a Consulting agreement and a transition from an employee to then a Consulting agreement something to keep in mind is that there cannot be any misclassification for or there is a danger of misclassification if you have an employee who then becomes a consultant so it is very important that the duties um of the person are indicated and they're separate and distinct from one job to the other um and so I just wanted to remind the board of that okay thank you and would Dr lata's attorney like to speak or Dr Lata okay there we go thank you good morning everyone Glenn tvia on behalf Dr Lana it's a pleasure to see you again uh first I want to start by congratulating you all because I think you are on the verge of a historic and very important two votes that you're about to take uh we all know that most people don't like uh uncertainty and that this district has gone through a period and that had some uncertainty interim superintendence things like that now you have something that most boards whether it's a school board County Commission or business Enterprise strive for a smooth transition from one excellent leader to another excellent leader you did it in a a little bit of an unorthodox way you're about to accomplish that feat and that is something to be applauded um if you approve these two items you have the benefit of bringing on board a rising star Dr heurn uh as your next superintendent you also have the benefit of having a seasoned administrator Dr Madam CH I'm sorry if I could with all due respect uh the speaker is uh off topic we're on one item not the second item is that correct we're only dealing with the first item dealing with the former superintendent of schools not the other item which deals with Dr hurn is that correct and I believe he's speaking in his capacity representing the former superintendent so if he could speak to this item because I think that's what we're discussing is that correct yes the requested action is to approve the mutual separation agreement sueding superintendent employment agreement and two consult an agreement between the school board of Brower County Florida and Peter B L thank you sorry as I was saying so you're about to embark on an historic set of votes and uh you did that because at the April 16th meeting Dr Lata submitted his intent to retire at the end of the year December 31st and after quite a bit of discussion and comments and I watched that meeting a couple times uh you all passed a motion that did a couple of things first you accepted the retirement so technically Dr lado would be entitled to serve until December 31st as your superintendent but you also took that bold step you said chair negotiate with Dr Lata and let's hire Dr heurn that's why these two are in stricly tied together because once you made the motion that you're going to hire Dr heurn you effectively terminated the employment of Dr Lata and under his contract if I want to be a lawyer which I'll put that hat on for a minute then he's entitled to 60 days notice and 20 weeks of seance we recognize that that caused a lot of anxiety and concern about people uh even though that was a bold decision and you wanted to keep that to have burn because I think we all had heard that he was being courted by other school districts so you took that bold decision well that decision then would it came normally in the legal world with that price of 60 days and 20 weeks instead the chair and Miss Batista did an excellent job of negotiating an agreement with Dr lado he agreed to give up those 20 weeks of severance and no obligation to do that he very easily could have collected that and he agreed to give that up in exchange for working and earning money for 11 weeks two weeks as an special adviser still as an employee uh up until July 1st because the 60 days would end on June 15th and then another nine weeks as a consultant so assisting Dr HB bur in the transition so essentially you're receiving the services you're not having to pay any Severance at all and you're receiving the services of Dr Lata to assist in the transition which again as I started out of something that you should be congratulated for and because no one likes the uncertainty of of not knowing who your next superintendent is going to be so you've managed to accomplish something that most people uh strive to do which is retain an experience person to help with the transition to a newer person and again we hope that you would approve this agreement as it negotiated thank you six minutes for Dr Lata well good morning everyone chair thank you for allowing me to recognize and thank the board staff and Community as I did not have the opportunity last month uh as I announced my retirement for December I want to start by thanking each and every one of you as to what you said that day and I was not present some of it I actually went back and watched to make sure that I was accurate in my appreciation to all of you Mr fogan holy not there I want to thank him for his prayers there you are your thoughts and prayers uh I appreciate what you said and I appreciate your your concerns Mr Austin thank you for recognizing me as a great public servant and recognizing the difficult decision this was we understand the responsibility of the public servant role let's be very very very clear that's not our biggest role it's that of a father whether it be taking your child to karate class or soccer whether father daughter dance or legol land whether taking to school every day and talking to your son about education or coaching your child's baseball team those are the things we talk about and making sure we instill the very best in our children and making sure they can be wherever they want to be and they can also be their own person M Leonardi I want to thank you for being the amazing mom that you are cuz I've witnessed it firsthand your words stating that I was the best superintendent you've worked with truly means so much although you were going to further support my leadership it was necessary that I let you know that I would be retiring you were by my side making sure Rich Rickards got off the ground after years of stalling and your constituents know how hard you have worked to get records built Miss rert thank you for recognizing my work and stating that we had made such incredible progress under my leadership I proud to have stood next to you in our effort to bring blanch El back to look like the icon that it should always be and respect it and multiple Town Halls to get Markin back on track as well so thank you Miss fam I thank you for recognizing my non-stop work ethic and what it takes to make a difference in the role of superintendent I've been working full-time for 45 years older than a few of you up there I'm not sure if I'm proud or not proud or proud of saying that let's say face it my self motivation to work this hard this many years came from my parents and that's what I appreciate Dr Zeman thank you for addressing me as an incredible leader I also consider what we have done and considering what we've done this past year what's special is about our meetings the meetings with you were always open they were at a high level sometimes I had to try and catch up to you because you're so smart most importantly we got to talk about everything without judgment and it was on the table we talked about ideas I appreciate that Dr h you're a true gentleman that exemplifies class you always focused me on several projects in your District which were ignored for years we accomplished much this year especially the fact that we had lauded Hill 612 that for years did not have a fence and the homeless the drug sailers would be able to creep onto that campus within three months as of last week There's a new fence up there protecting our students getting on there without you and me working together that doesn't happen Miss hickon thank you for your support and your heartfelt emotion that you spoke of me last month I also know that your teacher and Mom skills were ever present as you notice things as I sat next to you that no one else noticed I see that and you put kids first you also see the entire District perspective and you too have worked alongside of me especially at Blan where you taught for 5 years it's back to where it needs to look like and of course this alh your kind words of me were better than the first day under your leadership this district has made making gains and turning the corner as better District it's been a much better District under your tenure no matter hundreds of conversations we've had regarding the district and how we can make it better our conversations always end about our family and talking about our many of you heard me say that we have the ability to swallow camels and choke on fleas it's a great statement we must focus on the major issues not the inaccuracies in the voices of the obstructionists we have several projects have PR prioritized over the time and it would cost us into the millions and continue past behaviors of disregarding the underserved communities Rickards Stranahan Collins lanilei Markham Parkway and a few more have finally gotten the attention I've spent reasonable amount of time at those locations if we are late delivering just one like Rickards it will cost us millions in overruns I spent two hours walking on the rord site last week with the construction team and the project needs an executive level action now we are not on schedule to open in 25 and that will again will let down a community that I've worked so hard with this past year after my visit in March to Collins current superintendent we noticed that bathrooms have been sitting there for four years students did not have an opportunity to use and they were using porta potties for four years we immediately made efforts to get that project back underway and have those bathrooms open last week we found out they might be delayed took a trip out there and spoke with the superintendent of the of the jobsite said that's unacceptable we cannot continue to swallow these camels these children need us I have focused so much on these communities that have been underserved and I'd love to see them continue to be the focus because all our children equals the same one what is very optimistic and exciting is as the data rolls in from the state it is looking very good for Broward County we have a very good opportunity to be an a to return to an a as a district and certainly that would be outstanding great news may I have another minute or two just stop I'm almost done finally I want to thank the thousands of folks sent me letters cards emails and texts and calls and there's no way I can answer from citizens I have never met to local elected officials and Business Leaders I see it the other way other way around I want to thank the entire Community for having me most importantly I want to thank all the staff at pcps as in spite of so many obstacles they still continue to make a difference in children's lives of course a special shout out to the principal once you're a principal you realize it's the most important role on campus and it's a special fraternity sorority also miss giving my 3:30 announcements here in the building although my last two sentences although my retirement for the later this year was not immediate in my immediate plans my wife and I have made this our homecoming and we are staying here just got our voter registrations cards and I look forward to being very active in our local elections in the coming months as a resident here in Broward County again I thank you all and please know I'm thankful that I've had the opportunity in my lifetime to make an impact for many years I a very fortunate and blessed man my blessings runneth over thank you thank [Applause] you we have public comment yes we have two speakers Dr Natalie Lynch Walsh she's not here next speaker and Chris Nelson yes board Chris Nelson For Lauderdale and um I um I'm thinking I'm having V Deja Vu right here as I stood right here a year ago and said we need to make plans for this because this district has been through this before we paid out Vicky cartright $200 50,000 to leave now we have another superintendent who comes in and and and stays for 9 months and now what we're paying to superintendent now we're going to pay him $200,000 to what for a consulting fee his attorney says we're going to this is going to embark on a grand Voyage like oh please a grand Voyage of wasting the taxpayers more money guys I stood here Tori said it Brenda said it we stood here and said we need to put safeguards in place so we don't become a mark for people who want to come in and and really honestly if Dr Lata had health issues he should have said it beforehand how do we know that this isn't going to happen again this happens over and over again we have a superintendent come in they stay for a couple months and then and then now I'm I'm taking the money and running and you can't say anything bad about me another another non-disparagement Clause guys this is ridiculous but the thing is is we warned you I stood here and I said we need to make sure what happens with Vicky Cartwright doesn't happen again and here we are with it happening again so it's very frustrating as a taxpayer to see this no I don't I I now you're going to have to honor his contract I mean I mean his his lawyer will tell you you're going to have to H whatever you guys promised him you're going to have to deliver or he'll sue you and that's us the taxpayer okay I also would like to know what this whole thing with with um uh with Dr heurn coming in that whole thing looks staged and now what we're paying two super intendance now that thing that was very weird and and then through a public records request we find out that he was communicating with with uh the chair the night before to to for a smooth transition and that that that was already set up to happen and then you had Lights Camera Action for the press conference out there guys this is very disappointing it's sad that more more taxpayers aren't showing up this is nothing personal against Dr Lata by the way this is about you guys this is about this board this is about making the same mistakes over over and over again I even think I heard some board members saying oh we we can't we can't put safeguards in place in case he doesn't work out because it will set a bad example it will put out a bad message even to the students like they watch this stuff they're more mature than in this board by the way that is your warning and so here we are again and uh and we just keep making the same mistakes it's very sad to see this and I I I I don't have any confidence in you guys I think you will keep making the same mistake any other public comment seeing none so I I will speak first on this item as ah this is my item so first I'd like to start by wishing Dr Lata health happiness and the opportunity to spend valuable time with his family with your family I would like to address my initial plan following the news of Dr lata's retirement which I did learn about the day before the school board meeting and my intention is to make the motion to have Dr he be our superintendent immediately given the instability of our district that we Face including the redefining and the changes in our cabinet leadership which we needed stability stability and I have full confidence in Dr heern before negotiations I asked this board for feedback regarding the direction of the negotiations with Dr Lata we had board members provide input at different times discussing Severance period periods ranging to December to 7 to 10 weeks of severance and some board members not even weighing in before entering negotiations I consulted with our new superintendent Dr heon about his preferences when Dr Dr Hein chose later on to not implement the redefining plan established by staff Zoe Sanders Dr Lata it gave me great pause and and then I realized at this point in time why would we be then moving forward with a consultant agreement with Dr L believing that he would be helping us with our redefining process and then instead I find out that Dr Lata was involved with the smart bom program which I'm sure he made a significant Improvement imp pth with moving those projects forward you know however we do have aom we have our project manager that is supposed to be doing this work we're paying millions of dollars to do this work so at this time I I'm going to to make a motion and I know everybody wants to to speak but I think this might bring us in a direction and and then we can we can go from there so I'm going to hand out my motion to my board members and if we can give it to Dr L that way that's it I move to strike part two consultant agreement between the school board of Brower County Florida and Peter B Lata PhD of the requested action and to amend the separation agreement by striking every reference it has to Consulting agreement that will be my first motion second been moved by alen second by Austin Public comment just on that motion um Nar Pierre Grant uh Parkland Florida thank you for making that motion uh chair I think it's important that we um continue what you have right um while I wish Dr Lata a healthy recovery and much needed time with his family I do think that we need to keep continuity and allowing um former superintendents to stay on while we're trying to get to a place of um positivity and rightsizing the district I think it's important that we just cut the ties um I appreciate what you're trying to do but I think that if we uh we should have agreed to keep what we had before but on the motion I thank you for that any other public comment on the motion board member comment on the motion Dr Zan uh thanks chair um I wish we had had some time to discuss this first uh I'm uh ignorant of how my colleagues feel about the entire agreement um it is very difficult as a legislator here to vote on a motion uh in the absence of understanding uh uh their uh thoughts about the entire agreement I'm also not sure how this motion uh ties together with the rest of what's been presented in front of us so I'll ask chair if you could explain uh what is intended by the rest of this uh motion so that I might understand the first sentence so the if you look at the requested action part two is the consultant agreement between the school board of Brower County Florida and Peter B L so my my motion is to to to vote basically vote that down strike that out there would be no consultant agreement I'm I'm sorry I'm asking about the things after that so that I can understand this in the context of the rest i' I've read it um but I wonder if you could just explain the next motion so that we can understand them uh as a package so if you go to page 2 of 13 mhm of the um item and then go to number number four okay so the last sentence so we would be adding uh to the last sentence starting on May 13 2024 uh Miss Batista can you explain the reasoning for that so right now the superintendent uh the former superintendent Dr lcar is um receiving his full pay that he received as a superintendent uh with all the benefits that are uh concomitant to that to that pay and according to his employment agreement that is with the school board um the motion the second motion which is not on the floor but um which U Mrs um aalv has provided to everyone is that um by making this change he would um you would cut off the the um benefits as of May 13th and then from that point forward as a special advisor the super the Dr Lara will be receiving the same benefits as 12-month employees so in other words he would not be receiving the $1,400 vehicle allowance he would not be okay thank you appreciate that um if I wanted to say this back in plain English I would say uh that we're amending our proposed agreement because we have to go back to immediate any changes correct mm to exclude um the reference to a Consulting agreement thus he would continue as a Schoolboard employee is that fair chair so so the first part of the motion is you are correct is to to strike the Consulting agreement that is the first part of the motion the second section of the motion is to um to keep the benefits that he had and all the pay that he's had up to to now and then from the May 13th date forward he would only receive the uh the pay but not the benefits that he received before I I I understand again I want to try to say this back largely for my colleagues but also for the community that what this changes is instead of Dr Lata becoming a consultant to us which is what the uh mediated settlement that's before says that they would do that Dr Lata would do through July 1st plus nine more weeks excuse me starting on July 1st for 9 weeks he would be a consultant and uh under the mediated agreement as a consultant he would keep his full pay and benefits through those nine weeks is that correct CH M Batista yes yes and and um the amendment is uh 8 days ago which I'm not sure is legally cool but we'll talk about that separately um I um they uh would not be a consultant after July 1st but would remain an employee retain the $350,000 salary and benefits that accur to a traditional employee of the school district so that's that's this motion with the follow-on motion that's typed up before is that correct in plain English yes yes Madam shair that is that is correct the the starting date of May 13th is the pay period stars on that day I'm with you I I just um as a matter of fairness don't like to do things to people and then back dat it so it's just a it's just a personal issue I have that again it's a small issue and we'll we'll talk about that's later um I really would have uh been able to um uh have greater confidence about which way to go on this motion had we heard from our colleagues um it is uh unfortunately the second time on this particular issue that we had motions before we had discussions um and so I'm I'm really I'm I'm in a position that I don't like to be in uh which is I serve as one member of a nine-person board I'd like to know what my other eight colleagues uh think about things in general I'd love to then hear motions so that um I can understand you know kind of the left and right side and I don't mean that politically I mean just kind of the the spectrum of opinions that we have about this there's a lot of things in this engravement um and this is a difficult difficult issue we have a superintendent with health issues former on April 16th we had a superintendent with health issues that came for us and made his announcement uh we um took an action on that day to mutually SE to separate with mutual consent uh we want to find a fair and just uh agreement M with Dr Lata and we want to uh make sure the community is comfortable with how we spend taxpayer dollars this is a difficult difficult issue um and we've retained uh We've served been been been uh um the community has been served by Dr Lata there has been tremendous advantages to having him here for nine months I'm never going to take that away uh from that time period and at the same time we have to find Fair reasonable just settlement uh that the community will say hey that's okay uh and the last two that we did uh the community doesn't say that it's okay um and so I want to do better than that but I'm I'm really stuck because of the process that we're going through here again of motion before discussion and my hands are tied and I don't like that I I want to hear uh what my colleagues uh think about this I want to share what I think about it um but I can't do it because I'm limited now to talk about a motion that's been made um and and uh and I'm I'm really stuck on that um I'll withdraw Madam chair my sake just for a discussion I think the the motion is now on the floor so an individual action isn't all that relevant but I I feel like um I just want to share that because I really wanted to hear what you all thought about the overall agreement which parts of it you felt uh we we ought to that's fair um amend possibly in order to um uh get to a just thing and I want to do this in a fair and just way not only what we do but how we do it is important and how we do this I I think has to be uh after some careful thought and deliberation and then to bring motion so I'll I'll just stop right there Mr Alon well no I was actually I'm ready to go uh I will you are you pulling your motion no no all right I'm going point of clarification please what um I believe in our training my understanding is that when there's a main motion on the floor and a substitute motion is given the main motion Still Remains on the floor along with the substitute is that correct so I believe they both can be discussed simultaneously well he didn't say anything's no he didn't make I haven't heard a substitute a substitute motion yet well okay so I may do that right now then okay well all right so uh thank you madam chair um and I will say thank you for your service uh and you were spot on Dr Lata those exactly were my words because I appreciate your service um and everything you did was your job that we paid you for as superintendent of schools um now the former superintendent of schools um this is government 101 and I hope that everyone is watching because chaos is having a superintendent unfortunately leave in less than a year but wanting a balloon payment in my words from our taxpayers chaos is no guard rails on a superintendent that many of us tried to do months ago this is government 101 for all our student council students who may be watching today's meeting Madame chair you are absolutely correct and I appreciate your comparison uh that you shared with the board listing prior superintendent Rony cartright Lata and our still current superintendent dror superintendent I think that's the new moniker uh Dr hurn but I think one thing that you missed and I think which was a glaring uh Omission we're two superintendents that are not listed on this document and actually one is sitting in the middle there was no cost to transition from Dr wanza back to her current role costing the taxpayers there was no transition cost when Dr Smiley sat in that seat back to the taxpayers so I'm going to correct I think a statement I just heard on the day that said the last superintendent actually cost a lot actually the last two didn't cost us anything and thank one for their service who continues to serve in a different capacity today the third superintendent ago I wasn't here I'm sorry our mutually separated leader I think I got it right I think I've gotten it right a couple times but let me jump to the motion and then I'm actually going to make some substitute motions because I agree with my colleague having a big picture conversation I appreciate Council who has openly said that he accepted quote the retirement for his client I think that's what we just openly heard in this public meeting I think we also openly heard Council because you represent the board the opposing Council representing our former superintendent openly say and use the terms both retirement Andor resignation interchangeably and I think in our agreement between the board and our former superintendent all of those mean something different so I hope our board members were astute and listening to those words for me this feels like the idote robbing Broward taxpayers once again robbing our children once again some want me to be quiet Council and I'm not going to do that because I wasn't placed here to sit down sit in the corner and shut up I think all of us up here are in a position to uphold the fiduciary responsibility of this District a b ensuring that we're safeguarding the finances of this district for all of our families and children if there's anything that impacts the proficiency and learning of our kids all of us should have a problem with it and I'm raising the alarm Council thank you in the chair for your service but I have a problem with what's before me so I'm happy Dr Zeman to your point to go through this document Point by point and make some uh a substitute motion I think I heard from uh one of my other colleagues Dr holdes uh but let me just point out where I am I'm not in favor of a Consulting agreement I'll just be very clear a I'm not in favor of anything other than what I believe our former superintendent publicly said and I think I'm going to quote the words and I know legally that means something quote our former superintendent has a medical condition that requires him to spend time now with his family unquote furthermore the immediate health condition is stated publicly I actually have a question to our Council because I know we've tried to blend the two things together um but I also have some other questions that will separate the two out has the condition gone away to your knowledge and is there a liability that opens this District up because it appears that our former superintendent has riged on his public comments to the board do you know that M Batista so your first Madam shair yes so the first question is whether the health condition has gone away I just asked are you aware of anything going away from the public comments stated on the record when I believe our former superintendent sat in that chair um from our uh then superintendent are you aware of anything changing since that point not that I'm aware of all right are you also aware if our former superintendent of schools um has visited and this may be a question for our uh chief of Technology um or whoever the appropriate person is um I know immediately following that board meeting I believe the the then superintendent immediately left the building is that correct someone tell me I don't know Dr W I do believe that Dr Lata did leave at some point during the business day but I'm not sure that it was immediately after he exited the de but it was at some point during the business day got it and Council the intent at that point and State of Mind of the board um and the then superintendent was an immediate quote accepting of the retirement um that the board took I believe in its motion um along with uh not accepting the initial date uh that was proferred by one side but the other side nine of us actually said something different from what I recall that was a collective action of the body not accepting the full initial offer from the client the person on the other side is that the way you understood that um yes um Madam Sher uh that's the way that I understood it I think that the uh in addition to that um there are no there is no entitlement to 20 weeks of severance pursuant to the retirement provision of the Dr LC's employment agreement um while agree while um and this goes back to the negotiations um so while Dr lcar did make a statement uh initially he read a statement from a letter stating that his desire was to retire in in December of this year um it seemed from the proceedings that day that he had retracted from that date and wished to not continue to perform the ENT the functions of the superintendent of schools as of April 16th Rich so can you repeat the last part of it is your view that the former superintendent retreated from what from the retirement date of December 2024 got it so there was an initial uh mutual agreement on a quote retirement but subsequently there was some change or deviation from the other side from Dr Lata is that correct that is that is my perception yes got it but the board already took some action I think all nine of us whatever the vote was uh on April 16th is that correct right so on April 16th my perception is that there was the motion that was made and what was passed 8 to1 by the board was for a mutual separation to to negotiate a mutual separation between Dr Lata and the board and under the mutual separation process and and provision of the employment agreement it does not um does not entitle uh Dr Lata to 20 weeks of severance it's it's whatever the parties agreed to okay so let me be clear uh Dr Zan about where I'm at um so no I don't support and I think all of us have heard our Council um who represents the board Collective we''ve already taken action uh that is very clear that we accept the retirement of our former superintendent that's Point number one number two I don't believe that we need the former superintendent to provide any consulting services to the district because I think we have a orc chart and the person is not sitting there that we're going to be talking about soon that I believe redirects a lot of these same functions that we're talking about so I agree with some of those comments you've already made uh Madam chair so I'm not in favor of that I'm also not in favor of similar to the chair uh the specialist advisor during leadership special advisor special advisor special advisor I think we got 20 special advisers already down there who do a great job um and I don't believe that we need an additional special advisor uh serving uh this District um because I think we just said we have a superintendent U and we have a team of special advisers who are serving the senior leadership team Dr Zeman and I'm only referring to you because you asked the ultimate questions um I'm not in favor of the non-disparagement Clause uh because you know I think that all of us have our own freedom of speech and there are some other uh protections that I know we all have and I've talked to our Council but I'll do it openly um because I believe the prior agreement and Clause that was included was not the most prudent for the district I don't believe this one will be prudent um as well um so clearly I won't be supporting that um and there are a few other things in here in terms of dates and times but where I'm at uh colleagues is uh on April 16th we I let me speak for me that's when I knew that uh the superintendent was stepping down okay so on the 16th of April um in my mind that for me will trigger a notice whatever we decide today um I will use April 16th going forward so to be both compassionate in your words um but also prudent to the taxpayers uh for me that's what makes the most sense for me using the April 16 datee uh as the starting place and then we figure it out I'm not in favor personally of anything longer than a 60-day period because we have a multi-million doll Gap a we have staff that we're going to be talking about I believe whenever we get to it soon B and I don't want to add any additional liability to this District that we don't need now because there are two sides to the equation our Council and the other side if they don't agree to it there's another remedy this board can deal with so I'm ready to do all of the above at the appropriate time thank you m famam okay thank you madam chair looking at the big picture of what happened um in April when Mr our Dr Lata announced that that he was um going to be leaving was my understanding and if you check the record he said that his intent was to retire in December that's my recollection we can pull the record and see if I'm inac incorrect based on that after that someone jumped forward and they actually seized that opportunity I don't know if we intentionally or unintentionally as a board um use that to in my opinion literally push him out really because his inent was clear it was to retire in December so at this point what I'm fearful of is that this man is entitled to FMLA and if he if he wants to go on a Family Medical Leave Act he's protected by that Andor if he feels that he can continue on at this point till December I don't think that we can um just push him out I don't and and there's and there's several reasons for that one based on his contribution to this community I think he's a definitely an asset and secondly I think that we're in such a uh tumultuous time where we have three major issues floating above our head one we have the charter school settlement two we have the redefining the schools and three we have have U budgetary issues and concerns so um we have a lot on our plate and we need to be very gentle and how we proceed because we need different contributions from different people I think to get there and right now I feel like we're back on shaky water with is this Dr he's plan is this Dr lata's plan you know in the direction the school's going the District I should say but most importantly I and and I'm going to defer to you Mr L uh Batista do we have a firm footing based on what Dr Lata said on that day I intend to retire in December to take alternative actions that would not result in detrimental legal consequences Miss Batista so that's an excellent question Mrs fam um first of all let me address the FMLA issue um just so that there is no confusion to be able to qualify or be eligible for FMLA you need to be employed for one full year um so that's number one so um we I think uh uh the board remembers as you do that the letter that was read by Dr lcar um did mention uh the date of December 2024 as the date that he was planning on retiring as the discussion with the board um proceeded that day um I believe it became apparent that the superintendent no longer wanted to be um acting as the superintendent of schools as of that day um I think Mr um Alon read some of the the statements that were made uh and So based upon that and based upon the action of the board um don't believe it was uh an issue of pushing anyone out I think it was an issue of um um being true to what the desires of the parties were as were perceived by everyone at the moment at that moment um and that on those were that there would be a mutual separation um and um some negotiations that would take place to figure out what the superintendent and the board would be willing to negotiate and and what benefits and another um you know anything else that the board wanted to to provide and that the Dr Lara wanted to accept so just for clarification I I just want to recap it for some people that might not um get the full picture so what you're saying in a legal sense there was a meeting of the minds and where there was a mutual agreement that a mutual solution would come up so it shifted from the retirement to that agreement and then from that point it took on another life of its own so without any legal ramifications to the district we're clear we good space m Batista it is difficult to say that you know what ramifications are to the district what you know depending is it all depends on whether the parties agree or come to a mutual agreement um as to what the provisions of the agreement would be so that's um I think I think it's is something important to consider so I I can't you know opine to say that there are no um you know what is going to happen next is is a difficult it's a difficult question to to answer at this point just one final question have we exposed oursel to litigation that's all I want to know if there's any action that we've taken that have exposed us to litigation again I think it it depends on how um you know how the ne we are still negotiating the agreement that the board is discussing the agreement right now superintendent is here um I think it it depends on what the um the ultimate agreement uh becomes you know um whether someone can sue the district I mean as I always say you know if you if you have um the amount of money that required to file a lawsuit you can go across the street and file a lawsuit whether there are grounds for that uh that's a different that's that's a different you know story that's a different way of looking at it and under these circumstances uh I do not believe that there is any grounds for um for a lawsuit thank you I just wanted to make sure we're a safe space thank you misson thank you um I just wanted to say a couple of things I you know when I argued a few months ago about the 20 weeks it was for termination without cause because when we asked someone to come here we asked them to move we asked them to change their life or we when we accept them to come and we've been in a place where when you terminate someone without cause it really could be just because you don't like them that day you don't have to give a reason so that's why I was fighting for the 20 weeks what happened on April 16th was not a termination without cause it was a separation of mutual agreement started off as a retirement through the process of the discussion the only thing in the contract where you negotiate is mutual separation everything else is pretty laid out for what happens so when we agreed that we would negotiate then that clearly was a mutual separation so um I still believe in in a termination without cause should have those guard rails in standard Industries but um that's for a different conversation um so I I also agree that um Consulting doesn't make sense I think that we have people doing those jobs already but like I said over and over I want to be fair to Dr Lata I want to be compassionate for the the situation he's in but I also want to be fiscally responsible to the to our taxpayers so I an overall idea here is that um I believe that we should keep him on until July 1st that looks like what is in the contract I'm okay with that but I have a problem with it being um at his current rate but I do know that we give if we're agreeing to 60 days notice that's pretty close to the 60 days and I think there's a reason July 1 was picked it's not too far out from the 60 days so so I would be okay with getting rid of the Consulting part but keeping him um until July 1st thank you thank you Dr vus thank you madam chair so I just want to be sure that um and I know that um Miss Batista emphasized this before but um I know that if it was termination without cause there would have been a 20 weeks Severance that would have cost us almost 60,000 more than what's in the original item um so I would like for Miss Batista to reiterate to us that for one um well I guess the question is is this termination without cause or is this classified as Mutual separation and are we are we subjecting ourselves to any sort of um legal ramifications should we um proceed differently from um um or or or does Dr L have the option which he does but are we in any position where we can have legal ramifications if we if we don't um if we do things differently that is not acceptable Dr lar M PSTA so the the provision that we are um the provision that we are under in this uh that we are negot ating under in the agreement is the mutual separation that is as uh Mrs um Hixon stated that's the only provision that requires the parties to negotiate had there been a termination without cost it would be an automatic there would be no need for negotiation you automatically receive um you know 60 days notice from the board to the employee and 20 weeks of severance that is not clearly what happened um that that was not the motion that was passed by the board so that I I hope that answers your question okay so um just for my own uh Comfort level um is there any concern that we should have at this point that we can be subjected to um any sort of legal issues with regards to how we vote today yes Batista so again um you know I do not represent Dr L um therefore I do not know whether um you know he wishes to file a lawsuit against the district that I cannot uh tell you um all I can share with you is that from what we are discussing here today from what happened on April 16th um there is a motion that was approved by the board and that motion was for Mutual separation and that is what we're proceeding under there was a negotiation pursuant to that clause and that's we we're still negotiating that item okay so my next question is um in the role of a special advisor um is this continuing to July 1st or what is the what is the we we don't know is that the agreement right now speaks to Dr Lara continuing as a special advisor until July 1st until July 1st okay thank you rert um I've been following it that way so after July 1st what is the expectation right I'm just m Batista according to the agreement before you the expect would be that from July 2nd until the beginning of September the uh Dr lcar would uh function as a consultant at the same salary he's currently making at the same rate at the same weekly rate um based on a prate a share of the current salary yes and that would be entitled um with the insurance with it obviously or no I'm sorry it still be entitled to health insurance no no under the Consulting agreement you are um a consultant therefore you're no longer an employee you're not entitled to any benefits um under that process he would be entitled to notice um so right now uh Dr lcar does not have health insurance through the district dist um however there would be a notice that would go out to him as uh when he separates from being an employee there is a a federal notice that is required and he would have the option at that point um if you wanted to do something related to COBRA uh but that's that's separate and apart from from being a consultant okay I think I figured that thank you thank you Mr fogan Le you want to speak I think this round one oh round one sure okay um thank you very much chair so um so I think looking at this separation agreement I think I was very clear with my comments of about the process that this board took the process that we decided on um I'm looking at a new superintendent how we're going to separate from this one um like I said I think the whole process is extremely messy and I'm not happy with it um it feels like that we now entrusted a new superintendent to step in and take the seat and when we talk about a Consulting agreement and a smooth transition it almost feels like we're getting a superintendent with training wheels that we do not trust the person that we put into that seat and we're almost making it loud and clear that we don't trust that person and we don't believe that that person is capable of doing the job even though I was the one vote against the process I still believe we should entrust the person that sits in that seat to fully do the job by themselves if that person's in that seat I believe that that superintendent could always hire a consultant of their choosing when they want if they need me right so to me it's almost making it clear that putting somebody there but we don't trust you to do it so we're going to get you some assistance also my my fear is when we separate from the district in general counsil you could help me with this a board member we serve our term or we were to leave if cabinet was to leave to quit get let go what timeline do we have that we cannot work with this District or do business with this District if Daniel fogan holy was to resign today would I be able to do business with this District or do I have any constraints with doing business m p so pursuant to the ethics code there is um a sit out period that you must be away from the district for I believe it's two years is what the the law provides got it and that is for board members and cabinet correct that's for uh board members and employees of the district so would that include a superintendent as well that includes a superintendent but there would be so as a process there will be no prohibition from a ethical perspective with a Consulting agreement because that's part of the separation process so understood so with the separation so of course that alone would already find a loophole or a way around what we would have to serve if we were to leave or superintendent would to leave the district that's a way around it right because it's part of the separation so wouldn't be caught to that so as a consultant he wouldn't be an employee of this District no longer correct that is correct so what would be preventing him if the previous superintendent was to have a good relationship with the current superintendent and the district and doing business with let's say developers or businesses that are out there what is stopping them from paying him as well from getting deals with the district Batista there would be no no um there's there's nothing requiring or not requiring um outside vendors to to pay or not pay so it's up to that that relationship with that person understood so we are giving the golden key to Broward County Schools to someone to go out and wheel and deal this District that's what that felt like we are allowing someone to stay in our building walk around and act like a su a superintendent when they're not and also be able to bring in whoever they want and talk about whatever deals with the key to the kingdom I'm not okay with that at all and if we're going to trust our superintendent in superintendent heurn then we have to show that for real and if any anyone thinks that we need a consultant or any training or any help that is an easy vote in showing that you do not trust our current superintendent and that person is not qualified and that is not fair to Dr heer I believe we need to talk about now let let me let me ask this so if we were to General Council I'm going to ask this question again if we were to fire this superintendent or the previous superintendent with cause whatever the cases or whatever action that this board does like you said you can go across the street and start a lawsuit if you want to will that person be getting paid by this District while that lawsuit is going on batia no Madam sherff the the there will be no payment because there will be a separation at that point there will be a separation immediately this board in this district will not be paying that individual and if that person decides to go to a lawsuit or litigation they would be paying out of pocket correct we wouldn't be responsible for that payment or any lawyers or anything in that situation right the only time that you would be um that you that the district would have to pay monies is in the event that um there could be a if they they have to show the the person Dr Lara would have to show that there was a breach of contract and then there would be damages that would come from from that process but other than that no he would not be paid paid while the lawsuit is pending and he would have to pay his lawyer out of pocket as well understood so I I believe that I'm not going to act out of fear as one board member of any litigation or any lawsuit I'm going to do the right thing by Broward County and the taxpayers of this district and I for one am sick and tired of losing money and just wasting money to people that are walking out here and I understand that I I wish him the best but this is in a situation what are we doing to do the right thing so I am 100% anti- a Consulting agreement that is not right like I said it's going to be a firestorm of just money going on and especially an interesting time of when we're talking about closing schools in certain neighborhoods talking about selling land not a good time and in my opinion it seems a little coincidental so Shar that's that's where I'm at and um yeah I'd like to hear from my colleagues as well it's a continue want thank you Dr Zan thank you so much chair um I'm going to go back to my points and thank you very much for my colleagues uh for sharing their thoughts and ideas we're at a point where we want to honor the service of Dr Lata uh we want to uh show our caring and compassion for someone who's uh announced that he's going through some medical issues um and we want to balance uh in this agreement um a uh compensation that uh both serves the students of Broward County with with the outstanding talents of Dr Lata uh but still recognizes the fiscal realities that we're in today and I'm going to make a motion chair and I appreciate the format uh that you provided uh but as a substitute motion uh let me explain it first and then I'll make the formal language the idea is to strike the consultant agreement as uh our chair suggested but to set up a period between May 13th and the first day of uh last day of the summer August 9th please break where we start the next year with a new superintendent the compensation to Dr lado would stay the same we pay him uh through July 1st which is a very important date and we pay him for the next 6 weeks while he helps us transition to smart program helps us train the new people uh in particular we have a new coo Who's acting as a chief facilities officer who's a brilliant brilliant decorated veteran number one but also brilliant in in her past roles uh around the country as a COO of schools but would benefit tremendously from the domain knowledge that Dr Lata has so it's not just 9 months and plus time uh in Broward but it's almost 30 years in Palm Beach so knowing uh South Florida uh could help her and and other people considerably and again this is a compromise solution I'm not trying to uh to make a perfect because there's no perfect here uh you know one side's going to argue for 20 and 60 the other side's going to say 60 that's it and other people are going to say hey August April 16th we separated you know we're done so what I'm trying to find is is a way to do this in a way and I am going to propose striking all non-disparagement I find that um uh cowardly frankly if Dr Lata wants to say Zeman's an idiot then say it I'm good I have been an idiot so uh if you want to uh let it go I have nothing negative to say about your service sir uh and I I am uh uh glad uh for your service here and I and I as the chair pointed out earlier um my thoughts are about your health and your happiness uh far more than than this but what this would end up costing us is the 60 days getting him to July 1st and $40,000 um it's not um an exorbitant amount of money it's a way of honoring the service and saying uh let's find a something in the middle that that works for all so Mo uh chair my motion if you don't mind I mve to strike sections 2 three and four of the consultant agreement between the school board of Broward County and Dr Lata and to amend the separation agreement by striking every reference it has to the Consulting agreement in addition on page two of 11 section 4 replace all of section four with the following while employed by School Board of brard County as special adviser Dr lado will continue to receive his PR salary less appropriated D deductions for employment and income tax withholdings and employee benefits available to all other 12-month employees from May 13th to August 9th 2024 in addition strike all references to non-disparagement primarily uh section 38 of this agreement thank you chair is there a second it's been moved by Zeman second by wholeness public comment on the motion on the motion yes Chris Nelson Fort Lauderdale um I do agree with this motion uh that we need to uh to strike this uh the Consulting um agreement because I mean I looked this up and I'm reading in uh in Sun Sentinel Scott Travis has a great article up today that uh some board members have questioned lata's Duty since the transition and who he reports to he's been showing up to the district's Administration office daily and working from an office on the first floor um however um Dr lot is helping with the transition established by the scho school board during the April 16th board meeting uh John Sullivan said uh redefining B CPS initiative or to close or repurpose schools however Lata said on May 14th text to the district advisory chairwoman he hasn't been involved in that um effort recently and uh um um Miss Pierre Grant the chairwoman of the diversity committee um eloquently um stated this at the uh at the Town Hall so so yeah I I agree with this I'm and I Echo what uh what Dan said what board member f said um that that like what do we what exactly um is he doing is he going to be doing it's very um troubling especially at this time when we're doing all this stuff that involves major money going on with the the um repurposing or closing of schools and this is nothing personal this this board you need to look at this very non- emotionally and I know I'm I'm I'm an emotional person so I I I get it it's not easy all right but but I like that with Dr Zan I like it with uh with Dan I like it with Tor that you that that you know you have some people up here that really know how to look at this non- emotionally it's nothing personal it's not but you have to look at this is like you're you're a board of a corporation and you have to be very dispassionate about this and you have and your goal is not to make Dr Lata feel good or tell him he's great I I hope I see him out in the I'm glad he's coming to Broward I hope I see him out places at restaurants I'll say hi well whatever but but in this situation in this situation your client okay the people that you're supposed to protect are the taxpayers the people that that live in condo buildings across that we have to pay the massive amounts of money um that the biggest chunk of our property taxes goes to you guys goes to the Broward School Board so that's who you have to be be thinking about and and and and remove feelings from this whole thing so I agree with Dr Zeman's motion um I look forward to hearing a board member uh comment on it specifically from from board member Austin board member fogan oi well all of you so um so I I I hope you pass this motion thank you any other public comment yes yes go ahead hello okay thank you just a few comments I kind of want to Echo a little bit of what I heard right there uh when I saw this I guess I'll open with how did we get here it's messy now it's messy we have to kind of figure our way you have to ask are we opening ourselves up to litigation why why is the process in place not good enough probably emotions got the better of us probably we need jerk reacted upon an announcement and now we got ourselves into a pickle you choose One Direction you know the public is gonna further trust will be eroded choose the other direction could get some litigation in Corporate America we don't do it this way we don't there's a process in place to cover you for this but knee-jerk reactions put us in this position at least we're trying to do the the recovery effort so I think what Dr Zan is putting forth and I see the the conversation going probably in the right direction now but again to Echo the comments I heard here uh you have process in place you should follow it um and avoid eroding the public trust because we're doing knee-jerk emotional reactions thank you thank you next speaker uh I I agree with the motion um and I appreciate Dr Zeman trying to find a middle ground um um and I no no disrespect I always start with no disrespect but ends up sounding disrespectful anyway um so no disrespect to the um former superintendent but I'm I'm glad that we're trying to strike out this um Consulting because if the initial retirement was because of health issues so you're well now to do Consulting I there's no I'm not trying to be disrespectful I'm just saying if why are we keeping why are we spending extra money if the person is leaving for health issues then then you move on and leave for health issues I think personally you guys should have agreed to the December 20 whatever date he gave initially so we could have cut TI in um but I appreciate the motion Dr Zan I see that you're trying to kind of build a bridge um and I hope that the rest of your colleagues can um jump on that too so we can kind of move on thank you see no other public speakers yes thank you I appreciate the difficult uh decision and debate discussion that you're having Glen tevi again representing Dr Lata I wanted to clear up a couple things uh Dr Lata pretended his resignation effective December 31st he remains willing to serve as your superintendent until December 31st you all made the decision to negotiate with somebody else and hire somebody else so I need to put it out there that he remains willing to serve as your superintendent he has not resigned he has not resigned and I never said the word resigned so that is not out on the table there is a mutual separation clause and that's what we attempted to do litigation is not a place that Dr lado wants to be we never threaten litigation a good planless lawyer would see tons of potential lawsuits from breach of contract to age discrimination Etc that's not where we want to be we want to come to a mutual agreement we thought we had didn't really expect that we'd be renegotiating in public appreciate Dr Zan's compromise motion I really do appreciate that I think you're on a good track there um we certainly would want to talk about that if that's the motion that gets passed um but I just wanted to make it clear that Dr ler remains willing now you know avoiding the litigation there's really three options you know one you pay 20 weeks and nobody wants to do that and Dr Lata was looking to serve instead of receive 20 weeks in pay that's why he offered his services and the second way is retire effective December 31st but then you probably wouldn't keep Dr heurn which is what you were trying to accomplish so you trying to do a lot of things on that one meeting some of them are kind of mutually exclusive you can't say to one guy well you're going to be the new superintendent the other guy well you're not going to be but we're not really terminating you but you're not going to be the superintendent you're either you know I all saying you're either pregnant or you're not you can't say he's your superintendent or he's not one or the other so we hope we come to a mutual Solution that's what we' like Dr Z again I appreciate your efforts at trying to find that middle ground so thank you thank you Dr Hess thank you madam chair so Dr Zan I appreciate the the motion um I just have a couple of things um uh in regards to the second part of your motion for the non-disparagement um removing that completely um I would personally like to see that go until December 31st because Dr L's Health May improve he may want to apply somewhere else for something and I think that it's imperative that on both sides that we're not saying anything negative neither him to us or US to him um so I was wondering if uh you will accept a friendly Amendment and if not if you would be willing to separate the two into two motions so I can vote in support of the part of the motion that I agree with mayor spair yes Dr Zan thank you very much chair um I'm not willing to separate and and here's why um when uh when Dr Lata um according to this motion wraps things up on August 9th and decides with this health improving under the what we'd all really hope for he applies for a job if we're under under a non-disparagement our reference means nothing because we're not allowed to be honest and so the actual elimination of non-disparagement allows us to give a reference to Dr Lata for the work that he's done and for all the other things that we we observed um outside of work so in your spe specific case the non-disparagement Clause would his next employer wouldn't ask us for a reference because we're not allowed to say our honest views in the absence of non-disparagement they would ask us for reference and we could talk about uh the service that Dr Lata did for it so part of what I'm trying to do in putting all three of these pieces together um no to this to the consultant yes to continuing but just until August 9th in that current current salary uh which is um you know some degree of compromise by the board and then non-disparagement I'm trying to create kind of the conditions that would uh not create any reaction from Dr Lata and his legal team and would allow us to uh stand in front of the public and say we did the right thing and and balancing all these kind of competing things I think his lawyers um uh comments his most recent comments are really pertinent you know there's a lot of stuff going on and what I'd like to do and the chair's word is land the plane you know in a place where we can all look around and say well it's not the worst place may not be perfect for any party but it's um it's a good one the non-disparagement bothers me morally uh and it bothers me because I'd like anyone that works for Broward County Schools to be able to have comments about me and I don't want to ever tie anybody's hands if if a student adviser a superintendent a teacher you know says this Schoolboard member you know did something that I find inappropriate I want to be able to say that that's really important to me um and so that's that's the my my big kind of moral issue with any uh non-disparagement so I'd like to keep it all together and see what the will of the board is thanks chair uh thank you chair Madam chair uh it's leard so I'd be on the list to speak too oh go ahead Miss ardy okay um I didn't you know obviously comment during the first round um and I appreciate Dr Zan's uh putting this motion forward and I just I I happen to agree with the idea of eliminating the non-disparagement um for the same reasons that he stated um I uh support eliminating the consultant agreement um I don't think that Dr Lata should to be paid at the rate of his current rate uh for any period of time moving forward he's not conducting their duties as a superintendent um and I say that you know I I said that he is the best superintendent I've worked with um that is true uh Hopefully Dr peer and King can um you know mo move that that needle forward even more um but I I don't support a golden parachute for any super okay Miss Leonard we are having trouble calling us hearing you so we're going to call you back okay thank you oh wait now now we okay um we'll go to next speaker Mrs Hixon thank you um thank you Dr Zan for for trying to compromise I still think um the July 1 date is is a better date to end it it's closer to the 60 days and I just want to say you know I had a very I have a very good relationship with Dr LCA but I'm very offended by some of the comments that were made here he he was not willing to stay till December 31st let's just be honest about that there were conversations that were had where we knew that that was not what he what he really he might he wanted to stay forever he just had some um he has medical issues and his family was pushing him to to be out of here sooner so I'm offended um at that conversation we did not terminate him without cause if we had a motion it passed he agreed with it number of people walked over to ask him if he was okay with it I sat right here and he said yes it was a mutual separation which leads us to negotiation it is the only thing we could have negotiated if any of those things that you said were true we wouldn't be here having this discussion so my button was pushed I don't typically get offended but I just have to say that it's offensive that you came back to us with that because we didn't do this we all would have been happy for him to stay the whole three years none of us really wanted to get rid of him um we wanted we asked the number of people said can't he just stay till the 31st when asked he said no he was good with this so please don't give the impression that we did something that we didn't do so um and I'm I'm good with the rest of what you said but I think July 1 makes more sense thank you m leonardy can you guys hear me okay now yes okay um so I don't know how much you heard from my last statement so I'll just very try to be uh concise um I appreciate the motion that was put forward I do not support a consultant agreement um I do not support uh compensation at the rate of superintendent um I uh you know I do not for a golden parachute for any superintendent how excellent they may have been um as has been stated here today multiple times we are servants to the taxpayers um and the students and residents of Broward County um so you know I I think that we need to be very prudent uh and I appreciate the different motions that have been put forward today by my colleagues to be able to do that um and and I agree with Miss hixon's comments about uh re itating that this was a mutual separation that this is to be negotiated uh and I'll I'll leave it at that thank you thank you any of my colleagues Miss Charleston yes thank you madam chair I'm actually doing a big smile and I was trying to hold it in um but the vice chair actually was spot on um for this one so Dr Z and I appreciate the compromise I can't support the motion um I support 90% of the spirit since we like Spirits here um but there's about 10% that I think is the most critical one is the timing two is the salary piece and I think um or at least someone else mentioned that um that was are critically important to me so I'm going to pause I know we can go round and around on this I think we probably should put it to a vote Madam chair and then what I recommend whatever passes uh our Council needs to publicly ask the opposing council do they support the motion whether it's yes or no because then that will give the board a signal for what else we may or may not need to do all right so I'm going to pause okay does any of my other colleagues need to speak before we vote Dr Miss rer thank you um I wanted to say that I agreed with the July 1 no Consulting and uh ready to vote Dr Zan can you repeat your motion yes uh chair um uh just before I repeat uh point of order uh as this motion is on the floor I think it is not amendable by the person that put it up is that correct Miss Batista Madam shair So based upon the discussions that um the maker of the motion has heard um it is amendable thank you very much so um what I'd like to do is to um for my colleagues amend the April 9th to July 1st and I'll read it in full if you're ready chair yes please I'm move to strike sections 2 3 and four of the consultant agreement between the school board of barard County and Peter Lata striking every reference to a Consulting agreement in addition on page two of 11 section 4 replace that entire section with while employed by School Board of bar County as special adviser Dr Lata will continue to receive his current salary less appropriate deductions for employment and income tax withholdings and employment benefit available to other 12-month employees from May 13th to July 1st 2024 further on uh page 10 of 11 section 38 is struck an entirety eliminating all mention of non-disparagement thank you Mr Al yes if possible uh so because I know sounds like there is 9 5% agreement but there's still the one bigger piece and I know I know you prudently kept it in um around the special advisor current salary uh of the former Superintendent at 350 is still in your motion but I think I heard a majority and I think you did too uh signal that I don't think that they want to keep that so you can do how you wish I just prefer if you separate that out that would allow us to have that conversation yeah um again I feel like uh we're already at the very thin edge of of prompting litigation I got it and um I'm I'm I'm feel like um reducing pay is a um unnecessary step at this point uh we're basically doing the 60 days plus a couple weeks so that he hits a critical gate at July 1st I'd like him to leave uh at at the current pay thank you though thank you I do have a question for staff uh what is on page two of two what or based on Dr Zeman's motion what's the financial impact Madam chair it's okay Mrs matal is calculating it also please make sure that Dr Lata has a copy of the motion yes I ask Dr Zan a clarifying question I believe you initially said August 9th did you say that the second time or do you have a different I changed August 9th to July 1st you changed August 9th to July 1st all right yes sir right okay we're just waiting on the calculation of the financial impact Dr Zan can you just clarify when you say strike through sections two three and four what page are you on stand by I'm sorry one second please chair it's just really removing any language Rel the Consulting one of one AG one of 11 um is uh two is the consultant Services three is consultant Services yes and four is comp and invoicing uh those uh would be struck under this current thing and again uh the the motion would have to be translated into the appropriate sections for example when we say strike all non-disparagement it occurs in several places so uh it's a it's a motion that would require some action by our general counc and obviously in negotiations with the other side no negotiation do you need more there's a negotiation batia right yeah so um just want to just want to be clear so is is the intent of the motion that the Consulting agreement is struck yes correct and then when you're speaking of sections 2 three and four what you're speaking about is removing any language that refers to the Consulting agreement in the separation agreement is that correct that is correct thank you okay thank you and then um when you are speaking about the leadership transition from May 13th until July 1st at the current salary is that at the current salary plus benefits or with Benefits that are for the same as 12-month employees it' be for the benefits after the 12-month employees okay yes ma'am thank you Dr wanza Miss Balo through the chair through the chair yes so the compensation from April 16th um through July 1st as an employee of the district will be about 142,000 from April 16 through July 1st unless it's it's not just okay and is there anything else more to that well we've already paid from um April 16th through May 12th so that's about 39,000 paid M up I'm sorry but those uh those numbers don't add up chair um I wonder if you could decompose your calculations for Miss marwal so is my understanding correct that he would be an employee of the district from April 16 through July first two and a half months so the estimated compensation including vacation s and everything is about 142,000 can I can I clarify M Batista so there has been a portion um that has already been paid to Dr lcar so that portion would stay the same at this point your motion um which starts on and I have maybe this is a clarification question as well um I thought you were um going from May uh 14th which is part of what the motion that the chair made um May 13th forward then it would be at the benefit benefit level as other 12month employees okay so when we're doing the calculations from April 16th up to the the monies that he's already been paid that would be an amount which I think is some $39,000 or something like that yes so let me repeat from April 16th through July 1st would be about 142,000 less what's already paid is 39,000 M and then the remaining owed would be about 103,000 if I could chair could you break down the 103,00 ,000 into components for us miss maal Dr wanza Miss matalik um can we break down what the $103,000 represents okay so the salary first of all ACR vacation and sick is about 28,500 the salary the compensation from April 16 through July 1st includes salary car allowance medical reimbursement F FRS TSA life and disability insurance and that adds up to 110,000 so that's a total of 138,00 I'm just speaking rough estimates the attorney fees of 3,000 which is about 41,800 compensation that's already paid from April 16 through May 12th is 39,000 so the net OE is 102600 okay so the clarification is that the payment of 39,000 that includes all of the benefits that the superintendent had in his employment agreement cor right beginning on that date you said that you were that that was part of your calculation now that should not be part of the calculation now because the motion is that after May 13th May May 20 I'm sorry yeah May 13th that it would be at the same level as other 12-month employees so you have to take that out you have to take the car allowance and all of that out from May 12th May 13th excuse me until July 1st and the TSA as well Madam chair Mr Char I think we understand the spirit I don't think we're trying to figure out 142 versus 130 120 right I think there's some bigger questions so we can wait for the final numbers if the motion passes I don't know if it does Dr Zan based on so can we just put it up for a vote because I think the elements are um I think the biggest question still is on salary which Dr Zan I know you're not budging um but everything else sounds like there's agreement so can we just maybe put it for a vote does any other board members have questions you're ready to vote yeah okay roll call okay roll call Miss ala no Mr Alon no M fam no Mr fogan holy no Miss Hixon yes Dr holness No Miss leonardy Miss rert no Dr Zan yep motion fails uh six to two two to six all right Madam chair let me try to keep this going so let's let me put a motion on the four that I think we agree on let's kind of do that or Dr Z you want to take it it was your motion why don't you do the four that we agree on actually um given that this motion which was a substitute motion failed we're back to the original motion from the chair M okay we can well okay well I have a different okay let's put it up for a vote let's because we let's keep moving okay so my motion is to strike part two consultant agreement between the school board of bar County Florida and Peter B Lata PhD of the requested action and to amend the separation agreement by striking every reference it has to Consulting agreement roll call there just only one piece starting with Mr uh yes I support striking that one [Music] thing M fam the chair AG cons yeah agree yes M hogi yes Miss hion yes Dr holus No Miss leonardy yes Miss Rupert yes Dr Zan yes Miss ala yes motion passes 8 to one right now go to my second motion I move on page two of 13 number four the last sentence while employed by sbbc as special advisor Dr Lata will continue to receive his probated current salary less appropriate deductions for employment and income tax withholdings and employee benefits available to other 12-month employees starting on May 13 2024 is there a second second move by alaf second by roer public comment on the motion see come on Chris uh yes Chris Nelson I'd just kind of like to know what what exactly um Dr Lata is going to be doing in this time like in this time but but I do support the emotion thank you any other public comment Bo member comment on the motion Mr Dixon I'd like to make um an amendment to the motion and at the last sentence say start or from May 13 2024 through July 1st 2024 second been moved by Hixon second by roer public comment on the motion four member comment on the motion so from May 13th to July say again July first first first with the current salary correct yes okay I for member comment on the motion on the substitute motion question this is rert um where it says for employment and income blah blah blah blah with 12 month employees would that be at the same uh fee as superintendent or is it the is it the same salary as the 12-month employees M batia that would be at the same rate of pay as the superintendent this this motion only speaks as to benefits correct thank you wa a clarification fam yeah with your motion you have that we we struck out Consulting agreement what are we substituting that with the word separation agreement two different things things just removing it completely yep it's gone MH so it's just going to be referred to as the agreement M Batista there is only one agreement before you now which is the mutual separation agreement that supersedes the employment agreement the Consulting agreement has been stricken right there were two pieces just a point of order chair is a motion to amend not a substitute motion yes y motion to amend motion to amend are we still on page page one of 11 gone no we voted no on that okay okay any other um board member comment on my my second motion that was amended by Mrs Hixon vote on yep we're voting on the amendment which is uh do change this the date from May 13 to July 1st no was to say from July from May 13th to July because that it doesn't have an end date on your motion okay M so the motion um the motion does have an end the only portion that um the motion that Mrs alev made is speaking about is the starting date um to add that starting date but everything else in the language of the agreement stays the same oh okay which is the end date is July 1st it's just it's really confusing out of context here I just that's fine so that they just vote on the motion okay roll call on the motion to amend okay we are beginning with Miss fam Miss Fam I'm sorry um no Mr folen Hoy no Miss hion yes Dr holdes No Mr Leonardi no just want to be clear that was a no Miss Leonardi correct Miss rert no Dr Zan yes Miss alad yes Mr Alon no okay mot motion fails fails 6 to3 okay would someone else like to make a motion yes Mr Madam chair so it sounds like let me go back to where I think we all agree um or where I think thought I heard a majority agreement so let me start with I move that we remove all references to the non-disparagement clause as presented there second second moved by Allon second by Zan public comment on the motion I don't want to get close to cutting myself off I know have a certain amount of time uh Chris Nelson I agree with this there should never be these disparaging non-disparagement uh Clauses in these things um I agree with Dr Zan because I mean you're talking about a position you're in the public and uh it's ridiculous having to refer to the last superintendent as VC and doing all this stuff because you know when you're talking about reflection of the past sometimes you have to bring up that person and to not not be able to use their name it's uh it's very first amendment and uh it' be great to see this board do something Pro First Amendment so absolutely agree with uh board member Austin's motion any other comments for member comment on the motion M fam I absolutely Concur and I had written two pages down if you look into uh the oath that we took when we were sworn in it's about transparency if you look throughout our policy rulings it talks about transparency how can we be transparent if we can't be honest a disparaging agreement sets out that you can't speak the truth if it's negative okay that's similar to me as a gag order you cannot speak how can we partner with the public how can we communicate with the public when we can't say what truly happened or we can't say the truth and the disparaging agreement goes both ways and I'm in complete agreement with Dr Zeman as well that if you have something to say that's negative and it's true that's fair game if it's not true then it's defamation but if it's true then that's fair game and this is the other thing people have to be accountable you can't hold people accountable when you have to play nicey nicey and talk fluffy this is not what we're here for we're to make sure that people do their jobs and they do it well thank you and we owe you that obligation the public and with that disparaging agreement it handcuffs us it ties our hands behind our back and we cannot do that and hold people accountable we have to sit here and smile and say wow got away with another one thank you any other board MMA comment roll call roll call yes Mr Fogo yes how did you know Miss Hixon yes Dr holness No Miss Leonardi yes Miss rert yes Dr Zan yes Miss ala yes m Mr Austin yes M fam yes passes motion passes 8 to1 Madam chair M Char the next motion I'd like to offer is for there to be uh acknowledgement of the retirement notice on 4:16 by the board do we need to mutually agree on that since that's been or we've already taken action so leave it okay actually no Take that off um next motion uh Madam chair is agreement on the end date um of July 1st of the agreement that's before us second then moved by Allon second by fogan holy public comment board member comment is that uh a clarification on your motion is that based on the superintendent's salary I have not touched salary yet I'm going to save that for the last comment and I haven't touch benefits yet but I know that's a point of agreement so I'm going to that'll be my next motion okay there's no motion right okay M fam yeah I have a question for general counsel so through the chair um in reading the contract it talks about a written agreement separation that upon the written uh agreement of the terms of Separation since we don't have a signed separation agreement that's formal I'm afraid to to go back to this amount of weeks so would you please clarify for me and perhaps other people that are concerned with the fact that written contract that we have in front of it says a written council could I help Madam chair so the motion that we pass uh uh by an overwhelming majority of the board says I move that we accept Dr lata's retirement letter and move that we mutually move to separate immediately from him and authorize the chair to negotiate on those said agreements and contracts with both the former superintendent and the Now new superintendent so the key to your question is we've mutually agreed to separate immediately when Dr Lata sat in the middle of this de and there was mutual agreement there was also mutual agreement on his approval of the next person that we're going to talk about that was done publicly makes me feel more comfortable thank you yep any other board m comments Dr holess thank you madam chair so Madam chair I just have a a question of concern um I know the next item which is bb5 is our superintendent agreement and is there a reason the superintendent was not able to sit in on this meeting since this particular item has nothing to do with the superintendent the next one does he chose not M Batista's a game Dr wo sure um thank you Dr holness uh Dr heern chose to um not be in the room for this item that's why I'm up here on the Das okay so I have another question regards to that uh did he make this Choice as a result of uh some sort of a um um Consulting with legal counsel or was this his personal choice and how can we um ascertain that so is my understanding that it was his personal choice Miss Batista can speak for herself or he can but it is my understanding it was his personal choice to not be in the room and thus I was asked to come up on the Des okay so I have another question while miss Batista answer that question um is it if it was his choice to be in the room is that within his right within this particular item to be here miss Batista so first of all I did I am not uh Dr heer's attorney for purposes of the contract that will be before you later on um so I did not have any conversations with him related to whether he would you know sit in uh for this item or or not that was um up to the superintendent um himself um and I don't know if he had any discussions with his own lawyer and um as far as uh whether or not um he has the right to be here or not that again is um up to the discretion of the person serving you uh whether they sit in on a particular item or not um that's up to them um otherwise they should sit here all the time throughout the board meetings okay I appreciate that response so the reason for me asking these questions is because a part of our discussion in this particular item has to do with whether or not we believe the prior superintendent would be of some uh valuable support to the existing superintendent in a transition um had that superintendent or current superintendent been here uh then we could possibly get his input on on uh the current role that the prior superintendent is serving and how that role would benefit him or not in his transition and how long that particular transition role would be so I think his presence would have been really uh substantive in the current discussion that we're having considering that there is no um violation of any sort of protocol for him to be in this discussion sorry so I I am uh and I am concerned because I would like his input on the current uh role the prior superintendent is serving and whether or not uh this will ease his transition and for what period of Time Any Other Board member comment I think we take it to a vote because we're just debating I'm sorry madam chair we're just debating the end date right now right we said no to consultant agreement we're going to still address the special advisor point in salary that's coming so I I hear you because that's one of probably three major points we have left so so Madame shair the the motion there is really no motion because the the statement on the agreement already says that the end date is July 1st okay all right so then we don't need to all right so I'll take that back all right next motion Madam chair wa wait hold on will you remove your a second remove yes I'll remove my second yes so I think there's agreement on the employee benefits uh of May 13th to July 1 the same as all other 12 month employees so we'll put that in the in the agreement that's your motion yes benefit is there a second second move by Austin second by po hly public comment on the motion for member comment on the motion h yes thank you very much chair and I understand that in the agreement we talk about July 1st um but to the make of the motion I have to ask what is it about July 1st and my question since we already have a superintendent that is in place why are we going to wait till July 1st that's just my question Char Fair Point um and by the way remember I propose 60 days from April 16 so I may anyway so that's the motion on the floor because I think I heard a majority there so we'll see how it is but I think the bigger point is and maybe I can take the date out and maybe we just agree on the employee benefit and then we add we have a discussion on the date I mean if that's if that's doable because I'm not similar to Z I don't want to I'm trying to get us moving here all right you know what let's do this let me remove the date portion I think we all agree employee benefits uh the same as 12-month employees and then we can do another round on date unless beginning of May beginning right correct beginning May 13th definitely the end date we can discuss separately all right is that fair yes all right so remove the July 1 let's put the period the same way it is after May 13th employee benefit it's the same as 12-month employees that's the current motion all right Miss thank you I think it would be prudent for us to explain what the benefits are a 12mon employee gets so everybody understands what that is he W sure so um Dr Ogburn um is coming to the mic and she can um talk about the benefits that our 12mth which are year round employees good afternoon Dr dild Martin urn director of benefits and employment services for br schools for 12-month employees who are uh currently receiving benefits because it does make a difference once they separate from the district they have the ability to continue with their benefits through what we call Cobra and so that uh benefit is um administered through a third party administrator by the name of benefits outsourced and so they would make their payments through benefits outsourced for up to 18 months for an employee retiring from the district the retirement the benefits are also offered for benefits that they have at the time that they are exiting whether it's resignation or retirement they're able to continue not through Cobra Cobra because they can continue as long as they want whether it's one month one year five years it's up to them Miss Batista can you clarify I'm not sure what needs to be clarified but um it what what the motion means is that the superintend the Dr lcar will not be receiving the same benefits that he received as when he was a superintendent meaning no vehicle allowance um no TSA um everything and that's I think were the only two things that were different from 12-month employees he still will be receiving um vacation sick days um and uh the disability insurance and all the other things that Dr urn explained M next time thank you the only other question is the health benefits because I know that Dr Lata was receiving money right as opposed to the health benefits so that's different for a 12-month employee I think than what Dr Lucado was getting so if you could explain that also that is correct so in Dr lca's con cont ract he was receiving reimbursement basically for the value of the benefits that he was opting out of the medical dental Invision and the life insurance and disability the board covered that and will continue to cover that through the last month of his employment right but if you're an employee and you opt out of the health insurance you just get $700 or something $750 what Dr lado was receiving as a superintendent he was receiving I the value of the benefit not the $750 annual sipon there's a difference right and that's my point that would change I I just want to be transparent and clear also for Dr Lata because if we're saying he's going to a 12-month employee I don't want there to be any confusion as to what that means so if he's changing everything except for those few other things the health insurance would be impacted and I just wanted to make sure that was clear that is correct so if you'd like me to explain further so the value of the health insurance and other benefits had been monetized and it was approximately $9,000 some dollars for the year that was prated for paycheck so as of May 13th he would not be receiving those monies any longer to be clear okay ready to vote Yes roll call on the motion Madam chair can you repeat the motion yes so the motion is just the benefits be the same as other 12-month employees beginning May 13 2024 and we are starting with Miss Hixon yes Dr holes no Miss leonardy yes Miss rert yes Dr Zan yes Mrs alev yes Mr olon yes Mrs fam yes Mr fog yes passes 8 to one Madam chair Mr so board members looks like we're down to three big items which I'm not going to profer a motion because I think we all may differ so we back to end date special advisor or whatever the role is with guard rails because we have none to this date as we've heard I think from other folks up here and I said a couple days ago um and salary those are the three big points so if someone wants to make a motion so we can just keep this going and then at the end Council uh you need to now go to your opposing Council and ask all of these things looks like we've already agreed on at least six elements if uh the former superintendent agrees um we need that public Assurance um to know if there's agreement or disagreement so the board can know what its rights are at that point so thank you Madame Sher but I believe that you had already planned to um after the votes from the board to take a recess to allow the superintendent no no no sorry I'm sorry um no no no Madam madam chair respectfully similar to other government bodies as we've just done here publicly um because I don't trust some of the other things that I've have come to I think he um so I think in the spirit of transparency I think it's very prudent that there is a simple question that the County Commission does do you agree it's a simple yes or no question we're going to repeat all of the elements that the board just agreed on looks like it's six of them so far so there's either going to be a simple yes or no once we go through all those elements whatever the answer is then the board will then know what its actions are at that point I don't think we need to recess it's a very public meeting uh I think we've had very public conversation I don't think Council uh has uh declared to do something privately um this is a public uh meeting then we can do it publicly so that's where I at a point of order uh chair um you are the chair of this board and how we proceed is up to you not any one member and I will point out that that man and his lawyer have every right to not answer the question that's correct and excuse me but I think it's my floor you have it okay go ahead Dr Zan so how we proceed is up to you as the chair how they answer is up to them we cannot prescribe that they will or will not answer nor can a member prescribe the process so a suggestion to the chair is in order but to uh direct this body to do anything is the sole discretion of the chair of this body thank you Dr Z Madam chair Mr Al thank you now that I have the floor again and I appreciate all comments um but I'll make a motion because I think nine of us all have our own independent opinions and you are the chair I've been a chair so I understand and I respect the chair what I also respect is that five people uh can make motions and you say yes or no so Madam chair I'd like to move that at the conclusion of this agenda item uh that we are have our general counsel in her capacity as the board's councel publicly ask the opposing Council for the former superintendent if there is agreement or disagreement on all the items that the school board collectively has voted on second move by all second by phone Hall any public comment on the motion uh I agree with the motion I think that we've been doing this publicly this whole time I think the public uh wants to be part of this conversation um as a parent and also a chair of an advisory I've been getting text messages and phone calls um following this uh so it would be I think prudent for you guys to continue on publicly um and then ask councel at the end if they agree or disagree I think this is the best I've seen this board do um negotiations where we are part of the process and so if you can continue that way I would appreciate it thank you thank you any other comment good afternoon Desiree Grooms pompo Beach Florida I also agree with the motion I have been receiving Texas as well and our community is very involved in this process because it is very serious to them as to how we can get to a conclusion quickly because of the other issues we now currently having in our schools um so seeing as we've already gone public with this I think it should stay there and it will show that the board is moving in a transparent way as well thank you thank you Dr Hess thank you madam chair so with regards to the motion I just would like to get legal input on whether or not we can as a board motion for yes or no in the agreement um so I can give my vote without worrying about any kind of legal consequence mtia there is no Prohibition in in having a vote uh regarding the matter that is on the floor right now there was going to be a um a question presented to the council for Dr Lara and Dr Lara at the end of this process because that is the only way to aain publicly here today um whether or not they are in agreement the only question is you know whether they will be a recess uh provided so that they can consider it or the the question will come immediately upon the end of this discussion okay so for my for my understanding um what the motion is to get is to ask the question for a yes and no answer and they have the option to answer or not to answer it correct that is correct Mrs hexon thank you um well we're supposed to be in a mutual agreement so I think they should have the ability to counter with what we're saying not just so they say no we don't agree with this but would you consider I mean I think that needs to be important it's just not a hard yes or no we negotiate that way um in public for the origin original contract so I'm I'm okay with doing that as long as it's not just a hard yes or no they should have the ability to say we don't agree with this but you know here's what our counter is so that we can because it's supposed to be a mutual agreement so I just want to be clear that that's still going to be allowed do Charon Madam chair that is the spirit of my motion uh and as you heard from your own Council not me well you heard from me as well um at the conclusion of this we need to ask the other side do they agree yes or no or or maybe so right do you like me yes no maybe so we did that we're in school so if it's maybe so then we know what those issues are that we need to immediately deal with if the answer is no then the Board needs to deal with that as well so that was the point around me pushing this forward because look we need to bring this in for a landing we still got the three The Big Three that we haven't touched roll call on the motion and repeat the motion okay once again the motion is to have General councel publicly ask if there is agreement to the motions and we're starting with Dr holus yes Miss Leonardi sry could you repeat the motion one more time is to have General Council publicly ask if there is agreement to the Motions yes M rert yes Dr Zan no Mrs Al yes Mr olon highly in favor of I'll be a yes highly in favor of I accept yeses and no Mrs fam yes Mr fogan Hy yes misson yes passes 8 to one thank you I'm done Madam chair Mrs Hixon okay so um I would like to make a motion that the end deadine the ending date for Dr lata's contract is July 1st his capacity would be that of a special advisor at his pro-rated current salary and that we put guard rails around what the the job description is for that special advisor is there a second second move by Hixon second by roer public comment on the motion board member comment on the motion Mr Po thank you very much Sharon again I'm going to ask this question I really want to hear from my colleagues right we have a fully capable smart superintendent sitting in the chair I would like to know why we need somebody in the building to be a special advisor and be a second superintendent in the building I would just like to know from my colleagues what their views are because I'm against that so that's where I'm at thank you Dr Hess thank you madam chair so Madam chair for the record I want to indicate clearly that I personally believe that with this particular item it would have been uh beneficial to have our current superintendent in this room to indicate to us uh whether or not a transition and whatever time period that is would be beneficial to him in order to make him successful that piece is missing completely from this and because of that for me to proceed and vote Yes or no there's a key component here that's missing we are assuming that the superintendent that we have is going to be okay and we are actually sort of making a decision for him you're going to be okay you you're going to be fine why can't we get his input uh because if he does need or if he thinks there's some value to having the past superintendent for another few more weeks that will be significantly beneficial to the district and his input would make a difference in my decision but having that component missing from this and having no real relevant reason for him not being here because his item is next his item is not this item then I have a concern with it so this is really this is an important decision we're making that limits my ability to make the decision because a key component of me making the decision is missing so I just want to keep that on record and I don't know I was told he wasn't advised not to be here I hope he wasn't I hope this is his personal decision because if he was then this is a big problem so because then we would have been missing a big piece of this so um I am moving forward with this but I don't have relevant important information because the success of the current superintendent if he believes that that success would be ex uh would would would be um uh ex expanded should he get additional support from the current superintendent and I think that would be a relevant part of this discussion and I don't have that piece Dr Zan thank you so much um we've asked Dr he before about uh his interest in having support and he has said that uh he values Dr lot's support I want to just connect a couple Dots here though before we continue down this current path um in sometime in the distant future maybe today maybe not we're going to talk to the new superintendent and we're going to ask the new superintendent to agree to some terms and For Better or For Worse he's going to do that on the heel of watching us uh deal with this particular issue and the way with which we deal with this issue and the respect with which we show for the office of superintendent is going to be foremost on his thoughts and I do not want Dr heurn walking in and saying no to any offer because of the way that we discussed or talked about his predecessor so uh I want to Center these thoughts again on uh the value that you provided Dr Lata we do have to balance all of these things um and uh I'm also going to find it fascinating when we're done to see what we end up with that is different than the original motion that I made because so far we're going right back to it in pieces and maybe that would have been a better way to put this together but I hope that we can uh um make these motions with respect and dignity and that we can show uh the office of the superintendent the respect that it deserves uh if for no other reason because we'd like the next superintendent uh to say yes to the uh to the terms that we offer him uh moving forward this particular Motion makes sense uh and I hope that we can uh move quickly through the remainder of the Motions thank you chair M Hixon thank you um and thank you Dr Zan I just wanted to reiterate that that um in conversations with Dr heurn he did indicate that he would be open and and would like the idea of having um Dr Lata stay on for a little bit in order to just um smooth everything out so I don't think that doing this would be imposing anything on Dr heurn thank thank you m chair um Dr Lata I just want you and Dr heer if he's watching this to know that I have the utmost respect for the both of you and I really admire what you've done in such a short period of time the two of you together and you work well as a team with that being said I I do also wish Dr heurn was here and I would like to make a motion to table this motion and have it after we meet with Dr heurn and we discuss his contract possible second move by fam second by hit wholeness public comment so I am not in favor of the motion I think that uh Dr heurn I think we're all talking for him but I think in the spirit of trying to provide um some distance so one item can be talked about by by itself I think that that's why he made that decision to co to to be out of the out of the room I think he has highly high respect for all board members as well as his predecessor and to table this now when we've been sitting here in inth uh riveting negotiations um to stop now just so we can bring him downstairs for him to say yes or no uh I I think it's um uh I think we're we're just kind of holding on to things here I I would like as doc M Mr Austin mantioned let's kind of move this along let's not pose let's not stop it I feel like if Dr Heburn wanted to be here he would have um I think he's just trying to show some respect for both the board as well as his predecessor to kind of give the space to go ahead and do these negotiations so um I'm not in favor of the motion but I do appreciate it Miss Fam thank you any other comment desert GS Pomo Beach Florida um I have to agree I don't think this should be table I think we need to move along and and just get this done we have school business that really needs your attention and I do believe Dr helburn has a lot of respect for everyone up there as well as Dr Lata and if he really wanted to be in the room I'm quite sure he may have been here so again I think we need to just move this along thank you Dr Hess uh thank you madam chair so I want to uh clarify clear I want to make it known clearly that my intent is for the current superintendent to be successful that is my goal and to have that success uh moving forward into the next school year I don't know uh uh completely what Dr lard um was working on that's pending with the current superintendent um I know it has to do with some of the projects the constru projects and so on I don't know how important uh his um work is uh to suddenly terminate it or is there a need to have him on uh for a few more weeks or whatever it may be uh I will only know that getting the input from Dr heern I don't know that I don't know what's pending I don't know what he's working on what kind of challenges that would create if he leaves on July 1st uh I don't know if Dr heern would would then encounter some difficulties moving forward depending on what open items he had Dr Lardo working on I don't know any of that and so to to say um you know Dr heurn doesn't need this current superintendent any this prior superintendent anymore um I I think it would not be responsible of me to vote without having that information Mr Rog thank you very much CH I'm going to make it very quick and Dr Hess to your point I think I'm confident and I want to make sure it's very very clear right because we don't know if it is if he does if he doesn't those conversations and I heard people say oh well Dr heurn said one thing I heard the other having those conversations with him saying listen I may have voted against the process but I am fully on your side to push you as our superintendent because your success is our success I do know perfectly honest cuz you were saying whether he's here whe he's not here superintendent not I am perfectly peaceful and I know that this board will continue to move forward if both of them left today I know that we have ful fully capable people sitting in this room right now so I don't have any doubt in my mind I know that but I'm saying I agree with you I'm not okay with tabling this Dr heer wants to come in and say his peace I would understand that I I just think like I said if we're going to show full faith in a superintendant let's show full faith not halfway this was a board that voted 8 to1 so I'm the one saying that it's eight stand to your eight stand to your vote that's the man you put in the chair show full confidence not everybody had an adviser right Dr wano not everybody had help when they stepped into that seat to lead this District so that's just where I'm at I I want to make that clear and again I'm going to keep pointing to the date we're going to need someone in this building to help someone that person shouldn't be in the chair like that that's what it is that's what we're saying you're going to need I don't think that person needs training wheels I believe somebody's ready to work they're ready to work we're going to pay him and compensate him let's compensate him but I think that date should come earlier thank you CH Miss ton thank you just as a point of clarification when Mr runy step down he did get his 60 days and he was here at the same time that Dr cartright was in the seat as an interim superintendent so I think it's appropriate for that 60-day period um and again July 1st was selected for a reason so to to say that it hasn't happened before is not true um there has been overlap even when Dr cartrite was here there was an overlap in that period when we transitioned to someone else so it's not uncommon it has nothing to do with not having faith in Dr heer um but it does go to the fact that we want to be fair um with Dr Lata and that's what those 60 days would represent a little over 60 days need to vote on the tabling part roll call on the tabling to have Dr he voice roll call okay so once again this is the table Miss hixon's motion until Hein is present no that was Dr hess's motion I didn't give a motion I second fam this Miss fam's motion oh Mrs fam sorry second it so we have starting with Miss Leonardi no M rert no Dr Zan no Miss alff no Mr olon no Miss fam number no Mr fogan O I do it for fam yes not play no no Miss hion no Dr holdes yes fails 8 to onebody okay himself back to Mrs hixon's motion all right Charon all right so thank you Vice chair for putting the motion forward because these I think attempt to do the final three points around date role and salary so I won't support the current motion as is um because I believe that and we forget data side um salary I have a problem paying two superintendent pays at a time I do agree that and the reason I purposely started off hours ago um using the 60-day Mark um I am in favor of honoring that 60-day period of the original contract that this board offered um and then we can deal with any other elements so if this passes clearly I can't do that but that's where I'm at secondly uh the last two transitions cost the district 0 so I want to be very clear the transition uh of I'm sorry the transitioning out of the person sitting in the middle of the Des and the transitioning out of Dr Smiley was no additional cost to this school district also I think Dr Smiley prepared a very detailed transition binder that we all knew about that at least the prior superintendent as you recall on this day told me he did not recall but I know that many recall the binder that was left so what I would like to see happen but it's not the motion on the floor is that we still get to the 60-day compassionate time period that is in the original contract we've already mutually agreed that there is a clear retirement from both sides that's where I'm at later we can talk about what the pay is and what the role is between now and whatever date there is I believe it should be 60 days from April 16 that's my personal view anything beyond that puts additional strain on the district that we have not done for the last two superintendents what we should be doing is saying okay thank you to our prior superintendent go ahead and start working on a transition binder so at the end of 60 days we cut ties with you that's where I'm at we've already done that before so I don't think we need to reinvent the wheel there is no other school district council please tell me currently where they are paying two superintendents at the rate of two superintendents of a day-to-day superintendent by law that's right and a Consulting agreement of having another superintendent being paid the superintendent rate to be a special advisor that makes no sense super I'm done okay any other board member comment before let's vote okay can you repeat the motion yes can you repeat Mrs hixon's motion yes so m six's motion is that the end date will be July 1st 2024 and he will serve as special advisor at the superintendent salary rate with the defined guard rails ready to roll call we're starting with Miss rert I can't support it because I believe in the 12mon rate so that will be a no for me Dr Zeman yes Mrs alad no Mr olon no Mrs fam not here Mr fogan hly no Miss hion yes Dr holes no Miss Le nardy no motion fails 2 to six okay Mr Charon oh let me attempt well at least where I know where I'm at let me deal with one of the three oh we voted we're done we're done okay all right let me let me let's deal with one of the three um so I would like to propose that the end date in the agreement that Still Remains um that it is 60 days from the notice that was publicly provided to the board on April 16th is that right council is that the public notice of the board April 16th or should we count anything before I think April 16th is appropriate correct April 16 April 16th so that is my motion that we use April 16 is the initial notice period to the board and that we end the period 60 days after April 16th and somebody will know what that date is so I'll that's the that's the motion um Mr auson I do like your can you add in about the transition binder and at the by the end of 60 the 60th day uh the former superintendent shall provide the district a transition binder to to the district to help with transition efforts thank you moved by Austin second by phone holy public comment board member comment Dr Zan thank you so much chair um chair to your knowledge is there a special um uh retirement vesting that happens on July 1st with Dr lot Miss Batista um so Madame Sher that was the information that I that I received uh initially when we were negotiating um however I believe that um the the month of June is when Dr Lara's vesting occurs okay thank you very much can you tell us can someone tell us what the date would be then rather than just saying 60 days what's the ACT what is that date oh miss well that's fine so I can be if I need to be corrected but I believe that just working one in the month of June would um no I want to know what's what is the 60 days for oh June 17th June oh June 17 Jun actually it's on the we're counting April 16th then it will be June 15th if you're starting after April 16th if you start April 17th then it's June 16th right which is like a Sunday or something corre right June 16th is a Sunday it's Father's day isn't it it sure is so it would go to the next day which is June 17th yep any other board member questions comments ready to vote please uh call the action Dr Zan nope oh wait I'm repeat the motion the motion so the motion is from April 16th 60 days from April 16th and shall provide a transition binder to the district I heard Dr Zan said no M alad yes Mr olon yes is smart and responsible Miss fam yes Mr folen holy no Miss hion yes Dr holness yes Miss leonardy yeah M rert yes and I'd like to tell Mr Alon thank you for that compliment smart and responsible responsible so it passes 7 to two I'm not touching the last two you all can I think Miss Batista would you like to June 17 I like that this is what I was corre we have anything else so then I'll take it I don't know yes all right I'll do it yep all right I'm sorry I do have one Madam chair this is actually perfect so I move that starting on May 13 24 the prior superintendent rate of pay be the same as the highest paid 12-month employee on the cabinet with an end date that we've already just agreed on um and the role and the duties of a former superintendent he's acting only in that capacity for transition purposes only move by Alon second by roer public comment uh I Nar Pier Grant Parkland Florida uh thank you for the motion I agree with the motion I um uh think that it's fiscally responsible we are in a lot of um you guys have a lot of debt so wherever we can kind of scr down and get some money back to put back into our district I would appreciate it um uh that doesn't negate the fact that Dr LCA has been effective here however I think that is fair uh picking the highest paid cabinet is fair and so um I do appreciate your motion and I hope the board members will um think about that their fiduciary responsibility and fiscal responsibility thank you m k Sorry hold on um yes Chris Nelson um I Concur and I can already kind of tell probably which board members are going to say no to this but guys you got you have a duty to the taxpayer okay this is who you're up here for all right and like she said you got a lot of debt okay this board has been you're not in a position to say oh to to be like oh we need to to do to do this or that we we need you guys need to do what's right by the taxpayer okay not what's right by Dr Lata Dr lata's got a very capable lawyer next to him okay that's that's representing him he's he's uh he seems to be doing a really good job it's not the board's job J to Baby the superintendent or the prior superintendent please just just come together on this guys I mean I know it's very hard for some of you guys but it's great when you guys come together just come together and pass Mr aon's motion um I'm smelling this food so I'm getting really hungry and I think everybody else in this room is getting hungry too so so please just just pass this motion it's it's absolutely the right thing thank you any other public comment yes Jason La Park I just make oh hello Jason Lauren Gan Park I just want to make a point of clarification could we the people know the number of that salary that's what I was Dr I believe that would be me okay and it's public record my I hope my child is not listening um my adult child I may add my current salary is $230,000 thank you board member comment yes can someone tell us what the difference would be then if for the time period we were told we would be owing him aund and two I I don't think we can go backwards right we've already paid out the 39 so it would have to be going forward so what would the difference be between the 102600 I think we were told that still 0 and if we changed it to the highest Cabinet member what would that number be reduced to Dr wanza Miss matala do we have that can we get that calculation for the board please we're working on the calculation if you can please allow a few minutes okay any other comments as we wait I do so I'm hopeful that this motion passes I think we're close um and because I think the motion is clear that it's transition purposes only the same comment I made nights ago um because I also want to be clear from an HR standpoint by the way Dr zman I think our next conversation will be totally different this is looking to do a remedy that is doing something else but I'll wait for that conversation anyway so um what I don't know from a HR standpoint if we had a breakdown anytime an employee leaves the district in any organization I think there's a checklist mhm there's a badge there's all these things that are required we did not do that okay so was no no no no no I understand what I am now suggesting if this motion passes because I I assume that he is still the former superintendent and employee of the district is that correct okay so at the conclusion of that that is when we will go through that process correct all right I talked on the microphone and I hear you very loud includ Dr on I so whatever so um thank you what whichever date the board um comes to as the um effective last state of employment yes we will go through that process okay now typically that is with the general counsel okay we go through that process with the general counsel perfect now this is just for board because I don't understand operations that's not my job um that's someone else's job right you all so if this motion passes what happens operationally if he is is only charged with the transition purposes of the district and to develop a transition binder uh back to your point Madam Vice chair are there other guardrails or questions because I know that we've all had questions or comments that have come up at least let me speak for me I have so I won't speak for anybody else so I think we do need to have maybe a separate conversation on that um to make sure that we're protecting the district uh from now forward because I am still concerned about backwards I can't fix backwards but I can definitely fix going forward so after the motion I'd love for us to have that conversation we have that number Mr monal I'll be close sorry you we're Clos if you can give me a few minutes please Mrs hion just to clarify the question because we changed the date so if you could give us the number of what it would be for May 14th to June 17th for Dr Lata to be at his current rate and at um the 230 rate right what they're doing is May 13th which is a Monday to June to June 17 I just wanted to make sure they realized there was a date change no that's why she came over so that's why we're making sure thank you for the clarification chair if I could uh fill in um a quick number yeah you know it's $220,000 a month and it's a month plus Fringe which For Us is around 30% so it's uh it's around $26,000 but whether it's 25 or 27 uh I don't think it's pertinent to the motion Mr Hixon do you need the exact number to be able to vote Yes well yes because the if the difference is only a couple of ,000 I don't see the value in in making that decision so um that's why I need the number mrol thank much Shar I guess I'll ask my questions while we wait for that answer um see the first part of the motion I agree with that right I'm okay with that um but can you explain the second part of the motion to the maker of the motion um to the responsibilities that he'll be holding while he's here Mr awon thank you madam chair and uh board member fenoli so the second part of the motion I wanted to be very clear the only role that the board would prescribe is only only transition purposes only for the former superintendent nothing else um putting together a binder I think that was sounds like the consensus of the board to your point and I agree I think I agree I I don't know what's in your head but I know what's in my head that there probably should be a discussion or direction that we provide um the superintendent who's not here Dr holness because I think if the agreement is still the same he would report to our superintendent right if that Still Remains the Same of the spirit of the agreement so I think that there should be some additional guard rails that we direct the superintendent between now and June 17th with the former superintendent to prevent any liability any issues for the district so that's my intent unless you have something you want to add now no no and I appreciate that I appreciate that and thank you chair um my fear is whatever wording we say it looks like we still have two superintendents anybody across the state anybody on the outside looking in to the viewing public it seems like we have two superintendents and I agree with you if we do have that decision and this board makes that decision those guard rails need to be very clear because I want somebody that's not a superintendent walking around this building bossing people around or talking to people like a superintendent would I want to be very clear so not only that we need to put guard rails in place of what conversations can be had what shouldn't be had on the outside of when it comes to vendors or different business dealings in this District be very clear I don't think anybody should be in the building at all do that should be no transition the person that we have in the chair is fully capable to be a superintendent and that's how I I think so that's why I I'm a little iffy on the second part um I understand about the pay and being fair right thing responsible thing to do um that's where I'm at thank you very much chair miss matala you have that yes based on the salary of 350,000 the current salary would be roughly 38,000 and based on 230,000 would be about 25,000 my bad thank you um based on on that and the idea that we did change the date to June 17th I wouldn't I I don't agree with changing his the salary so um I agree with part of what you said I do agree with the guard rails we can say that they're not in the building we could direct him to do the binder from home if that um makes sense I I would support that if we're not looking at having um you know I mean he would be open to Dr heern calling if necessary um I'm good with all of that but I think for $113,000 it would it's just a little disrespectful at this point so I was okay with the June 17th change of date because it doesn't affect the r retirement which I don't want to affect in any way but I I'm not okay with making that change for not a substantial I don't want to say it that way but for for that amount of money he ca he's here he did a wonderful job we appreciate him and I I just don't think we should be doing that thank you Dr Zan yeah thanks so much um uh I'm uh odd man out up here and I'll be fine in that role because I believe in what I'm about to say Dr Lata has dedicated 30 years of his life to education he fully supports Dr heurn to be the superintendent uh had he not done what he did that wouldn't have happened that way and he'd be a candidate somewhere else um I uh believe the money should stay as Miss Hixon suggests uh more importantly um I have found nothing in Dr lata's uh professional uh commitment to education that would suggest that he's not going to do anything but 30 days of great service we're talking about 30 days between now and the middle of June uh that he would uh be supporting uh one of his closest professional colleagues in his life Dr heurn and so the discussions are going into very very minute detail here about in and out of buildings and things like that uh when I think that um you know we could wrap this up and allow Dr heurn and Dr Lata to figure out how to work together to further the goals of this uh of this great County so I um am ready to vote on the motion chair when you are Mr Alon let me repeat the motion for the public and the board because I don't think the motion did what you just stated Dr Zan the motion was very clear uh with the date of May 13 2024 uh Dr LC's rate of pay would be the same as the highest pay 12-month employee on our cabinet which I believe we Now understand what that who it is and what that number uh is with an end date of June 17 2024 that's the first part of the motion that this board will vote on the second part of the motion is very clear the role of Dr Lata is solely for the purpose of transition period only period great let's vote you forgot your trans the transition in the B with the binder sorry that's important my notes oh that pass okay all right we're ready to vote well I have a is are those two separate motions or all one motion Madam chair Mr I made it as one motion but in the spirit of Zeman I'm happy to to separate no okay all right let's keep it together I think we're on a roll roll call on the motion so m al I just want to be clear the second part that he mentioned about the transition binder already was in the previous motion so it's not part of this motion correct so we're starting back with you miss Al actually Mr olon highly in favor of Miss fam yes Mr fogan holy no Miss hion no Dr holes no M Leonardi yes do are yes yeah okay no that's me oh I was next Mr rert no and then Dr Zan no fails 4 to five Mr St actually like change my vote to yes all right passes 5 to four okay guard rails anybody have a motion for guard rails Madam chair I move that we direct our superintendent of schools to work collaboratively with our former superintendent Dr l who has done great work for this district and he can use any means that he chooses whether it is email phone facts um and if this board chooses uh a remote work environment uh that is up to the board but that is uh the motion uh that I would profer um between now and the date that this board is already prescribed there second move by Elon second by phone holy public comment board comment T I would um just say that since Dr lado will report to Dr heern it makes sense to let Dr heer decide what that's going to look like and what he's comfortable with you know I I think it's also very disingenuous to to say Dr lot can't be in the building at all um I don't think he's planning on doing anything that's inappropriate but I Dr heern should be the one who decides what it is he wants that to look like thanks Charles Madam chair so let me tell you why I offered the motion um because I was choosing not to do that but because you raised it I will absolutely share publicly so for the last I'm sorry this is a question to the chair to the uh Chief of Staff can you tell us how many days since April 16th we have been in this dilemma of mutual negotiation Drano somebody just needs to give me a date I don't know who So when you say dilemma of mutual negoti sorry those are my words how many days have occurred since April 16th until today now we are concluding today's conversation on this topic so we're we're right at about 30 days thereabout got it give take so Madame Vice chair we've had 30 plus days of no direction of our former superintendent I have received various calls texts and notices um of different interactions and I'll just put a period there cuz my intent is is not to do anything more than that so the reason I'm profer the motion is to prevent that from what I've heard for the last 30 plus days and I think we're very north of 30 days so respectfully I believe our prior superintendent has reported to the current superintendent but that has not prevented what I have heard so I as a responsible board member then the board can vote it down I am offering this based on uh potential liability and concerns that was brought to my attention so I'll speak for this one board member so that's why I have proferred in that way uh with those guard rails um period okay any other comments before we vote at at the entire motion this fam yeah thank you madam chair I I looked under the contract because it allows for other employment in including um it's pretty at the end it's what cont well I'm just saying if if we go forward with this agreement the contract that that um Dr Lata had with us provided that he could hold other employment including Consulting for other people outside of the school board so just want to make sure we're not in jeopardy of of encountering a situation where we would be potentially harmed so the the agre agreement that is before you today supersedes the employment agreement in all respects because that provision is not in the separation agreement is not part of the terms of this agreement also I wanted to point out to the board um that there is a mutual there is a release in the agreement as well that uh would prevent uh Dr lar from suing the district um so that's part of the agreement as well thank you I saw that okay Dr W Mr not supposed to thank you very much chair like to see to the makeer of the motion if you would uh be willing to accept a friendly friendly Amendment um for the time being friendly all even afternoon soon to be evening until 617 um to have Dr Lata working remote throughout that time we want to add that on I say that no I don't remember I think I was just talking I just mentioned it okay I am okay with that um Spirit of the board sounds little okay I'm okay with that so I'll accept the friendly Amendment okay can you repeat the motion Dr Mr Strauss is this what you have um the motion made by Mr Austin to have um Dr heurn work collaboratively with Dr Lata throughout the transition period through um July 17 2024 and the provision of working remotely was just added just want to you said July it's June I'm sorry June June 17th 2024 yes okay and we're going to be starting with Mr olon R call yes M Fam I'm sorry can you just read that again from June 12th so the the motion on the floor is to have Dr heurn work collaboratively with Dr LCA through the transition until June 17th 20124 and the provision of working remotely during that time was added okay just point of clarification when you say the provision adding remotely do you mean that's an option or that's a mandate it sounds like it is a mandate that Mr fogan holy made Mr Austin accepted then I'm going to say no M fanol yes Miss hion no Dr holness No Miss leonardy yeah M rert no Dr Zeman here M salad no 3 to six fails 3 to five okay so I think we'll get there if we just take out the remote leave it up to the discretion of the superintendent y yes and so I'm going to make that motion second move by Ala second by Fen ho public comment board oh thank you chair uh Al um the motion was to remove remote and keep it as uh the discretion of the superintendent correct okay um I the motion is is fine I think that's fair um I I also understand where Mr Altin is talking about in terms of I think I think the spirit was that is this the the attitude of the former superintendent may have been what inspired to be something away from the dis uh the grounds but I do appreciate that Miss uh I'll dep that you uh want to kind of keep the spear going and I appreciate this back and forth I appreciate you guys are getting all along a little bit even though some people got up got up and left and went to a car and left uh uh but you know this is the business and uh appreciate the ones that did stay on to uh make us get through this motion get through this uh process appreciate you Dr wanza oh one more public speaker greetings meting chair and board members I was sitting at home and I just had to get up on my lunch hour and come and speak thank you for the dialogue I'm on my lunch hour thank you for um the transparency I appreciate it as a as a stakeholder I um have 250,000 children um in the district and I appreciate what you're doing specifically to your motion um I just very simple just feel like if with all due respect Dr Lata um has issues to allow him to just go on trust Dr heurn the community and stakeholder really loves what has happened give him a time to heal be with his family um save the taxpayers money and I appreciate everything that you're doing but please um could we not do a combination allow him to lead um the community parent involvement task diversity we all have loved what the town hall has done and what that headb bur has brought allow him to write his vision and let it be plain all the top people have gone that's red flags please chair I love you so much please allow Dr hurn to lead and not try to continue to vision of what Dr Lata had no disrespect because all the top people took flight that's red flags please I'm begging you thank you thank you Dr wanza can you read the motion sure the motion is um for Dr heurn and Dr Lata to work collaborative collaboratively at the discretion of Dr heurn until June 17 2024 roll call Miss fam I support the motion Mr fogan holy yes M hion yes Dr holness yes Miss Leonardi yes was a yes yes yes just one time for me yeah Dr Zan not here Miss alad yes Mr chareston no passes 7 to one okay Miss Batista have we uh done all of our motions no I'd like to make a motion also um after the date of 617 I'd like the superintendent or the former superintendent to adhere to the same policy that board members and superintendent have to abide by once they leave the district to not do business with the district for two years well Batista if I if I may uh correct so when you're an employee of the district you're not supposed to be doing business with the district at the same time but because Dr lakara will not be an employee any longer after that date he's able to pursu onto the ethics code he can come back and do business with the district what he's prohibited from doing is lobbying there is a a restriction as to lobbying but there is no restriction as to um you know working for the district unless he retires so if he was to work for another outside company or entity he would be able to do business with the district if he has not touched that contract if he has not if he retires he cannot do that if he if he retires on that date he cannot do that because he will be um jeopardizing the retirement but barring that um he's is able to come back he's able to work for another entity who does business with the district yes there's nothing prohibiting that from happening and it's happened many times before where board members leave and they work for entities who have done business with the district thank you as as long as they don't um Dr wuk and I have staff repeat all the Motions Council has it everybody pay attention okay okay so the first motion was to remove Consulting agreement language from part two and amend separation agreement by striking through every reference to a Consulting agreement the next was to remove section 38 around the non-disparagement Clause the next was benefits will remain the same as the 12-month employee starting on May 13th and going through June 17th next was at the conclusion of the board the general councel will publicly ask Dr Lata if he agrees or disagrees with the board's motions next end date of appointment shall be 60 days from April 16th which now we stated was June 17th and the superint Dr lado will provide a transition binder to the district next as of May 13th through June 17th the rate of pay shall be the same as the highest paid 12-month Cabinet member did that one second and only acting and acting only in the role as a transitioning superintendent yeah but the pay rate so the rate failed sorry the the rate of pay for the highest PID Cabinet member is $230,000 annually but that one failed I apologize I apologize reading up for his not stri strike what I just said the last thing so I'm just going to go back one step take that note that that one passed because Mr fogan holy changed his vote 54 sorry about that I have a lot of sheets here in front of me so yes as the same as the highest paid 12-month cabinet Mar duties will be on transitional purposes only seven the last one was direct superintendent heer to work laborative until June 17th with Dr Lad on determining the mean means of work that's it all in favor of the items as amended you're going to say I roll call give me one second roll call that's going to start with Mr fogan holy yes he has said that Miss hion yes Dr holness No Miss leonardy yes Miss rert yes Dr Zan Miss Al yes Mr Olson highly in favor of Miss fam yes passes 7 to one Dr L you accept all the changes we would respectfully request a recess so we can uh discuss that and then come back 10 minute recess thank you [Music] for [Music] for [Music] [Music] for [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] for [Music] [Music] St [Music] for [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] welcome back Dr Lata do you accept the changes in our agreement please thank you madam chair uh we respect the process that you all have just gone through uh three hours and um speak up after to remind everybody that last year you entered into an agreement legally binding agreement with Dr Lata and I don't want you to inadvertently be in a position where you're breaching that agreement and not complying with that agreement I think both parties want to comply with the agreement and the relevant parts of the agreement were that if Dr Lata retires which is we all agree he submitted a notice that he wanted to retire on 12:31 that this agreement is terminated due to lata's retirement Lata shall be entitled to any salary reimbursements accured benefits or other payments do and owing under this agreement as of the date of retirement his proposed date of retirement was 12:31 you all accepted his retirement in your motion but you also said you wanted to negotiate subject to Mutual means Mutual means both sides have to agree I heard a lot of motions up there without mutual agreement even mutually agreeing among yourselves is difficult obviously when you have this many people the second part of the agreement talks about if the district decides to terminate his employment without cause and it certainly seems to me and you probably don't remember this but my day job as I represent School boards City councils County commissions okay so I sit in Miss Batista's chair and sitting in that chair I know that when you terminate a high level employees employment and you don't follow the agreement you're opening yourself wide open to potential litigation and we all want to avoid that lawsuits are only good for lawyers I say that all the time and it's great for me but it wouldn't be good for Dr Lata it wouldn't be good for the district you've been through enough litigation you don't need that so the parties reach an agreement that if you terminate without cause because if you decide that Dr heurn is going to be your next superintendent and we all say he can't have two superintendant you're basically saying to this guy shoving you out of the way politely or not he's no longer the superintendent you've been saying it today as well everybody talking about Dr hurn as a superintendent so after April 16th you all decided that he's your new superintendent which means he like is no longer your superintendent which means you should have given him at that point 60 days notice and 20 week efference so those are the legal parameters it's not what we're going to ask for today I want to give you the legal parameters either he retires as at 12:31 or you turn rate them and you pay him 20 weeks that's what you agreed to that's not what we're coming up with today that was the agreement you now came back with a whole bunch of different things reducing his salary by a third um you know micromanaging how he works you're talking about the superintendent and you trust a new superintendent but you want to put all these guard rails around the new superintendent that just doesn't work so what we'd like to propose are a couple of potential Solutions one would be that you keep the same basic agreement that we negotiated with the chair and the general counsel in terms of Dr Lata serving as a special advisor reporting to the superintendent that's what your good new superintendent is were supposed to do supervise he would supervise Dr Lata and we would suggest that you keep him as a special advisor with his full salary but with no benefits as we had negotiated through August 31st so rather than an end date of July 1st or June 17th or different dates that were thrown around August 31st which is about halfway through the 20 weeks that he would be entitled to his Seance and you're still not paying Seance you're still getting value I hear most of you up there respecting and wanting Dr Lata to remain involved because he brings value to the organization I also hear some of you saying you want to cut ties you don't see any value in that I don't think that's the majority of you but I hear a few of you saying that so if you want to do that if you want to say we want to cut ties and deprive the District of his expertise and value that you thought so highly of that you hired him and you've all said good things about him then just have determination date of July 1st as was originally no negotiated and pay him 12 week Severance not even the 20 weeks back off that 20 weeks or 12 weeks so and of course we don't have a problem with a non-disparagement clause you can take that out that's not important but what's important I think and I'm speaking now for me is that you keep his talent you know as LeBron said years ago when he took his talent to South Beach you have his talents here in Broward County he's made a tremendous difference in this past year he's not that doesn't mean Dr heurn as one of you referred to him as a superintendent with training wheels no he's a superintendent and this district is entitled to the best possible brain that you can have to move this District forward now that's your choice I don't know why if I was sitting in your shoes I wouldn't want to keep the guy who I hired a year ago and who's done a great job by all accounts until the end of August and that gives you the whole summer of more than a smooth transition we use the word transition but it's really all of his services but if you'd rather not if you want to if those of you that want to cut ties cut ties cut ties after July 1st and pay him 12we severence those are our two suggestions for when that we may be able to come to a mutual agreement Madam chair one second are you done yes Madam chair okay thank you thank you Mr aome thank you madam chair and uh I appreciate uh the other Council uh responding to the ver the verbal uh response to what the board by a super majority overwhelming vote has spent the last 4 hours doing we just did I think a couple things to the public that's watching and many of you have called text emailed sent telegrams commending the board for really what has just been a visual display of good government good governance compromise and consensus from nine individuals that have done several things number one we have respected the service of Dr Lata number two we have commended the service of Dr Lata number three we've been compassionate about the type of transition that this nation's sixth largest school district must ensure occurs number five we've also ensured that nine of us have the collective responsibility to ensure there is clear leadership there is clear separation and that we do our fiduciary responsibilities to the utmost respectfully Madam chair and board the council actually uh shared two scenarios which we've actually spent four hours saying no to overwhelmingly continuing a retirement date of 12:31 and he introduced a termination without cause going backwards on what we have just mutually agreed on today and on April 16th I think that is a horrible position for the opposing Council to publicly present to this board and this body to now come back after this board has overwhelmingly by a super majority or more said that we do not want to have a date of August 31st we've actually went over a couple dates we do not want a full salary that this district will be paying two superintendents a rate of two superintendent pay this board just said no to that this board also just said we don't believe that the benefits of the former superintendent should be the same as if he is still the superintendent and lastly this board overwhelmingly just spent four hours very deliberately saying that we want to see a very smooth compassionate transition Madam chair respectfully because I think this board has been respectful from August 16th forward and from when this board initially hired the prior superintendent to his retirement mutually back on April 16 so let me tell you where I am Madam chair because I have listened in tun and for the public that continues to reach out to all of us we have not gotten to age 678 B1 C1 and2 F1 and two we haven't gotten to any of these operational items 01 03 all of the Double H items triple triple double double B's right we have not gotten to the business of the district because we are still grappling with a great public servant but also it appears now that we are in a position where the board must take action and I'm ready to take action right now because this board has spent 30 plus days of a transition with no guard rails the public has actually been questioning this board this district and if we have more than one leader in the building which is very frustrating we can't even get to our new superintendent because we're still grappling with a prior superintendent who is attempting to get more money from taxpayers take more money from our children here in Broward County Public Schools and that is very disappointing so I sat patiently Madam chair and I appreciate all that you've done and the council but what I like to do at this point because the one option that the opposing council did not introduce is on page 9 of 17 section 10.3 termination for cause and the termination for cause provision as we all know can be exercised and yes to I think several board members who raised a point around litigation there's going to be litigation potentially we have hundreds of cases that are currently under litigation right now but it's unfortunate that a prior superintendent that this board overwhelmingly supported months ago has put this District here so this one board member is not in favor of going back on what we just did by a super majority vote Plus on all of these items so Madam chair I move that the school board of Broward County Florida invoke the termination for cause provision with our former superintendent Dr Lata for those that are following is it 9 of 17 9 of 17 yes it's on page 9 of 17 article 10 section 10.3 and I'll put a period there is there a second second chair move by Al second by fog and holy public comment on the motion thank you madam chair I still have time on my lunch hour thank you Miss Aus for your words thank you chair um for all that you all are doing I appreciate it and I agree any other public comment yes I just want to make sure that you are fully inform that that paragraph says that if you take this action you will be providing Dr Lata presumably after today 60 written days notice of your intent to terminate with cause which means he will remain as your superintendent for the next 60 days so you're fully aware of repercussions of the action that you might be taking Miss Batista you weigh in on that comment so according to that provision there is no 60-day notice um provision uh the superintendent will be provided with written notice of the termination for cost and he's entitled to do process rights um however the agreement if it's terminated for cause the superintendent's term of off office immediately ceases and um this the superintendent will be entitled to payment for earned ACR vacation days but shall be ineligible for any other compensation or benefits Dr holness Madame chair uh thank you so much you know um this is really unfortunate that this is where we are um we've hired a superintendent uh who I thought did an excellent job for the district he had medical problems and he decided that based on his family and doctor's advice that he would leave now for us to get to this point where we're terminating with cause um this is very unsettling um I am not in support of this and you know what message are we sending you know we're trying to attract great people to this District we're trying to be an a district and if there is some sort of a disagreement that we can't currently come up with an amicable solution then we take drastic action I don't think it's the right message and I think if we're going to try to attract great people to brow County schools and this is how we um respond on their way out uh I just don't think it's the right thing we're doing there has to be some sort of moral and ethical Compass to which we go by and I understand this is a system where we're dealing with people and their lives and so when I look at what's happening here today I have to ask myself the question how are we going to be become a great District what message are we sending to everyone looking in who wants to come here to work is this the right message is this really what we're doing and you know I know there are many people that look at things objectively look at things quantitatively and so on but we also have to look at things where we see the human in what we're doing and I do not agree with this and I'm not going to support this SE thank you um I just want to reiterate a couple of things so you know when April 16th occurred Dr Lata was the one who wanted to separate from us I want to be clear he was of the agreement that we would mutually separate before December 31st so again I think it's disingenuous to keep pushing that narrative that he was going to stay till December 31st and we made that change it was asked if he would agree to that he again said to a number of people yes I'm okay with this this is how it goes so it's a mutual separation so the the idea that we're looking at termination with with without cause and that there's something guaranteed is just not true we would have never negotiated anything as you mentioned we would have just there wouldn't have been a negotiation so um I feel very sad that we're at this point I I know that we spent a lot of time coming to to an agreement there I think the agreement we offered is fair it it's it's a good in between um you might say but it's unfortunate we're at a place we're at extreme now and unfortunately you know you guys are going to have to decide which which one of those two things you're willing to do but I just again want to remind you that it is not true that we terminated with C without cause it was a mutual agreement otherwise we would have never been in negotiations and it's frustrating for me to hear you continue to say that so thank you other board members want to weigh in rert Madam chair Leonard if I could be on the list to speak please go ahead Miss leard yeah um I want to uh just Echo Miss hixon's frustration with that narrative that's being put out there by some that um you know this was termination without cause that's not the case obviously she outlines that pretty perfectly and I am in complete agreement with Dr h is peace about treating people as human beings um you know I this is it as he stated an extreme place to be um and I I hope that we can again mutually agree to a separation that is respectful to all parties and taxpayers thank you thank you Miss Rupert this is a statement I normally don't make I'm at a law for Words disappointed you know as a board member that gets U ripped a lot about having a big heart I thought this was a fair process that we went through here we didn't agree with everything together but we worked together to make it happen this might be the the most I think wildly accepting uh that we've ever been and and that's hard on this board but we want to do the right thing we want to we want to move forward it's 2:15 in the afternoon at this point the board's still going to be here at 2:15 in the morning and um not that there's ever a reason to rush but this has been hours and hours and hours and hours long and we we all thought we were working there what I would have preferred quite honestly is that Dr Lata actually whispered to you and said you know nah like when we were about two hours into the conversation so then we would have known and we could have pulled back and whatever that discussion is but now we're at a point where um I'm not going to change my mind and that's a lot for me to say I I just can't I can't do it I can't do it for the taxpayers the kids that we have for the board for for everybody for our new superintendent it's just I mean this is awward Big Time awkward and we just want to go forward please reconsider I would be willing to have you go oops let's just take that one or there's a teeny tiny change on page four just a little one but to say no way no way it it's just I feel like somebody punched me in the stomach so um yeah yeah please fix it if I could let me apologize let me apologize to both of you about Miss hion and yourself I was only trying to give you the context of it and part of what's frustrating on this side is that we had a public negotiation and we came to an agreement and when I walked in today I honestly felt like being sandbagged because we had an agreement that said going to work till July 1st is's going to consult for nine weeks and all of a sudden everything got turned upside down and it's like we have to neg negotiate all over again with all of you which obviously is difficult and difficult among yourselves I think that's a very unfair position to put anybody in why go through what now seems in hindsight to be a charade why go through a public negotiation process reach an agreement lawyers go back and forth we were exing drafts early in the morning late at night getting to an agreement and then today have the agreement just thrown out and say let's substitute something that we want to do and I I hear you loud and clear but imagine if we had done that to you if if we if we came out with disagreement and said you know what instead of the nine weeks that we agreed to we wanted to double that we wanted to double his salary just as there was a motion to reduce his salary by 35% you know so it we everybody's human beings here and and it's hard when you in good faith come to an agreement and then the other side says you know what we don't really like that agreement and we're going to throw it out and start fresh to negotiate in public Maybe thing to do is to send us back to the negotiating table so you can get on with your business today and maybe we bring a third party mediator in to sit down and say okay let's reach a solution because it it we keep coming back to it's all about serving the kids and the and the district and Dr C wants to continue to do that and I'm disappointed to hear that some of you don't you know maybe you want until July 1st but our first offer was to continue to serve through August which was I don't know Dr Z minute but his original proposal was August 7th or August the 9th and that would have been an acceptable proposal if that if Dr Zan's motion gets put back on the table we would support that well you know what where the heck is Dr Zan it's like Carmen Miranda well where the heck I mean there's not too many things that you have to be as a board member one of them you got to vote for the superintendent got to get rid of the superintendent you have to do the budget this is part of your job wor I worried about them I went searching for him in the H wow we need an extra person in this room to be able to say hey I was there for that and you know what was a dog no you know and and one other thing all I think of is Tom Han and there is no whining in baseball this is governance 101 and it's wrong Mr fogan holy yes Miss roer all right a sushi I don't know um I know no I appreciate appreciate no laughing chair um no I appreciate uh the words from my colleagues U Miss Hixon board member Austin thank you um member rert and Dr hus I appreciate your words too and I think that you asked the question how can we be great right we can be great by doing things that the we can learn from the past and change that not fall to the same traps be transparent be fiscally responsible not waste taxpayer funds that's how we can start to be great that's a good starting point now I think in this situation we have a choice a choice B now because we didn't want this I don't think any of us did we wouldn't have spent four hours talking about this none of us want that but in this situation like we all said feels like this was fair and now it's almost to say now we're being pushed into a corner to have to make a decision unfortunately to run something like a business you have to make tough decisions because it is a business decision it's not a charity we need to stop giving away money and that's what people have said time and time again we've learned from the past so so I believe that's why it's it's an unfortunate thing so I would like to do that I I don't think that's the right thing to do to say oh let's go back three motions and go no it's this is it now we're I feel like down to two choices chair and and that's what we're at so thank you thank you so based on the current motion on the floor the ter for cause so reading this uh my question is there needs to be just cause as determined by the Florida statute so miss Batista what would be the just cause so among perhaps many other things um I think the just cause in this particular case um could be the information that came to light after um April 16th um of this year and that is that um the superintendent uh had the desire to retire as of April 16th or or at least depart and not uh continue to fully uh be the superintendent of schools as of that date however um he wrote a letter of retirement saying that he wished to retire in December and that was a misrepresentation of his intentions and he did so for personal gain to obtain 20 weeks of severance that he otherwise would not be entitled to Second thank you and then if this was to pass what would be the um consequences to Dr L's ability to retire with 30 years vested uh Madam share I don't know the exact number of of time or the exact number that he has now I know that it's not 30 Years yet so if he were to be terminated as of today um he would not reach those 30 years I think he's may be 20. 85 or very close but not 30 okay chair Mr Alon thank you as the maker of the motion and I agree with everyone and let me reiterate I don't think I've ever made a motion after 4 hours of great public conversation from the board where we all push and pulled we all care for kids thank you uh because I don't think that comment from the opposing Council uh was absolutely Incorrect and inappropriate all nine of us up here and I can say that with conviction um um have different backgrounds uh we come from different parts of the county and our number one responsibility is the health and safety of this District that's all of our kids employees with the goal of becoming an a school district and we will Madam chair and members of the board so I do want to just close by saying Madam chair if appropriate if we need to do one more recess and I know this is already a recess recess recess day uh where the other side needs to cck us once again because I want the public to also be very clear and many are watching um that this board did not arrive here and thank you madam Vice chair for your words I think you brought us back to where we were um that this has been deliberate this has been Mutual this has been compassionate and it's been respectful with Humanity in mind so if anyone makes the point opposite please know that was never the intent of I'd just say nine people up here and I I think I can say that also with conviction so I'm okay if we need to recess again I think it's very clear uh you know at least my motion that's on the floor I hope we don't have to carry that motion out um but if we do uh I mean that's you know the board has to do what it has to do thank you I'd like to take a 10-minute recess Comm [Music] [Music] for [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] for [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] for [Music] [Music] for [Music] for [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] for [Music] welcome back Dr L have something to say after that so I imagine you all have the same sheet that I do that the clerk provided seven motions it begins with uh Mutual separation consultant agreement number one remove Consulting try to okay so i' like to go through that and work through that process and I think we can agree on most of this and we have a couple of suggested modifications and if you have the ability to make those modifications we could reach an agreement today so uh the first one is remove the Consulting language and we agree to that so you can cross off number one number two remove the non-disparagement we can agree to that number three benefits remain the same as a 12-month employee starting May 13 we could agree to that subject to I I don't I'm not a benefits lawyer I don't know whether you can and you had that concern too can you do that retroactively or does that have to happen at the next pay period we'll defer to your benefits group as to whether that needs to start next time or May 13th number four is already happened uh you know the question to us number five end the date of employment from uh to June 17th now initially it was July 1st and we would appreciate the consideration of keeping it till July 1st that was what was virtually negotiated that was some of the earlier motions it's only additional two weeks so that's the only change we'd like there number six changing the rate of pay reducing someone's pay by 30% retroactively seems a bit of a stretch and we would request respectfully that you would keep his ready to pay the same through July 1st and then obviously number seven no problem at working collaboratively with superintendent heurn again through July 1st that's that's the motion that we could be supportive of if someone wants to make that motion thank you Dr holness Madam chair I don't believe I was on the prevailing side so I would not be able to bring that back would I a new motion I think is is it a new motion yeah we're going to make them so I would like to make a motion um you're making a substitute motion substitute motion correct um with the changes uh recommended by opposing Council for items five and six is there a second move by wholeness second by Hixon public comment on the motion board member comment on the motion M rert um not that I'm picking sides but I I believe they also had number seven to not be the June 17th to be the 7124 I believe that was it I wanted to make sure it was the yes all of the dates would now be reflective of July 1st okay thank uh Dr Zan thanks so much chair and I apologize for missing a little bit of this conversation but I um I think we've had a lot of debate uh about this from this table um and I think that we have an opportunity to uh both be uh conscious of fiscal realities um and still flexible enough to get to an agreement and and move forward uh I like this offer I I think it is uh less than I would have wanted to give just and in and In fairness and it's less than what I propose doing by uh four or five weeks um but at the same time it's critical that we show respect for this office and uh respect for the service and we want to make sure that senior staff and all staff of briary Hy schools understand that we are uh dedicated you know to treating people fairly and justly and equitably and so um I just think that this is a good place to land I'd love to get back to our next order of business given the time of day that it is um and uh I can uh feel comfortable about this even though it's less than what I wanted to give as something that uh they counter offered with and in the interest of of finding that fair Middle Point uh we say yes so uh I support this thank you thank you any other board member comments Mr Alon yes thank you madam chair um and thank you to the opposing Council um because I think you heard from all nine of us that we all care about kids so I'm glad you corrected your statement publicly um so now that we agree on that and I appreciate uh the spirit of going line by line on the Motions that we collectively approved um so I appreciate it the majority will go for it great um I will not still change my position on having uh the rate of pay for the former superintendent reflecting the same rate of pay as the super superintendent of schools I will not support that so yes I appreciate their offer but since we're public we can also do a counter offer um and we collectively just agreed to 225 Madam council did I see I'm sorry 230 my apologize let me let me add three to that so that's going to impact my number a little bit so I'm not just willing to give the bank away we've already done that um so what I like to do because I don't write down my motions in advance I apologize I'm going to do this right here on the de um and I know that there is a motion on the floor but what I'd ask if Dr holdiness would be am meable uh to separate the two out um because I think the public has been also very clear I think to all of us we all see the same and hear the same information no one is comfortable uh with paying uh a rate of pay for two superintendents everyone is okay with us being compassionate and we've done that for the last four plus hours so I will propose a counter offer in the form of a motion if I have the opportunity um that we meet in the middle um so we were originally at 2:30 uh I think a couple weeks ago uh you all were at 350 uh my recommendation is that we meet in the middle that's compromise um so no I'm not in favor of keeping the same number uh before I think the board overwhelmingly said no to that um but I think the board is overwhelmingly saying which I suggested a recess because this board did not want to use the ultimate measure that it can take um so that I would offer that uh Dr holness if you be amable maybe to separate the two out um so we can have maybe a separate conversation on the rate of pay um and I know you've introduced uh the July 1 day okay so Madam chair I will um separate the items five and six into two motions and we vote on each individually okay thank you any board member rert um I just wanted to clarify the record um and I said Carmen Miranda I guess because I'm showing my age 60 um but I meant to say Carmen San Diego so thank you so much anyone else would like to weigh in no Madam share yes um just to make sure that um the item uh that Dr uh his motion is to as to items 5 six and seven uh no seven was agreed upon the July 1st date applies to that July the July 1 date applies to any item we support today right good got it okay so we're first going to um do a roll call vote on item number five all right we're starting with Mrs uh sorry Miss Hixon yes yes Miss leonardy yes M rert yes Dr Zan yes m al alde yes Mr Alon no M fam yes M fogan holy no passes 7 to2 okay now we're on to to six Madam chair can we have have Mr St repeat the motion for six yes so for motion six and you accepted his friendly Amendment do it correct no I accepted separate five and six as two separate motion so now we're reading your motion on six was as of May 13th through July 1 the rate the his rate would be his current salary of the 350,000 right the current motion on the floor is what the opposing Council indicated for item six right at 350,000 and same as uh duties will be transitional purposes only correct and the date July 1st July 1st we're going to start with you Dr holus yes M leonardy no Miss rert no Dr Zan yes M alad no Mr olon no Miss fam no Mr fogan holy no to pay two superintendent and Miss hion no fails 2 to 7 Madam chair Mr Alon the spirit of compromise that's what these hours have been about uh and working together in a public fashion so I move that we uh count uh our from the the previous superintendent uh that the rate of pay be adjusted to 2875 as opposed to the initial uh offer back from the other side second move by Alon second by roer public comment board member comment roll call Miss Leonardi no Miss r yes Dr Zan yes Miss alad yes Mr olston yes Miss fam yes Mr fogan holy no Miss Hixon yes and Dr holus yes passes 7 to2 Batista anything else we need to they agree so do does the uh superintendent and number seven we still we still now need to go on number seven correct okay can you read the read it number seven yes number seven is direct Dr Hein to work collaboratively until July 1st with Dr Lad on determining the means of work and we're starting we're just changing the date right y July 1 yeah it was just the date call we're starting with Miss rert yes Dr Zan yep m al yes Mr olon no M fam yes Mr hly no Miss Hixon yes Dr holes yes Miss Le nardy yes passes 72 mad okay all in favor of the item as amended roll call Madame chair I just want to mention that they had a concern with item number three um the opposing Council had mentioned some sort of a concern I just want to make sure that um in terms of of the retr pay for May 13th I I thought I heard something of that nature can they respond to that before we vote go ahead yes Madam shair yes I I believe that we had checked on this date um before and that the benefits can be changed back as as of May 13 2024 without an issue that is the the next pay period that the employees of the district have not been paid for yet okay roll call all in favor of the items as amended Dr Zan yes Miss alad yes Mr olon yes Miss fam yes Mr fogan Holly yes Miss Hixon yes Dr holus yes Miss leonardy yes Miss rert yes unanimous n nothing all right there you go that was it Dr L well good afternoon everyone um I started my superintendency in this seat or maybe Glenn's seat I'm not sure um and it's ending in the seat next to it which is which is great and they call me former superintendent now which is really nice I first want to thank everybody um it's really an honor to be a superintendent it's a special place and when I stepped outside the second time in knowing four hours and knowing the motives of some and the general feeling of others my wife text me and said you're not known for the money you've made in your life you've known for the difference you've made in children whereas some of us have neglected our communities the very schools we attended we let them get bad and it took an outsider to come in and fix those some of you worked there some of you attended there that's what I want to be known for and I may have pissed some folks off the other day when I went down to eie and made sure they were painting it the right way may have got a few people upset when I went over to rickords and said we're four weeks behind we need to fix some things now we're going to be behind in Collins but I don't see a lot of folks there talking about that we have to I implore you we have to Dr heurn was there with me we know that we know that my Legacy is going to be far beyond a dollar amount um and that's okay I've been working 45 years since I'm 15 years old this was the first job I've had in 45 years where I only had one job and I didn't get this place because I had someone supervising me got here because I was motivated to do riy children when my wife texted me that I realized I make sure we do as best as we can to make sure Broward moves forward and this this is it it's pushing back back and forth and back and forth we probably could have solved this a long time ago um and maybe we need to re redirect the process so it's a better process because it really is it really does and I think Miss Hixon you said it last couple weeks ago it really is a useless process to begin the negotiations in that way my first move is to make sure I take care of my health for those out there and chirping in social media and such shame on you thinking and disregarding that I lost a brother and a father because of what I have for anyone I hope in your lives out there I hope in your lives you do not have to face that decision Mr Austin you said that the other day we were here a month ago and I know we've disagreed on a lot and we agree on a lot we're both relatively conservative individuals just some believe in public education a little bit more than others you said that I hope none of us have to make this decision in our life time and you're right and you're absolutely right we can't destroy Broward County and and you you amize whatever whatever whatever went on today is pennies and I opened this up with this idea we swallow camels and we choked on fleas I believe we may have done that today because out there there are so many problems with our schools and we're taking our time for little things here and We're All To Blame and we're all guilty I look forward to getting my health back the last 12 days I've spent six of them with my grandchildren it was a pleasure it was nice and that's what it's about you don't know when you have them or when you own't have um I am very fortunate I am a blessed man for those that know me in this building you know I've changed the culture in this place I've changed the culture in the schools I've changed some Administration ation and now the superintendent that's going to continue that and that's that makes me proud instead of the same old way we do things I know there's some significant elections coming up and as I said I'll be very active to make sure that we're doing right by children but most importantly um money doesn't make people out of what I've done for children and I may not be done I don't know but I also know we have a gift and we have a responsibility and our gift is not marketing ourselves on what's best for kids it's doing what's best for kids and if we continue to do that we will do very very well I leave here with 10 pages of accomplishments in just nine months and I know Dr wano you compiled most of that and I did not want to bring that today I did not want to bring that up today because I don't need to pad my stats I don't need to keep shooting to get the scoring title we did the right thing by making sure that you hired me changed the direction and as as I have absolutely no heart feelings whatsoever I think this is this is what we do and you can't take this job expecting everything's going to be rainbows and unicorns but I implore you stop swallowing the camels I implore you this school has a district has a potential to be phenomenal and I believe it will be an a I want to hear from the mountain tops that I was the superintendent when it did turn to an a I may not hear that from everybody but I'll hear it from some that's okay I appreciate the teachers they're the ones who make it happen but I appreciate the bus drivers that drive our kids to school because they wouldn't get there if it wasn't for them I appreciate the cafeteria staff to feed them because they don't have food at home and they can't sit and learn in a classroom and it's empty appreciate the nurse the Mental Health Counselors teachers the offices assistants that take care of kids as a nurse when they're not qualified to be a nurse the assistant principles who get beat up every day doing so much of the grunt work and the principles that know that what makes a difference on a campus is them I look forward to the next however many days we were finally decided on after the 32 motions and I also know that there was no Credence to the ethics at all whatsoever and I know that's lawyering and I get it my conscience is clear my heart is full and my expectations of Hope of a district with 80% of children that don't look like me when my grandchildren go to school they won't sit for four years and have to go to the bathroom and a porta potty and I recommend you consider that as well because I know where your children go to school and they don't go to a temporary py potty some things happen in certain zip codes that would never happen in others and that's what public education is we have to make sure we're doing that because there is an attack on it and we have to fix that I once again want to say thank you to the executive cabinet they've been phenomenal and I am as proud as it gets of seeing Dr heer sit in that seat eventually at the age of 60 in December you have to look back and say hey we've got some great things done and my heart is full I appreciate all of you I do whether I agree with you or not and any and all we have a chance to turn a corner as alhf done a great job and we were turning the corner and there will be no crying in board meetings there's no crying thank you all but I do owe uh some thanks to my level-headed attorney even though he is Italian as well um and he has headed to Italy in two days but I also owe everything to the woman that came into my life after I lost my first wife wife so I thank you for that but I thank her because she's the one her text and we know she's the boss at home is what made the difference so I thank you I appreciate this and we'll get through this and uh keep doing what's right by all children not just the ones that come here and parents come here and send emails those voices are not need to be heard thank you all very very much and U as I said P Lata is not going to be known for the money he made be known for the lives he changed so thank thank you very much Dr Lata do you accept the entire motion as amended do I he says yes yes I do yes thank you and I will end this item with how I started Dr Lata I wish you happiness health and the opportunity to spend valuable time with your family and we thank you for your impact on Brower County Public Schools Miss Batista we would like to speak to the attorney client session yes thank you Madame share um I would like to request the school board convene an attorney client session in order to discuss litigation pending before the 17th judicial circuit in and for braer County Florida in the following matters TNG Corporation I forgot doing business as TNG Constructors versus the school board of Brower County Florida case number CAC 21-18 718 02 and case number two the school board of Brower County Florida versus TNG Corporation doing business as TNG Constructors case number CAC 22-00 7439 the following persons will attend this attorney client session school board members Lori alhad shair Deborah Hixon Vice chair Tor Alon Brenda fam Esquire Daniel fogan holy Dr Jeff H Sarah Leonardi Nora rert Dr Alan Zan Dr Howard hebburn superintendent of schools John Michael hendrik Esquire Thomas cuni Esquire and Marilyn C Batista Esquire BCS in anticipation of this request the attorney client session was properly advertised for today May 21st 2024 at 3 p.m. in accordance with Section 28611 paren 8 of the Florida statute the purpose of the attorney client session is to discuss settlement negotiations and or strategy relative to the pending litigation a certified core reporter will record the session only those persons noted in the advertisement will be permitted to attend thank you Madame shair oh how much did you say 45 minutes start talking [Music] for e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e are you good welcome back we may have a motion second on B one second moved by Austin second by rert public comment on B1 Proclamation sponsored by school board members well I'm going to introduce it first all right Mr Austin thank you madam chair and thank you members of the board uh for this to bring this item and thank you all for your support uh so this is saluting one of our Superstars uh Miss Briana Watley of Miramar High School as the 2024 incubate debate Champion so I'll just read the first where ass Clause uh in the interest of time so whereas the 2024 incubate debate National Championship brought together the top 90 students out of more than 5,000 students from regions for two days of rigorous debate in Jacksonville Florida I'll jump down now therefore I Tor Austin former Brower County Commissioner and current two District School Board member along with school board members Deborah Hixon Vice chair and countywide at large seat n Daniel P fenoli District 1 Sarah Leonardi District 3 Dr Jeff holdes District 5 Renda fam Esquire district 6 and Nora rer district 7 present this proclamation to Miramar High School student Briana Watley highlighting her prestigious win on being named the 2024 incubate debate National Champion absolutely so what I'd like to do if I could very quickly Madam chair is have James Fishback from incubate debate come forward and he'll introduce our champion and Superstar well thank you very much member alustin thank you Madame chair thank you members of this distinguished board for this opportunity this great county has a spirit of Excellence when it comes to competitive debate there is no question about it the rigorous exchange of ideas is key to everything we do I was on the debate team at boy H Anderson High School graduated 2013 proud Cobra and it's good to see Miss Watley Carry On The Legacy so from everyone here congratulations two final round topics are not easy ones should Dei programs be abolished and is there a climate emergency and she excelled on both who was in the audience we had some great judges among them former New York City Mayor Bill deasio and so he had very good things to say about you miss Watley congratulations I know from them and from me as a Broward County Alum congratulations to [Applause] you I just like to thank everybody because this wi has been so surreal for me and it wouldn't have been possible without the community within Broward County all of my teachers that help prepare Arguments for me my friends who listened to my speeches countless times over and over again and my family members for laying that Foundation during my childhood and now for me to excel within debate and I've grown so much through this program that I know that incubate will continue to help other students throughout Broward County help them grow and become more open-minded as we become Young Americans in this country so thank you all thank you Bri Madam Cher would you join us um yes wonderful congratulations and please add me to the sponsor thank you and we're going to take a two-minute break for a quick picture you want us to go ahead and we'll vote on it oh my let's move it let's I got so excited all in favor of B1 say I I those opposed say no item passes unanimously we'll take a two-minute recess [Music] welcome back may I have a motion and second on bb5 so move moved by Dr holess second by rert public comment on bb5 we have Chris Nelson Chris Nelson not here next speaker uh Dr Natalie Lynch Walsh she's not here next speaker that's it thank you board member comment on bb5 I have Dr holness um Madame chair if I'm not the only board member can I can you come back sure Mrs is fam yes good afternoon Dr he so I want you to know that I have uh the greatest admiration and respect for you but I do have um two issues that I just bring like to bring to light one is um and we discussed this earlier with um s superintendent former superintendent Lata is the um disparaging agreement so I um I feel like that's a um Clause that keeps us from speaking the truth what hold on Miss fam Miss batist can you weigh on on that there is no non-disparagement clause on this agreement no I thought I saw that oh okay super then we can eliminate that then the other thing is um when when we negotiate um superintendent lata's contract what we had is um I had suggested I'm going to Res suggest it um I suggested the meeting on 7123 and the minutes started 1525 and what I recommended is as far as how many weeks of compensation in the event that you end up leaving the contract and I had requested I'm going to renew that request to make a motion for it right now um to have a staggering amount so for the first year if you left after one year would be five five weeks compensation if you left after two years it would be 10 weeks three years it would be 15 and then after four weeks it would be 20 and then um you would be entitled to 20 from there that point after that's the greatest amount we've ever gone um what I'm suggesting that for is because in this particular situation with Dr Lata unfortunately he got ill and there was a a big um challenge dealing with that 20we provision considering that he had only been here um approximately 8 months so um I'd like to make that motion to the board that we do a staggered effect of five weeks as opposed to a blanket I think yours is after a year 20 weeks so um I'd like to alter that so wait can we just get clarification from Miss Batista that's not the way it's written so thank you madam Sher um so I think what would be um helpful perhaps would be to uh explain um one of the negotiated Clauses here in this agreement and that is the termination without cost which is the only type of termination which would invoke the 20 week Severance provision so if for example the superintendent were to terminate due to resignation or retirement the 20 week Severance does not come into play that only applies to termination without cost that type of termination is a termination that the board would exercise if they felt there is a difference of opinion they don't like something the superintendent is doing however they have no Pro no cost no just cost to terminate but they would just want to part ways so then what would be applicable will be a 20 week Severance however in the case of Dr heern the negotiated agreement before you has a staggered amount of weeks already so if the board were to again it would be asked terminating the superintendent and not the other way around not him giving us notice of termination but if the board were to terminate without cost then for the first um six months the the uh superintendent would receive no severance whatsoever starting on the seventh month and then pro rated um from the 7th month to the 12th month he gets 3.33 weeks each month so the 7th month would be 3.33 the eighth month it would be 6.66 and so on and so forth until you get to the year where he would then be entitled if we terminated him um at the year mark then he would be entitled to the 20 weeks of severance exactly replace that 3.3 per month with 5 weeks of first year 10 weeks second year um 15 weeks third year and fourth year 20 weeks that would be my proposal okay thank you and in addition can we adopt that also for separation Clauses where if with the same timeline if you're separate mutually separate within the first year would be five weeks for um continuation for um benefits of that and then if it's within its second year it would be 10 weeks the same thing can we stagger that instead of it all being at one year approximately 20 year uh 20 week Mark you get after one year I think that's a little bit um over the top I I don't even know that um CEOs get that many uh weeks in compensation when it just seems like they're still trying to prove themselves at that point they're not proven so I think it builds with confidence and we should stagger how we provide our benefits you know especially if they're leaving after such a short period of time so I'd like to make a motion to that effect so would you like that now or later it's up to you so okay I will um Mr Elon would you help me with the language of that you're so good you made so many motions today I'm I'm the chaos Creator remember um anyway so I'm sorry madam chair mron so let me jump ahead because I think it would well well anyway let me not editorialize so because it's a three-year agreement I think what you're saying is on page 10 of 18 line three where it says 3.33 weeks of severance per month until reaching 20 weeks at the 12th month so the good so let me back back up the good news is you all saw this UPF front thank you Dr heurn because you heard the board before so let's let me start from a positive place so Dr Zan I did say this was much more positive because I saw some positive stuff from this Madam chair counsel and to the other side so I want to make just make that point um now clearly um well let me not mix two cases I'm not going to do that so if what I think you're suggesting is seven weeks at the end of year one and a additional seven weeks at the end of year two and additional six weeks at the end of year three I think this because this is a three-year agreement as proposed that's that would work fine that's your motion yes okay so what we would do is uh a motion to substitute um 3 what was it 3.3 yep the motion the motion is stated I'll second your motion okay I haven't okay you're going to have to help me with all right so let me make I'll move so Madam chair I move that line I'm sorry page 10 of 18 under Section 10.2 uh line one two three four five um where it references the 3.3 weeks of severance per month until 20 weeks at the at the end of the 12th month that we uh moved that to read seven weeks at the end of year one an additional seven weeks at the end of year two an additional six weeks at the end of year three that's the the motion is there a second is there a second oh a second it's move by Alon second by fam public comment on the motion for member comment on the motion Dr holess thank you madam chair so Madam chair I I I am hoping that we don't spend a whole lot of time nitpicking on everything in this that's been presented to us I can say that um I believe that a reasonable Arrangement as far as servance is already in the item uh where this superintendent has agreed to um 6 months with no severance and 3.3 weeks per month for the remaining uh 6 months which would be 20 weeks to a year now the question I have is um what was the severance arrangement for our last two permanent superintendent is it in this just under Madam chair did you get the board member fa I okay I'll pass it down to you okay no I didn't and then if we could um provide this to the media and the public Mr svin what did I do with mine oh Mr F I'll leave you have it I got in my email I got it yeah it was normal 20 weeks I don't think it shows this on the table it's not on here um so can staff respond to if they do have that information because we're discussing the severance arrangement for this superintendent and from what I've seen in the item itself um it's a a six Monon uh no severance and then 3.3 weeks each month thereafter to 12 months so I am looking at I would like a information on the past two superintendents to see how we're treating this superintendent as compared to the prior two in terms of severance and then we can proceed to the other sections of this Arrangement Miss Batista um I just need some clarification when you say the last two superintendents the last two permanent superintendent okay so Dr Gite and Dr Mr Rony no the last two permanent oh okay I'm sorry so it was 20 weeks okay so this would be for Dr L and Dr car right correct okay so they had 20 weeks coming out the gate correct and now we've we've made an arrangement tentative arrangement with this superintendent which is no comparison to what the last two superintendent had to where for 6 months the superintendent will get no severance and then 3.3 weeks each month to a year I think that's reasonable you know if if you're talking what I don't want to create here is that we're given the appearance um of having a different measure for this superintendent and I don't want to spend a lot of time nitpicking through minor things it's important that uh I understand why we are concerned about the sance and we've made adjustment for that in the item that's why we don't have Severance for 6 months that's why we're doing 3.3 every month for for an additional 6 months which is a year anything else outside of that in my opinion will bring the perception that we have a different measure for this superintendent and I don't think that's the intent of this board Dr Zan can I call the question chair all in favor of calling the question say I I I those opposed say no no no no uh six we got six six we got six okay so roll call to call the question on Mrs fam or Mr Austin's on the item I think they got six we did we have six on the line six to call the question so then we're going to vote on the item not on calling no we're just we're just voting on The the motion on the floor thank you Mr alon's motion on the floor you repeat the motion and do a roll call sure uh the motion was s weeks at the end of year so let me back up let me start again this is 99.99% different than what we just did and you probably have no idea what we just did so now that I've said that you are correct dress um this is in line with the board I think the ultimate question and I can remove the the motion but here's the ultimate question that the Board needs to answer what if we get to 18 months I'm just making a scenario we're back in this same situation again if the board does not care then you don't care about this guard does that make sense right if you think you if we get to 133 14 months that's essentially what this is so if the board says hey let's not worry about it then we'll need to put this in does that make sense I understand all right okay so roll call yep M alad no Mr olston yes Miss fam yes I care I don't want to be in this situation again M fenoli yes Miss hion no Dr holus No Miss Leonardi yes M rert no Dr Zeman no fails four to five okay back to the item that was my only comment so if anyone else wants to nitpick Sir turn thank you um I'm G to try not to niit pick but I have a couple of things one um in our previous superintendent contract contct there was a bonus if we got to an a district but it's not in this contract so I would like to add that in there and I would say since Dr heer was a huge part of where we are going here that it would start this year like we become an a district this year um in the page four of 18 medical vision and dental none of our employees get benefits for for anyone except themselves so it just wanted to kind of talk about um we're paying insurance for the whole family and we don't do that for any of our other employees so I have a bit of a concern about that um page five of 18 if we're paying for medical insurance why would we need to pay $3,500 for a medical exam that was my so that seems um kind of crazy to me and I will just say but we passed it but I think it's important to understand that termination without cause mean we could terminate them for any reason we have made Provisions to to move here to do different things and I I think it's in the best interest of us as a district to make sure people know we value them so I'm glad to see we're keeping the 20 weeks even staggered is fine but it is an industry standard thank you oh so should I make motions okay sorry so I would like to move first of all that we add a bonus for Dr heer if we become an a district I believe it was $10,000 for the previous superintendent so I would like to add that into the the contract we did the two what were the two we did last time smart completion smart oh okay yeah there was two pieces what whatever it was in the last contract I think we should be Equitable here so I'd like to add that um can I make different motions because they're all about different things or should Madam chair I'm confused about the motion because what was in lata's contract had to do with the smart Bond and not becoming an A so which one is it okay hold on a second I would make it Simple Start just with one thing then we'll move from there so first motion is to add the $10,000 bonus I believe it had two parts if we became an a district and if we met the smart is is there a second second moved by Hixon second by Leonardi public comment on the motion board member comment on the motion hoer uh yes Madam chair I need a clarification is it to become an a district this year since Dr heurn was was here for uh Dr lata's part I was a little confused so is it does it does it include this year that that's my that is it okay dras thank you madam chair so um so he would have to fulfill both one become an a district and and the the um completion of the smart bond by 2025 yeah Miss Batista um if I may read the language from the prior uh contract so the language in that contract said um Additionally the superintendent shall receive a $10,000 bonus compensation starting with the 23 2024 school year for achieving and or maintaining an a rating in the district and a separate $10,000 bonus for substantial prorated progression to achieving the smart Bond program goals so there are $2 $110,000 correct is that what you meant yes whatever the bonus part was before I don't think it's fair not to add it again okay roll call Mr olon yes M fam no Mr vogen Hy no Miss hion yes M Dr holus yes M Le nardy yeah M rert Dr Zan yes Miss alive no passes 6 to three great um my next motion would be for on page four of 18 medical vision and dental insurance to um comp shall provide the most Comprehensive Health vision and dental insurance to heurn I would take out spouse and and benefit eligible dependents okay so is there a second leard second by Miss leardi um MO is B Miss Hixon second by Leonardi public comment and hello I push the button oh it's green about now here you go Anna Fusco brow teaching president since I sit on the committee for health insurance and we talk about lots of things that are happening with health insurance and I cannot disagree with co-chair Hixon talking about that no other employee has that option to get their insurance paid for even offered at a reasonable cost if you look at the cost for a family plan or just one dependent it's a minimum for just a dependent like $500 a month I think a family plan is up to $1,700 a month so as much as I respect that our superintendent is going to be working stressful hours on their stressful conditions with the Das that we have um and you know he's tasked to take care of his family I I believe he's going to be granted a very healthy salary that will be able to cover it unlike our employees that um have to literally beg for a raise to be able to cover cost of living and struggle to pay for their family insurance so I'm asking you to just maybe Talk Amongst each other question it a little bit more and um if you're if you're going to offer this and we're going to ask for some help with our family plans and our dependent plans with all the employees in barer County Public Schools thank you any other public comment board member comment Dr hes thank you madam chair so um can um staff um elaborate on the health benefits provided to the last three permanent superintendent yes and I just would like to add before staff weighs in on that um I know that this was very important to Dr heern with his family to to be able to have health insurance and staff can speak to it but this was offered to the previous superintendent Dr wanza so if we um look at the document that staff provided um we'd see um for Mr runy elig dependent coverage was $1 16,233 for Dr cartrite it was $ 17,141 and um that option was not exercised it appears here um by Dr LCA but at least two of the last three permanent superintendents did have that option exercised okay question I'm not finished so question did Dr was Dr L offered and refused that yes yes so all three prior permanent superintendents were offered what we are offering Dr heern we are now discussing whether or not we should remove that even though we offered that to the last three superintendent again I'll go back it's important that we don't have a perception that we're treating this superintendent on a different measure and if that was offered to the last three and that was a part of the negotiation that was important for him him and his family he's moving we're asking him to move to Broward um I would caution that we continue to keep this um in line with what we've done for prior superintendence Dr Zan thanks so much chair I just want to maybe put a nail in the coffin on this one because not only have we offered it to the three but this is standard for superintendents this is standard for executives CEO Co CFOs of major organizations get this because they work so much they don't have time to do kind of standard Healthcare they got to get conci AG Care and things like that just because of their schedule the most important point though is that when you go look up Market salaries for superintendents it says they're $340 or $350,000 that includes a full medical package like this one so were we to take this away to be fair we'd have to offer them another $20,000 and uh this is a tax-free benefit that's provided to Executives all the time um and uh I hope that we retain it in this contract thanks chair than thank you any other comments okay so can you repeat the motion motion is to remove spouse and eligible dependence from the Health Vision dental coverage roll call starting with Miss fam M fenoli he said no just no Hixon hion yes Dr holness No M Leonardi no M rert no Dr Zan no Miss Al no Mr olon no motion fails 18 thank you last last motion on page five of 18 where it says any cost of such annual medical exams that are not covered by S sbc's Health Plan shall be paid or reimbursed by SBB DC up to a maximum cost of $3,500 per year that just seems I don't we cover every I I just it seems an excessive amount and per year actually I just don't think the medical examination in general is necessary um but I would make a motion to um just delete I guess just delete the medical examination altogether is there a second motion fails Dr Zan uh thanks chair I just have one uh quick one and it's an ad not a take um but it's important um every time you hire an executive you have all the strengths and you have all the the others um in this uh previous superintendent we hired someone that had never been a superintendent been a regional uh Superintendent at a big District which is a great strength because he came from a big uh District uh but hadn't been a soup we took the chance on it and we you know the results are uh in my view for as long as you serve very good in this case we have someone with less experience than average uh and that's just a fact usually superintendents take a lot longer to get to this point and my compensation for that is to think seriously about professional development and we have $10,000 per year in professional development here which I think gets eaten up really really quick just hiring a coach can cost $11,000 a month so you can spend $112,000 getting a really really great coach to meet with you twice a month I think Dr heurn ought to take Summers and uh go to Harvard Business School he ought to go to John's Hopkins for Education research you got to go spend some time at education trust there's some tremendous opportunities for uh someone who got here faster than average to really deepen his uh his knowledge base in an accelerated way so what I propose is that we set this to $2,000 instead of 10 uh to make up for uh the relative inexperience sir of uh of Dr heer um so uh I think that's how we mitigate this risk and this contract's for three years after three years we can come back and do something else but for an executive to spend $20,000 a year I think is a very smart investment for brard County Schools is there a second second moved by Zan second by fam public comment just a thought on that one uh Tom Vasquez uh to consider whenever you invest in in High Level Training like this also understand it becomes very marketable so what happens in other organizations is that there's a bit of a clause that says should we invest there's going to be a payback a payback tour something that we know we're going to get an Roi on that investment just consider that as we go forward and that's all I have thank you any other public comment board member comment Dr holes thank you madam chair so um I just wanted to make sure I have this information correct So currently we have $10,000 that would be for training for the superintendent each year each year and we are increasing this to 20,000 are we then um also um requiring that the superintendent exhaust the $20,000 in training or we're just increasing in this to give him that amount of money uh to be able to do additional training if he so needs uh Mista balance your phone the Clause right now states that the professional um ability to do that it's not to exceed the amount of 10,000 so if it if it's just a substitution of the amount it would be not to exceed that amount not to exceed 20,000 understand well thank you so much any other other comments roll call starting with Mr fogan holy no M 6on no we Dr holness yes hold on let's just clarify board members know what they're voting on okay so in section 5.3 to change the 10,000 per year to 20,000 per year thank you once again Mr fogi no and Miss hion no Dr holus yes Miss leonardy no Miss rert no Dr Zan yes Miss alad no Mr olon yes yes yes Miss fam yes bails four to five I think it passes four to five was five NOS five four item fails that's another any motions any other motions yes n thank you madam chair so um you know in Prior discussion we were talking about what we have not done for the past two superintendent and so on um continuing on that Trend what we have not done for the past two superintendents is uh a starting salary of 340,000 Dr lard starting salary was 350 with bonus and Severance immediately Dr cartright starting salary was 350 Severance immediately Dr heern starting salary that we have currently in front of us is 340 no severance for 6 months and 3.3 weeks per month for a total of six months now again I know this is not the intent of the board but I want to make sure as we proceed to um finalize a compensation agreement for the superintendent that we are not having a different measure to which we treat this superintendent I understand that experience matters but also what matters is results and we're tasking this superintendent with some major things we're tasking this superintendent with redefining schools repurposing schools at the last meeting uh bringing back a number of schools possibly for closing we're also tasking the superintendent to improve our school our District's low performing schools we had nine before now we have 12 we have 11 D schools 1 F schools we're tasking this superintendent to increase our customer service to Market better to attract more students to increase the aesthetic appeal of our district we have a lot that we're asking from this superintendent and to have a a starting salary that is less than the prior two permanent superintendent and asking this superintendent to do what seemingly more I think it brings a perception of a having the superintendent being treated on a different measure and I'm not saying that's the intent of the board I'm saying that's the perception and so I'd like to make a motion to match the starting salary of the last two superintendent to 350 instead of 340 so we can uh have a lateral playing field that we've treated the last two superintendent on as we would this one is there a second second move by wholeness second by Leonardi public comment yes Chris Nelson Fort Lauderdale um so you want to give him 350,000 a year is that what it is rather than 340 okay yeah go ahead give them the extra 10 grand a year make it the same as the last two superintendents but just guys we've been through this before or just really examine the separation part plan for the best but prepare for the worst you guys should be experts at this by now so support the motion go ahead M give it another 10 grand 10 grand a year but please we just hope that Dr heurn is the right person that he's not going to take off like the last two superintendents and we're not going to go through this whole dayong process again um really hope for that but but definitely make sure to just prepare for the worst I hope I'm not playing this video myself on Twitter a year from now when we're going through the same thing again but uh do support um board member hold miss' motion to uh match Dr he bur's salary to the last two superintendents thank you any other public comment seeing none I just want to First weigh in and say that I asked for a superintendent compensation comparison chart all on one piece of paper because I thought it's it's really important to know the numbers you need to know the numbers and when you look at the numbers we're actually going to be giving Dr heern $539,999 now with this $20,000 you know potential bonus so even though it might look like his base salary is 10,000 less he negotiated other things when we were negotiating and he's actually getting paid more than the last previous three superintendent so I just wanted to point that out to my colleagues Miss rert uh same brain right there um going down the column even not even including that the extra that we just voted on but Mr runy his uh subtotal annual amount was 504 Dr cartrite 475,000 Dr Lata 495,000 Dr heurn 49967 so there's not not um a drastic amount and I believe that this is extremely fair and I'm very excited to be working with this superintendent thank you thank you any other board member comments roll call on the motion repeat the motion first motion is in section 3.1 to increase his base salary from 340,000 to 350,000 starting with Miss Hixon no Dr holes yes Miss leonardy yes said a yes that was a yes okay M rert no Dr Zan no Miss ala no Mr olon no M fam no M freny no fails 2 to7 okay back for the item as a whole any other motions ready to vote let's go okay seeing no other motions roll call roll call and it is the requested action approve the employment agreement between the school board of brow County Florida and Howard heern Ed as superintendent of schools as amended with a $10,000 possible bonus for the smart program goals and a 10,000 for to become an a school district and that would be for the 2526 school year correct 23 23 24 the 23 24 school year roll call All right we are starting with Dr holness yes Miss Leonardi yes M rert yes Dr Zan yes Mr ala yes Mr olon yes M fam yes Mr fogan Hy no Miss hion yes passes 8 to one okay Dr heern do you agree with the motion as amended yes wow look how [Applause] that was very classic classic thank you board thank you chair um thank you staff all right let's get to work yes come get your seat congratulations you do uh wait Miss Madam chair can we bring that item back since I was on the prevailing side so we can all vote Yes yes yes and have a motion to bring back uh bb5 to move second move by Zan second by Hixon public comment see for member comment all in favor of bb5 as amended say I I those opposed say no item passes [Applause] unanimously bam congratulations [Music] may have a motion and second on H2 move second move by Zan second by rert public comment on H2 yes sir no H2 it was tabled because we had a public speaker yeah yes yes she's here the speak the speaker is um Miss Katherine Palmer she's here Palmer she's in the yeah she's here I am here there you go I said say you were here thank you for waiting for me I appreciate it I was off teaching our children today I chose to resign for personal and professional reasons it was a difficult decision and one that hurt my heart I love Broward schools I'm a product of Olsa Middle School and of South Barett high school and when I chose to resign this year I walked away from my pension I walked away from a position I adore at my alma moer and countless students that I love as my own children I was influenced by amazing teachers they gave me a standard to live up to and believed in me as a kid when I couldn't believe in myself I've amazing mentors in this system Dr Audrey roard Errol Evans Dr wanza these people taught me how to be a leader they taught me to stand up and they taught me that I had to be brave and to do the right thing even when it was tough being here today is tough I've been encouraged to not be here today to tell you that what you do is not recognize the value in your employees Miss Marte told this board that no dollar amount is listed in the budget for employee raises so as to not tip your hands during negoti iations and I do not remember one person on this deis objecting and your silence spoke volumes to me you limited you eliminated early release days without consulting teachers citing the need for additional instructional time I don't argue with that your reasoning was Palm Beach did it research shows that it works but only if implemented in a certain way have you directed staff to figure out how to do that what have you done to address student absences you can add all the minutes you want but if the students aren't there in school they aren't getting the instruction Palm Beach has started Prosecuting parents and using the court system to provide wraparound services to assist those parents are we going to follow suit you face your biggest challenge in redesigning and possibly closing schools I'm out of time I wish I could get into everything I want to say but what I do know is that it takes bravery to Hold Your Position it takes bravery to speak truth thank you so much board member common H2 Mrs Hixon you already spoke yeah I did I already um congratulated the 22 retirees y anyone else would like to speak all in favor of H2 say I I those opposed say no H2 passes unanimously I have a motion and second on H6 move by Zan second by rert public comment ah we did yes Madam chair on item 86 the H6 H7 and H h8 is done H so we did no so we did public speakers on item H6 it was Mr IO and it was table right so we need to continue and the Board needs to vote on the item and then we can move to the next item H6 is moved H6 was tabled for us to begin the 10 I have a motion second on H6 I'm moving it move second by rert public comment board comment Miss fam yes I was making a motion um on age6 about um conducting monthly meetings because the meeting portion was withdrawn so my motion would be to conduct Mo monthly meetings with guid and counselors and occupational Specialists and additional meetings as necessary and also a second motion which be the um they removed part of the um language that indicates um meeting with students and providing ongoing support and I would ask that they leave that in and it would be a motion the state provide ongoing support and counseling for students and parents which involve educational counseling for course selection and occupational opportunities as I indicated earlier that um throughout the year the way things change and students change what their career focus and direction is that should be provided throughout the term and not just at certain portions or times during the year is there a second motion fails Dr Zeman thanks very much chair just a quick update we already had a motion that passed if I want to uh be clear that struck uh or extenuating circumstances last bullet page two is that correct chair yes thank you so much Dr Hess what motion are we on H6 I didn't choose H6 okay Mrs exen and also just a reminder from our discussion we would also add guard rails to what constitutes an emergency based on procedural um guidelines okay all in favor of H6 as amended say I I I those oppose say no you need a clarification I do if you don't mind Madam chair so where did we leave off yes so we left off with taking out uh it said emergencies that we're keeping at other circumstances exua circum extenuating cir remove or extenuating circumstances the same piece right we removed it right okay T and whatever we do for six we're going to do for 78 and mental health coordinators and suicide prevention coordinator all in favor of H6 as amended say I I those opposed say no H6 passes unanimously pass a quick question on that I know it passed so I'm good with that but just just to our Council I think I mentioned this before um extenuating circumstances technically isn't that a part of an emergency anyway or it could be perceived that way and kind of my second question is don't all positions have perform other duties as assigned anyway M Batista just a HR question right I mean it's just normal I don't know why we're I think we spent so much time over a few words I don't know get the real impact Dr heurn Dr W so um thank you Dr heurn um thank you Mr auson to answer the question if if the board um some board members were may recall when the position of Guardian was um passed by the board that was the first position to actually not have that language at all all of Duties is assigned and it was at that time it was the board's intent that that individual who's who essentially is the safe school officer with the um loaded weapon they did not want that individual being pulled or called to do other things when their responsibility was to patrol the campus for that very specific reason okay um a few meetings passed I can't quote the actual when the meeting was but we had other job descriptions that came forward and we had language very similar to what is in here for um the school counselor um and Miss Hollingsworth can tell us the exact ones but there were one or two job descriptions that came prior that we amended that last line to um say exactly what this language says now that was just amended by the board okay I'm good I just want to make but this perform of Duties as assigned is really in everyone's job description anyway right okay got it I have a motion on H7 h8 together so move second move by Zan second by rert public comment yes Madam chair I don't know if he's still here but Mr Raphael signed up to speak to both items I don't think he's here Dr Zan um chair I'd like to make a motion to strike or extending circumstances last bullet page two of uh both H7 and h8 under essential performing responsibilities second the move by Zan second by Ala public comment board member comment yes didn't we just do that we did but that was on each six I thought it was six and apply to seven and eight no they just said that we have to go through the motion go one by one oh God okay all in favor of the motion as amended for each seven and h8 say I I I those opposed say no H7 and h8 pass as amended okay may have a motion and second on C1 move second approv by Zan second by roer public comment board member comment Miss fam C1 I'm looking C oh C1 yeah so um wait hold on I think there's public comment if we're on item C1 we do have a public comment Miss Jackie lusum signed up to speak to this item okay thank you yeah um I see that this um this was Kickback from the last meeting I think because 3 days was too small too short a period and it looks like it's coming back for 3 days am I correct so um I just want to ask if there's a two-tier system of discipline in this District because item I think it was H4 every single Schoolboard meeting you knob through without comment a whole ton of non-managerial suspensions um the bulk of which are in the transportation department you're suspending you're you're nodding through suspensions of Staff in transport between 1 and 7 days at a time a 7-Day suspension show me whenever any other member of Staff has been suspended for 7 days so we're talking here about a teacher who is um accused of unprofessional behavior bullying a child a thoroughly abusive relationship with that child as documented on the um on the paperwork repeatedly singling out this child for abusive treatment and gross subordination by failing to adhere to directives from an administrator and they're getting 3 days three days this is somebody who works with our kids and meanwhile for for the last 18 months you've got a transportation department suspending staff for between 1 and 7 days at a time and you're not even asking what these people are doing so either there's something really wrong in the transportation department and that might very well actually be the case and that's a whole another story but I think we really need to be looking at what your community expects of your disciplinary processes here we have a professional code of conduct and when people break it and break it in such an egregious way I don't think anybody with a kid in brow County Public Schools could agree with the three-day suspension thank you board member comment is famam yes ma'am um I had requested additional information on this I don't think we got enough in order to even properly assess this so therefore um I don't know if the 3 days was adequate or not so I won't be supporting the three days thank you thank you so this was postponed um from April 16 um Dr heurn the staff relook at this before bringing it back today yes board CH we reviewed this case um also the recency of this is from the 22 school year and so this employee has been in in in the classroom since um as a result we added some additional stipulations for training U professional development to ensure that this employee doesn't repeat um these actions moving forward thank you any other comment all in favor of C1 say I those opposed say no no no just raise your hand if you are no so one oh okay roll call roll call on item C1 I'm just going to start from the top because I know Mr stra left off Mr Al yes Mr Austin no is that a no okay I'm sorry I could to the person C no my apologies thank you Miss fam no Mr Fen holy no Mrs Hixon yes Dr holess yes Mrs Leonardi yes Mrs rert no Dr Zan yes a motion passes by4 may have a motion second on C2 I'm moved moved by rert second by Sean public comment yes Madam chair we have Miss Jackie lusam I'm not sure if it's worth my while if that um three days anyway um this is uh an item that now I see there's now also a motion for at bb6 so they connect so somebody tell me whether I speak to this or whether I speak to the motion later this is just I think I'm correct made a motion based on yeah I would speak to the next the previous one you supp the number you said bb6 sorry Mr anito is saying bb6 passed what I've been here eight hours waiting for it so I don't think so um item bb6 um pass with the bulk of uh double letter items that pass okay so if you want to speak to it now no there's no point it looks like I just wasted eight eight hours Sor okay Madam chair yes I'd like to bring that item back E6 speak was it is there a second second it's been uh moved by rer second by wholeness to bring back bb6 I just have a question U we Madam chair y uh is the so and I know our advisory chair is here yeah you wanted to speak to the item or you clearly I know you want to speak to the item right but I know we not go back and M I'll bring them both together bb6 and C2 right okay there were two items one was the item that and then and then Mrs Hixon made a motion on it last night or the night before the first I knew was that it has just gone through I've been sitting here eight hours to speak to it because thinking that you were going to vote on something and that I needed to be here to explain what the issue was about so nobody I've been completely unaware that I've just wasted an entire day so that's great wa um so you're telling me that Mrs hixon's motion passed so I don't think so all right stop let's right hold on hold on we're I'm going to make a motion to bring back C2 and bb6 there's little point because you passed it that's great well I know that's what okay good all right maybe some administrative um issues here and it's really not clear you had two items and I signed up to to speak to them so anybody's sitting there with the paperwork knowing that I was sitting here for8 hours to speak to something that I was completely unaware had already passed and great I'm glad it did but that's not okay thank you and that last item wasn't okay either Miss rer do you want to remove your yes request so bb6 is not on the floor C2 may have a so we're on C2 motion a second on C2 mve by Zan second by rert public comment board member comment I have Miss fam2 C2 at two okay um I just wanted to point out Madam chair that in the executive summary it states that they this motion is be uh scheduled to be heard on 4:23 at the incorrect date on the executive summary and I wanted to know if that is um properly noticed whe that complies with sunshine when you have the wrong date on the executive summary Dr heern staff speak to C2 W so what's in the executive summary reads that the that this item was postponed on 416 I'm sorry was postponed from the 416 school board meeting that was held on 423 if you will recall the 416 meeting we um had a meeting the next week where we resumed the meeting so what's in the actual executive summary is accurate okay thank you thank you Miss txon um thank you I I actually ended up making a motion on bb6 um but I do want to ask um staff if they could answer a question because it may require us bb6 came on late I don't think anybody maybe even really got the idea of what it was so I just wanted to have a minute to have a conversation about it because it was an item that was requested by E the ESC advisory about not allowing schools to have waivers for midterms because there are two schools that have don't allow students to wave midterms and all the other schools do and there was a concern about it adversely affecting students with disabilities so um that's what bb6 was about and it came from C2 with um The Advisory boards but in the discussion with staff there were a couple questions I just want them to address so is there already a mechanism in place well first of all is there a state statute that says we have to allow schools to wave our policies Dr H Dr W so um Mrs Hixon to answer your question the answer is yes we also have District staff here um from the office of academics who can um further elaborate but yes there is is statuto there statutory language that speaks to districts providing Provisions for um schools to go through whatever is the district process to apply for or or to have waivers of policy considered okay Mr Baha thank you for the question Garber moha director secondary learning so the state statute is fota statute 100.42 and section B reads adopt the waiver process policies to enable all schools to exercise maximum flexibility and notify advisory councils of processes to wave school district and state policies so it is a state statute to require us to have a policy to allow schools to wave pieces of local and state policies so miss Batista based on that CU I wasn't aware of that until after I put the motion in staff called me afterwards so miss Batista can you answer that if if we pass a motion that says that we won't allow waivers are we violating that state statute this batist okay so so if I can add some clarity so we have two high schools Dr he is it okay I'm sorry yes okay we we have have two high schools that went through the board approved wave of process and they went through their sack they went through the community process The Faculty voted the entire process is outlined in the policy to have um the um students not be allowed to wave midterm exams and those two high schools are Fort lale high school and Marjorie stowman Douglas High School so they have in effect to the board the board approved their waivers and so now we have the question before us in a committee motion and that is why Mrs um Hixon is asking the question I believe and I don't want to speak for you so please clarify if if the board votes yes in favor of her of the motion that she proferred are we now um going against the statute that allows schools to apply for waivers that the board approved so I was paing because I don't think the motion is necessary unless the board's position is that all schools must provide an option to exempt all midterms and all end of course exams for all students so that the motion in other words the the the schools already have the option to come before the board and request a waiver right so the the motion though the the pro the concern here and I know that it's late but this is about student achievement so we spent four hours on adults I think it's important we talk about student achievement so the the issue is that if they take the midterm exam for an e this is specifically for EOC classes if you have if you take an ace class class if you take dual enrollment if you take college courses you can exempt that's not an option um all the other high schools in the county except for these two allow their students to exempt the midterm exam for an EOC class this is only about EOC classes um and the concern of the ESC um committee and and families we've gotten a couple of emails about it is that it adversely affects students with disabilities because if they don't do well on that midterm exam that it it could cause their overall semester grade to be lowered because of the exam and that's true of anyone but there is a state statute that says students with disabilities don't have to take the EOC in order to graduate so the concern is if they are some students and it has to be in the IEP and they can explain it better in a minute so the concern is why would they have have to take the midterm that could adversely affect them if the EOC doesn't have to count for them so with that in mind though in the discussion having the discussion with Dr wanza and Mr five of us were on the phone last night there is a mechanism in place where if someone does not pass that midterm exam they could go in front of a a committee to argue the point of why it shouldn't count so um I think I need to bring back B6 because I was not aware of all of this but I did did want us to have the conversation because again it is about students and we don't talk enough about them would you like to bring back bb6 yes so in the context of C2 I would also like to bring back bb6 and then have staff explain better because they're shaking their heads at me so okay I second it um so we're going to bring back C2 along with bb6 at the same time time I have a motion and second to do that move second move by F second by holess public comment thank you to explain this this is such a mess item C2 was you bring looking at at our motion and then Mrs Hixon made a motion to adopt our motion which you never discussed you never brought it before the public for for commentary and I had amendments to to it to make it accurate now you're having to bring it back because you passed something without even looking at it and discussing it and I waited 8 hours to talk to it so I'm going to read the note The Briefing notes that I sent to All school board members yesterday to help them out with this because there's some misinformation here we're not asking for students to be allow with disabilities to be allowed to wave during the midterm exam we're asking to Simply Be able to wave their scores ad term exams aren't mandated by Statute and you've got a great big briefing paper that I took time with two others Kelly Walker and Lisa priest that that we could put this together and give you accurate information our motion sought to allow students with disabilities the ability to wave the results of their midterm exams in EOC courses to match State Statute and District policy that allows them to wave the EOC results the same policy that applies to eoc's that count as 30% of a final course grade should be applied to midterm exams that count as 10% of a final course grade I did some q&as to prevent confusion I did q&as that discover that um went over why this matter can't be just left to IEP teams and that's because legal council overruled IEP teams when that happened before um uh questions about I was asked yesterday is this aligned with State Statute and my answer was midterms are not even required by State Statute in fact statute is silent on schools having to do midterms midterms are a district thing um so we're not ask we're not wanting students to not sit the midterms we're simply saying students with disabilities should be allowed to wave the midterm results for the purposes of their course grade um uh because they are penalized by 10% um by not doing so you a statute allow them to wave the EOC result and this motion that we put before you would be bringing you in line with that um you brought a motion Mrs Hixon there's is in fact two items here so I hope I can have double the time but that I had some proposed amendments to your motion that would have made the language accurate so I don't know how you want me to deal with that I can read out your motion with the with my suggestions for the Amendments that would make the language correct should I do that with seven seconds or do I get this is two items now in once so you passed a motion without it coming before the public go ahead ahead okay thank you so if you follow along with what you've got on the motion that Mrs Hixon passed I have some amendments but I would just read out what mine would be so we I move that all students with disabilities in schools that obtain not offer midterm exemption wavers should remove the also be granted the right and then remove as specified in State Statute to receive waivers for their midterm exam scores insert the word scores in end of course subjects this should apply to the course grading similarly to their existing right to wave EOC exams as specified in State Statute this aims to align the rights of students with disabilities regarding midterm exemptions with their rights for EOC exam waivers ensuring consistency and fairness in their academic assessments um what I worry about is that once I sto talking if there's further debate and you get and I'm not being disrespectful to staff it's a it's a tricky subject but if they then give you inaccurate information that I have information that can counter it that's not going to be a fair process um so I would just urge please refer to the briefing paper that we gave you um one of the other questions that we um tried to preempt was um why this measure being called for by ESC advisory should not apply to all students and the answer to that is because the provision in state law that allows for EOC results to be waved for the purposes of graduation and final course grade is specifically for ESC students only gened students are not eligible to wave EOC results per District policy and Florida statute we acknowledged in our discussion at ESC advisory that the fact that some schools seek midterm exemption waivers and some don't is leading to inequity for gened students too the ability to seek a waiver means students that one school are having their EOC grade compromised by up to 10% while peers other schools are not all students then go on to compete in the same pool for college places and scholarships uh so some are being disadvantaged in that pool this is however a matter for state law and not BCPS policy therefore our motion did not address it and I'm talking about ese advisories initial motion which prompted this motion and this agenda item any other public speakers yes I was having a conversation outside and a wise professional in education mentioned that you know sometimes and I'll paraphrase it sometimes when you talk these issues you lose the the element of the student right so in an attempt to try to bring out the story of the student an ESC kid kid well actually all our kids they're more than just a grade on the test if you can get that then you can get where this is going so in the struggle for especially an ESC student as they do such good work throughout the year to just kind of have that one culminating test in this case the final is waved they have a right to wave it but then have it negatively impact you on the midterm is really where this the CR of the matter is it's about standardization it's about proper accommodation to be fair and to be just as it was pointed out you can't have some students in some schools potentially negatively impacted While others are not so it's about cleaning house on behalf of our ESC students again to that wise professional that offered that comment about keeping it about the kids I I thank them for that and I just offer that to bring a little bit of clarity this is going to help our community and I uh advocate for its uh for its approval thank you any other public speaker you can go to the podium can I have extra time please 3 minutes 3 minutes okay um so this is coming from the heart and coming as a mom that has an au autistic child who is with me today um he is a part of the ese program and um I hustled to do whatever I could to get in the help that he needs and now he's getting the help and it's beautiful now moving forward it makes sense for all Broward elementary kids to start school at 10 a.m. and let me tell you why uh Nova Elementary school starts at 9:00 a.m. and I'm saying this because I know it's and I know it's a change and I know it's different and more people are going to be like a a fast no instead of a slow yes but all I'm asking if you hear me out if you have all elementary kids in Broward start school at 10 a.m. it will make their mindset better for elementary kids a lot of ele a lot of kids that are that are kindergarten prek through fifth grade their fuel and their energy don't start their mind starts getting adjusted around 9 and 7 a.m. 8:00 a.m. is way too early for the kids to start school it's just it's not the same like it used to be people need their rest people need their their sleep and people and kids need to have a good breakfast at home and be with especially kids with a a disability or an A a disability I have an autistic child and it's hard for him to wake up I have it's more forced than natural and if you guys and I know this is not going to happen overnight but sometimes even grown-ups have grown-ups have a hard time waking up early now imagine if kids if and this only goes for elementary this is not Middle School and High School Middle scho there's they're going to end up they're going to end up getting their the help that they need in other programs and it will be good for the staff to have a break until the kids start um I just feel it's a good idea and I in the future like the it's starting uh Broward schools are starting to go virtual as well so the kids starting school at 10:00 a.m. Kinder prek through through fifth grade it will be a it will be good for the kids there sometimes on the weekends my son he wakes up around like 900 a.m. and he's energized and ready imagine if a if a kid with all kids start school at us at later um it doesn't even look right when I see the buses out 6:55 7 in the morning it's way too early that's old school and there's nothing wrong with old school but I just feel that the little ones they need to be at home resting and then the parents or whoever takes them to school caregivers parents that goes for everybody people with big families people that are single parents people with abilities they still need their rest and dealing with the autistic child it is very it's a struggle getting him up and I just want you guys to just take it into consideration thank you so much any other public speaker this is on bb6 motion to accept ESC advisory [Music] recommendation yeah we're going to get to five clock speakers in a minute Miss okay so we're back to board discussion Dr holess you have anything no it's been covered by board member okay perfect any other board members Mr allson yes so the motion on the was just to bring it back it's it's it's on the floor right yep C2 and bb6 all right so just a very simple question we hire a superintendent who is our subject matter expert in this regard um and I appreciate all of the advisories I appreciate my advisory committee member who also reached out as well thank you madam chair and others um but I also want to hear staff's perspective on kind of what's coming before us so superintendent Deputy Su whoever Chief AC whoever is the appropriate uh person sir Dr he thank you chair I'm going to have Miss hollandsworth and also Mr Strauss weigh in um I know they can probably provide additional detail and some other considerations that we may not know about that that'll affect this U motion good after good afternoon Simone Hollingsworth Chief academic officer and listening to all the comments just to go back to what do uh Mr bar MOA mentioned as well well is that and then also to do some clarification we do have a Florida State Statute that allows the IEP team to consider a waiver of students with their disabilities end of course can you hear me yep yes end of course score for the purpose of receiving a course grade and a standard high school diploma so the IEP team would determine that the Statewide standardized assessments under this section cannot accurately measure the students abilities taking into consideration all allowable accommodations and shall have that assessment results wave for the purpose of receiving a course grade and a standard high school diploma so that's done at the graduation portion also knowing that grades um are not part of the IEP decision a student with a disability has the IEP that covers accommodations supports and services needed to access their services and not the grading practices so that's where we want to clarify that that's for the end of course exam M sh do you have anything else to add Mr alustin so just so I'm clear so to that point are you saying bb6 you have no issue with no bb6 is a concern because we have the two schools that have waved the waiver process so all other that those other schools those students that have a disability for the midterm e uh midterm EOC they would have the option to wave out of those midterm exams if they had the A or B and at those two schools they do not have that ability got it so your the the staff recommendation is not to proceed with bb6 based on that well based on the fact that that was a voted on um item from the board for those two schools that went through Community um sack committees to make those decisions for those two schools Madam chair okay I think I don't Mr Al you still have the floor okay so let me ask a question differently bb6 your recommendation is we do with bb6 so the recommendation is not to approve bb6 because of the concern with the two schools and following board policy to get to the decision that those two schools ultimately made with their sack and all the other um meetings that they've had with their constituents at their school got it okay all right um Mr Hixon thank you um based on the the number of discussions that I've heard I also just want to point out midterms have gone so this would be in effect for next year but I will say waivers are a yearly we vote on them every year and if if we allow them to present us with the waiver and then we vote it down we haven't caused an issue with the state statute so having the conversation after I wrote this U motion I realized that these are yearly waivers they're not in perpetuity so if we were to not vote for this there is still a mechanism that allows them to present the waiver to us and then as a board we could say no because we want continuity across the district so it's kind of a compromise but I also want to be clear if we vote this in we're not going back and changing the the grades for this year I think that would be we wouldn't be able to do that it's for moving forward in the next school year thank you Landon thank you madam chair and um as I started off this morning a long time ago uh talking about my passion of of representing students with exceptional abilities and that's why I have a couple questions um regarding this I've been a member of ESC advisory Council for many years and and one of the the concerns that was was brought up um regarding this is is Beyond just the the two schools that have the exemption right as a as a student who sits through the exemption process every year when you go and you do the exemption you have a choice you have three typically you have t you have typically three classes that that you can exempt up to three but the concern is regarding ESC students is that now they're having to sacrifice their EOC classes which maybe you know they have an A in both quarter or I'm sorry let me rephrase because that wouldn't be the the case if they had an name I'm going to re reroute this because you don't need my opinion my question is I'm going to get to my question this the Florida state statute that that discusses um the the waiver requirement regardless of the Sachs being able to have this um Authority is there any state statute that stipulates the midterm exemption process because I think they're being comingled that's that's I know the answer there no state statute for the mid term when it comes to the the the staff concern it's in the regard of that the um exemption process is already been voted on by the saxs that's the reference to the statute correct I think that the reason I'm asking you is I believe it got comingled correct thank you so I think this is a larger conversation that should be had at a time where all the facts can be presented um because I think there's there's some there's difference and maybe a presentation that would go to ES advisory Council to be able to have a conversation with ESC advisory Council regarding this um to be able to have a more open dialogue and then something stronger could be brought back to the board thank you you and sorry that I wasn't clear M fam several points I want to make one is the um the ese advisory motion that was brought for it is ambiguous and and if you look down towards 3/4s down the bottom of the page the motion sees to allow students with this disability to wave the results which that's what Miss LOM was arguing however it says two paragraphs up all students are not required to take midterm exams across the board so um it's confusing as whether you're looking at to wave them out of actually taking the midterm or you're looking to wave the results of it so that just needs to be cleared up in your document in the doc yeah it's on this document in the audience so okay so that's one point just clarify that so we're clear the other thing is I looked up Florida statute 10142 and what that appears to provide that um when it is waved then it's an option it's not mandatory that you that that um you have to wave it or that you have to take it um the the midterm exam but when it is wave then the district or the the school has to come up with other means in order which they can do evaluation so I think we need to get um input from the teachers and the principles to see what that would involve and um what type of impact that would have on the teachers to come up with alternative means to evaluate and assess students if they're not in fact taking the test that's why we definitely need clarification on these two um the other thing is that I wanted to know um this is not districtwide um it's an option for for each district um um would this not come under the principal's Authority whether or not um what he wants um to generate within his schools and the options he off offers or or doesn't offer to the students so I I just don't want to step on toes I haven't seen any kind of data here supporting um how this is working in Broward County I know there was some data presented this morning about Maine but we're not Maine we're far different from Maine so there could be um different results for us and our community um we're certainly not as rural as a lot of communities so I would just ask that we bring this back so when we get more information about it thank you Mr mam I want to ask some questions staff that just to clarify some options that we have to address this issue um during the next school year so first question is um when does the waiver come to the board at what time in the school year does the waiver come to the board for I didn't know who was answering sorry so just for Clear MSD their um waiver ends for their exam exemption 2728 so they come every five years to the board um Fort leral high schools was ending for exam for this school year so it will be ending at the end of this school year and they did not move forward with it through their sack committee for the exam exemption at Fort Lauderdale but uh stman Douglas is still in that um period through through 2728 thank you for the clarification so we only have one school that has this concern for the upcoming school year sir yes sir Dr Hess Madam chair um I just wanted to find out um since the midterm is not required by State Statute can we as a board make a motion that for this one particular school that we now have because Fort laud is no longer included that ESC student students are exempt from the mid uh uh the ESC students midterm results are waved for that particular high school or any High School in Broward County are we able to make that motion that's motion yes that's what's on the floor now okay but that's what we're voting on but the superintendent recommend that we pull that it's late in the day I'm sorry I'm getting tired You' vote no I'm sorry you would vote no okay okay any other board member comments for C2 and bb6 I would like to vote on them separately yes thank you all in favor of C2 say I I those opposed say no C2 passes unanimously all in f um we're going to do a roll call on a question yes do we have to vote down bb6 or just take no action uh Mrs Miss Batista can we cuz what I don't want is to show that there is like a you know we're voting down something from our advisory right if we need more information right we can come back figure something out but to vote something down I don't want to postpone it indefinitely sure yes that's what I I mean it's your Pap was hixon's item well I'm with the clarifications I would still like to move it yes oh move it as is you're moving it as is okay all right well you keep it okay got it you keep it no no I mean you know what I mean not is as amended I I have I guess m lusum gave some corrections I don't know if I have to read them in yes you need to read them so I would like to amend my motion to say approve motion that all students with disabilities in schools that don't have midterm exemption waivers should be granted the right to receive waivers for their midterm exam scores in the end of course subjects this should apply to their course grading similarly to their existing right to wave EOC exams as specified in State Statute this aims to align the rights of students with disabilities regarding midterm exemptions with their rights for end of course exam waivers ensuring consistency and fairness in their academic assess Madam chair now that the motion has been read because this is not my area of expertise so I thought the superintendent let me just ask another question your recommendation is even with that additional language your your recommendation is that we support or don't support this item miss hollandsworth and miss bmoa can you provide some additional information based on the recent motion that was read the way that I'm understanding the way that the motion is read is that that would be then going against the the decision that was made on the waiver of the policy waiver so that those students at those schools well now for next year the one school ESC students at that one school would not need to take their midterm e so they they take the E take it it just will the score will not count against their midterm grade can you read that sentence again because I didn't get that and the score will not count it said not the ex yes it says in schools that don't have midterm exemption waivers should be granted the right to receive waivers for their midterm exam scores scor in the end of course subjects here cuz I still have the floor right sorry I just want to this is a very important topic right and I want to make sure we get it right I'm trying to hear from our experts I've heard from the advisories I've heard from my committee person the chair Etc I got that I'm trying to understand from the experts and legal counsel where we are so I don't think I have that Clarity just yet so I want to go backwards since I still have the floor before we take it to a vote Mr superintendent yes so okay Mr bmore or Miss Holland were specifically about exempting students scores not not waving actually taking the midterm does that conflict with um board policy or legislation so gber moad director secondary learning through the chair and as I understand it and I'm going to defer to miss Shad from ESC grades are not part of the IEP process so in during the IEP process grades are not waved throughout that process what's talked about P process is accommodations to assignments to tests to quizzes to midterms to finals if those accommodations are in place then those assessments should be valid right now so that's so I believe this is a policy issue not an IEP issue so I think we have to go back to policy and see what policy 4000 reads in terms of waving or allowing students to exempt the midterms students all over this District are allowed to exempt their midterms up to half their midterms like Landon said if they score an A or B in the first semester and if that's true they can exempt up to half their midterms that's every school in this District except for the school that follow policy 1403 that go through the waiver process to wave local policies So to that point M Mr superintendent so is the motion in line with that statement you just said yes or no if you pass this motion I believe you may be violating policy 143 answer my question got it all right so now that I got that question from the expert experts on the academic side legal counsel do you sorry general counsel do you support that same view in terms of where we are with the law yes I do okay now that I have Clarity Madam chair um I am not in a position to take well I can take action based on what two people just told me um but I think it may be prudent uh Madame Vice chair for you to have everyone go back try to figure something out but to rush this big of a deal um which I recognize there is an issue um but as presented in this Rush manner you may not get the result you're looking for so anyway that's the statement I'll make Dr Zan thank you so much chair this is very important and we want to be very respectful of our advisory committee uh this will not affect anything for the next couple months right uh and in that uh with all those three things being true I make a motion that we table this until our next meeting thank you uh following the June let follow uh to the June 18th meeting second byess all in favor of tbling this to the next meeting in June what was it June 22nd June 18th I think say I with some addition sorry with some addition there's going to be some staff there's going to be some followup with some recommendations all that is that what you're saying no you're not saying that I don't need to say it it's going to come back and they'll have updated the whole point in my Preamble was we need to make make sure there's Clarity between our advisers between our staff between general counsel and we need a better package to lay it all out so that we can get into an appropriate discussion well I wanted to make sure we did say it because typically when you just table it comes back as the same item so I think we're on the same page we've still said it so I know it'll happen now all right all in favor of tabling say I those opposed say no bb6 is table C2 pass okay we're now going to go to what did she say that was bb6 aable we're now going to go to our five o' speakers which are behind first up is Katherine Palmer thank you for giving me a second opportunity to finish what I was going to say Andre can we start the clock or pause the clock I challenge you to be brave you're about to face your biggest challenge you have to close some schools you have to figure out how to redesign this District you're not going to magically find 50,000 students they aren't hiding in cupboards so it's time to be brave and it's time to ask cities and citizens to face the music of the last 20 years of supporting Charter Schools Charter Schools I worked for so I know what they do and I know how they do it but it's time to ask them to step up in the face of music of what they allowed charter schools to do to their communities I'm resigning because the leadership of this district has suffered quite frankly I'm going to be honest with you I'm going to be brave with you it's been poor past and present Schoolboard members this rain has been ridiculous I have seen wasteful spending of money I have not seen safety first I have not seen you put kids first I have not seen you put employees first if it was not for the teachers for the front office staff for the principes for the assistant principles for your support staff the schools would not exist and they are the people that you are ignoring the most and if you don't start placing some value it won't be 120 people on that list and that's just the list for this month I need you to start being brave because if you're not brave and you don't stop worrying about what happens in November you won't have a November to worry about cu the State of Florida is going to come in here and take over this district and that's going to be a whole different ball game that you don't want to deal with so it's time to be brave and start worrying about what's going on with our kids instead of The Ballot Box thank you Davis to B Davis Lisa ciron um I'm the next I'm the next speaker and I will give my time to Louisa Comm P what is your name cha Christina thank you six minutes um hello thank you for the opportunity to speak here um I'm a Cypress Bay High School student and um I'm here to address the problem of misinterpretations of transcripts of foreign students who arrived after completing part of their high school education in another country or state I will I will use my own experience as an example but is it is wiely acknowledged that it is a significant issue for many students in this County I completed my freshman year at a rigor School in Brazil and I spent half my sophomore year there I ranked among top students at my school however upon transferring to Cypress Bay due to the misinterpretation of my Brazilian curriculum I was classified as a be student and my classes and my classes were considered regular for my nth grade during my junior year this year despite English not being my first language I earned Straight A's in four AP classes one ace class and two honor classes additionally I was honored with an academic award from a department in Cypress B English actually um you can can you understand that in Brazil I was an excellent student even better than I was here um I fac no challenges like in the initial year of immigration and adapting to a new language and also my classes in Brazil weren't any less challenging than any AP class that I'm taking here but they are considered regular the issue lies in the fact that misinterpreted grades from my freshman year are included in my cypis bay GPA um and consequently I've been unable to join clubs or pursue internships with GPA requirements I am in knowledgable for awards based on Cypress Bay rankings furthermore programs like bsmd bachelor in science and medical doctorate which consider GPA as a cut off may be inaccessible to me the district uh does a disservice to students by attributing the grades from other locations and using them for ranking purposes as well as using it as a way to put everything together the self report for college application can't have Divergent grades from the district even if an accredit accredited service does it differently from Cyprus it may even raise questions of academic Integrity issues my school in Brazil was private and uses different convergence tables from other public schools in Brazil which is accepted by colleges here in the US actually however the district rejected the table uh transitioning the grades which I sent uh stating uh I sincerely wish there was something could do to help we evaluate records from all over the world for many different types of schools as a public school system we compare the education requirements of public education systems of forign count countries to ours unfortunately we cannot individually compare private schools it is worth noting that my Brazilian school was not public so the comparison to Public Schools does not make sense because it doesn't exist um additionally my school provided a thorough explanations ex eliminating in the need for individual search um The District's respond continued although the current transcript made by the district may not reflect your accomplishments from ninth grade it certainly reflects your achievements in subsequent years congratulations on your incredible success so far I seen that your tenacity and perseverance will overcome any obstacles I wish all the best in your future endeavors in conclusion if the district and school feel un able to actually represent a student's achievements from elsewhere it is better not to attempt to do so at all uh a district in New York City uh uses credits from other countries but do does not incorporate cor the grades into their calculations only taking the CL credit from the class much like colleges do to AP and Ace classes taken in high school but because the GPA culation is simply incomparable it is a shame for the district to mix up this nonsensical transcripts I suggest re research to understand if there's any there are any solutions that some other countes may have throughout the country and I'm here to contribute to my new country and community and I will do everything to assist the school board in rectifying the situation uh but I would like to have the right to report my grades as originally given to me from my other school in my country and have only my Cypress Bay grades in my Cypress Bay curriculum thank you very much and my sister will continue speaking uh this um speech thank you oh and I would like to add at first the plan was for everybody to wear black uh in grieving the academic death of students however we decided to use white because there may be some hope thank you very much Dr har if someone can speak to her the hallway yes um Miss hollandsworth if she's out in the hallway or Gabrielle common Dr Co thank you I am G pet and I will continue speaking about transcripts forbs education May 8th 2024 one common misconception among college application uh applicants is that they can uh compare their GPA with those of students attending different schools however the GPA is not a universal metric but rather a reflection of an individual's academic performance within their specific educational environment as a result comparing GPA from different schools is like comparing apples and oranges I will repeat comparing GPA from different schools is like comparing apples and oranges when the counselors of our schools and our district put the grades of another system or country as if the student has always been studying there here they make a mistake they are not only comparing apples and oranges but they are also making a juice with all the fruit together it is impossible for college to separate the grades from one place to another hindering the admissions officers the ability to properly evaluate the students curriculum another citation of the same reference says some schools offer a plethora of APs IBS and honors courses while others may have limited options or offer none at all I will add some schools with rigorous courses outside of the US don't call their courses Advanced or honors because they don't have this system there this is one more reason why the grades from different schools can't be mixed to give a GPA or ranking if the students don't have the opportunity of having advanced level classes and is transferred to a school that has Blended up AP classes it will be unfair a suggestion is don't mix apples and oranges to make gpas or rankings the selection of some colleges like UF is based on rankings do you want to exclude foreign students from the selection I'm sure you don't these ideas of exclusion don't match with the principles of this country made by immigrants give the students their grades GPA and rankings based only on the grades of the schools they are attending the student will provide the original transcript accredited by an official organ when asked thank you thank you Maxwell Hamshire good evening board uh thank you for giving me the opportunity I was here since 8:45 like you folks so thank you for staying um my bid item was actually removed this morning um and I don't know why uh and I think I heard it was speedily approved um that really disturbs us this is a five million bid involving nine other vendors that are bidding the school district um this item number is 0027 and I'm asking on behalf of myself and the company to try to please bring this back um I'd like to read uh my speech for you um I'm asking you to vote no on Schoolboard agenda 0027 ITB 24319 floor care products catalog this catalog gives procurement and warehousing along with physical plant operations a BL a blank check to purchase what they want from who they want without obtaining without obtaining the best product at the most competitive price this catalog contract is awarded to nine different suppliers from 11 different manufacturers with different products we ask procurement how it will be determined which product and manufacturer will be chosen to purchase from they were unable to answer this question we also asked how will brow County Schools determine that they are getting not only the best quality but the best price we were not given an answer this contract is similar to the one at Palm Beach County School District which Broward School supplier current supplier has been unopposed for 20 years is this a solicitation is this solicitation just a Roose to allow poo and procurement to continue purchasing from their current supplier without any consideration for other awardees as you have been made aware board several several vendors asked what spbc paid for these items in 2023 procurement stated that there was no contract so so there were no prices to share we notified procurement that this statement was not correct and that there was a contract in place at the time and they should release that information procurement never responded to our inquiry nor did they ever release information oh if I finished thank you so much okay William Russell thank you Chris Nelson that concludes our 5:00 p.m speakers may I have a motion in second on hh3 hh4 hh5 move second move by rert second by Hixon public yes Madam chair we have Miss Lisa Maxwell Miss Christy henchel and Mr Luke Fida Christy henchel president of Broward principles and assistant principl Association good afternoon I'd like to give my time to Lisa Maxwell our executive director six minutes thank you good afternoon my name is Lisa Maxwell I'm the executive director for the Broward principles and assistance association I'm sorry to say today that um I come with a heavy heart principals and assistant principles around this District are extremely disappointed they several weeks ago looked into their paychecks realized they had a pay cut of 5.5% because the referendum dollars ended that has not been continued as of today the raise amount that's been offered here is uh 2.26 and it's non reoccurring the teachers received a 3.96% increase reoccurring F FRS eligible several months ago I'm not exactly sure how the district expects that the academic leaders in the school who are now signing paychecks for many of the teachers making more than the principal is making are going to lead your schools to an a district I don't know how that's going to happen this is demoral moralizing to them and in many respects it's not so much about the money as it is about what this says about their value to the district their responsibilities far outweigh classroom teachers and classroom teachers deserve to be well paid but the responsibilities that this board in this district has placed upon the shoulders of principles excuse me an assistant principles is Extreme by any measure they include as you know Safety and Security they include uh issues related to academics and child welfare when a child is injured the assistant principal usually rides in the ambulance to the hospital when a teacher needs assistance in the classroom because the student is acting out and a referral is given it's the academic team that's right there breaking up fights I've had assistant principles and principles injured this year so we're talking about a difference of what is essentially $1.8 million you know I've I've often joked I can can go upstairs on the 10th floor and shake out the couch cushions and come up with that kind of money this is not the kind of money that impacts the fund balance this is money that says principles and assistant principles are valued and they're valued just as much as our teachers we've never had a year where there's been less of a percentage increase given to principles and APS than our teachers so I asked ask you today to do the following we recognize that 1.7% of the 3.96% given to teachers was from the state of Florida that did not come out of the general fund the 2.26% increase is reasonable but we're asking that you make it reoccurring and F FRS eligible we're also asking today that you make the referendum dollars once and for all ongoing and understood the 5.5% that was given in the first year of the referendum and by the way principles and assistant principles work polls worked harder than anybody to support that referendum out there they did their jobs and they were promised to be a part of it so now it's baffling as to why there's even a question as to whether or not that will continue and that's not money that comes out of the general fund that's money that comes from the collections from the property taxes and the money sitting there so to not go ahead and allocate that money is extremely upsetting you can do that today the items before you the language is right here on the salary schedules so I'm asking you to please make the these changes today assure your academic leaders that this board supports them we have a phenomenal new superintendent and principles and APS are excited to get behind his leadership please make it a point to tell them they're valuable and do it today and do it now thank you thank you any other public speakers seeing none board member comment Miss Hixon thank you um just based on Miss Maxwell's comment I think there's a little bit of confusion so if I'm not mistaken the referendum is only paid in 20 paychecks so no one is continuing to get the referendum this school year because it's only 20 paychecks so that that may be why some of the where the confusion is but I I do agree and I would ask my colleagues if we could please guarantee um all of the non con non-union employees that they will be continuing to get the referendum for the next three years I don't know if we can make a percentage right now because we don't really have that data but I'd at least like to commit to them that we will be um continuing to include everyone in the referendum moving forward for the next 3 years I know they don't have a contract so um we can't put it in a contract but if we could make a a promise or a guarantee or something I don't miss Batista if you could tell us the right way to be able to do that and if staff could also address if I'm correct about why the referendum they're not seeing it in their paycheck right now through the superintendent Dr he yes you're correct about the paycheck it the referendum payments were through 20 weeks um similar to paying teachers and so we can correct that for our 12-month administrators um for this upcoming school year thank you and Miss Batista how would we go about since there is no contract how would we go about guaranteeing that they will get referendum dollars continuing on and then come back to what that percentage is maybe I don't know if we have to do that in the closed door or what whatever well so is that thank you Madame chair so if it is the will of the board you would make a motion and if the motion passes by a majority you will be making that commitment okay perfect I would like to make a motion uh I'd like to move that we guarantee all of our um non-union employees that they will continue to get referendum dollars through the through the um the three years without I'm just going to promise that we're not necessarily the exact amount because I know that we have some other issues to look at but that we promise that we will be or guarantee that there will be referendum dollars through the three years second second the move by Hixon second by Zan public comment on the motion board member comment on the motion Mr Alon thank you madam chair uh so yes I will support the motion but I do want to point out it was interesting um there was a different item that came uh probably a meeting or two ago um where I proferred something similar where the board could make a motion uh directing staff going forward a part of the budget process because that's what we're doing right now uh which I support and I supported my motion which ultimately passed but I just want to point out for this board we're doing the exact same thing that a few people up here said we couldn't do but which I knew we could uh which is to make a motion provide direction to the superintendent and staff um on how to in this case uh allocate referendum dollars going forward so I just want to point that out that as a body we can do that at any point at any time providing direction to staff thank you Dr Zan thank you so much chair um just to clear up U some points that are kind of in between what Miss Hixon said uh I believe chair that we guarantee referendum dollars to the dollar for our teachers is that correct here for all four years of the referendum uh resourcing Mr Aero yes that's correct all four years for the teachers no I just want to be clear about it we we treated the teachers different and we talked a lot about the teachers when we pushed the referendum uh in the in the marketplace to let people know how uh important that money would what important things that money would be spent on then we came and sat here and we said yes uh teachers important but so are a lot of other people too and we passed one-year deals uh for them so principles and APS were amongst those that got the the one-year deal this motion is wise for very many reasons one it doesn't set a dollar amount or a percent because we don't know how much referendum uh re Revenue we're going to get until July 1st uh I appreciate bpaa pointing out that there was a reduction in the cash to principles and assistant principles but that's only because we paid all 52% over 20 weeks uh rather than the whole year maybe we want to reconsider that uh in the future um but it'll be interesting to see how much we get uh from the referendum we won't know until July 1st and and then we'll come back and and think about these meeting for groups to figure out exactly dollars and percents that uh we could afford in a in an environment that's incredibly uh resource constrained going into next year uh but this is a wise move uh and I look forward to the next conversation uh chair when you're ready about the actual bonus versus uh recurring dollars uh for the same group thank you Miss fam I just wanted to thank Miss Maxwell for coming in I I truly feel bad that the principles were left out and you have to come here and and almost humble yourself to um get them recognized but they are at the Pinnacle they are our leaders and it trickles down from the top and we want to take care of them deeply we um we know that we need them and that um they're an integral part of making this system work so thank you for coming and and thank you for um speaking on their behalf today and we are going to take care of this thank you so I have a question uh to the superintendent can you speak to if there is referendum money available and also knowing that we have charter school debt um how I just want to make sure so if we the board votes this up that there is money that we can allocate I'm not you don't need to give me a number I just want to make sure that there will be something left there to then for the board if they make vote this up to be able to give money towards the principles and APS Miss matala with the obligations to charter schools that we have coming up do we have enough money to address the needs of our meeting confer groups through the for referendum through the superintendent and the chair um there will be monies available for the payments however we need to wait for the settlement agreement to be approved before we know how much and what the allocations would be okay so let me just double check what I'm hearing so what you're saying is that we're going to be able to pay the charter school debt and then also there'll be enough money we don't know what that number is but to pay for referendum for principles and and APS yes wonderful wonderful any other questions Dr Zan thanks chair because I want to shift gears uh I'm sorry um I'd like to speak after this motion is is hurt if because I want to go to the next stage of the pay raise okay can we repeat back Mrs hixon's motion the motion on the floor by Mrs Hixon is to um is for the board to guarantee over the remaining 3 years of referendum that there will be um referendum dollars assigned without a specific percentage at this time to all for for all all three mhm okay all in favor of the motion say I I those opposed say no motion passes unanimously Dr Zan thanks again uh chair do you know what the balance is in the American Rescue plan account we are um allocating roughly 1.7 1.6 91 on the bottom of page two for this 2.2 six nonrecurring bonus for the 23 24 year um what is the balance left in our American Rescue plan account Dr Miss matala there are some funds available but a lot of it is tied up because of the charter school allocation so like about 75 million is for Charter School set aside um there are some monies for summer instructional materials as well and that's pretty much it to be clear then uh you said $75 million of our funds is set aside for a charter school settlement yes terrific um I'll just keep going then chair I I uh have for two years talked a lot about the CEOs in our system the ones that are held accountable for school grades who are accountable to parents who are accountable to neighborhoods who hire every who run the schools and uh I believe that principles and assistant principles are under greater stress than they've ever been before and I for one can never support them getting less than teachers that work for them uh if I'm correct chair let me uh just ask this um uh do you know what it would cost to give uh principles and APS the same percentage permanent raise that teachers got Dr har Mr yes are you asking the 2.26 or the 3.96 3.96 give me one second that's just the principles and APS yes sir just to clarify Mr um Dr Zan does that exclude the 1.7 that the state allocated for Teacher raises just want make sure so the tsia that we got from the state um is a directed amount or minimum raises for teachers but um under my thinking uh teachers work for principles principles are our equivalent of CEOs out in the field doing things uh putting points on the board and hiring uh teachers and I I'd like to know what the cost would be to match the same salary increase they got which is 3.96 so 3.96 for the bpaa members would be $3.3 million with fringe thank you very much um chair I'd love to hear from my colleagues on this but um when we're done with the round I'd love to make a motion about uh providing them uh an equitable increase to the teachers that work for them thanks chair if you can just make your motion I move uh 3.96% recurring raise for all principles and assistant principles in barard county for a cost of $3.3 million from the uh general fund second removed by Zan second by fam public comment on the motion board member comment on the motion Dr holness thank you madam chair so Madam chair I I understand the spirit of the motion and um we do have other groups beside bpaa and if we're starting to match the teachers 3.96 knowing that 1.7 came from the state 2.26 came from us if we're going to do this for one group then we need to consider all groups and didn't say you know and I'm just saying uh I guess the point that I'm making is can this District afford to do that so so with that being said I don't think we're comparing Apples to Apples I think we gave 2 26 to everyone across the board that's what we gave to teachers teachers received 1.7 from the state so I'd like to get further input on what it would cost if we um decide to do this across all groups um I understand uh the reason um I personally believe that we've treated all groups um based upon the district itself um with equal measure except for the recurrent uh the 1.7 is a state um uh uh amount and so now that we're on the topic of trying to match the 3.96 for teachers I'd like to know what the total dollar cost would be if we're going to include the other meet and confer groups Mr azero can you provide the the numbers for all groups all groups or meet and confer all groups okay there still labor groups that are outstanding okay all 3.96 for every group that's still out there is 23, 95,000 with Fringe for 3.96 okay so then my next question is based upon the financial obligation of the district in terms of charter schools payout and so on and so forth uh can the superintendent speak on uh whether or not the district will be able to um pay out another 23 million and how that would impact us financially that's a thank you chair that's a simple answer no we we can't afford that so we cannot not 20 something million dollars reoccurring thison to that point can and I believe there was a motion that passed by uh Mr Altin that said if you bring something forth to take money out of the general fund you have to say how you would counteract it so I just um to to Dr Zeman where would we get the 3 . 3 million since we know our general fund is already um at the the bottom of the barrel thanks so much uh Miss Hixon um in our latest Financial projections we found Revenue that we didn't uh project before I think it's just over $10 million of additional Revenue but let me just ask to the chair how much additional Revenue did we discover beyond our projections uh in recent financial statements Dr Miss matala so the financials that you have before you today um there are no additional dollars it's the same 3.8% that was there last month for February interms and besides the interest that you're referring to the 10 million thus far we have not found any additional monies and we still have obligations to pay through the end of the year so by the time we close the year we do not know if we're still going to have the 10 million or not I'm sorry uh again um in our most recent financial statements did we have an increase in Revenue to report to the school board not anything additional as compared to last month so the percentage was 3.8% for February and still 3.8% there is an anticipated interest um revenue of 10 million that you're referring to by the end of the year but other than that we have not found any additional monies but not all of this not all of the money have been realized no no problem uh I don't need any more than 3.3 million and so with the projected uh additional interest income that we are earning of $10 million that's the source of funds that I propose for paying principles and assistant principles Mr Alon thank you thank you Vice chair you remember all those motions um and you know a couple of them uh was kind of what we're talking about now treat everybody equally uh and I'm glad to hear everybody a couple weeks later um believes uh that very simple fact um that all groups matter all employes um all employees matter that's what it was called um so yes um here very simple question and I wasn't going to jump to F1 yet Dr Zan um there are different paths Mr superintendent um because I heard the answer uh was no we can't afford an additional $23 million in recurring funds we can't afford it if the school board will commit to do some very tough things so I think that as a body we need to have that conversation right I think we have competing priorities that yes we want to ensure that all of our employees uh receive fair compensation we also know um not to mix topics that are coming that we are too big today and that there are some decisions that we need to make as a district uh I think the prior occupant of that seat I thought committed to cutting about $50 million I'm going to get the number wrong or finding millions of dollars in savings which I still don't know where they came from so Mr superintendent I love to hear to this point compared to or in the current budget year that we're in and then looking forward has the administration cut millions of dollars that's kind of question number one and if we have and I know we haven't gotten to the orc chart because that's another couple million if we have not cut Millions uh I that's just want to kind of get us to the $23 Million number so what have we done to this point maybe Madam CFO uh in terms of actual Cuts savings cost avoidances I mean on the orc chart not to jump ahead I mean we kind of shift some boxes right dollars here to Dollars there but where have we actually cut and seen real savings Dr Miss matala as of the last budget Workshop number four uh we shared with you that we have had cost reductions of about 36 million in schools and Department which is Central offices so the act so so we have actually actualized $36 million of cuts to this date yes for next year no okay so for next year yes so with the 36 million of proposed cuts for next year all right uh when we take into account all of the LI I'm jumping F1 is combined I mean I'm not going to F1 U but when we take into account the charter school number which we still don't know the number I thought this what we've said publicly so whatever the number is uh along with our other liabilities what additional Gap not including the 23 million just yet currently exists for the district to make some potential Cuts in the next budget so with what we presented at the last workshop with those cuts we are able to balance the budget so there is no additional room for any additional revenues that are generated that we expect of as of today so let me let me repeat the 36 million that you are projecting to cut will balance the budget going forward correct including everything that we've talked about so to your question about Charter School um we included an estimate of $1 million of interest in that budget balancing but the full payment we haven't even talked about so that's why when we when we were talking about referendum I mentioned that we have to consider that okay so let me if I'm going to take your word that we have already put into place $36 million of cuts for next year so we have a balanced budget starting now as of now yes if that is a true statement then if we now want to add $23 million to that side of the Ledger do we also need to direct you to find an additional $23 million of cuts alongside that yes and also I want to remind the board about the fund balance policy policy when we brought it to the board last time the recommendation was um that we should maintain 5% so we will not be able to get there I get it okay so Mr superintendent well let me wait for the Motions thank you I've asked all the questions that are needed dress Madame chair thank you so much um so I just want to make it clear because um some of the narrative is that this board is treating different groups unfairly and I want to make it clear that we have not uh we have given the same percentage across the board to teachers and everyone else the 1.7 was additional funds if I gave all my children the same allowance and somebody else gave extra I treated all the same so you know I understand that it would be nice to to have everyone at the 3.96 but I don't want The Narrative to be out there that this board treated others unfairly and gave teachers a a better raise and so on because that's not the case everyone got 2.26 eachers got an extra 1.7 from the state and that's for the record now from what I'm hearing is uh if we're going to give one group outside of teachers the 3.96 that we don't have a 1.7 given to that group but we're going to take that out of our pocket our purse here at the district then we have to do it for all groups and then what I'm hearing here is that if we do it for all groups the cost is going to put us in a financial uh constraint that may not be um we may not be able to do so and it may put the district into uh fiscal concerns as far as fund balance and all of that so I'm not convinced of how this will be done I'm not convinced that we can afford to do it I also want to make known that I don't believe we've treated any group different from the other groups the only difference here with the other groups is that it's not recurrent and I can consider that um but if we don't have uh the funds to increase this to 3.96 for all groups and I'm not convinced that this can be done without putting us in some kind of financial uh crisis then I cannot support it if we're going to do it for one group that's here we have to do it for all groups and can we afford to do it and and and also we have not and I'll reiterate we have not treated any groups different than we've treated all except for the recurrent so if we want to talk about recurring we can do that any other comments yes um I just lost that microphone um yes I can see in the back that we have that the principal Union uh the principal president and also um another principal back there and they're nodding their heads no that's not true that's not true and if I if we can I'd like to provide them the opportunity to at least expand because I'd like it clarified has it been the same across the board or is it different is Spam direct your questions to the superintendent Dr hurn I'd like to know I don't know if you know how far back if it's been the same or not I thought that the um principal's president might be the best clarify M Maxwell thank you for the question Mrs fam the answer is that the distinction is non reoccurring but in the past the district has made up the difference between what the state has paid and what the the district then pays so it has been Equitable in the past so if for example 3.96% was given to the teachers and a portion of that came from the state money the district made up the difference so that it was equivalent this year they're not only not giving the additional money that the state gave but they've added insult to injury with the non reoccurring basis for the rise so hopefully that answers your question thank you another question Dr Zan thanks so much chair um I'm going to disagree with uh most of my colleagues um because I don't believe in paying everybody the same pay race um I believe that the market for uh some people is fundamentally different than the market it is for others and we ought to understand those markets and we ought to invest our monies in a way to make sure that we retain the best and brightest in every occupational field and that turns out not to be the same amount of money and if we want to continue to just give everybody the same amount of money because that's convenient uh to do that's that's the will of the board I get it in this particular issue principles and assistant principles uh work hand in glove with teachers uh we already have $1.7 million coming out of the ARP uh all we need is is another $1.6 million to make them equal to teachers uh to make up for that funds I'd love to go into the budget and find $23 million next year actually I need 23 minus 3.3 to find it to pay everybody 4% uh I'm very committed to do that I'm 100% confident we can we just found $36 million this year uh we can find $23 million uh uh for next year to do this the right thing to do because we want to become an a district and uh um principles and assistant principles deserve the same dollar for dooll pay raise and they deserve the same recurring funds uh that teachers got and uh we can work on the other uh groups uh over time and we ought to find a way way to pay everybody in brard County enough money to live in brard County um and if other members of this board want to pay everyone an equal 3.96% fine I'll help you find the money but I know principles and assistant principles are the key to becoming an a district and I want to make sure we retain them and if there are Market studies that show that our um po staff is uh dramatically underpaid and we need to pay them 10% in order to retain the PO staff uh at the level of quality that we need a PO staff I'll fight for that too but we cannot in my mind continue to uh follow down this path of supposed Equity because it's actually not Equity it is not Equity to pay everyone the same amount of money we don't do that and we don't give pay raises in organizations that the same amount of money either because that's not Equity either um that's just kind of making information in the absence of analysis we need the analysis to show where we ought to spend our money to get to the goals that we have which is an a-rated distri I know principles and assistant principles do the jobs that get us to where we want to go they are Central as our teachers as our all instructional people for us getting to our instructional goal which is our number one goal to become an a-rated District so I'm going to stick with this motion I hope that the board uh uh does this for teachers we only need another $1.6 million to do it for next year uh and I'm committed at at whatever level uh this board collectively decides to do uh to help find the money again in a $6 billion budget uh finding 20 million again that's 6,000 million finding 23 million to pay people the right amount and keep them on the path motivated to what we're doing uh is something we can do this year um in order to pay people for the 24 25 year and I think we should get started with principles and assistant principles thank you Dr Zeman so I would like to make a suggestion to the board to approve hh4 HH 5 and hh6 and then go back to the budget and look to find the 20 almost $24 million to do this raise and and if we can then have the superintendent bring back an item to approve the 3.96% reoccurring raise that's my motion second move by second by Hixon public comment member comment M Mr superintendent do you have dror I'm so sorry Dr mister and welcome new um are you confident that you'll be able to find this money that somewhere we've completely overlooked it I can tell you this this staff and I go back we'll review our budget we'll see if there's any um gaps and or Monies to find and we'll bring back um information that says either or okay thank you the best you can do I now Dr Wess thank you madam chair so I just wanted to for the uh 3.96 for the teachers and I just want to clarify the 3.96 was re recurring or the 2.26 recurring you're asking if the the 3.96 was recurring for teachers are yes we we had 2.26 that we as a board decided and and 1.7 came from the state so the we the motion on the floor is for three well we're we're asking the superintendent go back and see if um we can find 23 24 million to have 3.96 recurrent so I just wanted to verify for the teachers is it the 3.9 96 recurring or is it 2.26 Mr Aero you can confirm they were 3.96 recurring all of it okay six thank you um I just want to say we value all employees we do know how important our leadership is um and if this is something that we can do responsibly then I I would be happy to do that but I do also want to remind all of us we're in a pretty interesting place where we are in in a in a crisis financially we have a lot of things that came to us after some other um issues that we we resolved in terms of payment so we did make a plan we said we wanted to be at 5% we have to be cognizant of all of those pieces so I appreciate the fact that we're going to look at what that looks like in big picture because I feel like we're often saying yes yes yes and then we don't really look at how it affects everything and we get ourselves in a pickle um as some of our board members like to continue to remind us so um thank you for making the motion Mr Alon I'll be that board member um but no to your point thank you for that Vice chair um maybe when the item comes back um similar to way the way other agencies do it so clearly we know that if you can find whatever the number is 23 24 million plus to get us to the 5% um because clearly that's a different number so if we want to get to 23 million here is what we need to do if we want 23 million plus 5% here is what we need to do here's 23 million plus 4% which I think somebody else recommended here is what we need to do that's the plan so the board can say okay here is now we have a big picture uh view of decisions that we need to make there will be some cuts that need to be made I mean I don't know I I hope and I've been saying this every meeting uh so I'm hopeful that you clearly our CFO will be as uh candid and you know forthright so we can clearly make those decisions because it won't be easy to get there just a point of order chair can you tell me your motion of um would provide what pay raises to principles and APS now it would adopt the provision providing a 2.26% onetime b B is on base salary non reoccurring not F FRS eligible two eligible while one of them's esmat employees for the 2324 school year and then to eligible bpaa employees and um POA employees but your 2.26 is just the bonus onetime bonus on B salary that's the requested action in the items and then my then also for uh the superintendent to bring back in a budget Workshop how we can come up with $24 million in cuts to then come back to this to approve an item to give a 3.96% reoccurring uh bonus what that difference would be to make it recurring reoccurring right Mr fogan oi thank you very much chair and um I I I feel that this just bored it feels like we're handing out buckets to a sinking ship and it feels like we're working backwards Dr hebburn percentage this many millions 10 million 20 million go figure it out and what we are going to do is Rob our children to pay adults that's what's going to have to happen you're working backwards I want to pay everyone but I'll tell you where those cuts are going to happen I just feel like instead of having a conversation that you can go and see what cuts you can make this is what I want to do this is what we're going to do board you have the ability to do a you have the ability to do B you have the ability to do c instead we're telling you what to do and now figure it out this is backwards and I think I'm gonna go out and say it I'm I'm very clear people want to say things about me I I'll speak to myself that I want to see the public school system fail I want to see a state takeover man if I wanted to these are the decisions I would make right here if I wanted to I would be Reckless and just keep spending just keep doing this at what cost though at what cost even with the teachers we made the most Reckless decision to give them raises is we did that knowing it was wrong it went to them and yet they still had the audacity to send emails and complain that's all I get $30 a check thanks at what cost 60 million in the hole figure it out so I to me I'm feeling sick having this conversation I feel like this is matala and and the thing is for me when we ask you Dr hebburn what you think do you think we should do this well we'll go take a look at it that makes me sick I want you to be honest no do not do this and I said the same thing to the person before you be honest don't do this and it's not because we don't want to pay people more I want everybody to be I want everybody to get paid I do we all do not one person up here that doesn't want to pay teachers the maximum amount principles the maximum amount cafeteria workers bus drivers we all do at what cost I just I just feel like we're working backwards I thank you chair I'm not I'm not going to keep Haring sorry okay so I kind of look at a little bit differently I think that the the board is is trying to figure this out and so by voting on the requested actions today and then coming back to having another conversation it's not just the superintendent making decision on the cuts it's going to be a collected decision by this board to to for us to weigh in on what we need to cut to be able to get to this and then come back for this to give uh the extra money Dres okay thank you madam chair so I just want to understand what we're doing here because I I saw the the the speaker from the audience um came uh with a request that the current 2.26 is recurring where we have a motion I guess to direct the superintendent to come back with with a workshop item to see if we can um offer we can come up with the 24 million are we going back to the main motion after that is are we going back to the to the to the item so no that's that will be the the motion so um I have a question and how can I um in addition to what we're doing um have a an additional motion to have today at least the 2.26 recurrent in addition to the superintendent going back to see if we can bump this up to 3.96 for all groups point of order chair I think yours is a substitute motion to the motion I put on the floor I made the motion on three .96 recurring that was already on the table when you brought up yours I'm not sure okay yes okay so um we have to vote mine up or down then and then you can make us if it gets voted you can make your motion is leonardy yeah if I could just be on the list to speak go ahead um I just I support the motion um I also see this a little bit differently um you know we've heard from public speakers repeatedly that you know there's wasteful spending and I certainly don't think they believe that paying the people who lead our schools who um you know respond to parents and um you know care for our kids I don't think that that's what they're talking about when they talk about wasteful spending so I support the the motion of going back to the table and trying to streamline our budget to pay the people who directly impact our students every single day thank you thank you misson thank you I think it's also important to remind everyone that the money for the 2.26 non-recurring comes from the art money and that was why in our discussion we knew that we we weren't ready to guarantee anything for the following year that this is what we had right now and that's part of the reason that it looks the way it does so I think it's important that we remember that that there wasn't extra money anywhere we actually took it from the art money to be able to do what we're doing so as much as I would love to pay everybody more money for I I push for 4% every year at the minimum um as Mr Austin just alluded to um so I I don't it's not that I don't think they need it but we are just not in a place financi that we can promise that moving forward and I think it makes sense to go back figure it out and be able to promise it next year at a reoccurring a recurring rate when we know what those dollar amounts are but I just don't think it makes sense to do that right now based on the information that we have okay we ready to vote Mr Al almost um So based on your motion it is to approve the items as is um with the 2.2 % one time I know we can still get to separate motions but let's just deal with one thing at a time 2.26 one time got it let's move these as is using the onetime funds right that we know about then we can do a separate piece if we choose to so is your motion no is your go ahead yes part of that was correct hh3 hh4 hh5 to approve the uh requested action as is right and then also to have the superintendent bring back to a workshop for us to have that conversation to look for the $24 million that we can cut to be able to then come back to be able to offer a 3.96% reoccurring could I add to that direction Madam chair [Music] so if we want to be bold then I think one way or one uh way for direction is for the C really to look I'm just going to throw out a big number $100 million wor the cuts right so we know that I'm just I know the number right to get to 5% a to get to the additional 23 million B I'm going to use the Zan model to get to these zones of Excellence or whatever all the different things that different board members may want to do right that's going to cost something so if we're going to put on one side here are all the things you want to do on the other side here is the list of and we're going to pick openly right maybe the next whenever we do it and we will at the end of that Workshop we'll know exactly where we are um but I think we have not been very clear well I have asked the occupant of that chair every meeting will there be Cuts I've asked the occupant of that chair before you and I'm going to do it to you as well um so I think the prudent thing for us to do let's come up with the big number Mr superintendent let's lay out here are the cuts here are the impacts if it's maybe just a central office or headquarters as we call it if there are School impacts maybe let's just be clear right if we want to do all these things this will impact schools this will impact academics I think we just need to be very clear and lay all those things out here are some contracts that maybe we don't need to continue right we haven't even talked about the contract inside of the house right maybe there's some efficiencies that we can do through X and I I won't fill in so I think that's the kind of big picture thinking that if you and the team could do over the next X amount of time that I think would answer a lot of questions going forward so I support the current motion uh for that regard but I just want to I'm going to suggest that we just ask the team to come up with a $100 million of cuts let's see what happens where it comes from and we'll we'll make a decision okay um sure we can have the conversation doesn't hurt 24 million 50 million 75 100 million you know what falls in those categories what we need to cut I'm okay with having that conversation but chair with all due respect that's normal budgeting there's nothing untour about that there's nothing uh that the community would look at that and say that's uh that's hokey or invite State takeover of our school system that's insane that's normal budgeting our budget office brings us a menu of things that we could do less of sometimes there efficiencies that we can do there might be contracts that we decide not to buy or renew that's all normal budgeting and we go to the other side and we say and we're going to do that because we really want to do these pay raises we want to uh do different things we'll be careful about the capital versus the uh the the operating funds and the grants all separately because we got to keep all that stuff together but that's normal budgeting that does not invite State scrutiny it does not involve State takeover that's normal budgeting and to say so otherwise is disingenuous said there are changes coming up to our budget that will change the fund balance we grew $300 million from the state this year we went from 5.7 to $6 billion where are we spending that 300 million extra dollars Mr Allon that's what I want to know and $100 million out of 6,000 million give me a break that's not challenging Miss maada $100 million is not a lot of money to be honest with you out of 6 billion so I'm just tired of hearing the state takeover and there's something untour in the way we're doing that this is normal budgeting we are looking hard at every dollar to make sure it's spent to to get to our strategic goals now what I'm concerned about chair is that we're talking about this year's pay raise which we have not given to principles and assistant principles by looking at next year's dollars so we have to be very careful there there are this year dollars as we kind of go up toward June 30th and then there's if we do recurring there's a bill that we buy when we buy it uh into the next next year so we need to see those lists for some this year to allow us to pay for next year and watch what happens to the fund balance but there is nothing untour with this this is standard budgeting this is the way government operates uh at all levels federal state and local and uh to say so otherwise is just not right and and I guarantee we're going to find $24 million I'm going to go out on the limb and say that we will find $24 Million worth of cuts so there's a $13 million one I'm going to propose when we get to the or charts and I'm going to keep going until we pay people Broward County what we want to pay them so that they can educate our children and again that money to Mrs Leonard's point is for our children if we pay principles and teachers isn't that money for our students I think so okay thank you chair you're welcome I think we're ready to vote roll call on approving HH for no sorry hh3 hh4 hh5 uh with the as the requested action and with going back to the budget to look up to $100 million in Cuts does that include the referendum part or was since we passed that motion do we not need to put it in there I just don't I want to make sure it gets that was already passed that already passed I'm sorry chair but I made a motion on principales and assistant principles that was on the floor to give them a 3.9 for6 recurring rise your your motion I think uh if we want to follow this clearly I'm sorry M Dr Zan okay we need to vote on Dr Zan's motion no we can actually vote on your substitute motion first but only for principles and APS and then we can go to the other two items if you don't mind oh no mine is on the the three the the hh3 hh4 and hh5 I I I'm um again I'm sorry to bore everybody here but the motion that I made was only on one of those items and so I think a substitute has to be about that body as well and then we can come back can do the same motion for the other two groups which one is yours five five so just hh5 principles and assistant principles only 3.96 recurring funds for this year all right that's my motion okay five we're going to do my motion just on hh5 with three and four not five we have to do five first to do first she made a substitute I was saying if she put out five at least we are done with three and four no okay I'm not you're the chair okay roll call what are we voting on again we have to ask just hh5 and adding in to have the budget conversation to $100 million no that's not that's okay we're we're losing it that's not it all right so batia talk in the mic yeah not sure if uh Dr W captured the substitute motion but my understanding is that is um as to hh5 to um to approve the item as is written the 2.26 for the bpaa and then look for um 100 million doll worth of cuts up to so up3 The Substitute motion included all three non all three meet and confer groups yes want to do then you said I couldn't do it I think the question on the floor that Dr Zeman was Raising was his motion was specific to principles and assistant principles which is only one of the meet and confer groups correct so now the the the board chair has amended her substitute motion to reflect only HH five three and four okay it is my understanding that the if if the chair is amending her motion then her motion is only speaking to Copa and asab or is that because according to Dr Zeman's motion it was principles only so the chair needs to clarify in your substitute motion are you referring to BPA a only and then come back with all of the direction and then we're going to do something separate for Copa and asmap no we'll just do the bpaa only right now okay so bpaa is H5 okay know so the substitute motion that we're voting on is approve item hh5 as presented with direction to the superintendent to come back with um identified Cuts up to 100 million that would result in a reoccurring uh salary for this group of employees yes roll call on that motion Mr Aus I just told to heard something different yes Mrs fam yes Mr fogan Hoy yes Mrs Hixon yes Dr holus yes Mrs Leonardi yes Mrs rert yes Dr Zeman no Mrs ala yes so the motion passes 81 okay so now go back to to um I moved for hh3 hh4 to approve the requested action and have the budget conversation to cut up to $100 million second move by Ala second by roer public comment for member comment all in favor say I I I those opposed say no item passes unanimously as amended chair point of order what what could we do uh in priority order that would make the best use of our good cognitive time this evening I think that boat's failed I propose the orc chart but um not the chair so I'm just throwing out a suggestion you're you're one of n may I have a motion and second on hh6 so move second moved by Zan second by rert public comment on the or chart no but she's correct Madam chair hh6 would be first for job descriptions and then cc2 for or say that again hh6 is for the job descriptions that are related to the proposed organizational chart changes okay what's hh6 and what's the other one hh6 is the job descriptions and then cc2 is the or chart it still bring together may have a motion in second to bring cc2 and H6 together you have so M I'm sorry madam chair Mrs uh Batista please hh6 has to be approved separately first and then CC all right then we're fine public comment on hh6 I'm sorry madam chair which is the job descriptions go ahead but we can but there but we can dually have one public comment period for two items that we can talk about and then then we can take two separate votes that's what I was trying to do because I think it's going to overlap sorry makes sense okay go ahead microphone sorry so if we're doing hh6 we have one person registered and that's Dr Natalie Lynch Walsh not sure if she's here you may begin thank you Tom Vasquez um actually there's a lot to say on the oak chart uh but uh just going to do one comment just just one coming out of uh ESC um you know when rev viewing that work chart uh they it appears that we're doing about uh 400k in increase for ESC management positions uh with and it looks like we're slashing some programs there and you know the net result of something like that you get into a situation where you got uh more managers than you do doers so um on this specific issue coming out of ESC going to going ahead recommend uh taking a harder look at that taking hard to look at how we're going to staff and structure uh specifically ESC but I mean that goes large just uh in general when we're doing uh or charts uh uh there needs to be usually there's a rigorous analysis I'm not saying it hasn't happen I'm not saying that but it's a rigorous analysis where you really take a hard look at task uh you look at hours and you kind of do that analysis to kind of picture what the workday is going to be and really when you're looking and when you're in a when large scale organizations tend to be in financial let's say restructure what you really want to do is focus on this labor piece and get this one right and their downsizing usually comes from the top typically what you'll tend to see is all department heads going into a budgetary cut year well you're going you pick your number 10% off the top 15% off the top everyone has to share a little bit of the pain and then you focus in on priority tasks that's where Vision comes in that's where you know what are we trying to aim at and those priorities in your vision is what's going to set the tone for what you can cut here and cut there as it relates to or chart this is where you got to take a look and say you know these are nice to have it's one of those conversations is this a need or a want and that's a conversation for all you to have but um in general but in but just specifically uh again wrapping it up here just uh in specific that's large in general um comments but uh for that ES piece we definitely want to take another look at that don't want too many managers there in fact when we really need to put money and invest money in ESC Specialists and the doers that really make the magic happen uh in the ESC world and so that's my comments thank Youk you any other public speaker seeing none for member comment M rert this is on hh6 yes okay um I have a simple question on the super visor School counseling job and I think it's page 15 if you're following along um I wanted to make sure that this was uh the one that actually the school counselors had had shared with um the department for all this and to make uh sure that this actually followed um State um current current state language before the school counseling through the super it Dr miss hollor good afternoon I'm back Miss hollingworth I'm the school counsel yes that was also part of the job description change that we added in today that was in there so that um in sentence at the bottom will be obviously stricken to just emergency situations and then your other part of your questions I apologize I just walked back in no no no I'm sorry um at the other performance responsibilities and the minimum qualifications Etc that they um they follow this State um guidelines yes Dr Shapiro and Miss hudge worked on that in conjunction with those new guidelines thank you then I be voting for this yes thank you thank you any other Board member Miss Hixon we're doing both of those items together no we're just we're doing H H6 okay all right mine are not there any other comments on hh6 kind of because we're job description nope we're good Charon you're good not really because sorry okay keep it moving I'm not we're going to be ready to vote yeah but you want to address the chart and not the job description yeah that's why I think a discussion on both right again staff is telling us we have to approve hh6 no no we can still approve it I just think if we have an discussion on both it's it may impact both and I don't know where your 12 million is coming from as an example 13 my friend 13 right so whatever that is along with other things it's going to impact both so I'd hate to approve job descriptions for me knowing that there are few that I don't agree with right okay so that's why I think just having the big conversation then we can deal with it question Mr zon if we approve job descriptions we and we decide later that that's not a job that we want to keep in the or charge is there a problem with that no no no it just doesn't get filled right that's what I was thinking have job description just don't fill it it's got No Vacancy so here is sorry madam chair Mr oh no go ahead for the council so uh it is within the job description that the board dictates who for example reports to whom in the um in the Schoolboard right so if you if the organizational chart itself the item cc2 is only a picture of uh or a depiction in picture form of the job descriptions so if you approve a job description including the the you know the whole entire job description then it it would be more difficult for you to say that you want some changes in the order or chart because the orc chart is is nothing but just a picture of what you uh approved right before is it possible to uh do the or chart then before the job description so that we know one before the other so you can discuss both okay but you need to vote on hh6 prior to cc2 okay I make a motion to bring hh6 and cc2 together so move move by rert second by Zan public comment for a comment M rert um thank you the the one suggestion I had for cct2 because the other one already stands for me is um to have the music and Performing Arts needs to be back under the academics where it where it's moved does not make any sense and um we all know that yeah the kids they they need they need that and also you know the the contribution for those professionals it's academic Dr yes so my rationale behind moving it to the strategy and Innovation office uh under academics who focuses on core uh academics um your your four cores um uh Bevy of ESC um and other direct reports under the offic under the chief academic officer the concern is with the amount of other issues that they may have to deal with when it comes to corn C and also ESC it could be just checking a box when it comes to those student interest and student engagement um concerns for academics Athletics choice so the rationale of putting it under there is it is a student engagement it is a student interest issue and our programs especially when it comes to performing arts and Fine Arts aren't necessarily up to par of where we want them to be this is the opportunity for the individual in this role to go out build new Partnerships ship uh identify best practices identify uh uh effective programs to to assist in scaling them out and for the purpose of helping us with our redefining and our redefining is just not isolated to closing schools it's all about enhancing programs enhancing student interest hand enhancing student engagement opportunities too right and and I I I respectfully disagree and I would love for you to to take a meeting with the the head of music or art or whichever and ask why they want to stay in academics um I just have that meeting could be a 10-minute meeting but I think it's a meaningful one for you and I do understand why you're doing that um but I really would like to actually vote for an organizational chart in my career as a Schoolboard member it would be nice to do and um I'm a stickler for feeling that everybody gets heard so thank you for the contemplation of it M zon thank you um I agree with Mrs Rupert you've had the discussion and I appreciate your perspective but there are people in the department who want to stay in academics they were moved last year yeah they just finally got a Cadence going and feel comfortable where they are and they feel like they're going to be uprooted again so um and it just feels like it's a graduation requirement re M it should stay under academics um so that's that um I also on page 10 of the organization chart I know I asked you this already but the assistant director for the business support center I know you said he has 100 people or that position has 100 people that report to to them as the Director and that's why you need assistant director but there's a manager under it just seems like there's a lot of managerial I'd rather spend that money to have more people working in the business support center because when an answer to someone why their invoice from a year ago didn't get paid and the answer was because there weren't enough people to process it I think that it makes more sense to spend that money having people processing than it does having someone be a director um on page 12 of the um or chart we we had this discuss we had this discussion I thought we came up with a consensus but according to staff we didn't so I'd like to have it again um I know Dr holess had brought an item motion forward and I added on to that about dissolving the the um building department and and here it's still like there's a whole department there that we could shift around and not have in there and maybe use a consultant that could be more efficient since that seems to be one one of the big issues we're having so I'd love to hear my colleagues again because apparently it wasn't clear when we were having the discussion before I thought we agreed on it but um I'm hearing that we didn't um on page can you repeat Vice cheriff sorry page 12 page 12 the building department we had a discussion before about dissolving the department um but it's still on the or chart so I think maybe we need to weigh in again on whether that's something we want to do or not on page 13 very happy to see the director of strategic Partnerships I've been asking about that since I got here I think it's really important um also on page 13 I'm not sure why we need an assistant director that is the District Administrative Services Under legislative affairs you you mentioned that but I still I don't know it seems like everybody needs to talk in their microphone okay um I didn't realize that it was under legislative affairs all right and I just had one more it's fine I won't ask that question um I had one more oh I guess that was it the applied learning I'll say again for a second time that I think it should go back under academics thank you what page that's sorry as we get later on my page 20 yeah page 20 Dr Zan thank you so much chair and I've gone over these with the superintendent ahead of time and I brought my homework ma'am so if you want a copy of this let me know uh there's two big things um and and I hope that my colleagues think a little bit about this given the discussion we just had about money 10 years ago we had 43,000 more students in our traditional public education system and we had an Administration the same size as it is today we've dropped 16% in FTE but our management overhead is still 16% higher on a per capita basis so when someone says they're saving money by reorganizing by Saving 14 cents or $1.93 I want the 16% that's how you do or design you go after the money and uh I don't understand why there aren't significant changes second big point we have four layers of management between our CEO and our many CEOs our principls our school leaders we have the superintendent we have these distinguished uh senior advisers right here we have Regional superintendents and we have directors um I'm proposing to eliminate Regional superintendents and their staff that's $13 million what happens then we have a superintendent and an amazing staff we have 20 director excuse me 18 directors that oversee our schools and our principles and principles stop getting tasked to death last time we measured chair number of tasks going to a principal it was 1,700 in one year it's 10 tasks a day because we have four layers of management it's inappropriate and it's got to stop on page one uh and and we're going to get this in the next version we broke out uh the whole uh or chart in terms of supporting and supported and I look forward to seeing that so that we can get our eyes on who's doing the work and who's supervising the people doing the work to our speaker's point a little earlier page one the dotted lines from Schoolboard appointed committees to the superintendent are misleading these lines are used across the set of or charts lines but the soup does not report to these committees the Committees report to their appointing authority the briard County School Board recommend deleting these dotted lines on page two c is in charge of facilities could they please be the chief operating and Facilities officer or co/ chief facilities officer or something people will be looking at this organization and they want to know who to talk to about facilities if they're just a COO then they got to call a board member call the Su call the staff say well who's the head of facilities it turns out it's a distinguished person that just joined our staff but I think that the title needs to reflect that number five on page two and three for Miss Hollingsworth you're the only chief chief that doesn't report to the superintendent in this or chart but you're the most important Chief we got I think you're in charge of our core mission right Chief academic officer and that's what we do so I think that that should at minimum be a dotted line uh to the superintendent so that all the Chiefs are on the same level I spend a lot of time in the data analysis world and uh the title we have uh in this chart is really confusing so I recommend director of educational assessment analysis and research to align with uh the way the rest of the world would call uh Mr bomb I'm really unsure about all the changes in the COO office until our new coo gets to come in and look around um I'm not sure that we can't do a midyear adjustment if we need to uh but again I'm just throwing that out as something for my colleagues and the superintendent to think a little bit about we have one uh advisory committee that's included in these orc charts I think we either add all the advisories and we point to the staff member that coordinate with them or we take them all out but to have the audit committee there because they have a clear Central role with the chief auditor uh doesn't fit the form of the rest of the orc charge which only has FTE full-time people who have full-time paid uh requirements to their senior uh supervisor last Point uh I'd love salary adjustments but but there's this thing called salary.com if you go to salary.com and you type in requirements for a job it tells you what the adjustment in their Market pay is uh what I see is uh salary adjustments up generally um but I have no idea whether the market pay for a school psychologist or an auditor or an engineer or a budget analyst uh is really going up or down we ought to be fighting to make sure we pay people Market wages but I never see any analysis of those Market wages uh and I'd like to see those so that we make sure that we pay people in a way that will retain the greatest of all of them so those are my comments on the orc chart superintendent I appreciate your comments and your conversations on this and uh I'll give you and and uh the chair a copy of my comments thank you very much chair just a point of order what do we are we taking consensus here or are we just one by one taking turns of what we're doing in superintendent we're directing one by one what are we doing we're we're uh we're here to approve this today so I think we're having conversation and and then board members need to make motions that's exactly what I mean I've seen two board members speak so far yeah my suggestions if they want to make motions then we can vote on what they're saying but it feels like it's almost directing the superintendent from different board members so I'm just it depends on what the board wants to do I mean if we um want to uh table this you know for the superintendent to come back with with all of our suggestions can't table can't Madam chair okay I want to all right hold on Mr fogy you have the floor no thank you CH that was simple question because I feel like we're just going to do a whole I'm not roundabout here and nobody's actually doing anything thank you and and let me apologize uh I I was told we were bringing this back next time and so I'll come back and make motions about the changes that are important yeah he any you heard that no I he either okay who else would like I'm sorry oh no hold this Dr H thankk you so I just want to get some clarification because my understanding is that the superintendent has brought to us an organizational chart and job descriptions which in which is in the purview of the superintendent's role to come to us with what he believes will move this organization forward and make us successful um I just want to make sure that we are not sort of infringing on the superintendent depending on what we're saying uh on who he should pick for certain positions or what positions he should have or not have so I just want if if um Miss Batista could weigh in a little bit on to the extent to which we can direct the superintendent in terms of the or chart um before Miss Batista speaks I just want to say in all due fairness remember we were supposed to Workshop this and then we said because we ran out of time because this conversation should have been in the workshop which we didn't have the opportunity to have so now we're here at the school board meeting at 7:15 at night right and um so miss Batista I'll let you so miss Batista I in terms of because some board members are getting ready to make motions is that some are we getting involved with operations at this point work CH I understand this is not a workshop this is a board meeting Miss Batista so Madame chair U is within the purview of the board to set positions and to dictate um who the positions answer to that's part of what the board can do what the board cannot do is uh when once you have created the box and you've created the reporting structure you cannot dictate who the superintendent puts in that box right thank you I mean barring you know a couple of things that we all know about moral turpitude and not qualified to the position m z so I would like to make a motion throw it all in throw it all in okay well I don't want to do it all because you may like some pieces and not others but the first biggest motion is I make a motion to put um what page are you on as well I'm on page 20 to put the director and the whole department of Applied learning back under the chief um academic office we move by hickon second by roer public comment on the motion yeah just real quick on that motion yes uh I heard some great comments up there on I think if we move in some directions of again uh what Dr Zan is saying I think we're going to go in the right in the right way uh just uh on the point of um that pay increase piece just as just as a thought as far as uh getting that market share and that's all relevant but there is something to account for bringing everybody up to speed when it comes to inflation so when you start thinking about a little bit about salary increases they might be moral argument to get everybody kind of to compensate for that to get where we should be and then of course go over you know market share just a thought to put in there because uh I mean we're kind of behind when it comes to pay so those two should be broken out uh get everybody up to combat inflation should be just across the board and then extras is another conversation thank you member comment I agree Dr homeless Madam chair I would like for the superintendent to weigh in on this motion Dr heer yes um as I explained before the rationale for putting it under the innov the strategy and Innovation office is the sole purpose of enhancing opportunities uh for Performing Arts applied learning which includes magnet um uh also uh it's not just about performing arts and Fine Arts um also includes stem stem opportunity Civic engagement um magnet and innovation programs and to enhance scale out build new Partnerships so we can ensure that all of our schools have the same high level or high engagement opportunities as other schools as I go around there is a variance in the in the learning experience for students when it comes to these areas and since we are focused on redefining which encompasses more than just closing schools this provides the opportunity to evaluate and assess all of those programs as we're assessing our our programmatic structures in all schools to enhance them over time okay so where you have it now uh you believe that this will um basically um accomplish what you're trying to do correct okay correct okay so I have a question the superintendent moving it back how does that not allow you to accomplish what you what your plan is well um specific to this uh director and the items under this director if it's under academics academics the academics team is focused on totally different aspects um the strategy and Innovation officer is going to be tasked for going out and evaluating and assessing these programs in all of our schools um also working as we're discussing and and engaging in this whole redefining process the the the Partnerships that'll be created to ensure that we're we're we're enhancing these opportunities such as working with mods and and and O other organizations um to leverage their expertise to provide a different level of experience for students I just feel like if it's under academics they do a great job um in this area too but their focus is mainly on core instruction uh ESC services and and the like versus these student interest and student engagement opportunities I know some of this is graduation requirements but it's not a requirement at every grade level but every every grade level in every school deserves to have a great performing arts program a great fine arts program uh if their magnet or Choice program is suffering we need to find out why and provide better opportunities so I feel like under under the umbrella of the innov strategy Innovation office office we can do more of that okay well I and and I don't disagree that everyone deserves all of that but I just wonder if there's a way to make sure that happens maybe with this the director of strategic Partnerships since they have a new role that's kind of part of what you're saying um but I I still think it believes belongs under academic so thank you okay we're ready to vote to move director of Applied learning to academics roll call roll call on the motion um why can't we do Mrs fam here Mr fogan halling yes Mrs tixon yes Dr holess no Mrs Leonardi yes Mrs rert yes Dr Zan no Mrs ala no Mr Austin yes one two three the motion passes five great thank you my next motion um is to dissolve the CH the the building and we save that one that's going to be a big conversation sorry I just keep going yes all right uh my the last Z for last have a motion to what page I have to get there hold on sorry I switched my pages I'm sorry that's a big just one more on page 10 to delete the assistant director for business support center is there a second second by hickon second by roer public comment board member comment jce Dr heurn Mr AO yes I just wanted to say one thing real quick that position is being funded by the reduction in the business analyst below so it's not it is a new position a new job description but it's being funded by a cut in in another area in the same Business Center so I just wanted to throw that out there and that's on the financial analysis you see it applies you'll see the the business analyst is going from two to one right I appreciate that know my suggest I guess I should add this to the motion that I would like to delete that and add more people who are actually doing the work in the business center because according to answers to people who haven't been paid for over a year it's because we don't have enough people to process it so I have a problem with that if that's the case then we should be making more spaces under the line um to have people be able to work and do do the work in there I don't think we need an extra manager um sort of to Mr Dr Zan's point so I would like to remove the assistant my motion is to remove the assistant director box from the or chart and add more positions of the um I don't know what they're I don't know what their job titles are because it's not on here but the people who are actually processing the information process analy okay been moved and seconded board member comment he was going to I think Mr Andre was going to come M Andrea you wanted to add anything about this position thank you through the the chair Jennifer Andre executive director operations hold on just a second can we get her mic up please hello wake up hit the button just for clarification the invoices that's not really through the business support center that's through accounts payable so I think that that might be a miscommunication I just wanted to clarify that um also this position would really help with internal funds and the management of schools and internal funds and those of you who have seen the recent audits uh know that we've had an increase in audit exceptions so this particular whoever's in this position will primarily deal with that so I just want to be very clear on exactly what the job description is and what this particular position would be doing thank you good okay roll call yes ma'am roll call on the motion Mr Fen Hy no Mrs Hixon yes Dr holess no Mrs Leonardi yes that's a yes correct no correct okay thank you Mrs rert yes Dr Zeman no Mrs alav um this is to delete the assistant director for the business okay Mr Austin no Mrs fam no no okay the motion fails by4 my last one is the Y Dr Zan did you want to make some motion have your packet not doing all of these this is my homework Madam chair um I would respectfully ask if we didn't have to read everything um when we were making the statement to just do it like Bam Bam Bam so we can actually be very succinct and get it done okay I I know you understand me go ahead see that the Navy guy got schooled man you see that all right all right that's the rert rule yeah it is right to the point uh on number one my motion is to ask the superintendent to report back within 6 months on reductions to administrative and management staff equal to the decline of fdes over the past 10 years there second been moved by Zan second by fam public comment June July board member comment yes Mr Alon I like the spirit of the motion my question is why is no November the magic date so because we're in budget season I was hoping based on the prior motion if there is additional Direction coming to do whatever you're thinking so I don't know why November is the if we're going to start October one forward it's a saving for the 25 26 year it takes a good bit of time to kind of put all that pieces together I've done a bunch of management reviews like this before it's hard you're you're thinking about how all the pieces fit together so I wanted the soup to have 6 months to bring this back and then for to have time to revise and potentially decide about uh reducing overhead in the same way we reduced our our uh FTE base which means sorry madam chair this is essentially doing a two-year budget type assessment right yes so we're currently in one cycle now this would now dually start the seconde budget Absolut that's kind of what you're doing absolutely okay yeah all right any other board member comments on the motion Dr urn Dr Z I just want to clarify to ask can you repeat that one more time so uh the the FD count in Broward County Schools over the last 10 years has fallen 16% our management and administrative staff has stayed the same uh in my view there has to be uh a proposal put before the board that would reduce the overhead and management positions in a in a way way that's uh proportional to the reduction in FTE okay so the funding that we will receive based on FTE we want a proportional decrease in also our budget which gotcha for administrative and and uh you know management overhead positions it's roughly 16% of the last 10 years um a so that's just my proposal that you study that for 6 months and come back and show us what it might look like okay all in favor of the motion just don't say that I say I those opposed say no no no there's two dissenting votes Austin and Fen Holly motion passes thank you uh we already have number two so I don't think we need to make a motion that's just a a presentation Point uh three um yeah move move to miss Rupert's point I move that we do number three for the record all right I'm sorry Dr Z you're going to have to be more specific no oh there we go Miss rubert I tried P one no I'm there we have dotted lines between the superintendent and all of the advisory committees right and I don't think that's appropriate um he does not work for them uh they work for the school board who appoints them to their job there second by uh non P move by fam second by fam public comment on the motion War member comment on the motion Madam chair yes right here uh I just wanted to understand from the or chart from the superintendent's perspective why we have the dotted lines from the uh board member appointees to the superintendent what was the relevance of that remember correct me from R misso and Dr ju said this this was already on the previous or chart so we didn't change this page forever so is there a reason why that existed in the first place is there a reason why it existed in the past so um just for a little bit of perspective and Miss Rupert obviously has been here a while and um Mrs uh Batista as well so yes the um Community the board appointee and the community groups yes they absolutely are the members are some of them are appointed by the board but they work integrally with the superintendent staff additionally we have um staff liaison who work with the committee groups to help facilitate some of the work that they do um and so that's why there's that dotted if you will connection because the superintendent staff actually helps support and facilitate some of a large percent of the work that they um do on behalf of the board and the community okay so the question then um based on this item is is the the meaning of the dotted lines that and I think that um it hasn't been cleared up exactly what the dotted line means so um doc um Dr heurn can you or your staff Define the dotted lines is it um and I understand what Dr wanza just said uh but um the dotted lines obviously does not mean from her explanation that the appointees report to the superintendent but it does it mean they collaborate or what is the definition of the dotted line so I can know how to vote on this item go ahead dotted lines um and Mr Eero or Mr Strauss you can chime in dotted lines um generally means that some that there's some kind of collaboration and coordination if you will um between the two so like in in another page there used to be where even though the bargaining team was a direct report to the chief HR officer there was a dotted lineup to the superintendent because there was communication and often time collaboration directly with the superintendent so that's generally what it means so no those individuals you know the superintendent does not direct them um they don't direct the superintendent but there is some collaboration and coordination between okay so now that I understand the meaning of the dotted lines it helps me to vote thank you okay everybody ready to vote Yes all in favor of the motion with the dotted lines say I I those opposed say no no no no raise your hand for roll call roll call on the motion Mrs Hixon yes Dr holess no means I'm keeping the dotted lines correct correct no Mrs Leonardi no Mrs rert no Dr Zeman yes Mrs alev no Mr alustin no Mrs fam no Mr Fen Hing no okay so the motion fails there were two yeses and seven NOS thank you very much chair uh on number four on page two um again just to be clear uh outside the organization but even across the organization and and we agree we see it we got it okay move by Zan second by roer public comment on the motion to make chief operations officer Chief facilities officer or just Chief facilities officer uh Mr superintendent would you uh pick one of those two and we'll vote on Chief op chief operations and Facilities officer thank you sir still a second it yeah okay public comment now I'm taking my comment back I I'm sorry I showed up a little late little bit you know was there something going on earli today I don't know um but I did want to know just because I literally just walked in can can you repeat the motion one more time motion is to rename the Chief Operating Officer the chief operating and Facilities officer okay well as as a as a resident of Broward County I would vote no thank you or member comment all in favor of the motion say I I those opposed say no no sorry Ryan one toensing vote Mr fanali motion passes next uh number five and I'll choose uh dotted line to the superintendent number five number five move by Zan second by rert uh that's page two and Page Three the CAO is the only chief that does doesn't report to superintendent to make the dott line to the superintendent Madam chair doctor H okay so again um we understand what the dotted line means before what does the dotted line mean now Dr the same explanation as Dr wanza um explain I I have no problem with the dotted line to me we we are executive cabinet together we collaborate together all the time so that's not an issue okay so there'll be collaboration that yeah okay all in favor of the motion say I I those oppos say no motion carries next uh on number six um I this has to be pretty clear uh I move the elimination of regional superintendents and their staffs is there a second no second motion failed number uh eight uh propos the title be director of educational assessment analysis and research did you want to do seven seven no I want to do seven do an eight eight okay number recommend drop is there a second recommend second that's a easy thing move by Zan second by atin public comment for member comment all in favor say I I those opposed say no motion carries nine number 12 skip 9 10 11 I like and um uh recommend we delete uh audit committee we're not including the Committees that coordinate with every member uh of somebody on the school board uh and org charts uh we already have the audit committee shown as a as a established board um so I'd recommend we take them off of page 21 is there a second move by uh Sean second by fam public comment board member comment just a question yes uh thank you madam chair so your observation I understand that makes sense um but let me ask a audit a question from structure so our district compared to other districts I know that we all have our own audit committee that do certain things so I what was the intent around having the Box let me use the Holiness Spirit language today originally uh I'm sorry I should be talking to the chief auditor that's right my apologies Mr Chief auditor what was the intent of having the audit committee box previously because it's always been there that's kind of the first question and then maybe kind of separately other districts have a similar audit committee function that stand alone but shows collaboration so just talk a little bit about that is this thing on yep so fundamentally the audit committee has a slightly different function than what most of the other committees have in that they review audit reports transmit audit reports and provide some level of quality control quality assurance in that function whether or not there's value in them appearing on an or chart that's not as important in my mind as it is that the function remains that function is very important and to get to the second part of your question in every other District that I know of that has an internal audit function they have an audit Committee of some sort to review and do that quality control quality assurance piece understood and do they they show it in this way um I I got to be honest with you I only know the big three and my understanding is that all big three show it this way but I do not have a frame of reference outside of that good thank you any other comments roll call roll call roll call on the motion Dr holess no Mrs Leonardi Mrs rert sorry I'm here I'm here sorry yes you're voting yes okay Mrs rert I'm no thank you you're welcome Dr zon yes Mrs ala no Mr Austin no Mrs fam yes Mr fogan Hoy no Mrs Hixon no okay the motion fails thank you chair 63 done all right okay okay that's Mr Charon all right I guess I'll do my round um I move that we put back on the or chart the chief of staff position um actually let me just make the motion that's my motion what page you on well I'm looking at or chart changes um and the elimination of Deputy superintendent Chief of Staff position well I guess I'm going to explain so I guess we're in discussion so no I'm on my page three looking at the summary however yes organizationally it would also fall on your page now second that page two of the chart yep page two okay then moved by all second by F holy public comment seeing none board member comment so thank you madam chair uh I too have done research what I don't know is uh eliminating this other big districts have it uh we're in the big six um and there's a role and a function for a chief of staff I've been one um and I think that the district needs to keep that box so that's the first point okay thank you board member comment Madam chairess thank you so um regarding the chief of staff position I would like to get the superintendent's input on um his rational for removing this position and um also the responsibilities and the role that the chief of staff play um who will then take this over and how is the removing it beneficial to the district yes thank you so the chief of not chief of HR but Chief people officer here um is directly reporting to me now which was the primary function under the chief of staff also the office of school board records um the office of school board records is going to be moved under the chief communication and legislative affairs office with the chief people officer directly reporting to me just the justification on maintaining that I could not justify maintaining that position um any longer so the functions are under the chief of staff is pretty much being divied out with the primary um direct report directly reporting to me now and Officer school board records um under the communication of legislative affairs office and um want to say the building operation here with the maintenance crew is under po now okay so outside of the chief people officer the remaining role that the uh um Chief of Staff played that will now be handled by the chief of communications and and and legisl correct their office to handle those roles now okay so question um since we are getting rid of the chief of staff um is the appropriate name for the chief of communications and legislature um considering that that uh position is now um taking on the role of the the chief of staff um would you recommend renaming in that position in some form or way to reflect the added let let me deal with my motion first I know where you're going hold on mron go ahead Dr right so would you recommend um considering that majority of the responsibility of chief of staff was what the chief people officer um did in terms of reporting to the chief of staff with the remaining duties going on to the chief of communications um do you um believe that renaming that position uh would be necessary to to sort of Encompass the role of the chief of staff as well as communication and legislature under that role with the Vari functions is just not Communications and legislation anymore um so it would be appropriate name change if that was the uh Pledge of the board okay and just one last question so I know you are from Palm Beach um they do they have a chief of staff in Palm Beach considering that they are a neighboring District and um is the structure that you're proposing uh similar to what they have yes so I would say in my time at Palm Beach County they did not always have a chief of staff the chief of staff role was probably created about three years ago it transitioned from uh the person who was over Communications and legislative affairs um and Encompass the office of school board record there and that person that position eventually evolved into what is now Chief of Staff okay so my last question or my last statement so with this change it will not impact the district in any formal way with the role that the chief of staff normally played considering that the chief people officers reporting to you and the remaining role will be divy including to the chief of communications is that correct correct okay we making a substitute motion um no I'm just okay any other Bo comment I'd like to make a substitute motion on page 13 to rename the chief Communications and legislative affairs officer to the chief of staff is there a second second move by alev second by roer public comment second for comment I don't want to keep you too long but I I definitely feel as as a former legislative a a and and a chief of staff to a commission office I believe that as a sixth largest District I think we're still the sixth largest District in this country I believe that is important for you to have a designated Chief of Staff to the superintendent someone who represents the superintendent not only to the cabinet but also to the rest of the state and the rest of the country I repeat State and Country someone who is able to speak for you and speak on your behalf on the board's behalf and on the cabinet's behalf someone who can articulate the goals and objectives of the board articulate so so I believe you should move forward this forward with this as a uh legislative um uh Chief Communications chief and chief of staff so I approve this motion or I support this motion so thank you thank you Dr zon yeah um I understand uh an idea here to uh to to rename that a chief of staff um but their responsibilities are not consistent with kind of the general use of that label they are not um a speaker in that particular Organization for the organization they don't command the whole staff to get things done they're not organizing things they're organizing a functional area and so I wouldn't uh support that I also to uh a public comment just a few minutes ago uh with a single Deputy superintendent there is someone to speak for the superintendent it's the only deputy and that is the Deputy in in our core Mission area teaching learning and so we have an equivalent of a chief of staff uh in that role who would speak for the soup when he's not here the one Deputy soup and so I understand the clarity here and then going to this Chief's role so you have a whole cabinet clearly identified of the primary functions and a single Deputy to speak for the superintendent uh internally and externally dress thank you um so uh um Dr heurn removing the chief of staff um position does that how much does that save the district Mr Aero the deputy superintendent Chief of Staff yes that position 291,000 923 all right so um Dr Hein uh considering that the um the chief of communications is assuming the role the remaining role of the chief of staff would you would you um would you support uh the position being named the chief of staff and Communications would that cover all the primary role of of that particular position I I have no objection um with name changes for this specific role um it can Encompass several different name changes to make sure it covers the basis of of what the chief for this division um is Task and task and responsible for but would you say that chief of staff and Communications would cover the bulk of what that office would do it could okay so I'd like to make a substitute motion I already have we already have two we have two okay thank you just a quick question if that if we were to vote Yes on that would we need to change the job description for the chief of staff and also the Pay Band because keep in mind it was a deputy superintendent Chief of Staff so I I think if we make that change we have to make sure we're also looking at the job description and making sure they align thank you okay roll call on sub motion change on page 13 the chief Communications and leg legislative affairs officer name to Chief of Staff yes ma'am roll call on the motion substitute motion um Mrs Leonardi yes Mrs roer yes Dr zamon no Mrs ala yes Mr Austin no Mrs fam no Mr fogan holy no Mrs Hixon no Dr holess yes okay the motion fails uh 54 it fails okay back to back to main motion so I think I can I think I count I think there was enough to well actually let me not make a judgment just take it for a vote then I'll keep going read it again okay the motion is to bring back the deputy super no no no bring back I am proposing reinstating a a chief of staff not a deputy superintendent comma Chief of Staff just a chief of staff I'm not designating who I think the superintendent should decide that I'm designating a chief of staff position he can determine how we deal with it that's the motion on the floor okay or member commment on the motion Dr Zan I'm curious I'm Sorry Miss Leonard I'll go after you my apologies um so I just wanted to clarify hold on one one second let me hear me better now loud and clear okay um just for the maker of the motion so to be clear I think I heard this correctly this is not a deputy you're not directing it to be a deputy superintendent position just a chief staff position that is correct okay thank you for the clarity okay I have a question so is there a financial difference in whether you say Chief of Staff or Deputy superintendent Chief of Staff yeah pay B Dr that could be U Mr Aero um can you provide detail of how much this would add to the cost of the or chart from from our savings so adding it back would be a Pay Band s which is 216,00 okay any other comments Madam Madam chair no I just want to know who second the motion okay M hey roll call yes ma'am roll call on the motion Mrs rert no Dr Zeman no Mrs alav no Mr Austin yes Mrs fam yes Mr f Hing yes Mrs Hixon no Dr Hess no Mr Leonardi yes motion fails 54 all right I'll move to my next one on page six so actually an observation uh Madam chair you pulled this out before um and I know we just talked about communication and legislative affairs so another observation that we all know based on your uh information pool uh the current budget is 7.5 million for 85 positions okay when we look at our core function or and again this does not take into account the chart that's before us superintendent and general councel 3.4 million Chief auditor 3.3 million Chief people officer with more people of 104 positions the budget is 7 .4 million so I make that point to say I have no understanding of why we are adding a director strategic Partnerships as an example for communications uh when I look at comms and ledge compared to the other divisions it's too big it's too large I just put a period there what I also don't know from this orc chart because I think I voted against the current budget that we're in we clearly have added a lot more positions what did I say something wrong just curious what page you're looking at sir I'm referring to the data request that our chair did uh from before my apology so it was the chair's data request uh that the board uh should have received that showed the numbers or expenditures and number positions for all divisions so anyway the page I'm on is Page Six let me just make a motion I move that we delete director of strategic Partnerships under comes and ledge affairs is there a second second move by um Fon second by fam public comment there was no uh public comment on the last Chief of Staff motion I don't know if that was that was mised up or not but I believe that you should if you have a a chief strategy officer and you have a chief operations officer I think those two go hand in hand do they not if you have a chief operations officer shouldn't that person be in charge of the strategy going forward with Broward County Public Schools um and if you have if you feel the need for a cheap strategy officer wouldn't that need be fulfilled for by a chief of staff you know Mr ASO here said that the chief of staff would only be 100 I believe the Top Line $116,000 $216,000 sorry I diminish that a little bit but $216,000 and if you had $216,000 and that was split between a chief oper or chief U chief of staff and chief legislative officer I mean that would be a a major savings to the district so Chief strategy officer to me if you're going to start splitting the baby Chief strategy officer should be chief operations officer should they not why do you need a chief op uh strategy officer wouldn't your operations Chief be the chief of strategy moving forward operationally for the district that's just something to think about now you're now you're saving a couple hundred thousand I we're we're we're we're as someone said earlier today we are choking on uh fleas and swallowing camels I mean this is kind of the same thing right so why do you need a chief strategy officer thank you comment Dr Madam chair um since the motion is to remove the director of strategic um partnership partnership I'd like the um superintendent to weigh in on how this would impact um you know his intention of having this position Mr I would uh blame Miss Paul but it's her first day um first board meeting John San Chief communication legislative affairs officer um so right now I believe there's a lot of opportunity out there that we're not taking advantage in terms of Partnerships uh to draw more uh financial resources and other resources into our schools um we don't currently have the position so there's no impact immediately say if the position goes away the the impact would be the future benefit of having such a position that would be able to go out there and and look at uh different resources or opportunities for for schools okay any other comments Dr Zan only that I think this is a is an interesting investment whether it pays off or not we'll be very clear uh if the V if the cost of this strategic partnership director is less excuse me is greater than the revenue and other resources they bring in you know we can undo it in a couple years but it's not uncommon for an organization our big to have someone that's out fundraising uh I I hear dozens of organizations uh a month that say they would like to partner with us and they want to know who to talk to and things like that and it's hard because you can route them to a super Deputy Super Regional super director um but none of them really have that as their core responsibility so I see this and I'm just one Schoolboard member all of us vectoring kind of the people that say they want to help to one person and that person gets better and better at understanding who just says they want to help versus who you know can really bring it to the game so I'm willing to try this as a interesting investment because it may pay off 10 or 50x compared to what the cost of the of the individual is what is the cost of this position Dr H Mr AO well he pulls it up if it's okay superintendent I just wanted to say we did uh at least in this page and my or unit we did keep it cost neutral cuz we eliminated uh a manager of engineering and also a line a position below the line Thank you so actually two two positions were cut one on the chart one below the chart so it's cost negative the cost for a director at the D level salary band is 163 117 and this was offset by the two cuts totaling 220 685 so net to the budget is negative 57 568 Madam chair one second I'm um so thank you and I I too think that this could be very beneficial with our whole red redefining conversation there um has been a lot of people wanting to partner with us with our school so this seems like a great position as we move forward with our redefining process Mr Altin yes is this a fundraising position Dr heurn Mr Sullivan that's what I thought I just heard so I just want Clarity I wouldn't I don't think of it as a traditional fundraiser but maybe I'm thinking of it differently than you are sir uh to me it's a person that an individual that would go out and look for different resources it could be a donation or financially that would impact a school or some kind of service to the school that um a third party could provide so I'm not sure I would consider B per se it's really looking for different opportunities out in the community to invest back in our schools Mr have something to add so we did we did on the job description we did part in there with lead corporate giving so we are looking for them to kind of reach out but just not the main it's not the main responsibility of fundraising Miss hion thank you I agree with Dr Zan and Mrs alad actually have been asking for something along Ong these lines so that there's someone that can work instead of having principles do it in spaces where they're asking for um not necessarily donations but Partners in a community that that don't necessarily have those resources so I look at this as having Partnerships where they may be funding teacher appreciation lunch or something like that but they're also working with us maybe they're volunteering in our schools or they're doing things of that nature so I was very happy to see this on the chart you've cut nothing today Mr fog Holly thank you very much sh so just for clarification and Clarity so it's pretty much almost like what bef does right Dr is that not what they do no Mr suan I I I think it's a part I think they're they're doing um they're doing differently in the sense that yes there is some there is some Synergy definitely but right now there are a lot of um opportunities where folks are trying to do um not business but trying to partner with us and there's not a single person from BCPS that can manage that or manages that so there's a lot of different silos that are trying to manage that but there's not a specific person especially at the director level that can have conversations with some of these key leaders within our community um I don't want to speak to what bef does and their mission but um I think it's it's apart from from their function as it relates to what this individual would be doing but there definitely would be some Synergy understand and I think you see a lot of the similarities of what I'm saying feel like when we hear about fundraising getting Partnerships right blank partnering up with Broward County Public Schools to do something I get a lot of that and those are the type of conversations I've had with that organization so my thing is is that not just building up our relationship better and doing a better job of doing that and saving some money on a position or are we going to just continue to get a position for ourselves and invest in that that's the question right because I that's just me I think they do a great job so thank you so I'm I'm willing to approve this position today but I would like there to be some tracking of how much they are bringing back to the district they should be bringing back three times their salary progress monitoring maybe Miss Dion get that should also not just be dollarss but maybe in kind right because that's kind of the discussion here are they just trying to raise funds so if they're volunteering or something along those lines it should be part of the tracking okay roll call and so the motion is though to eliminate the director of strategic Partnerships ma'am yes that's my motion roll call on the motion I want to delete something we've deleted nothing today this rert it's a no Dr Zan no Mrs ala no Mr Austin yes Mrs fam is that a yes Mr fogan holy yes Mrs Hixon no Dr holes no Mrs Leonardi I don't think she's on the line but the motion fails um three five Mo to five okay all right last one Madam chair I don't have good luck on this on this item I'm joking um cuts are never easy I understand um so Madam councel because we haven't had a chance to chat uh on your two can you just the why um do you have any pending vacancies still in your shop Madam shair Batista thank you yes uh there are two vacancies that will be filled um very soon um bringing to the board um a couple of um board uh attorneys that will be added to the general council's office um but these positions would be one of them would be uh dedicated to addressing contracts that would streamline the management of contractual agreements um hopefully ensuring timely and accurate uh response which I understand and I've heard um in the district um and and through uh some some of the stakeholders that there is an issue with that so hopefully that will focus and reduce the delays um to that to that whole process of uh the smoother administration of uh contracts um and then the other attorney will concentrate on litigation and taking some of the district's uh Reliance on external lawyers away from from that got it so the statement that says not accounted for in financial analysis so I'm assuming you know the cost of what we've done for external litigation Council outside Council you know what that cost is versus now with this position I'm assuming the savings so it it really would depend um on you know which cases are brought inh house um and and depending on the qualifications of that particular lawyer if it's like for employment uh litigation cases which is what I have in mind I think uh um I don't have a number right now that I could give you but that's um some an area that we do spend quite a bit of money on yeah okay Mr superintendent general counsel and auditor now that I think I've gone through I think most of your are so now I just have a big question so the organizational TR has presented um along with we're in the budget cycle now for the coming year I know there's going to be some other decision points that have to be made the current budget that we're in we increased the number of FTE from the prior budget year to this budget year is your intent to increase the number of FTE from the current budget year to next year Dr so repeat that I'm trying to um comprehend your question so when we approved the budget last September the budget that the board approved increased the number of FTE I Believe by 300 or so I'm looking at the CFO um someone should remember my question is based on this or chart and where we are now is the intent to increase the number of FTE for the coming year are we on track to decrease the number of FTE I know we have not uh feel some vacancies that's a different I understand that but in terms of number of FTE because going to get back to the heart of something Zeman put earlier I know as further out it's to decrease okay and we have no idea kind of projecting what what that footprint looks like no at the moment so let me conclude with this the same statement from a year ago the district is the same size I'll use your your quote or comment um we clearly have not cut anything today um I'm hopeful I know that there's going to be $100 million of spitballs coming back to us soon but we're going to have to make some tough decisions and everyone wants to see the district successful everyone wants to see you successful Mr superintendent but we can't have the same size organization as we did a year ago for the next coming budget year thank you Dr holess thank you madam chair um so I I have a question on the orc chart on page 14 for the director of it security um Dr he I noticed that we're removing that position um can you tell us what the director of it security does and how we remov in that position impact the district I can tell you for me um I understand that saving um is important but um I'm not willing to proceed to do that at the risk of our children in terms of physical security and cyber security and so on so how will removing this position impact students and so on and so forth Dr Phils can you talk about the impact and how we uh making up for any loss in that position yes uh thank you Dr heer am I up testing testing you can hear me okay sorry I can't hear we got you Joe thank you appreciate it Dr Phillips can you first tell us what that position does what's the scope of the work of that position and how we moving that position will impact the district in terms of the security the cyber security physical security uh of our students yeah happy to Dr hold great question so the director now I can hear myself uh the director of it security is a director level position so a leader of leaders inside of the it uh division uh primarily as we started looking and evaluating the it division what we found is that the assistant director of it security was actually doing the functional level leadership of that it security team and the assistant director of safety technology was doing the functional level leadership of all the safety technology so we were already going to be moving some of the functions of it security that safety technology over to infrastructure it was mostly infrastructure work that was happening underneath of that team anyway and then what I found is that director position was actually not doing much leadership it was managing applications and managing a lot of things that should have been under infrastructure Services anyway and so with the assistant director of it security additionally about 18 months ago the board uh created that position as well as the executive director of it operations those two positions are the ones that have been putting in the new cyber security controls we put in about 62 new cyber security measures and controls in the last 18 months and additionally that director of it security position was here and functional during the ransomware attack and it did not prevent that attack what is preventing our attacks today is this assistant director of it security as well as that executive director of it operations putting in the procedures and that type of thing so I feel extremely confident that with the additional layers we put in about 18 months ago when I did the orc chart change for it that we can easily shift the leader of leaders uh over to to that director of it uh infrastructure services and the functional leadership of these areas will be continuing I'm sorry continue to be carried out by the assistant directors if that makes sense okay so um and I appreciate what you said so basically removing this position will not put any added risk to our students that is correct uh okay great I have some last comments um I just want to go back to to page 13 um so I know we had a motion with the chief of staff and then that failed and I want to see if the board going to make a motion to name the chief Communications and legislative affairs officer position Chief of Staff to no I know but we we said no but then we said no to another one so I just want to make sure it's no said no to two things it's no we voted on that I would like to be reconsidered been moved by aldea second by rert public comment just real quick on the cuts I mean on the motion please yeah on then I reserve my comments thank you I think this is a big big cut and actually a a motion to merge to positions am I okay that was a second to my comment but um I think it's uh I think it's an opportunity to merge and and and benefit and this this is this is the the point that I want to get to that I was trying to get to earlier about merging positions and making positions holistic right so you have a cheap Communications officer who already does the position he already does it let him do it let him do it with a name because if you put you put the chief Communications officer in front of um the governor's office the the legislature um the the Council of Greater Public Schools or I can't remember now it's been two years now but if you put them in front of them um you know having the the title of Chief communic or chief uh Chief of Staff versus Chief Communications officer and he's still doing the chief of communications officer position you're saving money you're you're getting uh 600 um I believe Mr Azo said 616,000 job and a $180 or $200,000 job all in one that's a savings that's you know go back to the net positive that's a net positive that's a true net positive so I think you know my um public support of this is is in favor um and I think you it's it's it's vital to do something like this this is this is this is part of the strategy this is part of creating a a chief communication or chief operations officer as a chief strategy officer I mean that's the same that's one and the same in some in some places especially when you're trying to save money so that what we're trying to do and I believe that's what you should do in this on this item thank you actually I think I will comment um when you're talking budgets and you talking about savings uh the frame needs to be kind of well laid out in large scale organizations typically when you're talking budgetary budgetary control budgetary uh influence in the what they call the out years that would fall under the purview of the strategy officer when you're talking about budgets in execution year and one year out which is where most of this dialogue typically occurs we want cut here we want to cut there uh that falls in a purview of operations uh the model that I'll referencing to you that I'll reference to you is the joint staff of the Department of Defense that's how it works because not all dollars are the same so what I keep hearing here is we're cutting we're cutting we're cutting cutting to what what what fiscal year are we talking operational year are we talking out years now why does that bear relevance this is your warning speak to the motion to the motion so if you want to get efficient at saving money across your budgetary Cycles you need to have an analysis coming in from different angles it could be the case that if the scale of the size of our our district is such that one person can handle that that's okay but if we're talking big scale organizations those budgets get crossed and strategy takes the out years current out takes the current years that's what normal big organizations look at and I I'm done with that thank you thank youness thank you madam chair um so that's that's a main motion correct so I'd like to make a substitute motion to um change the name to chief of staff and Communications didn't she just say that no she said chief of staff is there a second Chief of Staff and Communications um because my concern is that naming the chief of communications is not going to be totally comprehensive of the task required is there a second second move by holess second by Hixon public comment no on the motion can I just make a point of clarification again is this person that we're going to be changing his title getting paid to do both jobs or just doing were we just changing his title board member comment I do have a question Mr Alon thank you um to the superintendent or to our clerk is the clerk still down there I can't see all right so what was the two motions that were made before that were voted down on this item so one of them and I know the motion on the floor is to bring back the item item has not been we have not brought it back yet so that's the motion that's on the floor but tell me the Motions that were voted down so there was a substitute motion that failed and that substitute motion was to rename the chief of staff communic uh the chief of rename the chief of communications and legislative affairs officer the chief of staff Two Chief of Staff okay and then there was a prior motion to reinstate to put the chief of staff position back on the chart and that failed as well okay and the sorry it's just so I understand process so the motion on the floor is to bring back reconsider to reconsider which motion to reconsider on page 13 naming the chief Communications and legislative affairs officer to be named chief of staff but is it no no no I'm just wait process so one was to reinstate Chief of Staff back on the or chart the other was to rename the chief of staff position right that was voted down you're bring so you are attempting to bring back the that item that we voted down yes no on page 13 the chief Communications and legislative affairs officer I just and my motion is to name that that name Chief of Staff so rename so the all right so back to the clerk the motion the can you repeat the the first motion that was made or the second motion so initially there was a motion to put the chief of staff back on the chart I that was mine I got it then a substitute motion was made to rename the chief communication and legislative affairs officer to Chief of Staff that substitute motion failed so then we went back to the original motion was to put Chief of Staff back on the chart and that failed got it so the the the second motion was to rename the chief Leed Chief Comm and ledge Affairs officer to Chief of Staff now we are naming the position chief of staff is that the difference yes no there's no difference it's the same it's the same motion just question I don't know you're saying it is a difference or is not it no oh okay got it all right so that's what I'm asking okay thank you and is that proper yes Council I'm sorry parliamentarian is that proper to um bring back a motion that the body voted down um on the same agenda for the same action reconsider so normally if a motion fails um it should not be brought back again okay so that's so the re so I'm asking the question for different reasons so I I just want to make sure I understand the the current motion that was on the floor was to bring back an item that the body voted down and it's the same motion that we're attempting to do that we just voted down correct right and now except there is a substitute motion on the floor well I got that one I'm talking about the first one okay all right that one I understand this one I didn't okay all right I got it I'm clear okay but miss batia can the board reconsider and revote on it you can um you know normally if there is a motion that is made and it fails the motion should not be brought back again I understand would the motion be to reconsider then it's not really a motion to reconsider because this is just one item so the item is the same you're just terrific so we're we're in good order then you're not that's what she's telling you not that one that one is different one could we pick one motion okay Dr holness go ahead I was just going to do I need to reiterate my motion or everyone understand my well your yeah yours was you didn't no problem with my motion yeah you're dead dead okay fine I remove my my motion so can I keep my motion yes as the main motion yes so my motion is to rename the the office of communications and legislative affairs to chief of staff and Communications office of Chief of Staff Communications there a second move by holess second by Hixon public comment board member comment I'll I'll I'll just weigh in um so the intent was for the superintendent to choose a chief of staff right so now we're choosing a chief of staff I'm sorry chief of staff and Communications did I say that right okay that's fine I'm not opposed to having a chief of staff I actually brought the item but I thought it was proper for the superintendent to do it yeah I'll put a period there he any other board member Mr Dr Zan thanks so much chair U I just want to point out that the um functions that are lying under the chief of communications and legislative affairs are fun Al different than the types of functions you would find in a chief of staff position not true depends on the depends on the organization this is discussion right Dr Zan uh what people expect from a chief of staff role is not an alignment of functions having to do with Communications and legislative affairs it's something that can represent uh the organization it's somebody who has command of the staff that's why it's called a chief of staff and that's inconsistent with the general understanding of a chiefest staff role as the functions that are aligned under comson legislative first Dr Madam chair I just want to clarify my motion is simply to rename the office of communication and legislative affairs the chief of staff and Communications it's not defining any specific role of Chief of Staff it's renaming that office to that name so office of chief of staff and Communications correct I understand okay roll call yes ma'am roll call on the motion Dr Zan nope Mrs ala yes Mr Austin no Mrs fam no I can't hear you no no Mr fogan h no Mrs Hixon yes Dr holess yes Mrs Leonardi Mrs rert yes so the vote right now is 44 Sarah okay um I just want to make one comment on um page 22 Miss Batista I'm I'm good with this uh or chart um my comment is though I just hope that this helps with getting um different things approved in a faster manner there seems to be some bottlenecks and and my hope is with the more staff that you get on your team the faster uh different items can be processed and then brought to the board for us to approve Miss tixon so I know it's late and I um I don't know how much discussion it would be and maybe it makes sense to bring it to a workshop and look at it later but I still want to have the discussion about the building dep Department can we doesn't have to be today what page is that page 12 can we approve that whole item except page 12 then bring it back to the workshop next week it's only part well you got to approve it right cuz you got to yeah I don't think you can other position you need the microphone so my understanding is that um well even if we had another board meeting uh next week you still need to um prepare the um items so that people can be renewed and it needs to be approved today I think today is the latest day that it can be approved than got let's go for okay so let's talk about page 12 Chief Building official I make a motion I make a motion to dissolve the building department which would take all of the the positions underneath including Chief Building official all the way down off the chart is there a second second for discussion mov by Hixon second by wholeness public comment 100% yes because we voted on this in 2022 to get rid of the building department well actually we voted to get a hybrid uh model and vacant and and vacant all those positions moving forward so thank you so much uh Vice chair Hixon to for moving this for removing this item because it's vitally NE necessary if you talk to any contractor architect so on and so forth moving forward it's vitally necessary to do this item move this item so please please on behalf of the AC movement please move this forward thank you Dr he what's the financial impact if we dissolve the whole left side of the Chief Building official Mr Aero do you have the numbers for that I do not Department not right now it's 18 positions that's above the chart plus there's positions below I'm sure so I don't have the number on that how much um how much time would you need to you and miss monal working yeah we could get with budget and see what's on 5 minutes 10 minutes it's going to be up to miss maala what do you 10 minutes okay Mr roads thank you madam thank you madam chair um there's only one thing that I want to make sure that we're considering where this is as to Outsource it is one thing but to ensure that we have um the building code plans reviewers inspectors code official that they have to uh have a a clear understanding of the srf side of this because I've worked in in my work with the inspector General's office for 12 years it varied a lot with private providers that were providing these services for various municipalities and the school the school district is a different animal in that srf layer alone so it's just something I want you guys to be aware of and to think about as you consider that not that it has any relevance in whether or not that function could or should be dissolved it's just a matter of however it would be rebuilt and replaced that functionality would have be built and it's not really standard with a lot of the private providers also chair I'm going to ask Miss Paul to weigh in also with her expertise go ahead thank you as uh I have to get real close here as a chief operating officer in Palm Beach County Schools uh we had our own building department um I think it would be premature to delete this uh uh this uh Department without me having an opportunity to review it um I think that it puts the district in a um a very vulnerable state uh to do something like this um our building officials and and examiners and so forth my experience has been uh are uh uh very dedicated to the role um I think this is more so just from my cursory look um hav been here my this is my second day um it's a leadership issue and so I would like the opportunity to review them um and and then come back with the recommendation but I am very concerned with uh deleting uh um you know these positions that um plans examiner and the plumbers and inspections and all of that in our schools uh at this time misson thank you I that's why I said I I think it needs a bigger discussion we we've talked about it we talked about it with a different board we had a discussion before and we never land in a solid place I I don't mind putting it off I I don't mind removing my motion but it is a discussion we need to have because it has come up in more than one grand jury concern um and I just don't know having this discussion with Miss chowski before she left she did indicate there are companies that do this they do it well and they're familiar with the srf um indic you know information so I'd like a comparison of what it would cost both ways it is not to say anything about the people that are doing the job it just seems that this is not the most efficient we hear that because of permits it's taking so long for us to be able to get Roofing done and it just seems this is a bottleneck for a lot of construction issues and that's really why I'm bringing it up I I truly believe that's why Dr Lata and Dr heper and bought brought me here uh asked me to come here um I've I've dealt with these situ situations in my past experience I think that um you know give me an opportunity to look at this and look at what your concerns are uh as well as internal staff's concerns with this uh and I'll uh be brutally honest uh in my response to you I appreciate that so I think we look at it again in six months or something and maybe it's what we do in the next org chart um but so I'll remove my motion for today okay and I would like to make a motion that Dr heer brings back to a workshop this the Chief Building official this or chart the conversation about what the plan would be if we did Outsource it and what that would look like in 3 months that's a motion that's a motion is the second second move by Al second by Zan public comment comment friendly am so the actually let me back up Mr superintendent you have not publicly introduce our newest person sitting before us did I miss that publicly got it he was in the picture I know that but I mean I thought we have not done it we didn't do it no where was I was the bathroom sorry sorry so you already did it the one minute I left I totally missed that anyway okay I don't know okay anyway so thank you for uh those very thoughtful words um I know the one board former board member uh who was here miss Hixon who made the comment we have had this conversation the only friendly amendment I was going to suggest is this isn't the only area that we should consider for outsourcing so back to the bigger conversation around savings if there are other functions that are not core to the district we should consider those right I mean that's that's really as we talk about savings as we talk about who can do the right functions appropriately that's really what we're talking about so if there are functions that we believe we should not be in the business of those are the types of things spitball that should be on this list that comes back to the board so I just want to just broaden that yep okay ready to vote Dr holness yeah just a quick comment um Madam chair I um I would I appreciate Miss Paul um indicating clearly to us that uh part of her role here that she understands is to look at some of those issues and to come back with recommendations and so on so I would love to see her in in action over a few months to see how that department improves I'm not sure um I mean after such then subsequently we can consider options such as Outsourcing okay so all in favor of bringing back the chief building department and other opportunities to possibly Outsource in a workshop three months from now say I I I post say no motion passes okay are we any other motions on the work chart no all in favor of the or chart as amended I say I I those opposed say no no no two descenting votes Austin and poogan holy okay board we have uh eight items that we need to get through before we end and we're going to have to do a special school board meeting next week before our Workshop we have a motion second on S5 to move wait wait before before we move that item to the floor Madam chair uh I will step off the de as I per as I did and stated before uh to stain on this item and I'll file the appropriate paperwork thank you okay and I just want to make a comment to um from my understanding there is different rules for appointed board members with filing paperwork for recusing so I don't know what those rules are for um appointed board members but whatever they are I know you will follow those rules or he's back yes you thank you for the statement Madam chair I have done that since I've been on the board uh which are all public documents thank you perfect thank you we have a motion second on S5 moved second moved by Zan second by rert public comment board member comment we have not me Mrs fam no no no we don't have no anyone any anyone's comment no no yeah yeah all in favor of S5 say I I those say no S5 passes with one abstaining vote from Mr Allon I have a motion second on F2 to move second move by Zan second by rert public comment board member comment have two spam yes yes I have a comment thank you um I I went through this and um I was looking at all the equipment listed and specifically the computer equipment and it was um depreciated the same dollar amount that it was purchased for on this equipment is from 2011 some of them so I called up a um auditor from the state that audits school boards and I said is this allowed you know can they depreciate this for the full amount of the purchase price more than um you know 15 years ago and um he said it's it is allowed but he said it's not a reasonable prediction so he said it's not reliable the amount that the depreciation is listed on there so um I just wanted to point that out to the board that it's not an accurate representation as far as the amount that that's listed and we just need to be aware of that thank you all in favor of F2 say I I those opposed say no F2 passes unanimously may I have a motion second on CC1 move by Zan second by Hixon public comment board member comment did we do F1 Miss fam CC1 we did F2 we do F1 Miss fam F1 cc11 cat settlement agreement with Serena Perry in final order um yeah um I just I'm not going to support this uh settlement order because first of all um the suspension it took way too long to happen there's no admission of liability here by her and also um there's no termination request in here and based on I requested some of the reports of these incidents based on what I read um what I I just didn't think that this was um strong enough of a disciplinary action and what message are we sending when we're something's happening in 2022 and we're not even getting to it to address it until 20 the mid 2024 so at this point she's agreed to take a two-day suspension and resign she can get hired somewhere else so I am not going to vote Yes for that all in favor of CC1 say I I I those poos say no no one two descending votes Fen H and fam item passes I have a motion second on gg1 move by Zan second by roer public comment Miss hion thank you I um I have just wanted to to ask general counsel and the public to have some discussions with the the people that are being reappointed here there is a lot of discussion amongst contractors Architects and Engineers that they are being encouraged to just file suit against us as opposed to us um negotiating and working with them when I asked for numbers that doesn't necessarily appear to be the case but it is a perception and perception is some people's reality and we are losing contractors and vendors um based on that perception I've already talked to her about it um so I just would ask that you know she have a conversation with her staff to make sure that that perception is somehow changed thank you thank you all in favor of GG one say I I I those opposed say no gg1 passes unanimously I have a motion second on ss3 move second move by Zan second by roer public you moving around sorry before you bring the item to the floor I will step off the de to file the appropriate paperwork okay thank you move by uh Zan second by Hixon public comment board member comment that's it all in favor of ss3 say I I I I item passes unanimously with one AB Mr Altin we have a motion second on ff1 moved second moved by Zan second by rert public comment I don't see the person who registered Dr Natalie Lynch wall or member comment I have uh who wants to speak on this Sam yeah sure uh I will not be voting to approve this because when we voted it was for metal detectors specifically again this changed the name after we voted um the agenda item was listed metal detectors payment was listed for metal detectors and now they're to approve yeah they're asking us to approve a a weapons detection system which is not it wasn't advertised properly and I really truly believe that it was a um Sunshine Law violation Miss Batista was this advertised properly and was this not a sunshine violation I believe that the staff has already responded to this um before um and the manner in which it was uh advertised was proper and it comported with uh the Sunshine Law thank you I'm going to respectfully disagree on that thanks all in favor of ff1 say I I I I those opposed say no no one dissenting vote Mrs fam ff1 passes may have a motion second on o35 moved second moved by Zan second by roer public comment board member [Applause] comment oh miss senior portrait you know her senior portrait oh sen why didn't oh yes yeah so my statement I guess to say is this I just want to make sure that there is clear communication to families that they are not required to pay the exorb amount of money to go get their senior's picture taken they can go for free to get their picture taken for the yearbook and staff stop me if I'm wrong but they don't have to pay $300 they don't have to pay for the thousands of dollars for the packets can we have clarification Dr he Dr fton or Mr ston been involved in that too either you were correct Mr ala they do not have to pay for the picture however there is a minimal sitting fee which is Max per the RFP it is a maximum amount of I believe1 or15 and that's it everything else is pay depending on what you want to purchase optional okay so again I want to be super clear that we need to be super communitive and clarify with our families that they are going to pay the $10 or $15 to have their child senior picture taken and that they they do not have to pay the hundreds of dollars okay I'm a little salty because I was one of those parents that didn't get the memo that I only had to pay $15 for my son to get his uh senior picture taken and and so it's not clear it wasn't clear to me and so I want to make sure that it is clear for our families okay yes actually um Miss alad we will work with you as a case study to make sure we communicate appropriately refund we'll follow up thank you all in favor of 035 say I I those opposed say no item passes unanimously that it um 34 I have a motion in second move second I thought it passed I thought did too we have clarification did it pass 034 yes yes it's yes yes the pass okay thank you at this time do any of my colleagues have any discussion or student successes to bring forth to superintendent Mr Fen Holly thank you very much chair and I just wanted to mention I know that these board me you know board meetings go long I know we're here late um you know superintendent I just challenge you to find try to find a new way not only just the meetings I think Dr Zan we talk we talked about this he's watched multiple meetings from different districts but just to think in the Overflow room right next door I don't know what we call it but we have an entire room full of Staff waiting for their items to come up and I think for me is what productivity are we looking at when people are just waiting for their items not to mention when they do show up they get one question and they wait it all day and I understand we're here we're elected and appointed away from our families we get it we have cabinet but I'm saying we have the entire building just on call so I just I really challenge you to find a different way just just find a better way how we can move through this chair we've done a better job I appreciate you when we talk about the public being here let's address those problems what they want to talk about their items first get them in and out um but we should look at our staff too what can we do to get them in and out and back to their you know to their stations to service our children in our district thank you chair Mr Alon yes thank you madam chair uh two items um so I learned through this process today which I didn't really know um so SMS through F FRS I didn't realize that it's only our three board direct appoints that have the SMS designation um I'm familiar with other agencies at least also having cabinet type folks so a recommendation if there's no objection is also a part of the budget process um that cabinet also have the SMS designation and you know the appropriate number through through F FRS so I'll let you so anyway that's if there's no objection from the board the second item is myar High School uh ban I was going to bring another item I'm sorry I don't know what SMS is oh I'm Senior Management Service class a part of the Florida retirement system did I say that right Chief people officer okay correct um and sorry got it so which is so which is a higher contribution rate uh for your senior level staff compared to everyone else so your three board I'm sorry your Three director reports have it I am suggesting to explore it for uh those that will be designated by the superintendent typically it's probably your cabinet and eventually an item backp to the board I think it has to come back from a yeah well anyway so if there's no objection that's one Madam chair the second item uh and I appreciate the last item I brought uh for uh an event down south uh mirar High School ban I did not want to bring the item because I think there's a way to explore it maybe through Student Activities um they are exploring an opportunity to present at the Orange Blossom classic um a big event that I know very well um and they're in need of transportation again so different was Sim similar area uh different uh band it's only $2,400 um so I didn't want to bring an item I'm sure through BCA BCC or some other um uh oh we just said we got director of strategic Partnerships or someone right you find $2400 I'm joking $2,400 right um so without objection superintendent if you can work on that and I believe the date is August 31st so if you can work with the principal and uh the director of bands that'll be appreciated thank you and um Mr charson I I support those items coming back to the board for approval and I'd like to say congratulations to Marjorie stowman Douglas High School baseball state champions fourth year time state champions congratulations m m one second Miss Leonard okay thank you so much uh I'd like to give a big shout out to Nova Middle School law students um under the leadership of the brilliant Christen Murphy Esquire the Nova Middle School law students were named We the People mock Congressional hearing National Invitational champions for the second year in a row this is Middle Schoo upcoming attorneys they are amazing um the academic competition tests the students knowledge about the Constitution and the law the team is made up of 35 students who competed against 14 teams from eight other states and they took the top honor again so congratulations to all we are so proud of you Nova Middle School a huge a huge congratulations to students from manate Bay Elementary and the school of robotic team participated in three National and World Vex robotic Championship events where they completed against competed against hundreds of teams around the country and the world students scored in the top 5% from our little Manatee Bay Elementary right here in Weston Florida so wonderful and they won What's called the think award the think award recognizes the most effective and consistent use of coding and programming designed to solve game challenges we are so proud of you as an elementary school winning this award thank you and a big oh I'm still going a big congratulations to Nova Eisenhower Elementary students participated also in the Vex robotics Us open and they participate in the create national competition and which took place in Iowa these students went to Iowa and finished in the top three % of all the teams we are so proud of another Elementary School my district the last thing I have is kudos to the ROC students from South Plantation High School the principal of South Plantation was here tonight um who participated in the RC national champ championship at vexor which took place in Texas this is the highest level of competition for the Vex teams which is consisted of 136 teams competing around the country the two teams from South South Plantation High School scored 12% and 19% the top 12 and the top 19% congratulations to all a big congratulations to the jrtc team also at Cypress Bay High School who also participated in the jrtc National Che Championship Vex World in Texas who scored in the top 46% so congratulations to district 6 you're amazing thank you Dr thank you madam chair so uh fog H listen for this one Dillard High School wins this 2024 State Track and Field competition in Jacksonville Florida help me congratulate the state champions and their coach BCAA Coach of the Year coach Gil yes sir misson thank you um just a piggy back off of um Mrs fam the Nova Middle School actually was highlighted at on the first channel 10 tell me something good um this Sunday and they came and and shared their excitement also on channel 10 um Mr Fagan Stephen Fagan from seol middle and Lauren thybert from Peter Elementary were awarded and recognized as um teacher it's called tribute to teachers but publ came in they surprised them all they got $1,000 from Publix and they were um they were on TV so that was pretty awesome congratulations to them and finally congratulations to all the Special Olympics winners this past weekend the state Special Olympics was in Orlando and a special congratulations to Nicholas Kion he was named the inspirational unified partner for Broward County for 2024 so thank you so much Dr Z thank you very much chair I want to thank uh one of our 31 municipalities in this case Danel Beach uh Danel Beach as we know was donated a significant amount of money to build a Park right next door to Olen Middle School those plans have been adjusted based on the principal's input to the city uh to build exactly what uh Olen Middle School would like uh as part of their reciprocal use agreement but we need to give a shout out to our cities uh who do uh significant things in this case it's going be5 to6 Million worth of Park built right there for ol middle school thank you chair thank you then I didn't share when I'm sorry quick yes really quick in this last week I had the opportunity to head down south to The District in Miami we had two students we had Jacob Taylor and Amaya Wallace that won awards uh through Univision and uh it was an event and they all got full scholarships to Broward College and different things but they were representing Broward so shout out to them thank you very much Miss Leonardi yeah thank you real quick um just one comment um I know we have graduations coming up in the next few weeks and I just wanted to um you know ask our superintendent to consider um some extra precautions to keep our graduations Faith given um a lot of the unrest throughout the country that we're seeing in a college graduation um so I'll just uh implore the superintendent to do just that thank you Landon and to miss Leonard's point I'm uh working we're just waiting final legal approval we're going to push out a video um to all people that students that speak at graduation reminding them of Schoolboard policy 1344 which governs speaking at a school board ceremony thank you this the scheduled order of business for this regular school board meeting of the school board of rer County Florida has been completed see no obligation and now the meeting wait wait uh oh are you adjourning or are you recessing the meeting what what are we doing for all of the items that did not pass thank you oh recessing meeting until Wednesday May 29th at 8:30 a.m. May 29th at 8:30 a.m. me e e e e