##VIDEO ID:y9mVRO43dIM## e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e our father inom will Earth for us our trespasses as we for those who Tres against us Le us not to temp [Music] to the flag of the United States of America and to the rep for it stands one nation God indivisible liy and justice for all I would ask you all to stand with me for a couple of moments of Silence actually first is to recognize Miss Janice Smith Miss Janice Smith started working for this District um not sure exactly when she started with us but I know that when I was here in the early 90s she dealt with property records and um and went made sure the County tags on everything and was very good and very thorough at what she did worked her way through college as an employee of ours and then worked her way as uh a teacher and uh she was a teacher at Country Oaks Elementary and she just passed right at the beginning of school this year August 23rd she's going to be sorely missed um by the entire Country Oaks as well as H County staff Miss Mary Lois Lee became employed with h County schools in 1956 and taught all the way through 1999 as a teacher at Westside Elementary School um she again was uh a very permanent and stable figure I had the honor of having this Le teach me in third grade and uh both these ladies will be sorely missed by the schools the community and by the Henry County School uh district and leaders as well so if you will please join me in a moment out for both of these ladies thank you very [Music] [Music] much all right superintendent looks like we have a Pres presentation this evening we do have a presentation this evening we're proud partners of United Way United Way uh everybody's heard United Way and know the the great things that they do and you may or may not know all the great things they do here in HRI County and if you do not know and you want to get more involved I'm sure miss Sans is going to pave the way tonight for you to understand some of the opportunities for you to do that I've had the opportunity myself to sit on some of the distribution committies where the money that is raised and then brought into Henrick County um and how we how it is divided up among The Unbelievable um great things that that they fund here in Henry so um we greatly appreciate them uh every year we're Partners through payroll deductions that we do as well as other generous donations from our employees and I know Miss Sans is going to talk us about that as well so keep going yeah right good to go right you're high yeah thank you I'm Lisa s on the assistant director for Hendry Wes counties for our United Way um as he mentioned I know many of you through the distribution process so I just wanted to kind of give you an update tonight on what we've been up to for some of you that may not know what we've been up to or what we're doing in the community I wanted to share that information am I controlling this me okay there we go um our mission statement is we're a volunteer driven organization we're dedicated to improving the quality of life for all people in our community we obviously do that through fundraising as he mentioned but also creating um collaborations and different partners parip throughout the community to make it a better place to live and work um we bring people and organizations together and create Partnerships that address issues and solve problems um one of the recent ways that we've done this especially on the LEL side of Hendry County is through a homelessness issue um we had a meeting recently with law enforcement and some of our Public Safety officials um to try to sit down and just kind of have a conversation of what's going on with our homeless Community Dr Mundy was able to be at that conversation with us and just kind of start start the conversation on what ways that we can work together to try to help address the issue so that's a good way that we can start those Partnerships and create ways to work together a lot of problem solving that we are able to do we're able to bring out agencies from other areas like Lee County and Charlotte County to help cover situations and Henry that we might have and so we're doing that also with the district as Mr Swindle mentioned um through fundraising um last year your staff and teachers raised over $8,000 through payroll deductions um your District dist is one of the largest in our area worth raising funds through payroll deductions so we're super proud to partner with you guys um on that Mr Swindle set a goal of $10,000 this year we have been out Greg and Estella and I have been out to all 10 schools in the district already in this last month and I'm happy to announce that you have exceeded the $10,000 goal so far you're at $1,123 through part fa I know that many of you are part of that we just want to say thank you for being part of that and um that will go into being a pay center for our upcoming Campaign which we're working on setting the goal on out this is our 10th year of being a fourstar charity Navigator 100% accountability and finance um our last year's um campaign was an over $1 million goal through for henryan Glades it was $364,500 and as we mentioned we exceeded that goal already um so we're working towards setting the next goal we just finished um well actually I'm getting ahead of myself we have over 20 partner agencies in Henry and Glades alone we fund over 40 programs so that's something to keep in mind we're not actually funding the agency we're funding the program in the community so some of those uh Locos you might recognize some of the partners that you already might have through the school district as well um rcma Salvation Army Lighthouse of Southwest Florida I know a lot of them work with um individuals within the district through the programs and things that they have we have a lot of internal programs now at our United Way when I started over nine years ago we didn't have as many um but I want to share a little bit about some of the ones that we have now 211 has been around for over 20 years um this is our 24-hour non-emergency help line um in 211 we also have a program called Mission United and that's veterans helping veterans so that's something new that we brought to our area 211 also serves as the storm hotline so if a hurricane or other disaster comes to our area 211 can be utilized as a way for people to get access to supplies and things that they're looking for rather than bothering Emergency Management so that they can get done what they need to do we are having some issues with the 211 3digit number in hindry and Glades um we're working through those issues their cell phone towers and complicated stuff that's above my head um so we're recommending that everybody call the 239 number um to be able to get through as currently as we're working through those issues we changes sorry need that 2900 433 3900 239 what 433 sorry about 3900 I didn't know you were taking not the need will try to help in Glades County they called 211 and it wasn't they were trying to sell insurance probably yeah it's fine um anyway a couple of our other internal programs um gifts and kind is a way that people can donate Goods um Furniture we have a lot of Hurricane supplies and different things donated before hurricane Ian we are able to take those in to our warehouse in Lee County and then get them distributed out back through our United Way houses and other partner agencies to get to families um do you know how big our warehouses I forget 21,000 36,000 36,000 ft thank you and I forgot to introduce Greg I'm sorry Greg Gunter is with me he's our coordinator here in Henry blades and my partner in crime so um we care is a medical care program for those that are uninsured um if they get diagnosed with something that requires Specialty Care um we can we have volunteer doctors that provide their services at no cost to them they are they register through the program our team uh links them up with the doctor under that Specialty Care item maybe they injure their knee or get diagnosed with cancer or something like that and they're not insured we're able to get them linked up with the doctor to care for them so that's a great program that we also have out here now in Hing lades the school resource center and Community Partnership schools are specific to Lee County however Dr Mundy has visited our school resource center which is also affiliated with our gifts and kind program it's a way to get uh supplies out to students directly if a student comes to school and again these are just in Lee County right now but if a student comes to school maybe they break their shoe or they need a change of clothes or something like that through the school district Courier Service um we are able to get them those supplies quickly within 24 hours um the the school resource center is embedded in the school district in Lee County it's um our staff but in within the District um Administration administrative offices so we're hoping to bring that out here at some point I know space is a huge issue in the district right now so we've had some conversations about that with Mr Swindle as well so we're looking forward to that in the future we have a volunteer Center some of you have done volunteer projects um Beasley's paw PR is our pet therapy program days of caring are where groups go out together if the if the school board would like to go out and volunteer together and do a project we can link you up with an agency or or a program that needs something done painting anything like that and then V many of you have taken advantage of our volunteer income tax assistance program we do taxes for free no cost IRS certified volunteers if any of you really like to do taxes we would love to have you come volunteer with it I'm a no on that one too so that's another great program to take advantage of for staff and teachers as well Greg and I are in the community impact Department um this is where we look at our partner agencies signing agencies up to become Partners um reun night is a program that is new to our area as well um we work with the sheriff's department here in Hendry as well as Lee County to um sign people up that may either children or adults that have developmental delays if they're prone to wandering or getting lost we register for them through the program for free it's a very simple registration process they receive a free DNA scent kit and once they receive that they take the DNA from under their arm they store that in a jar in the refrigerator for up to 10 years in their home the family keeps that if that per person becomes lost they turn that over to law enforcement and they're able to help track them faster with the blood H count dogs we partnered with Lee County for that because we didn't have blood hounds out here until recently we have a puppy now I think is that right chrisy puppy Blood Hound yeah sorry um so yeah so we're excited to have blood hound on board with us for that so it's a great program again free please refer people to that program that you might know that could use it um you're familiar with our away houses um we are in the process of rebranding them as resiliency hubs Greg and I are still trying to get our mind around that term but um you'll see that change coming soon we have the one in Lael there on bridg street and then we just opened one here in Kon it's within the County Sub office we have two offices there right it's on the north end of the building close to the clerk's office um Estella agular is our mental health resource manager she's using space there and we're slowly bringing out agencies to come and serve the community there we have had a United Way house here back in 2020 I believe it was and during Co we lost that location and so we've been working with the county to try to get a place back here seems like forever but we're here um we do have plans with the county to expand that area so that um we'll be able to utilize more space and have more agencies come right now we have the Salvation Army act um an a Agency for mental health services called the main roads and I believe there's one other agency Goodwill that's utilizing the space so we're getting there as Mr Swindle mentioned our fund distribution process is where we review our agencies each year it's not an automatic that they receive the funding from us they have to apply every year we take teams of volunteers out I know Mr Sanchez was on a team recently trust has been on a team um we had over 10 team or we had 10 teams this year over 63 volunteers a lot of you have participated in that if you have not I would welcome you to join us it happens in August every year so you'll have to wait till next year if you haven't been able to do it but that's how we review our agencies the teams make the funding decisions um so it's up to them to help decide um if the agency's doing what they say they're doing in the community and they're utilizing our United Way funding in the appropriate manner that they say they want to so just a few pictures we do a lot of Outreach events we we've been all the way out into Buckhead Ridge that's what the picture on the right is out in Glades County um working like I said earlier with Emergency Management on different projects um um we've done a lot of things with FPL their power to care team um came and actually helped paint our building as a um day of curing project you'll see Dr Mundy in the bottom right corner there one of our superheroes last year she serves on our board as well as um the campaign co-chair for helping raise the funds for our area so there's a couple of you might recognize yourselves in some of these pictures but our fund distribution teams as I mentioned and that's all I have so I really wanted to say thank you give you kind of an update if you don't either way if you have any questions thank you great did you was all out yes and that so we can present that thank you for bringing it I had already taken it to the district office but this is from last year's campaign for the funds raised for 2023 2024 the district raised 8,150 um so we'd like to get a picture of that and then I mentioned we're already exceeding that now for the upcoming campaign so can we get absolutely got start with him here we go man that way just there you go all right all right thank you guys appr [Music] [Music] Mr superintendent do we have any citizen comment time no citizen comment move on to the consent agenda does any board member have anything on the consent agenda they would like to remove and put as an action item hearing none we will move on with the consent agenda Mr superintendent we have a recommendation on the consent agenda yes Mr chairman I recommend you approve the consent agenda as presented so move second by Mr sdik second by Miss Nelson do we have any discussion he no discussion all in favor I opposed motion carries 5 Z all right we will move on to action items we have a budget hearing final budget hearing so we need to open that the hearing up for that all right we will open the hearing here and I guess the Chief Financial Officer will do his presentations um Mr Adams as y'all all know took over as our Chief Financial Officer CFO in roughly late mid late May and um and he's he's uh done an an absolutely wonderful job um coming from an IT background having to learn you know the world of of of the school Finance is not an easy task um but he's done just an Absolut great job he's got a good team around him um Miss Cox has been constantly working with him to keep him you know uh updated and working and very proud of the work that they've done um and where we are today um and so I'll I'll pause there and allow him to to give you the overview of where we are and then I'll kick back in thank you Mr Sund M of the board good evening evening the intive budget hearing was a few weeks ago so this is just the final I have no formal presentation for you tonight um it is attach for your review I am here to answer any questions you may have uh we do have a final Mill um make sure I do this in the correct order so we have the roll back rate of 2.9 through3 and that's the state roll back rate we announced the local roll back rate as 2.0 238 and we have a total roll back rate increase of 2.35% and Mr swnd will follow up with the recommendations of the new millage rates which includes the prior period adjustments and the mill El for General operating Capal Outlet um you will also see the total approved final budget amounts for General Debt Service capital projects special revenue and internal Services which is our self-insured medical PL that we now have dent and I'm happy to answer any questions you beh have good thank you sir will uh presentation see here number three we uh ask for any public comment on the millage the taxes or the final budget do we have any any comments slow down nobody Rush up all right seeing that we have no comment we will close the uh public the the hearing for the Public's comments at this point um Mr superintendent we need do we have a recommendation on the millage rates uh yes sir Mr chairman as superintendent as superintendent I recommend the adoption of the millage Levy resolution as follows the taxing Authority is a District School Board of Henry County the state roll back rate is 2.9 33 Ms the local roll back rate is 2.02 38 M the total roll back rate increase is 2.35% I recommend the following millage levies General operating millage Levy including prior year adjustment is 2.99 Ms basic discretionary millage Levy for General operating is 748 MS basic discretionary millage Levy for capital outlay is 1.5 Ms total millage Levy for the final budget is 5247 Ms we have a motion second motion by Reverend Brown and seconded by Mr samik do we have any uh discussion on yes sir um Mr chairman yes so in our packet of information I think this is the most most information that we've ever gotten on uh as in regards to melage and budgets on any year that I've ever served on the board but the most significant one to me was the uh Florida Department of Education resolution determining revenues and millages um levied and so I called Mr Swindle today and asked him for clarification I'm ask him to speak to this because you know we just saw an election for property appraiser that we had one candidate saying you know it's it's the values that are driving our taxes up and like we just heard from Mr Quinn last meeting how staggering the taxes are on these investment properties and even homes and how high have gone and the financial burden is creating for people and so then we had the second I digress I went off on a rabbit hole there and um and then we had the second candidate saying it's the taxing um authorities like these the boards the school boards the County Commission and the city commission who are setting the millage rates and the taxes so we had like two opposite sides there and so when I was looking at this uh because you know I've always been like a not one more Dollar in taxes I feel like folks are just absolutely taxed out you got to live within your means and seeing this particular um document really it it was stunning to me it helped me understand on on a deeper level that we're not operating under this with the same discretion as say the city commission or the County Commission because all the areas that we and I you know want this to be clear on voters because I mean and and to constituents when they talk about you know the taxes that are being levied but the taxes that are being levied in the militates that are proposed to be levied tonight are considered non voted levies and so I called the superintendent I was like is this what I think it is and it essentially it is like there's really no choice on it this is what the state says that you have to Levy if you're going to participate in the Florida education Finance program and we don't have a choice if we're I mean because in the Florida education Finance program we don't generate enough local taxes to support ourselves and so there's counties like CER County and esami all these big counties that we end up getting money from because you know they have the same formula and so if we can get the superintendent to speak to that tonight I just want the general public to be aware that these are millage rates that are essentially set by an elected bureaucrats and tasse so to give you just a little bit of history on it and and to help everybody understand the Florida Educational Finance program or what we refer to as the ffp it is designed um to keep the funding per student per pupil the same in all of the 67 counties throughout Florida and so no matter if you're in Hender County where we have a very low tax base in a lot of poverty or if you're in Flagler County one of the most affluent wealthiest like CER or Monroe County for example um they want to make sure that the monies that we receive and spend on a on a student is the same no matter where you are that would keep the disproportionality of a county being able to exceedingly fund you know and have phenomenal schools and teachers making several $100,000 a year and so on and so forth and so the FF attempts to keep the funding in a in a school district the same across all the school districts to make sure that there is some um continuity with the Education Services being provided having said that um they there's an algorithmic formula where they look at our community they see what our tax base is and then they set these millages for us um we don't have any discretion over these set non- voted millages whatsoever um and and so the voted there's a non- voted and a voted sign if the school board were to decide that they wanted to increase for a certain reason a good reason in my mind would be so that we can increase into our general funds so we could increase significantly the salaries of our teachers you have the ability to add to that non voted side and increase or Levy more taxes so that we could raise money for that and if you'll notice in that box on the voted side that to my knowledge there's never been any in there what at all and so that we have never imposed a Henry County Schoolboard voted side of that we've always gone with um the the non- voted side which is what the state says and we have taken that so there is some differences and variances when you look at County taxes and city taxes they have the ability within their boards to raise and lower and adopt at a certain spot depending on what their needs are and what their you know expenses are we do not we have to accept what they what they give us with regard to that and then live within those means and so we do that all through the non voted taxes that were M that the millages that we just discussed and I'm stuck right between wanting to be defiant of un unelected bureaucrats don't tell us what to do but then I also don't want it not be in the Florida education Finance program too because it wouldn't pan out very well for our County okay close my comments very good thank you man this is going to be painful thank thank you for the uh for the little bit of insight on that appreciate it very much so any other discussion he no other discussion all in favor I I oppos motion carries 5 Mr superintendent Rec ation for the uh 20242 final budget yes sir Mr chairman um I recommend approval of the 20242 final budget in the following amounts fund one General 140 [Music] m4125idn $7 fund four special revenues $29 m1270 fund 7 internal services $1,781 for a total budget of 236 m998 552 we motion by Mr samik seconded by Miss Nelson any other discussion just a just a quick note just in case any of you are keeping score when I took superintendency four years ago our budget was $12 million so we've increased about 105% in four years time just just letting you know I'm a very expensive friend you're right I think think that new school might have a little something to do with about $30 million worth in this budget and that's including DA's 30 million as well okay y all right all in favor I I oppos motion carries 5 Z all right we will close this hearing out and proceed to the regular [Music] agenda okay Mr superintendent we have an annual financial report yes sir Item B is the annual financial report for the fiscal school year um 2024 uh ending of June 30th I recommend your approval of the financial uh uh recommend your approval of action 5B annual financial report for the fiscal year ended June 30th 2024 as presented so move second motion by Mr samik seconded by Reverend Brown do we have any discussion hearing no discussion all in favors opposed motion carries by zero no old business we have any attorney updates I do but it is related to for business about the plus property's question from last time so I'll just then I think that sense all right well we will move on to p b business professional develop we have something uh yes Mr chairman this is an item that we tabled uh two meetings ago I believe and um this was professional development this was some questions that was brought up and um we was asked to wait until this meeting and bring some more information forward and so I'll yield to the board at this point in time okay oh this is what uh this is me this is my problem this was Mrs bu's fault all right you okay you have some discussion on this well ladies and gentlemen it's I know it's much of a surprise that I do have a package of information for everyone if you'll take one and pass it down and so what I proposed in the F in the meeting was you know based on I didn't I didn't splurge on Staples on that one so we have loose leaf packets what um I proposed or made a motion on was you know based on state law if we spend as a board member um we're going to spend over $500 that we have to be transparent about our P our our travel and professional development because typically that's what our travel involves and um it has to be on the agenda and board has to vote on it and so you know we had some professional development this Summer that I didn't like it last time and I didn't like it again this year and because it was in state I know we spent Far Over $25,000 um but it never came to the board for a vote and I had some folks I didn't even know because it didn't come to the board for a vote I didn't even know that we were participating in it and so um it just made me think of how important I think it would be as a board member to be able to weigh in on on whether or not we wanted to use taxpayer funding for travel of this kind because it was how much would you say Mr swnd it was a lot of money like we spent on this I don't know the number on top of my head it's yeah a lot M might know have an idea yes approximately 30,000 okay so we in total we we crossed the threshold of 25 even and it didn't come to the board and so I just want to give you some examples of the benefit I believe it is to have to know like what we're supporting in the professional development and like right here like the first two pages show you um that if you see the pink highlights that stands for Common Core State Standards we don't do that in Florida so we sent um folks to be trained on standards that we're not doing the second one and this is this is all from either their website or their social media accounts the third page is a comedian and I was telling Mr Swindle earlier he he performed at this professional development and I was telling Mr swend before that I I've seen this comedian I'm aware of his work because I too think I am hilarious and um this guy um I don't know I feel like he drags down the professionalism of teaching and like if you look at the shirt he's on like this is their actual page his shirt says I'm a Christian but these hands are not denominational this guy jokes about how teachers should be able to drink in the classroom put their hands on kids and fight kids and I I mean I just thought that was not my gig the fourth page is they're saying Make Some Noise if you're already a few drinks in and I'm thinking like is this profession cuz this is what they're putting out this isn't stuff that I'm getting off teachers Pages this is what they're putting out on their Outlets is that what we're doing and um you know some of these other things we've got ideology there um sexual identity ideology and if that's what you want to do that's fine but when I went and I searched for everything about what about kids with special needs or other marginalized groups and it wasn't there that was the focus of what um they wanted to to promote through that company and so you know when this is all over social media and the school board's getting thanked for sending them there and then this is what they're putting forward I want to be able um not in just this um particular conference but in all conferences to know what our people are going and what they're learning and what we are committing taxpayers dollars to find so that was what was behind my um motion to bring out of out of County travel and professional development before the board for um to ask the board attorney to please uh consider if the the board s fit to word Smith a policy that would require professional development to be board approved I walked in as I heard for attorney yes but what I'm gathering is you were asking if we can Implement some sort of policy to out of County travel and professional development that in to be board approved because our board I mean we have to we pay we are going to spend more than $500 we've got to put it out there and be not only transparent with the public but transparent with each other about where we're going and I have to have a board approval and like we're D and by law you know dually elected officials um I I think that as fiduciary agents that it makes sense to to do that you know to answer your question yes you can Implement a new policy if the board that resolution it would have to be something that would have to be voted on by the [Music] board yes sir all right today in our item H in our consent agenda of up there's an out ofate request for Clark Academy how come some things are in and some things are not out out of out of state has to be board approved but this was this went happened in Orlando so you can travel out a county within the State of Florida and not have to get it border approved it should be border appro per state per our policy if it's the total is over $255,000 but there might might have been SE several invoices and it slid under the radar so my question to you would be what qualifies us to make that judgment call the people who voted for us that doesn't qualify us because that's still doesn't tell me what they're teaching here and all of their standards that they're getting that they're teaching are are people that doesn't help me uh because I'm put in this this position does not educate me one bit on this well I think that it gives us an opportunity to learn more about it like we're learning about it after the fact not before the fact like you don't even have the ability to ask questions because I didn't even know it was happening until it popped up and then when I was like what is going on here and I start looking at it then here we are we're none of this is standard aligns 31 pages of nonstandard align so that's professional development so that's everything that they did at that one particular conference nothing aligned with our standards at all so this is so this is just like third through six but they had 31 pages of their alignments and resources and I read 31 pages of it and it goes from prek to middle school and these were just two that I pulled out three through six but that is that two different confes or one no it's the same conference because they had stuff aligned for prek in first grade and second grade and third through sixth and then Middle School none of them it was all common course State Standards aligned every bit of it yes sir that's well that's what that's what their own advertisement said right okay so so that was like the first I mean that was the first thing I saw was okay I mean I'm just I'm just curious because like I said Mr I mean honestly from my point of view um if I had to go through this and look at it I I'm not qualified to to say what they're going to get out of that what they're not what I am qualified to tell you is this I had a a child that went to one of these conferences that is a teacher last year and I know you were upset about the the pictures of them having a good time but that also does some team building for the teachers it lets them blow off a little bit of steam before they get ready to go into the new year and start teaching and my daughter came back fired up ready to go to work after going to that conference last year um I mean excited as the day she got her teaching certificate ready to go to work and change kids' lives I saw that firsthand and the other side it's incredible to see that so it's it's you know there's a lot of positive that takes place in those as well I can assure you the other side of that coin is is public perception and then you know the the children that we serve some of those kids don't get out of their neighborhood for the summer they don't get vacations they don't get any of this and um they don't go to the Gaylord Palms and see concerts and um and and I think that it was a if if you're going to do that then maybe we need to be addressing what people are posting on on social media where the the PE members of the public can see because that's what it looked like there was even a reel on there I know that we're all old enough mature enough to remember Madonna Like remember that's holiday yes no more singing and um but it was like I thought I was sad but all I needed was and they were just doing and it they're promoting themselves as like a vacation and when the people we serve so many of those aren't even getting that opportunity I mean they're not getting out of their own neighborhood so about it from an advertising standpoint if you advertise the dullest borest conference ever how many people are going to show up you know what I mean you know you know you know what they wer so no as as a taxpayer and as a as a parent and as a community member I want to see a a meaningful I want to see them talking about I don't care about your ideology I don't care about you over here dropping it like it's hot and make some noise if you're a few drinks in I want to know what you're doing to learn to help my kid read and write and and do math better that's what matters I mean kids lives are on the line and I think that if at the at the very least this is incredibly poor marketing and it's tone depa to the general public and the parents and the students that we serve I mean that's just the way I see it but I think I I wish we had an opportunity on Big Ticket items like this to weigh in sure and if four people want it and one doesn't they go anyway but you still have that opportunity to say wo sorry um that you support it or you don't what's the rest of the board thank you Mr chair I have a quick question yes please the photos of the fund are those occurring during session hours or after well I don't know I'm not there but like it just seems like your issue is a little bit more the marketing seems if you should be addressing the company that's marketing this they act they actually this is pretty funny last year on Twitter they they uh I made a broad statement I didn't call anybody out I didn't add them and uh somebody directed and the owners of this company tried to eat my lunch that didn't go well and [Music] um they know the perception like I we've had Direct interaction about it and I'm like you know where's your science of reading training where is you know cuz we're doing that like some of the stuff like Fountain fountains and panel that was some of the issues since like the early late 80s early 90s of the site words and context clues and stuff that have made Reading and reading achievements so challenging for Generations a couple of generations of students and when I'm looking at some of their alignment guides they're quoting these people instead of like and then we're going all in on youly and the science of reading but I don't see any of that alignment in these and I just think if we're going to be spending that money then it needs to be effective for these kids so I mean that's just my thoughts and and this is just an example like I'm looking at the broader policy part of it and I'm using this as an example of why I would a specific example is of why I would like to have a say in it um another reason I think would be a good idea is because you know I don't I don't do the fsba trainings anymore like I've outgrown those and it's not the direction I want to take but if there's some of these that could be meaningful if I had the ability to research and that's something that could be meaningful to participate in a board member to help me do my job better and have a better understanding of the needs and the trends in education and I'd like to be able to to participate in that and um I think just it's just a matter of knowing it's a matter of being transparent about Mr who who looks these who makes decision along these uh conferences here so on a school-based level the principles know specifically what needs their staff has and where they need to grow professionally and then they work with the said director whether it be the elementary or the secondary director to align with what conference would best provide those type of um either trainings or pedagogical type of trainings to help them become better teachers or alignment or whatever it may happen to be and so the the answer to your question is is the principles and then the respective directors are the ones that make that decision so these These are vetted then before they make these decisions for them to go yeah the te yeah teachers don't have you know the ability to say we're going to this one and go it has to go through at least two different layers on a school than District level and mult and most of the time even more because uh these are all Grant funded and so then whoever that said gr administrator would also have to look at that and fit that as well so I mean I don't know about you guys but I trust that we have good people in place to to do those exact things to bet these things that you know U I don't see our our staff and administration sending our teachers off to uh a party scene I just don't see that you know are they going to align with every single thing that we do here I highly doubt it I highly doubt it but uh I just don't see them saying party time let's go you know I think that they're looking at like I said I I saw it firsthand with my daughter and I know there was several schools at that particular conference that year and I know you had an issue with that one particular conference because they school was all dressed and they did a little dance thing that year together my daughter wasn't in that school she was in a different but nevertheless that was some team building as well at the same time I think I saw videos of teachers dancing on chairs and dropping it like it's hot I mean that's and it was it like went out there to the public well but wild to me if that was in the after hours they could have done that by whether they were at a conference or not they were saying they were at the conference doing it I mean that's I I don't know I'm just that's just my my thoughts on it I think our teachers work very hard and we talked to a couple of principles when their student their teachers were going their teachers were excited they had fun they felt exhilarated and you know what I think that's okay I'm fine if they went there and they had a good time and they come back and they're ready to work and they learned them things were beneficial while they were there more power to them that's fine with me and I and I I think when we have our principles and our upper level administrators review it first I know it doesn't meet everybody's goals but if they go there and they have better skills and they had some fun and they're exhilarated to come back and teach a little bit better than they did last year and they're ready to move forward and that's the direction we should go so on a on a table on a tabled vote do we still have to is the we have to vote on it yes all right is it any way super mention that the principal approves it and it's like 30,000 was the nameit 30,000 no that's just what this one cost the one that the question was how much did this one cost I believe that one was right around the 30,000 Mark oh okay would it be possible for them to come here and say they going to do this Lear learn that and then we'll here the principal Say by bu going to have a a good time stud this this and then for us I would understand what they going we we should go go next year anyway I mean that that's better to have us trying to review something that we're not fully you know aware of I let be a problem for not I want to make sure I understand what you're asking could they come here and present to you about what com I'm to send my people here learn this this this and then you know the nightl the nightl you know really can't dictate what they do the nightl if I mean if that's what you're asking us that's what the board decides that's going to be a lot of people principles coming here and presenting I don't know we need them all to come but if a lot of teachers and our lot of princip I'd say one in a couple of minutes up here let us know what's going on I'm not asking for 70 teachers to be up here even for every conference you know through through the school year we go to a couple conferences the month of May and June you would be you would be in here for hours each meeting we I mean there's a lot there's a lot yeah something want to get into but I think this is a spec this is a specific example of the the policy is not about this one particular conference it is about out of state the policy suggestion is about out of County travel for professional bhood it's not about this particular one this was just a a sensational example that I thought would like drive home the point of why I felt concerned that still drive home the point of what he's talking about in those several months we will be inundated with presentations is what he saying I'm not I didn't ask for presentation I just said put it as an agenda item like the Ron Clark Academy so guess what I went to the Ron Clark Academy I looked it up I said okay look at this how much is it going to cost d d d and I had an idea I mean that's all I'm not saying I'm going to do a deep dive in a complete evaluation on it but you know if we're approving that for going to out of state like that was that was how I don't know how there was a significant number of people who made that travel out of County for this professional development I'm not asking for a presentation on everyone that wasn't my ask at all mine was just to have it listed similar to what we do if you want to go to fsba or whatever professional development and travel you're do doing that same level of transparency so what was the motion well that's about 15 minutes we have a summary yes sir on the on on the agenda item it says motion uh let me let me back up make sure after discussion with the Board member Miss bu made a motion that all travel for teachers out of County professional development conferences go before the board for approval motion was second by Mr sik during the discussion Mr sik made a motion L on the table which is where we are now thank you okay we have any any further discussion no no further discussion I say we vote on the motion then that Mr Houston has on the table all in favor of M houon motion say I I all opposed May motion fa fails [Music] 41 we will move on to uh board member business 8B plus property um superintendent yes Mr chairman at the last at the last meeting we had a presentation by um some County officials and Engineers regarding uh one of the pieces of property that we have in Port Lael um and they need to use it for some water wells to increase the water supply to the port Lael utility system um that we're still working on that um they they are wrapped up with other projects and could not be here tonight and we could not get all the information we wanted prepared they ask us would it be possible to continue that in into October I would ask you that you know that we continue that we we do have time for discussion tonight and if you have some leave Mr s has some things that he wants to what I'd like the board to do is look at on the item it shows all the properties that are available I I have need something for you guys to look at is there a specific one I'm sorry the property cost the values you have Praises [Music] yeah got one okay need I'll keep M at the end of our conversation on this property we we were talking about what else we could do with this property it it has to have wells we understand that the water department very much wants that property and the more we talked about it we was there any reason that we couldn't build housing on feature housing the access to the sanitary was real close so we didn't have to build a huge aseptics system and so forth so I asked someone to just sketch and on the front page here is a two F uh two units that's combined in one and then I asked them to look at the plus property on this page here and you can see the number of build houses or units that we can built it's 40 units each has two so that becomes 80 possible houses to be built on that piece of property now when we look at the other properties that are available in Fort level they have they also have large values if we sold as an option sold some of those we could start building if we only Built 10 units right now that still 20 houses that's 20 people that we could house at this time and First Bank is more than willing to put in a bid on financing for us now we're a little County we don't do much but I feel that this is sort of a gift that we've been given and that we should utilize it that pie of property is beautiful and see the circles still plenty of room for the wells who did the rendering on this this sketch was in in engineer be transparent Mr chair y Mr I nothing to do with nothing to do with it never seen that so here's what we have we have the opportunity we have a bank that's willing to work with us we we're never going to be in this position again we could still probably get some money from the water department I'm chairman of the water board there they have some money and with with this if we put it started with 10 units it it it could be huge we we have 80 possible over a short period of time we could house 80 people I think or more or more double up well that's right they're all two bedroom so you you obviously have more and I talk to a management company they manage for 10% we don't want Mr s going up there with a plunger with a toilet back so they hand all that not that he couldn't do it I'm sure he's very capable and but this is not rity say we know go big or go home here's an opportunity for us to do something it's sort of laid out it's a good piece of property it's in a nice area and it's not that far from CL it's closer it's on the far side of Port LEL so you people don't even have to drive F though I drove from lell for 35 years I didn't find that to be a horrendous traffic jam or anything and so it initially applies for some housing we need and obviously it needs a lot of work but these units and then you have we would have to go out to bit ons I talked to a company a couple of companies that would like to B on this if this is the direction that we went so we lose Nothing by exploring this and saying maybe we need to look at it a little more before we make a decision but something like that or you could go with three or quads and stuff like that there's more options we just AR with the two two units so my question is this to you with these three Wells so you're thinking we maintain control of the property we allow them to place these Wells later I think we give them a right of access and so forth and say that they maintain it I don't know we have to I have to tr to the attorney do we have to De that sanction off or do we just give them a right away access so there are multiple questions that I want to address from last meeting and then wrap into the ones that were presented tonight so first for member bu last meeting asked if when we sell Grill property owned by the district it needs to be put out to B short answer to that question is no um the statute is 10328 it goes into the disposition property the key things that to decide is whether or not the decision is at the best interest of the public so there's no currently governing board policy that requires you to put this out for bit you would just need to decide that whatever you do is for the best interest of the public um also that it's unnecessary for educational purposes of surplus land as defined by the educational plant survey and again diligent efforts dispose of it only in the best interest of the public that's the key um there was a question last time of whether or not the property can be donated the answer is it can be if the board again decides it's in the best interest of the public and there's several factors that work way in deciding that if selling it and getting that um Equity would be more beneficial donating it to the purpose that um so there is an alternative to where you can convey the land with the deed and have a public purpose reverter provision which would maintain the board's right to write reverter B there's also an alternative to give them an easement um we have the ability to do that that has a specific board policy that's already adopted it's board policy 73 five and I can pull up to straight with it because there are certain um things that must be done in order to convey the easement I won't read it for beta but it says in part that companies or other governmental entities that desired easement shall submit an application packet to the superintendent it has to include description of the type of easement that'sa legal description of the parcel for which the easement that'sa are arual drawings elevations for any structure that would be constructed on the parcel so on so forth and they would have to submit the application at least 30 days before the quarter person so that's another thing that we can consider with this property as far as affordable housing Mr saite called me today and asked me if there's anything preventing us from doing this again short answer is no there's statutory Authority that says that a school district do such a thing provide affordable housing for his employees Personnel the statute if you're interested in 101.4 312 the only concern is let me back up there are a lot of districts that are exploring this um I'll give you a couple of examples that I wrote down Pasco they partnered with um Habitat for Humanity they convey the Surplus property to the county to give to Habitat for commity and then have for Community constructed Sarasota if you want to look into it their um program is called lofs on Lemon is it SAR lofs on Lemon y Miami day they collaborated with County Housing and a private developer and all in all it's a complicated process it's going to take time um it takes several years most often develop but this is something that a lot of districts are exploring my concern is the federal housing um and how we cannot restrict the units to only be for school P School Employees teachers and District Personnel however we can give we can have a preference for district personnel and teachers but we cannot say this is only for teachers yes because better housing Provisions um but again let me reiterate that a lot of districts are exploring this and it's something that's being done I don't um know what the board would decide would be in the best interest but again that's the key uh to answer this question no yes you can do it yes you can sell it yes we can donate it yes we can get the pement so there are options um as far as the agenda item that's on the agenda for you to vote for now I believe it was t so technically like M asked for the prior item since it was Ted there must be a vote tonight on it but that does not exclude you from PR addressing it in a different formater if that makes sense if you're wanting to vote no on this particular request now and then expl affordable housing in conjunction with it or if you want to go ahead and vote Yes I was not last okay don't it is there a motion I think we had just discussion we didn't have a motion on I made a presentation and recommendation but it was never motion you made a motion no no I can't make motions I just made a recommendation you made a recommendation there was a motion in a second and then it was to give them the property and then we went down 74 R holes okay motion to give it to let me look at the minutes yeah I believe there was a motion in a second because you have to have that for discussion motion a second and then you have a disc that you have to have that to open discussion I don't think so you you made a motion to table it until the September 3rd meeting the motion was seconded by Mr samite there wasn't an initial motion on it that we just went straight to [Music] discussion I would against that all day is that Mr qu yeah that's correct Mr I think I think you were just discussing my recommendation there was a formal motion just table so there's really no motion to decide upon right now all right so the motion table and and if it's okay with the board if you'll give me the latitude then I will work um with with the interested parties in the county and and plus and and continue to bring back information and options until we flesh through you know what what that looks best on all of our our behal okay so when do we want to look at bringing this back or do we not do we just want to leave that open yeah it's okay with you if you'll let me just kind of work till we come back with some really good solid options you and we want to we want to move on it you know we don't want to waste any more time than necessary if we can go into housing I want to go into housing and let's get make it happen as soon as possible so it'll be in the October no later open then the October board me okay so just for the bubble have everything stra if we table it to the next meeting we postp we can set a date's no [Music] motion so shouldn't be anything right so can you R me what was post what was last time it was only my recommendation that we which was a recommendation of the board so there was never an official then that would be okay she made a motion that we table it and he seconded the motion table It All We a was so we'll leave it [Music] open so now I do have a question though you mentioned that uh in the event that we go that way that we cannot uh strictly make it for teachers only but we can give them preference is that what you said if I'm understand that correctly so and when we say preference if we give them a discount or something like that or we just give them if 16 people apply and we can give it to and we have 18 teachers we can give it to teachers only then at that point at our right like every and the law is such a great area yeah but just to generally answer your question you cannot restricted and say this housing facility is only for our District employees you have to leave a open to but then if there's certain applicants you can give preference to the applicants that the criteria that we're looking for now can we limit the length of stay so it needs it would any housing facility that we have will have to comply with all other housing acts that currently exist this is the concern that I talked about I believe with Mr Swindle um about convictions and the determination of a teacher and what that will do to their eal interest in the property is a concern of mine frankly um I think that it would all be in contract it would all have to comply with stat federals things like that but if someone is terminated from appointment would have to give them an amount of time it's not you are no longer employe out of here you have to make sure I was thinking more along the lines of if we have a teacher a new teacher that comes in I mean we want to keep them obviously as long as we possibly can but do we say okay you're we've got housing here um but within 10 years we expect you to be looking for alternative housing something of that nature along with anybody else so we can keep them turning to help new teachers as they come through that's what I'm mean it can be written in the contract but again is very tricky whether or not that abides by housing La that we have to say you can live you can live here but if you don't meet these certain criteria or the duration of your state is X and you have to go but there are leas injures that are only a year that's what we typically see a year toe lease and in a normal situation the leaser would have the opportunity to renew it or not so it's all things that we' have to explore but not impossible you don't see it's an impossible situation Contra it's just Contracting yeah and it's it's like I've said people in the country are renting right now so everybody's got a rental contract yeah it's not impossible and a lot of districts are doing it it's just going to be a process it's not going to be easy that's why we have a good lawyer that's right while we're flushing this out and figuring out a path for to see if it's I am on the my concern is on the other side so say we put up 20 units I promise you we're going to have more than 20 people want those units and so how you know that is how are you going to make those decisions fair and equitably that doesn't end up getting you in trouble and are we going to use that is this there going to be any subsidization of these and does that qualify as part of a benefits package does that have to be negotiated through the union and if you go there then what about us folks who have been paying taxes and pay our rent and we're paying property taxes now and now we're not getting that benefit as well so we're looking at fair and Equitable there that I think you do a lottery system if you had 60 people want in 20 units you do a lottery system on that to let them you know I mean way you're being fa in part well this is getting into an area where we really need to spend some off time come into with a lot of options because this is never ending because it's going to be a lot that's why you know turny said that you know this is it takes a lot of time sometimes years to get this done and and and you're seeing why right and and I think you've heard me say this before none of us signed up for this none of us want to do this but this is something that would help us recruit and retain high quality individuals you know to be in hindry County as teachers and that really is the Difference Maker so it's a necessary evil and I'm willing to to wait through it you know what is our so we recruit your typical certified teacher out of college how long do they stay with us typically I don't know I don't know a number you know we can go down the list of the ones that we know you know some are with us from that 3 to 5e period because a lot of times we recruit them from Pennsylvania and other states that they can't even get a job there until they've had three years experience or master's degree so they come here and get that and then they move back home with the family and then eligible to get into those jobs but we've also had some phenomenal winds that we keep a lot of the folks you know that that are from there as well so I don't know that there's an act appr one but I retained one so um you know like I said about being hilarious um so you know I I get that I would like to see like what the average span is because if you know and and think about a you know is this going to be transitional housing you know is that the goal and Define like the length of what the transitional time would be for them yeah again those are those are very important details that we have to spend time fleshing the room think that we don't need to make any kind of wor [Music] P yes sir I'll try to make it later in October my go all right so that is uh the end of our agenda Madam attorney is there anything else that you have I do not Mr superintendent I do have just a couple things just to give you a heads up we will be coming to you in October with another expulsion hearing um so we will have one of those pre- meetings like we did before to go through the information uh we will make sure you're well aware of that and you're prepared for that um uh before that meeting and you know that secondly uh this is a time of the year where we have a lot of just things going on um everything from football games volleyball games a lot of Career and Technical education things happening um a lot of the clubs you know doing things around campuses non- campuses after school weekends um if if you want to keep up with that or uh and participate you know the the students the teachers the administrators know when you're on campus they appreciate it and they love to see the support from from the the dasis so if you can make any of those happen we would love to have you there that's all very good all right well uh for all of the people that have been keeping up with the election congratulations to the ones that won condolences to the ones that didn't uh better luck next time so and then um I I do want to say that the city of cliston actually just purchased or leased a um machine that does striping for ball fields um incredible uh I happen to know my son-in-law was uh the one that was running the machine and showed me pictures I don't know if you've seen them or if any of you saw it uh he did cane field in 4 hours for the Middle School um eight gallons of paint and just incredible looks like a professional feeld so my question is are we uh in talks with the city and he didn't tell him he wouldn't tell him he said you got to find out in your room um about maybe uh trying to get them to uh cuz he told me he did tell me that they would do it um a lot cheaper than we can as far as paint has he contacted you or athletic department that you know of not not me anyway I can't speak for the athletic department we're very appreciative to the city and what they continue to do for our Athletics as well as other things that they really help us on I'm more than happy to talk to them about that yeah I I think that would be huge cuz uh I mean it really I wish I should have had sent me a picture um it really look nice you know in 4 hours I don't know about you but I don't want to push a machine out there for 4 hours across the field uh it really looks sharp so just something I think we should definitely check into if if not possible so that's it for me Mr samik one just one quick thing is I the bpk ipk entrance here that they just finished is beautiful you know it was a crappy run down from all the way and now it I it is stunning it looks so good I'm so impressed with the job they did on that tell us how you I'll tell you how I thought it was now it's beautiful that's it actually I can just second what he said I went over there today went in the classrooms and of course you all the little peanuts are around but I think it's going to be an amazing asset to this District I'm super excited oh anything in particular man school got got all the Good Foot so we just Hing the everything continue to be well all right I do and I'm going to use my extra 10 minutes from not saying anything in the last meeting I'm just kidding um so I've had some parents reach out with concerns about East Side West Side the and that that whole complex around those Elementary School pod with the like traffic flow and so it's been a long time since I've had to go and participate in that personally so I went and sat out and just kind of observed some of the complaints I was hearing I don't know if any of you guys have feel the same way as I do but when dot went in there and created that school zone it doesn't make sense it is and and so what I saw was some people smoking through like the area where you would have um you would turn in to to go to east side or west side but then you have a protected area that's basically just in front of a convenience store so you're not in a and is there any way to get is there any way to get um the do to come back and revisit that because you're do designated school zone area right there in front of convenience store where you can't speed but you could actually speed through where the actual Ingress to go and drop the kids off where there should I mean I don't know we don't have a crossing guard there either we used to but we don't have him there now and um that area right there is not protected by school's own speed limits on wco yes like if you notice this you you you've got they I don't know they called it boss man's um convenience store well that's what we call it I don't know the real name and then you have that place that has like the little the hot pink place that has the like the little restaurant the school zone the school zone is like from here to here in front of this and then here's our school and then you turn in here all of this is unprotected by the school zone no it's 25 all the way through there it's not marked that way mhm on the right hand side there's a sign says 25 on the right hand side you're looking at the big 15 above it's 25 after you come across the track shortly down there by this by the railroad I had somebody after in the same question and then on the other side coming from sugar just past the John Boy entrance there a 25 Zone there so we don't have the flashing lights on this side I think what people are looking for are the like at that that flashing area but why would what if you don't mind Mr Clay has an update something new that's being installed if you're out there today you should have seen Cruise working I wasn't today yeah and so they're the school zone does go to where you're saying it doesn't it does go all the way down there but just to make it clear we in the process of installing digital speed cameras with the sheriff's office in collaboration between them and the school district and there'll actually be speed cameras going up there and you'll actually receive fines um with speeding School you actually capture your tag and your information you receive a f in the mail of $10000 begin with if you're if you're you're speeding through the school Z and that's going to be countywide um they're upda B and over B um the high school and then that school on there by west side and East Side um but that is it is a the document area that they've given us is that now for your traffic issues your traffic control issues all I can tell you is we were not built for the capacity of what we have going on and that is a much bigger headache that is with do the city of Kon expanding and building the roadways we just want design for the amount of traffic we have one in these small are is I I would love to tell you there's a fix coming for that but I don't have that off the top of my head but there is those new cameras are they installed yet they're being installed they're actually in the process of running the power and getting all that stuff put in I'm hoping to have them before the middle of the year um but they're actually working on but your school zone is still the same school zone that'll just be a little bit better than enforcing because what struggling to get law enforcement to S the schools as well they're very busy um and Str for us as well and I believe that part of them doing that the stat statute requires them to put up all new signs markings that was the presentation it that one fell apart but a different company has picked it up but it's the sameir she's sitting in the meetings and we'll be all new signs put up all new information put up great yeah I work directly um with the company ultimate um for the sheriff's office I'm one of the individuals that's overseeing on our end our oper with the company and um so what they're projecting right now is November but it could be sooner for the cameras to be active um but prior to the cameras being active and citations being issued there will be a 30-day warning period and information will be sent out to the public to educate them about the cameras um better and you know what's to come with that so but it will have new signs will have I can't say for sure if it's going to have the flashing lights but it will be better programmed so it's specific to like the days that the when there's a holiday break they'll have the school calendar so those will be active during holiday breaks or after a half day it'll be specific the time change is always in we just had to update all our school times and stuff and it's it's 30 minutes before 30 minutes after right we me and Chris worked with that and we just got that updated and that all be programmed in and it automatically changed on its own without trying to you come up there at 9:30 and it's still wait a minute okay thank you all right I'm pleased to hear that I mean I just what I witnessed there and I didn't see what Mr B I didn't see those little signs because I was looking for looking at that little I mean it was so confused and I'm like what in the world have a Crossing I think he left just confirmed so maybe you were there he didn't or something um yeah Mr sson should be at that intersection for wco and Royo um and usually he's not going to be there during his designated time you do try to have a road out there in his place just because of the traffic congestion right there yeah he wasn't there that day another issue that I saw is folks aren't being Mindful and they block the buses coming out of Margaret Street I don't know if there's like sign that say like hey you know give them but I was felt very I know they were very frustrated trying to to get out of that it comes back to an enforcement issue you know when you take your driv chance the traffic and stop you're not supposed to block egresses onto the roadway and people don't follow the wws and trying to get trying to get people out there again sh off is extremely busy the police department tell extremely busy I've talked to all about trying to get somebody out there during the school zones I actually talked about that particular bus that's there um and the response I got was if we're available we will be done um so we've reached out we've done our due diligence on that but we're doing the best we can as a school district all I appreciate it I just want you know that was just something that the I'm getting the shake I was getting phone calls and pictures today from the pickup drop offline understand I know I sent them to you right that concludes my comment since even [Music] I do have one other question for you though U and it made me think of with her question if you leave the Clon high school and head out through hooker's Point there's a school zone out there in the middle of nowhere there's not a school around out there can we get those I mean is there a reason those signs are up I will check on it sir and get back with the superintendent back I got pulled over a couple years ago in there from that very so I know very well where I did not get a ticket but I was like what