##VIDEO ID:nhPfQkslK8M## students from Charles E Bennett Elementary School these young singers are here to spread some holiday cheer and their with their rendition of two beloved Classics Jingle Bells and Rudolph The Rednosed Reindeer their enthusiastic voices voices and cheerful energy remind us of the magic of the holiday season and the power of music to bring people together these students have worked hard to prepare for this performance and we are so proud of their efforts please join me in welcoming the Charles E Bennett prek and kindergarten students as they share their holiday spirit with us [Applause] [Music] tonight you Dasher and Dancer Ander and fixing and CID and da and bling but do you Rec theous reer all R shiny and you ever saw it you would even say it close all of the other the ree us laugh and call him Nam they never [Music] rudolphy christm eve Santa [Music] came sh it off the red you go down in history you go down in [Applause] [Music] history dashing through the snow in a open S all the fields we go laughing all the way B rain making jingle bell jingle bell [Music] jingle jingle single Bingle [Music] [Applause] go to good job you did so good stop second row step down step down back row set believe e you tonight we are delighted to feature a breathtaking Showcase of student artwork from Charles E Bennett Elementary in our Student Art Gallery among the works on display are beautiful snow globe inspired Landscapes where students have used watercolor techniques to create a variety of imaginative scenes some depict Serene winter wonderlands While others transport us to vibrant sunlet Horizons all captured within the delicate confines of a snow globe additionally you'll see Dynamic layered Landscapes that invite the viewer on a journey through nature starting with fields of flowers flowing into waves and he Hills and uh culminating in Majestic mountain peaks under a radiant Sun rounding out the collection is a striking night scene featuring an owl a comp uh compos okay hold on comp composition that displays mystery and wonder through its in intricate detail and tones these artworks not only showcase the students artistic skills but also their ability to think creatively and express their their unique perspectives we are so proud of their work and their exceptional Educators who guide and Inspire them every day we hope you'll take a moment to appreciate this incredible display of talent and Imagination at this time I'm going to call uh Pastor Art Gibson from hicker Grove Baptist Church and Green Cove Springs to lead us in prayer and the Pledge of Allegiance the Bible instructs us to pray for our elected officials and leaders W to pray for their health their safety and their wisdom and in doing so we all may enjoy the peace that comes with that let us bow our heads please dear heavenly father we thank you for your undeserved grace and mercy during this Christmas season do not let us forget what we are celebrate is The Ultimate Gift of your only begotten son which you gave to provide us as the only way to reconcile with you it is at this time we humbly come before you to ask for your guidance father you are the sum total of all knowledge and as this group plans and prepares for the days and weeks ahead I ask you to bless them with wisdom and clear foresight May their hearts be weighed with the responsibility that they Undertake and may their shoulders be strengthened to Bear the leadership for providing instruction of the children of Clay County father thank you for your many blessings keep us safe and never let us focus on the task you have set before us it's in Jesus name we pray amen at this time I will ask you to stand gentlemen remove your hats as we say 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 with liberty and justice for all thank you I call to order the December 12th 2024 board meeting uh and before we begin let the record reflect Miss Hansen is not present for this meeting welcome citizens of Clay County I want to take the opportunity to thank you for taking the time out of your busy schedule to attend today or tonight's school board 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 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 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 superintendent please hand them to an officer who will distribute them accordingly speakers who wish to address specific agenda items will be heard following the recognition and award portion of the meeting speakers wishing to address non-agenda items will be heard following board member comments no additional cards will be accepted once the board moves to the public comment section under presentation from the audience your participation is welcomed and appreciated and we are going to start off with the um recognizing art and the capital winners Mr Chris googal Fine Arts curriculum specialist good evening school board members superintendent and board meeting attendees it is my pleasure to recognize an exceptional Young artist from Clay County who has earned a prestigious honor in the Statewide art in the capital contest this annual competition invites 6th through e8th grade students from across Florida to create artwork reflecting their creativity and Talent with each County's winning piece displayed in our state capital during the legislative session this year I am thrilled to announce that clay County's winner is Haley neipa an eighth grade student at Lake Asbury Junior High Haley created a stunning acrylic painting titled summer which depicts a deeply personal and heartfelt image of a girl and her beloved dog Haley's painting stood out among numerous entries due to its artistic excellence and emotional depth the judges shared these Reflections on her work the artistic Dem the artist demonstrates remarkable Precision in capturing both the human and animal features the fur texture beautifully complement the woman's hair while the creative use of color enhances light and Shadow adding a unique touch Beyond mere realism through skillful texture work the artist has conveyed emotion depth and movement offering insight into the subject's inner feelings I'd like to take a moment to thank Lake Asbury Junior High School principal Lydia creel and Haley's art teacher Desiree stone for fostering a creative and supportive environment for all of their students and joining me tonight to present this evening's recognition is Florida Senator Jennifer Bradley who will be taking Haley's artwork back to the capital where it will inspire visitors and legislators throughout the upcc coming session the art in the capital winning pieces from across the state will hang in the Florida capitals second floor runda at this time I'd like to invite Senator Bradley and her um principal art teacher and Haley nppa to the front Haley congratulations on this incredible achievement your work reminds us of the power of art to express emotion tell stories and create connections on behalf of Clay County district schools we congratulate you and look forward to seeing all of the places your artistic still skills will take you [Applause] Senator Bradley can you turn around when you're done to show us the board if you don't mind please and let's let's give Haley one more round of [Applause] applause next we are going to recognize winners of the Lynn uh matis Foundation anti-bullying contest Miss Melissa Moore coordinator of Mental Health Services good evening I get the honor of um introducing Lyn matis the Lyn matis Foundation sto The Bullying campaign inspires student to act on the principles of compassion kindness and inclusion to decrease bullying the foundation works with 50 middle schools across Northeast Florida and we're so privileged to have them work with Clay counties Lynn matis has generously donated $2,700 in prize money to the students who submitted pieces to the competition so please welcome Lyn matis thank you very much um hi everyone I'm Len matis with the Len matis Foundation we have a stop the bullying campaign that covers d County St John's County and here Clay County we are really focused on the middle school students 67th and eth grade uh through private donations in our board uh here at the limites foundation we like to raise the funds for our Stop The Bullying campaign specifically um with initiatives of kindness compassion and inclusion and we have winners tonight to present um we have a budget of roughly $5,000 that we raise to give to the kids who are just outstanding that do outstanding projects for each semester and I'm here uh pleased to uh announce some great winners we have actually a lot of runnerup winners that aren't here but we have top winners I think they're here tonight these um projects were outstanding and we are very like we just couldn't believe the projects that they did um that really capture again the kindness compassion and inclusion initiatives that we like to instill so importantly on sixth seventh and eth grade the two projects that were absolute uh top top top we have um hats we have T-shirts for our foundation to give we have these beautiful certificates to give out to the kids and then we have checks um literally to award the top winners and um we really feel like when kids engage other kids it's very powerful and again we feel like in the school environment we like to pass along those great messages because every student deserves a great place to come to school feel safe grow mature and all that good stuff so we have I think we have four winners here but the two projects that were outstanding were totally different uh the one student um did a very simple not a simple but it was a short story that she created incredible writer and it was called a simple uh hello a small hello and it it encaptured the idea that when a student comes from out of state to a new school all the things that they have to deal with coming to a new school and it's very scary and very alone and that one small hello from another student goes a long way and they were a top winner uh Brooklyn watt receives $1,000 for that short [Applause] story you right here so we have one small hello from Brooklyn is incredible writer thank you for doing that we actually have another group uh three boys I believe three three kids that actually created an environment in school called the GrubHub and they actually it's actually an environment in the lunchroom that they created for a safe place for kids to come and eat lunch and everybody knows when they eat lunch it's not so not so friendly at times but they created a very friendly atmosphere so um it was an amazing uh environment that they actually created and again when kids engage other kids it's very powerful and uh they're winners as well they split the $1,000 uh Logan Eckard Jacob Armstrong here we are and elri Hollingsworth congratulations $1,000 total I'll get to you I'll get to I'll be there right second I just wanted to thank the superintendent and their staff uh that we deal with Kelly and Karen um they've been incredibly helpful and we'd like to do this in the spring as well so um again we had the funds to do it and we're just so appreciative thank you very much for letting us come and um engage the kids and pass along our great messages thank you [Applause] okay all right next up we have recognition of a board member recipient of the 2024 appreciation award from tobacco free clay Monique Johnson tobacco policy manager and Julie Duncan Community engagement specialist tobacco free clay good evening my name is Valencia Johnson and I'm a sophomore at Orange Park High School good evening I'm Gus I'm a junior at Orange Park High School and I'm junior class president and SWAT Co vice president good evening my name is Johnny McConnell I'm junior class secretary and kwat president at Orange Park High School good evening all my name is Caleb Richardson I'm the senior class president at Orange Park High School and the swap president at Orange Park High School it is my honor to stand here today on behalf of tobacco free clay and students working against tobacco to recogniz I an extraordinary leader and Advocate Miss Aaron Skipper as chair of the school board she has been a true champion for the health and the well-being of students staff and the entire Klay County Community thank you Miss Skipper your unwavering commitment to creating tobacco free environments has been nothing short of inspiring through your leadership the adoption of a districtwide tobacco free policy has not only set a powerful example but also made a lasting impact on countless lives this policy sends a clear message that our schools are places where health and safety come first a place where we are empowered to grow learn and Thrive without the influence of tobacco and nicotine products as a student I can tell you firsthand how much it means to know that our leaders are advocating for our future protecting us from the dangers of addiction and fostering an environment where we can make healthy choices your efforts remind us that change is possible we work together and prioritize our future on behalf of all the students whose lives have been positively impacted by your advocacy I want to say thank you it is with great pride and gratitude that I present this award to you today chairwoman Skipper thank you for being a role model and for proving that one's person's one person's dedication could lead to a healthier brighter future for all congratulations and thank you for your leadership [Applause] the and I just want to say again I couldn't do this I'm one voice one vote v um it takes all of us to do this so I'm going to have the board come down um because this is wouldn't matter if I didn't have all of you to support and help so if you don't mind let's all get a group photo [Applause] I we give her her box you want to walk thank you all very much I appreciate it and it just goes to show um it's amazing how much our students care especially about our future so thank you all for that uh next up um we are going to recognize the um 2024 Founders week art contest winners Miss Mary Owen social studies curriculum specialist good evening school board members superintendent Broski in our community I'm honored to be here tonight to recognize seven students for their exceptional artistic accomplishments these students and many others across the district participated in this year's Founders week art contest before we honor these incredible artists I'd like to share a little bit about Founders week Founders week is the time we set aside each September to honor our country and the people who have made it what it is today Founders week and Clay County district schools combin celebrations of both Constitution Day and freedom week which recognizes the Declaration of Independence throughout this week teachers and students engage in age engage in age appropriate lessons focused on analyzing primary source documents that form the foundation of the American government such as the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence although Founders week was cut short this year due to Hurricane Helen our K12 social studies students participated in many cross-curricular Founders week activities like these students at Orange Park Elementary each year we select a theme as the focus of our Founders week lessons this year our theme was American symbols students were asked to explore and reflect on the many symbols that represent the ideals and the identity of our nation these symbols serve as a reminder of the values history and the dreams that unite us As Americans from the Stars and Stripes of our flag to the enduring image of the Statue of Liberty students examine how these symbols convey the principles of Freedom democracy and unity students were encouraged to express their understanding and interpretations of American symbols through ART the founders week art contest challenged them to think creatively about what these symbols mean to them personally as well as their significance in the broad context of our nation's history tonight we have the privilege of celebrating seven exceptional students whose artwork stood out for its creativity depth and connection to this year's theme these young artists have not only demonstrated remarkable skills but have also provided us with fresh perspectives on the symbols that Define our shared identity their artwork reminds us that the story of America is ongoing and each of us plays a part in shaping its future as we recognize our winners you'll be able to see their submissions on the screen we've also placed the winning artwork and the case along the back wall and these will remain here through January as I call our winners up I'm going to ask them to remain standing so that we can get a group picture at the end of our recognition parents feel free to snap a picture as your student is called up our K2 students were asked to explain what symbol best represents America and why in kindergarten from Doctor's Inlet Elementary we have Aubrey [Applause] Sparrow Aubrey wrote the symbol that best represents America is the flag because it has 50 United stars that represent the states representing first grade from Grove Park Elementary is Andrea [Applause] Cross Andrea believes that the symbol that best represents America is the Statue of Liberty Liberty because it is the symbol of freedom from Plantation Oaks Elementary in second grade Marielle Bailey Marielle writes the symbol that best represents America is the white house because it makes me think about the American leaders like George Washington and James Madison our third fourth and fifth grade students were asked to reflect on what could symbolize America and why in third grade Allison ringer from swimming Pen Creek [Applause] Elementary Allison writes a bald eagle could symbolize America because of its ability to fly freely and it has great strength we had a tie for fourth grade our first fourth grade winner is Brandy Gadson from drors Inlet Elementary all right Brandy wrote a bald eagle with an American flag could symbolize America because the bald eagle represents freedom and Justice the bald eagle also represents strength courage and determination I love that our second fourth grade Wom winner is Jameson Rogers from Shadow laon [Applause] Elementary Jameson writes a Liberty Bell could symbolize America because the Liberty Bell is the symbol of Freedom our final Founders week art contest winner comes from fifth grade um at Wilkinson Elementary it's Lilith [Applause] de lth writes an American flag could symbolize America because it helps symbolize the nation and everyone around the world recognizes it we are so proud of our artists let's go ahead and give them one more round of applause for [Applause] up next we have recognition of Clay County student student athlete of the month and State Championship Champions along with recognition of Clay County coaches of the month and athletic um Athletics check presentation of American Cancer Society with Mr Jay Sano coordinator of District Athletics long as I'm still employed it doesn't matter what you say that's fine Miss scer all right first off uh good evening everybody before we get started as I always do uh I just want to thank superintendent brosi and the uh school board for the opportunity to come up and recognize all these amazing student athletes and coaches um in this profession that goes a long way of just patting somebody on the back and telling them what a great job they're doing it means a lot particularly with all their hard work and uh their their constant striving for excellence all right so again tonight we're we're going to highlight and recognize a lot of amazing things that we've done this fall but uh uh before we even get started with those things I think probably the most important slide that we're going to show tonight is this one right here um this is for the fall Athletics and this covers all seven high schools which is 54 programs so when you look up here at our fall Athletics report card our cumulative GPA is a 3.39 again all 54 programs to me that's extremely impressive also we had 47 of those 54 teams um achieve above a 3.0 GPA um again absolutely in my personal opinion amazing and then when you look up there you see uh 22 of our teams achieved above a 3.5 so when we talk about student athletes it just can't be words words are cheap it's got to be action and clearly you're seeing you're getting they're getting it done not just our student athletes but the leaders on our campus uh in the classroom so heck of a job student athletes uh following that up and kind of piggybacking that um you look up and you see uh um the highest girls uh athletes um GPA wise for fall Athletics we have Oakleaf girls golf with a 3.92 six uh uh it don't get much better than that and then far as the boys highest GPA we have Clay High boys cross country with a 3.74 s so uh again just absolutely outstanding you know we're going to recognize a lot of amazing individuals that have achiev some some great stuff but uh that's as good as it gets right there on those two slides great job click County all right the first individuals that we're going to uh recogniz is uh our backto back not just state champs but our backto back state champs and that's uh the femin Ali boys golf team I'm going to call them up here individually in a second but I'm going to ask athletic director uh Travis cunan to come up um and uh call out the names uh for us here as I hand these out all right just real quick about uh this team not only were they backto back but after day one they were winning by 21 Strokes okay and and to be able to stand up and and talk about state champions which again as I say over and over the best in the State of Florida this is the best right here in Klay County and I get the amazing opportunity to do this it seems like every every uh uh sport there is when when it comes to fall winter uh excuse me season and so on Sunday at the end of the round these gentlemen won the state championship by 38 Strokes it wasn't even close which is the third biggest in the State of Florida the state history I mean it's CR it's Inc incredible you know uh Tyler a state Runner up we had three uh individuals finish in the top 10 just impressive but I will say this all right on Sunday I got a chance to go down there and hang out with them not necessarily them because uh there there's crazy rules you can't even speak to them I don't know if you know that but their families and were there and uh you can see speaking to their families and just hanging out with those people you can see why these people are high Achievers not just on the uh course but uh in the classroom you know they're there're their families were amazing people so uh it's it didn't it wasn't surprising to me of of just their excellence so uh it's always great to to achieve things when you have a great supporting staff that said I'm turn it over to uh Travis G athletic director FL Island to uh call out the names if y'all want to start working up we just Lin up and and start calling you out y all right our first golfer is Chase Ricks next Dylan [Applause] fry EMT Coen [Applause] Camp Alex Blom [Applause] Benjamin [Applause] Carlton Carson [Applause] Moore Eli [Applause] Lewis Nathan Boseman [Applause] Ryan [Applause] Hal Tyler [Applause] mnni jacobe [Music] [Applause] Kelly William McGrady [Applause] Mason [Applause] Blom and our coaches head coach Bruce cloud and Jo [Applause] mnni e good [Applause] when those guys finished up after they played all day from 9:00 to 4: literally they went to the putting green and putted for like another two hours I was like what is wrong with these guys no one they won by 38 strikes all right our next state champ again uh this is kind of what she does you know she's a two time state champion also the only time she didn't win the state championship she was the state runner up and uh I've already admitted to her it is 100% my fault I believe that I'm I wish I was joking about that uh so Travis cyan we do athlete of the week he submitted her athlete of the week I said this was last year and I said hey let's just hold off on AA uh because we know she's going to win the State title and I'll give it to her then uh so when her name came across this year she 100% was athlete of the week and I let her know the state championship is done don't worry about it it's all over I've I've got rid of the Jinx for you so an unbelievable kid again two-time State CH uh Champion State uh State runner up Ava Brinkman [Applause] [Applause] all right moving right along I mean that's pretty impressive to stand up here in handout state champ like it's impressive oh all right so Klay County student athlete of the month program let me talk a little bit about the student athlete of the month the student athlete of the month uh this is not just getting it done on the field that's not necessarily what we're looking for that's just part of it it's what you're doing in the classroom it's what you're doing on the campus it's what you're doing on the community if you're not checking all those boxes you don't get to come up here today that's no offense to anybody so when you see these young people come up here they're literally truly leaders on their campus uh uh and it's not defined by an age you know so it's impressive what some of these young people do and we're only allowed to uh excuse me allowed only able to recognize these individuals because of our great partner with Northeast Florida Builder Association if you don't know that organization they're they're absolutely amazing uh we're going to start off with our first student athlete of the month all he has is a 4.72 two GPA he's third in the class he's an A student two sport athlete cross country and track he's the senior class president member of NHS academic team and student council 136 volunteer hours just like I was telling you but probably the most impressive thing is like I'm talking to him and he's doing tutoring sessions okay cool what does that look like like him and his buddy just came up with this idea to help people out because imagine with a 4.72 to all they literally get on the Whiteboard with Expo markers and and literally tutor kids in their class I mean I mean that's what we're talking about we're talking about server leadership and going above and beyond and being a leader and that is David rafalski [Applause] [Laughter] you should see the footage when Terry was shy I was like Terry I'm gonna have to stand on the box Terry's like my arms are hurting J we have to change this all right our next student athlete uh again impressive 4.64 GPA second in the class AP and dual enrollment student a four-year varsity swim three time State qualifier he also got on the podium this year which that's what you want to do you want to be on that Podium and hear your name called at State because that means you're one of the best um and he took fourth in the state in 50 he took seventh in the state in 100 not only does he do that but he's also in some engineering stuff when you look up there and see reverse and automa blocks the vice president of fbaa member of NHS beta Spanish society and not only that in his spare time in his spare time he volunteers for team Court just an amazing young man Sebastian [Applause] Lopez yeah now you know how I feel all right the last suit athlete of the month uh extremely impressive young lady I'm not sure why I put her whole GPA up there sorry Taylor but a 4.64 52 GPA fourth in her class dual enrollment student not only is she dual enrollment but she's also a member of the Health Science Academy you know just Klay County providing opportunities to go above and beyond which is is awesome and our students taking advantage of that and why talking to her off uh camera you know she wants to go be a pharmacist you know part of her family I think members are are um in that field and that's what she wants to do so uh uh kudos to to Klay County providing that pathway two sport athlete with swim and girls weightlifting member of NHS ALC she also has 125 volunteer hours you know with the trun or treat Christmas the alc the athletic leadership counsil that we have on our schools and our campuses from our ads they provide this opportunity to be servant leaders and then obviously uh she's so passionate about swimming that she goes down and gives back at a peson swim club and that's Taylor Dean for all right and then our Clay County coaches of the month program again these are not individuals that are winning on on on the field or in the gym that's not that's not necessarily what we're looking for and I mean again winning and being successful is important I truly believe that because those are the same things it takes to be successful in life so you're never going to not hear me say that but they go above and beyond uh uh again they're they're the impact they're having on their campus the impact they're having on their Community they are true leaders within their uh on their campus um again Joe and tap the Mayo Chick-fil-A of middleberg amazing amazing people servant leaders in our community not just with this program allow us to recognize these individuals our first coach is uh he's actually a junior high coach and why do you say that because it's kind of hard I just told you all the things that you have to do and then in junior high these kids don't drive and so it kind of puts up a barrier if you want me to be honest with you and so some this gentleman thought outside the box how am I able to change my uh culture and provide a student athlete experience right here on the campus of Lake uh Lake Asbury junior high without that barrier and so what this gentleman did he's not only uh the head football coach first year teacher first year coach that a way to jump in there good luck with that right that's a lot um what he's done is his character trade of the week so Integrity servant leadership whatever it is he's instilling into our young men all right he takes that and he actually uh teaches character lessons every week um and then in his spare time he's a mentor on the school uh just for the young men and young women and then the thing that really stood out to me is this initiative of doing something for someone else all right what is that on Mondays every single Mondays his program goes around the school and does something whether it's moving books for teachers what whatever it is he's teaching his young man to put others before yourself he told me about a story with a young lady next door across the parking lot in elementary school lost her locket right don't seem like a big deal was a big deal to that little girl those kids went over there and searched that field to help find that locket for them and that's what we want to do hopefully that's the things that we're instilling and uh I'm extremely proud of this coach particularly of being a first year teacher and a coach that's Jared [Applause] kak yeah you got to stand there brother got to stand there all eyes on you little little Tupac in your life all right all right our second coach of the month is uh a young lady right here at Fleming Island high school she's in her second year of coaching she's the head volleyball coach 17- seven record District runner up what does that mean she made the playoffs which everyone's striving to do you want to get into the dance if you're a coach but that's not impressive what's impressive is her mentoring program so she has a big sister and a little sister program where she matches uh those individuals up so what does that mean in your in in layman's term there's no such thing as varsity and JV we're all golden eagles right and so just think about coming to a high school of this size and just thinking about how to get to class or how to navigate or just little tips that's what these kids are doing uh and that's the ti of culture that we want our our coaches and our programs to uh uh to uh create um also they spend a lot of time not just her program but a lot of Fleming Island uh athletic programs spent a lot of time at the elementary school uh literacy is extremely important I don't know if you know that or not uh but it's extremely important here in Klay County and uh they're down there being role models for our young people and that's Miss Amy Yoder Amy's also an Adent coach which means she's getting all that done and she's not even on a campus you know she actually you know she's working uh a nin to-5 so to speak all right our last coach is uh the head football coach at middleberg high school all he did was had the first winning season in 21 years I mean think about that I want you to think you talking about changing a culture like that's a lot and you know how hard that is ask the Jaguars all right all right so um so they've been the playoffs for three years in a row extremely impressive all right 7-3 record um and all that stuff is great that really is but every month this coach and a group of his players go to a a local church and they hand out food baskets to their Community the same community that supports them on Friday and Thursday nights um and then also there there they they do a toy drive a Christmas event Elementary School middleberg is not the only place that does that Clay High also does that if you have never been to that event um it you need to go it's literally life-changing there's it's so powerful and I don't say that lightly again words are cheap all right and host a youth football camp just giving back to the community and one of the cool things that he done is this they have a summer party at the end of every uh a party at the uh at the summer um and so what happens is you know I don't know if you know this or not but the football team's there from 8 to 12 all summer it a it ain't it's not just in season right and so Gary barnish played uh football at clay excuse me at middleberg high school so he's a middleberg high school alone but he also was an allpro so he takes these kids to that gentleman's house who opens his house up who walked the same Halls that they did so they can see like you too you you also can come and and be great you can walk those Halls at middleberg high school and you too can achieve the highest success so you know kudos to Gary barage kudos to coach wolf for making that happen our last coach of the month Mr Ryan wolf all right apologize I know y are tired y ready for me to move on all right the last thing we're going to talk about is our pink out games so if you've heard one thing that's over and over for me servant leadership servant leadership is extremely important like you have putting others before yourself is a big big deal and I think it's something that a trait that we have to teach right and not just talk about it but show it how are we doing these things um so all seven of our high schools during uh the month of October participate in the American Cancer Society and what they do is they raise funds and I can't just say that it's Athletics because that'd be lying if if you look up there that picture you see fbaa there's so many different clubs and organizations that put a part uh that play a huge role in in in for this thing to be successful on the backend away from the schools um Jaclyn Rodriguez with American Cancer Society is absolutely phenomenal her and her team are at the uh are at these games not only that they're you know they're setting up stri like they just do so much not just in here but for our community and and for the First Coast so we certainly cannot than jacyn Rodriguez enough I'm not sure where she is but we certainly cannot thank her enough for all the great things that she does and then the Jaguars um with Adriel and those guys and kin they provide tickets for uh the the team that raises the most money which was Oak Leaf this year and uh they provide some decal so just having both that support from American caner society being able to support them and the support from the Jaguars is a is a really big deal so this year we raised 7,000 uh excuse me $753 if I remember correctly um as as you can look up there and see the different schools what they raise but what's more impressive in 3 years Clay County has raised $27,400 [Applause] [Applause] again thank you guys thank you guys so much for what you allow us to come out recognize these people all right next up um we will recognize uh schools earning medals at State marching band championships Mr Chris Google Fine Arts curriculum specialist good evening again tonight is it is my honor to recognize four of our outstanding High School marching bands for their exceptional achievements at the recent marching band championships for both the Florida Federation of Color Guard circuits or ffcc and the marching band championships fmbc these prestigious competitions are the culmination of several months of hard work dedication and artistic development each year marching bands across the state begin working on their shows in the summer students and staff dedicate hundreds of hours outside of school and personal life to fine-tune their musical skills and marching show Design Elements throughout the first semester of school these marching bands can be seen performing during school football games at community events and at several Regional marching competitions across the state each performance is an opportunity for students to receive valuable feedback that drives the continued development of their marching show as they strive for excellence the season then comes to an end after performing at the State marching band Championship events competing against other marching bands from across the state all vying for one of the coveted medalist spots to cap off their season at this time I'd like to recognize each of our Clay County medal winning bands our first two recognitions could not join us this evening due to schedule conflicts with their Winter band concerts first we congratulate middleberg High School Marching Bronco band Led by band director Tyler Cheney with the support of principal Martin afuk drum Majors include Jasmine trost and Delena meny at the ffcc Championships the Bronco band earned the bronze medal in class 1a in addition to receiving a bronze medal the marching Broncos received recognition for prelims best in class visual prelims best-in-class General effect finals best-in-class color guard and finals second inclass percussion congratulations middleberg High School Marching Bronco band next we congratulate the Orange Park High School Raider band Led by band director Brett pitz and principal Ivan Gund drum Majors include Brandon nap and Tera Ley at the ffcc Championships the Raider band earned the silver medal in class 3A in addition to receiving a silver medal the Raider band received recognition for best overall percussion best overall Color Guard best overall visual best overall General effect and runner-up Grand Champion across classes 1A 2A and 3A congratulations Orange Park High School Raider band [Applause] our next band to congratulate is the Oakleaf High School golden regiment led by Band directors Chad Robbins and Kayla lemac with the support of PR principal Justin fluent the drum major is Naz Nazareth Torres the golden regiment earns the silver medal in Class 5A at the fnbc Championships in addition to receiving a silver medal the golden regiment received recognition for pre liims Class 5A best visual finals Class 5A best visual Class 5A best General effect so at this time we'd like to invite Oakleaf High School band directors band staff student leadership and in the administration to join us at the front for a photo e okay for okay congratulations Oakleaf High School golden regiment either here or right there stud from this just quietly go this way guys and finally we congratulate the Fleming Island High School Golden Eagle marching band Led by Band directors Alexander buck and David Gran supported by principal Thomas Pitman drum Majors include Elanor Parker and Lindsay Jordan the Golden Eagle marching band earned the gold medal in Class 5A at the fnbc Championships and in addition to receiving a gold medal the golden eagle marching band received recognition for Best in class guard best-in-class percussion best-in-class General effect and best-in-class music so at this time we're inviting the Fleming Island High School band directors band staff student leadership and Fleming Island Administration to join us in front for a photo opportunity and Fleming Island thank you guys for joining us on the night of your concert e e you congratulations Fleming Island High School Golden Eagle marching bands [Applause] congratulations to all of the Clay County marching championships medal-winning bands for their hard work dedication and representation of Klay County at the highest level please join me in giving all of our students and staff and directors one final round of [Applause] applause e I want to thank everyone for your patience uh we have a lot to celebrate it's been a very busy year already um but lastly we have the um recognition of our 2024 2025 School related employee of the year and teacher of the year semi-finalist uh Miss Carolyn crawl president of the clay Education Foundation and Kevin ly supervisor of Personnel Services Human Resources good evening school board members and superintendent brosi is my pleasure to introduce this year's simai finalist for Teacher of the Year and school related employee of the year award each of these individuals demonstrate commitment to their students and service to their school communities thank you to the school board superintendent and the selection committee for supporting the nomination process it truly is a joy reading through all of their packets um hearing uh from their peers and and as we read all the letters of support um it's just such a joy to see the difference that they're making in students lives um I hope you all join us and everybody in the crowd joins us on January 23rd for the Apple Awards as we recognized all the nominees um so now I'd like to call up the school related employee of the year uh they're the top 10 U so when you come up when I call your name please come up and stay and we'll get a photo um Shalon Britt from charlesy Bennett Elementary Maria Rodriguez clay hi [Applause] Leslie ner Fleming Island [Applause] Elementary Bianca Thomas Green Cove Springs Junior High Dedra Craven Lake Asbury [Applause] Elementary Misty Massie l Asbury Junior High Heather Proctor McRae Elementary Christina mow Orange Park High [Applause] School Denise Turner Orange Park Junior High School and Joanna lighter Spain from ridu high school [Applause] okay and I have the honor of announcing our top 10 semi-finalists for teacher of the year starting with Tammy Beldon from Charles E Bennett [Applause] Elementary Mr Alexander Buck from Island High [Music] School Tracy lochman from Lake Asbury [Applause] Elementary Tammy Hamill Lake Asbury Jor [Applause] High Christy fields from middleberg high school [Applause] Aaron samples Oak Leaf [Applause] High Amanda Watson Orange Park Elementary Aaron McDonald from Orange Park High [Applause] School Jennifer Wells ridg View [Applause] High and Jordan rundo from Wilkinson [Applause] Elementary congratulations again to our top 10 semi-finalists for Teacher of the Year great job everybody [Applause] thank you all again and [Applause] congratulations e for all right next up we have our School showcase Charles E Bennett Elementary with principal Amanda [Applause] Strickland all right hang on I gotta move this way down there we go okay okay good evening thank you for having us today Mr Broski and Schoolboard members my name is Amanda Strickland I am the principal at Charles E Ben Elementary and with me I have miss juel and miss seamer our assistant principles I need to clicker don't I so at charlesy Bennett one of the things that we are working really hard for our school is making sure that we're building relationships and so this year our prek to fifth grade teachers are all self-contained what does that mean that all students have one teacher they do not switch classes because we want to make sure that our teachers know our students and that they are doing their best for them sixth grade does switch just B based on their minutes we are doing foundations kindergarten through third grade so we've had a lot of schools come visit Charlie Bennett particularly in kindergarten and second so they can learn what how they can help their students with pheic awareness and the phonics program it's a very scripted program and that is what our students need we are also K to six we've asked teachers to do non-contingent reinforcement and what that means is students are doing spending 10 minutes of their day doing non-academic uh activities like Jinga Uno coloring um and stations along with their teacher so they can learn how to talk to one another their model with their teachers of when they have a pro need to use some problem solving type conversations to work through when they get a little agitated or frustrated um and then we are doing a lot of our parent and family engagement nights with our feeder schools we had it I'll I'll show you a minute a picture and then uh we're doing the flooded book study and high expectations for all so one of the things that for me is we wanted to make sure that our benett bees are stewards of our community so we have done a lot we're located in the uh city limits of Green Cove so we have a lot of relationships with the city government we had city government week where uh the gentlemen come out with the bucket truck and the front end loader and the K2 kids learn about those things in their community and then the green Co Springs Police Department brought out grit and that was the K9 so the third through sixth graders learn about how he works in their Community we have things with the mayor we have a lot of um relationships with the public library because half our student body can walk to school and where the Green Cove uh library is those students can also walk to the library so we want to make sure that they understand all those wonderful things in their Community we had a Christmas uh float in the parade our safety patrol uh we lit up a a trailer and they were so excited and then uh a tree and the paraded trees there in Green Cove and we have students U to say the pledge at the Soul Food Festival um there at the park that's right down the street from the school one of the big things this year is making sure that we have Rel relationships with our feeder schools particularly with green Co Jr and for Clay High Clay High comes a lot to have the student athletes and clubs I know some of the uh for the athletes they talked about our the Christmas party that'll be next week so 30 students were sponsored by Clay High's academic clubs and Athletics mainly Athletics to provide Christmas gifts for them so they come and they bring toys and clothes it's a it's a wonderful activity for everybody to join and then we did a we for our tit one school we did a steam and scream so it was at Clay High parking lot and all those came out um we had teachers doing experiments and then their athletic clubs did a trunk or treat we had hot dogs it was a great turnout it rained three times they all stayed um and so it's just trying to like have it where our students see what they're going to do be able to do in junior high and high school we want them to see that so that they are ready to come to school they're excited to come to school they get excited to see the big kids there could be cousins brothers sisters Aunts Uncles they just are excited to see the big kids so um one of the things that we've been able to accomplish is I want them to have school pride and so we are a Cambridge School and so our PBIS schoolwide expectations are the same as our um C Cambridge learner attributes so every morning on the announcements benette bees are responsible Innovative confident engag and reflective and every month we focus on those uh learner attributes so we have given away 160 t-shirts we give away seven t-shirts every Friday so the students can earn they get um student of the month pancakes we've done 265 kids have come to help me on the morning announcements to do the pledge and Bennett Mees R and then we brought back a tradition that had been at Bennett um there had been handprints in the cafeteria and those have been painted over so we brought back the Cambridge B award so their handprint gets to go on building five so when they come back for their senior walk um when they go to Clay High they can come back and take a picture with their handprint hopefully so one of the things that we are working on at benett is we have uh first to sixth grade does walk to read so we are making sure that all students at charlesy Bennett have interventions based on their needs so we are using all the approved programs that are are focused in the science of reading to make sure that our our students are getting what they need for 30 to 45 minutes a day based on their grade level and so one of the things that we want to make sure that we're maximizing Student Success that benit so this past year we went up from a 36C to a 47c so we went up 11 points our goal is to be a b um we Charlie Bennett has not been a b since 2013 so that is our big goal and one of the ways that we're doing that is making sure that they're because we're one team one Hive uh working together as a team in their classes to earn those things using Lexia ITI and Alex making sure we're giving them opportunity to build language skills so we Clay High had sent some students to the National Honor Society we had a vocabulary parade instead of a Halloween parade um and they came dressed as idioms because they were learning about idioms um we're trying to make sure that we're improving attendance the big thing for me as being principal at Bennett is I want to make sure that we enhance All Children's experiences so I put two pictures of sixth graders um they got to go to the hockey game a month ago I went with them they they had not been on a field trip since kindergarten so we want to make sure that all children at Charlie Bennett are going on a field trip this year two grade levels went today they went to mosh first grade and second grade went to the peps candy so we just want to make sure they have those experiences I'm R the bus with them to going over that first Bridge it was exciting to hear that they some of them had never in a bus so um it was it was wonderful experience so we want to make sure that all children at Charlie Bennett are given the opportunities um so that they see what they can do later in life junior high high school and Beyond so thank you for having us miss chickin I just want to thank you for the work that you're doing at Charlie Bennett that school is near and dear to my heart it's several generations of hutching kids went through there and um I'm one of them so I'm just so impressed with everything that you've done I've heard so many um positive reports from people who work there people who have kids there and um just kudos to you and your team thank you so much thank you for so at this time uh we will take last call for comment cards so at this time we will take presentations from the audience uh public comment addressing specific agenda items and at this time I also want to say that um due to increased concern emails and um board member Hansen not being present I ask that our board um consent on public comment at the um end after our board member remarks that we keep the camera on um and allow our constituents to speak for three minutes for this meeting and if we want to have further discussion um we can discuss it in Janu at our next meeting or our next Workshop but I want to um keep the cameras rolling this this meeting sken I just want to get verbal that's fine by me Mr Alo I agree Miss Clark will it be the next Workshop next week or January we can uh Miss Hansen will be back next week right yes okay so we can discuss it then perfect okay so moving forward at the um end if you do not um have a specific comment for our agenda you'll be public comment at uh on a non-specific item at the end you will have your camera time and your three minutes so okay so moving on we are going to the discussion items and I'm going to give everybody a second to pull up their screen we have a lot to vote on tonight so I want to um start with uh D1 Human Resources special action a can I get a motion I'll move approval uh Miss Gila mov uh moves the motion can I get a second I'll second Miss Clark seconds uh all in favor say I I I all opposed vote carries 40 on my computer okay uh Human Resources special action B can I get a motion move approval I have a motion for Miss gilen can I get a second second I have a second for Mr Alo all in favor please signify by saying I I I all any opposed vote carries 40 human resource special action C can I get a motion I'll move approval Miss gilen moves approval can I get a second I'll second Miss Clark second all in favor signify by saying I I any opposed vote carries for out human resource special action D can I get a motion move approval Miss skall in uh motions can I get a second second Mr Alo seconds all in favor please by signify by saying I I I any opposed vote carries 40 human resource special action e can I get a motion move approval Miss gilen moves approval can I get a second I'll second Miss Clark seconds all in favor please signify by saying I I any opposed vote carries 40 all right now we are going to move on to the um public hearing um I'm going to open the Public Public hearing to approve as advertise revisions to the Schoolboard policy 6.01 educational and um ancillary facilities uh at this time if you have anything you want to speak on about this come forward you don't need a comment card seeing none I close the uh public hearing and I need a motion I'll move to approve Miss Clark uh motions second Mr Alo second any discussion uh all in favor signify by saying I I I any opposed vote carries for out [Music] going to open the public hearing to approve as advertised attendance boundaries realignment for Oakleaf Junior High Lake Asbury Junior High and Wilkinson Junior High um if you would like to speak on this matter please come forward you do not need a comment card seeing none I'm going to close the public hearing and ask for motion I'll move approval Miss gilen moves approval can I get a second second Mr Alo seconds any discussion all in favor signify by saying I I I I any opposed vote carries for up I just want to give kudos real quick to our staff for getting in front of what is usually a very controversial issue I think um Mr brosy you and and your staff did a fabulous job of reaching out to the communities and um getting notice out there well in advance so thank you for that work and now we are going to go to the consent agenda uh can I get a motion I'll move approval a motion from Miss Hansen can I get a second miss gilen I miss gilen sorry it's okay can I get a second I look that direction second Mr Al seconds any discussion great uh signify by saying I I any opposed vote carries 40 all right and at this time we are going to have Miss Kidwell come with a um three minute update with ccea good evening and happy holidays um I just want to Echo miss gilhousen about charlese Bennett it's dear near and dear to my heart my first eight years at Klay County I did there and it's a amazing and wonderful place many times challenging but always heartwarming the kids are amazing and um she's doing great work there so that made me happy um as a CCA president I thank you for the opportunity to share the Educator's perspective and I don't think it's any surprise that teachers and students are both counting the days until the holiday break um I remember the excitement of the kids was sometimes difficult to contain and sometimes contagious um songs Proclaim that this is the most wonderful time of the year it's a season of Peace Joy love and hope we Glimpse the incredible possibility of a future where humans put aside their differences and work together toward common goals we see the possibility of a world that is Kinder healthier and happier this season helps us focus on our own power to share joy and peace as we practice the belief that small acts of love will really matter I wish you all a heartfelt blessing this year for joy and the hope of the season and I pray as I do every year that each of us will hold on to our own individual power beyond the season the power to change the world with small Act of Love Every Day blessings to you all and is Mr Roberts here for a sesa update okay so I will hand it over to the superintendent for his all if you can't be inspired I'm surprised people didn't stay around for the up superintendent's update I mean I'm just I'm just totally shocked by all of that but but truly the reason why why we all are in Klay County schools for our students so having the opportunity to celebrate students today uh is so important and uh I appreciate the patience of everybody in the process of doing that but this organization is about students and so it's a big deal to come to the school board and get your certificate we should never ever lose sight of that fact it's a big deal for students and they're the reason why we're all here so I I appreciate the patience today I also am a little bit of a data uh fanatic and so I did a little research study anybody want to guess what month has the most celebrations if you timed them out on the on the videos for the last three years it's been December December and may are the two December was actually more last year so if you're if you're worried about that uh please don't be worried we're going to celebrate students we're going to celebrate even more uh of them so today I've got a couple of things for you a very short update because I knew the presentation would be long today to get us to this point and then when they all left it's like the air the energy went out of the room did you guys feel that like okay I'm not no offense I'm just saying the energy is not there anymore so because the kids are all gone okay schools of the month we have the advisory councils our our letters to Heroes and our winter break so this is very very short tonight our Our Winning um schools Green Cove Junior High see that I think the votes all counted and then Keystone elementary school for November they do a great job at both schools kind of an interesting thing I got a a picture today Santa Claus went to Keystone and and even Santa Claus had to wrapped her in to to and wrapped Santa actually produced an ID uh to go in for for that event so I told Matt boak and said congratulations on the security around our schools uh this upcoming month the theme is readers are leaders okay everyone knows that the more a student reads the more they become proficient the more vocabulary they adopt so vote for your favorite school this month just want to give an update on the on the advisory councils you may or may not know we have a student advisory Council it's 45 students from across all of our schools in the county we meet uh monthly here in this room as a matter of fact and you would be amazed at the quality of students that are on that Council our current focus is College and Career Readiness and you know every time that we have one of those meetings and Miss watt does a great job at at those meetings I always feel fulfilled because you kind of hope that that students turn out that way and then when you experience that and the mature um Nature by which they approach their mission their focus is on College and Career Readiness and one of the things that we discovered is that there's so many forms of communication but it's so inter to me students say well you know we don't I don't read my emails I said okay well I don't like to go to Google Classroom to get the information okay like the only thing left is a smoke signal uh you know out to people but it's just so interesting the way people prefer different forms of communication a lot of great talk there you can see from the from the picture we also have a teacher advisory Council so that's the teacher voice within the district and uh they spent some time working on um our new website design for apy as you know in January that's going to happen the the new websites will come out a revamping of those moving towards a one system of communication to make communication easier for teachers and make it easier for parents who have told us they received too many platforms of information they would appreciate it if we condense the information into one platform so it's kind of One-Stop shopping so a lot of great work there just wanted to celebrate that a little bit tonight holiday letters to Heroes this is a program for the state guard uh and um and so our students have mailed those letters out to them it's kind of like uh an old school letters to the troops out on out in the field uh proud of our our our number one ranking within Civics and we always try to promote those ideals to our students winter break reminders uh remember second semester uh the last day of the second semester is is uh next Friday believe me students students know this so if adults if adults don't know this just ask your student they'll tell you that's the last day and then winter break uh and then we come back teacher planning day is uh January 3rd students return back on January 6th let me just say uh regardless of what uh Merry Christmas to all and regardless what holiday you celebrate I hope that you celebrate that big and you have a great break I I want to also thank the board uh for their support and and welcome Mr Alo to his first meeting thank you all right uh School Board attorney remarks nothing and then we're GNA go to school board uh member remarks we'll start with you Miss Clark we're no we're going to keep the comments at the end after School Board remarks um your microphone yes it's been fun yeah we went out to uh both of the the junior high schools and I think had a good reception as far as the moving of students I think everybody was very positive um that was a nice surprise but uh we served lunch today at B and that's always something to look forward to uh the children are always very grateful I think to have us and to have a good meal so um that's it's just nice to see their their faces of course when you try to give them vegetables that's not always not always so easy but um anyway I look forward to this Christmas it's actually my 50th wedding anniversary with my husband although I'm only 39 so um you know I look back to the memories of of those 50 years of family and uh take each each one of them with your family especially when they're young as as valuable thanks Mr Al well last week I had the pleasure to go to Oakley High School to the Winter concert and uh it was awesome I would recommend it to anybody they do an a great great job in O Lea high school the band I thank the director of the band and uh you know from the board everybody for the job that they doing and offered our support thank you guys for staying here listen to us um I I'll be short I want to Echo Miss kidwell's remarks tonight um that's truly the focus of the season is um hope um hope for the future and um just so thankful for um the birth of Christ that allows us to have that hope and um I pray that everybody has a safe and happy holiday restful with family um making lots of sweet memories to hold on to and cherish for years to come um and I want to welcome Mr Alo as well to the board to your first official regular board meeting um and Miss Skipper Kudos on doing a fantastic job running your first real full meeting I know it's a lot to carry so good job y thank you for that and um I just want to say I know the room's cleared out thank you to um tobacco free clay uh I don't get to partake in a lot of their meetings um because they conflict with our meetings but um they have a great group working together to um promote Health within our schools and um a lot of people don't know this and a lot of people don't realize how big of an issue it is but vaping is an issue across the board across the United States across Florida um my family has been personally affected by this and the causes and harms of vaping as a registered nurse in the emergency room by trade um I've seen this and so I'm very passionate about it um I offer my full support and and whatever we can do to keep our schools tobacco free um education policies whatever we need to do to keep our kids safe because a lot of times they don't think about repercussions for later on in life um they think about the here and the now and not the future uh I myself have been guilty of that so I want to thank them um and let them know that I am here for whatever they need um and and promoting and and helping and doing whatever we can do to to stop that um I also want to say Merry Christmas and um enjoy your kiddos it's a busy time of year I have a four and a seven-year-old and um it is crazy at the skipper household more so than than usual uh this time of year so um I'm trying to soak it up and and take it all in enjoy your class parties enjoy the handprints um the artwork all the things that um are going to go by so fast um so I just I want to tell everybody merry Christmas and then um thank you all thank you for your support welcome Mr Alo it's going to be fun I hope you're ready and then now we will go to um presentations from the audience and uh first one we have is uh Mr Ean NOA Miss constant you are on Deck hello echon NOA address on vile um y'all had a discussion on the public comment um thing at the workshop so I wanted to just offer some additional perspectives uh with the Viewpoint from accessibility um as you keep having the conversation forward um I broke it down into basically three parts um I took from from the workshop I took it that the main problem was figuring out how to engage with the people doing the public comment um so for the three part it was I figured there was s issues with where it is in the meeting of having at the end versus in the beginning or someplace in the middle um filming doing the live stream and then just general engagement as well uh for the first one with the location um the main point here is those us who are going to be here like me and others who are interested in the business and politics that we're going to be here no matter when the public comment is but you need to remember that you are serving students and parents who might not have that time constraint to be able to be here the entire time um so there's certainly is an argument to have it at the end like we are doing now there's also arguments to have it at the very beginning so they can do their public comment and get out um so they can say what they need to say and make things heard um for the second Point regarding to filming uh there's a lot of things that can be said for this regarding accessibility the main one is um the filming helps out with people who are attending meetings online so there could be a potentially an argument that for those who can only come to these meetings online you're violating Ada uh so that might be something you have to look at to um figure out if you want to make sure you keep filming the public comments or you choose not to do that at all um that would just be a legal question that I don't know that much about but you all have people that do so um and then if for the thir thing about the engagement that one really just depends on how you want to Define what you want to do for engagement and uh response responding to our comments um it could be that this particular meeting is not the right place to do the um engagement and we need to do it more in like the workshops or office hours stuff like that um that would be something that you all will need to figure out um better um at the workshop and see what works for accessibility um but the main point here is don't forget don't forget about accessibility in all these um different ways because they'll affect how these meetings really function for going forward so that's all I have thank you thank you m pan Botham and Miss Lansford you are on Deck constant higen Botham and my address is on record good evening and happy holidays Merry Christmas most happy Hanukkah whatever you celebrate hope you enjoy it um 2025 is a year for new year new challenges I just want to give you update of what the retired educators are doing January we will have again our Black History Month essay contest for K through six and in February we'll have the women's History Month essay contest for 7 through 12 uh we'll also at that time be announcing the winners of the library literacy and learning writing contest that the students participated in we've gotten with all our local authors who judged all the work and now we have the winners so we'll officially do that in January I saw the schedule was really busy tonight so we saw have no point in trying to Cloud that um also tonight I want to acknowledge our two grant winners this year Tracy Johnston from Thunderbolt Elementary and um Amy husky from The bamman Learning Center they both presented Grant uh request for money for gardening activities and um so we think that will be really great it was really good last year at Thunderbolt we went out and visited him uh they do art language uh Math Science History of plants and animals so it's very very good at Thunderbolt so we're looking forward to seeing the same type of thing at Bannerman Learning Center for secondary so we want to uh congratulate them on their grants and their Awards also I've spoken to Carolyn crawl at the Education Foundation and once they complete the necessary paperwork for the foundation they will also be matching the grants this year so that's a double goody thing for educators thank you and again Happy Holidays thank you Miss Lansford Miss Torres you're NE you're on Deck remember to state your name and your address okay doloris Lansford 288 Orga Drive Orange Park 32073 uh make it short and sweet I've stood out here for two and three hours to discuss what you had decided to put somewhere else I so I'm just going to make my statement now this is America I don't want a camera turned off and I think what's being said here if you're hiding it tell us that's that's just it I'll see you the next meeting but when you're going to take something off that I came to speak about now I've got to wait until next month to do it so I'm upset about it but I'll live thank you good night Miss Torres Mr fredman you're on Deck my name is Sheila Torres my address on file okay one of the stuff that is actually an issue to me is transportation in itself I live towards the Oakleaf area which is um not exactly there but off of Cheswick Oak when you guys redistricted the school you guys put my kids all the way into Orange Park and what you guys to realize that the commute during the morning time is busy bumper the bumper traffic my kids get the school bus is supposed to be arriving there at 6:36 give the kids sufficient time to get to the school eat they eat their breakfast talk to their friends or if they got early touring early that morning they need to have access to that but when there's traffic on argal traffic on Blanding like how much time do you expect for these kids to have when it comes to toring or sitting down to eat breakfast with their peers there was an accident let's just say a couple of weeks before Thanksgiving break you guys know well Orange Park High School knew that traffic was backed up my kid went to school expected to eat breakfast the bus got there close about 7:20 he wasn't able to get breakfast that morning they denied him to eat breakfast not only my kid but every other kid in that school that arrived late then on top of that I'm getting calls about my kids being tardy how can my kids get except for being tardy when it's Transportation that's getting them to and from school that to me is an issue the other morning the bus literally left my neighborhood a little bit after 7:00 now if it takes 20 minutes with traffic to get to the Orange Park High School how like how is that possible for these kids to eat now if an adult get hangry because they didn't eat breakfast imagine a child then we talking about well this child is not paying attention this child is being disrespectful so they get ISS real fast and quick but whose fault is it is it the adults like you guys have to think about the process that it takes for our kids to travel on a school transportation to and from school and then being denied breakfast and everything else that to me is a big issue now yes I have spoken to transportation and we um they have fixed the problem but I'm also aware that in some of these buses there are certain situations going on now if you guys remove what is it a cheve $3,000 $600,000 that money could have been allocated to getting bus monitor to ensure that our kids getting to school on time because if there's a situation on the bus the bus driver which is one of though has to pull over and get stuff under control so think about how that affects our kids when it comes to their safety and their well-being and all that other stuff like it is getting ridiculous so who is responsible who should we hold accountable because somebody needs to be accountable for this particular situation the transportation needs to find another way and if yall got extra money allocated to put in monitors in these [Applause] buses Mr Freedman Miss Elizabeth you're on Deck hi Bruce Freedman address on file welcome Robert um last couple of weeks I sent out an email attached to it was one informal challenge not going to discuss the content of that book but it's not porn and since that email went out that book has disappeared since that was an informal challenge I am submitting one formal challenge there are 11 words in my keywords list that I will not say at this meeting in this very small book those 11 words are mentioned more than a hundred times there's not much else to the book besides profanity our kids deserve better I believe I mentioned that what are you doing to make it better besides impeding the process and slowing me down I don't know um more than 500 titles are gone from all our schools because I've been spending anord amount of time digging through the destiny system to clean up your mess not yours everybody else with regards to informed consent when parents are signing on to get various levels of access to these libraries they should know yes 500 horrible books are gone congratulations a 100 or so more moved to a restricted parental section whatever there's hundreds more on the shelves in every school that are just as threatening as the ones I've been fighting for the last 2 and a half years and you did not put in any kind of express lane or redirect your staff to clean up their own mess shouldn't be my job but since you won't act it's my job one last item I spoke to uh Miss Johnson about it if you go on to the destiny system there's a little tab off to the top left called collections in those collections you can find four separate lists of books that Julie Miller likes Julie Miller's been gone for good reason some of the books she's put on her likes list are also gone they're porn they've been identified as a threat to children and they're out so why are they still anywhere on the destiny system in her recommended list because you didn't address the recommended list all of those lists needs to be wiped clean or go scrub them yourself go through every title I already know which ones are bad there's a lot of them that's on you I'm dropping off my one challenge the Happiest merriest Christmas to you all thank you Miss Elizabeth and Miss Judith you are on Deck uh hello board members my name is Elizabeth buschbacher my address is on file as you all know I have spent the first Thursday of every month just as you have here at Schoolboard meetings I can also be found at Community me meetings hosted by the school district and the occasional budget meeting I bring something to crochet sit down and listen I don't do this for the thrill of it or to get out of cooking dinner once a month I'm here because transparency communication and accountability are extremely important to have between a school district and the community between spring of 2020 and until I moved here in Spring of 2022 my daughter's school life got upended like so many other children there are 500 school districts in Pennsylvania and each handled the lockdowns differently from one that slapped a Bo box of masks on every teacher desk and continued on as normal to schools that were expelling students for non-compliance with masking rules I spent Tuesday nights explaining to Schoolboard members that their quarantine policies brought back segregation into schools that their refusal to accept documentation from medical exemptions violated the rights of disabled children and that their plan to random sample children during the school day for covid with no swabs with no parental notification and no way for the child to refuse was wrong in a lot of ways many times in those meetings Florida would be discussed access to outof state board meetings through social media was crucial for many of us in other states I don't know how many of you all here know at that time how everyone everyone not in Florida was talking about Florida Pennsylvania School boards were creative in their ways to shut up people they didn't like kicking out people who wouldn't mask kicking out those with small children since those under five were virus vectors moving to Tiny rooms and filling them with extra staff to reach lower 6 feet apart room occupancy rates reducing times to 2 minutes or removing public comment alt together pre-screening parents under the guise of needing a verified address to receive QR codes to enter and then not sending the codes and holding the meetings anyway I myself had the police called on me for not masking the board decided to cancel the meeting and held the next three months on viral claiming I was a danger to their safety they then installed a police officer on site and rolled out metal detectors for meetings I know it is hard at times to listen to opinions you don't agree with or at times when situation has gotten out of hand some think that could have been solved but for whatever reason the school administration has stopped communication and then this meeting this venue with its Sunshine laws is the only way for a parent to advocate for their child it is annoying when someone decides to use this public meeting as a way to grandstand and not talk about anything School related but just to feed their own ego but the answer is not to silence them you have to bring bring your counterargument and have a conversation you have been elected because the people in clay want you here specifically you they want your leadership and ideas I encourage all of you to work on finding and using all the tools you have to communicate respond and debate ideas put to you not fall into intimidation tactics and silencing those who are a thorn in your side Miss Judith good evening Judi Chapelle and my address is on file what an amazing group of students we had today with a great group of people packed this room completely filled the meeting started the board meeting started at 7 15 I have brought this issue up before I am 100% in favor of recognizing students I have one myself as a matter of fact we have a wall that I have dedicated to her Awards when she gets to high school I'm sure I will have to dedicate another wall to her achievements I am sure based on the amount of people that were in this room today there would be no problem with them attending a meeting specified for awards and recognition because the school board meeting as you can see the people who are interested in attending the school board meeting are still here but the people who are interested in attending the awards and recognition for their children their grandchildren their nieces their nephews are no longer [Applause] here Merry Christmas this meeting's a journ for