this evening with an invocation from the Reverend Aeron uh Jennifer Aaron Sims from Asbury United Methodist Church and um she'll be leading us in our pledge as well good evening the Lord be with you let us pray good evening God thank you for the gift of life this day for the work that we have each one of us enjoyed that brought us to this hour for the family and friends who love and support us and carry us through our hardest times God we gather as a crosssection of this great County each of us come with different interests and different responsibilities but we all come hoping to make Clay County Schools the best that they can be we give you thanks for all of the teachers the administrators the students the families the resource officers all of those custodians who work to make our schools safe and fun places for learning we ask your blessing on those who are gathered here this evening who will con contemplate the future success of these students and make plans and decisions that will have an impact that will last well into the future so may your spirit be our guide and may we be aligned with your will to serve these people of this County to the best of our abilities we pray this in jesus' name amen and will you join me in the Pledge of Allegiance I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all thank you so much all right so at this time I'll call to order the regular school board meeting of May 2nd 2024 welcome citizens of Clay County I want to take this opportunity to thank you for taking the time out of your busy schedule to attend tonight's Schoolboard meeting this meeting is our opportunity as your elected representatives to collaborate openly and make decisions that will decide the future direction of our public schools and the education of our children here in Clay County if you wish to address the board on an agenda item there will be an opportunity to speak for 3 minutes please fill out a card located at the side entry door indicating the specific item number or topic that you wish to speak about and turn it in promptly to one of our officers if you have items that you would like to present to the school board or to the superintendent please hand them to an officer who will distribute them accordingly no additional cards will be accepted once the board moves to the public comment section under presentations from from the audience your participation is welcomed and appreciated so we will begin tonight we have quite the crowd because we have a number of awards and celebrations tonight so we're going to begin with the recognition of cognia accreditation renewal and Miss Laura Fogerty the director of climate and culture here in our county is going to make this presentation hi good evening everyone we're so excited to have everybody here tonight and I'm absolutely thrilled that I get to share this event with everyone here um for people in the audience we just went through cognia accreditation and accreditation from cognia is a valuable Mark of Distinction recognized around the world each year cognia identifies schools and systems that best exemplify excellence and education and stand out in their service to leaders based on the results of a rigorous accreditation process and for us that process took over a year so we are absolutely thrilled tonight to have the regional director of cogo with us we have Mr Martinez he began his educational career as a classroom teacher and a science coach in Broward County his strength in the classroom led him to become a social studies curriculum trainer for the district followed by a district at administrator for Esau and finally an elementary school PR principal his extensive knowledge and experiences made him the prime candidate to become the regional director of cognia can you please join me in welcoming Mr Andy [Applause] Martinez please and thank you sorry good evening everyone and thank you for having me here I just want to pull my notes out the older I get the further the phone gets from me so just bear with me for a second um first and foremost again thank you so much for having me here today um this is a great honor and honestly it's a great honor for all of you to be here to witness this today as well superintendent brosi your community and your board cogn has a long history with Klay County dating back to the first time you became a system accredited uh system back in 2008 this commitment is shown in your positive culture supportive learning environments and your comprehensive initiative to establish a clear and achievable strategic plan that helps guide the district's progress and continuous Improvement efforts accreditation from cogna is a valuable Mark of Distinction recognized around the country and globally cogo has been reviewing Educational Systems for over 129 years and we are currently in over 95 countries around the world cogni accreditation is not a checklist or a quick Endeavor accreditation is a continuous education Journey Clay County Schools as mentioned before began their Journey which was a rigorous and external audit of their systems and procedures well over a year ago so hats off to the entire team for their incredible diligence and hard work in making this happen Klay County School District earned an accreditation score of 355 which is an excellent score and is well above the average in comparison the average global score is 250 and you received a 355 so hats off to you as well as I mentioned this is an incredible incredible accomplishment it emphasizes the importance of Student First approach and the collaborative leadership skills of your superintendent Mr David brosi while highlighting his steadfast commitment to Klay County students and their success the district leadership accreditation team was led by Lowa forgy and it consisted of over 20 leaders from across the district that gathered and synthesized District information to craft the final report the cognia team was most impressed by the overwhelming amount of evidence that unequivocally supports the one clay Vision the one clay Vision instructional model is intentional and it provides a specific structure for classroom observations being intentional about observations grounds the data in expected targets which leads to more insights into student learning and the greater student achievement in addition to the great accomplishment that I've already been able to to share with you the board has earned a master board distinction from the Florida school board Association demonstrating everyone's commitment to the Learners and the systems priorities I am humbled to be standing here today with you and honored to represent cognia we are the largest education Improvement organization in the world and as I stand here I have the honor to present to you your District accreditation renewal and officially award Klay County accreditation through June of 2030 congratulations superintendent Brasi School members and your entire Community congratulations I think now is when we take PS this is quite heavy for [Applause] all right next on our agenda is to recognize the winners of the 2024 math field day can you guys believe we have so many students that turn out to do math on a Saturday every year and we have Miss gavenda po here with us she's the math curriculum specialist and she's going to be making the um presentation hi my name is Govinda and I'm here with um April Shipley an elementary math coach and the elementary math Field Day coordinator we are here to recognize the some of outstanding students that have participated in math field day we want to start just by thanking Mr brosi and the board members for having us out each year we want to thank some of our board members for participating in math field day and we want to recognize the teachers the staff and all the volunteers that put in so much time to help prepare our students so let's start by playing along so this is just one of the problems that students may see during math field day and we know all of you would immediately know the answer to this do it in your head and be ready to move on but I'm going to give you a minute to look at this and then we're going to revisit it now we're going to start by announcing our winners so they'll come out one at a time we're going to start with Plantation Oaks Elementary Victoria Rubio and she is our muggins tournament high score winner come on out [Applause] Victoria her coaches were Miss KO and Miss Randall congratulations Victoria next is our overall winner for the muggins tournament from Discovery Oaks Elementary we have Liam Whitten and his coach Miss wette [Applause] congratulations Liam now we're going to move into recognizing our first second and third place winners in fourth grade so our third place had a tie the first school whe recognized is swimming Pen Creek Elementary with coaches Miss Rebecca vanderwater and Miss D come on out swimming Pen Creek congratulations swimming pin Creek Elementary our other school that placed third place for fourth grade was Fleming Island Elementary with coaches Miss wolf and Miss guer come on out Fleming Island congratulations Fleming Island Elementary our second place winner for fourth grade is plantation Oaks Elementary with coaches Miss Mount and Miss Cox come on out Plantation Oaks congratulations Plantation Oaks Elementary and our first place winner for fourth grade is Patterson Elementary come on out Patterson Patterson is accompanied by their coach Mrs steinforth [Applause] congratulations Patterson Elementary moving on to fifth grade we're going to recognize our third place winner in fifth grade it is Oakleaf Village Elementary and their coach Miss Linsky come on out Oakleaf [Applause] Village okay we have a correction our coach is Mr Johnson thank you Mr Johnson for being here [Applause] moving on in fifth grade our second place winner in fifth grade was Fleming Island Elementary tree and their coaches Miss Bernard and Miss hail are here with them come on in thank you Fleming Island Elementary and our first place winner for fifth grade is Patterson ele Patterson is accompanied by their coach Mrs Hancock congratulations Patterson Elementary we will now move to recognizing sixth grade in our sixth grade third place position we also have a tie so our first third place winner for sixth grade is Thunderbolt Elementary with their coaches Miss CaRu congratulations Thunderbolt Elementary our tie for sixth grade third place was also a tie with Fleming Island Elementary come on out Fleming Island and their coach was Mrs Michaels we're going to move to our second place winner for sixth grade and that is Lake Asbury [Applause] Elementary along with John halter [Applause] and our final sixth grade first place winner is Patterson Elementary tree congratulations Patterson Elementary School math field day would not be possible without the meticulous planning of our math Field Day coordinator April Shipley planning the EV event begins in September and continues through the weeks after the event now remember this event is in April so all year long although math Team all comes together plus the help from many district and school volunteers we are proud to recognize April Shipley for being our outstanding math Field Day [Applause] coordinator El [Applause] okay so as promised we're going to revisit that Ma math problem have we all solved it are we all smarter than a fifth grader the answer is 310 if you are wondering how we got that way here's our order of operations we look forward to seeing you all at math Field Day [Applause] 2025 all right man that cleared out the audience pretty quickly that was a lot of recognition great job everyone next we have the recognition of winter guard and indoor percussion championships and I'm just disappointed we don't have a performance for this one we have with us Mr Chris goall the Fine Arts curriculum specialist here in Klay County good evening Clay County School Board superintendent teachers students and Community it is with great pleasure that I stand before you this evening to recognize some truly exceptional student groups within our district and their achievements at the 2024 ffcc championships ffcc the Florida Federation of Color Guard circuit is an organization that hosts competitive Color Guard percussion and wins events students usually start preparing for these events after Thanksgiving break event categories include Winter Guard indoor percussion concert percussion and indoor winds the students in these categories spend countless hours preparing for their performance during the months of January through April they perform at various competitions across the state each of these competitions includes long days of preparation and performance followed by feedback given by qualified professional judges teams then continue their work on their Performance Based on that feedback to continue to adapt and improve their performance throughout the season all of this culminates in a trip to the ffcc Championships held in Daytona Beach at the Ocean Center teams from across the state compete in multiple categories vying for one of the coveted medalist spots bronze silver and gold in their respective divisions this evening we are proud to recognize nine groups from across Clay County who earned a medal in their respective categories due to the limited space available this evening each team will be represented by a handful of student leaders who help lead their group in The Amazing accomplishments student leaders as I call your school please come forward to accept your recognition please remain standing up at the front until all schools have been called and we'll take a group photo in the in interest of time please allow all student leader names to be called from their school before giving them their well-earned Round of Applause for their amazing accomplishments congratulations to Green Cove Springs Junior High Cadets band director Tina Larson coach and guard coach Jenna Hunter uh Jennifer Hunter Green Cove Springs Junior High Cadets earned a gold medal in the cadet novice division student leaders tonight include Talon Palmore Kate Hansen and pton Stringer congratulations Green Cove Springs Junior High [Applause] Cadet congratulations to Oakleaf Junior High Cadets guard coach Rachel Bango oaklea Junior High Cadets earned a bronze medal in the in the cadet novice division student leaders tonight include K uh karia VZ Velasquez and janah [Applause] congratulations to Fleming Island high JV wintergard band directors Mara Rose and Alex Buck guard coaches Stephanie cristodero and Melissa Parker Fleming Island High School JV wintergard earned a bronze medal in the illusion division tonight's student leader is Ashley R Rua congratulations to Fleming ey Island high JV [Applause] wintergard congratulations to Fleming Island high Varsity Winter Guard band directors Mara Rose and Alex buck and guard coaches Stephanie cadero and Melissa Parker Fleming Island high Winter Guard earned a bronze medal in the company division student leaders tonight are Gabby Duran congratulations to Fleming Island high Winter Guard [Applause] congratulations to middleberg high winterguard band director Tyler Cheney guard coach Alexis iser middleberg High wintergard earned a bronze medal in the knights division student leaders tonight include Landon Kaine McKenzie Marsden and Madison Kelly congratulations middleberg High wintergard congratulations to middleberg high concert percussion band director Tyler Cheney percussion instructor James Rivera middleberg High concert percussion earned a gold medal in percussion Scholastic concert a division student leaders tonight include Alan Trump Charles Durell and Scott hardle congratulations middleberg High concert percussion congratulations to Oakleaf High Winter Guard band director Chad Robbins and Kevin clawen LeBlanc guard coach Lisa Smith Oakleaf High wintergard earned a gold medal in the Beyond division student leaders tonight include Maggie chovsky and Morgan limebury congratulations Oakleaf High [Applause] wintergard congratulations to Oakleaf High indoor percussion band directors Chad Robbins and Kevin CLA and Blanc percussion instructor Brandon Brown Oakleaf High indoor percussion earned a silver medal in the percussion Scholastic mccormix division student leaders tonight include adley Harris Nazareth Torres Christian hail congratulations oaklea High indoor [Applause] percussion and congratulations to Ridgeview High wins band director Arnaldo cologne wins instructor William Clark Ridgeview high winds earned a bronze medal in the winds Scholastic a division student leaders tonight include Fallen cter Evan thoron Joseph L ler Spain and Alex RoR congratulations Ridge viw High wins and please help me in congratulating one final time all of our students for their outstanding accomplishments at the ffcc Championships directors and coaches if you would come up to the front for one group [Applause] picture for [Applause] hey right I think Mr Google is going to stay right where he is because next on our agenda is the recognition of Visual Arts students so we have one more recognition for the Fine Arts this evening and I'm ex excited to stand before you to recognize one of the highest honors in the visual arts in Clay County Schools the annual Student Art Show best and show recipients last weekend we held the 35th annual Student Art Show at The Thrasher horn Conference Center the event boasted Elementary and secondary art gallery a family engagement room live music an opening celebration including food trucks and a closing award ceremony however prior to all of the art show festivities this weekend students worked hard to create masterful works of art to submit for a jured art component of the show each year secondary art teachers work with their students to submit the best of the best art pieces their students create these works are digitally uploaded prior to the art show and sent out to various art professionals to critique and judge the artwork this year we had hundreds of submissions in all of our categories including Junior High and high school two-dimensional and three-dimensional artwork the official judges spent hours analyzing the students work looking Beyond content to notice the technique and the skill demonstrated in the artwork the best in show award is reserved for the judges top selections in their respective categories this evening I would like to to recognize the students who who earned the distinct honor of beston show recipient students as I call your name please come forward to the front to accept your recognition please remain up at the front until the last student is recognized at which time we will take a group photo the best in show junior high school three three-dimensional winner is Vera Herby an eighth grader at Lakeside junior high art teacher Sandra Wiggins Vera's artwork is titled plant Plus Animal equals snake youant the best and show Junior High 2D winner is tan Montano an eighth grader at Lake Asbury Junior High art teacher Desiree Stone Tan's artwork is titled ocean Burger the Best in Show High School three-dimension winner is Hope cosines a 12th grader at Orange Park High art teacher Tracy Tanner Hope's artwork is titled mercy and the Best in Show High School 2D winner is Alysa mahalik a 10th grader at Clay High art teacher Benjamin Henson Alyssa's artwork is titled the Wild West congratulations students on your accomplishment teachers and admin if you are here and would like a picture please come up now and um Community School Board superintendent as you guys are exiting be sure to check out all of our award winners in the back in the Student Art Gallery thank you [Applause] all right next on our agenda is the recognition of the 2023 2024 superintendent student advisory council members and we have Miss Kelly watt to make this presentation all right good evening and I'm going to go ahead and welcome our advisory council members in come on in all right come on through yep all right so before us are the 2023 2024 members of our superintendent student advisory Council I'll give a moment for them all to file in all right yeah let's go ahead and get into two two lines there's a lot of you there they are all right and um we have approximately 32 members of our superintendent student advisory Council um and there are a few other that cannot make it here tonight because uh you may not be surprised to know that this is a very ambitious group of students and some of these students have other commitments tonight um musical concerts other award ceremonies these are highly involved students um of them we have students representing every single high school and we even have two students from a junior high which is outstanding um so what they do is they they have to submit an application to be on this advisory Council each year and um we look at letters of recommendation we look at their ability to communicate and their ability to problem solve and so that is exactly what they do uh Mr Brasi is very committed to hearing the student voice and wanting to include our students in the solutions that we seek to better the student experience here in clay so once a month we come together for a little over an hour and um they let us know what issues matter most to them and they have to do research outside of the council they have to bring they have to meet in committees they have to problem solve and present to the superintendent a solution and so our chair Tyler Davies in just a moment will kind of provide you a summary of some of the topics that we've Ted this year um what I love most about this is it really promotes our students as Citizens and promotes those Civic values of collaboration um civil discourse problem solving and engage being a part of the solution um to better our community and I think that all of these students have taken um great ownership over their role representing the student bodies at their school and truly we could not be more proud of what they have done in their commitment to our County so I'd like to introduce who they are so uh first we have Isabell aloquin there we go all right and Hayden skipjack thank you Riley hawkersmith all right Daniel kapusta Shayla Bivens Carson Nicholson Isabella Amador Ria Patel Ashley Zamora Brena fenegan Allison musulmani Taylor white ja chot Jaden Penny Dana Loftus Emily Moore Len Hornick Nora Burke Maddie reap and our chair Tyler Davies all right big Round of Applause to all of [Applause] them thank you I'm going to now turn it over to Tyler Davies and students um I will let you find your families and you can join and um watch Tyler's presentation oh let's get a picture all all right good evening and uh as Miss watt said um this has been a great year on the council this is my second year on the council and first year as chair um I've had the honor and privilege of serving as the chairman this year um I'm Tyler Davies um we've had such a productive year um Dynamic and critically thinking group um before us today um I'd like to give you all a glimpse into kind of what our meetings have looked like uh throughout the year and we've met on the second Tuesday of every month uh so among our Council we have a wide representation from all of our secondary schools in Klay County uh which is the most important thing with this Council I think uh we want a diverse pet of viewpoints uh and perspectives when discussing all of these issues in order to come up with the most appropriate and effective solution for our whole student body um in clay district schools so that being said and working to develop the most effective solution the council members are encouraged to maintain uh this list of meeting Norms so you can go ahead and Advance oh I do that's pretty amazing all right so this so This is actually what our meetings have looked like so we met right here in this room uh it's given the students kind of a cool exposure to use this room and feel very important uh so some of our meeting Norms so be solution oriented assume positive intent acknowledge ideas and contributions even if you disagree with them be fully present come prepared follow through on commitments to your committee and uh this is kind of one that my vice chair Lindsay and I have kind of really pushed especially this year is represent your school and student body well with pride and respect encourage others to do the same um so some of our uh summarized uh yearly goals might have skipped it there we go so provide the superintendent district staff and school board with professional Collective student input on various issues and topics at hand um and I'll talk about those issues in a bit uh learn about set issues through research expert and guest speakers and facilitated Council discussions uh represent the District student body with pride honesty and integrity and like Miss watt said this is the leaders of the leaders um and so also advocate for each other in the district as a whole so you know it's it's less than or it's I would say it's more of kind of collective discussion bringing all the leaders from every school um there's no competition and that's why I said you know represent your school with pride and ex uh kind of respect others um to do the same so one team one goal one clay uh I announc for sports at Orange Park High School and that's I always say that so I I love that motto there um so our discussion questions um that we addressed with each of the three issues throughout the year what ideas did you hear from today that you think would be most effective uh what concerns or considerations do you have about this these ideas and then how could the district help these ideas come to life um so with all of our schools being so diverse um and and very different across Klay County from from the north to the South um each of each of our students from each of the schools have different viewpoints on on these topics and it's important to highlight each of those um generally we had two types of meetings so we had the research and discussion meeting and then we would have the um the solution presentation meeting um so that's when we would have um our Committees of kind of four or five council members that would then present their solution to uh these issues so in the beginning of the year we started with increasing student participation in extracurriculars uh this was actually topic that we reiterated from the previous year uh and then the second one was student engagement uh focusing on cognitive emotional behavioral learning and then we uh at the solution presentation meeting they came up with some dos and don'ts as recommendations for our teachers in the county um at least from a student Viewpoint you know and something we really had to acknowledge and take into account and Miss Watt and I pushed to to the students was you know the teachers are down in the trenches you know we're just the students you know they have the the same group uh coming through every day and six of them five of them oftentimes at least at the secondary level so um those were just recommendations from us to take and do what they want to do with them and then our final one was school and student safety and we haven't yet had that um had that presentation meeting but we're looking forward to seeing uh what our student leaders come forth with that um so we hope we present represented the student body of Clay County well um and we thank the school board our District staff Mr brosi and Mrs watt for our support in this uh this is something that you know I know Mr Broski wants to continue for years to come as I believe this is our third year of the council right so um but thank you all and uh this has been a wonderful opportunity to again serve our district and uh Empower our young leaders so thank [Applause] you what a fantastic group of young minds to have been a fly on the wall in that room um so next we're going to recognize our 2024 2025 drug free schools calendar winners and we have miss Karen Oly the student services specialist and uh Miss Stephanie I'm gonna mispronounce gohagen project coordinator for Clay Action Coalition want to um good evening and uh thank the uh superintendent and the board for having us present um for the past few years it's such a great recognition for these students um our drug free schools uh calendar started in uh 2019 or I'm sorry 1997 I don't know what I'm talking about um 1997 um as an idea brought forward by a group of um Community stakeholders and for 25 years our community has been recognizing students who participate in this artwork contest and so we're grateful to our community for that support and tonight Clay Action Coalition and the Clay County district schools are honored to um present to these Elementary School students um for their prevention messages for our drug free schools calendar so each winner um will be your name will be called and you'll come up and you receive your certificate and we ask that you wait up here so that you can take a photo with the superintendent at the end and then everybody will go into the vestibule where you'll get the rest of your packet and it's just easier that way all right here we go and this year the theme was be kind to your mind live drug free and our front cover winner for 2024 was Haven tamalis fourth grade from Orange Park Elementary [Applause] School inside cover winner was Zoe Watson Kinder Garden from Orange Park Elementary [Applause] School sorry our winner for August was Ariana FAS fourth grade Thunderball Elementary [Applause] School September Amaya AAL I'm sorry auli sixth grade Lake Asbury Elementary School [Applause] October was candy Wong fifth grade Thunderbolt Elementary [Applause] School November Addison Munos third grade swimming pin Elementary School [Applause] December was meline milter fifth grade Plantation Oaks Elementary [Applause] School January was Ava Chesser fourth grade Shadow lawn [Applause] February Addison kin second grade Orange Park [Applause] Elementary let get March is oh I'll wait just one second get the kids there we go March is Arabella monismith sixth grade Coppergate school for the [Applause] art and April was Khloe Smith third grade Shadow laon Elementary School [Applause] May is Connor Morgan second grade Patterson [Applause] Elementary June is caselyn kchain fifth grade s Brian Jennings [Applause] and July is Tyler Phillips first grade middleberg [Applause] elementary e w [Applause] all right next we are recognizing the state and international science fair winners and we have our science curriculum specialist Miss Katie ruelas here with us hi good evening um if I could get all of my science fair uh State science fair attendees come on [Music] down e all right good evening um board superintendent brosi and um the the people who have had to stay this long because your kid is after me um so these um these amazing Scholars plus several others uh are students whose projects were selected out of a pool of over 100 projects by judges at our regional science fair to represent Klay County at this year's Florida State science and engineer ing Fair um my name is Katie raos I'm a science curriculum specialist in the district um and one of my absolute favorite Parts about sponsoring these events is that I get to see many of these students for multiple years in a row um they they you know they come to the Regional Fair and they realize that they can skip school for a day and get free pizza um and then they're like I want to do this again and then they work hard to get back and then they accidentally win a trip to State um and then they realize that at the State Fair it's actually super fun and they meet their people and and they're like I want to do this again um and then they accidentally in some cases win a trip to international science fair um and so getting to watch the kids develop this over the course of several years has really been super exciting for me um and now my fourth grade child who is hiding in the back um is like can can I come can I come to science fair and I'm like yes so we're getting there um so the 24 uh clay rotary science and engineering fair was held in February on February 6th at the Clay County Fairgrounds we had over 130 students at both the junior which is 6 through eight and uh senior levels which is 9 through 12 um judging took C took place over the course of the day um we had 40 different category Place winners 16 special award winners five nominees for What's called the thermofisher junior innovators Challenge and 14 nominees for the state science and engineering Fair as well as two nominees for the international science fair um really quickly I just have to acknowledge that none of this would be possible without our amazing sponsor um the Rotary Club of Orange Park and the rotary clubs of Clay County um they do they are the majority of our judges at science fair they provide um money for our students who win um the category prizes and trips to State and International Fair um and they really just do a great job of helping to make this an amazing experience for our students so let me see if I can figure out how to use a clicker there we go um so um also I so let me back up yep the uh to state science fair we took two junior level projects and seven senior L level projects a total of 13 students um and we had yes we had kinds of fun while we were there um and I have to acknowledge our amazing chaperon as well um Miss Leslie Bryan Miss Bethany Dari Mr William Dari and we had a special guest um Michelle Hansen our school board member joined us um because her granddaughter was actually one of our state fair uh nominees um so we had a great time the kids they worked really hard to get their projects ready because the state science fair paperwork is no joke I'm pretty sure they'll tell you they tired of me being like NOP you got to try again um and then they have to get their their project approved by safety and display when we get there they spend an entire day wearing uncomfortable shoes um being judged for uh hours on end um but they do get rewarded with some trips to Walmart where they thought that um buying Legos to build in the hotel lobby was the way to go um and then also they had fun of the student mixer it was a really great time um so I would like to introduce several of our award winners first Sophia orena she's from Orange Park Junior High um her project was in the biomedical and Health Sciences um the title of her project was got insulin and she actually um created a prototype for an artificial pancreas [Applause] um Gracin Beckham from Clay High school also in biomedical and Health Sciences uh her project is entitled an evaluation of potential advances in limb immobilization for Orthopedic healing um she 3D create she created 3D printed casts to replace um uh plaster cast and she actually won second place at the state science fair which is a huge amazing [Applause] accomplishment um Sage B Emily McCrae and Sierra Neil are not here this evening but in the engineering category they presented their project protecting homes from wildfires and Analysis of thermal insulating materials in home construction Joshua Chun and Ricky Hong we have half of their team here from ridw high school in the category of intelligent machines Robotics and system software they presented their project 3D printing Wheels an alternative approach for robotic segments production for communities isolated from resource markets they also used 3D printing to create alternative uh wheels for their robot that they use in their robotics [Applause] competitions uh James and Joseph Fryman they uh competed in the biomedical and Health Sciences category and their project titled to what extent does the levels of protein salt pH and glucose affect the true Health factor of both plant-based meat products and how does it compare to actual meat products um in their study was comparing meat alternative to regular meat and comparing the health factors there um their project won the Martin stem award and Joseph was awarded a $220,000 scholarship to Florida poly Technic [Applause] University um Miss Scarlett Glover in the plant Sciences division uh she did a project on the healing power of honey where she propagated I forget what kind of plant um use using honey as an alternative to regular um propagation techniques so and then we have Alex Gordon um from Ridge High School she uh he had on the category of intelligent machines Robotics and system software applying a simplified motion Al profiling algorithm to a Target following arm with two degrees of freedom it's a three-year study um and you would think after three years I would know what that project was about um something about when robots move and then you tell them to change directions they don't turn exactly when you tell them to so he was creating an algorithm to make them turn [Music] better um and he is also one of our international science fair uh nominees and um we'll be joining myself and Miss Leslie Brian and our other science International Fair nominee in Los Angeles California the week after next yeah the 12th so um and our other international science fair nominee is Mr Austin Hallet from Clay High School um in the category of physics and astronomy his project was titled ionic wind a novel approach for generating thrust utilizing electric powered propulsion um his project was actually awarded a recognition award in the physics category at State science fair um and his project was basically making thrust happen out of nothing I mean it's not really nothing but it's kind of [Applause] nothing um and then finally Angel Zang from rgew high school in the category of engineering and her project title is extremely long um but basically she waterproofed a Servo murder motor and then like submerged it in water to see if it would still work um and she her project was awarded an honorable mention in the category of engineering and she was actually awarded two scholarships one a $20,000 scholarship to Florida Florida poly Technic and another scholarship for half the tuition for four years at Florida Institute of [Applause] Technology so thank you all so much for um bearing with me here um the this is just really such an exciting time the kids really had a blast um especially the kids in my car who experienced my amazing DJ skills um and we are super excited to see how Austin and Alex represent our district in Los Angeles California um which I am getting a little bit more excited about by the day because they just announced that our uh our field trip in La is to Universal Studios in La thank you [Applause] [Applause] we are joined tonight by Ted Clark supervisor and vice chair of clay Soil and Water Conservation District and he's here to recognize the poster contest winners for the clay Soil and Water Conservation District good evening everybody good to see you all thanks for having us again so for those of us who do not know um well I guess first off I should go ahead and say thank you to you all thank you to the school board and the district for having us here once again uh I think this is quite an honor an opportunity to showcase uh Klay County's talent and skills among our student body uh and we definitely do appreciate help with the advertisement getting the word out there about this competition without that I think we would not have the turnout that we have had since then it has improved uh and it has been remarkable to see the flood of um of the talent and skills that the students have here in Clay County uh I'm going to introduce our board real quick uh joining me tonight we have Gary thigpin he is our board share this year we have Gary McIntyre who is one of our supervisors as well and in the room I believe we have Mr Wes Taylor in the back he has decided to let the rookies do it this year so I know he's helped me in the past so thank you Wes appreciate everything you've done and are still doing um so a little bit about us real quick so we are for those of us who don't know we are an actual elected governing board uh we are a special district here in Clay County there's five of us we don't get paid so we're doing all this out of our own time but um one of our missions uh is to promote and educate on conservation practices uh in Clay County so one of the ways we do it is through Hoster speech contests every year uh I would also like to go ahead and say two uh big shout out and thank you to uh our sponsors this year A+ Environmental Solutions I don't see them in the room but uh if anybody is with A+ feel free to come on on up and join us we'd love to have you uh without them we could not do the financial uh scholarship awards that we could um they we have been able to with their help we have been able to give out $11,200 worth once again of financial scholarships to these students who enter uh let me see here uh and I will go ahead and say too uh kind of piggybacking on last year I didn't get to report this but we had two winners at the county level went at the state level last year and I believe they were both from middleberg High School 7th through 9th and 10th through 12th grade so just wanted to give a huge shout out to that that should be something we all should be very proud of so what I would like to do now without further Ado is we have 15 winners we have three speeches we have 12 posters this year um from Clay County schools which is awesome once again um but if you guys I don't want to say if you know the drill but if you guys uh wouldn't mind coming up here U Mr thick pin or Mr McIntyre will hand you your um award and then if we'll stay up here for a group photo at the end with the school board and the superintendent we'd love to have you all join in the group photo again um but other than that I think we'll go ahead and get started and also I'll go ahead and say too huge shout out out to Beth clarkk for being one of our judges again this year so thank you for that um but without further Ado our first place winner in the second through third grade uh category and I should say to ahead of time uh I'm going to do the my best with these name pronunciations uh Rosa nen from Fleming Island [Applause] Elementary and please feel free to go ahead and get individual photos too as well so while each student is called up second place in the second through third grade category is claa Thomas from Keystone Heights Elementary [Applause] School third place in the second through third grade category is uh JC Maxwell from Thunderbolt [Applause] Elementary yeah they were all great posters but yes either way they were all different sizes so uh thank you Mr thigpin uh so oh yeah we're going to get them all up there uh fourth through sixth grade first place winner is Isabella Peterson from Thunderbolt [Applause] Elementary second place in the fourth through sixth grade category uh Gemma Spencer from shaton elementary all right third place in the fourth through sixth grade categories she Patel from tin Elementary [Applause] all right moving on to the seventh through ninth grade category for the poster contest first place winner is Taylor Mandigo from Oakleaf High School again I said I was going to do the best I could with these names so I apologize if I mispronounce any whoops getting a little too excited there anyway with the clicker anyway uh third place in the seventh through nth grade category is Cali R Riki from middleberg high [Applause] school all right the 10th through 12th grade category first place and I should say too this is amazing I want to say this is the category they're all from middleberg high school so big shout out to middleberg but first place is chlo Liller from middle work High [Applause] School second place is Carly plum [Applause] and third place is Grayson [Applause] Blakey so that concludes the poster portion so we have our speech contest as well and so our third place winner is Briley wood from from Oakleaf High [Applause] School second place is Ria Patel from ridg viw high school [Applause] oh and first place is Maddie Adler from Oakleaf High School she's not here we'll make sure Maddie gets it so I was going to say Miss galon you're more than welcome we'll get it to you but uh no other than that that's really it so thank you all so much again for uh yes uh for uh participating and for winning and we'll stay up here for just a moment and we'll get that group photo but thank you all so much thank you for coming out tonight thanks for having [Applause] us e [Applause] all right next we have the recognition of the 2024 West Wen scholarship recipients and Angie whidden from uh we Cherry she's the principal there she'll be joining us to make this presentation good evening I want to thank you all for letting me stand up here now um 15 years I'm sorry every time I say I'm not going to cry this year I'm not going to cry and then it just kind you know so my son Wesley wooden he was an amazing kid he was a great kid he came he attended Fleming Allen High School and he was a parents dream and a coach's dream and he was a kid's kid is what he was he um I mean Sam Ward Tommy Pitman they would tell you in a heartbeat he was the first one to greet a new student and make them feel warm um I think I've shared the story with you before about I ran into a parent at a te- ball game when my other boys were younger and they said oh miss Whitten you know my son was friends with your son and I well Wesley had a lot of friends so I just kind of SM he goes no she goes no you don't understand my son was your son was my son my son's only friend it was the first time that her child had ever been in a public school he had Down syndrome and so Wesley just took him under his wing and she told me that she prayed for Wesley every night and so did her son and things like that are special you know you don't know how bad tonight is bittersweet for me I mean I love being able to recognize these kids because they deserve every single one of we've been here a long time tonight but you know what this is the best school board meeting that we have all year long because it shows the work of all the kids here this is what it's all about you know at the end of the day you can pick the best curriculum you can pick take a test but truthfully at the end of the day it's the kids and what they do that make it count that's why our motto for Wesley scholarship is life is your message to the world Make It Count so to date we've awarded well as of tonight we'll have awarded 111 scholarships for kids in Clay County which I think is [Applause] amazing I can't do the math I wish gavenda was still here but we do 42 Christmas gifts every year and you can do that math for 15 years I know he's he was killed 16 years ago I'm not that bad at math but the first year I was just really numb fact numb for several years um we do two Thanksgiving meals every year because Wesley loved to eat so but at the end of the day you know I miss my boy I really I miss him um so without further Ado let's honor these kids that help my dream come true obviously my dream would be able to see my son again which I will one day but for now his memory gets and his legacy gets to go on through these children and through people like you all that contribute to our society and to support our kids in education so I'm say thankful for everyone who helps make this happen um we're going to wck it two of our recipients aren't here tonight because they are at District baseball games but we're going to still honor them and recognize them so I'm going to turn it over to coach warley he's not a coach anymore but I'm GNA call him Coach Harley forever so and Coach Goddard I'm gonna hand it over to them and I'm just going to stop talking now thank you well it's uh obviously uh you know kind of an emotional event for us and and obviously a tough thing for the whiten family to do uh each year but uh we are here you know obviously to to help uh you know carry on the memory of Wesley right and and so with that um tonight you know it's obviously a privilege and an honor uh to present our 2024 graduating seniors who have been selected to receive a West Whitten scholarship uh as Miss Whitten U mentioned Wes was an athlete here at fluming Island High School uh he was tragically taken from us in 2008 uh Orange Park Junior High School created the scholarship uh to create his memory or to keep his memory and his message alive uh your life is your message to the world Make It Count uh this scholarship is granted to Klay County graduating seniors who have participated in athletics at either the junior high or High School level uh the Westwood scholarship was started back in 2009 uh and since it has granted uh I believe 111 scholarships uh to graduating Klay county seniors totaling [Applause] $16,747.54 to make sure they understand that um tonight each recipient will be receiving will be receiving a check in the amount of $1,042 uh for their academic future for more information on the scholarship we invite anyone to to visit West wooden scholarship.com uh without further further Ado it's my pleasure to present our 2024 class our first recipient one of the pitchers that's that's throwing tonight against Clay High School couldn't be here but Josh Taylor uh graduating from Josh will be graduating from Orange Park High School and will'll be attending Edward R Edward Waters College to pursue his dream of playing college baseball Josh makes the difference um at Orange Park High School by inport by inspiring youth in the community Josh has spoken to many elementary school age children on the importance of hard work and dedication Josh also volunteers as a coach uh throughout several camps and organizations within the area our second recipient Mr Tyler Davies Tyler is graduating from Orange Park High School and will be attending the University of Florida go Gator uh during his academic career Tyler has accumulated over 1,000 documented hours of community service his DED dedication to Orange Park High School and the Orange Park Community shows in the countless organizations he represents and leads Tyler uh committed his four years uh at Orange Park High School uh to leave it a better place than it was when he arrived and he has overwhelmingly done so he has also served on Mr brasky's uh student advisory committee which we saw earlier uh where he facilitates discussions on the happenings of the secondary schools within Clay County next up Lane Hornick lenee graduating from Clay High School uh lene will be chasing her dream of becoming a psychologist at Jacksonville University during her tenure at Clay High School she participated in soccer she believes uh she makes a difference in the lives of others by being a comfort and an un an understanding to all around her she feels as though the bonds that she has created in high school were a big contributing factor uh in her interest in Psychology and pursuing that dream our next recipient Mr Michael Hayward Jr Michael's graduating from Fleming Island high school and will be attending St John's River State University uh while attending Fleming Island High School Michael participated in basketball Michael believes that his difference to the world uh is through playing the sport that he loves he likes to volunteer at local camps and speaks to his teammates and the youth around the area on his experiences through the game and making uh them and himself the best versions of themselves they can be next up next up Kade Daly Kade is graduating from fliming Island high school and will'll be attending the US Merchant Marine Academy uh where we he will continue his passion for soccer and helping others Cade has done multiple hours of community service working with special needs students in the top soccer organization uh which is very close to his heart as it combines his passion for soccer and helping others next up Taylor Collins Taylor is graduating from Fleming Island high school and will be attending the University of North Florida uh during her tenure at Fleming Island uh she participated in weightlifting and color guard Taylor is a differen maker in her Daily Life by always being a support for her friends and Community she believes that all interactions can have a positive outcome and always tries to hold herself to a high standard and that no interaction is too small next up Co Thomas Co col's playing ball tonight as well but that's okay col's graduating from Keystone Heights uh Junior Senior High uh he will be attending Santa Fe College Kobe participa in the baseball program for the Indians uh he is a Difference Maker by Leading by example for his fellow classmates and peers Colby has vowed uh to change the patterns that he has lived through and to make the world and the community a better place than he found it next up Elena uh Deon excuse me Elena Deon graduating from Ridgeview High School uh she will be attending Troy University Elena participated in the competi uh competitive cheerleading at Ru while maintaining a 4.4 GPA she has account accounted for numerous hours of community service through a Girls Camp the Salvation Army Jacksonville Humane Society and JDRF uh to help raise funds for Type 1 Diabetes Research Elena desires to become an RN uh to help others in the community with that the the committee would like to wish all of you the best of luck uh to all of our recipients and in all of their future endeavors uh again we ask as you go forward in life please remember uh please remember the message that that we deliver here today that that your life is your message to the world please make it count thank you very much what [Applause] all right our last two items are both uh Mr brok's items they are the recipients of the superintendent Florida PE prepaid scholarships followed by uh the recognition of student finalists for youth volunteer of the Year thank you madam chair and uh and board it's my it's my privilege for the second consecutive year our district proudly joined with Florida Prepaid to give away two two-year college scholarships fully play Scholarships in February had the privilege of overseeing the superintendent's essay contest which was a platform for students to submit essays to be evaluated for this particular award first I'm thrilled to introduce senior Aaron Grant from middleberg high school come on down Erin's a shining example of academic Excellence leadership and service Erin boasts an impressive 4.42 8 GPA ranks in the top 10 of her graduating class remarkably she'll not only receive her high school diploma but also her associates degree from St John's River State College by the end of this month a testament to her exceptional dedication and diligence ain's leadership go goes far beyond the classroom it also goes out into the community where she has a pivotal role at St John's River State College she's a founding member and Secretary of the model United Nations there as one as well as many other community service uh Endeavors Aaron looks ahead and has amb ambitious dreams of pursuing higher education at Florida Southern where she plans to pursue a bachelor's degree in mass communication her ultimate goal is to leverage her education and passion for advocacy to pursue a career in law championing the rights of underprivileged and underserved individuals through a nonprofit organization Aon your tireless commitment to academic Excellence leadership and community service is truly commendable that's why I picked you right okay uh your journey thus thus far serves as an inspiration to us all and we eagerly anticipate the incredible contributions that you'll make uh to your community so without further Ado let's give her a big round of applause Aon Grant our second award uh honor requires no very little introduction especially tonight as his presence and impact within Clay County are undoubtedly felt by all who encounter him allow me to proudly recognize senior Tyler Davies from Orange Park High School if you can come forward Tyler is a shining Beacon of academic Excellence leadership at community service with an impressive 4.53 uh GPA Tyler secures his place among the top 10 students graduating from Orange Park High School a testament to his un unwavering dedication to academic Excellence Tyler's commitment to to service though knows no bounds Tyler has overed 9900 hours of community service from spearing campus beautification projects to orchestrating Christmas Shops at multiple campus Tyler's selfish Endeavors have left an indelible mark on our community his leadership extends Beyond those initiatives but also he's chairman of the superintendent student advisory committee which allowed me to know Tyler on a whole different level and he's even more genuine uh behind the scenes you know a really impressive young man looking to the Future Tyler Harbor's Ambitions aspirations of pursuing higher education at uh the University of Florida's College of Agriculture where he plans to major in agricultural operations with a keen interest in law and policy as well as education Tyler aims to equip himself with the Knowledge and Skills he needs to advocate for Florida's farmers as a member of the Farm Bureau ultimately he envisions returning to his roots right here in clay County where he hopes to serve as an agricultural teacher nurturing the next generation of agult agricultural leaders right here in our community Tyler your your exemplary achievement steadfast leadership and unwavering dedication and service epitomize the very best of Klay County's Youth so with great pride Tyler Davies [Applause] too this it's almost Tyler Davy's night right I think this is four or five I I lost count you know each year this the State of Florida um recognizes uh youth uh the youth volunteer award okay so this would be at the state level so in collaboration with the Florida Department of Education we proudly recognize the outstanding School of volunteer award an annual tribute celebrating individuals whose unwavering dedication enriches the educational landscape of Florida K2 uh K12 Public Schools this prestigious Accolade spotlights exceptional volunteers who embody the spirit of commitment to fostering academic excellence and resilience among the students while foregoing robust school and Community Alliance through Innovative initiatives tonight we shine the spotlight on Tyler Davies uh a senior in Orange Park High School over 900 hours of community service Tyler not only clinched the esteemed title of Youth volunteer winner for our district but also progress the state level where he's a final he's a finalist for the entire State of Florida so it's big deal though Commissioner of Education Manny Diaz cannot be here this evening and is unable to join us uh it is a great honor that I stand before you to extend H heartfelt gratitude for your uh invaluable service to Clay County on behalf of the Department of Education I do have an award for you everyone a big round of applause for Tyler [Applause] Davis for my what a night well this will be the last call for comment cards if you have one floating out that you haven't turned in yet if you'll just hold it up so we can see one over here any others last call okay so we will move at this time to presentations from the audience um and our first Speaker tonight is Echo NOA yeah would you hear me well my name is echon NOA um a am a part of equality Florida and also a graduate of Fleming Island high school and its Ace Program back in 2016 I am here to talk about the uh policy regarding the uh library books uh there are couple concerns I have with it regarding the section that talks about the books that are not in violation of the Florida statute um it 47112 or2 um but our flag as mature specifically the gender Theory and the medical transition part and the sexual content not covered by that statute from my reading of the policy itself I found that it could be potentially harmful in a couple different ways uh the first is um I spoke last time about the lgbtq community and the trans community and how uh these books and other are forms showcase the community to those who have not seen it before um restricting these books such that they require additional parental consent sort of locks those books away from students who may need them um especially in light of us being in a more conservative area soci socially and religiously um there are plenty of evidence that parents are quite willing to um abuse their kids for coming out um and schools might be their only safe place to explore those identities for myself I know that if I did come out as trans when I was a minor I probably would have been sent to conversion therapy um so locking that away behind parental um requirements is um potentially harmful in that way um there was also a similar idea involving the sexual uh conduct not covered by that statute it is well known that throughout history the lgbtq community and trans Community has been abused and discriminated against for so-called sexual uh um uh diversion basically um if there are guidelines that sort of clarify what these um material guidelines are that would be helpful um but as of it is written right now it's very vague and um needs to be clarified I think so that's all I have so thank you very much next is Donald trist yeah I'm I'm Donald T my my address is on V I talked to you last year at the same time today is the National Day of Prayer um I talked to you last year at the same time so the um you know I got few notes but um today like is the National Day of Prayer today's theme is lift up the the word light up the world so you can take some time today you we going to take a look at the National Day of Prayer website give you some information about you know suggestions how to pray but um I guess one of the things I'm concentrating on here is a prayer that they put out is is about the word being able to read the God's word and um you look at the scores for Clay County it's not oh whole state really is it's a is kind of dismal uh how bad the um you know reading that on grade level is pretty poor and when you look at it it's um I there's many many counties or many um schools that are below 30% that read on on um on great level or that are not on great level so um let me read the the prayer but um Jesus we profess our faith in you you and the light of the world you are the light of the world and in you there is no Darkness for you are are our lamp our Lord and our God who lights our lights our Darkness forgive us for fearing and focusing on the darkness around us instead of being filled with faith and Shining like a city on a hill we have called us you have called us to be forgive us for the times we have been the ab been the absence of light allowing Darkness to dwell in America lead us for to dispel the darkness and bring light throughout the church family education business military government and arts entertainment and the media we are blessed by you are we are saved by grace through faith released from the released from the darkness that once held us captive and now free to walk in the newness of life in you thank you for the opportunity to read thank you next is mallerie [Applause] King hello my name is mallerie King and I'm a licensed speech language pathologist for the school district May is National speech and hearing month a time for speech language Pathologists also known as slps to advocate for the work we do within our community I appreciate the opportunity to speak to you on behalf of the Sops working in Clay County and share a bit about our profession a speech language pathologist is a licensed therapist who evaluates diagnoses and treats a variety of communication disorders in order to obtain lure and a certificate of clinical competence from the American speech and hearing Association also known as Asha a person must complete a master's degree program with 60 credit hours in communication disorders we must complete 400 clinical internship hours in addition to a clinical Fellowship year once licensed certified an SLP can work in nursing homes hospitals private clinics and or the school setting slps in the schools complete screenings and evaluations we develop and Implement and monitor individual education plans and collaborate with teachers staff and family members to ensure that students receive the highest quality of support we provide treatment for speech sound and fluency disorder we address spoken and written language deficits and weaknesses in cognition and memory skills and assist students with poor social communication additionally slps develop and program augmentative and alternative communication systems including picture boards or speech generating devices left untreated these disorders can significantly impact a child's academic and social success personally I spend one day a week administering evaluations for the preschool assessment team the remaining four days are spent providing services to 83 students at writeout elementary this exceeds the recommended case load size of 65 students per full-time position in addition to providing Therapy Services and completing evaluations I submit therapy notes and evaluation reports for Medicaid billing that reimburses the school district for the services that I've provided as of May 1st I've participated in over 160 meetings for students with individual education plans this workload is not sustainable I am only one of the 60 speech language Pathologists in our district providing services to 4,425 students of 60 individuals 41 of us hold the Asha certificate of clinical competence and are employed directly by the school district and there are 20 of us here tonight 14 therapist are contracted providers through outside agencies and three service providers are speech clinicians with their bachelor's degree four positions are currently open for hiring resulting in a vacancy rate of 32% unfortunately based on retirements and transfers the vacancy rate is expected to grow for the 2425 school year while we work within the educational setting our certification is tied to a medical license with the Florida Department of Health the license is similar to that of the occupational and physical therapists who provide medical services within the school setting however speech language Pathologists are not compensated as medical professionals but rather on the instructional pay scale as teachers we submit our daily Medicaid billing for the district to be in re reimbursed for our services and yet our compensation does not reflect our level of specialty when our compensation is not competitive with our size like counties in the State of Florida and our workloads expand Klay County will struggle to employ highly effective therapists to provide services to our students the speech language Pathologists must receive comp competitive compensation for their specialized education experience and license if Klay County wants to continue to provide the highest quality of therapy services to their students thank you next is Shelly [Applause] trotman hello my name is Shelley Troutman I have been a speech language pathologist for 28 years with over 17 years spent working in Clay County district schools I currently work three days per week evaluating children ages 3 to six as a member of the preschool assessment team I also work at r at elementary 2 days per week where I provide therapy to 45 students in those two days as a member of the preschool assessment team I have evaluated over 200 students this year and have observed an increase in students who are demonstrating significant difficulty with communication skills several of these students are preverbal or non-speaking and require highly individualized therapy in order to increase their functional communication to make their wants and needs known therefore it is critical that Klay County recruit and retain highly qualified skilled slps to provide therapy to these students several SLP case loads in Klay County exceed the recommended full-time case load of 65 students as designated by the American speech language hearing Association for example in two days per week I provide therapy to 45 students at write out my colleague provides therapy to 83 students four days per week in six days of therapy we are splitting two full-time positions in order to to um provide the services documented on the IEPs with the ongoing residential development of Klay County rout is projected to receive significantly more students in order to meet students needs and to continue to provide quality Therapy Services Klay County will need to hire more slps new clinicians are graduating from Communications science and disorders programs at FSU ju UCF USF and UF every semester and yet very few if any are pursuing a career with Clay County District school schols they are electing to work for school districts via contract agencies that compensate at $7 to $10 more per hour than Klay County Direct Tire slps recently a seite county in Florida Oola county has increased compensation for slps by raising the base salary to 69,000 per year that is the base salary for an SLP in Oola County as an SLP with 28 years of experience I am paid significantly less than what a beginning SLP earns in Oola County um in fact um I have to work a second job as a single parent to make in meet in fact several of our Direct Tire slps work second jobs um a neighboring County within driving distance to Clay County is now offering a $10,000 supplement with a full-time case load of 40 students I provide therapy to over 40 students in two days per week Klay County will need to increase compensation soon in order to retain its current slps and and to recruit new graduates Klay County slps are excited to collaborate with the Klay County Education Association and the school board to develop a compensation package for the Recruitment and Retention of Highly qualified speech language Pathologists thank you next is Jen [Applause] Cunningham sorry all right hello my name is Jen hunningham um I started working in Clay County in 2004 with the contract company called educational Based Services I chose this company because the pay was higher and the benefits were greater they paid for my apartment rent they gave me cus they also gave me a sign on bonus I did not have to go to plc's or faculty meetings I was not evaluated by an administrator or required to do any sort of Duty outside of the IEP meetings before and after school after my husband and I did a tour overseas with the military my non-compete Clause was met for that three-year obligation and I sincerely had to consider whether or not becoming a direct H with the county or making more with another company we were a young family and I wanted to provide as much stability for my growing children so I chose to take the pay cut and get hired directly I have been at Lake Asbury Elementary for the majority of my 15 years working in Clay County I am also working with a private practice as a second job so that I can continue to explore my options as a speech language pathologist or ANP especially as my children are getting older as a certified SLP I receive Daily Calls text texts and emails from recruiting companies to to work for a contract agency providing Services even with our own County as well as my the majority of my peers um one of my biggest concerns is the struggle with recruiting and retaining speech language Pathologists within our County the 2022 Asha School a salary annual report states that the national average salary for a 10-month employee was $69,000 Florida's average salary salary is at $555,500 and as of um clay County no that was Clay County's their starting salary is below the average of $55,500 and the Florida's average salary was $ 59,90 as of right now we have 14 contracted therapists that the district will pay $60 to $70 per hour or roughly between 81 to 94,000 per person for their contract companies the district is spending approximately $1.4 million to contract companies for the therapist we have to staff in order for our students to receive their services this past year Klay County cl to 23 interns over two cycles from Jacksonville University and only one of the slps applied and was hired within our County as soon as these students graduate from their Master's programs they are bombarded by the contract companies that promise them the extra benefits of more pay and sign on bonuses other counties throughout the state are now advocating for competitive compensation Sops across the counties of St John's Nassau and Oola are banding together and if Klay County does not do something soon we could easily lose even more qualified therapists to nearby County this year we started with the fully staff speech and language Department which has not always been the case especially for the last several years a few of our slps in our County right now even transferred here from some of our neighboring counties unfortunately four slps have already left this year and we know of seven more slps that will not be returning to our County next school year so I sincerely urge Klay County to be very proactive with this situation to help us to recruit and not just recruit but also to retain quality speech language Pathologists thank you next is Pam [Applause] Lawrence good evening my name is Pam Lawrence my address is on file I have 25 years experience as an SLP and I've always loved what I do I was previously employed as a direct hire speech language pathologist in Clay County schools for over 14 years I resigned 15 months ago due to the following reasons my case load kept getting larger and more challenging students with challenging behaviors and significant communication delays were in groups that were larger and larger every year my salary barely increased over the 14 years being a single parent I had to work a second job after school hours to make ends meet Additionally the ad administration at my school required me to take time away from my case load responsibilities to complete non-clinical duties such as PLC meeting meetings and bus Duty basically I felt that my job kept getting more and more challenging and the pay didn't increase I constantly felt like I could never do enough to keep up with all my job responsibilities to meet the standards that I wanted to hold as a therapist I'm currently employed by a healthcare organization where I make over $8 more per hour than I did as a school district I was sad to leave the district as my children both attend Clay County schools and I'm a fervent supporter of public education but I felt like I had no choice additionally due to the shortage of slps in Clay County some students are receiving inconsistent Therapy Services I personally experienced this with my own son last year's as I watch the students here tonight receive Awards I was struck by the thought that as speech pathologist our role is to help level the playing field so that the students with disabilities and communication deficits can achieve to the level of all of the children here tonight that we receiving Awards and if we cannot provide the services to these students their chances of succeeding as much is less so I was thinking about that a lot tonight um I urge the school board to consider an increase in compensation for the Clay County District hire direct higher slps so that all children can get the services that they need thank you next is Shannon [Applause] huie my name is Shannon Hubie my address is on file tonight I stand before you with growing frustration I have repeatedly brought matters to concern to this school board month after month yet only one person has taken the initiative to lend a helping hand because I am so willing to voice my concerns other County employees who dedicate their lives to serving our students come to me time and time again their struggles weigh heavy on my mind and I'm filled with despair that I might not have the power to alleviate their problems we lament on the shortage of teachers and the countless unfilled parir professional positions however I must ask what measures have we taken to retain these valued members of our Workforce my friends who serve as par Professionals in this District are working with our students providing the best possible care and education while struggling to afford our own insurance is that not a glaring Injustice as teachers our insurance premiums are evenly distributed throughout our paychecks why can we not extend that same courtesy to our hourly employees why must they face absurd situation from returning from holiday breaks only to be burdened with a hefty insurance payment there's a significant number of employees in this County who only work for the insurance and bring little to no actual pay home we Proclaim unwavering commitment of the well-being of our students that we fall short at providing the same level of care to our employees how can we expect to create a thriving educational environment when our own staff is facing such hardships instead of creating new positions at the district level why do we not prioritize filling the vacancies that exist within our schools our classrooms are overcrowded due to lack of teachers our ESC students are suffering the consequences of not being able to have the needs of their IEPs met being told we can't guarantee a on toone due to Staffing shortages or the classrooms are Bec overcrowded making it nearly impossible to teach with Fidelity some of our ESC teachers are being asked to teach multiple grade levels in the same classroom because we cannot fill the teaching positions and you wonder why we have so many students reading below grade level accidents are happening in the classroom they are going unreported because either teachers or assistants are missing what happens due to the significant amount of behaviors in the varying exceptionalities classrooms or ignored completely because the student has an IEP and there can't be too much documentation a major of these students cannot accurately Express what has happened to them in the classrooms and questions are left unanswered I myself have a non-verbal student with undocumented marks on his arm and no answers to how they got there but he I know that he is fearful because he begs to not have to go to school I urge you board members to show empathy and understanding let us work together to address the concerns of our County Employees let us not turn a b ey to their struggles but instead dedicate ourselves to finding meaningful solutions by investing in our employees es like these amazing ladies out here let us create a system of values and support those dedicate Our Lives their lives to making a difference let us work tirelessly to ensure that every member of our County Workforce has the resources and opportunities that they deserve thank you next is Patricia schaer good evening y'all know me you know I do nothing but research this District well I'm tired I'm tired of having a fight for my child I'm tired of watching our phenomenal teachers support staff PA professionals es speech people who do amazing jobs day in and day out they can't give the services that the all children need they're overburdened they're overwhelmed they're leaving in droves I've been coming to these meetings for 10 years begging you find out and help these people they're phenomenal they love our kids you guys are not serving the ones that are on the front lines we can get rid of some District jobs and don't tell me we can't in Green Cove put the money where it belongs in their pockets they're the reasons you're celebrating the kids tonight they're on the front lines respect them they deserve it they've earned it and so do our children our children need them because without them they can't learn and then where will you all be thank you next is Caitlyn [Applause] weman my name's Caitlyn weman um and my address is stated on file so this is my first time speaking at a board meeting at a board meeting but I feel compelled to share my experiences and my concerns regarding our education system I'm tired of remaining in the background I particularly I am particularly dishearted at the lack of support and resources that we have to students especially those with special needs my child is a is a eight-year-old that is autistic as I have a picture here he's nonverbal and he's also a type 1 diabetic we've faced numerous challenges in the school setting starting back in 2015 when my oldest son became a student of Clay County I was very I was overly joyed to have my child as a student of Clay County but then I had my son with special needs that's when I realized how much the school system fails children yearly at the beginning of 2023 my son was transferred to Spring Park Elementary because that because they they said they had self-contained classrooms and a nurse that was able to handle him I called in July to make the transition smooth the second day Joshua was at Spring Park the school the school nurse contacted me and had and she had said he had eaten over 300 carbs and I said no ma'am he did not she then to tell me that he did until she went back to check that she was counting calories instead of carbs that would have gave my child 26 units of insulin the amount of insulin that he's never gotten as a type 1 diabetic this is this has caused major concern because not only would if he was to give that much insulin the type of effects it could have had on his health after two weeks of him showing behaviors yelling screaming and all of these issues is when we started to make the transition back to Fleming Island but it took me to call the county and ask if something happens to my child who is going to be held responsible and then she said we would contact 911 and then we would contact you I said no ma'am if something happens to my child who is going to be held responsible that's when she mentioned maybe we should look into getting him put back at feling Island I shouldn't have to I shouldn't have had to ask who's going to be held responsible for my child to get poked back when it was never even brought to my attention that he was being changed to a new school anyway anyways the transition was extremely hard and I got told that they were doing it to make the class size smaller my daughter is now at Spring Park struggling out a class size of 18 Joshua went from being in a smaller classroom size to a CL a classroom size of 12 12 autistic children to one adult to one teacher and two assistants that's too many children on the autism spectrum to be in one classroom and in 2024 we got approved a one-on-one when I was very firm with the county of I did not want a specific Aid with him because he showed aggressive behaviors towards her they ended up getting along up until recently and then just recently he attacked her in the aid ended up getting bruises after I had shared multiple concerns with the school they didn't need to be together and I'm just going to stop there next is Bruce fredman Bruce Freedman address on file hi everyone um tonight a lot of the speakers are reviewing their wants and needs I want to talk about something we don't need we don't need libraries with porn You' had two years to straighten up this issue there were 33 books removed last month as a result of my team's efforts they're all porn there's plenty more in this month's batch submitting 42 new challenges appeals to everything that failed the challenge other supplemental documentation a little bit of evidence regarding author David leathan who keeps coming up and a whole lot regarding Stephen King who never should have been brought into the school district in the first place um regarding your potentially approved rubric and guidelines hope that goes through I guess one of the things that slips right through the cracks and there are many are unvetted websites included in books one of them is called the Trevor Project the Trevor Project it sells itself as a suicide helpline for LGB Etc people it also offers Services when you click on the very first link after you enter this website there's a little warning that pops up like if you're scared that your mom might see this hit the escape button three times it'll clear your screen and your browser history so you're promoting books that include links that further secrets between children and parents or children and Guardians dig a little bit deeper you find things like chat rooms for ages 13 to 24 would you want your 13-year-old child connecting with a 24 year-old stranger online while the book you put out furthers that these things need to be addressed to make your rubric effective to make your guideline effective to have a policy that backs it up you need a timeline you need a cleanup you need a mechanism you need a lot and I know you're going to do what you can and so am I so I'm delivering that tonight have fun with it if there's any questions y'all can give me a call I think what's missing what I want in addition to what all of them want and I share a lot of their goals is I want you to understand that all of your careers should be focused on the soul of the innocent children in these buildings that should be first you come in pledge allegiance and protect the children everything else is just details taking two years to get to this point our libraries are still polluted they have bigger Horrors than porn I'll get into that another time let your rubric happen I wish you all the best of luck with what you are proposing but if Mr bry's procedure doesn't back it up it's a big nothing nothing will ever clean up these libraries you'll be buying more porn in no time at all and that's a real disappointment considering how hard I've worked to fix it have a great night next is Scott Nicholson hello my name is Scott Nicholson I my addresses on the record I'm a husband I'm a father with uh two children in the Clay County School District I'm here today because I believe uh deeply in the importance of safeguarding Our Community Values from harmful external influences recent Schoolboard workshops have highlighted the challenges that we face and while I'm encouraged by the proactive stances of many district chairs I'm also concerned I'm concerned about the lack of current transparency on specific policies in critical areas for example there is an urgent need for a clear guideline on handling content deemed inappropriate for our children such matters primarily related to sexuality should not be introduced to prepubescent children as it compromises their innocence furthermore I'm alarmed by remarks made in recent workshops that compared the absence of bathroom policies to the need for policies on inappropriate books uh I believe that the idea was to minimalize uh the effect of those policies um but this comparison Min minimalizes the real risks that such material proposes to Young Minds moreover the lack of bathroom policy is in itself problematic are you aware that students at Oakleaf High School will go the entire day at school without using the restroom because they quote bad stuff happens there perhaps more policy and more enforcement of those policies is what we desperately need as a community we must also address other pressing issues like cell phone usage and treny with clear enforceable policies my experience as a father even though I'm not perfect convinces me of the effectiveness of clear Direction and expectations in conclusion I advocate for the development and strict enforcement of policies that will positively shape our school's culture and provide a safer and more productive environment for our children I'm committed to this cause and I look forward to collaborating with other concerned parents like myself and with the school board to foster a brighter future for our children we owe it to them with my last few moments I would also like to say that the parents need to step up there's any parents in this room that haven't watched the workshops there's anyone online who hasn't come to one of these meetings if your kid is struggling in the school system it's your fault you can't expect the school board or the school to do everything to fix it we all need to step up there are children let's raise them thank you all right that concludes presentations from the audience at this time we'll be moving into the discussion agenda me give the board a moment to refresh our screens um all right so our first item sorry let me get there is human resources special action a do I have a motion I move approval I have a motion from Miss baola do we have a second I'll second second from Miss Clark any discussion all in favor please say I I any opposed motion carries 5 all right we have no special action B or C so moving on to item D4 uh this is a public hearing to approve as advertised the revisions to the challenged materials policy reconsideration for review of Library materials so I will open the public hearing if anybody would like to speak you don't need a yellow card to speak at a public hearing if you'll just make your way to the microphone I know I had a couple of people mark on their yellow card that they also wanted to speak during the the public hearing so this is your opportunity uh when you come to the podium just state your name and address as as normal you should have that memorized by now Bruce Freedman address on file uh regarding the rubric I mentioned in Prior correspondence that it does not coordinate with the procedure with a timeline and a mechanism for cleanup no matter what you call appropriate and inappropriate the determination needs to be made Not Just for future purchases but for the 200,000 other books in this County that I haven't had time to read someone has to clean up the summaries in the destiny system they're clearly inadequate and someone has to say no more purchases until you clean up your mess I understand there's a bunch of books like SAT prep books that need to be purchased right away you make whatever exceptions you need for the effectiveness of your system But first you protect the children don't just rely on Publishers dust jackets or little Destiny summaries for any kind of clue as to what the content of the book is we all know how bad that's gone 400 books roughly have already been removed from this District there's hundreds more not just the vile pornography that I've been presenting because that's really an easy win I show you where the point is you make the book go away there are things that are so much worse inviting children to believe things that are untrue inviting children to put themselves in dangerous situations like what I mentioned about the Trevor Project convincing them the gender is fluid which it's not your chromosomes don't lie God didn't make a mistake anyway you'll do what you do I hope it's more focused on the children than it has been in the last two years and I hope it's a very effective rapid plan that Mr brosi backs you up with God bless have a good night is there anyone else who'd like to speak okay seeing none I'm going to close the public hearing and bring it back to the board for a vote do I have a motion I move approval a motion for approval from Miss Bola do we have a second I'll second second from Miss Hansen any discussion all right all in favor please say I I I any opposed motion carries 5 Z all right we have um item C11 pulled from the consent agenda to the discussion agenda by Miss Hansen this is the library media Services manual Miss Hansen the floor is yours oh I'm sorry yes we do need a motion in a second before we discuss I'll move approval I have a motion for approval from Miss Miss Bola do we have a second I'll second second from Miss Skipper all right Miss Hansen thank you at the workshop tonight we sit here we're going to approve the procedures manual that the workshop I explained I felt was lacking um procedures there is no policy in any company anywhere in the world that is successful without intentional procedures the biggest problem that I have and the reason that I pulled the library procedure manual because it needs to provide specific supports for what the policy states for example I find it a bit bothersome that the policy states and you you all know I had a big hand in trying to figure out this policy states that the community rubric our school board standards would be found in the procedures manual they are not in this procedures manual I don't even know what they look like I don't have a copy of them you have never seen our own Community standards at this point so what I'm saying is I am not saying what has happened in the procedures manual is wrong what I'm saying is we need to address exactly what our policy was intended to do and the main function was to develop these board standards and I'm concerned that we haven't seen them nor discuss them because we don't have a copy of them so as we go into I would say a rap succession Neola we agreed to purchase Neola I would say that the district and superintendent and the school board are partners and what I'm looking forward as we move through Reinventing reinvigorating or getting rid of or refreshing our old um policies is a more collaborative effort where the board can have input even though I understand Mr superintendent procedures are yours and policies are ours but it makes sense to me that it is very intricate and interconnected and without working back and forth to figure out why we were elected and the board's intent of writing policy we headed in a wrong direction so I'm here to ask that when we develop policies and procedures that we begin to work together more effectively listening to each other respecting each other and understanding that without each other we're nothing and so that's what I wanted to say is I feel like the procedures manual isn't addressing the elephant in the room and the elephant in the room is Mr fredman has stood in front of us for almost two years two years ago April I went to the District I was a candidate for this seat with 25 books that I couldn't believe were there Mr fredman is the sole reason that we have removed four almost 400 obscene materials from our libraries and he catches a lot of flak I disagree with half of what he has submitted but when it comes to obscene material nobody in this room ever never ever thought that there would be that many and let me let me tell you I'm proud of this County we actually have gotten rid of 400 books that break Florida statute I sat next to a Schoolboard member at a recent event who said oh you're from Clay County I said yes and she said you're the ones removing all those books and I said would you like to see a list of them because they're in your libraries too and what she said to me was no if I know about them then we have to remove them we are A Step Above everybody else A Step Above everybody else and the only person who's really really looking for these books happens to be a citizen who catches a lot of flak from everybody and so when it comes to the procedures manual I wish we had key components I wish we we were talked to allowed to have input and our concerns um listened to and that's what I wanted to say about this okay anything further all right we have a motion and a second all in favor please say I I I any opposed motion is this Madam chair is this to this um voting on the procedures manual yes opposed nay okay did I get everybody's vote okay let's try that again yeah we're we're voting on the proced proced procedures manual yes and the sorry I'm still a little new Miss Skipper you you seconded the motion yes okay all right all in favor please say I I I any opposed say no no no okay motion carries 32 with uh Miss Skipper and Miss Hansen dissenting all right our next item item D5 is the request for the adoption of resol resolution number 24-22 authorizing the issuance of the certificates of participation series 2024a and the cash defance of the outstanding certificates of participation Series 2012 certificates of participation Series 2014 and certificates of participation series 2017 do I have a motion I move approval a motion for approval from Miss Bola do I have a second I'll second and a second from Miss Skipper all right any discussion all in favor please say I I I any opposed motion carries 5 all right I will now call a recess of the regular Schoolboard meeting and call to order the meeting of the clay School Board leasing corporation uh the meeting of the of the board of directors of clay School Board leasing Corporation is hereby called to order we will now entertain item D6 on the agenda request for clay Schoolboard leasing Corporation to adopt resolution number 24-22 a authorizing the issu issuance of certificates of participation series 2024a the secretary Mr brosy will now share his recommendation my recommendation is consideration of resolution number uh 2024 22A resending resolution numbers uh 249a and 20 420a and authorizing the issues the issuance of certificates of participation series 2024a and the execution of the following lease schedule number 2024a series 2024a supplemental trust agreement series 2024a ground lease agreement certificate purchase contract and certain amendments to the master lease purchase agreement and master trust agreement is there a motion and a second on the second secretary's recommendation I move approval I have a motion from Miss buet do we have a second I'll second okay um any discussion all in favor please signify by saying I I I any opposed motion carries 5 Z there being no other business to be brought before this board I will entertain a motion to adjourn I'm I have a motion to adjourn from Miss Skipper and a second from Miss Bola all in favor please say I I I motion carries and the meeting is adjourned all right at this time we will reconvene the regular meeting and take up the consent agenda proclamation 24-21 to establish May 2024 as mental health awareness month is part of our consent consent agenda as well as Proclamation number 24-23 to recognize may as National speech language hearing month and May 18th as National speech language pathologist appreciation day all right there are no items withdrawn from the consent agenda and we voted on item C11 previously on the discussion agenda so do I have a motion on the consent agenda I move okay I have a motion for approval from Miss Skipper do we have a second I'll second second from Miss Bola any discussion all in favor please signify by saying I I I any opposed motion carries 5 Madame chairman if I can just make a comment the code of student conduct was just amended um for and this is for advertising only um but once we advertise a document we rarely change that document um we do advertise for 28 days for those of you who are concerned about any cell phone use which we heard brought up tonight please look at the code of student conduct um because we have changed it to be much more strict and I know that that may in the future cause some student eyebrows to go up most definitely but it's something that we had decided in a workshop recently if you watch that workshop and I just want to make a note of that so that people are aware thank you okay at this time we'll have a update from Vicky Kidwell on behalf of ccea good evening um it's been a long night and um a joyous night in many ways but I'll try to make it short um May is traditionally the month for teacher appreciation schools parents and students will make efforts this month to thank their favorite teachers for making a difference in their lives of their students but many teachers are struggling to find reasons to stay in teaching when they feel anything but appreciated in Florida last last year Florida ranked 48th and I'm sure you've all heard that the new data shows that average teacher sta statistics make teacher salaries in Florida outpace again drop again to 50th now the report which includes all 50 states and the District of Columbia shows that only West Virginia ranks lower than our Sunshine State when Educators tell me they are leaving teaching because they have been offered a private sector job that will pay pay them 15,000 more when they walk in the door I struggle to find reasons to convince them to stay it's hard not to feel disrespected and dismissed when Florida's teachers rank 50th but Florida's economy is fourth in the United States it's hard to feel appreciated when Florida's schools rank 42nd in student funding while Florida is projected to have a fiscal Surplus next year of 7 billion this this year Florida will increase teacher salary funding by about 1% sending clay an additional $2.5 million that's about $840 per teacher for the year we cannot rely on the state to fund the salary increases we need to keep teachers we know that education budgets are always tight but we are asking for Clay County to prioritize funding of employee compensation during budgeting salaries must overcome the shrinking effects of inflation the district needs a long-term plan to aggressively increase salaries over several years Florida's average teacher salary is 53,000 within the 67 counties in Florida Clay County ranks 43rd with an average of 49,000 that puts Clay County 7.6% below the state average which is already 50th recently A teacher told me her experience would give her a $10,000 salary increase plus free insurance if she went to Duval she said her family couldn't ignore the cold hard facts any longer what do I say to that I've given you a whole lot of data and much of it is Bleak but I still have hope I have seen this District's leadership tackle challenges with determination and Innovation you have heard it said where there's a will there's a way all that is needed for progress is a commitment to an aggressive goal for salary increases that will match and overcome the state average without a plan teacher salaries get budget leftovers please make a plan to give teachers what they deserve we know that we can't maintain a great school system without retaining great Educators you heard from the slps today this is the reality that our teachers and our professionals here in Clay County are facing we need them to stay I'm I know it's late I appreciate you listening it's an important thing and it's going to take planning I'm ready to work and plan with you thank you by the way the paperwork I gave you latest that's the latest stats on the surrounding Southern counties or surrounding southern states compe there is Mr Roberts here this evening for a sess update okay all right so next is superintendent update and presentation all right before I begin I wanted to clarify a couple things cuz I think that uh you know sometimes I'll listen and I'll say but I don't think that that's exactly correct when it comes to several several things that I heard this evening and and so many of them happen so quick my memory is not what it used to be but just a couple of of quick points of clarification I I agree with Miss Hansen about working together on a strong and robust uh procedure and we've done that you know I'm recording seven meetings that we've had and nine additional times of contact related to this issue and we'll continue to do that and continue to work together when it comes to the issue of the policies related to books remember the manual only puts us in compliance with the state statute that's that that was the intended purpose you passed a policy it would seem to me that you would also want to pass a procedure that's in line with State Statute at the same time that's a starting point to grow from there realizing that there's other things related to that and I I acknowledge that and willing to work together on that or see whatever uh day-to-day operations types of forms anybody would like to see the procedures that are in place uh in order to accomplish that when it comes to salary you know that the the board under statute 447 can't negotiate directly with individuals but I thought context would be would be help is there is there any doubt that uh teachers deserve to get paid more the answer is no there's no doubt right I don't think any board member and I guess you really can't shake your heads I don't think anybody in here would disagree with that but you know some reality is is that this board has made tremendous progress in three years so in three years time this board has put together uh an additional for instructional PE the instructional personel additional 21.9 million that's additional money towards that that's the highest three-year aggregate in the history of Clay County again Vicki does that mean where we're supposed to be the answer is no but if you're taking a look at the last three years the answer is the commitment has been there and will continue to be there when you add in support and admin the total amount of additional new money that Klay county has put towards their employees is 44 million 44 additional million dollar during the last three years that is a record far beyond any other three-year period in the history of Clay County since 1857 so I'm very proud of that fact because many of you know I was the HR person prior to that um prior to this job and um it's really the people that work for our district that make our district great I totally understand that totally agree I'm just trying to provide a little cont cuz sometimes I hear speakers come up like nothing's being done and I find it offensive to be honest when I look at the numbers and the facts the facts don't bear the the rhetoric that's spoken and so I'm going to continue to advocate for employees like I have for 35 years vigorously in every other year that I have so I just wanted to provide some context before we moved on and there's no doubt that the the stats you provided are uh are alarming uh to say the least and we need to continue to work work on that I can't remember the other stuff that because of the T Longs went but but but Godly I'm sure I'm passionate about what I do uh for our district and um the heart and and um well I'll just leave it at that got some some things to share with you this evening superintendent super super students as well as the K2 art shoe math Field Day instructional hiring Fair all kinds of good stuff my favorite thing to do is to go out and see students this is this is uh Carmen Carmen's at Grove Park the nice thing about going to an elementary school you go out into the classroom and you know what happens every student in the class claps for that student and that student is truly a rock star that's not how it works in high school by the way high school students don't think it's cool when the superintendent shows up to to give them an award so I always find very interesting super young man at Grove Park a great example then you can see um our other students from Junior High and high school again super duper students uh from Oakleaf High and Orange Park Junior High the art show if you didn't see that it was fantastic um I'm just going to tell you the Thrasher horn I think has um is a great venue but it's even that's not enough space for it it really is we have such talented students the thing that always impresses me whenever I go to something I always try to put myself Through The Eyes of a student and I was I remember standing there as students were coming up during the art show and every student is a little bit different right there's different types of students and for these students that were there this was their Super Bowl this was their jam and I always look at that I always think like while I while have zero artistic ability whatsoever like not even stick men you know come out for me I kind of I have an appreciation for students that can do that and we we should be proud of the opportunities that we have given for our students and continue that's a commitment of the board towards the Fine Arts because not every student is an athlete not every student is an academic they all have different different desires different things that they're motivated by and when you go to the art shows that's one of those time where that kind of hits me hard like okay you know these this is their thing this is their jam uh and so I appreciate the board's leadership on that when it comes to supporting the Arts it's very very important it's a huge segment of our students are involved in that uh fantastic uh artwork somehow Jim D Marie snuck into a photo there I don't know math field day was a great great event let me just say this I enjoy that I actually start working out for that event uh weeks before so I don't pull a pull a leg or anything like that uh it 500 over 500 students showing up to do math on a Saturday and they were excited about it I I don't think I've ever been excited about doing math so it's fantastic that they all showed up their parents there I'm just telling you it was a it was a fantastic event in fact I'm going to say math Field Day might be my favorite event of the year it really it really is fantastic all right everybody mark it down everybody I'm going to say it twice hiring Fair Monday May 6 5 to 7 right here at Fleming Island high school if any anybody out there who has a bachelor's degree would love to become a teacher we we'd love to have you okay remember all it takes is somebody that really cares about students a bachelor's degree and we'll have experts there that can help you out with certification and other stuff but please come out to the uh to the hiring Fair we do a fantastic job uh of hiring teachers and uh and we're looking forward to everybody showing up there again what time is it it's 5: to 7 Fleming Island high school on Monday spread the word teacher appreciation week uh let me just say this there's no doubt that being a teachers become more difficult in fact it's probably the most difficult it's ever been but it's also never been more important important and so the support of teachers and the appreciation that we have for our teachers uh you know should be evident uh for all you know I think back myself and we all can think of the one teacher for me was Mrs Decker she taught seventh grade geography I I remember this and that uh I remember this vividly that she's one of the reasons why I became a teacher this is seventh grade as a young man now truth be told I hope Sue's not listening but I had a little crush on on Mrs her uh you know back in those days but I just remember the influence that she had on me and I thought you know that wouldn't that be cool if other people had that same thought about me as a teacher growing up in a family of 10 that was very strict and and um and uh well that's all I'm saying about that but but I I kind of had an appreciation for that teacher appreciation week we should all appreciate the contributions of teachers and teachers in Clay County do an awesome aw awesome job upcoming events kindergarten registration opened parents if you're out there and anybody's listening please register your your kid for for kindergarten it's difficult to predict how many students are going to be in kindergarten and thus staff properly unless we know you're coming so so please don't hesitate uh to enroll all kinds of stuff happening in May I'm not going to go down and and read the list to you and then don't forget board members May 20 23rd is uh commencement for Ridgeview High School at UNF and then the 24th all of our high schools the last day for students is the is the 30th uh and Memorial Day is the uh the 27th last day for teachers is the 31st so everybody's out by June which is why we had so many students here um today and so I appreciate the patience but you know what it was it was worth it because it was worth it to those students and those families so thank you for your patience all right uh Schoolboard attorney remarks did you have anything I I hope I'm on now there we are first off thank you all uh so much for having me here tonight it's great to uh be here and and cover down for Mr blocker um I think I have a prettier face but it's but uh just a couple updates um we were still working with the Clay County Sheriff's Office office in in the county on the SRO agreements um making Headway we have some drafts over with them we should be receiving notes and comments and uh back next week or by the end of this week um so we'll be looking for those and moving forward with that uh we are working next week uh we are continuing our discussion on truancy I know that is a big concern and and is um something everyone is looking forward um to getting updates on we are working uh to get that started up again there's uh it's certainly a large task to get it started specifically under the truy statute there's certain parenting plans and other things that a a judge or magistrate can order be done through the treny program um however some of those programs are not in place as we have not done truy so first steps is to make sure that goes into place and then meet with our chief judge to be able to um make sure we don't overburden the Judiciary in in starting those are the only two comments I have at this time um if there's anything more feel free to ask me questions thankk you Mr ass School Board member remarks Miss Bola would you like to start sure I just have a few things I wanted to highlight from as we all realize has been a very busy month um Fleming Island high wind wind Symphony performed at Carnegie Hall and I know many of us read about it we've heard about it from the clay today Etc but what you may not know and I didn't see this in the clay today is that they also performed the world premere of a ro a rose blooms forth which is a commissioned piece to honor their director Mara Rose who last year received a Lifetime Achievement Award in music and I attended their final practice here at the high school in the cafeteria the night before they left for Carnegie Hall the night before they left for New York City one of the things that I learned was that when they got to Carnegie Hall they had to wait in the wings and they had their music and they had their instruments and they had 22 minutes to come out of the Wings sit down perform four pieces including including this world premiere and then at the end stand up take their music and instruments and leave the Stage 22 minutes now what would happen if they went to 23 minutes it would have been an $800 per minute fine fortunately they did it in 22 minutes so there were no fines acquired Mr Pitman did not have to reach into his pocket um another outstanding collaboration at Ridgeview High School was the General music class this is a small group of students in alternative education that meet with Miss Bice for a class in music and this year they were studying operas and Symphonies with the help of a couple of regular ed students they performed their take on the Opera Carmen and I was able to go and watch this last week one morning they also were able to take a field trip to see the Jacksonville Symphony and kudos to the students they were they were awesome and they deserve to be incredibly proud of their performance and especially Miss Bice who exemplifies the meaning meaning of a compassionate educator and as we know collaboration is the key to success and this happened with the director of the prek program Amy Grim our teacher Julie Brennan and English teacher Jason Meritt here at Fleming Island high school this morning right in this room room early in the earlier in the semester the prek read the book unlike other monsters and then they drew their own monster after meeting with the prek students the art students created their monster in 3D using clay and the AP Literature students after meeting with the students wrote a book following standards and I was informed of this from the AP Lit teacher following standards to write poetry encompassing Rhythm rhyme and the 12 stages of hero's journey based on just that simple drawing from the preschool student the unveiling was this morning and I have never seen such happiness in such a great group of te of students and teachers as we had this morning morning it was amazing the preschoolers came in they sat on their carpet squares Criss cost applesauce and before them was the picture that they had drawn there was a bound book that talked about their monster it was a full story fully I mean the artwork was absolutely gorgeous in them as well and then there was this little clay monster fully painted fully killed the whole nine yards and they just picked them up and they were playing with them and looking at them and then the high school students came and sat around them and they were able to read the book together they were able to share and talk about collaboration and this is a project that hopefully we'll go into all of our high schools that have prek programs and what brought to mind these three things was that we have so many different teachers with such Dynamic skills and uh we are an outstanding District yes we can always be better always we know that an observation made recently was that we are a highly functioning District I love that I it just it says we're working well together and our recent accreditation backs that up totally backs that up this is because of the great work done by our teachers students administrators and support staff but I bring this out out every couple of times throughout the year and this is for you teachers this is for this is not enough it is teacher appreciation day and it should be every day and I know that the children feel that once they walk into the classroom the first day of school to the very last day that they leave and they're hugging their teacher and crying and as the teacher frequently is crying as well and saying that they'll miss them but they're sending in to their next chapter thank you thank you for your job well done appreciate you miss [Applause] Skipper Miss bua touched on some of the things I had um it's been a very busy month I know all of us have been to many events with the clay Education Spring event um the fair all the many activities yes yes great sorry they made us trade pigs and what pig show and history did that ever happen I have to defend myself here it's all I'm saying H girl's Pig was wild um mine was not anyways um and to to uh piggyback off of Miss Bola thank you for our teachers I have um many and in our and family members who are teachers I can't say many in our system in Clay County because some are just north of us but um thank you for all of you all that you do um I see it every day in my beautiful kids so I appreciate everything that you do and uh my mom being a teacher I have to thank her as well but today is also um National Day of Prayer like uh one of our um audience member has touched on and I had the opportunity this morning to spend time with uh Community leaders within our community here in Clay County um elected officials coming together praying over Clay County as a whole whether it's firemen and police um the superintendent and our schools the board decision making um we always say that Clay County is unique and it's so true and as the world is changing around us it's a fight to keep Klay County Clay County um so I appreciate those who come together and are willing to stand in a room and pray together over the decision makers of this County and not only just clay but Florida um our Nation from top to bottom um I can't I don't think and I say all of this because I don't think people truly understand the great leadership that Klay county has and the people um that you all have elected to be in office so um starting my day off with those um surrounded in prayer uh was a good part of my day so um thank you for bringing that up and um just I guess thank all of you for for um being who you are that's it Miss Clark I'm going to keep mine very short because the pollen has gotten to me again so I apologize uh yeah starting the day this morning at prayer I mean we went from Nation to local and our local is very important to us uh and as far as the teachers go I don't think any of us would be up here if we didn't value and appreciate what our teachers do and when it comes to the speech language pathologist and our family like many others we have personal uh experience with that and not only would did we need to have private but we also had the school jump right in and help us get to where we needed and that young man spoke before us tonight and and had no issue but it was very different years ago but it was due to the quality of what clay brought us so I thank you for that um other than that I know we took a a very interesting vote tonight that everybody will have an opinion about and I do agree there are some procedures that we must change but that is something we need to work on right now I voted the way I did because I felt it was necessary to be in line with the legislators with what we are required to do but this is an ongoing issue and there's no excuse for porn still being in our libraries so anyway I thank you all for us working together to get this done so thank you Miss Hansen so it dawned on me that on Jun 30th I will no longer be a certified teacher at 62 years old I wanted to sit down and cry because there something I was so passionate about but I guess I've moved on to something pretty good here too but it's really a hole in my heart that I um I can't say I'm a certified teacher anymore so if you just send a check we can we can recertify you I heard I was 10 points short okay we can give you a class and and get you in there again but I've not been out of the classroom two years yet and um it's hard you realize when you're not there how much you were meant to be there and how much it meant to you and so for everyone who shows up every single day for those kids I thank you and the other thing is I just wanted to touch vase real quick um at the workshop when I spoke about uh the need for acquiring an independent internal auditor I believe the district and the board does a great job but our County student population is growing hence a larger budget I want to make sure that we remain diligent emphasizing transparency and accountability I appreciate I had I mean I spoke with Mr blocker and he updated me on his research and I appreciate Mr brok's working on this and his willingness to collaborate with the board making sure that all controls are in place to guard taxpayer dollars because that's important so thank you um in addition I did not have office hours in April and I'm sure there's no one listening anymore but I do have them um four to 7 middleberg on May 8th Orange Park um at the library on May 15th 4 to 7 and Fleming Island High School uh 4 to7 on Wednesday the 22nd I encourage you if you'd like to share anything with me I'm all ears during those hours and that's all thank you all right I don't think I could add much to what's already been said you guys covered it all um but I think we're all counting down the days to that last day of school having our kids home for the summer and teachers having time with their families during the day everybody has vacations to look forward to I'm sure so hang in there we're almost there and we'll see you in June this meeting is adjourned