e the Schoolboard work session begins in 1 minute please take your seats again the Schoolboard work session begins in 1 minute e good morning everyone I now call the August 1st 2024 administrative briefing and work session of the Maran County School Board to order at 9:00 a.m. please silence your electronic devices to avoid disturbing others mirroring and modeling how our students begin each day I ask that you please pause with us for a moment of silence please join me thank you I'll Now read our board commitment statement we are the Marian County School District leadership team when we come together to work we are efficient effective and productive our three most important characteristics are dedicated transparent and individually responsible to work well together we must demonstrate respect confront reality and be accountable we will always put students first and we will leave a legacy of success I now ask the Schoolboard attorney to explain the roles for this public work session good morning attorney Powers good morning chair thrower thank you very much in compliance with section 28601 four of Florida Statutes the school board has adopted uniform procedures for public speakers who wish to speak at this morning's meeting either regarding one of today's agenda items or a matter relating to the operations of the school district these procedures will ensure the public has a reasonable opportunity to be heard on school board and School District matters a written summary of these procedures is available from the table in the lobby public speaker forms are also located on the same table the completed forms were due to the school board's clerk um no later than 910 a.m. this morning speakers will be called prior to the business portion of the school board's meeting in order of the receipt by the Schoolboard clerk before you begin speaking please State your full name for the record and spell your last name each speaker will have five minutes of time however if there are more than five persons who wish to speak the board May seek consensus to limit each speaker's time to 3 minutes when the speaker has 1 minute remaining the speaker will receive a visual will notice to complete or his or her comments speakers may not yield their time to other people speakers and meeting attendees are expected to conduct themselves in a respectful manner therefore verbal attacks and profanity are strictly prohibited pursuant to the procedures for public comments item six speakers are not to identify specific individuals other than themselves or their child unless the statement is provided 24 hours in advance the board is here to listen to your comments only you may be directed to an administrative staff member following the conclusion of your comments for further assistance to address your concerns if there are matters dealing with student discipline including expulsions they'll be scheduled during the televised uh at the conclusion of televised portion of the meeting and parents May address the board at that time a speaker's speech does not reflect the endorsement sponsorship position or expression of the school district thank you for your attention to the board's requirements Madam chair that concludes my explanatory remarks thank you attorney Powers board clerk Martinez good morning please provide the proof of publication for today's meeting good morning the notice for the August 1st 2024 work session was published in the Okala Gazette on July 9th 2024 proof of publication has been attached to board dos under proof of publication thank you Miss Martinez and just for the public and the board's awareness uh we will recess this work session a bit before 11: a.m. and then we will have our scheduled board meeting as close as practicable to 11: am and as far as any breaks or lunch breaks we'll just see how things flow and so we'll now begin the work session with the superintendence administrative briefing good morning Dr gullet good morning Madam chair members of the board nice to see you this morning I I'll be very brief I know we have a full agenda today uh want to start with um thanking um Dr Talbert Irving Dr Brewer uh and board members for coming and celebrating summer graduation last night it was just a um great opportunity to celebrate each and every one of our students that have worked so hard to get across the finish line and having their whole families here to celebrate and all of our principles that came um I always say that summer graduation is especially important because they've worked really hard and some of them have had incredible barriers um but they've overcome them and I want to thank um Rashad Jones who was a very inspirational speaker he always is I've heard him several times and I told him just remarkable how inspiring he is and the words are are felt very deeply so appreciate our community U partnership as well but um thank you all for being there and then I also want to um just do a special reminder if you didn't know school is starting soon August 12th for the rest of our students wyam park has been up and running um we're thrilled to have those uh students back and our teachers back and the rest of our teachers and staff will be back on Monday preparing for student return on the 12th so looking forward to having the rest of our uh school team back together on Monday so that concludes my briefing this morning thank you madam chair thank you so sounds like we're ready to roll right into our first topic we are and I think the first topic is is for attorney Powers thank you madam chair thank you good morning attorney Powers good morning thank you very much today we have with us Attorney John McGraw who is our outside councel who is uh working with us regarding the sale of the old Warehouse building and potentially additional lot across the street we've talked about this on a couple of Prior occasions and Mr mcra is here to indicate some of the uh next steps in the procedure and process I have given each board member a copy of some relevant documents uh specifically Florida Statutes um regarding the sale of the warehouse and sale of and disposal of property um as it relates to Florida law Mr mcra will fill in any blanks he will also ask for any questions that you might have and give you some recommendations for how we proceed from here attorney McGrath nice to see you again attorney poers nice to see you board thank you for having me here today um I really appreciate it as attorney power stated my name is John McGraw MCG r a w is the spelling of that last name um I've got my firm mcra Roba melli in town and we are located downtown at 35 Southeast 1 Avenue just in the same building as the Cantina um is located so if you ever need to find us you can certainly find us there um attorney Powers contacted me a few weeks ago and asked that I take on the representation for the board for the disposition of the property pursuant to resolution 23-10 which was adopted by the board on June 13th 2023 as an opening and preliminary matter we went ahead and did a title search on the properties that were affected in doing those title searches attorney Powers also requested that we search more properties additional properties the old um School Board building and some of the areas around there uh close to 8 Street Elementary and so we went ahead and did a title search and frankly it took my Searchers three to four weeks to get that completed whereas if we were just doing the properties for the resolution it would have taken about a week so that was the initial delay in getting this over and as a backdrop we did find a title defect in one of the parcels of property that the school board owns um that originated back from two uh 1912 so a lot of the Deeds were from 1912 over to the school board and one in particular was for a lot 19 which is the southernmost property that touches Southeast 8th and on that lot 19 um what we what we found in our research and going through the track books is that the property was deeded by a Germaine Bank to a Lily rainor and that was done in 1912 and and then we don't see anything anything else from Lily rainor from 1912 forward we researched the tax records and from 1913 to 199 no tax records could be found or assessed and then here we come in 1920 and that property that had been deed to Lily RoR is now being assessed in Marian County School Board as of 1920 through current and so in order for us to cure that defect I've spoken with attorney Powers we need to do a Curative Quiet Title action again I don't think this is any cause for concern at all but it's something that needs to be done just so that if anything's ever going to be done in the future you don't have to deal with it then so attorney Powers has has tapped me on the shoulder and said please go ahead and move forward and complete what needs to be done to cure that process so we are going to start that immediately moving back to resolution 2301 which encompasses um the real property of 506 Southeast third which is the warehouse and the vacant Lo directly to the South um the board has chosen by resolution to dispose of those real estate assets and that power to do so comes from Florida statute 101 3.28 and that statute says that the Board of Trustees May dispose of any land or real property to which the board holds title which is by resolution of the board un necessary for educational purposes as recommended in an educational plant survey the district District board shall take diligent measures to dispose of the educational property only in the best interest of the public so that is your test it's to make sure that the board is taking diligent measures to dispose of the property in the best interest of the public that statute goes on to say that um appraisals may be obtained by The District board and that would could happen prior or simultaneously with the receipt of bids and so in looking at that chapter we obviously have the authority we have the power to sell these properties once they have been deemed unnecessary for educational purposes and by resolution 2301 we have deemed that to be the case and so now we're looking to how do we move forward to um dispose of the properties within the settings required by Florida statute and so what I do believe I think that this statute's pretty Broad and gives us a lot of power um however I would suggest that we do take the lead of a Florida Administrative Code that has purportedly been repealed but it was section 6 A- 2.10 and it basically provided a guideline and instruction on how property can be offered once it is determined to be unnecessary for educational purposes as recommended in in an uh plant survey and so this reg this regulatory guidance has been sitting out there and used and I still think that if we follow the regulatory guidance it is likely the best manner for us to dispose of this property and to meet the guidelines of 101 3.28 which is basically to efficiently and diligently dispose of the property in the best interest of the school board or of the public um that framework on that administrative code has levels of where that property is worth so if the property is worth or estimated in the opinion of the board to be less than $100,000 the board May dispose that property by either public or private sale for whatever consideration the board deems to be in the best interest so there's no requisite appraisal if it's under 100,000 um you can take a direct offer from someone and if the board votes on it finds that it is in the best interest to sell it to a party you certainly have the authority and the power to do so and that is if it's under 100,000 for properties over a 100,000 when in the opinion of the board the property being sold has an estimated value in excess of 100,000 the board shall dispose of the property to public sale so in this case it's going to be public sale it can't be public or private it's going to be a public sale and such s such s shall be advertised for a minimum of once a week for three consecutive weeks in a newspaper having General circulation in the district now whether that be the ocal Gazette the voice of South Maran that's what we would do in this this scenario is we would advertise it once a week for three consecutive weeks before taking bids um for a property that has an estimated value of 100,000 to $500,000 the administrative code goes on to say that there should be one qualified real estate appraisal on that property if it's an excess of 500,000 there should be two now will tell you in this case the board has already ordered three and has three appraisals on these properties um and so I think we absolutely 100% satisfy the guidelines here and um and then as the process goes along you open it to bid and the board at any point in time can either accept a bid or it can reject all bids and move forward with a different course if it so chooses to obtain the best interest of the public and so my recommendation to the board is to follow the process of the bids the public bids um I think that is a e an efficient and a diligent method in which to obtain a sales price and disposition of the property in the best interest of of the public and I think there would be very little scrutiny coming back on the board if we were to follow the Florida administrative codes uh guidelines and framework now I don't think it's the endall and Beall and if the board chooses to go a different route the board can certainly choose to go a different route um this is just my suggestion at this point in time and so the suggestion again of mine would be that we take diligent measures to dispose of the educational property the bid process and we've already started that bid process by going and obtaining the appraisals for the property and now we need to work to a advertise the property for the minimum of three weeks I would highly suggest that we break the vacant land parcel and the warehouse land parcel into two different sales and that we advertise each of them separately and independently and then um I would suggest we generate a purchase and sale contract which is what my job would be is to generate that purchase and sale contract and we use that as a requirement for anybody wanting to put a bid in on either of these two properties if you're going to submit a bid on the vacant land contract if you're going to submit a bid on the warehouse you're going to use our form of the purchase and sale contract that I will have drafted and we will include certain disclaimers that will minimize liability to the board on this conveyance we'll be making no representations as to any physical characteristics of the property we'll be making no representations as to any underground storage tanks if they are on the property we're simply going to say it's a caveat mour buyer beware situation and we will have that contract draft as such and the buyers will acknowledge they are sophisticated buyers and the due diligence is on the buyer if the buyer wants to perform due diligence that's great if they don't that's great too but we as the board are making no representations as to the physical characteristics of this property in an effort to minimize any type of liability back to us and so that would be part of and included with the big package is that the buyers are going to submit that signed contract back to us with their bid along with an escro deposit and I would suggest the escro deposit on the vacant lot be $10,000 in cashier check certified funds wire to be held at my trust account and so the bidder would come and submit a bid provide the $10,000 on the vacant lot and then sign the purchase and sale agreement that we have drafted and that would create an offer at that point and we would gather every one of these offers for a period of time and we would have a cut off date on that cut off date we would open and review all offers and we would either reject them all if none of them fit the bill and start back at square one or we would accept one and once we accepted it we would need board approval to ratify and sign off on it to actually create a contract and once that has been done we would notify that buyer that they were the winning bidder and the contract has been executed and we provide provide that contract over to them at which point I do suggest that we give them a due diligence period and we have that set forth in the contract my suggestion is going to be 15 days once we notify you that we've accepted your contract you have 15 days to do whatever due diligence that you would like to do order a survey um do any type of geotechnical studies that you need to do but it's a 15-day tight window for you to do that after that 15-day window expires if you've done anything great if you haven't and you haven't terminated the contract the deposit is deemed non-refundable and you are moving forward to buy that property and then we set a closing date I would suggest 30 days after the expiration another the due diligence period and that's so long as it fits within the board's schedule to make that happen and Jeremy I'll certainly rely on you to say it needs to be 60 days or 90 days after for us to be able to get every everything together um when it comes to the warehouse I think we up the ante a little bit and it's not a $10,000 deposit it's a $50,000 deposit that gets provided but the same rules apply you're going to provide a signed purchase sell agreement that I've drafted on behalf of the board and you're going to provide us with your bid and you're going to provide us with a $50,000 deposit and so I think this is the best way for us to gather the bids to satisfy section 101 3.28 um I talked with attorney powers on signage I think we should post signs on the areas and notify and you know get the word out as best we possibly can these two sites are for sale so that we get the highest and best bids coming our way um and I think so the advertisement coupled with the signage has a very good chance to satisfy the statute and get what we're looking for at this time do youall have any questions for me thank you attorney mcra um attorney Powers did you have anything else to add before we open it up to the board um I do not well actually one thing is that one of the things that uh Mr mcra mentioned was uh that this process proceeds once there's a determination that the properties are no longer sufficient and adequate for school use that's a determination that's already been made by this board at one of our prior meetings um and made by um by us in our capacity uh as the uh Real Property Owners so that's the that that's already been done and we're ready to proceed forward that portion and um appreciate all the work Mr mcra has put into this I did not realize I've got packets that are interested interesting more for historic value than anything else but of all of the uh original deeds and transcripts going back to 1912 1920 it's pretty fascinating stuff um but uh those title searches can uh definitely During the period of World War I was at the time when when some of these uh some of these come from so that was it's fascinating to look back in amiran County History at that degree so nothing nothing else that I have so thank you great thank you we'll open it up to the board for discussion go ahead board member James I just have a quick question on timeline so if we could just briefly um if you could just capture if the board came to consensus today and said that all sounds wonderful let's proceed can you just map out like what did the next 90 days look like assuming that we're going to have an overwhelming amount of offers which being a downtown real estate owner myself I'm going to tell you we're going to have an overwhelming amount of offers so could you just paint the picture of what the next 90 days could look like sure I and I tend to agree with you there will be an overwhelming amount of offers coming in on some of these properties uh I believe they will be in high demand and I think that the bid process will get enough people um and there will be enough talk in town that will generate a lot of demand um again I did weigh this with does it make sense to put it with a real estate agent and get it listed on the loot net websites and and let others see it I don't think that really is going to generate any more Buzz than our publication in the paper so that that's going to start it right we have to come together with a plan I've got to draft the contracts I would say I would like a 3-week period to do that okay to draft my contracts draft the timelines um draft the instructions to the biders and so I would like three weeks to do that once we' got our plan and our package together um then we would start the publication process that publication process is once for three you know once a week for three weeks so that's going to be another three weeks to let's call that a month from the time you pull the trigger there so right now we're looking at two months before the advertisement even gets out there and then we've got to determine as a board how long we want to keep open the bid process are we going to put a date of 30 days from the last run of the publication is our drop dead date and you have to have your offers in by that time period or do we want to extend it out for two months I can tell you that right now the Bank of America old building on 17th is for sale there's no for sale signs out there right now but it is certainly for sale and they what they're doing is the same type of process that we are about to Embark upon they're doing um sealed bids and they've been taking bids for two months and they're requiring large um deposits to be made with those bids and they're going to open them at the end of August and then they're going to take the highest bid at the end of August and then send everybody else's deposits back to them and they're allowing the people to do the due diligence leading up to August 31st and their position is once we accept your bid you have no more due diligence it's a done deal you're buying that property to clarify that point then that's like a blind bid right so nobody it's an a sealed envelope nobody knows what the amount is correct okay and and and and I would suggest that here as well yes that would sounds wonderful then no one can know anything and we just all it's like Jeopardy we just open it together open it together and so the real question is is do we want to have the biders who have placed the deposit do we want to give them access to the property leading up to our decision making on who gets it so to basically say you can do your due diligence ahead of time but as soon as we accept your bid your bid is accepted there are no further contingencies correct there is there's nothing else that you can do to get out of this and if you fail to close we keep your if it's the warehouse $50,000 if it's the vacant lot your $10,000 yes that you're going to buy it or are we going to be a little bit more lenient and say once we notify you that you are the winning bidder you have a 15-day period to do all of your due diligence to figure out if you want this property and if you don't want this property you have to notify us within the 15 days and then we still have the other bid sitting around that we haven't rejected yet and if these people say they're going to move forward forward that's it we we send the rejected bids all back so there's two School of thoughts there yeah it's whichever way the board really thinks is best and for the purposes of today's conversation does the board have to make those kinds of decisions today I wouldn't say we have to make those decisions today I I think we have to make those decisions before we go to publication and before we send out the rules of what the bid is going to look like now for the next three weeks I'm going to be drafting them and so I would like to have Direction over the next 3 weeks as to which way we're going to go is it we're going to give 15 days after I think we as a board or can we um chair thrower do you feel like we could make those kinds of decisions today to save the team time what I would like to do is get your recommendations in in writing um okay and then let the board consider those recommendations and then we'll make our decision that would be my input I will tell you that my recommend ation would be to have them all do their due diligence prior to us choosing and then they all understand that it's non-refundable once we pick your bid the downside to that is the number of people coming on to the site and doing whatever they need to do for due diligence could get kind of maddening right like they could be stepping on each others toes there could be a lot of talk about what they you know those types of things if we don't allow them to step onto the property and do any due diligence until after we have the one bid that we want that we think is the best and one of these bids may may have a zero contingency on it whatsoever like if you want to make your bid strong you come in and you say here's my number I don't need an inspection I wave all inspection there is nothing that can make me turn away here my I agree that my money is completely hard and again we review every one of these bids and there's there that bid might not be the highest bid but it may be the one that looks the strongest and we go this is the one we're going with and I I just don't like the idea of having a lot of people come on and do due diligence work it they exposure for liability right if you've got people that are on the property poking around somebody gets injured who's going to be on the hook for it there's a lot of that there so I personally am leaning towards sealed bid with a 15-day due diligence at most and hopefully the winning bidder will see this and be like you know what that is a pretty good idea I'm going to take off all contingencies whatsoever and I don't need an inspection period I don't need anything my money's hard right away and I'm ready to close 30 days later right that's what I needed to to hear from you because you know cash is King and all cash no contingencies fast closing I mean what else would we want to hear what else could anybody want to hear yeah I I don't like the idea of first of all we would need to have someone from the district with people that wanted to walk the property I would assume right typically yes and now because we because there's no active student population on these particular properties we don't have to worry about things like the Jessica Lunsford act things like that however I completely agree with attorney mcgr regarding the issues of liability the issues of also people showing up at the site and and we have to coordinate that with our District staff have people out there to open things essentially it's like a we become the realtors that are having to show show the place each time so um my preference would be since particularly since we have to reconvene the board in order to discuss uh issues of consensus or vote and this doesn't require a vote but it does require board consensus that if the board feels comfortable the board gives consensus for attorney McGraw to continue forward in that direction whether that's today or at our next work session if he gives you additional information but I think he's he's made his recommendation fairly clear and I my recommendation is that we follow that okay thank you did you have anything else Bo M no I agree I I think I think it would be I mean we have a work session every Thursday for the next four weeks so I feel like we could put this on an agenda to revisit it if necessary like maybe when your documents are complete three weeks from now we could see it on a work session for us all to come to agreement on and that would give us time to review it before we publish um but I would also just because of the way the publishing deadlines are I would like to see us when that window is come I would like to see us as timely as possible start publishing those since we know we have to we just have to get our ducks in a row um to meet deadlines but everything you've said works for me I think it sounds great I'm ready to move forward I'm excited for um the community to participate in this process and see how much we can get for this property I think it's going to go for a pretty penny so yeah I think they both will I think you'll you'll do well on both of them so that's all I got thank you board member James any other discussion from the board board sure I was just going to say I basically concur with everything thank you for your hard work on this because I know it's taken us a little while before we've seen you but um I know that's what we hired you for but just the detail going back as far with the title searches and all I think that's helpful for the community to see Maran County Public Schools is invested in this community and we've we've had a really um you know stronghold in downtown and we we still remain to be there and even though we are essentially divesting a couple of properties out of downtown we're not leaving downtown anytime soon so uh I concur with what has been spoken today as to your recommendation I don't think it's a good idea to have dozens of people on a property in reviewing the property and all if if we give them that window with due diligence after we've Chosen One then it certainly frees up our liability risk so I would completely concur with that and I don't need us I mean I agree we could have it on the upcoming work sessions in case there are updates that we need but the faster we can get with these you know your three weeks and then the three weeks of advertising and all looking at a November date or so for us possibly I think one thing we would have to figure out and possibly we can talk about that today is if we want to accept bids for a month or two months and I don't know if we want to talk about that today but if that's something we have to disc decide today if that's something also that would have to be in the ad so it would it would certainly have to be in the ad I don't know if you have to decide it today but I would say before we do our first publication it would need to be decided um I would tend to lean to the the shorter time period put people 30 days and then also the next question would be are we trying to get this closed before year end um is that a big concern of the board to get these properties out of the board's hands before you know December 31st of this year and if it is then we need to make sure we have that known and I've got the you know Authority from Jeremy and What needs to take place once we have an a bid that we are going to accept right we have a bid we're going to accept I'd like to put in there we're going to be closing no later than 60 days after the effective date of the contract which if we're doing what a month a month that's two set it out for um you're looking at 90 days probably for bids to come in from today and then we would do another 30 days from there 120 so you got four months I mean it's going to be close but our fiscal year runs July 1 to June 30th so miss Boston analysis here maybe she could shake her head but I don't think the December 31st deadline means anything for our books right yeah okay yes so that's not a hard stop for us I mean it'd be great to it as soon as possible but that's why we're here sure so chair I think that the the close date doesn't matter as much as the acceptance of the bid date so even if it takes two months to close personally I think there's some organic conversation that happens about this and continues honestly even to stay in the news on up to November I think that's going to help us in a lot of ways that the Schoolboard is doing everything we can in a lot of ways about Capital expense this these dollars go directly back into our capital and I think that would be helpful for us to say do your work in the month of August run our publication in September by October 31st we've chosen someone and if if we have that I mean that's essentially constant communication about this over the course of the next three months and then again if close takes longer I don't foresee that being a a major barrier those are my personal thoughts thank you War member Campbell Vice chair Conrad um just thank you for your work uh I'm very exced excited to move forward on this it sounds like the board is in agreeance on most of the things presented today and just really an exciting time for Maran County Public Schools so I'm just looking forward to moving moving ahead on this thank you thank you thank you Vice chair and and for my piece of it I really appreciate the direct and specific recommendations um that's very helpful to the public I would like to consider um keeping placeholders on our upcoming work sessions so as we begin to get more information and and toine down what we're doing that we can continue to keep this at the Forefront um we have done certificates of participation to be able to build new schools you know we have a half penny sales tax on the ballot that we're asking the public to support you know we're doing everything we can to raise funds you know all to support our mission of helping every student succeed so I I agree that the it is important to keep it in front of the public I like the idea of also separating the two properties because in my mind you know Pro in the best interest of the public that's kind of a broad statement and it may be in the best interest of the public in in a in a different way for the warehouse property sale as it would be for the vacant lot um you know for example there are there are private homes you know near the vacant lot and as a homeowner I would be very interested in wondering what the prospects are um what the zoning would be like what might be going up you know right next door to me and I do consider private citizens to also be of public interest so that's where I am um with that uh I am very hopeful that because it is so appealing that we will get um a great all cash offer with no contingencies and fast closing and and we'll be able to move on from this um but I also want to temper that uh with my concern for for downtown as a whole and the citizens that have lived there for many years that are actively watching you know the development that is occurring down there because it directly affects them so all right there's nothing else from the board I can certainly forward uh as Mr mcra and I continue to have conversations on this topic as we have been frequently um I can forward additional information as it comes forward to the board individually and then uh set us time certains for further discussion uh and that further discussion may be on a particular topic of Interest with Mr mcra here or without depending on what the particular informational item is so excellent be happy to do that yes and I also would like to thank both of you um it's not common for two attorneys to be in such agreement over everything and um it's a it's a testament to the work that you've done together to bring bring this presentation forward today so that's appreciated as well appreciate your expertise thank you all right if there's nothing further from the board then we'll entertain any public comment on this agenda item Brian sford good morning Mr Sanford good morning um my name is Brian Sanford it's spelled s an f o r d um thank y'all for letting me speak this morning um that was a lot of information I just heard that was what I was here to do was inquire about whether y'all were contemplating selling um the Lots section 17 15 RG 22 um the two the two lots I guess that back up to each other right there between Sixth and 7th Street whether y'all were obviously y are contemplating selling them and um and then I was going to ask what how much you wanted for him um if if it sounds like what the attorney just recommended was um and I was listening to what he said so I guess uh my request now uh before the board would be if if if y'all go that route and and do um um bidding on it to the public if we could possibly keep it open and transparent um to where with our interest uh in it um you know has personal interest as family we've been there a long long long time and um we would hate to lose you know we have so many memories there and I know that doesn't really concern the school board but I was just hoping maybe we could keep it transparent to where we didn't get out bid on it um if y'all do put it up for bidding um cuz we we would sure like to keep you know keep our uh keep it keep that property uh we uh we own the property next door to it as well so we just like to keep that in the family and um we're just hoping maybe and like you said cash is king So if y'all were able to come up with a number and tell us what what you wanted for it we could go ahead and get a quick closing done and and and get however y'all wanted to go about it um uh just we would hate to lose it and we know I know I've already Port it's already been zoned for commercial and stuff so um we'd really like to just have an opportunity um so that's that's really why we're here this morning that's that was about it just hoping maybe if y'all were willing to sell it and if y'all wanted to put a number on it if we could go ahead and pay cash for it and get it but if y'all are going to go open I mean if y'all are going to do the bid on it like the attorney suggested if if we could just keep that transparent and open to where we don't get out bit so um thank you for letting me speak um I guess that's all I got so thank you okay thank you very much shair thrower I just had a quick remark for Mr mcra if that's okay absolutely Mr mcra um on that note I love a good healthy competition so is it possible to just have the bids published on our website and let them run free and know what to bid I mean that would drive the price up in my mind and I as a servant to our taxpayer want to make the most amount of money here so we can use it to build more schools and wings and buildings so I mean is that a thing that we could do to have a public facing page where every bid that's come in with the $50,000 deposit gets um published on a front-facing website and then if they want to bid more they can change their bid to bid more I mean sure you can take us to an auction much like they do with the Foreclosure sale where you know bid is published and if you're on the you know a foreclosure that goes through Maran County tax sale is online with a yeah you know every time it goes up you know yep I love that idea personally I don't know how the rest of the board feels but let them go if if people want to just outbid each other for it I I mean I can be convinced that that's not a good idea but I'm not completely against it currently so I'm not completely against it but I do think that sometimes it can work opposite of what you think it's going to do uh like if I know the highest bid is x amount of dollars I'm only going to go $1 over that X right if it's sealed and I have no idea what that x amount of dollars is and I put a bit out there and I really want it badly I might be willing to do 2x because I have no idea what these people are putting out there well we don't even have a starting we're not even going to have a starting number though is that the way I understood it that's clear and and I also want to be clear on this as well is that once we have all the bids there's not a requirement that we have to take any of them right right you can take them all off the board so if they're all lowball we could just say if they're all lowball go off and and we can do it a completely different way we can go a completely different direction we can at that point engage a uh a real estate broker that works primarily on Commercial pieces and have them list the property and enter into a contract with them to do so for six months and see what they can get by listing it going through loot net I think the sealed bid will likely work out in our favor okay I I really I appreciate that um I'm also open to an open bid process we open the bids we put out here what this number is going to be where I think that shoots you in the foot though is if you don't have the volume of bids that you thought you were going to have and the high bid is X let's say on this vacant piece of property it's $40,000 and then I know I can pick it up for $41,000 buy I'm only bidding $441,000 but if that bid's hid and I got a $40,000 bid but I have no idea and I really want this lot pretty badly I might put a bid in at $90,000 okay okay I appreciate that that was the only clarifying I wanted to hear your perspective on that thank you it's easy to get very enthusiastic about this process thank you board member James board member Campbell sure so my followup to that would be I could see this going both ways it's similar to what you're saying I do still believe a closed bid on the warehouse specifically makes the most sense for sure but on this vacant lot I I believe there might be an opportunity it it is a unique piece of property it's not big it's pretty small I I mean it's it's double it's it's double the size of what's around it so like all of the homes that around it are exactly one half so it's basically a double lot in that area right with with no vacant land available in that area so I mean I depending it's narrow so depending on what someone would want to build on I I don't know it it's not going to be like a multif family unit or something like that so possibly okay all right understand understand so but but I'm I'm wondering if I I see the two pieces very differently and maybe I'm just going off of your expertise here though do you think having open bid on one and having closed bid on the other would be a benefit or do you still think we should just do close bid on both I can preface that by saying Mr mcra and I have had a little bit of discussion regarding this Factor it there's also a factor we need to consider and that is that someone who's interested in the purchase of one property May ALS also be interested in the purchase of another property but then is going to judge whether they are going to acquire one based on their likelihood of acquiring the other so doing them differently again could shoot us in the foot um we certainly can take we we do have the option of being able to take a um uh a wide variety of approaches to how we move forward with these bids Florida law specifically provides uh exemptions for us as to um public records for appraisals things like that now somebody who is interested in that property in the area they have to make their best estimate of what that property is worth and they have means of doing that I mean this is not a complete you know crapshoot as far as being able to say well gee I think it might be worth 20 I think it might be worth 90 I think it might be worth 200 there are factors that they will need to to to accommodate um but they also can't know what someone else is is interested in paying for that property now someone acquiring one property may have plans that necessarily incorporate what the other property is going to have so it could be a situation in which we um we uh have a b for a the the warehouse property which is probably substantially higher that is going to be someone if they realize I can't get this other property because I see what the bids are doing there then I'm not going to bother to try to put in a bid on this property either so there's no prediction as to how it will work but I'll let Mr mcra take it from there yeah I mean so the framework that was proposed by the Florida administrative code allows you to sell a piece that's less than $100,000 as determined by the board willy-nilly so the reality is if you think that that vacant parcel of property is less than 100,000 and you wanted to sell it tomorrow to somebody who proposes an offer on the table I think you're protected I think that that framework allows you to do that now do I think it gets you the highest and best I don't think so I I I personally don't think so but I would tell you I think you're protected in the event that you went that route and let's say somebody had placed an Loi on the property and said if you go get an appraisal on this or we'll go get an appraisal on this and whatever that appraised value comes out at we will pay it I think you would be well within the statute statory guidance and have done your job I just think that if you go through a bidding process that's closed and you can do the advertisement I think you will attract a great many more buyers and possibly end up with a with more money yes and the additional cost that it's that that it's going to run you is negligible or you you've got publication in the newspaper and you've got some signage to be built that I attorney Powers told me that he's got someone who can create the signs fairly reasonably that's M CPS internally we have graic sure you know so so you you have these things but but I go back to that vacant lot I mean I think the vacant lot is a lot different than the warehouse building and if in fact you wanted to sell that vacant lot tomorrow to anyone and you as a board believed it to be under $100,000 I think you could take an offer from someone and if you had a consensus among the board to take that offer you could certainly do it right I just don't know that that that would be my recommendation for trying to you know to satisfy the best public interest or highest and best value to achieve right but that may be the best public um the best benefit to the public is selling it that way and not necessarily achieving the highest and best money for that parcel I mean there there those are they can be opposed right and they they might not be in line with one another so I think there's some leeway my suggestion is going to be to handle them both in the same way to bifurcate them have a sale for the warehouse have a sell for the lot have them both sealed bids and put Direction out there of what you're going to do and the real benefit to this is if it doesn't render if it doesn't come up with what we thought we would see you have no duty to take any of them you can reject them all even if one's off the off the charts I mean if it if the if you've ordered an apprais it says the commercial building is worth $2.8 million and somebody comes in at 3.5 but you still don't want to take it you don't have to take it it is very clear on that and you could go with a different method but I just think that looking at this from all angles the best way is to set that up with two advertisings and then move forward with the blind bids and have a date certain and go from there I think that's probably the way to go thank you attorney Powers When will the appraised values of these properties become public record are appraisals uh those will they those are Exempted from public record until after the process is over I'm I'm not even sure that they're disclosable after the end of the process but um there are things that can be used as internal internal documents so um we can you know we can access our own appraisals and use those as a guide but um those are not something I mean I'll defer to Mr mcra if he knows any any additional beyond that but my reading statute indicates that there's that we're not required to disclose any appraisals we do on properties whatsoever for the purpose of sale in this kind of situation yeah I I would defer to you on that one I'm sorry I no I I I believe that's the the case but I would like it to be that way as well I don't think it behooves the board to um and something else to say and the reason why I asked that question is because you know um we're committed to being transparent about all this and what we can share and and what we can't and what we should and what we shouldn't and and why um you know if if those that are very interested in this property have the ability to get their own appraisals or there's another term for it an informal appraisal so to speak to give them a a guideline of of what they should be offering so to speak so Florida law is pretty specific under chapter 119 it does not exempt much from public record I know I'm kind of surprised that this is when when it when there is a statutory designation that specifically permits exemption it's typically for very good reason right um understand and so we it it's not it's not treated confidentially like a um like a a social security number or something like that would be it's not protected by furpa like a student record would be but it allows us to have the option to maintain it and that option is wable so should we choose to that's a different matter but uh again the fact is that that the appraisals may end up in a seal bid process being Way Off the Mark as well so you know if we I mean the purpose of an appraisal to us or to a perspective buyer is really to sort of set a broad Target and I can tell you in any of those situations even if you have three appraisals that come forward on a particular piece of property you're going to see some wide variation you know a piece of property that we would have no idea what it's worth it it could value out at 500,000 by one appraisal 200,000 by another and 600,000 by a3d and that that's a wide variation and those things happen particularly when it's difficult to find comparables we're not talking about a specific um type of property that is sold every day you know this this is a a relatively unique set of circumstances I believe I remember the date of 1912 as being relevant for member James did you had something else to add um no I mean it's I it it flew out of my head so no I don't remember okay I just wanted to make sure I got back to you um vice sh Conrad good but attorney mcra answered my questions thank you okay okay anything else from the board at this point okay so I believe that we have reached consensus to continue to move forward in this process as publicly and as transparently as also protects our interests I mean business is business um you know personally I would love the idea of if I was at homeowner you know I'd want the property too I have a lot of respect for side yard football but uh we also have a business to run and so hopefully we can weigh all that and come up with a a process and a sale um that everyone at least grudgingly accepts as very appropriate and that meets the needs of everything that we're trying to do so there isn't anything else Dr gullet good nothing think thank you madam chair okay sir approach yes you like to re approach uh just furthermore thank you again um I do have the Maran County the 2024 um Maran County real estate here in front of me and it it shows that the U assessed since you asked if if if somebody knew what it was worth it says the assessed value right now is a a little over 54,000 the market value is just a little over it's a 60 7,200 and um if the board was able to vote today and and and and be willing to take a bid uh I would I would be willing to put a bid out there today as a cash offer of $75,000 if that was something that the board would would be willing to to accept so I just wanted to answer your question that I did have the assessed in the market value so I just wanted to thank you sir and and at these um work sessions we're not able to take a formal vote but again I really respect your appreciation for the property and and thank you so much for coming today all right thank you all for having me I appreciate it all right thank you all right there's no further public comment we will close public comment were there any additional speakers not on this topic thank you okay all right thank you all thank you attorney mcgrael talk to you soon right move on to our next item thank you madam chair members of the board we're going to move along to miss rle who's going to come forward and provide the board an update from our summer school um opportunities we are we've been grateful to have some extra funding over the last few years uh to um provide those the access and opportunities for our students to continue to learn through the summer so they'll provide us an update thank you yes thank you good morning um board chair thrower Dr gullet and board members um so I am here this morning with uh Dr Brewer she's right here here and we are going to do a recap of our 2024 uh get in the game with Summer learning program that we had and then uh jump into some new things that we have up and coming for uh this coming school year so our get in the game summer learning program this summer was four weeks long and it ran June 3rd to June 27th with our kindergarten Kickstart being from June 23rd to June 27th the last week we had 6,2 18 students in prek through 12th grade um signed up for the program and 439 uh 348 students at 13 sites for kindergarten Kickstart this year 2 2,855 students were assigned and routed to receive Transportation by bus we had um for elementary the total was 3,85 ele elementary students who attended 16 sites with Maran Oaks and Maplewood being sites for esy extended school year as well as Hillcrest for our esy program we had 195 students attend 73 at Maran Oaks 56 at Maplewood and 62 students at Hillcrest this summer while we focused mainly on English language arts math and science in our enrichment Camp um we also offered 21st century at two schools one Elementary um Stanton Wale Elementary and then one Middle School Belleview Middle we had VPK at three sites bellw Santos Elementary College Park and Ward Highlands um we mainly again for enrichment Camp focused on Ela Math and Science but we had multiple schools who came up with additional Innovative opportunities for students such as five schools offered a special steam program um for targeted groups of students at fezen hamt Bowen Maplewood Shady Hills South Okala 8th Street offered some extra writing assistance and they called it a journey in writing Dr NH Jones had a technology Camp bellw Santos Elementary offered mathletes Okala Springs Elementary had a f future scientist Academy um and another exciting opportunity was the Silver River Museum they have a teacher out there Betty Rossy who came up with the theme technology through Transportation so they serviced students from Seven schools um took them on a Journey Through Time exploring how transportation technology has changed over time they designed built and tested vehicles that roll float and fly so we did three one week camps impacting seven different schools all of our teachers and Par professionals were able to attend a Training Day on May 29th so at that training they attended their School site they um received their schedules Maps curriculum overviews emergency drills that type of information the curriculum Department purchase materials we shipped them directly to the schools so that they would have resources for summer summer school and all of the schools received a budget for consumable supplies we had a special SharePoint site set up just for summer school so all of the teachers knew that they could go there and access their materials and resources the schools were also able to hire um either art and art music or PE teachers so um the students were able to go to two different specials as well as attend recess daily we had breakfast and lunch for all of our students we were able to hire several additional staff members this year we had par professionals on campus um esol Paris Health Clinic assistance behavior teexs um self-contained and inclusion teachers student services managers content area Specialists receptionists and um through all of all of that was made possible with Esser funds but through our science of reading Grant this is very exciting we were able to hire 122 tutors to push in and work directly with our students in third and fourth grade so we were really excited and fortunate about that so moving into this year um to kick off yamina Park I know a lot of you uh stopped by there on the first week and you felt the energy and saw the excitement in the students and the staff coming back um but the teachers did have a district in service day we did a separate one just for them on July 18th so there they were able to receive professional learning on their new um McGraw Hill science textbook as well as their new social studies series they had some top score writing training some Ela training and success maker and ufly training as well we wanted to make sure that um the teachers at wam Park Elementary were set up for success and received all the professional learning they needed before um students attended we had several professional learning opportunities over the summer as well for our teachers we are kicking off our district professional learning days next week for our elementary teachers on August 6th our secondary teachers on August 7th and they will receive the same training as wyomina Park teachers received on July 18th uh professional leadership and learning um put on the Great Beginnings um yesterday and the day before for all of the new teachers in Marian County Public Schools and that was an excellent opportunity for our new teachers to come on board and get to meet some folks and receive some professional learning and just get motivated to start the year we also kicked off our administrator professional learning at the principal um Institute and the assistant principal Institute over the past two weeks our Focus for the year is going to to be on cognitive engagement because we want to ensure that our students um are not just compliant but that they are cognitively engaged in the tasks that they are doing that they're working collaboratively that they're having those opportunities to WR write and speak and collaborate with peers and justify their thinking so that will be our Focus for this year our first session occurred over the past two weeks and we have a series of professional learning that will build upon our first session each month throughout the year year at our principal and AP meetings we take the same topic and content and we present that to our content area Specialists as well and then our impact teachers will get a piece of that as well so that the message the expectations and their professional learning will be consistent among our school building administrators and the people who work directly with our teachers and then our teachers who work directly with with our students we're very excited about um some additional field trip opportunities this year Silver River will continue to offer field trips for students in K through five we have a partnership with the Fort King National Historic Landmark we had an opportunity to go there and take a tour uh at the end of the year and so we already have some field trips set up there already uh for the upcoming year we are trying to capitalize on connecting our students with some of the things we have here locally to enhance their science and social studies um Concepts we are working with the University of Central Florida to offer additional professional learning for teachers specifically with the science of reading um as well as some other topics and working with the Aldren Foundation again Who Um can offer some resources and professional learning as well to support science instruction it's hard to believe but we're going into year four with our best standards in the State of Florida for K through two and year three for 3 through five we're also embarking on year three of our K through2 uly phonics instruction we have lots of fifth grade science lesson plans this year for our fifth grade teachers um using our new science textbook they are built into near pod we have slide decks for all of our teachers everything is readily available we expanded on I know last year we talked about how we had lesson plans available for teachers in K through five um this year we also have slide decks to go with K and one because we had them two through five last year but not K and one so this year all of our teachers in K through five will have the lesson plan and the slide decks to go along with them we know we need to put an emphasis on um Hands-On map using manipulatives because we know how important it is for students to have the concrete representational abstract um Concepts when they're you when they're practicing math they need to be able to put their hands on manipulatives so we have a focus on that for the upcoming year we added um the photos of what manipulatives they have to have out on their slide decks um we've added some of the verbage from the lesson plan script on the slide decks as well so we're really trying to make it um as simple as possible for teachers to have resources at their fingertips given the fact we do have a large number of newer teachers um on board and so we want to take away that barrier of having to dig and find Resources by providing those resources to them we'll be update we updated our math Kickstart so those are daily daily reviews that are aligned to our math benchmarks so um all grade levels will have those we have a benchmark Blitz which is additional math practice um and we are adding CBM you might have heard of that um in the past curriculum based measures where we're offering to track progress for fluency for our students um they're just one minute Tim readings so we have additional resources for that so we could track fluency um in elementary so I'm going to turn it over to Dr Brewer so that she can share some information thank you madam chair if I may thank you Miss rle I think we move right into the two topics that are listed so if you look at the agenda we have summer school recap and and Miss rle did such a great job she just kept rolling right into the new year for 24 25 school year which is the next topic we just let her go so if when Dr Brewer comes up if it's okay bored we can continue to do that and they're both are together I just want to call attention to that both those two topics are together then with what Miss rle just shared summer school recap was uh agenda item um five and to the upcoming school year is that was agenda item six do you want her to continue and have Dr Brewer do the same um I actually have a couple questions about summer school perfect then we'll okay y um and if another board member has something they want to ask first then please go ahead okay um thank you Miss rle and and my question is about summer school is with our third grade reading camps and our kids that were potentially going to be retainees and so on uh what's the data on that so we had 562 third graders attend reading camp we had 80 students we were able to promote for cause um through summer reading camp we don't have final numbers because we're still receiving the promotion for cause sheets from our schools um the aps were out for the second half of summer school so upon their return they're compiling all that information and they're sending it through to our department okay thank you and um within that um my concern has been that students in third grade that they they barely made it you know and they're promoted for cause or if they're not promoted for cause because they didn't make it then in the past at least sometimes students were then promoted to fourth grade second semester um it's just my vehement and strong opinion that we should not be doing that um because it just doesn't make sense to me and I'm willing to listen to the other side of the argument but if a student barely made it and then now they've missed the first half of fourth grade why would we promote them mid year I I I continue to believe that third grade is way too late anyway and I realized that years ago under probably different rules because rules change all the time that you could recapture those learning gains and help boost school grade and all of that but that's not what's in the best interest of kids so my ask would be um and I don't know if the rest of the board will go with me on this or not um to and Dr gullet I welcome your thoughts um not promoting kids at the midy year that are already struggling I just don't think that makes any sense and I think that if they're struggling in kindergarten and they're struggling in first grade and they're struggling in second grade that the earlier we retain them the better that's just me okay do you have a number for how many kids we do that for I didn't know what they did for last year I would have to check and get back with you we do have a mid-year promotion option that's outlined in the student progression plan um and it happens fairly early in the year um if they score a level two on the pm1 assessment that we give um and so that's the option but I can get back to you on the number cuz I'm not entirely sure how many were midyear promoted last year so when you say midyear promoted though it's really at pm1 which is administered in September it's it's early okay so because mid sounds like January because the middle of the year would be in my brain semester two so I I guess I'll have to if if we are doing midyear promotions at September Based on pm1 data my question would be are they taking the fourth grade grade pm1 or the third grade pm1 fourth grade so those third grade students would take the fourth grade pm1 and score level two but they would be sitting in a third grade classroom uh if they scored a two on the fourth grade pm1 they would be promoted to fourth grade but in the moment when they took the pm1 for fourth grade they're sitting in a third grade classroom correct so they're a third grade retaine they sit for let's call it four weeks in third grade they take the fourth grade pm1 and score a level two and then we make the determination to promote them to fourth grade yes I'm on board with that plan so if that's the plan I'm on board with that plan as a board member um thank you I I am struggling uh with that plan and as a previous fourth grade teacher I'm thinking particularly about math um and our students coming in that have been struggling typically kindergarten first second third and then they have missed a whole at least depending on the date of of entry into fourth grade they've missed a whole month of math instruction and coming from a fourth grade um classroom you are teaching something new in math every two days that math calendar in fourth grade moves so quickly and I I'm sure that it does in every grade level but I'm speaking to that one because that's what I taught um um I too am very interested in that data I want to see how our students are doing um that have been promoted at that point um I just feel like we're playing with fire and that is not in the best interest and and I'm sure there's a few cases um that that maybe that's been successful but I think that's a dangerous line to walk thank you Vice chair comrade and if we're not doing midyear promotions anymore um AKA in January than that is music to my ears but um based on what Vice chair Conrad shared you know my concern continues it needs to be very individualized in my opinion um but it also speaks back to capturing these kids earlier um you know we had student board members sitting up here saying that they had plenty of friends in high school that were still really struggling academically um they missed a ton of skills somehow some way so we just my best interest is in stemming that tied um sure thank you so in hearing the comments from fellow board members I am going to struggle with with promoting even after a level two uh predominantly because certainly we don't want a third grader who's bored but if you've been a third grader who's struggling what if the next time you're in third grade you actually get a four or a five then that means you're going to be super successful not still a little bit struggling but you have now mastered those skills not just reached them but you have mastered them and so there is value in ensuring that as many students as possible are not just barely scraping by but that they are excelling far beyond what they would and if if another year in the grade level allow them to reach that potential that's the direction that I would be in favor of thank you board member Campbell and it it does kind of dovetail with the the board's initiative to tighten up our kindergarten um compulsory education that we're working with our um local a local representative on um at the state level you know we and I have so much admiration for what Dr go and and and the team have done with the kindergarten Readiness and the and getting the prek you know going um that's filtering up you know we've already gone from Rock Bottom to solidly what in the middle for kindergarten Readiness and that is commendable um that's exactly what we want so Dr G I'm really interested to hear your thoughts and this is just something that I'm very passionate about certainly and I appreciate that Madam chair and the board members and all of your comments I would say that this is a perfect illustration of it's a child by child decision um my past experience and I know what our our teams are doing really hard is there maybe different reasons why a child did not score the way they did and and one example potentially is they missed a portion of the year they missed a portion of that in attendance due to illness and so by by mitigating that Gap with specific skills and standards and benchmarks were able to then accelerate their pace so I I think my caution always is I'm sorry I wish that Sahara and dust would leave us um my caution is in having a blanket statement because if we're really serious about helping every child succeed and accelerating them and having them in a in a position where they're thriving then we have to take this child by child um so because if you do a hard and fast rule you're going to miss some and for some excuse me they're going to struggle so I really do think this is why at the school level understanding that those folks that are working so hard our teachers and our staff who know the child and know what the child needs that we help them work through this child by child thank you Dr go board member James I just needed if you could bring to the to the board at a later time a few data points and I can put them in an email if that would help me to articulate it but what I would love to see is students who did third grade reading Camp historically and then we retain them and they spent a whole another year in third grade what what was their score and we can use either the fast assessment or we can go back to a cohort that would be a different assessment what was their score the next year after repeating third grade and then those students that we did promote after pm1 or whatever that midy year was what was their score in fourth grade because I would venture to argue that a student who is a level two is a level two student and while we can continue to work to grow them we also have to acknowledge where kids are and give them opportunities to learn in different ways and Excel in different capacities connect them with Career and Technical education as they get into the secondary realm and those are going to be opportunities that meet them where they are so I would love to see the data just sent to the board so that we can best understand what is that retention data doing and what is that retention truly helping that child Excel to a level four or five or or are they repeating that too and then if they're going to fourth grade are they are they staying a two or a three um and I think that there's value in having that information so I would love to know that because what I know is the retentions have the research shows retention has significant impact on high school graduation so um that's what I got thank you in your free time if you could send that to us can I clarify your question yeah okay so first we want the number of students who were midyear promoted last year I think that was um chair throwers request and then third grade reading Camp students who were then retained um previously historically what was their score the second time around um and then student students who were midyear promoted um what was the result what was their score yeah how did they how did they do in fourth grade okay okay thank you um I your comment yes okay um thank you Dr Gard for some clarifying points on when this is used um real quick I want to just backtrack Miss R thank you there were so many great things that you shared and I jumped in on the on the comment uh because that was something I was unaware of but I just want to be sure to thank you I have a list here of great things that were going on this summer and so thank you and your team for the work that you did um back to third grade reading um I guess my struggle my struggle still is if a student has continued to struggle in third grade and then they missing the beginning of the year instruction also what kind of impact does that have on the classroom that they're jumping into and how does that teacher then continue to teach the standards at that start in October but also have time to go back and teach a month's worth of Standards because also we know that those math skills are cyclical you know they build upon each other so if you miss the whole the whole first month of school where does that leave you when you jump in with with math or reading at that point so um other board members have asked great questions for data points but I'd also like and I don't know um that you'll have a specific number or something to give me but just an overview of how do teachers manage that when a student comes into their classroom late and they really have double the amount of curriculum to cover with a student that has already been struggling and so what does that look like so that we're helping them succeed yeah and so in reading so all of the skills in Reading are recursive so they're going to come back around again again and again and again um sometimes they show up as the main Benchmark and sometimes they show up as a supportive Benchmark um but we are pushing um teachers to accelerate learning so as they're teaching the main Benchmark um or the target Benchmark um we want them to continue to review those supporting benchmarks as they go and provide that scaffolding for students so they can meet the expectation of The Benchmark um they are pulling small groups all the time so um small group opportunity is sometimes the time to review the current Benchmark it's sometimes the opportunity to do additional scaffolding and Remediation um so they're not it's not a oneandone in Reading I think it's a little bit easier in Reading than it is in math because those benchmarks come up um weekly when they're reading text uh it's the same ones over and over aside from the small group remediation um in the 90minut reading block students also have that intervention time where they go and they get those foundational skills that they may have missed so they are covering those benchmarks over and over um to your point in math it's a little bit trickier because like you said maybe they're jumping in a few weeks in um and they covered benchmarks however it's kind of the same concept the teachers are going to Target specific students and it it's going to be different every day because those groups are fluid they're going to pull them back into small group could be with the teacher could be with a parah could be with a support facilitator um and they're going to go over those benchmarks we start out the year and the benchmarks build on each other so if I'm a fourth grader um I've already had those benchmarks in third grade but maybe at a different level they're a little bit more um challenging in fourth grade uh kind of the same for third and math it's it's you're we're building on those skills that they had in third grade we also build in um time at the end of each nine weeks in math um to kind of review any of those benchmarks that students missed so those are built in throughout the year and then at the end of the year we have several weeks that they are reviewing uh before the test anything they may have missed so there are those opportunities Within reading block the math block um the intervention block at the end of the nine weeks at the end of the year so those are built into our Maps throughout okay I appreciate that I just um you know and I know that the the standards are reviews cyclically it's just those are the exact students that need to hear it multiple times if they're missing it on the first time and although there is some I'll call it a cushion um you know that's listed on the calendar by the time we have hurricane days and makeup days and all the things that um unfortunately happen to us sometimes in Florida there is not in my experience a lot of wiggle room particularly in the math uh with the math calendar I I do agree it's a little easier to incorporate um standards that you've previously covered in Reading they just um there's so many things you can cover when you're reading a text you know it just applies itself um easier so thank you for all your explanation I do feel like uh we may have some room to grow there but I do appreciate all the work um that you're doing and helping our students succeed so thank you thank you Vice chair uh board member Campbell thank you not to belabor the point and it's not really a a question for you it's just a comment there was a statement made just a few moments ago that a level two student is always a level two student and I just cannot sit idly by and let that statement just ring out in the airwaves if that was fact then learning gains would not be a metric that we were tracking and that the state acknowledged as a part of our school and District grade additionally it negates all the hard work that our teachers do every single day and I am completely of the belief that a level one student can eventually become a level five student because we put in hard work every day and put resources behind that work to ensure that every student can succeed and that success looks different for different students I understand that but to say that an elementary school student scor a level two will always be a level two student I just can't accept that so thank you thank you board member Campbell um and again I certainly want to amplify the the tremendous work that went into summer school and all of the uh support that our kids are getting and I continue to believe that third grade is just too late you know um and in most respects and I believe I did clarify from the very beginning that it needs to be an individualized decision you know through the years I've seen pressure you know to move kids along because there's uh you know some data that it hurts kids self-esteem I guess you know to be retained well I would think it would also destroy it's one thing to hurt a kid's self-esteem but it's another thing to destroy it by continuing to move them along when they simply are not ready and as far as data points are concerned our highest performing districts such as St John's County you know perennially High performing District their retention rates overall have been much higher um than ours through the years and yet they are steadily successful and to me it's just about admitting very early that there is a gap and addressing it sooner um than later and that uh does nothing to negate the hard work that is being put in I just think it's an awareness issue and and something for us to address um candidly as as a board and and as a as a district you know um I had a level two kid and guess what he became a level four and earned a lot of points for Ward Highland Elementary School then I think he did it again at Howard as a matter of fact in algebra so thank you for that yes we kind of melded uh one topic into another um but it was definitely important and a worthy conversation so with that I think we are ready to continue I have one other question oh one other question one other question I'm Sorry Miss rle I was very excited to see see and hear that we're visiting the Fort King historic site are there any plans for our students to visit our Veterans Park yes fantastic we put that out as well all right thank you so much and if I may that we just have a phenomenal resource right here in Marian County for our students I thank you Vice chair so Madam chair would you like uh and board would you like Dr Brewer to do the whole thing or just stick with summer school and pause we have to take public comment after summer school correct because there are two different items would you like her to just do summer pause and then she can move on okay thank you Dr Brewer good morning I I have a few um highlights that I'd like to share for secondary summer school um our summer school lasted seven weeks this year and it um took place from June 3rd to July 18th and during that time we had 1,672 students that attended our high school offerings which is really good and we had 945 students that attended our Middle School offerings so we're excited about that but I wanted to highlight a couple of the um well attended programs driver's education as you can imagine is one of the favorite we had 153 students that completed driver's education we also opened up classes this year for Performing Arts so we had theater and drama um and so those were well attended as well as um we the people and I know as um we have spoken to the board multiple times and you all have actually participated in some of those sessions um so we had um We the People offered this year as well so I now want to give you a couple numbers for our these are half credits that were earned through secondary um and remember this is the only the second time that we offered actual credits during summer school programs um and that takes a little bit more effort um on the teachers to really hold the attendance hold the students accountable for their attendance because you have to have the seat times so we um we had a total of 100 wait 1,735 semester credits that were recovered during SEC during secondary summer school 578 of those were math credits and 465 were language arts credits that were recovered so we're really pleased with those numbers and all of the um School staff um Mrs rle already shared with you with the collaboration of federal programs we were able to provide additional support such as the pair of professionals we had our including our esol um pair professionals we also were able to include our behavioral text which of course is a huge um assistance to the teachers in classes and we had the reading coaches and our healthc care assistants into um in our summer school programs this year um I Dr go at this time I can pause Dr bre thank you thank you any um discussion or feedback from the board just a couple of quick things thank you so much um for sharing that update with that's a lot of exciting news do you have any numbers on how many students participated in We the People yes ma'am all right thank you she's got it right there yes ma'am 11 students completed the Middle School option and with the high school that's during the school year and those are um that's completed inside within a class and in a club setting but this summer we had 11 middle school students complete super excited just because I love that program and I think it's so valuable so thank you for that what a great idea um I do have a question which you may not have an answer for yet but I'm just thinking about we did a lot of this with Esser dolls and all of the great opportunities that have been listed are we going to be able to continue this and if so what does that look like um Dr T Irving has um assured us and we are going to continue this path we are working collaboratively with um Federal programs um to make sure the Dr Varner's Department to make sure that we're able to maintain um or sustain the programs that we were able to offer this year because we did see such great student success thank you so much Dr thank you and and that's music to my ears too Dr gulla thank you for um your vision and looking at reallocation of federal funding to be able to continue to um support these programs and I'm really excited about the continuing of um driver's ed you know I remember when we weren't doing that in the summer and you know we're the geographic size of Rhode Island here people really do need driver's licenses to be able to get around and get to their jobs and and that type of things so I was really excited about that for our older kids and I know the Esser funding is going away but we still do get federal dollars and this just sounds like a very very wonderful return on investment to be investing it in this way in these some Innovative summer school programs and we the people all the way just one quick metric I'd love to know and I think it would be good to tell the community um I don't know how easy this is so if it's crazy hard then forget it but like how many kids recovered enough credits to be back on track to graduate I would love to know that like the value of kind of like painting that picture for kids who maybe aren't sure if they want to participate in summer school but you know how many kids were however many credit deficient and then spending those six weeks or whatever it was with us got them back on track to graduate that's not difficult I could it would I can get those numbers for you I will share you though that th those 35 students from last night that we were able to celebrate were able to do so because of um participating in summer school but for the other grade levels um Dr James I can I can um I can provide those numbers to the board yeah it might help sell it too as we get to the end of we get to May and we start talking about summer school and we see these kids who are credit are dragging a few credits hey you know kids who come to summer school 95% of them get back on track to graduate by the end of the summer and it might just be a way to kind of sell that store so thank you yes ma'am yes James yeah I agree board member James and that would be a fun promotion to do you know capture those credits and um get back on track that would really be a a fun promotion okay anything else de thrower if I may I also wanted to say for the board's interest that um as you are aware because you were in tenant our truancy program um we've I want to put special thanks to Dr Brewer and uh her staff and to um Miss rol for having done everything they can to ensure that our students that were in treny court were enrolled even if they didn't meet every deadline they needed to we got them there and we got spaces for them and as we know that that population of people who end up in truancy Court tend to be reluctant or sometimes just Flatout resistant to getting their students there when they need to be and we made sure that we made it happen and uh that did take quite a bit of of legal wrangling and trying to help to make sure that we had spaces available where they were and staff helped that operate very very smoothly as a result uh nearly all of the students that are um over the summer being monitored through our truy court were also enrolled in summer school and for many of them that period of time in summer school represented nearly half of all of the time that they had in the previous school year from truen because of frequent treny I mean in some cases we had students who had missed vast numbers of days and summer school really was a quick refresher for a number of items they had missed and helped them get into transition between elementary and middle or in some cases between one grade and the next and um I I know that judge king would agree with me because we've dis discussed this in court um I think Miss thur would definitely agree with me this is something that has made a definite impact um the summer school programs have made a definite impact on the lives of students who are in treny court who through many times no fault of their own were not exposed to the educational opportunities that we expect from all of our students so thank you because wherever we can clear Road box and make those things happen they are they're it's awesome to do so and and we we saw that in action and uh we're we've got uh all of all of those students who are enrolled in those programs have also been indicated that we've got treny uh Court their next hearings are are at the in the second week of enrollment and that they're going to be expected to have attend to have attended every single day coming back so we want them to get that good and fresh start so uh each of them seem to be committed to doing it and if we're gonna we're going to continue to work in that direction so thank you very very that's absolutely thank you attorney Powers there's it's just another example of the the great work that's going on and and and the commitment and I remember uh being in court that day when judge king was saying well we'll be seeing you in summer school and the looks on the kids' faces and the and the families too it's like oh this guy means business and then stepping up you know your department to find room for these kids um to attend and not only to find room but to welcome them and be like hey here's you know a new opportunity let's go ahead and knock this out and be in a better position um to not be a two so thank you for that yeah thank you attorney Powers all right anything else right public comment all right is there any public comment on our summer school recap all right seeing none um we I think we have time yes we have time to finish up with our school year uh kickoff and then we'll look at where we are we'll be moving into our school board meeting at 11:00 a.m. okay so Dr bur go keep going okay just a few exciting things I I have to share about our secondary curriculum team and what they have been able to accomplish for the 2425 school year with the help of our own teachers in at the different schools so we were able to hire um teachers from almost every every school in in the secondary area to participate and even facilitate the writing of curriculum for this school year and that that speaks volumes to the um commitment of all of our teachers so they were able to revi review the curriculum resources and then make adjustments and some were completely um recreated so I'd like to give you a couple numbers what that really means we had 15 math that 15 math alone Curriculum maps that were reconstructed and enhanced for the 2425 school year so that is that was a huge undertaking led by Dr Tiffany Drummond and our teachers that um took time out of their summer to make that project happen we also had eight English language arts Curriculum maps that were adjusted for the 2425 school year and six reading curriculum Curriculum maps we have grade six and nine lesson plans for the first time ever for the 2425 school year we also have um new Algebra 1 algebra 1B and geometry lesson plans for secondary mathematics we have new lesson plans for civics and US history so the tested subjects for social studies and as you know we have new textbooks for science which we're excited about and we have new textbooks for our accelerated mathematics courses um and then we will continue to um support teachers with the use of the resources such as Alex which is the online support penda learning for science which Works hand inand with the science um with the teachers that are also doing the Hands-On experiments in the classroom and we have our packback which you all just approved which is our supplemental resource to assist the students in writing Madam chair if I may Dr Brewer for the for those watching who may not know can you explain what a map is because a map could literally mean something very different than I know what you intend thank you thank you thank you for that question um Curriculum maps are referred um well we refer to curriculum resources as Curriculum maps and what that provides the teacher is the scope and sequence of what is expected to be taught taught for that particular school year and what a map does is walk the teachers through what each unit should look like and in that map we um then link the um State benchmarks to that resource and so um at a at an ease of a button the teacher can quickly go into the actual C poms which is the state Resource Bank for our benchmarks and they can also then on the same page see what our expectation is for that particular unit so that's what a curriculum map is thank you good point Thank you any questions from the board Yes mine isn't a question it's just a comment I know that when people ask and I've received a question a lot lately how are we going to continue to increase our scores how are we going to continue and I I point to the work that was done last summer with our Elementary grades with creating these Curriculum maps and so now that we've been able to extend that on into our high school secondary 15 different subject areas just kudos to the team I mean I I think that my explanation out in the community is if someone walks in off the street and has not ever taught this particular subject before if they you know need the resources we now have them available to them all the way to explain to them exactly what the state standard is and how that can be taught effectively in their classrooms and I think that just further exemplifies the hard work that the team is doing to really help us move and help us continue to move the needle and um just kudos to you guys thank you for that hard work and thanks to the teachers that dedicated so much time this summer to make that happen additionally with the slide decks now to you know enhance what was done last summer so there's a lot of good work being done so we do have more and more beginning teachers joining our ranks and with that knowing that the resources are available to make them successful I think that's only going to help every student succeed as we continue to say but it's also going to help our Educators succeed in helping those students so thank you so much thank you thank you board member Campbell Vice chair Conrad um yes just to piggyback off what Dr Campbell shared um for the community that we do have some so many teachers coming in that did not go to school to be Educators um they never taught and so I also see this impacting our retention um as you know what visiting schools and we lose a lot of of first year or second year teachers because the job is so overwhelming because when we talk about that map it's it's really a calendar and it tells you week by week exactly um what you have to teach and what you need to cover and so I think that can be very overwhelming if you've never done it before and so I appreciate the the work that the team and and the teachers have put into preparing this um for this upcoming school year and I think it's just going to be a great resource and hopefully relieve a little bit of the pressure um that comes with the million things that have to be done every day so thank you for your work I'm really excited about it and glad that it's made it all the way across the board yes but thank you thank you any other questions or comments from board members one more sorry oh sorry one more I forgot um all of the new courses all the new textbooks that we adopted have they arrived are they here they're in route science yeah to much science yeah so our social studies has arrived um all the teachers will have digital access with science and we were the very first district in the state to place our order for science so we were the first ones to get our science so um they've been Kelly Brower and her team have been over at the warehouse all week they unpacked 600 boxes on Tuesday um and the same day they unpacked schools were calling saying thank you we received our books so the science is coming in and they're getting it out we're barcoding here and then getting it out to schools as quickly as possible so every teacher will have access um in some form digital for absolute certainty and they will most most of them have their textbooks if not all as well okay thank you for that I know that was a big undertak taking for it to arrive usually school has started just the way the timeline Falls so when we can purchase books and when they're approved and so it's really exciting that we'll have the curriculum we need at the beginning of the school year so please thank your teams for me thank you Vice chair yes I agree and I'm also thinking of our well qualified well certified teachers sometimes at the last minute a principal say hey can you pick up this prep for various reasons and so to have Curriculum maps available so that uh just you know so for example a social studies teacher could pick up you know um a math class or or whatever and that's so helpful to have that framework and so that they don't have to try to figure it out as as they go and and those pacing guides are are Relentless you know they're it's a very very fast-paced year and and to help do all we can to help our teachers stay on track and and give the kids the support that they need so they can keep up is the name of the game anything else from the board okay is there any public comment hearing none all right board um we have 10 minutes before our uh special school board meeting should start so how about we adjourn now can take a quick break and be in our seats a couple minutes before 11: sound like a plan okay we are going to go into recess for this work session at 10:48 a.m. e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e the August 1st 2024 special school board meeting of the Maron County School Board is called to order board clerk please call the role Dr Allison Campbell district one here Mrs Lorie Conrad District Two here Mr Eric Cummings District three Mrs Nancy thrower District Four here Dr Sarah James District 5 here Dr Diane gullet superintendent here Mr Jeremy Power School Board attorney thank you please stand for the pledge pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation God indivisible with liy and justice for all Miss Martinez would you please provide the proof of publication for today's meeting the notice for the August 1st 2024 special school board meeting ran in the Okala Gazette on July 19th 2024 the proof of publication has been attached in boards under proof of publication thank you Miss Martinez do we have any public speakers not at this time okay thank you this is just for the special school board meeting all right we will move into our discussion items May I have a motion to approve the contract between owner and construction manager for Construction Services related to construction of new high school CCC project 24-105 may I have a motion please motion to approve motion by Vice chair Conrad second second by board member James is there any discussion and Dr gullet will'll start with you do you have anything to add to this item thank you madam chair members of the board just briefly the projected call for this item is $ 5.57 million um the construction manager pre-qualified on June 25th 2024 and the board approved the project on July 11th 2024 thank you thank you now we'll open it up to discussion from the board chair I will be recusing myself from the vote okay thank you any other further discussion from the board I just have a few clarifying questions sure um I guess probably miss dobins or Dr gullet could answer what if you can remind the community what was the advertised cost that we were projecting for the High School Miss Dobbins is coming forward I think I know the number but I don't want to Good Morning in the uh certificate of participation it's 133 million 133 and what percentage does that put their fee at then just under 4% it's exactly 4% at 130 million so 133 is just slightly under rounded off it's 4% thank you and then last question I know we chose a contractor who's previously I think six times built a school and so the preconstruction fee is pretty typical based on my understanding for the size of a project but having used a construction company that's done it before I know we had conversation around it costing less money because they've done it so many times can you just expand why the fee is the 375 is where it's at considering they have I'm assuming they have the plans and they have all of those pieces so um why is that fee where it's at so even though they have the plan our plan is unique to Maring County in the sense of our programming changes that design uh other factors change that design um that that fee is for us to get the three different gmps and other preconstruction work okay thank you any other discussion from the board all right hearing none good thing we have a quorum all right all those in favor say I I I those oppose nay motion passes unanimously three votes to zero thank you all right moving on to our last item d5.2 may I have a motion to approve the revised school start stop times for the 2024 2025 school year motion uh motion byard board member James second by Vice chair Conrad Dr gullet do you have something to add on this item yes thank you madam chair the reason board this came back is for a revision to our um very often discussed school start and stop time is because we needed to make an adjustment to lakew high school um to ensure that we are meeting all of our contractual obligations for our staff thank you thank you Dr gallet is there any discussion from the board on this item I was just gonna mention um I talked to Dr Brewer and and I one the question I had was were with a seven period day were we still going to meet the amount of minutes um that are required for credit and we are so I just wanted to make sure that the community was aware absolutely thank you any other discussion from the board all right hearing none we're ready to vote all those in favor say I I I those oppos nay motion passes unanimously 4 Z all right thank you all um all right if it's okay with the board I figured we would wait um for board reports and concerns until the end of our work session and then we can do it as a full wrap up okay sounds great well this was a pretty short special meeting motion to adjourn motion by board member Campbell second second by Vice shair Conrad all those in favor say I I I motion passes unanimously 40 this special meeting is adjourned at 11:06 a.m. all right right yeah I'm ready okay right everybody else ready all right right we are reconvening our work session at 11:07 a.m. and Dr G would you please introduce our next topic certainly happy to do so thank you madam chair members of the board uh Dr henr is going to kick us off for this next topic with a presentation on the Alternative Learning um program and um opportunities for the upcoming year thank you thank you Dr G good morning Dr H good morning board chair Vice chair Conrad board members and Dr gullet today we will share with you the plan for the Alternative Learning for the 2425 school year students in Alternative Learning have been served through a contract with Silver River mentoring and instruction otherwise known as surmi this organization has two site locations um one of which is the surmi location and that is located at Southeast 14th court and they serve students in grades 7 through 12 and the second site location is called New Leaf and that site location is on Northeast 25th Avenue and they have served all of kindergarten through fifth grade students as well as sixth grade through 12th grade students in the exceptional student education program and I point that out to be very clear that our contract is with surmy the parent company but it incorporates two separate site locations in my experience I have found there's some confusion about that the contract that U Maran County public schools has had for the last three years expired on June the 30th 2024 th through this contract the contracted site resp responsibilities of Sur me included providing an educational Day program that would in that included high quality instruction and adherence to the Maran County Public Schools student assessment um schedule other responsibilities included that surmy would um adhere to the students individualized education program or IEP as well as their behavior intervention plan or bip surmy would also provide as needed to students um multi-tiered systems of supports additionally adequate facilities educational materials and transport ation would have would were provided for in the contract and then surmy was also responsible for hiring qualified Personnel for their two locations the data for teachers from surmi and New Leaf was obtained from the Maring County Public Schools certification department on July the 24th and that's what this slide represents so the Personnel list includes both teachers and administrative staff at those locations New Leaf had a total of either 11 teachers and or administrative staff and six of them had a professional certificate and five were working on a temporary uh certification and surmy had nine instructional staff or administrator staff with four of them with a professional certification and five on a temporary certification also in that contract that I mentioned these were the supports um list on the slide that the district has been providing to the students at New Leaf so educa exceptional student educational supports included providing an es specialist who would schedule and Lead any meetings related to an IEP so the district provided that Additionally the district um through contracted service providers would also provide speech language therapy occupational therapy and physical therapy and where it says other services as needed that would also incorporate if we had had a child uh that needed some sign language interpreting Services we would also have provided that the district also provides a social worker and a psychologist to support the needs of those students at the new Leaf site and the district conducted all functional Behavior assessment requests and also provided a school intervention therapist for students this chart shows the contract specifications for the financial cost of the contract with suring the contract outlines that the district has paid for 140 seats at New Leaf and each seat cost $1,112 for a total cost for the new Leaf site at $1.5 million the cost for a seat at Sur me was was $6,193 per seat and Marin County public schools has paid for 300 seats at surmy for a total of $1.8 million the contract also has Marian County Public Schools paying approximately $750,000 for transportation and all of this has totaled about $4.1 million per year additionally Surman and New Leaf are also eligible to receive received Title One funds so for the 23 24 school year they received about $241,000 in title funds total the school district receives funding from the state for full-time equivalent students and for contracted sites Maring County Public Schools typically uses the charter school Revenue estimate worksheet which can project the funding that we would receive as a distri district for our students who are enrolled and attending in using survey 3 data from 2024 for so that would be February the projected funds from Maring County public schools that we would have received for 139 students at ne new Leaf was about 970,000 and then the Seri projected FTE was about 1.3 million and finance used the FTE data of 100 196 students because that was actually the students that were enrolled based on survey 3 data and actually attending so the total projected funding received by mcps was about 2.3 million the expulsions um that we have recommended for the 2325 school year that's what this chart outlines for you so we have recommended for expulsion 147 to surmi 66 to New Leaf 52 to our Alternative Learning Program here at MTI and then two with no academic services and then one was a return to county of residents alternative placements for grades 6 through 12 for Maring County public schools are also listed on this slide so you can see that quarter 2 does have a bit higher alternative placements compared to other quarters but the other quarters are really just about the same ranging anywhere from 78 to 89 and the new Leaf data is similar um again there's just a slight increase in that quarter two um but there's not a significant change when you're looking at the number of alternative placements um from quarter to quarter the kindergarten through five alternative placements is here on this slide for you we actually see a little bit less in quarter two for our elementary students um but but again the range is between 14 and 32 kindergarten through fifth grade students who are recommended for alternative placement student data for attendance and then the number of withdrawn records has also been provided the first chart on the slide shows the daily attendance for the last day of each quarter so what we looked at is we took the last day of each quarter so if you look at October the 13th that was the last day of quarter 1 and that was the attendance rate for both of the locations the withdrawn record numbers show the number of students who had withdrawn from surmi or New Leaf the withdrawn codes um when I worked with siss that we used to identify how many students had withdrawn from surmy or New Leaf the codes included nonpublic out of state or out of County it included homeschool withdrawal codes withdrawal codes for students who withdrew to attend an adult program out of District Public School a public school out of state or out of County we also included a withdrawal code of students that attended either a DJJ site here in our County or a DJJ site that was out of District it's important to also note when you're looking at these numbers that some of these numbers are actual numbers from students that were recommended for expulsion during the 2223 school year and it so there there were multiple records of students that also factored in some of these were were repeat offenders and then some of them also were students that had entered and then had not shown up and then withdrew so for the past several months there has been a team that has met regularly to discuss the future of Alternative Learning in Marin County Public Schools and what I've actually learned through that process is that bringing in Alternative Learning um internally has not really been a new topic for Marin County Public Schools there have been lots of conversations over the course of of time in the past that's had discussions about this the team um has met on this and we've had some great collaborative conversations we've included Personnel from multiple departments that included ese student discipline the principal at MTI ciser Finance was involved transportation we talked with facilities the curriculum departments and then as needed when we needed to answer specific questions we included more people so there's been a very robust conversation about our Alternative Learning for next year and I do want to actually thank them all for their input because I've we we've had a lot of good conversations so we're excited and confident about the alternative learning program that we have planned the Alternative Learning Program will include expanding the current program at MTI adding two Elementary past sites and then also utilizing our current past sites I'll start with talking about the Alternative Learning Program at MTI and this site will be for all expelled students in grades 7 through 12th the msid number for uh M for MTI has already been updated in conversations with sister they asked us to go ahead and expand that msid number to include kindergarten through 12th although we're not putting kindergarten students with our grades 7 through 12th our kindergarten through fifth grade students will be at an ele elentary pass site on campus here in a portable that I'll talk about in just a little bit um so MTI also with that msid number will not receive a school grade it will be a school Improvement rating students at MTI will include students also with an IEP so they will receive their services here on campus MTI will also have certified teachers and support facilitators to really focus on the needs of all students academically or and if they have those IEP Services MTI will also house the work study program as well as the es Continuum of learning students the students assigned to Alternative Learning will receive instruction and wraparound services and supports based on their needs they also will be scheduled strategically and then work towards credit recovery and or original credit depending on the needs of that particular student we have transition Specialists from Alternative Learning we have two of those that will also be able to help support these students so we have an incredible opportunity here to provide specific interventions and support and track these students uh um and track these for our students um we'll be able to track the completion of coursework to help students that who are deficient and help get them back on track to graduate on time and I want to give um Mr Jones an opportunity to share a little bit more specifics about the program um that we've been working on at MTI and then I'll come back and I'll talk about the rest of the alert of Alternative Learning Program thank you Dr hurg morning Mr Jones good morning everyone first of all I want to start by saying I'm honored to be here today and be a part of this change for Marian County and I am really um thrilled and I applaud you for being courageous enough to take this step students are the Forefront of all our decisions I repeat students are the Forefront of all our decisions we're trying to do the best job for all students the process is not going to happen overnight this is a process that we are undertaking and I don't know the exact figures but at least for the last 22 years we have not had this under our roof and we're here to say that MTI staff we started a culture and we're ready and willing and excited to expand on that culture to help all students be successful help all students fulfill their dream fulfill that passion that Rashad Jones talked about last night we're going to do that by implementing a structure we're going to do that by giving students opportunities to speak we're going to we build a relationship with students we're going to expand upon that relationship that we build by working with you as a board our district leaders to ensure that when the students are leaving MTI that they're going back to their base School better than what they came to us right we do that by utilizing the platform Edgenuity but it's not we're not sticking students on a computer primarily we're taking care of their needs looking at their individual needs so each student has a individual education plan even if they do not have a 504 or IEP per se we still have to look at that individual student individually to make sure that we are recovering those credits that we are making that student successful for when they go back to their Bas school if they're going back in the third quarter making sure that the standards that was covered in their Bas school that those students are getting those standards so they'll be ready to incorporate themselves back into the classroom so we do know we have a huge task available we're set and we are ready to to achieve that goal and we have achieve 26 on our Forefront and we are here to see what we can do to make sure that Marion County Public School System is the best school system that we can possibly make it right and the last point that I would like to just make as we go and I I'll be available for questions later my goal is we're at a time now when a lot of people are talking about the school grade what if we could have just got one8 of those students that are on that list to have completely graduated would we still be having that conversation 1/8 of those students so we're here to try to make sure that we're getting those students and we're making those students successful question right thank you thank you sir Marian County Public Schools was awarded a stronger connections Grant which provides funding for a certified teacher and a PA professional for two Elementary pass sites Transportation funds were also provided in this Grant and we are working to identify a contract for a third party to provide that transportation for our elementary past students but in the meantime transportation is really working with us um and going to help us provide that transportation for our elementary pass site students so we're very excited about that one of the elementary path sites as I mentioned is going to be on mti's campus which is why I mentioned aister really wanted to change that msid number to incorporate the Kinder kindergarten through five grade students because it's an easier transition when you're um when you're scheduling those students if it's all under one msid number but that those students will be um in a portable um in the I'm directionally challenged but in that side that side of the building thank you um and then the second pass site is at Hammond Bowen Elementary and I've been working with the principal there Miss Crawford she's been fully supportive of this program she's been very very excited um and so so some of our students will be serviced um on that Southwest side of town and finally we will continue to utilize our secondary path sites depending on the infraction students would be with a current alternative placement would be assigned a pass site that would be closest to their base school we will also verify that that is also closest to their home school we currently have six locations throughout the district with certified teachers and again having them there will allow us to track the students progress in uity teach conflict resolution skills and then based on their their infraction we can provide specific instructional less lessons about different response mechanisms if they were ever in that situation again we will also develop a program with exit criteria so that when their alternative placement 45 days is concluded that they're ready to go back to base successfully then the final slide some of these the these um numbers have changed when we uh looked at um bringing the alternative program all to MTI um so this slide shows some of the additional Personnel needs that we were looking at so I'm just going to kind of recap some of the things that will be here and then I'll give you a final adjusted total cost that's different from this slide we definitely will still need an assistant principal of curriculum because scheduling these students into what they actually need will be one of our top priorities to for that credit recovery and to get the students on time for graduation for some of them some of them are already on track so assistant principal of curriculum instruction we've added seven instructional teacher positions and those positions are already posted and um Mr Jones is going through those resumés now we will add an additional SRO here at MTI we do not need the healthcare assistant or receptionist at MTI because we already have those we will add um another student service manager to MTI as well so in total what we'll be here at MTI is we'll have a total total of 17 certified teachers three support facilitators two sro's three student service managers the principal two school counselors um a behavior specialist a behavior technician and we'll need four more pair professionals so if you take the MTI Staffing plan that's current currently in place and then you add all of those new positions that we need to um support the students and the staff here it's a total of about $800,000 in additional funds that's concludes my Alternative Learning plan thank you Dr henbrook um thank you for your leadership and all of the work that you were um illustrating earlier and the entire team I know a lot of the team members who have worked really hard collaboratively together here um and as Mr Jones said it's always about the students so we are committed and bored to always doing what's best for our students St and we look forward to your feedback and questions thank you thank you Dr gullet go ahead and thank you for the presentation appreciate it thank you um principal Jones Dr henbrook and the rest of the team for putting this together for for us to hear so we'll go ahead and open it up to the board for questions comments and discussion who'd like to take the first swing go ahead Vice chair all right thank you Dr henbrook for presenting and um we were briefed on this yesterday and so um I appreciate you taking time to go go over it with us ahead of time um but I do have some questions and some clarifying points I wanted to ask you can you go over for us this timeline of negotiating the contract um I believe I believe it was in April and so can you just give us a brief summary of what that looked like so I believe it was April um that um we started um to look at extending the one-year renewal so the contract was for three years but written into the contract is the opportunity to extend for an additional year and so we started conversations um towards that in April May um and then one of the things that the school district uh we wanted to go towards is using the charter school Revenue worksheet because that's actual numbers of funding that we receive um and so that's where kind of negotiations kind of um hit roadblock um and then the contract expired in June so that would I think that answers your question about the timeline of the negotiations we couldn't reach an agreement before the contract expired okay very good and I just I wanted to clarify that because there's quite a bit of conversation within the community that this was just an instant decision made by the district and so I just I wanted our school staff particularly to know that this has been an ongoing conversation we just haven't been able to find resolution correct yes ma'am yes okay thank you um and then I have a few other questions um can you tell me what are the six pass sites for our secondary yes DaNell in high school Howard Middle School Westport HIgh School lakee High School Forest High School and north Marin High School okay thank you you I appreciate that and so on the worksheet um that you provided us as in board docs if I'm reading it correctly it looks like there's going to be 75 students placed at our at the secondary pass sites is that correct it's about that number yes and again that was dependent on their infraction okay and so I don't know if they get I don't know if you divide them up evenly I know you looked at where their you know where their base school is going to be but that's 12 or 13 students um that would be added to each pass site and so my concern is at many of those locations um those programs are full a lot of the time and so what does that do for our students that are um just on like in school suspension they haven't been expelled and so how are we going to accommodate the students that are there from the school and the students that are coming um from expulsions okay and and I'm going to ask Dr breu to correct me if I'm wrong but I believe every I believe schools have a in school suspension site that they run with a Pera and that's a that's different than our positive alternative to school suspension sites those have a certified teacher and those fall under student discipline and so those students um those classrooms when I've done my walks this year and I look at the attendance data they haven't been full full to Capac capacity and even with some of our new numbers we're looking at maybe nine or 10 students per per class in in some cases um so we we feel that we have the we we based on the numbers we have the capacity and again we can be strategic in where we place them ideally we want them to be closest to their home address because we don't want kids on buses for a long time or kids traveling across the the district but it will require us being very strategic in placement Vice chair Conrad I think I understand what you're trying to ask if if I may I think what Vice chair Conrad is saying because it's the same question I have having been a high school administrator is um pass is used in lie of OSS for students who have an IEP and so I think what you're getting at is not ISS but pass being used in lie of an OSS for a student who needs continuing services and we don't want to use their 10 days out and so so those seats are taken by schools base schools who offer pass to a family instead of OSS and that is a question and concern I also have is how limiting are we now going to be for a school who needs to use pass to be able to give a consequence to a student who has an IEP is that correct okay correct and and thank you and that brings me to another point so if we have a student that's alternativ placed with an IEP we are not placing them in our past site so we're not taking up one of those particular seats because not all of our past teachers are ESC certified so in that case those students are going to have to come to MTI because that's where we have the support facilitator okay so the pass site is then only I'm sorry I don't mean to no you can go ahead the pass site's only being used for alt placement 45 days yes oh well if a if there's room and and we're going to work with School principles if there's room and they want to assign additional students we're H we're happy to utilize that just as we have in the past but those path sites are already the existing path sites correct so my my my my pinpoint on this is those S sites historically have been fully available for high school administrators to send students who need an alternative to OSS we are now going to limit the amount of available seats for that is that is that correct it will reduce some of the seats available yes so what will we do because I think that's what Vice chair's Conrad's question is what will we do when we still need seats at these pass sites do we have a plan to open another pass site what does that look like so the schools can use their ISS um as well um we I we are looking at based on the numbers do we need an additional uh pass site and I'm working with facilities to try to determine a a a site that an area that could maybe take a portable to add an additional site it's always difficult to predict these numbers so we're going to have to monitor them very carefully I and the reason this this reminds me of the conversation we had when we were talking about um our staffing plan and our numbers for our ESC students and we we have we upped the cap for that in the name of flexibility and so I'm concerned that if our administrators are saying that many times their pass units are close to capacity every day and what's that number going to be you know if if it's 14 is it 16 what is it and and what does that look like when you have a a lot of children that are struggling or they have struggled and you've got them you know in one spot and so what accommodations are we going to offer and what number are you looking at capping so I'm I I mean you have to look at also the infraction right because some of some of these are not as you know it depends on what the infraction was if it was severely egregious we probably wouldn't put them there so again it's kind of hard to determine I can definitely go back and look at additional supports for those schools based on the students that we're assigning there and then based on um what the needs of those particular students are okay so you you don't have a hard number that you're looking at that be a capacity I'd like to keep it under 15 but but again if some of those are um I'm trying to think of an infraction off the top ofous yeah non- egregious so you can have more students if they're non- egregious but if you have some that are non- egregious I we would have to look at a different placement if we're getting additional numbers so 15 would probably be in my head what's manageable um given the given the students but again it depends on their infraction okay I'm just I'm thinking about the whole picture and when I think about the students that have come before us and and all the issues that come with this it may be a non- egregious act but they also may have missed 47 days of school and so the load that that teacher carries even if it's 15 or 16 students it is a larger load um you know that that they have to work with and so I just um you know I'm just going to generalize here we're constantly working to improve our district and that is most importantly the success of our students and I do not want to put too large of a burden on our schools as we're working at moving forward improving our school grade meeting every student needs every student needs not just the ones that we're speaking about here you know what kind of um what kind of load is that going to put on the Deans and the assistant principes and other staff members at our schools and so I just want to make sure that that's been considered because we can't just drop them off and leave them there and and expect the school to take on this extra burden without support and so that's my concern absolutely and those are the conversations that I've had with the principles and all and what I've shared with them is in the event of of an actual emergency that's when we would ask for for help or support but other than that the because these teachers fall under student discipline it would be the the student discipline Department that would provide additional support so if that means that we would have to go out and help a particular classroom for a few days until the end of a quarter and students are returning back to base then that's that's what we'll do um the the it's not the intent for the schools to take this on and I've been very clear in my messaging with principles on on that okay I'm just going to be very honest that is not the message I'm hearing and there is a lot of concern about um the burden that it's going to place on the school as a whole not just the staff but the other students some some of it is even location like where where the location of their pass is on campus and how do they keep that separate you know one school is able to have that in an isolated area and so um to me it's kind of run in a military style you know it's it's very strict and um and the children have specific guidelines and other school campuses they're not that fortunate the area that they have is Right smack dab in the middle of their school and so how are they going to manage that and I feel like with a week before students show up on campus uh we have some very specific needs that need to be met um and I I just don't I don't think that those conversations have been explored completely okay Madam chair may I interrupt can I ask Dr Brewer to come forward because she oversees our um our secondary sites and to talk about I think the question is are students who would be assigned alternative placed going to create a challenge at the local schools right and then the schools don't have the opportunity for those spaces and and my understanding is no but I'd like for Dr Brewer to speak about the conversations with the principal and this doesn't take the place of what their options are right now yes yes ma'am that you said that well um but we um but it's important to note that when Dr henr visited the schools this year the pass sites are not filled to capacity and and so that's that's what led to this as a possible solution because we knew we had spots in there um at each School site they have um a threshold number that they protect for like the elementary or middle school students I'm speaking of the sites that are at our at a high school so those are usually protected and um it might be four or five depending on the site and so the students for the most part unless they are being expelled a parent when the child has received a regular infraction say it's let's start over so there's a progression that schools follow and the first infraction for for a level two offense they might assign them an ISS consequence and then they've done that infraction or they've done that intervention and they get in trouble again within that 10 or 15 days so then a school might then assign them pass because that's the next step up on that Matrix for Progressive discipline so then at that point if they are still they went they finish their time they um then go back to the classroom they you know repeat that offense then they don't get to return to that intervention because that intervention didn't work so then that student does choose have to do the out of school suspension so there there are there are spaces at these pass sites um and so that's where it's an individual student by- student um determination from the student discipline Department to look at that infraction to determine where that student lives what's the closest pass site and then the deciding factor will be how much space is available at that or is that school trending um at Fuller capacity than others and then looking individually did that answer your question that does help thank you do we keep attendance on who is in pass yes yes ma'am every day know it's not just you know and I'm not trying to be flippant in any way but you know if Dr henbrook has been by three times at Forest you know what the chances could be that the numbers were low on those days um and so we do have an attendance record they're continually not full and so you have that data yes ma'am okay the psite teachers report their attendance every single day okay all right thank you for that clarification yes ma'am I have a question on this item since we're on this item is it okay if I I follow up with something that Miss Conrad has said absolutely this is discussion time so so are the seats that are reserved for the school to use pass in Le of ISS sacred are they going to be whatever that number is are they there and and alternative placements cannot take those spaces I don't I don't I don't want to say yes or no to that because we have to look it it just really will depend on the students that are being assigned to an alternative placement and and so it it would be probably um it would probably not be best practice to say okay Tin Tin spaces are protected for North Maran High School Lake no I'm not saying per school what I'm saying is we have a site at North Mary middle right right and that past site is utilized by presumably Reddit CER Spar North Mari middle maybe North Maran High fezan it depends right I I could there's a list of schools up there how many seats in that past classroom are reserved for those schools to use in lie of OSS is that number determined and is it a sacred number okay that number is not determined um and it's not a sacred number and the reason is because these are student discipline path sites they are not only for that particular school it's a benefit to that school that in hopes of open seats that day a school could have more than say a middle school that's referring a student there but no there is no um protected number so having dealt with this on the school side before and now sitting in this position I don't agree that there is not always going to be a level of opportunity for schools to use that site that's guaranteed I think there needs to be a number if it's five it's five but there needs to be a number that is reserved for schools to be able to utilize those seats because what I foresee occurring um based on the nature of our discipline data over the last few years the discipline data has increased because we are using a strong code of conduct and enforcing it with the full extent that we are allowed and I'm in full support of that but with that being said if alternative placements fill up that path site and remove the opportunity for Donnie Manning to place a child in pass who needs another an opportunity in Le of OSS because Donnie Manning is on day eight with this particular child and it's only November I do not as a board member feel comfortable saying sorry that's that's alternative placements taking it I want and I guess I'm maybe this is new and I've never thought of this before because we never used it for alternative placements and so it's always just had seats available but and is that correct like pass sites previously were just available as they as the seats were available to schools right right so now we're going to prioritize alt placements and it's going to limit the availability for schools so as a board member I do not want to see all of the seats taken by all placements I want to see whatever the number is I want to see that number reserved for school sites to be able to use and the schools among themselves can whoever gets it first gets it first I'm not saying Reddit gets two seats and north Mary middle gets two seats but I want to see a set of seats available for schools to use for pass I I can get on board with that I feel like that's a compromise um I would feel much more comfortable if we said you know we have seven seats that were will be available for the schools that utilize that one pass site so that um we were still uh giving some control to our our schoool administrators um and they're not losing the option of what they are already utilizing to keep their campus safe and successful thank you Vice chair Dr gullet yes thank you madam chair board I understand the questions and team I I know you said this at the beginning Dr HR about adding more sites um and and my understanding in our conversations was we were going to protect the schools and having the ability for them to use it so I I concur with the board in protecting those spaces and working as we're board we're navigating this is a whole new approach so I agree with the protecting the spaces especially out in our community at those sites for the schools to use so we will make sure that happens and I know that's something we talked about I don't know that a number was created but but we will make sure that happens and that this doesn't drive out the school's ability if they need more then back to your comment Dr H we add another site um so I just want to I just want to go back to that because I I I do agree that's important CH so while I appreciate the dialogue and specifically what Dr goet now has said to to back up what the dialogue has been what about the schools that don't have pass sites they go to these others they go to the others and and I understand that but we only have one Middle School pass location so the pass sits can be utilized for middle or or high school so so so at Howard Middle sometimes we would have uh a high school student on that campus at north Marin high school we might have north Marin Middle we used to also include um elementary students um second grade and up but now that we have those Elementary P site that frees up some of those spaces so it's it's more Regional if that makes sense sure so but part of the reason and I'm not trying to get off into a totally different topic but part of the main reason we're having this conversation is because we want our alternative placement students separated from our students who are expelled is that correct I mean that's part of the reason we're having this dialogue so um in a perfect world if we had a space where we could fit all of them I don't know that we necessarily have a hard rule fast that we have to separate them um when we had the contract with Seri you we would have had alternatively placed students with expelled students there what we have found is a lot of times the families of those particular students would opt for another Choice than having their students with some with with with expelled students absolutely and we we understand that we've heard that repeatedly as board members that's one of our primary concerns uh but ultimately this all comes down to space and so I think while we're talking about past I'm not trying to get off on another topic but really what we're talking about is space space is not something we have and so if we're just really going to take a bite of the elephant in the room it's that we don't have space space so we are making the best modifications we can in the spaces that we do have we do have space at reic so that probably is we're one of our elementary pth sites so we where we have space is where we are able to accommodate these challenges I would concur with the idea of keeping our alternative placements away from expelled students as best we can because that has been a challenge we've continued to hear um I don't know that there's an alternative to what we're talking about other than and I understand keeping the past site sacr I I do I mean I understand having a few seats for those schools that they've always been using I mean change is hard we understand uh what that looks like this whole program is going to be a change for everyone really um but I also appreciate discipline overseeing that and while it is housed on a school campus it's being manned by District staff as opposed to a teacher that is a teacher at Westport HIgh School it's it's not it's a district essentially assigned person there so I can see the challenge I can see what we're talking about if we needed to open another pass site or two at different schools I I believe the district is open to doing that if that happens to be what we need to do to fulfill this need but again it comes down to space and we just don't have it sure well I would also say that we have space at as you just said at at certain schools that's been our challenge all along that we're way over Capac capacity in some schools and other capacity and in others so for me it's more about tracking what is happening and making sure that no school is getting overburdened and that we have a process and procedures in place where we can be be nimble in in addressing it quickly I you know there's only 180 days in the school year so we can't leave people you know in schools out there twisting for weeks at a time you know that would be my ask would be like okay you know if we have this estimated number and we're going to start with that but if we're seeing a pocket here exploding and nothing happening down there then we have to be able to adjust in more or less real time and um and also I think too it's an opportunity for for all of us to elevate our best practice because with kids with IEPs yes you know there's that supposedly sacred 10day rule but all that really means is that they can't be separated from their instruction by someone that's qualified to to teach them Dr James well what I heard was two board members myself and vice chair Conrad say we wanted to see a number established and I would like to see if there are any other board members interested in that conversation because from my board seat what I would like to see as Walk Away Today is a Collective Agreement on what we're going to do to respect a few seats for schools so I I know that I said five Vice chair Conrad said seven do either of the other two board members are you interested in offering a number of seats that you would want to see saved for schools to use for pass I would rather hear from the schools you know what what they think they need and and what the trends are I think the concern is is that they're going to get told no right that there's there there's not a space so you can't put your kid there that is 1,000% by October what is going to happen like I I feel so strongly that by October before quarter two rolls over we will have there will not be space and then the schools you have a kid who is his his behavior is a manifestation of his disability which means he cannot be um OS he he cannot be alternatively placed we're not going to expel you have this fourth grader who has major behaviors and it's disrupting the learning of everyone on the campus and sometimes you just need to be able to breathe right and you need to be able to take a pause and and put the student in an environment that's going to be smaller and more appropriate for a couple days so everyone can catch their breath and come up with a plan and if there is not space on a path site there is not space there's nowhere for that child to go and most Elementary campuses don't have ISS so there is nowhere for that child to go and if we do not respect a few seats on these path sites we are going to find ourselves in a position where those principles are going to be very pigeon hold into figuring out what to do with these students and so that is my the reason I'm advocating so strongly and I I mean as former administrators I do think you guys would agree that your hand gets tied and what do you do and so that's why I'm so so passionate about this because I don't want to put our school administrators in a position where they don't have an opportunity for to to give everyone a breath Madam chair may I so I think everyone's on the same page essentially but could we go back to how many you don't know how many students but essentially what you're looking for in terms of numbers to put out its sites um because I know Miss dobins and the transportation team are here because we could that could be expanded here like those seats that we're worried about impacting our schools can't they be hosted here in additional spaces well with Portables is that what you're talking about how many numers students are you talking about it's I think it was it's about 70 70 students okay so I if if space is available we'll we'll put them where we where we can I I I understand the need to set a capacity at at pass sites I I 100% agree and that was the intent when I spoke with principles to say yes we're going to we're going to work with you um but we also have to place these students so there's no space here we can look at additional sites as well capacity setting a particular seat capacity we can look at the data and then work with the principles to come up with that number so that we're setting a specific site for them based on their data I'm sorry back to roote issue um Madam chair could I have Miss Dobbins come forward and thinking about portable having that here because that would if we could solve the problem more simply then that's the way to solve it is is always my Approach so sorry Miss Dobbins thank you no problem and and all of these concerns are are are true concerns I think the situation here is that due to the timing um to miss Dr Campbell's point is we're just trying to find the place for them right now and looking at the future we are having those conversations um uh you know behind the doors here about what does it look like in the future future so if we were to invest in Modular Buildings we have options here at MTI to place them up on the field uh where we have practice fields for our community and so forth um and particularly uh bring them in on site if we were to do something like that um we would look at an opening of those facilities of their modular um possibly around February um we may have Portables that we could move in um but Portables aren't ideal for for this situation because you really want these students to have interior rooms and so forth um so if we can if we can work to come to uh a workable situation facility wise now in hopes of future planning I I think we could have something in place by February um that could bring these students inhouse here here at MTI along with all the others but still also keep them separate from expelled students I think there are some future planning Solutions we have that we can continue to work on yeah I'll say that there are um concerns ongoing concerns with that because it certainly seems as a board member and we've all heard it where parents are choosing not to send their kids to any alternative site and they're going to homeschool them or put them on Florida virtual while the kids already not being successful that's a pretty big um ask even for a highly functioning committed kid academically so that's something that I think I've heard loud and clear you know from this board that we just want to try to plan a little better for these kids and so that they are getting authentically back on track yes indeed I think we're kind of in triage right now trying to find the place but these students deserve a a uh positive learning environment just like any other students and if we can bring them into new Modular Buildings here on site and invest in that I think it's a great opportunity to build the program here along with the other programs thank you um because what I'm really hearing from this board and I don't disagree is that um with all the pressure that our schools are under you know everybody is doing all they can to elevate their programs Elevate their kids they they need the reassurance and not just the reassurance but the Assurance um that that if a student needs a spot you know they're they're going to get it um but on the flip side of that I again it is definitely my intention if we're going to move in this direction that it helps us continue to elevate our services to all kids so that hopefully they'll be fewer and fewer that is the most stressful thing in the world you know to have a kid that's just tearing things up and you're worried about running out of days and you're worried about what that does you know we get dinged for for over suspending and what does that really do to help them anyway but then again as board member James shared and I don't disagree you know staff just gets to that point where they they need a chance to catch a breath to come together to make a plan that's hopefully going to be a little bit more workable to have that kid be successful so there's just a lot to it and I don't want to underestimate the concern you know from the schools and the assurance and reassurance they need that this isn't going to make um things worse instead of better what else so I mean I I can get on board with a with if we need to have a set number but I don't want to determine that as the board I I feel like that's a process that's not a policy a procedure not a policy and so I agree with having having a set number but potentially it's based on the number that schools are taking right now um because I mean we only have two Elementary pass sites right now so I mean that's we have 34 whatever the number is of elementary schools we have so I mean you can't be taking you know two per school you know you're not taking that many so I I can totally get on board with reserving some spots specific for schools to be able to utilize a apart from discipline you all will have to work on how that looks because again discipline staff overseeing this as opposed to school staff overseeing it may look a little different than what it ever has before U but I don't want to set a number personally I agree you you all need to set the number you know the what the data looks like you have history you you know you've shared with us the number climbs in the second quarter if what Miss Dobbin shared uh and we're able to add Portables that would put us um having everybody on campus at the peak really of our our discipline issues and so I can get on board with that uh Mr Jones has not had a chance to chime in as this conversation has turned a little bit I just want to offer him the opportunity is that there's anything he wants to share that maybe as a board member I I wouldn't know or it you know so I just offer that because we're I mean we're talking about right now the number would be 75 more students and and your campus is just growing overnight I think one of the things that um Mrs dobins U mentioned there is we're trying to get a long-term solution because one of the concerns that everyone brings up is how do I separate the non arious students from the arious students So eventually we're going to have to have a long-term solution solution for that August um 12th I'm not sure that that solution can be obtained without having those students go to a pass site because right now the amount of programs that we've listed that's going to be here then I'll have to take all those programs and then decipher which students are arious and which students are non arious and then move them someplace else so I think this is a solution for currently and then we need to work on that long-term solution to satisfy those needs because as we found out this past year the N regious students and the parents they really want their students to continue their education they have been successful okay thank you for that Mr Jones I appreciate it right other questions discussion comments from the board C sure I I'm just grateful for the work that the team has been doing I I made I have made public comments over the past couple of years that I believed the goal that I had as a board member was to bring our alternative placements and expulsions inhouse um having the ability to hold those students accountable not only academically but also for their attendance that's what makes them successful and understanding that some of these students have significant challenging needs needs beyond what we have in traditional uh Public School from for whatever different trauma different everything that causes them to actually be in one of those scenarios I know that in my opinion this is a long time coming this is something I discussed very publicly last year saying you know I I felt we needed to move forward in the direction of bringing this inhouse and and and taking this on so that we can truly follow those students that they're not going away from us for any period of time they are still always within marrying County Public Schools and we can hold them accountable a lot more closely and so I know this isn't the ideal solution I know this is somewhat temporary in a in a way as Mr Jones just said some of it isn't exactly what we want to look like but this is our transition year to get us to where we can eventually make sure that all of these students are successful the withdrawal rate is high we hear we we have heard in this past year maybe to two years of my board service we have heard more families come before us that are petitioning the consequence of their expulsion than I had in my first two years I can tell you that for sure and so the last two years and Miss thrower's been here longer than I have chair thrower right just within the last year we have created a whole different day in time because of the numbers of parents who are petitioning this board and disputing where we are placing them because of the only option we've had and so I think it's time for us to reset and the time is now and and we unfortunately we're not able to come to any other resolution or or conclusion uh Beyond where we are right now and so I'm just grateful I know this work has been hard and you guys have even had a back up and punt this week and and we understand that but with Transportation weighing in on how it impacts all of our schools around the district with start times and now how this site itself is transportation it will be impacting them but having them start as at the same time as all of our our middle schools it there's just a lot of good uh that even has changed just this week and so I know it's still kind of a moving Target a bit but once we reach consensus today uh that this is the direction that we are moving forward in at least this transition year um I I think it'll be what's best for students all around so thank you for the hard work thank you Bo member Campbell anything else from the board I just want to I just want to make a statement um Dr H Brook and Dr Brewer I jumped right in uh with my questions and so I concur with everything that Dr Campbell just said I am thankful for the work that you are doing um I have I have an isolated issue that I'm concerned about but but I know it's been transportation and food services and all of the things hiring at the last minute and so um I apologize for not stating that first um that I am thankful for the work that you're doing and I know that it's hard and it's been at the last minute and so um thankful for the work that you and both of your teams are doing um I just I'm very nervous about the the past sites and um leads me to another question how if we wanted to if we were able to how quickly can a pass site be set up what how long does it take if there's actual space like a classroom in the building then it's really just a matter of getting the position approved um and then posting that position and then hiring if it's where you have to bring in a portable or much longer then it's a little bit longer of a process okay um my other question well really this is just not a question it's a concern just um and it might not be a conversation for today but and we listed our past sites um I would be interested in finding out about adding another Middle School pass site um I don't have the discipline data in front of me but when possible when students are in proximity I think it would be beneficial to keep as many of our middle school kids together and our high school kids together I didn't excuse me I didn't realize that we only had one Middle School pass site and so I'd just be in uh interested in some more information on that thank you yes thank you Vice chair board member James thank you I kind of jumped in on that particular item but I just had a few other questions and comments so um when we go back to slide five where it talks about the seats that were a part of the contract um and later slides we shared about FTE and how many students were in the projections um is there what we all know about FTE and you and I have spoken about this but I just kind of want to say it publicly um FTE is a snapshot of a single week when a kid is in school and so what we know about about the enrollment at Seri and New Leaf is it was um always rolling kids were coming and kids were going over the last year it got a little bit more standardized as we were doing quarters but we were rolling kids in consistently and then kids were leaving at pretty standardized times and so do you have the number for the highest enrollment on any day last year for sery and New Leaf if we were to instead instead of use the numbers that were part of this FTE projection but use the number the highest number of heartbeats that were ever on their campus I don't have that data with me but I could pull that and send that can you tell me how far it was from 140 and 300 if you were to guess how far off 100 off for for for sur me it was it was probably 70 to 75 is what I would go with a new Leaf has always been right right around 120 140 70 to 75 what off okay okay so you're saying 230 students on the highest day of enrollment if I'm if I'm guessing at this moment yes but I'd have to pull the data be careful about guessing no that's fine I if I if I we have some Representatives if I could just look at the audience for a head nod yes or no would you guys from this Army um from sery location say that your highest enrollment on any day last year was about 230 students higher what would you say the number was okay so either either way we are under the 300 right correct and so we were funding for 300 seats with a cost per seat and on the highest day of attendance we were somewhere around 250 we'll just call 250 to make it even um now New Leaf we've all agreed we were pretty much filling up every seed at New Leaf um and I've even heard we really ran out of seats and we would have kept sending them but we ran out of space to send them and so these I appreciate the math that the staff has brought forward to us in that this is how much money we are generating from these students to pay for this service and as a businesswoman I can appreciate that when you offer a unique service there is a differential that you pay so when you offer a service that you can't really get anywhere else you pay a little bit more for it it appears that we were three three million apart at some point in the negotiation and so I don't think the premium is 3 million um but I can appreciate that we should pay more than what FTE would pay because they're offering a unique service as a board member consistently since before I was even sworn in I have said I want Maran County Public Schools to keep our own kids I want to do this ourselves I have said to the team and I will say now I wish the board had gotten this information in January I wish the board had been a part of this conversation and leading up so that the community would feel because I I can fully appreciate that you all have been working on this for four six months but the board didn't hear anything about it until we received an email from a Community member and so you don't agree that oh I remember having conversations even with representatives from from surmy that just was you know looking looking dicey and and there was concern but I'm not talking about conversations with people from Sur me what I'm talking about is conversations from our staff we were told in February to disregard the contract or the bid and that they were going to go back out because it wasn't correct and we can pull the video up to find the terminology but other than that date in February the board received no other update about this information until an email from the community triggered a response from our staff I don't see it that way but continue either way I wish we would have backward planned into this publicly a little bit better so that we could all be on the same page um and it would have also allowed the staff the human beings that show up to work at Seri and New Leaf a better opportunity to find another place for work because they are community members and taxpayers in our community and I worry about them finding employment so that is a piece of the human capacity part part of this puzzle that really bothers me I I would have loved for them to have had more awareness and opportunity to find employment now Mar County Public Schools is hiring and we would love to take you on so our jobs are posted and I will hope that you all would apply for them but um those are reservations I have but I wholeheartedly believe in doing this ourselves and I believe that we are going to do a tremendous job I how I see this is I want to see students learning social emot skills I value that more than them completing credits I want to work on the whole child and produce human beings that are going to go back into their base school and bring a better version of themselves to their base school and let's keep them on track to graduate but I want to rehabilitate the human being and I want to get kids back to base that are going to be amazing more amazing humans than they are when they left their base School and I know that Mr Jones and the staff that he is going to continue to grow are going to be the perfect person to do that I mean I just Envision like whole on basketball games in the gym and like learning cooperative play and learning how to do conflict resolution all of those pieces are just as important to me personally as an educator as the actual academics and so I am excited for us to do this I just wish that we weren't doing it in the 11th Hour um because that is what is perceived to the community and honestly for me myself too so um staff has my full support and I'm ready to rock and roll I and I Mr Jones whatever you need you just need to holler and we'll make sure that as a board member I'm going to make sure that your voice is heard and I know staff will as well and we're going to get you whatever you need to be successful thank you Bo member James um Campbell sure I I would be remiss if I didn't say um that in turn while I've always said I wanted them to come here um we have had good partners that have worked with us to be a solution for the time being that we've had them and so um the work that they've done for the last several years for us I guess 20 some OD years based on the numbers that we heard today uh has worked to some degree it has been a placeholder for what I believe needed to be a better long-term solution and so um I have received comments from board members of our partners uh this this week and I understand that I guess they had their board meeting this week to let the board know about it so Dr James I I appreciate your concern that this hasn't been a public conversation but I don't believe our partners have been having a conversation either so I mean I I know that this is a conversation we had last year and so I believed all along that there was a strategy being worked through to get us to where we are today obviously February became that date when we said we're at a at a Crossroads and we're not making any Headway and we are not going to essentially the bid that we had out the request for proposal that we had out did not meet the specifications that we were looking for and so while it has taken several months to get us to where we are today um I do want to say that I've been grateful for the partnership that we've had but I am looking forward to moving forward so thanks thank you um I wasn't sure if you were trying to catch My Eye Dr gullet no nothing right now thank you okay all right um anything else from the board okay um you know this goes back a long way um for me um having been involved with kids with eight day problems since 1997 um and I've always looked at our partners um sery Nik Kingsbury New Leaf as um as just sat part of us you know provide an arm providing a service that we were not in the position nor had the wherewithal um to be doing ourselves through those years and as far back as as 2012 we almost got there and the school was already named that we were going to take in house it was going to be called Turning Point Academy of Excellence I believe and um based on funding problems um 2012 we ran a half Mill for Capital and a half M for operating both failed miserably it was the tax enough already era and um the money just wasn't there to repurpose what was the Phoenix Center back then um into a a school that we could do inhouse so um this definitely is nowhere near a new conversation um but yet it's so old I think even in my mind I was thinking that it might get down to the nth hour but that something you know would be worked out well in the meantime there was a lot of contingency planning going on and um reflection of what's been done in the past and what might be able to be done differently and and hopefully better moving forward um but I still see it as as a partnership between the people no matter where the kids are are being served there still our kids you know some of them our sons some of them our daughters that have directly benefited um from the services that surmy and and most recently new Leaf have provided and um and I couldn't be more grateful for that partnership you know it takes a very special and passionate person to be a teacher in the first place let alone be a an educator of of kids with such extreme needs so it would be um my intention to not only give great gratitude for the partnership that we have had with these fellow education professionals through the years and I don't just mean I don't mean just the teachers I'm saying the the Paris the everyone that's that's been involved the therapists and um as many of of them that that want to join us in serving these kids in a new place is is what it really comes down to um the kids needs remain and it is very encouraging to me to hear that there finally is the the spark the fire in The Inferno building to do as take what we have learned take what we've partnered on and and bring it to the next level uh but it is truly we're looking at the end of an era you know we're talking more than 30 years I think of of these Partnerships and and the relationships that you all have made with each other so I just want to share with all of you that there's just as much a place for you with us as there has been for where you've been providing the services so I I I hope that you hear the the the the empathy um in in my heart for for you and and my gratitude and also the willingness to see serving these kids in a in a new way and and work through it you know we pretty much jumped on the non- egregious thing and it has mostly gone really really well and and building that culture continuing to build that culture together where these kids finally get the sense of I'm not gonna bail a homeschool I I'm I see the value and the families see the value and maybe even I want to say at some point a level of prestige because of the elevated services that I'm hoping that we'll be able to provide with with work study opportunities with internship opportunities you know take what we have done for so long and and now really growing it and you'll know you've really done something when the parents come to you and say Miss how how could I get a job like you help me get for my my kid you know um these are hard to reach families and and it's hard to build their trust and it's hard to maintain their trust but but it can be done but I don't want to lose the knowledge of of what you guys bring to this situation and I doubt that anyone else sitting up here does either in fact it would really be fun to see Mr Keith around you know it would really be fun to see Peach is around and and and Mr rynolds and and everyone that has just been so integral to this so that's what I have to say about it um I say let's kick it off let's do it let's let's take the ownership and making sure that every student that crosses our threshold continues to get elevated in what we can provide to them so thank you thank you so much for everything and for being the partners that you've been and I look forward to seeing that continue in new ways that I can't even imagine that's all I have Dr comment is there any public comment Dave pachard Richard Richard thanks Dave Pritchard I've um the president of the board of surmi um I go back to the 80s um when it was Gainesville loala Marine Institute and we met had a school halfway between and um unfortunately the state felt that Maran County had moved to the level of needing their own school which is unfortunate but that's how we became surmy and moov down here um but I appreciate everything said and and I I spent 30 years in front of a group like this and I swore I'd never do it again and here I'm back you know doing the the hole in front of a elected body but I guess personally and you you guys and I'm the citizen that that's wrote the letters and but I guess timing is my biggest issue I mean I I've said to everybody our board who's law enforcement DJJ is dedicated to the kids you know had in February the district said we want to do it ourselves will you sit with us and help us figure out how to do it ourselves we would have been there no doubt but instead we were told we're going to contract with you for one more year rolling rolling rolling and even the meeting that kind of the the last and I you get into the FTE and whether that's and actually when we got the thing from Dr Hook about FTE that's how we used to get paid back in the day we were paid the FTE rate for the seats that they were contracted for and that's how we came up that's how the number was thing we need going to need X number of seats and then we they paid us so if I did the math it was 5 million I said well that must be what they're what they're looking at they're going to pay us the FTE for the seats they want available on those weeks um it if and then obviously that we we learned way late in the game that that wasn't the case um so that's a shame because I mean we're out2 or $300,000 we had to sign the lease I mean we're not going to leave our employees hanging out there we had employees scheduled to come to work today this was their first day and here we are um and Dr um James is just we finished the the year last year at New Leaf with 178 students that was their High 178 students and 20 on a waiting list would they were already they said we're coming we said we have no we have no room we have no space which is the first time in 30 years we've ever had to do that um and I I wasn't going to get excited but you know I guess a little bit of upsetness and I know this is over but a little bit of upsetness in in that it the presentation showed that students who flowed through US created 2.1 million you know we had 339 students flow through surmi at the FTE rate that's 3.2 million we had 100 regular ed students flow through New Leaf that's 900 Grand and we had 136 ESC students flow through New Leaf that's 1.7 and you know the school School District receives $6 million from students who roll through one of our facilities and paid us 4 One I I that kind of bothers me but I know this is over but that bothers me and I I felt I needed to say that like I said I wish that the administration had been more transparent on their ultimate goal and came to us in April and said we're hearing from our board members we want to take this over effective next year our response I guarantee you our board response how can we help you how can we help you do that I offer right now as far as a you know a partnership we've got a building we have a little bit of knowledge on how to do this we still have a Contra and cistus we still provide all the services we're not going away apologize but you're you're over time so can you just finish up your last sen sure so my point being if you see another need out there for a charter school that fits into your program for special type needs call us up and we're we're there and we'll help get that going and we've got Capital money to put into it we can we got a building and and I know it's too late now maybe maybe not but in your plan if there's that need you let us know okay cuz we're not going anywhere thank you thank you thank you sir is there any other additional public comment Daniel Slayton uh that's Slayton s l a y t o n excuse me um thank you for giving me the chance to speak um I did come with a prepared speech but of course at this point in time everything that I was going to say has already been said um I would just like to say that I personally have been Associated um with surmy for 18 years um my first contracted year of students we had 60 kids um and throughout the years obviously our numbers have ballooned um on good faith negotiations because we had effective programming um academic mental health um restorative justice um everything that those students need um so it's obviously I'm very I'm a little more than disappointed um because uh Dr James made a really good point that sometimes it's not about the academics um and I think um another board member earlier today said um success looks different for every kid well you know at stery that's the truth um maybe we get one student um through anger management maybe um we find a place to live for a homeless family um you know there are countless stories like that and that's based on the quality of people that work at these facilities that work at these schools um you know the reason these people work there is because they want to they want to be part of that population because as you know there's a lot of educational professionals that don't want to work with that population um so again I did I I'm just um it's really it's really upsetting to me that we're sitting here on August 1st and I'm hearing everybody talk about two spaces here and two seats here um we're contracted for 300 kids it's very possible that you're going to end up with 425 475 kids that are referred to those programs so two seats here two seats there not really sure but I do know that I am concerned as an educational professional that come May 12th or May 12th come August 12th that there might not be everything that these students need to get started based on this transition and um that's just a little disappointing from the public standpoint thank you very much thank you Sarah M Martinez is there additional public comment no Madam chair okay right Dr G thank you so our last item for today uh Madam chair I'll bring forward U Miss Williams Jones to talk about um exceptional student education and provide an update to the board thank you good afternoon good afternoon chair Thor board members and Dr gullet it's my pleasure this afternoon to provide you just a brief update on exceptional student education and some of the initiatives that we have for the upcoming year I'm actually going to start with just kind of a simple overview of the individual with Disabilities Act which is kind of how we get to where we are in providing the appropriate support for students with disabilities idea governs the state and District processes which really Define how we identify and support students with disabilities so what is exceptional student education at its most basic components exceptional student education focuses on helping students with disabilities learn whether those challenges are academic or behavioral sometimes they're physical uh sensory needs so that's at its most basic level that is the goal of exceptional student education here in Florida rule 6 A- 6.03 028 governs the provision of free and appropriate public education and development of individual education plans for students with disabilities here in Maran County we currently have 6,00 1,792 students identified under the educational exceptional student education umbrella when we are notified that a student may be having some trouble with academics or behavior a school May request a meeting or a parent May request a meeting meeting to have discussion about the best course of action for a student once it has been established that an evaluation will take place the initial evaluations for students suspected of having a disability must be conducted within 60 days of receiving parental consent for the evaluation federally 60 days days is 60 calendar days it's 60 school days in Florida 60 days represents 60 calendar days so in essence from consent to evaluation completion it is about 45 days of student attendance because the weekends are included once eligibility has been established and a parent gives consent for a program an individualized education program an IEP is written IEPs are the guiding force for the services and supports that we provide for students the initial IEP is established at the time of Eligibility however IEPs are reviewed and updated annually and although this annual meeting is set by a cycle of when the previous one was completed a parent May request an IEP review and meeting at any time so once there's been the initial establishment of a student and a program and an IEP is in place there may come a time where the current instructional delivery model for a student is not found to be sign sufficient in meeting the students needs at that time the committee would look at the consideration of a change of placement and so when we look at a change of placement we are saying that we're going to change the services and supports that a student is receiving and also possibly the location of where those services are provided there are some things to take into consideration when we are looking at a change in placement because typically when we're considering a change of placement we're going from a least restrictive environment which identifies the amount of time a student spends with non-disabled peers to a more restrictive environment which is going to lessen that amount of time that they may be with their non-disabled peers in order to consider a change of placement sometimes it requires additional evaluations to ensure that the program is appropriate and sometimes it can looks at ex external supports OT PT speech and language to make sure that we have a full Cadre of services available for a student so a change in placement is an IEP team decision and recommendation to a parent for the change in the complexity and possibly the location of a program it is a process which involves collecting additional data and really looking to determine the root cause of a student's concern so that we can best meet the students needs there is some concern and confusion um I know when I speak with parents around IEPs versus 504 plans and so I just wanted to um just provide a little clarification so when we have students who have supports that are needed and those supports can be academic or behavioral um there are various options to provide that and so when we're looking at a student who has an a 504 those supports are provided through general education a 504 plan is not under the exceptional student education umbrella and although the student receives accommodations there are no modif ifications to curriculum for that student only students who have an individual education plan are eligible to receive modifications to the curriculum based on the needs identified in that IEP in addition to the 6,000 students that I mentioned earlier we have an additional 1,972 students that are served through our gifted programs uh in Maran County the state requires that in addition to identification of gifted students overall that we also have a plan to increase the number of underrepresented students that are served and gifted I just want to point out for clarification that according to rule 68- 6.03 019 underrepresented populations are defined as groups who are limited English proficient or who come from socioeconomics from low socioeconomic status families there is some confusion that when we talk about underrepresented groups that in addition to students who are linger limited English proficient we are talking about about students in other ethnic categories and that is not the state definition and so we are really looking at for that under represented population increase we're looking for students who are second language Learners and we're looking for students who live in poverty and so as there has been the support of the board to work through doing additional screenings with the nagar lary um at second grade um and then additional talks this year about how to expand gifted screenings for all students next year it is really with the goal of capturing um all of our students but especially those students who are in our underrepresented groups from the nag Leary screening for um the 2324 school year um 108 students um have been referred for further evaluation and so we should have all of those evaluations complete um by the start of the school year and so we will know um by late August how this has impacted um our numbers from that particular initiative in addition to that during the 2324 school year 773 students were referred for gifted evaluation and of those students 233 students were found eligible for gifted services with 72 of those 233 students coming from the underrepresented groups we are very much still in the initial phases of partner with emerges to address our uh ESC teacher vacancies uh just in being able to share some information with you as we start the school year my team sent out a survey to all principles back in May looking at teacher vacancies for our ESC classrooms that are self-contained including our ESC prek and um at that point there were 40 plus vacancies that we were addressing as we have had the contract approved and started to move forward with using the amarist staffing company to assist with that I had to get some updated information from principles and so in information that was provided last week those vacancies um had decreased to 24 and so through the efforts of our human resources department through our Partnerships with the universities in the area um we have been making Marian County a great place to work and so people have been coming here to work for us as a district so that was um amazing to have that followup with principles and to find that through naturally occurring resources in the community we were already able to address many of those needs but that still leaves us with 24 vacancies to start the year and so a marriages has been working diligently to send teacher candidates to us for us to then provide to um our principles as of the last count there were 15 uh potential applicants that have been submitted and we our process is to vet those applicants and then match them based on the needs that the principles have shared with us because some of them have high school needs from uh prek needs and so we want to make sure that we are in alignment with that and so that is an ongoing process we do have our first two candidates that are working with us in HR for onboarding and should hopefully be in place um if not at the beginning shortly after uh the school year starts one of those candidates has been selected um and will be on to Forest High School and one will be going to Fort King and so um both staff um administrative teams on those campuses are really happy to have been able to find someone so quickly in this process so I wanted to share that update with you just to provide you um with some ongoing Focus for the upcoming year um we are looking to collaborate and partner with all of our counterparts across the district and really understand that um all students are exceptional students and they are in every classroom in our district and so the collaboration across departments and teams is Paramount if we want to continue to see the student growth that we've been experiencing so as we look at School principles um this year we had in the 23 24 school year we had the opportunity to start principal focus groups to really help me to get acclimated with the needs in our schools and to get a pulse on what the principles were seeing and to partner with them and so the principal focus groups is something that will continue uh into the 2425 school year there will be an expanded collaboration uh with professional leading leadership and learning um we had the opportunity in working um with them this Summer um to provide professional learning for ESC and Esa population so June 18th and 19th we had two days of professional learning hosted out at Westport HIgh School where which was open to all instructional staff and we had some sessions that were geared specifically to par professionals to ensure that we are equipping all of our staff who support students with disabilities with this skills that they need to be successful through working with PLL through title $2 we will offer ongoing professional learning throughout the school year um focusing on all of our students with the various needs but including our our gifted needs including supporting behavior um and teach training so we are really looking to be um very powerful if you will as it relates to ongoing professional learning to provide continued support and I had the opportunity um to begin a focused group with gifted Educators um through some of the conversations that we had at Bard meetings last year um they provided input for us as we were looking to update our policies and pro procedures document um that uh is being submitted to the state later this month and so that ongoing conversation and problem solving around the needs of our gifted students is a continuous conversation that they are going to partner with me on for the upcoming year as well they had some really great ideas they were very excited to be a part of driving the work that's happening for gifted education uh in Marian County Public Schools so these are some things that will definitely continue into the 2425 school year so just to conclude with some takeaways um exceptional student education really is an umbrella that allows us to serve and meet the needs of students with a variety um of challenges not all students who may have challenging behaviors or academic challenges will meet criteria for services and programs that once a student is identified for special education a student must have an individual education plan in order to receive that specialized support the IEP is is what drives everything that we do for our students with disabilities and every classroom is an ESC classroom it is the collaborative efforts of all departments that ensure the success of students with disabilities Dr gullet I will turn it over for you for any comments thank you Miss William Stones thank you again for your leadership um and for your team and the work you're doing for for our exceptional student education um throughout our district so we look forward to questions you have board thank you thank you Dr g go ahead board member C sure my it's mainly just two comments so uh first thank you for educating the public on 504 not being a part of es because I I think that that is a misnomer that parents don't really understand and community in general and so thank you for that bit of Education that we've received today um the other piece is going back to slide 10 and this isn't necessarily a comment for you directed solely to you uh but it's just kind of a comment in general from what I've I've heard from both teachers and principles that might participate in different kinds of principal meetings or assistant principal meetings collaborative meetings what what have you um My Hope Is that we will continue to focus on those meetings not being one-way communication I think there's a lot of value in opening up dialogue where these leaders can share together and so collaboration isn't just Department to school-based but it's school-based to school-based talking amongst themselves and saying here's a solution I have or here's a creative way I've done this and so I think and that's more of a blanket statement to every leader that's in the the room today uh but you just happen to be in front of us and have it on a slide so I know the gifted Educators I've spoken with that are even a part of your focus group are grateful for the conversations and are grateful that it's not going to stop with just the one or two meetings they've already had um but the more opportunities that they have to share together and even if we can I know it's not entirely feasible but even the more those meetings can happen in in person I'm a huge proponent of face-to-face communication and how educators know that that works better for face- Toof face instruction with their students so it also works better when you're having interpersonal communication and really trying to dialogue so U but thank you for this uh update for us it it has been eye openening looks like we had about 3% of our second graders that at least passed through that first screener so just interested in following those numbers and seeing year over-year if that's a high and 108 is just the starting number it's not really the actual identified students uh but we anticipate you know three you know two to 3% or so and I think this just gives us that more the more ample opportunity to identify those students earlier than they might have been identified before uh potentially we've had students through the years that might actually be the ones we were talking about earlier that might have winded up in alternative placement sites as Elementary School students with behavior issues that also might be on the gifted I'm going to use the term Spectrum but might also be gifted I've Had A Gifted educator tell me that you don't grow out of being gifted and so people don't often think of it that way we we think that we can just place them in a in a setting but um they don't necessarily grow out of their giftedness they learn to adapt and accommodate for for certain things but also grateful for the board that we have identified that particular population as a need to highlight in Tallahassee and have legislative conversations about that too because I think our legislators aren't aware of of how that particular population is is considered you know from doe Etc and even had a Community member yesterday asked me specifically about something someone who's a retired educator from out of the state uh and a retirement community asked me specifically about that population so I was grateful to say we're actually taking this conversation on to Tallahassee now because we've identified that it is a a population that potentially is even underserved but grateful that we are identifying it even earlier so thanks for your work thank you thank you board member Campbell board member James nothing I just wanted to say thank you for this update um I'm looking forward to seeing how those gifted screenings will go um the evaluations rather and and looking at how many students we're going to identify this next year comparatively to how many we would have identified previously and a traditional before we did the universal screener how many we were identifying um continuing to work towards meeting kids where they are and giving them everything they need to succeed so thank you for the update thank you thank you con yes I thank you also for your work um something I'd just be interested in knowing as an individual board member is tracking some of the data over um the past year how our ESC population has grown and in what areas so at some point I'd love to have um just a historical record of um the amount you know the workload of what we are taking on in Maran County um so no rush on that but I would like to see I just think the challenges presented before us have grown exponentially um and I I think it would it would support the work that we're doing um I also love the word collaboration that you mentioned several times uh Miss rle mentioned it in her presentation also and um as a teacher I felt like right before covid we had reached really a pinnacle of collaboration you know there was so much collaboration and Co is far behind us but it seems that we just as a community not just in education but all over we're just rebuilding that element of work you know to take in everyone's opinion and problem solve by collaborating so thank you for your work uh in that area too and um just lifting you up as we start a new school year so thank you thank you you Vice chair comrade um yes thank you for the great uh presentation it was definitely music to my ears to hear that we're getting we're almost halfway there maybe a little more than halfway of getting qualified teachers in our self-contained settings um those have just been forever so difficult to staff and and maintain and I know that from a school leadership perspective that's always a very challenging um classroom you know to to have on your campuses let's just say it and um so I'm really looking forward to that continued partnership with how do you pronounce it amus amares am mares am mares great so please thank them for their great work and really hitting the ground running and um Dr go I think that's concludes yeah our item thank you so much oh yep I have a shout out that forgot to share with you so I was at Bible study Tuesday evening and uh the lady that was to my right was sharing we were just talking about praying for our schools this you know school is getting ready to start and her granddaughter had just um I guess her IEP was finished at the end of last year year and she was just singing the Praises of Marian County Public Schools and what a difference it made in her granddaughter's education so I just wanted to share that personal um example because we've got this beautiful slideshow that um shows the process but we know that on the ground it is hard work you know uh it's hard work and with great outcome and so just thank you for your work thank you it is appreciated thank you absolutely have a good rest of today and is there any public comment all right hearing none we will begin to wrap things up here have some meeting reminders the next administrative briefing and work session is scheduled for August 8th 20124 at 9:00 a. and that'll be our last meeting before the kickoff of school because the next school board meeting is scheduled for August 13th the day after school starts at 5:30 p.m. so I'm sure there'll be a lot of great stories to share and I'm know that board members will be motoring around the county visiting schools and and encouraging everybody and just generally being part of it so let's get close the following administrative briefing and work session is scheduled um for August 15th 2024 at 900 a.m. so with those reminders we'll go ahead and move on to um committee reports and concerns anything from legal attorney Powers yes the Florida Statutes have now published for 2024 uh they are online we also have copies in my office if board members would like any of them uh as it pertains to our particular statutes that are relevant to us most most statutes that are relevant to us there's so many that are uh it's time to update the agenda statute references so uh we'll be working on that so that each time we have a new agenda coming out the statutory references that are listed there will be there um is the 2024 version and my office is actively working to update all the templates on the legal department SharePoint um in addition uh policy updates will be coming soon uh we've just gotten from uh Neola some suggested uh policy updates plus there are some that staff and the board have also requested that we bring forward for further review um what we there's a period of time now that will take a couple to several weeks within which we take those policies and sort of compare against current policies to be sure that any haven't been things we've already discussed and decided to change in a different way before so some may be mandatory updates we'll address those uh in particularity then when we have those um together those will be distributed to uh the staff department so that they can weigh in on each of those updates and see what modifications they may wish to make so I'll continue to do that I'll announce ounce more um once we have additional progress but I would anticipate that uh in September to early October we can have a board discussion on um some of those topics and then set those for adoption by early next year all right thank you appreciate the the timeline you know it's an arduous process but we work so hard to get everything updated and it's very clear that it is just an ongoing rolling process and we just have to dedicate the time to to get it done stay on top of it so thank for thank you for the hard work and your department and I understand we have a little celebration for um mention that too yes for Miss Brown we did she hates to be mentioned in public but I will uh yes she's um Terry Brown my paralal has been a paralal for over 12 years uh before actually there was a Florida register paralal program um she's met all the requirements for being a Florida register paralal but it was a matter of uh the fact that uh attorneys generally would register their paral leals so that they could bill for their services um that was primarily one of the reasons it was created we don't bill for outside services so uh but uh we do part of the pro professional development program uh continuing legal education credit she takes those along with me and uh so she had acred everything that she needed to and as of yesterday actually um she got a Betty cake she she she got uh yeah she got her certificate from the Florida register bar legal program so she is that's right and a Betty cake out of the deal so uh she is our uh she is not only our paralal as she always has been but she's also uh enjoys the highest uh title that can be bestowed upon a pargal the Florida registered pargal so fantastic we're very we're very proud and very happy while you're between your work tasks Terry if you're tuned in it all congratulations all right Dr goet uh I thank you madam chair I I did the briefing at the beginning but I would just add that especially after the discussion today we warmly welcome and encourage those um staff faculty members from some surmy and from New Leaf to join our team so just want to extend that thank you dret Miss Martinez nothing Madam chair all right thank you Dr J um not much I wanted to update the board we had a fort King board meeting um maybe it was last Thursday and uh we are doing those monthly again and um I don't ever have much to offer to the meetings because there there's um the team is really taking control of that um but we are doing the field trips the field trips are available I think we have somewhere between 1,00 and 1500 third graders scheduled to go visit um this coming school year and then the eighth graders are invited for uh the I'm gon to say it wrong Miss R could probably correct me but it's the reenactment school day so the reenactment weekend they do a school day visit I think we have eighth graders um either queued up or available to go do a re field trip on that day um and so it's really wonderful the field trip is $6 and the bus is $3 so it's less than $10 per student and the team does have Title One money to cover the difference for families who that's Out Of Reach for so I'm excited for that to get kids going back to the Fort it's been since before covid other than like Ward Highlands doing walking field trips it's been since basically before covid that we have been doing districtwide field trips to the Fort so that's really exciting um and the Fort King Heritage Foundation is doing a um dinner banquet fundraiser uh in the coming months and also going to be displaying um a painting at the Appleton so if anyone is interested in learning more about that I can connect them with the right people um but it's a fundraiser for the Fort King Heritage Foundation um I think we've had great conversation today I'm really excited for Mr Jones and the team to bring all of our alternative programs under one house I do believe that we are going to do an amazing job and I have been a super big advocate of doing this so I know that I would imagine transportation is excited to come to one place and not 15 different places for this so um I know that this will make it a little bit easier than going to a couple different sites and I the goal is to get every kid on to school on time and that's a big load to lift um so anyhow it was been a productive meeting I'm excited Mr mcra was able to come I am excited to see what the sell of our property is going to look like I love a good healthy competition and I think the downtown real estate market is very hot right now so I'm excited to see how much people are willing to pay for the land we have we already had an offer well well yes I think unfortunately for him I think he's probably not going to be at the tippy top but I encourage that gentleman along with everyone else who's interested to put in their clothes bed so uh but thank you it's been a productive meeting that's all I got thank you board member James board member Campbell sure so a couple I was going to mention about Terry Browns so thank you for bringing that up chair thrower uh also as a as a reward or as a Beyond a Betty cake Terry if you are listening congratulations you get to start working on policies so as we as we also just heard because that is a huge lift in the legal department and so I know I am ready to get my tabs and highlighters out cuz you all know that that's also the work that I love to do um but Terry you and I are in it together let's just say that um so wanted to say Kudos again to Terry because that's a great achievement um for her earlier today we also received our email from Dr Danielle Thomas with fsba uh that the uh proposal submission form is now live on the website for legislative platform so I've had Mr Carlile send me the most updated uh information that we had when we had our meeting with representative Chamberlain so on of the board I'll be happy to submit at least that part of it I know our meeting with representative Chamberlain warranted him to also make a recommendation to us that this board has not had an opportunity to actually talk about publicly um so I I Look to Dr gullet and her team to potentially make a recommendation for us on something specific about mental health um that we could potentially also add to our legislative platform so Dr gullet if you guys want to work on that I'll be happy we I can wait honestly if you want to wait until maybe one of our other work sessions to just bring that up as a quick topic uh I know we have a couple coming up over the course of the next couple of weeks but this deadline for proposal submission isn't until September so I mean the first week of September so we could add something uh before I submit or I could submit now uh however pleases the board I'll be happy to to operate that way um the last thing I wanted to to mention piggybacking off of what Dr James just Dr James just said about the sell of these downtown properties um this week Miss Dobbin sent us the facilities Department projects quarterly update and there were some highlights in it and some things that caused me some pause and some concern I'm certain you uh also board have seen that and and been reviewing what that looks like there are a couple of things that caused me significant concern uh one of which being that our technology data center currently is on hold because of the funding challenges as well as the estimate versus what the actual cost is going to be so I'm not going to say I want to go ahead and pigeon hole us into saying the money that we earn from the central warehouse might go to pay for that but I'm interested in potentially having that conversation because especially if we're able to bring in2 to three million do or more that's the shortfall right now that we're looking at at least um from my conversation with Miss Dobbins about that um I know we'll have fiveyear work plan coming before us in the next couple of weeks but um that caused me a little bit of concern additionally seeing the differences in the two elementary schools currently um what those costs look like there there is about a $3 million difference between the two of them right now at least on what we see on paper I know that's a work in progress because we know that we'll have change orders coming in and we know all of that will happen but um if you haven't had an opportunity board I i' highly recommend just taking a quick look over some of those projects some of them I'm grateful are coming off that we've we've have completed them we have AC in our gymnasiums in Middle School like Howard and Belleview and and uh we saw Rashad's son last night who's going to be an incoming Belleview Middle School basketball player and said you're gonna have air conditioning in your gym like that seems illogical that we actually have that to be proud of now but prior students did not so um grateful that we have that opportunity for for so many students and then the HVAC upgrades and just there's a lot going on I mean seven pages of facil ities updates that weeded just this week so um I I'm just grateful that we have a funding source potentially coming our way with the sell of property that this board hasn't had the opportunity in in years to do in in addition to the I guess 31 days now maybe that we've had of potential impact fee collection and so that Still Remains to be seen what that will look like for us but having New Capital funding sources will only continue to help us so that concludes my comments thank you board member Campell and yes to um Circle back to the mental health um initiative that seems to really have the state's attention I just wanted to to verify what I think I know and what I think I heard is that Marian County is right up there near the top in terms of of needs and in that area and I know our Hospital District is doing a tremendous job and and others too in helping to try to meet that need but I think anyone that drives around you know Maran county has seen a great increase in the number of uh people that appear to be um just on the streets you know and and as we're driving um it also appears to me that there's folks that are truly in need of of mental health support and so it's a community need and it's also a school need and as we are moving into taking the alternative school in house which uh I I don't know how it got out in the community that you know we were just going to send these kids to jail um that wasn't even a comment I was going to respond to when I saw that on social media I just can't imagine that any school would would do that so the intention um has always been there to to serve the kids are our kids where they're served is is where they're served but they're they're still our kids no matter where they are so we're we're going to do just that um but getting back to the m Health thing I I think that the opportunity is very clear so Dr gullet um I would love to put you know it on the next work session agenda to just as a reminder to talk about it as a legislative priority and and adding that um and I think that that depending on what we say we're going to use the money that that's just is so Broad and and the need is so great so that's that's really a good opportunity I think and um see what else do we have here oh I wanted to congratulate yamina Park I've been tracking their attendance with uh close attention and I've been concerned because uh you know they were hovering around 45 unexcused absences every day well today they cracked the 90% you know attendance daily attendance so congratulations um for that and and um don't know the specifics of what the school's doing but I have heard that there's been direct Outreach to families pretty much on a daily basis and um please know you know why Amina Park and all schools that you know we have a great Department uh we have a new um and I always mess up on the title but our truancy Court liaison and attendance liaison um to assist with that and so many great and creative ideas to boost attendance right from the start of school you know um we only have 180 days and the clock's ticking already and I know some parents were probably thinking well they weren't going to do the year round thing and then they were going to put their start their kids in August you know lots of different reasons but we have to connect with these families and and if they're zon for wyomina then uh class has already started so so come on and and I think we've all visited there and and the energy and the enthusiasm is great I had a chance to to get to to become familiar with principal hunt a little bit and you know what a dynamic you know young woman and great great great background and just totally you know sees the field and and so um I'm really happy for for what's to come for that school and I'm sure there's more I could share but uh we've been up here for a while so I again thank the board for for their passion and their commitment and all the different things that you're doing individually Dr belet sorry I didn't want to interrupt you when you're finished I just wanted to add something if I could okay and um so that that's really all all I have you know the the lift continues I think that it was just such a a bummer to miss a be by one point and there's a certain school that is so close to my heart that missed to see by less than a point and when you drill that down to students it was probably maybe two students for test questions something like that um just incredibly disappointing and and to me it circles always back around to the basics in the foundation you know and and getting our transportation Contin to improve which we were doing by the end of last year uh but you know I can't help but think that when being solid in in transportation that on time pickup and delivery you know um it's going to tell a completely different story and and and some of our neighborhood kids really require neighborhood bus drivers that know the families and that can say things that maybe none of us could get away with saying to make sure that the importance of being at school and and doing what you need to do is emphasized so um yes that was a tough pill to swallow but but instead of you know defeating this I feel an even deeper resolve but you know so many people have said to me well I hope the community sees you know how hard we are working and how much it means to us to have their support because anyone that's in this chastises thems over and over and over and and and trying to figure out what other Stone to turn and how can we you know just finally bring this all together and and sore um so my thanks and gratitude continues to the community the the school supply you know that it what what a mission what a movement and and if we can just transfer that to to the other needs that we're very clear about having um then there's you know Unstoppable right isn't that a song board member Campbell yes it is well when we get there you'll be singing it I will be requesting cuz you actually did a really great job at fsba so uh with that I will hand it off to Dr goet thank you madam chair I'm sorry to to interrupt the flow but and and it's been a long day but board I just two items I did want to um confirm what you shared that the team at wyam Park is reaching out to each and every family personally they're making personal contacts so I yes thank you for sharing that but also I just wanted to uh make you all aware Bard I sent you something earlier in the community there's another tropic update um and as as it as goes with the beginning of the school year we carefully monitor um I had an opportunity to to meet with Preston ban video coming because I interviewed him and and thanked him for his partnership but we are now monitoring um a tropical wave as it is and so we just another opportunity to share with the public that we work very closely with our emergency Operation Center thank you Preston Bolan thank you Aon Miller Miller and we will continue to keep everyone appr prized um if and when it becomes necessary to do anything related to our schools but we have a great partnership and I feel very confident that that will continue but just we are monitoring public we we parents we continue to Monitor and and we'll always do that and inform the public thank you absolutely yes Vice chair com um just want to thank all of our teams um for the work that's being done we had a lot of information presented today um and a lot of them were challenging challenging that things that we're trying to overcome so just want to thank all of those who presented today and and brought forth Solutions um so just a quick shout out I I have a couple other shoutouts um the beginning of the year there's a lot of community involvement but I particularly wanted to say that I'm really excited and thankful for our faith B based Partnerships um we were recently at Meadow Brook Church um there's a phenomenal partnership with them for the safety of our students in our schools uh it it really is overwhelming and thank you Dr gullet for allowing us to be a small part uh um of that of that uh training um Church of Hope is doing uh prayer walk this coming Sunday we are going to visit 42 schools and I just want to say it is an honor to be a part of this particular board um our board me members that are here uh today are all going to uh be on a Prayer walk with me on Sunday morning we'll each be visiting different schools and so um I see Transportation I just I just want you all to know our our staff and our students that um we are praying over each area over our bus Loops over our parking lots over our cafeterias over the restrooms uh each little area uh you know where our students are interacting sometimes for the good sometimes not uh and just I'm just so thankful and and visiting schools and they'll say oh the church across the street is providing lunch you know on our first day back and so I I don't know what all of our Partnerships are our faith-based part Partnerships but um they sure are making our community a better place to be so I'm I'm grateful for that uh and the work that they are doing alongside of us um I had the privilege to go to the teacher of the the year Gala um in Orlando a couple weeks ago and I just want to congrat congratulate again Miss Brown and Mr lonza they sure do represent Marian County well and so it it just was a privilege to be a part of their celebration um and the work that they do each and every day and and they both have a personality that's just contagious you you just want to do better and be better when you're around them so I I'm thankful for that opportunity and for those two individuals that um continue to lift up Maran County and I did Dr goet mentioned it and and cheer thrower mentioned it but the community give back really was an amazing event and again I say it's a privilege to be a part of this board because this board was packing backpacks and delivering backpacks and we had District staff and staff members also and so just that um sincerely from the heart the board and our staff care about the children in Maran County and helping them um put their best foot forward and succeeding in their own way whatever path is best for that child and so just as we kick off the school year um know that this board member is thinking about you and lifting you up as you take on new challenges um on August 12th thank you thank you Vice chair and on the faith-based thread also just a reminder for the rest of the board too that next well Sunday August 11th is new St John uh Baptist Church uh back to school Sunday which they've done for multiple years now and there's so many of our um Community students um that that belong to that church and they certainly do a great job um enveloping everyone and and what great timing because then school starts the very next day but but thank you actually personally vice sh Conrad for your your efforts and and successes in beginning to to build that level of support from our B face-based community and and um having people just directly get out there and pray over our schools is super powerful it really really is and and I've heard from so many schools throughout the whole school year how much it meant to them you know for any for them to care enough to Comm out and and do that and it's usually not very cool out so and there and there and they do it anyway so and also I think gift baskets and yes so wonderful stuff great things happening all right well if there's nothing else for the good of the cause we will go ahead and adjourn at 1:25 p.m. all right thank you all e e