##VIDEO ID:Fk4Gt4d5By8## e e e e e e e e e e e e got quite a bit of e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e all right we're going to bring this meeting into order if you would r as R Brown uh bless this upcoming school year then we'll do the FL ladies and gentlemen this is a very important um thing in our lives we start a year with our children so actually we all would just would just pray to God with the meet the because all of our hearts are GI to what kids being the best they can be and we ask God to bless all of us let us let us pray etal God our Father we thank you for everything you've done thank you Lord for the opportunity to serve and to serve our children and to serve this District God we each and now every time this year every point in this year every student every staff member every every teacher oh God give them thecourage do the best that they can do most of all God lead us leadership that we need to be led by now only you can lead them let's our who to be safe and prosperous in Jesus name amen amen amen amen pleas to the flag of the United States of America and to theic for it stands one nation under God indivisible with liy and justice for all before your seated this evening I would ask you to join me in a moment of silence for two individuals that served our district students for a very long period of time the first one is Miss Joan Patterson she was a teacher and administrator for Henry County schools from 1954 through 1993 she taught as a first grade teacher and was a principal at the Bell elementary school after retiring she continued to Ser serve as a substitute teacher Miss Patterson passed away on July 24th 2024 the second individual is Miss Dorothy saucer she worked with Henry County schools from October of 1990 through July of 2003 in finance as a property records Clerk Miss saer was very dedicated and loved employee she passed away July 27th please join me in a moment silence for these two individuals thank you very [Music] much all right Mr superintendent we have a presentation today I see yes we do uh thank you Mr chairman um this evening Mr Sanchez and Miss Duncan are going to be given a presentation kind of outlining um the the school grade data um from the previous school year um as some of you well know uh we had an absolutely phenomenal school year academically and there's a lot to be proud of there's a lot to celebrate and we want to take this opportunity to share some of the very specific things that are our students and teachers achieve and take this opportunity to show our appreciation to them we'll talk more about it as we go through or at the end if you have questions so without further Ado I'll let Mr Sanchez and Miss Duncan take it over all right thank you Mr chair superintendent and the board we are so glad to be here tonight to present to you our 2324 School data um as we work in Henry we continue to strive to climb to the best academic potential of our students and give it all we've got so we're excited to share with you the journey we've had this last year and some of our actions moving forward we'll cover not only the grade band changes because there were some things at the state individual school performance District data performance the process we kind of utilize as a district to help ourselves continue Decline and then glad to take any questions at the end or throughout and uh you know one thing one Trend that you're going to observe today is the growth that word is going to come up a lot we didn't put that in our agenda but we're going to we're going to talk a lot about grow grow grow and progress you know because our Mantra and our motto this year is climb you know our job every year should be to take one step up the mountain you know because our kids deserve to be an invest at the very top in terms of performance all right so we want to start by talking about school grade ban uh changes because when you look at school year 22 you look at school year 23 you look at school year 24 there are just differences in the way that the school grades were um were measured and so in 22 it didn't matter whether you were in Elementary Middle High School 62% of all eligible points or higher was in a and you can see the the trend line there in the Baseline year because 23 did not have learning gains uh were were not part of the calculations the state did adjust it based on the differences between High School middle schools and elementaries as you see there and that was because of the new assessment they were changing assessment so they had to accommodate for the Baseline year okay and then 23 24 yeah so for this coming or this last school year um Elementary did have double points in third grade so previously you just had a third through fifth grade one score and this past year we had third grade counting twice it counted in that three through five band and it also counted individually of 100 points in its own and so there was 800 points for elementary and then a total of 12,200 points to culate the entire District school grade um still it continues to be the a through d letter grades as we proceed forward and you notice there how uh this past school year they did differentiate the uh percent of points between Elementary and secondary schools middle and high schools have to achieve a higher threshold in order to be considered in schools 64% of points versus 62% in Elementary uh in order to be a b uh you have to have at least 57% of points in the secondary world and in elementary it's at 54% which is the old way that all schools were graded back back in 22 and just to recognize on that point they did not announce that change in the scores until about what two weeks ago yeah July the day that the grades were released where the grade where was the day that this was announced uh made surpris we've changed the scale I we we knew that it could change that was on the table um but we were really hoping that they didn't change it and they did so so it would have been high if they had not changed yes sir and we're going to explain that to you and do you think well the diff the differentiation and the secondary um it has a higher threshold to get a higher grade is that because they have the benefit of acceleration in and the CTE credits and like also to factor in graduation rates do you mean why they raised it yes so it's two from the Baseline because everything was pure proficiency last 22 23 and now we're here but now there's a there's another caveat to that too for some reason and I am unable to explain this the the state wants to keep relatively the same number of a schools and B schools and C schools throughout the state from year to year to year they don't want a lot of fluctuation so they wait till they get all the scores in and see where the scores would wind up and then they will adjust that basine to keep the number relatively the same I am for the for the life of me can't figure out why they would do that you know it be like me saying be a Schoolboard member if you'll do these things we will give you x amount of salary for a teacher but you know what because there's more of you than what we thought we're going to raise that bar another 10 ft and see if you can jump over that one and then we will give you what we said we would give you and so it is an ambiguous moving Target from year to year to year and I don't like it but it is what it is and and even with that I think you're going to see some remarkable gains in growth that we had this year so it's twofold it's not just the of the academic piece it's another way that they have of adjusting and keeping the the state somewhat equal in numbers and for lot of don't know why it's in the law if you want to look at it's called the escalator clause and it's just just literally what you said like you can only have so many school a you so they move the target so in the life of me I can understand why I mean I believe the purpose of grades district grades and school grades is for the lay person who's not in education to have a idea of how the particular District in school's performing yet what we put before our kids they can earn an A through an f um on their daily assignments and their tests but there's no districts they didn't give any District in the state below a SE mhm and that's that's my thought concerning it is I don't think it's like an actual well I would say a disingenuous representation so we can expect an escalator Clause next July year escalator says that if if within each one of the Bands Elementary midd High if you have 75% or more eligible schools in that band uh that that are a and Bs they must adjust to the following year [Music] you can't hit that 75 is that magic threshold you can't have more than 75% of the schools in any particular band be more than 75% A's and B's then we have to ratch up the scores that's what the escalator proc and the purpose of doing that is to do what you have to call the state that's that's that's where the mystery is we really don't understand that right if you can make an A on a test you deserve an A but we can we can we earned a but this year but they decided to move the grading scale so it's really not a be you know so we we don't that's where we truly don't understand what the meaning behind it is on the stakes level that moving the target it's a moving that's exactly what it is it's a moving Target that we try to hit they did that on actual sometimes you can go back and like challenge the grade they've had districts or school grades change and they met the threshold that that they advertised and then they said well we already have that many here so you're just got to keep your old grade even though but all the criteria to be issued of improve grade you're going to have to keep you old there's no recognition at all of what you know it's wild it's wild but we are super excited to share with you the the progress we have made and and yeah so um we put the comprehensive uh data metric points of all 10 schools at one one pager per per per gr right we went what we want to do here is really highlight for example the first school that goes down from top to bottom is LMS if you look at LMS look at the the gains that they made in learning gains so they weren't LMS was 39% in learning gains uh in 2022 they went up to 53% in um in 2024 that BL Road it's the blue to right so you look at vertically right you look at their uh learning gains in the lowest cortile they were in the 20s LMS was in the 20s two years ago now they're in the 50s can you expand that the lowest quartile because that is something this Board needs to really make sure they wrap around and understand what you mean by that yeah so every year at the end of uh the testing when all the scores come out right you have to rank the scores in terms of pertile right and so the bottom 25% of the kids that took the assessment in Spring 2024 those kids the state looks at of those kids how many of those May learn Gaines the following year so you have to SP pay very special attention and one of the things that we really try to improve upon this past year is being very intentional looking at the date at an individual student level especially in in in secondary because that was honestly a routine practice that we've had in the past and so um you know we you have to break down you have to calculate those learning things overall you have to look at the as lowest cortile kids and then be very intentional about targeting and knowing what each kid needs in order to make a Year's worth of learning games okay and the learning games go by based on if you're level one there are three different buckets that you can move into so you could be a low level one and go to a midlevel one and still make a year worth of learning you can remain a level one and still as long as you make growth within the level one okay and and and I want to be more delineated about that the lowest 25% are just so you'll know that's a student students with disabilities that's the students who are academically disadvantaged they've come to us with elll they don't read ever seen a book before been in school before and so the work that our schools have done to surround that bottom 25 percentile of students and move them forward has been remarkable that was very intentional um we asked the schools we asked the Departments to make very specific delated plans and basically even an elll Task Force if you will that we created to make sure that we were working with those students because it is very very powerful to move when you move the bottom courti forward you make Leaps and Bounds with the rest of your District so we knew that that was something that we had to work on and they absolutely answered the call Mr Sanchez when I look at this I can understand that you didn't have learning gains in 23 because that's your Baseline but on bump up to the where we're comparing a fast exam which there was outrage about so not outrage but the FSA exam was an outrage about that because there were it's one snapshot of a one kids performance one snapshot at a certain time and so that was we got rid of that and adopted the fast model which is progress monitoring so why in this the data that doesn't involve learning games are we comparing two different tests so because all we're looking there for all we're looking at that data is the trends right and so overall proficiency so in the in the data that does not involve learning gains we really are looking at 23 to 24 right so when you look at for example the first category Ela you can see an Ela at at label Middle School we actually slipped one point in overall Ela peny for 42 to 41% right other schools made tremendous gains look at West Side Elementary uh it went from the 40s to high 50s there so when it comes to the non uh learning gain categories over Ela proficiency your math proficiency your science proficiency um all that you really are looking 23 to 24 all right because you have that's a more apples apples comparison because those are the two exact same tests that you're measuring you're measuring growth I'm saying we didn't have anything to compare the learning I mean I understand that part but but overall you see a lot of different areas where you see tremendous growth look at the math at Clon High School just look at look at the very last category High School you look at math um proficiency over the last two years at CHS in 22 23 we were in the 20s there right we're still not where we want to be but there is tremendous growth there all right there's progress there look at the math learning gains at Clon High School from the 20s down to the 50s up to the 50s all right so a lot of areas of growth here and that's a testament to the work that our teachers are doing that our administrators are doing the students are doing so in the elementary world you see the same Trend as well I mean lots of tremendous growth um um and one thing we didn't put in this chart is the healing proficiency of third grade but we do have that coming up the next slide I think you're going to be are these are these um hard numbers how do they compare how you compare them to our 5year strategic plan and our goals that are set there where we want to be we're still not meeting the bark in terms of our of plan um but you know our goal like I said earlier is really to continue to climb to keep climbing right to keep making positive progress towards the goals that we have outlined um in in the Strategic plan and so the evidence is very clear there when you look at um when you look at the learning games at at Westside which is that pink category lowest l25 Westside 44 to 64 we've got some areas that we've got to work on there too look at science at C Middle School we definitely have to work on that piece there okay we've got some some work to do in in math at lell high school as well all right but looking at this data allows us to celebrate the strong points and allows us to really focus the energy the effort in terms of the the areas that we got to we got to improve we got to improve US history at got approve social studies at Clen High School 100% we've got a lot of work to do but we're we're proud of the trajectory we're on yeah we're very proud U the tremendous growth the overwhel overwhelming majority of data points that we have here are showing positive growth in the right direction right keep going along with that yes so as you know um last year was our full year of implementing um youly K through2 we had a couple schools that piloted the year before and so we're so excited to start seeing our data in third grade with the positive trend as you can see Proficiency in third grade reading from 23 to 24 has really went up at every category the only one that stayed status quo was and we have some action plans in place for that so I feel like we're seeing the foundational skills in K1 and two produce better outcomes for our readers where they are reading um come third grade and we are seeing our students reading proficient in third grade so we're really excited this will be year two fully um all schools implementing youly continuing to partner with the university continuing to add trainings for that um we're adding doing a fluency training later this week with um with the unity of Florida to help us continue our track and progressing with that and um to add on to that you know while 23 to 24 was a 10% growth districtwide in third grade which is huge it's really hard to get a 10% gain in a year um third through fifth grade if you take that average we had a 5% gain in third through fifth as an average which again is is no easy feat when you're looking at fifth graders who sometimes disengage from reading and because they you know they transitioning to to Middle School we're super proud of not only this data but the fact that our third through fifth grade band had an average of a 5% increase as well in literacy tremendous uh tremendous progress there when we look at uh total School points across the um the Contin really and when you look at this chart you really have to look at the blue to the gray all right because if you look at the orange the orange is is going to give you a a odd number because the school points are lower than 23 because they took out 4 categories okay all the learning GS right so that's why those numbers are lower it's not like we just drop in performance right it just say you have less points to work with to begin with so you really have to look at the blue to gray look at the blue to gray LMS blue to gray Lees blue to gray Westside blue to gray East Side blue to gr uh Central blue to gray LHS blue to gray um Country Oaks blue to gray right you see the growth here you see the growth you see the positive progress in the right direction right and when you look at uh total School points I mean some of our schools um you tremendous progress there again you know when you look at the blue to gray um and even when you compare because you can compare more accurately percent of school points from 23 to 24 even though it's kind of wonky still to the comparison but even when you do a 23 to 24 comparison even when you compare orange to gray you still see um you know Positive Growth all right so really proud of that postive grow so looking at our school grades for Elementary from the last couple of years from 22 to 24 again not looking at 23 because of that um removal of those certain lines you can see all of our schools either increased or stayed the same with the exception of one um there was a lot of changes within that school last year and there's a lot of changes moving forward so again we're very proud of um the schools you we have an a school that has accomplished West Side that that is a b was one point from an A literally one point from an a um Le even though they did have a d score they were one point from the C and so we're right on the cuso greatness with all of those things as well so we're really proud about the path that we're continuing to go on that we're striving to increase our um scores in every category and addressing all students where they are Mr Sanchez spoke to it earlier but we are really looking at that progress monitoring data after pm1 after pm2 and really trying to Target individual students and rearrange what's being done if something's not working at the school and the DAT is showing that it's not working for a said student or a said group of students you know what are we doing differently to support that school and make sure that we're targeting so that they can make the appropriate gains not only as an individual student but as a as a school group as well so there's a lot of work around disaggregating data with us and really helping the schools facilitate great conversations to drive that instruction I want to I want to clarify one thing as well if you look at Lael Elementary School with the d-grade they actually increased in academic points over last year last year they re C they increased in academic points in this year a d and again that's because of the grade band Readjustment that the state did it's just again annoying that we improve and then our grade goes down um and so we fell into that category however having said that there's a new principal there last year was her first year and they are they have made some changes throughout the year last year and they're already making some phenomenal changes this year I've got new no hesitation no doubt that uh this year they're going to Excel and and that that will not be an issue um we will go through the protocols from theate for being a dchool and if they want to come they can we're happy to have them but U that that school will not be at that status in 12 months from now agre and then when you look at the secondary uh schools I'm so proud of the the work that our teachers and leaders do in the minum high school level uh you see that we have yet to break the all be because had the state not changed the minimum score for a BD CL Middle School would have been a b school this past school year but they raed it up to 57% right and then all our other three schools were really knocking on the door of what used to be the old uhb school grade and so I put the percentage of points there U from 22 to see that even though we're we're still sea schools there's been a lot of growth within that se range you know you've got uh Clon high school went up uh nine points you got Le Middle School went up 10 points you got uh CL Middle School's gone up Five Points even L high schools you know kind at one point and so we're pushing closer to that b Mark and that is our goal our our goal our vision is to have high performing middle and high schools that can at least beb schools every single year and uh we're going to continue to make progress we're going to continue to climb we're going to keep climbing because the top of one Mount quickly becomes the bottom of the next you that's got to be the the when you look when I look at that that slide and I look at um you know you said lell High School only came up one point where they started um in at the fast they were I mean like blowing everybody out of the park um in the 22 fast so they you know it's hard you as you know it's harder to get those games when you're performing higher your grade the harder it is to sustain too yeah it's like when you're climbing a mountain right it's a lot easier to get from base camp in Mount Everest right to base camp one when you go from base King FL to B to to the summit it's going to be a lot less oxygen a lot more hard so the journey becomes harder and into all the points that were made there there are certain things that principales know they can do to get an enormous amount of gains this year and we really work hard to not do that we want to make a broad sustainable growth so that as we make the slow steady gains and we get to that point it's more of a sustainable place to be rather than leaving everything behind and focusing all on English or all on science and just pouring everything you've got into that and so that's one of the things that all 11 now the schools are doing is making sure that we're doing slow steady but yet incremental growth to get us to a better spot very intentional work all right you see on this chart these are the 12 categories that affect the district overall grade and so when you look at uh third grade ELA was the first year that that metric was included in in our district grade uh you look at the others Ela profic efficiency you can see the the the growth in the trajectory there when you look at Ela learning gains uh math proficiency look at math proficiency is a district right you look at uh social studies you know we've kind of plateaued there we need to continue to focus on that to to raise that up um and we've got uh some work to do also with our Middle School acceleration points and we kind of plateau there as well science grew a little bit but that's something that we continue to to work on so um you know again like I said beginning growth right growth we've seeing progress in all areas that we're being held accountable for the hard work of our teachers the hard work of our administrators is having a positive impact in terms of the the data and the metrics all right so this is our wow moment um when you look at the data over the last several years our goal for this year this is the first year Mr Sanchez and I were talking about this before the meeting you know we really have always had a vision but last year was the first that we really not only have the vision but align the vision not only from the school level but from the top all the way down you we met we made a district goal and then we met with the principles and we had them do a school goal and how does the school goal go into the district goal all the way down to the student level and so it was really cool to watch and we set a goal of 54 % for this year and that was going to get us a be and everybody had a role to play and we literally laid it out like a like a triangle an inverted Tri triangles what we've got to do to get here 23 24 our goal was a 54 we not only hit that goal we exceeded that goal 54 should have been a b district for Henry County and so we are Beyond thrilled to just say that you know 56 we met our goal we exceeded our goal darn the state changed the rules but in our hearts we really are the we accomplished what we set out to do last year we couldn't be more proud so our goal next year is going to be what at least 57 at least go with the 57 we got to get baseball hats with 57 on you know hind 57 t-shirts with 57 cuz everybody needs to think you know 57 is the summit this year 57 is a summit and once we get there then it'll be 58th is a summit and you know have you have you figured theoretically what our points would look like if we did not have the Digital Academy of Florida and Olaf so what would that look like this data they this data that we're talking about for 23 24 does extrap those kids they were taking out pull those kids now you can't I'm going to say this this is my analogy about da and that is you can't take the money for the foster kids and not put them in the Christmas card picture so what would our what would our points look like with with the them included so for example the 48 what would it be without the The Da yeah like I want to know like where how close are we if we have you know putting them in there because unless we are planning to get rid of them you know to in that relationship um they do factor into our data well they do to some extent but remember we've been telling you that we've been working really hard with the state and this is the result and so now they are not factored into that piece of it Force that's the work that we Standalone data right that's right exactly did that happen over the last 6 months or so I've been telling you that we've been working on hard we have been and last year we thought we had it and it didn't happen this year we thought we had it almost didn't happen Roberto we sent him on a bird hunting trip to Orlando and he h it down the commissioner of education and so push through with so the official information for this year they have removed da or sorry the doe has removed DA they separated that for the school accountability pie yes okay yeah okay it's done now there are certain things they still show up as a Henry County school they still show up in certain categories right but not when final calculations are done all right we also wanted to highlight and this is goes back to a previous uh presentation that we did about discipline but when you look at the total uh number of discipline referrals in 22 um you know we about half that in 24 so you can see the inverted relationship between as disciplined referrals go down academic performance goes up because if the kids are spending time the classroom our ad minist are focusing more on coaching and developing teachers and playing with teachers versus I would like to suggest the opposite that as well as teachers focus more on academics and the rigor and the best management practice that keep students engaged discipline goes down so I don't I don't think that you know it could go either way but I'm going to go on the side of our teachers are doing a phenomenal job at teaching and and engaging students and they don't you know have the opportunities to get in trouble yeah there's less to get the classroom management issues with the instruction is a quality in in the classroom right all right U we wanted to spend some time talking about you know what are the contributing factors that have led to this growth right because this this is not magic doesn't just happen right it takes a lot of hard work it takes a lot of planning it takes a lot of being intentional you're strategic and so really you know in our minds it really starts with setting that Vision right going back to the Strategic plane um I know four years ago came on on board it's like we want to be a high performing School District we want to be academically focused on the things so you know setting that that Clear Vision for what does the summit look like for ours for collectively as as a school district and then really drilling down into if that's where we want to go then these are the things that we've got to focus on right we've heard a lot about academics culture systems and this year we expanded that to U you know the AC clim which is culture leadership instruction mind only those are the five pillars that good instruction revolves around and takes place because instruction is the core of clim begins with culture right and it concludes with the belief in kids and the belief in their potential their capacity and our ability to Aspire them to believe even more and themselves then you have to look at the engagement piece which is that's been I think a big shift in our district the last four years I think you I don't think we get enough credit for that we have really engaged with the schools and I'm more deliberate way around instruction and really strengthening the instructional cultures that are at place at each school and it starts with just having people at the district level like myself and M stuning that that talk with day the talk instruction that meet with principles on a regular basis that meet with coaches that meet with assistant principles Deans and the conversation is always about learning about data about improving um the way that we uh deliver instruction in the classroom it begins it's about those wraparound engagement supports right like the mentoring pieces that we do I know uh last couple years we've done a a mentoring project at Clon high school that really helped boost up the graduation rate among African-American seniors there um talk about the school visit instructional walks you know we we host those quarterly that you know that's that that is a a practice now that that's an embedded way of how we do work every nine weeks we're going to go visit the schools we're going to look at the data we're going to walk classrooms right and we're going to engage in discourse with our administrators and with our leaders there about what tweets what things that we need to change and modify to really deliver optimal uh instruction in the classroom for our kids all right so it's about that engagement and I would just add on that the schools collaborating with one another continues to grow and be a perent piece of improvement as well because you know when you have six elementary schools if one person's doing something well why make somebody else try to figure it out share that information which coach the other schools so building that collaborative relationship amongst the the schools has been huge I even emailed high school today because we were looking for a certain policy or what does a school do on this for one of the elementaries and we're like well none of us do it so let's ask at high school like just that collaborative conversation is so huge that we can really learn from each other's best practices and just you know I keep saying you know one mind were smart but all the minds together we make a genius and um it's really true that's a concept that was formed four years ago four years ago um there was 10 principles that kept their arms around their sandbox and and you don't even look over here right and now we got got 10 principles that call each other and share and send APS to get information and training and stuff like that so we're really proud of the work they've done there with that engagement collaboration yeah and that collaboration that leads then that collaboration leads to development and Improvement right and helping other people build up their capacity um two weeks ago we had our uh administrators from Westside you know do a standard based uh training for the rest of the administrators that we we had all the administrators there right over 50 60 right St and and everybody got the exact same training for all day long on standard spased planing right because we're going to really improve the quality of our teacher planning right it starts with the expertise and that planning IQ of our administrators and so we've got to continue to Leverage The the talent and the capacity that we have internally and help share that right through collaboration help develop other people right iron okay sers can you speak to so I I my Mountain to di is direct instruction and I I as an adult I learned better from um being shown how to do it as opposed to being saiding this you know this is what I want you to accomplish and if you know so if you want me to learn effectively and execute effectively direct instruction and so how are we helping teachers through modeling and providing that direct instruction model because we have so many young ones we have a very young staff and how you who is the responsible for that direct instruction and modeling of young teachers and we're getting more teachers that are not teacher background trained correct how how do we how are you know how is that model being implemented into the engagement a lot of that it's twofold a lot of that comes from directly from our principles and our our assistant principles going into classrooms of modeling but a Hu a bigger piece of that is really with particularly in elementary is our instructional coaches our literacy coaches that are continuously going in and modeling lessons for teach teachers and that is something that the principles have put in place to where it doesn't matter what year of a teacher you are first year fifth year um you will have a coaching cycle you will have a teacher come in and teach your class you will have instructional walks where two teachers from the same grade level go and watch other teachers in the same classroom and that's an evolving process right you have to get a lot of buy in for people and that trust with the coach to be able to really establish that instructional model but I feel like we're finally to the level where we've had coaches um be consistent for a long enough period of time that they have built relationships with those schools this is the second year we've actually had a coach at every school consistently um and so that is a huge piece of fidelity of implementation and they have been continuing to grow their pedagogy such as the literacy coach endorsement they did last year where a huge piece of that is teaching teachers with direct instruction being able to provide opportunities to go in and show them how it's done so an example would be one of our coaches would go in and watch them teach a benchmark lesson um and then give feedback and then go in and teach that same lesson a different day to the students or an example our new teachers would be the coach would go in and model youly instruction and then allow the teacher to take over and teach that to be there over said number of days like a week at a time to be able to provide them instructional feedback on how to improve their pedagogy and like Mr Swindle said we have a lot of new teachers we have a lot of teachers that are out of field so the coaching of those teachers is becoming increasingly difficult and challenging um but they continue to to rise to the occasion last week is a great example um every single coach supported our new teacher induction team um we listened to the administrators and the feedback from our district and we had not only one day but a new teacher inductions but three days last week and we really hit the foundational skills we did a whole study on the new Harry Wong series for our teachers we really took it back to the foundational in standards just what are standards and broke down the standards for them and instructed them on how to interpret the standards and it was really interesting one of the questions we asked in our session was how many of you even know what the Florida best standards are and there was probably you know 5% who even raised their hand to know what it was and so that's kind of what we're dealing with how do you how do you really build them up and so it was a phenomenal train to really get them involved with that we did youly training last week and then on top of the three days of training the coaches also did a full day session on morphology and vocabulary um which was very Hands-On at huddle of pentry so I think that we are heing the needs of our teachers we are constantly probing the data with the coaches and the leadership to make them better as well and I think that's a contributing factor to our ongoing success and those are not new needs those are not new hurdles we've been dealing with those for quite some time we just getting much better and we still had phenomenal growth and we were still one point from a be yeah abely did excellent job expl I really appreciate that that length going through the details that was great job thank you what about the areas that I know we have reading coaches but the areas like we're saying we have um gaps in the social sciences and um Regular Sciences like yes ma'am so in elementary we do call them reading CES primarily because they're funded out of the reading plan but they do support all academic areas um math Ela and science they do plan with the teachers after school in all subject areas but the trend has been um because they are paid out the read plan that's how we facil that that piece and they're written into the reading plan but they do coach all all areas Ela is certainly their focal point um for Math and social studies I would say often times not always we do have Master Teachers um I can think of a couple like what East Side um who also step into some of that coaching role their job may be a reading resource or something during the day but their specialty for example is math and so they're really help able help to help facilitate some of those extra pieces coaching as well okay and then you look at the last two um there you know we've got to continue to focus on on the data and allow the data to drive and been a lot more better work the last couple years with performance matters we're looking at that pm1 pm2 data and making those instructional shifts and we're going to continue to we're going to continue to double down on our ownership of the data at all levels so not only do administrators know the data but the teachers know the data the students own their own data right and take pride in progress that they're making individually from the beginning of the year to the end of the year right so they can track they at the beginning of uh next week in in this this month of August it's a perfect time for our teachers to sit there and say all right uh John this was your score last year on the fourth grade ELA pm3 this is what your score needs to be you know this school year and here's how we're going to do okay let's track it throughout the year all right and then the last piece is always reflecting always having that reflective eye to look at what we've done is it having the right impact and then always being courageous enough to make the changes that are needed to move forward and in in the clim all right and we really want to end with uh a few pictures from last week which is always one of the best days and not probably the best day of the school year when we have an opportunity to really celebrate uh the teachers that are doing an outstanding job um we had 20 teachers there at the bottom you see 20 teachers that have 80% or more either proficiency on a state assessment on assment or CT assessment or they had 80% or more of their students make a year worth of learning G which we thought that was phenomenal phenomenal all right then of course we had two schools that received a b school grade and uh Eide that um got the historic a we were able to celebrate them last last week so right what um what what's our count on instructional staff teachers all total yeah 650 or 670 approximately don't people the fire it's in that range and we had a lot of we call this award uh the ever Summit Award right symbolizing that you know you reach the Pinnacle of you know you're climbing out the Pinnacle right hit 80% you reached the Pinnacle of teaching AC right and so but we had a lot of Staff members a lot that were 76% 78% 77% so we're thinking maybe next year we come up with a base camp 4 award you know know base camp forward you know you're not quite at the summit but you're really close I mean you're you could see the summit at that point so we'll see how those PL come along but uh you know we we would have had a lot more uh staff I think a little recognition is always well they love that they do love that that's a CL everybody needs a little what Bo that's right yeah absolutely any other questions from the board can I ask for a favor on the next when we present this for next year can we compare our performance to State average because I I think that are we going to be playing in the same league as lafette and St John's absolutely not there's completely different dynamics that work there but I do think our kids and our teachers are are good enough to um perform against State average how about comparing just for Giggles right now um State third grade El reading scores we're sitting right at the right the state average and where were we for the past 20 years below significantly below the state we we've been roughly in the 30s for the last measurable years this year we went to this State average in reading so what a remarkable job by our elementary schools third grade teams I'm super super super proud of that we had one school that overshot it by a lot and so we're really really proud of the work that done there and I would like to wrap it up by saying you know board and team sitting in the room you know for my my tenure here we've talked about data driven decisions and and letting that drive the actions that we take and I think that the the remarkable gains that you see here as a result of that and they talk about you know the very delineated specific alignment that we worked on for a long period of time and then put into play this school year to a very very you know detailed degree and um that was the alignment piece of it but then there was a lot of components there was a lot of you know ingredients in the sauce that went in there they talked about a lot of them I don't want to underscore the Champions program Pon high school was very close to a be as well and having those students you know that that really were the most vulnerable population get to the point of graduation and get those credits you needed that was a part of that the LL task force that Dr Mundy and her team did that showed unbelievable rewards out of those students that come to us with no English acquisition whatsoever um we have a ton of after school programs uh we have a lot of extracurricular and athletic programs and those have to have buyin and a lot of kids come to school for that but you know what if you want to play football you've got to be on track to graduate making good grades and we even instituted some above and beyond that last year and so this was a a a huge effort wrapping around that lowest 25% that's the most vulnerable population that needs the most support and so we knew going into that that that was going to pay off big dividends and at the end of the day I do not want to underscore the work of the school leadership and the teacher grind that happens on a daily B basis if you haven't been in a classroom and talk you really don't understand it but it happens and it's real and it was you know our teachers really deserve the credit they're the on who did this they're the ones who who made this happen we did provide some direction and support but without them in the classroom this goes nowhere and I feel comfortable saying if you look at the growth we've had you look at the academics we've had there are reasons why people need to take their students to their children to another school but you can't look at this and tell me that Hendry County Schools doesn't provide high quality academics we're safer than any school in this County and maybe even in the region um the extracurricular Athletics that we provide are second and none we do a great job with that with everything that we do the the the mental health that we provide and the support systems is absolutely phenomenal so Henry County Schools is a great choice for a child to go to school no matter what Matrix you want to use to do it and I couldn't be prouder of the teachers the schools and the team around us that made it happen and so we hope that you all share the same sentiment with us thank you good job Mr Sanchez m d very very good all right thank you for the presentation we will move on to citiz comment superintendent do we have any citizen comment I have none at this time no citizen comment we will move on to the consent agenda does any board member have any item they would like to pull from the consent agenda move to an action item forting um it G assessment calendar I'd like to pull that and questions about graduation dates item o go ahead if you'd like you just a question so on the question on the graduation dates have was there any kind of like Community parent polling on this and the reason why I ask is um I I think that if if the schedule Falls where it's like something that already aligns with your schedule you could be in support of it but I'm going to play Devil's Advocate on this and you know typically we would had both schools graduating honor about May 16th but then you look at holding off for an entire week for either one school or the other like the school that has to lag behind a week and is that something that the the students and the staff at present have indicated that it's favorable to them that the schools were involved in the decision and helped us come up with the dates and how they would um do it they and there's a couple of reasons why number one um number one the board you know I would like to be able to be at both and and I suspect you guys would as well and now one of the and so that was part of the reason why the other reason why is the growing safety concerns and so if you come to Pon High School graduation for example if you notice it took an enormous Pon High School staff to handle the crowd handle the metal detectors handle the the entrance and stuff like that and so what the schools are excited about doing is is sharing that resource next year you'll see the Lael High School staff here handling that while the pen High School sta staff gets to do graduation and then you'll see the C High School staff go to LEL High School handle the the crowd crowd management safety pieces of while Lael High School staff gets to manage and handle the graduation piece and be a part of the ceremony with their students so it's a changing time the schools were involved uh from day one with the planning and and how this would go down and we're very excited about the extra help and Mak I appreciate that Insight it was a little heartbreaking folks and and Lael still I mean out to Cowboy way we're marching into start ceremon was fun to Saturday graduation Friday night and Saturday no sure they both wanted Fridays both right was it the school who said they wanted Fridays or was your parent ping in that because one of the things I I think about is if you have kids going to Armed Forces and sometimes those deployments are just right after graduation dates or whatever would that allow for them to participate in their graduation ceremonies if they are the school that's a week behind I don't know anything I don't know anything about the military deployment piece of it I I just don't so I mean so what I'm saying I'm going to just boil it down are we going to get um persecuted for the decision of supporting this by the school that has to wait for the weak you know with the weak La the the schools again the schools themselves in on the conversation and the decision you know and they know that it's going to rotate from year to year that that was you know agreeable and come up with the DAT they the ones that come up with the dates and how it would go so did they involve like and UL I really don't care what day you do it on you know there's never going to be a perfect day a perfect time there there's people some families can't make it if you do it a Friday or a Saturday there may be other graduations at conflict with it on any date and time you pick and so there's probably no I I would go as far as say I guarantee you there's no perfect time that we can put into a calendar date that's going to be perfect time for everyone so there may be conflicts with it but I don't think you're going to find a DAT that doesn't all right all right very good do we have any other board members that would like to move any other items from the consent agenda to an action seeing no other all right Mr superintendent do we uh have a recommendation on the consent agenda uh yes Mr chairman I recommend your favorable consideration approval of the consent agenda minus item G so move second motion by Mr Sam seconded by Mr houon we have any other discussion no discussion all in favor oppos motion carries there good that was a lot of work in a just a minute all right we'll move on to uh action items Mr superintendent we have action item 5A new Personnel allocation request we have your recommendation yes sir I recommend approval of action 5A new person allocation request as [Music] presented round SEC B Miss Nelson do we have any discussion here go discussion all in favor I oppos motion carries action item 5 b permission advertise Mr superintendent recommendation yes sir these are some more the Neola policy advertisements that are um still being adjusted due to State changes and so therefore I recommend your approval of elction on 5B permission to advertise proposed policy revisions volume 24 number two second seconded by Mr samik we have any discussion no discussion all in favor all right oppos motion carries action item C Mr superintendent recommendation sir uh yes sir um recommendation is to approve action it 5c um this is the contracts as presented at CRA contract management agreement and Within These two this is the contract with our AR and our contract management team that that we have vetted through and within those two you will see the um the negotiated and agreed upon percentages of the overall contract um for each of those with us tonight we have Owens a Kimble present and um uh with him is um Taylor schy a Lael High School grad I might add um that's with Oak and miss Alicia wowski all right Miss Alicia wowski and she's the director of operations that will be spearheading our school okay and so they are with Oak uh here um tonight uh to be present and obviously you're going to see them as fixtures for the next couple of years as we go forward so unless you have any questions I recommend your approval of action out of um 5cc construction management agreement as presentent maybe they would like to speak a little bit about this brr I'd like to hear you right yeah that's up to youl for your supper you came here and have some time you prefer me to stand yeah probably theot yeah right in the spotl I'll do it uh first and foremost um thank you to everybody to the board U Mr Swindle the residents here in Hendry County all the teachers that do such an amazing job and we truly are humbled and honored to be a part of this Legacy project um you know we meant it when we said in the presentation and we went through the board we're just humbled to be here today and and and and really it is the talk of the state the new high school and we we couldn't be prouder to be part of that um and Alicia and our team we're ready to hit the round running we're meeting August 22nd Mr Swindle to get get our kickoff meeting get things moving so we are ready to go um and we at any point in given time we'll make sure all of you have my card I I promised it last time but I ended up leaving but you will all have my card um and I would love to talk and meet with all of you I'm H say working directly with Mr Swindle but anything that the Board needs or wants we're here for architectural plans when you anticipate them being ready um so those we're meeting the 22nd with CRA who will be will working in conjunction the construction management firm we'll work in conjunction with them um we go through certain phases 30 60 90s um and every step of the phase we'll present to the board Mr wind Mr SW will decide to take to the board of the progress and the status the projected cost and so forth um but we can anticipate uh 30% what do you think an Alicia um gosh only a few months to get kind of an initial draft set up placement on the side get all the programmatics um finalized but yeah ERS we get a lot of questions where's the music room where is you know and and so we could see some of that I'd like to be able to say like well I know what's going on here and being we understand the bo of effective communication we work with Mr swindle's office to ensure that every step of the phase that you guys are um have all the information at your fingertips we have great new software that allows you to access that you just log online you can um access those files and so forth um but you have great leadership to Mr Swindle and his team and it really is amazing what you've accomplished here to get this to get this Grant and that's you'll notice within your packet you'll see the fees for construction fee and a preconstruction fee and that's kind of the beauty of bringing the construction management team in so early so we can provide you with all of those updates we can make sure you're getting the best B for your buck you're getting the absolute best price so we can put together those graphics and make sure you have all the information at your fingertips throughout every step of the way so we can all make very informed decisions moving forward great thank you very and help answer part of a question as we we have a rough draft of sort of some blueprints if you will and we're making some internal changes LEL High School's looking at it some internal changes and then as they as they do edits then we will take it to the teachers and we'll take it it'll be a community forums and stuff like that we want to make sure that this truly is you know an Outreach that you get to see communities get to see parents get to see and uh something everyone can be proud of really looking forward to thank you app thank you thank you and along Mr chairman I want make sure that everyone's clear it's not only the percentages of uh with regard to the contract it's also the contract themselves are in there I do want to that um Miss Tanner our attorney did look through both made several edits to them send them back to the companies and they've agreed and so the one that you have in front of you is the final documents with edited um that has been Ved by Miss Tanner I only have one question what was the total price today for the school that we're going to build today the number that's today's price today's price all right all right we have a motion so move second motion by Mr samik second by Miss Nelson do we have any other discussion on that no discussion all in favor oppos motion carries all right now we will move on to action item 5D to the assessment calendar uh Mr superintendent we have a recommendation on the assessment calendar yes sir I I recommend approval of action on 5D assessment calendar 24 2 as presented we have a motion second motion motion by Mrs Nelson second by Mr Sam dy I know we have some [Music] discussion yeah um yes thank you Mr chairman so when you you look at this I think one of the most exciting aspects of transitioning to the fast examination is the fact that it's a progress monitor model and so when you're thinking about that three times a year you know and I know that this is to alleviate that pressure on the teacher and the students for that one snapshot in time like you had with the FSA but when you look at that they're already doing three testings and it's a progress monitoring model then we're looking at Dibbles and I ready and science benchmark and 360 and one of the things that you hear overwhelmingly from Educators is we want to teach more and test less and so you know some of these like you know I is that necessary if if we believe and we're hanging our hat on the outcomes and we're being judged on the outcomes of the fast exam is all these additional County mandated assessments throughout the year because like um I ready is a prior sming model is that necessary and is that taking away from instruction in [Music] classrooms go ahead if if you if you could listen to the principles Miss Duncan and everybody else they would say sw's been saying that for a long time and and so the short answer is yes it is necessary because if you are going to make data driven decisions and where students are delineate specifically what help they need um you have to have a mechanism in order to do that one progress monitoring system does not provide all of that Force um now having said that we I specifically have fought this and and made some progress for example a good example is I already has taken the Diagnostics out of their they' embedded it in the work of that the students do and through a the the adaption of AI they're able to then delineate what the students need and where their deficiencies are so there are some progresses being made but I agree where we get the best bang for our buck is when a teacher is teaching in a classroom not by taking all these darn assessments um unfortunately what I will say and and is true you don't have to agree if you don't want to but our students unfortunately are conditioned to it because they we've been doing it for so long now they know you know that it's time to take the Devils okay no problem and they they condition they get it out and they do it um and so I I don't particularly like like that I agree that we need to teach more um but unfortunately it's where we are we're in a high stakes testing game if we're going to be uh um successful in it we've got to be able to assess our babies and make real time changes in either the instruction they're getting the groups they're in the resources were given them the humans were assigning to them and it's not the best case scenario couldn't agree more but as long as it's a highest existing game and we want to be successful it's the game we have to play have we over the past four years because I know we agreeing on this one what have we what testing have we have we cut any testing back yeah and there are some specific things that I would divert Mr Sanchez and Miss Duncan and they know specifically every one of those and I don't know if you got specifics that you can talk about that we've cut out outside of already because it's no longer a testing platform if you would like me to address that question I glad to sure um I will say this this 360 I that you see on there that is a mandate for the mental health component the purpose of putting everything in this calendar is really to support our district seeing a full picture keeping everybody on track with the cas gu we did not need to put the eye ready like Mr sndo said um into this as an assessment this year because it really is not a diagnostic assessment it's going to be in bed in the 15 minutes they do per day but it's the first time that we're doing it that way so we just felt like we needed to wrap our heads around as a district team and make sure that everybody was doing the same time Fram so students will log on 15 minutes a day it will not be a diagnostic testing they'll just log on to I ready they'll do their regular lesson the AI will just like you said analyze where they are and create their path without that piece um I already would not allow them to create a path Zone to what their specific learning needs are and that's how we fill in some of those learning gaps for like the lowest 25% of the kids that are not on grade level it creates a path for at least 15 minutes a day they can work specifically on skills that are they're behind on so that piece will and can be removed from the calendar in the future we just didn't really feel quite comfortable taking it off this year until we had our first year experience with that and as far as the science benchmark it's not required we do that but progress monitoring does not assess science and so it is high stakes for us to take that at the end of the year so going in blind not having any science benchmarks if you will throughout the year we feel like it be detrimental to to our progress we need that data to be able to compare throughout the year and the last thing I'll speak to that is K through to um fast um does not assess foundational literacy skills it's basically if you're familiar with the star reading assessment back in the day like they take an AR test it's basically what it is through K through 2 and the data we get through that even though it's mistake test it's not provide academic instructional targets or data that we need and so DBL it's of like the old school you would sit down with your K1 students and give them you know have identify the a the B you know it's kind of that it's oneon-one direct construction with the kid targeting those specific skills so that we can figure out what PES of youi to further Target it is really how we're driving that data driven instruction for our students so again it's it's not one of those assessments that we're requiring everybody to do we feel incredibly valuable information comes out of providing that tool with our students in order to provide that specific academic construction how do our outcomes and information we glean from these County assessed test align with the state standardized test are we in the St fall Park absolutely and last year it was the first year with I ready that they were able to with with fast changing of course to make that alignment and they are aligning exactly the biggest perk and difference if you will between so the fast is giving you the end of the year test the beginning of the year the middle of the year the end of the year right and so again it's not really a very good tool for figuring out how to drive a lot of instruction but I already does allow us to do that so we feel like Mr Swindle said they're really targeting and evaluating two different things one's Diagnostic and one's summited and so there are different tools to address different learning needs of our individual students and with any Missing Link of that piece I don't know that we would be seeing the academic results that we are um we all agree that it's a lot of testing we have had conversations and conversations and conversations with our administrator our teachers about pulling back and the undying you know answer is that we need that information to be able to make those decisions and that it is what's best for our kids in the long run of instruction um so I'm excited to see how I already does this year with the embedded piece um yeah and Middle School's picking some of that up too so we really just try to make the assessment calendar very transparent for everything that we're doing in one page one document for clarity for our St thank you how much time did these kids spend on County assess test I don't know how much 3% yeah cuz there is a percentage that we are that we have to stay with other correct that the state all right board member comments so we uh we've already got a motion in a second so all in favor of accepting the assessment calendar I I all opposed no I not wasn't for oppose I was an i all right we'll do that one more time all in favor of the assessment calendar I opposes the assessment calendar motion carries 5 thank you all right um Mr superintendent is uh Miss Madison on with us today it looks like I think she's she's on the yes I'm on and um I do not have any updates at this time very good thank you ma'am uh Mr superintendent do you have anything yeah just a couple things um I I just want to say that you know springboarding off of where we were this past year with our academic gains and the and the wonderful academics that happened at our schools and we are super excited to get this school year started um we are uh in in better shape than what we've been in the past several years with regard to recruiting teachers and where we are today we got a good number of our schools that needs nothing where they are full with what they what their needs are the remaining ones are only one or maybe two with interviews lined up and and with the opportunity to shift people around if need be at the last minute and so we were't there for the last 3 years so we're really excited about that and um so we're just super excited about the upcoming school year one thing that I do want to highlight is this um everybody works hard right everybody uh works hard in their life their jobs their careers you guys work hard and what you do respectively I get that and totally understand that I want to highlight a couple departments that um have gone above and beyond um uh to really help get this school year off off the ground what a lot of people don't realize is that during the school year the schools bear the brunt of the work you know the the teachers the staff at the schools those principles uh and they they are really in that Daily Grind you know what it takes to to make the education magical things happen in those classrooms during the summertime you know when they're still working hard it's not that they're not but it kind of shifts over to some of the District staff U maintenance for example distribution and his staff um they have really been getting after it with all the repair work that's been going moving Portables getting the Clon Early Learning Center up and running getting the new leel Adult School up and running and making the changes have to happen there um they've been working weekends um through rainstorms and everything else that's been happening and and I just couldn't be prouder of them um HR department is the same way Francis canala is sitting in this room with us worked 13 hours this past Saturday in in conjunction with some of the payroll staff because we've got an influx of people and we need to make sure they're on payroll they're getting paid and they couldn't do it in the normal 600 hours a week that they work so they had to work Saturday to make that happen as well and so and and that's just indicative of what they do all of the time so a um payroll HR we've got a a good chunk of people in it sitting in the room and they've been working making sure that sound systems are working the microphones are working the the cameras are working the prometheum boards are working so that the first day of school these teachers can can step in and make it happen Mr Adams um in in his role as the CFO has just uh obviously in the in the busy throws of um getting the budget to where it is and and getting the AFR up and running and off the ground um the work that goes into it I know a lot of times these things are happen and no one really sees it and you guys don't even know sometimes and I just wanted to make sure that highlighted in spot like that make sure that these valuable people know that we see it we appreciate it we love them for it um they work their s silly some of them work theirself sick over it and uh and that's really what makes a difference in in the culture of Hendry County Schools the people that we have that work for us that love it that's really what made the difference in the academics this year the culture and the relationships that our our teachers and students have built and the hard work that they've done so I couldn't be proud of the staff that have on all levels and I wanted to make sure that I said that in public and especially to the board so thank you very good say thank you thank you very much for all of that and um I know there's a lot goes into it and I don't want I don't envy any of you I wouldn't want to be any of you CU I don't know how you do it so um I will say though that the huddle up Henry was another awesome success I do believe uh you know it and I think it's starting to really grow on people they're we're getting media attention from it which is a great thing instead of negative you know Fox we got one news Outlet that's actually giv positive stuff out there so that's a phenomenal thing you know for the district so thank you and and the staff for coming up with that and uh continuing to just improve on that yes I think that is that is awesome yeah the team does a great job you know so that's why I gave you a little credit but uh yeah you had a little little role in it but that's uh I think that's just awesome awesome thing to see and U you know and then our our community uh support yet from businesses local businesses I want to put it out there that you know we had a local and nothing against you folks but we actually had another local contractor that stepped up during the huddle up and and bought paid for the lunch for all of the the training for that day and you know so um I want to recognize them thank you for that you can say you know I mean that was Clyde Johnson company um so thank you for that that that's just another awesome thing to uh to see them still want to participate they believe in what we're doing here in inry County with our students and our staff so um thank you for that and and and out of all fairness I want to make sure that everyone knows we had a leadership day um two weeks ago two days two a two-day leadership event and uh where we brought all the leaders in and we didn't want to take a break for lunch cuz it was that packed with information and stuff and we needed we need we needed a meal for that as well I mean one called a Taylor and I said we need this without hesitation he said I'll bring you a check tomor and so Oak also stepped up and is already edden you know their support of our school district and our success and so we're very appreciative to what they did as well so yeah we have some great support from from our partners I'm glad you brought that up I didn't know thank you appr didn't want to put you so I mean that's just a testament to the growth of our County and what everybody believes that these students and and staff have left them to do you know we we're headed up that mountain so thank you guys so um I do have one question that uh I know Curtis Clay is not here in the room with us tonight from what I understand of it and and you could probably uh enlighten me a little bit um security purposes with the I guess the state has handed down some new security stuff sporting events and things of that nature with Gates um how is that going to affect us for the upcoming school year so you mean sporting events yeah from what I'm understand we can't have if we have a gate open we have to have it man right is that correct yeah so there yes the we we from this point forward will never get less uh um uh policy rules and Direction on where we are with regard to safety of our campuses and security and on campuses this year it's even more strict than it's ever been um but that's okay you know what I mean um we we want to make sure we protect our students and staff and so we will comply and we will do what we have to do to make sure that that all those uh caveats are taken care of sporting events might probably won't see a lot of difference because if it's an exterior gate where they have to come in like through the parking lot to get in into the the uh stadium for example is manned and we have security there so sporting events probably won't see any differences because we already kind of had those lock where they couldn't go anywhere else without the school you had to go through a gate that was manned and we already had you know for the most part either um a deputy or a guardian or or a school admin or someone is at those games as well so they don't have to physically stand like when a basketball game or a volleyball game is going on in our high school yeah we have to have a man by the by the road at that gate no no not not the main entrance coming in like that we won't have to do that but we will have to have someone um again either yeah or or in the building or somewhere there right all right and then and then the rest of the campus secure where they can't go anywhere else on the campus which is pretty much the practice anyway right yeah I I thought we pretty well everything anyway so I just want to clarify that um just what I would understand of it is they we had to have a guy at the road I like that's that's going to be a little ridiculous it's a lot ridiculous yeah but um okay all right well that clarifies that right sure thank you appreciate that that is all for me Mr well she's after you um Thursday is open house and I've been to some of the schools and everybody's getting ready the teachers are getting ready the classrooms some of our classrooms they're so spectac they're just our teachers are pumped up they're ready to go they're ready to meat everybody meet their students for the first time so it's just very exciting around the schools for the next couple of days and Monday it all starts it sounds like so I I've been over here to our new prek center and stuff like that it's moving along as smoothly as possible I've been in a lot of those rooms and what people that work are they're just embracing so and it's pretty neat I just still I'm over oneel my little bathrooms I swear I've never seen that before they're so cute I mean but those teachers are ready too I'm H they're very excited and we have so I went to the new teacher lunch in here in uh at at the church and they do it every year it's so wonderful so I go around I try to meet all the new teachers it was 40 years ago I think this week when I started started here in hry County was so I know how anxious those people are they you know I try to Eno them I think their teachers their principles are very supportive to them they're peer teachers and so forth they just maybe need to relax a little bit I mean some of we have a lot of teachers who grew up in our community whether they came from Mor Haven or whether they came from the Bell high school they came from CL high school we have a lot of teachers that are home fun so they know what going on so that's very exciting and I just thought I would just share that but it's always a little overwhelming when those people come in so many looking for a place to live looking for food and and meeting new friends and stuff there just a lot going on for them you just support our new people that's all that's it right well I've already said Thank you to Mr bson the center is fantastic you would pass that than on to your staff because I know it takes the village it's going to be a phenomenal facility super excited uh hello Hendry sorry you miss excuse them it was fantastic um I left so pumped and excited and actually I think I had a a mindset shift myself so thank you that you wanted to go back and teach no go last year I'm sorry that's not going to happen but I will volunteer my and I told all the new teachers when I went to the new teacher induction or the new teacher meeting um I'm saying and if anybody's listening call me if you're doing something exciting you need an extra set of hands if I'm in town and I can do it spread the word to your people I'd love to go in there and be an extra set of hands and volunteer I don't want to teach but I will go I'll do cafeteria Duty I will work with small groups I'll read whatever is so I'm just I'm super excited and then um you talks about V that's all I have oh yes you know I got something to see I am excuse me excited about this year I was at the huddle up and I appreciate the way that everybody was excited about what we were doing and getting on fire about teaching our kids what really caught out tonight was school grade and how it was put but you can show games and I remember being in the classroom and and working hard and the kids make just a little a little game everyone be excited about what great game they had made and I was proud of a little game and the principal came to me and said that I know you didn't get everyone else got but we appreciate what you done and and that touched my heart then see people so hard to know that you get the the a all the a because we can't follow moving Target sometimes but uh my last question is when will we know if we to move the targeting or not they will they will do we know the day no problem not at all well they'll they'll next year again next year when they get all the scores in if they have to readjust it they will wow so we know that we know that it will happen we're accepting of the fact we don't like it but we're accepting of that and we're just going to continue to climb we're going to continue to make gains and we will make it there our goal is to be there this coming year my personal goal I think that our team's personal goal is that we get there with enough gains this year to get us to the beat you know we we talked about one one percentage more when we gained several percents this past year we went from 48 to that that 53 54 range and so we know we're right there and if we do that again next year we're into that beat awesome awesome and so what was the number that they number of points they moved in uh it was only one from the B they moved the B up they mov the B from a 54 to 57 oh I'm sorry we6 and we went to 56 yes all right thank you yes ma' the is your I'm very excited and thank you Mr chairman for letting me thank my uh lack of comments from last meeting for this month will be this is this a late April full show no it isn't I'm just kidding I can wrap this up in 10 minutes um or less so as board members we are governed by a state statute that says if we are going to do any kind of out of County travel and our out of County travel is always for professional development um it that would exceed um like a total of $500 that would be it would cost the district that we have to put it on the agenda and vote and um and so that's what we we all do that and anytime we're traveling and so I know that my opinions on a certain a recent um professional development opportunity that many of our teachers attended I that it My Views about it are't shared by everybody and that's okay but what struck me on that was I had some folks in the community just reach out and be like hey what is this and sometimes Optics like aren't weren't really great on what was being um put out about attending this particular conference and so I went back and I said well [Music] sometimes I get spicy about things I want to go back and I want to look at it and make sure do I still feel the same way about this because my opinions do change with time and experience sometimes and so I went back and I looked at this uh conference that they went to and so immediately went to see where it was like standards aligned because I'm looking for like what's the return on investment for our our students in our our district and what I saw there was impressed with because like you know everybody here in the room knows that in Florida we do the Florida best standards and this entire conference was aligned to Common Core we don't do that and this conference was heavy on the social emotional learning and we do resiliency in Florida and um and furthermore looking at some of the ideology that the owners and the the Proprietors of this conference push forward are very um disparaging towards what our Florida legislature and Governor has outlined how we want our Florida schools to run and so I would like to make a motion for All outof County professional development have to come before the board in the same manner that we have to do for ourselves because I feel like what's good for the goose is good for the gander so we can have an opportunity to look at that um particular professional development and make a a judgment call on whether we think that's appropriate not as a board member because I you know people were going I can't believe you approved this and I said well it didn't come before the board and so I think that that you know just something that I make I want to make a motion to have our attorney Gard Smith a policy that pulls this out of County travel alignment to give us the information on the the the same thing that we do for ourselves so we can make um informed decisions on whether we want to support the professional development that they're seeking have a motion on that we have a second a second a motion second on that do we have any any discussion we need more discussion on it so I mean I'm not against it but I I think there sure to make a decision on I mean what are we really asking for would be the question do we want a board presentation exactly what is it that we're seeking but I wanted to open it up for discussion that's why I second and I'm not sure how I'm going to vote but I think if we're doing something that changes the way we done this policy I think we need to discuss it at some length and possibly present some options before we just vote on I be GL to share my vision and that and that is it's like exactly what we do when we're going to fsba conference fsba conference this is the day we're traveling and this is the anticipated cost of it and that's it it's just a it's just an agenda item and it's on the board memb to be able to go and say you know well let me look look at this up and you can do your own research on it if if you don't care about it then you know you can vote in favor of it but just to have it on that um not require a presentation but just give a you know give us the opportunity to look at it and do the research on it and decide on it from that point forward Mr superintendent does staff looks that those kind of things before travel is approved yes and and so and going all the way back to you know spending time in the classroom and teaching and and making sure that what we're doing is value added and we're always at the point now even where even by myself I pass up on conferences because I want to make sure that it's the return on the investment is good why am I going to spend my time out of Hendrick County where I could be here being doing whatever I need to do as opposed to learning something that's not relevant to what I need and that's the same tone that I've shared with the Departments and the schools you you know and so we ask them to do that up front if you need to go to you need to make sure that it's going to be some type of practice some sort of management some sort of system that's going to benefit you back here again and so we've asked them to do that already going up front and into this so I'm not sure specifically you know if if that's this a direction youall want to go is there things that y'all if you want something from me you said you want more information I if there's something you want on our end just please make sure that that's clearly delineated to me so that I can make sure that I produce that just the name of the conference and and how many people were anticipating to go because when I started looking at it I looked at how much the registration fee was per person I started doing the math and sweating and then I started looking at staying at Gaylord Palms and sweating when I started doing the math on that and then I went and was looking at the Common Core alignment and the social emotional learning and I mean and and I'm going to I didn't want to have to say this in the meeting but there I went to look at their Facebook page cuz you know that's where you're promoting the best parts of your conference and everything and they had a on one of their reels like it was the first thing I saw I looked at it was like 10 different pictures and one of the pictures has a presenter standing on stage asking the crowd how many of you teachers are a couple of drinks in already I'm not supporting that and so I think to be able to have that information up front if you want to look at it fine but for me like when people are going abusing like what's this like are you supporting this I'm like we didn't sign off on this confence well it's hard for us to control some of those things like what a presenter says on stage whether they're being goofy funny or trying to you know get a laugh out of the crowd I don't know so well I mean it's hard for us to control that piece you have as a board member and you're voting I mean you have that opportunity to do your own research I'm not saying I'm asking the staff to do that res foring but to tell me what conferences we're sending our people to um and then it allows you to have just that Baseline of information where you can make an informed decision and I know money is money I'm not using this as a as a reason you shouldn't do this but those I don't I don't know specifically I'm sorry I'm in the dark I don't know specifically which one you're talking about but those are typically 100% all paid for out of certain grants for uh School Improvement you know and uh and I think I know which one you're talking about and you know there's a lot more to it than just simp fired up about last year yeah same one right and and so I know you and I have a common friend and 130y year teacher that come back and she goes I wish i' have done that years ago the things I got out of that what I'm going to bring I want to hold some workshops here with this group and and we're going to use that embed it because it is a practices we need to be doing the Hope Drive you know and so can you find something about any conference that you wouldn't like or you know probably you know but uh it it's the direction of the board you know whatever youall want to do how would it handled now how how does it work now and so and so what happens is for example um uh either a school could choose to go if a school wanted to go to some um and they can and there's Grant monies available then they go there and they say here's the school here's the workshop we want to go to here's why here's what we're going to get out of it and then between Mr Sanchez and Miss Duncan they would align you know is it is it aligned to what what we're doing or what we need and then then they align the funding with that and when the funding is there through the grants then they can either fund it or say no we can't fund it or you can't take that many people and then they would approve it or disapprove it that way you get a lot you know the we we get a lot you know staying here in Hendry County you know and doing the same things the way we've always done it gets us nowhere we need to be able to go and learn and Garner and grow our practices and our teaching pedagogy and everything else and so they're very valuable are there are there things that we don't like about individual ones I've sat in superintendent conference and seen things I didn't like right and so we have to be able to filter through that and make sure that we use What specifically helps us but if it's aligned to standards that we no longer use and it's being when we say it's being paid for by federal or by grants what we're talking about is federal money I mean money's money right we still should be right and do TR when I think about Federal money and how Federal money is spent I get fired because I think about the the inflation that the everyday average citizen citizen is dealing with particularly in our socioeconomically challenged community and how a person's purchasing power has diminished greatly whether it's me going to the grocery store to pay for groceries with cash or a person who has EBT they're getting less money for their you know their their stien and so when I I don't just think you know oh it's a grant it's fedal money like no that's all taxpayer money like money's money money's money and so I just I'm I'm not asking for anything that would create a a different um like an an additional workload but like you know one of the things I'm seeing you know our policy is if it's above 25 value the purchase is above $25,000 that comes to the board for a vote well what we spent in total to that vendor at that conference was far in excess of $25,000 it may have been right under the level for each individual school but as I want to see how much in total that we're spending and sending to go to that conference cuz this all has an impact on our kids and you know it was the ideology that I know that we don't support in Florida standards curriculum standards we don't support in Florida and um and then to see how much money that we we spent on that was is that what the whole conference was or was that just a if we can break the cor so what we're there for is what the alignment is to improve instructional quality and if it's not aligned to the standards we use in Florida that's wild to me well but I mean okay so I look at it like this um if you go to a concert and there's 30 songs that they sing and you only like four of them you know I mean you're looking at but but you love them four that's your favorite four songs in the world you're still going to go right and listen but I paid for my own concert tickets out of the money that I've already paid Tak the but I paid for my own concert tickets y'all the the the school board doesn't pay for that went what I'm saying right you went after for that one hour what is more important than curriculum align ask question something that they me to to see and do that the government didn't want understand so the Florida legislature and the governor remember it was a big goodbye common Corps we're not doing that anymore common Corp math all that crazy stuff and then so they implemented the Florida standards which is different some of it they've kept some of the common Corp but a lot of it's different and um the the standards alignment that our teachers are supposed to be teaching in classrooms so just it's this the standards the Teaching Standards of this is doesn't align to and it's on their website I mean I went through and clicked through like 68 pages of looking at each subject and each grade level Elementary secondary and the the the standards on it and I'm not saying listen y'all can vote me down every day all day on it but just give me an opportunity as a board member to have a policy in place that says we're going to put this information in front of you so you can say yay or nay on it because we're doing that for ourselves for $500 but we don't want to do this for $100,000 nobody's asking nobody's it's a different accountability system too though so we're putting it out there in front of where when they come they're putting out in front of these folks that we trust to do the right thing with that sometimes everybody doesn't have their on the ball the same way and I think that we can all as if we're talking about teamwork and we're all working together and we're collaborative like iron sharpens iron as Mr Sanchez says and so what one you know facet or mindset sees value in you know you should be able to challenge that I do want to point out to you that even if you did see a piece on core you know or something else and Hendry we don't you know we subscribe you know to the curriculum that we use in the state standards and so even if they seen that or Expos that there they're not going to bring that here that's the entire piece of it the entire it was based entirely on Common Core but but it was a teaching pedagogy I believe not necessarily the using the Comm what what we're so now we've deviated from what my request and motion is is just to have a checks and balances in place and now we're debating whether it's worthy or not so this this is this is not just for this particular conference this is for any confence and I get it and look and the only thing I would say to the board is if y'all want to do that then it is a fairly simple request for us to do but if you're going to um vote we would not I would not approve nor would I believe I got faith in the team and the leadership piece that we wouldn't bring anything to you that we didn't think had components that would improve this District in some way shape form or fashion so if you're going to vote them down I ask you to please do the research and look at them very closely you know because again we're not going to bring it if we don't think that there's beneficial value to our students forced to go anywhere if that's what you'll want I don't have a problem bring I would like some time to do some homework on this I'd like to make a motion we table this and I'd like to talk to Miss Duncan I'd like to talk to Mr Sanchez and sort of get more of a field and make a decision tonight makes us qualified what makes us qualified to make B decisions yeah because we're fiduciary agents of the district we absolutely or this is monetary you know what I'm saying I understand he can make I can make that motion to table it if there was a second we could it I will bring examples solid examples let's table this and I'll bring some solid examples on poster boards of why this is problematic and then we'll go right after this particular question motion and you you second we have a motion to table it by Mr samik and seconded by M Nelson so all in favor of tabling this until the our next meeting till the future meeting or future meeting we need to set a DAT next meeting let's do it next let's get it out of the way do we need to set a date on this if you want a certain date you can if there's a certain date you want to see it back if y'all want certain information that's fine for certain things you want us to produce we just need again we just need to I just need clear Direction what you want from us on that either the date or the information you request do we want to go to the next meeting or you want longer longer the the do the first meeting first meeting in September okay we'll put it on the agenda for the first first meeting in September all right all in favor of table until the first meeting September I I opposed all right so it's tabled until the first meeting September to be back and I have one more thing I hope I'm under 10 minutes I just want to thank Our Community Partners I think we've all seen um a lot of people banding together to do things like the backpack drives in all the communities within the municipalities and the smaller communities um Heartland homes for the Sho drive and um the luncheons that vendors and Community stakeholders have provided it's um overwhelming and very heartwarming to see people supporting education in hindry County agreed with that my comments conclude chairman all right thank you everybody for coming me to jour e