the Schoolboard meeting will begin in 1 minute please take your seats again the Schoolboard meeting will begin in 1 minute e [Music] good evening and welcome everyone the April 9th 2024 meeting of the Maring County School Board is called to order at 5:30 p.m. mirroring and modeling the way our students begin each day I ask that we observe a moment of silence at this time please join me thank you I'll now ask board member Cummings to read our commitment statement good evening board member Cummings thank you m CH good evening we are the Maran 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 thank you board member Cummings for the courtesy of those listening to the meeting I'm requesting everyone in the audience to please turn off your electronic device or put them on vibrate later in the meeting up to 30 minutes will be provided for individuals to address the board on matters concerning the operation of the Maring County school system or the school board only presentations to the board are limited to five minutes and are televised if you wish to address the board regarding a regular agenda item or matters on which the board customarily takes action you must first complete a peach colored form located in the lobby if you wish to address the board regarding a public hearing or a student discipline matter please complete a lime green form these forms must be fully completed and received by the board clerk no later than 5:40 p.m. the procedures applicable for each are on a separate sheet board clerk please call the rooll Dr Allison Campbell district one here Mrs Lorie Conrad District Two here Mr Eric Cummings District three here Mrs Nancy thow District Four here Dr Sarah James District 5 here student board member Victor niggard from lakeward high school here Dr Diane gullet superintendent here Mr Jeremy Power School Board attorney here thank you Miss Martinez Dr gullet good evening please introduce the member of your team who will be helping us with tonight's inspiration and pledge good evening Madam chair members of the board great to see you thank you chair and and I'm pleased to bring forward Dr Danielle living good and she is going to introduce our National Merit finalist and I just want to say a few words because I was almost late to start um I was interacting with our amazing students that receive this prestigious honor um and as a parent of a national maror finalist I can tell you they have a lot of choices so I know the the choices are great um and I know their families that are here are very proud of them as well a lot of choices and and options for their future and it's very bright so really really proud of these students so Dr living good I'll let you introduce them thank you good evening chair thrower board members and superintendent Dr gullet I have the privilege of introducing the 2024 National Merit finalist to you each year 15,000 students in the United States are named as National Merit finalists this year 10 belong to Maran County public schools during October of their junior year students sip for the PSAT and from those scores National Merit scholarhip Corporation uses its own selection index to determine which students qualify as commended students and semifinalists in September about 1ir which is about 16,000 of the 50,000 High scorers on the PSAT are notified that they qualified as semi-finalists and then in February over 15,000 semi-finalists are notified that they have advanced to the finalist standing this month approximately 7,250 finalists will be selected to receive a merit scholarship award they are chosen from the finalist group based on their abilities skills and accomplishments Florida students who are awarded the National Merit Scholarship also qualify for the bisto scholarship program which is equal to the institutional cost of attendance for an instate student minus the sum of bright features and the National Merit award now I'd like to introduce our finalists as they await their final award after this introduction Blake Barnes will lead us in the Pledge of Allegiance at when I call your name please come up and then stand in the front and face the board members please we'll be clapping yeah so Blake Barnes from Forest High [Applause] School Camille Duma from Vanguard High [Applause] School Gianna Micha from Vanguard High School [Applause] DEA nander from Vanguard High School iffy ol run log bun from Vanguard High School Gabrielle rebe from Vanguard High School Rashid shaquib from Vanguard High School [Applause] aan cesan from Vanguard High School and lamia Zaman from vangard high school and Eric spiegelman from Westport HIgh School was not able to join us this evening but I want to at least make sure you knew his name as well [Music] [Applause] thank you and and after the The Pledge we'll come down and I'd love to take a picture with all of you and on behalf of the board just congratulations for making it this far and for having it so together to be able to do this for yourselves it's just incredible and and I know you're thankful to your families and and your teachers and and each other um for I'm sure just supporting each other through all of this I know it hasn't been easy and at times it's probably been a grind but but you continue to make it happen so that's very commendable we're so proud of you thank you for representing Maran County Public Schools and your high schools so well so Blake good to see you Blake joined us on the school board as a student representative recently as did Miss Divia so it's good to see them both again cool to see it on the other side that's right please stand for the Pledge of Allegiance I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all all right let's go take a picture yes ma'am wa you get to be in pictures yeah oh go ahead go ahead let me get out of your board members would you mind standing behind make sure I can see your faces that's perfect right there absolutely that's great there you go Dr gallet we go just look in the middle and smile one more thank [Applause] [Music] you I go down that Clos all right I'll go do it now would be more appropr all right well Dr G I understand we're recognizing additional students this evening we do we have additional talented students to recognize tonight so Dr liven good is going to present our questbridge questbridge scholarship students thank you yes thank you questbridge aims to increase the percentage of talented lowincome students attending the nation's best universities annually approximately 30,000 talented lowincome students are academically qualified to attend the nation's best colleges but the majority of them don't even apply to one selective College well the National College match is a College admission and scholarship process through which high achieving lowincome students can be admitted early with four with full four-year scholarships to some of the nation's top colleges and universities through the National College match application students who have excelled academically despite financial hardship can highlight their unique story and stand out in the College admission process in the fall questbridge selects top applicants as finalists and students are able to rank up to 15 colleges to be matched admitted early with a matched scholarship to the college that appears highest on their list that also wants to match with them there are other students who are questbridge Scholars but did not match with an institution so after the recognition this evening esperence from North Maran High School will provide the inspiration for tonight's Schoolboard meeting so I'd like to begin the recognition Julian Hollis from bellw high school please stand he matched he matched at Rice University Braden Davis from forest higho School matched but has opted out of the program but we wanted to recognize bradden Tariq Williams from Forest High School matched at University of California esperence Han North Marian high school graduate soon and she met matched at Yale [Music] [Applause] University Bren Hawk North Maran high school soon to be graduate matched at Davidson [Applause] university and Veronica foso from Vanguard High School matched at Duke [Applause] University well how amazing is that all of this my goodness and on on behalf of the school board you know to get a full ride anywhere uh is an accomplishment let alone a a top tier University so it's certainly something to be incredibly proud of and grateful for and what an opportunity and and I know your families are very proud of you and you've kind of joined an elite little cohort up here uh it's it's just really amazing and many thanks to the schools through the years that have supported you and and the teachers and principals and staff and everybody that has uh worked with you to help make your dreams come true so it's very very special thank you for taking the time you know to come out here tonight I know you have a lot going on and even on crutches you were just going to make it happen so there's a testament to dedication right there thank you again for coming we'll come down and take a picture after the inspiration thank you so much yes you come here do you have your phone yeah okay what do you want me to do I'm good I'm good I'm good okay there there it okay when I reflect back on my high school experience there's been many times that I thought my world was crashing and burning and these last four years have been the most stressful devastating heartwarming and exciting life-changing moments of my life but what I would want but I've never I would never want it any other way I was like any other teenage student struggling with self-worth confidence and doubting myself every step of the way and what made my journey beautiful were my Educators my counselors and my best friends my best friend families and my single dad who stepped in and did everything they could for me growing up low income with a single father I didn't think I could have the transportation the money or the support to even go and afford a state college my North Marian High School Community are the ones who helped me make all of it happen assuring me that my dreams were possible despite my circumstance so cheers to my beautiful Educators counselors and decision makers that are sitting here today that support and motivate these students without you all I can confidently say that I don't think I could have made it to Yale with a full scholarship and to the students cheers to the days I cried in Miss Spencer's office because I thought I could never make it to college to the day I received a c on my biology midterm into the day I broke down in the bathroom from just feeling overwhelmed I want to share my vulnerable story so that students listening could see that you could do it too we're all human and what makes the difference is that you hold on to your dreams and students of Maran County you're unstoppable so don't let any obstacle get in your way and thank you thank you for that wonderful inspiration and we would be remiss to not say that's some real North Side Pride go Colts let's take a picture of all of you just behind is just make sure I can see you here we go and one two three couple more there's lots of people behind me taking pictures too everybody good [Applause] congratulations conations and now Elena but there's one thing we don't have to be sad about tonight that's it all gone now yeah that amazing wow Dr is that it that's that's it probably a good thing and on that note yes it's always so sad when the recognitions are over it's such a fun time of year it's just the culmination of all the hard work leading up to graduation it it's just so special and confirmation of of all of the I don't know confidence expectations and and rewards that you that you reap you know from from doing your best so pretty cool all right well we can talk about some donations we have $11,000 to North Maran High School from the Okala preserve veterans Corporation to be used for the jrc program we also have $ 3,843 71 to Forest High School from Chuck Collins to be divided among select teachers and administration to use at their discretion we're always so grateful for the donations that we receive some of them are cash some of them are in kind and they're all uh given with happy hearts and grateful acceptance all right we will move on to uh tonight's board agenda uh Dr G it's time to make a recommendation on tonight's Schoolboard meeting agenda good evening again Madam chair I recommend approval of the agenda for the April 9th 2024 Schoolboard meeting with the materials in the board packet those materials distributed to board members at the meeting and the audio recording included as part of the official record of the meeting with the exception of the following items d 21.1 d2.2 d2.3 d 21.4 d 21.5 d 21.6 d 21.7 and d 21.8 they have all been placed under discussion thank you thank you Dr gullet may I have a motion on the superintendent's recommendation motion motion uh motion by board member Conrad second by board member James all those in favor say I I I motion passes unanimously 5-0 may I have a motion to approve the minutes for the February 22nd 2024 administrated briefing and work session motion to approve motion by board member Campbell second second by Vice Sher Conrad are there any additions or corrections to the minutes hearing none all those in favor say I I I motion passes unanimously 5 may I have a motion to approve the minutes for the February 27th 2024 school board meeting so Move Motion by board member Cummings second second by board member James are there any additions or corrections to the minutes hearing none all those in favor say I I I motion passes unanimously 5-0 may I have a motion to approve the minutes for the February 27th 2024 special school board meeting motion to approve motion by board member Campbell second by board member Cummings are there any additions or corrections to the minutes hearing none all those in favor say I I I motion passes unanimously 5 z may I have a motion to approve the minutes for the February 27th 2024 board of directors lease incorporation meeting motion to approve motion by Vice chair Conrad second ooh second by board board member Cummings are there any additions or corrections to the meeting to the minutes hearing none all those in favor say I I I motion passes unanimously 5 Z Miss Martinez would you please provide the proof of publication for tonight's Schoolboard meeting the notice for the April 9th 2024 Schoolboard meeting ran in the Okala Gazette on March 29th 2024 the proof of publication has been attached in board docks under proof of publication thank you Miss Martinez I'll now move on to persons requesting to address the board and I'll now ask the school board's attorney to explain the rules governing persons who wish to address the school board this evening good evening attorney Powers good evening Madam chair thank you in compliance with Section 2860 one14 of Florida Statutes the school board has adopted uniform procedures for speakers who wish to speak at this evening'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 and on school board and School District matters a written summary of these procedures are available on 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 no later than 5:40 p.m. this evening speakers will be called prior to the business portion of school board's meeting in the order of receipt by the school board clerk before you begin speaking please State your full name for the record and spell your last name name each speaker will have 5 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 three minutes when speaker has one minute remaining speaker will receive a visual notice to complete the 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 and pursuant to the procedures for public comments item six speakers are not to identify specific individuals other than themselves or their own 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 additional assistance to address your concerns if there are matters dealing with student discipline including expulsions those will be scheduled at the conclusion of the televised portion of this meeting parents may be May address this board the board regarding a discipline matter at that time to ensure student privacy only a parent or Guardian may use a student's first or last name identifying references to or identification of other students or their families are also prohibited a speaker's speech does not reflect the endorsement sponsorship position or expression of the school district thank you for your attention to this board's rules and requirements and Madam chair that concludes my explanatory remarks thank you attorney Powers m Miss Martinez do we have any speakers this evening yes Madam chair we have two speakers first is Cynthia Moon thank you good evening Miss Moon good evening how are you great how are you I'm good C I'm cythia Moon m o o n I'm Troy Pratt p at can we proceed yes please proceed um good evening I am Cindy and this is Troy a granddaughter relocated from New York to Florida on March 16th on March 20th our granddaughter was registered as a homeless student at the high school we were told by Administration that would be the quickest way to get her registered and for her to start school on March 25th we sent emails to each of her teachers on the 28th of March introducing ourselves leaving our contact information so if at any time they need to reach out for any reason concerning our granddaughter's education as of today we still have not heard back from any of them within the first week of school she was marked as having several missed assignments and marked absent from class I reached out to the school questioning the Mis M assignments they were marked in error Troy went to the school the day that she was marked absent from the one class to where she oh I'm sorry an error he went to the he went to the school she was in class the teacher just checked the boxes absent is this a reoccurring habit from the academic staff our granddaughter was given a Chromebook for home use she was not given any instruction how to use a Chromebook nor to make her way around the canvas after expressing my concerns to the assistant principal on April 1st about her not having any instruction she was called down to the media room on April 2nd for instruction on how to navigate within the Chrome book why such the delay for instruction on April 2nd Troy sent an email to the math teacher expressing his concerns about math skills and asked for the teacher to reach out to him so he could further discuss the issue as of today we still have not heard any response from the teacher from March 18th to April 1st we had as access to the sky portal we would check that portal frequently so we would know what was going on with assignments and Etc now we have no access and no way to check no way to check it was taken away on April 1st I went to the school and asked to speak with the he head of academics the school counsel and the principal I met only with the assistant school principal I talked about the concerns of lack of communication from teachers the mistakes that were made within the first four days of school and our concerns for her education I spoke with the assistant principal about the reason for her relocation and asked him if he been met been made aware of the reason or read the reports from Child Protective Services that were provided to the school his response was not personally himself the principal had told her that she can go to him and the school counselor at any time with any matter if the school principal the school counselor and the teaching team had read even the reports that were provided they would know what type of environment she was coming from she is not going to reach out to her peers as she trusts no one we are concerned about the lack of communication support from the school and teaching staff when it comes to her education at the school at the end of the meeting with the school PR the assistant school principal he told me at that time by law he cannot discuss anything educational with us due to the fact she was registered homeless our granddaughter was present for this meeting we were never told about the consequences of registering our granddaughter as homeless he did not he did tell me that we had the right to drop off pick up and be contacted in case of an emergency the documents that were provided to register as a regular student was the original birth certificate original social security card proof of res residency the legal document from the state of Florida department immunization record and the notorized document from the biological mother granting Troy temporary guardianship the state department of Florida health accepted all those documents for proof of the immunization record why is it that the high school won't we as her grandparents provide a loving home stable and safe environment for her and are her best advocate for Education we are asking for her to be registered as a regular student so we have access to communication teacher meetings and able to make our own academical decisions in the best interest of our granddaughter thank you thank you thank you ma'am and and thank you for coming before us um Dr gullet yes thank you madam chair Dr living good is right behind you miss Moon and she will assist you and I'm I am very sorry for any miscommunication on behalf of my team thank you thank you we're glad to have your the board the same thank you Miss Moon thank you sir you Grace Daly right my name is Grace Daly and it's d a l y good evening ma'am I can go ahead yes please yes okay thank you Dr goet and Mary County school board for the opportunity to be here I am a proud product of mcps K through 12 how she taught in the school system for seven years was honored to be a golden app Apple recipient um went on from here to two lane University was ended up drafted in the WNBA played on four different teams in the WNBA and played for seven years in Europe in five different countries so scoreboards and numbers meet a lot to me so I know I have four minutes and 33 seconds to lay a very important problem at your feet so numbers um the last few years God placed on my heart is uh I volunteered at different places um drug and alcohol rehab centers and Foster Care group homes and when I learned about the plight of some of our students being in a Maran County Public School class and one of my students had their head down on the desk before lunch and I said what's happening he said I don't know if I'm going to be here tomorrow and I said well why not he was in the Foster system and he was getting moved to a new home out of County okay and he was maybe get separated from his sister so everything that he knew was being taken away and that could happen the next day and in Marian County I'm not sure if you're aware of these numbers but we have 741 children in out of home care about half of those are with a M with a grandma or a grandpa or an aunt and uncle but they didn't expect that and they need our support um the statistics as far as the school system is concerned 45% of students or children who are in foster care do not complete High School and as excited as I was to see all of the Merit Scholars my heart is broken that there are some of our students that may never have that opportunity 20,000 over 20,000 youth age out of foster care they turn 18 every year and of those 20,000 20% become instantly homeless 80% of the males will be incarcerated and about 60% of the females will be victims of sex trafficking overall for our community what this looks like is 50% of the homeless that we have are they were in Foster they spent time in foster care 60% of girls and women rescued from sex trafficking raids spent time in foster care and 75% of the incarcerated spent time in foster care so this is just like education being in the classroom it's a Do or Die situation um I would you know those statistics they do seem dismal but in the right hands those children could have different outcomes if you look at your Bible the Book of Esther Esther was in foster care raised by her cousin Mori and raised royalty Moses was in foster care and Moses ended up changing the course of history and the greatest figure that ever lived Jesus Christ in foster care Joseph wasn't his daddy right so in the right hands these children can have amazing outcomes so what I want to present to you Maran County Schoolboard is an opportunity an opportunity to do something Angel studios are you all familiar with Angel Studios who came out with the chosen last Fourth of July they came out with the sound of Freedom right and that movie shed light on what was happening in sex trafficking this 4th of July there's a movie called posum Trot p s m pum Trot about a small community a small town in East Texas that really ended the foster care crisis in their town so Angel Studios my nonprofits called everyday Jesus Angel Studios has granted my nonprofit an exclusive private screening of this film on May 9th at the Maran theater um Maran theater shout out to Mr G's Grace Christian School he's here to support today he made one phone call and Adam vpy from Maran theater said they would donate the space so we have two screenings that are planned the first screening I'm inviting all heads of agencies in the counties um heads of nonprofits business owners I would love to see guidance counselor school psychologist um at this meeting also I would love more than anything else to see the school board represented to show solidarity and support for our children um the mayor and his wife Ben Marciano already on board and yesterday I was able to by God's grace convince them to do a second screening the second screening will happen two weeks later May 23rd at the Maran theater and this will be for church leadership I had a mission trip in the British Islands the British Virgin Islands about over spring break and I asked them how many kids they had in Foster gear they said they have one and I said how is this possible they said it's possible because there was this pastor beside me and he said we have so many churches on This Island right Maran county has over 400 churches and I can tell you what if we can just cross the lines of race class and culture and get together for these children we can we can rewrite right we can rewrite history and we can do something that will give these kids the bright future and the bright hope that I know each and every one of you all have in your hearts so um my my my fantastic 5 you have an invitation in your inbox already I'll get the other emails and send them to you thank you very much hope to see you there what time on May 9th what time May 9th what time May 9th at 5:00 so from 5: to 6:00 that's going to be the social hour and then from 6:00 to 6:15 I'll do opening remarks from 6:20 to 8:30 is the actual showing of the film and then from 8:30 to 8:45 closing remarks thank you thank you sounds very organized just like your presentation was Praise Jesus thank you I continue to be a fan of yours Miss Dy thank you for what you've done the years for our students and what you continue to do for our kids in our community and thank you for what you do and for the opportunity you allowed me so I appreciate that M daily thank you because you are a product of Marian County Public Schools and you did go on and do things but I want to congratulate you and applaud you for not staying away you came back home to make a difference so thank you for that yep we appreciate it I appreciate you all and thank you for your kind words thank you have a great evening you too thank you very much does that conclude our speakers Miss Martinez Madam chair all right thank you ending on an inspiration I like it all right uh we will move on to uh board item 9.1 which is information only per board policy 6320 staff is notifying the board of an accepted substituted item contained on bid 3987 ah for classroom supplies for the central warehouse the original awarded item contained on bid 3987 ah was discontinued by the manufacturer and the awarded vendor of said item proposed an alternate product the alternate product was reviewed by staff and determined the item was necessary acceptable and lower in price than the secondary awarde bid price and therefore the substituted item was accepted all right moving on May I have a mo to approve consent agenda items C 11.1 through C 20.2 with the exception of items D 21.1 D 21.2 d2.3 D 21.4 D 21.5 d 21.6 d 21.7 and d 21.8 that have been placed under discussion may I have a motion please motion to approve consent items motion by board member Cummings second second by Vice chair Conrad all those in favor say I I I motion passes unanimously 5 Z all right moving on to discussion items we'll start with D 21.1 may I have a motion to approve bid 4057 GM tree trimming services motion to approve motion by board member James second by board member Cummings Dr gullet do you have information you would like to share regarding this item uh thank you madam chair members of the board I don't have any additional items I think a board member wants to speak to this item okay board members I need to recuse from this vote thank you okay uh let the record show that Vice chair Conrad will be recusing um from this vote any further discussion call to vote hearing none all those in favor say I I I motion passes unanimously four votes to zero with Vice chair Conrad abstaining all right moving on to D 21.2 may I have a motion to approve replacement of chilled water system at building 8 at Spar elementary school project 24-26 so move move by board member Cummings second second by board member Campbell Dr gullet do you have information you would like to share regarding this item thank you um members of the board Madam chair so you'll see again the pattern from previous meetings 21.2 through 21.5 are all grouped together and they all pertain to the maintenance of our aging buildings uh which includes of course this first one so uh we just group them together for ease of of understanding um what we're needing to do for our buildings I can go ahead Madam chair if you'd like I could go ahead and give you the cost of each or we could do it individually however you prefer I know you have to just take them one at a time um let's do it individually as as we vote would be my preference so the cost of this one is this one is $791,000 76 for um the system okay first barar okay thank you very much is there any anything further Dr gallet nothing further thank you okay is there any uh discussion um from the board on this 791 plus item thousand all right hearing none all those in favor say I I I motion passes unanimously 5 to Zer moving on to item D 21.3 may I have a motion to approve the replacement of roofs at buildings 18 and 24 at North Maran high school project 124 motion to approve motion by Vice chair Conrad second second by board member Campbell Dr gullet do you have information you would like to share regarding this item certainly again the cost um if you approve is 68942 to replace those those roofs for those two buildings thank you Dr gullet is there any discussion from the board yes Dr James just an observation it's project number 24-25 I think you said d124 oh I'm sorry but the recer show 24125 thank you yes and the roofs do leak so these the roofs do leak so uh no one no one who lives in those spaces on a regular basis will be upset with a new roof um there's constant water dripping as soon as uh the rain comes so sounds like $689,000 well spent all right any further discussion hearing none all those in favor say I I I motion passes unanimously 5 Z all right may I have a motion to approve replacement of roof at building 8 at North Marian high school project 23- 130 motion to approve motion by board member James second second by board member Campbell Dr gullet do you have information you would like to share regarding this item certainly again the cost to replace the roof on building 8 of North mean high school $1,959 thank you any discussion from the board hearing none all those in favor say I I I motion passes unanimously 5 z m I have a motion to approve replacement of roofs in buildings one and two at North Marian middle school project 23-14 motion to approve motion by Vice chair Conrad second second by board member James Dr gullet do you have information that you'd like to share regarding this item certainly again on the North side North Mar and middle uh the roofs um need to be replaced in buildings 1 and two the cost is 1 million $839,900 on this one okay thank you very much is there any discussion from the board I just have one comment yes my only request as a board member who has looked at the whole picture kind of from a step back would be that as we continue to plan projects in the future that we work from the top down and not the bottom up because we replace the lights and all the ceiling tiles at North Maran with the hope and I think the AC with the hope that the roof could hold out but the roof Can't hold out and the people who live there kind of could tell you that the I mean they're not roofers but they could tell you that the roof wasn't going to be able to hold out and so we've wound up having to approve money to go towards replacing ceiling tiles to go towards replacing lights brand new LED lights because the roof didn't have as much time left in it as was previously thought of and we didn't have the money budgeted to pay for the roof in the fiscal year that we had to pay for the other things and so it's all I I completely acknowledge it's all very complex because there's just not enough money to address all of the needs at one time um but if there's an opportunity as we continue to go forward where we could do a roof before we do an interior renovation I would just at least like that for that to be reviewed um when I when we were elected to the board um this project was already kind of in the works uh for the interior work the lights and all of that CU that all happened last summer and the AC happened last summer so um I totally understand that there's not really enough money to make it all happen at the same time but if we could work from the outside in in the future that would be my request as a board member thank you board member James is there any further discussion from the board Dr G certainly thank you madam chair I believe that that was part of the plan and there was some um unexpected issues that came up I think it was hfac was one of them so they had we had to address that yeah the HVAC W up taking president and so because it it also failed and its failing is more significant than the roof failing it's just it's a delicate thing and then we wind up spending more money and sometimes that's just what happens sometimes that's just the way the cookie crumbles but if there's a way for us to finagle it differently I would just want to try and do that cuz ultimately it all is going to have to be done and so just wanted to make that point and I would agree I just that is also part of why we have this perfect storm of our aging facilities all things happening at one time and we would I I do agree Dr James would like to do it in that way and we're just hoping in some of our schools that things don't fail so that we can do them in a logic order but as you all know we're we're close in some places in making sure that we can maintain them and have the money to maintain them so yes I appreciate the comment thank you thank you all for the for the points and and the discussion it really does um bring bring to to light uh that when there's not enough money to go you know you you become forced to make decisions to keep things going and in an order that really if the funding were better we wouldn't be forced to make these decisions to just keep cobbling things together on a wing and a prayer and hoping that they'll hold till we have money for the big stuff so um I would definitely say that I'm looking forward to a time as as a board member when we're able to better cover um the expenses that we've known that we've had the needs that we've had and have at least uh less limited funding um to be able to do that because those are terrible decisions to have to make do we do we turn on the lights or do we have air conditioning or do we put a patch on the roof and hope it holds so looking forward to moving away from that uh reactive planning all right uh if there's no further discussion all those in favor say I I I motion passes unanimously 5 Z all right moving on to item D 21.6 may I have a motion to approve State of Florida contract 432 1 0-23 Omnia DS technology products Solutions and related services motion to approve motion by board member Campbell second by Vice chair Conrad Dr gullet do you have ination you'd like to share regarding this item certainly again a couple of items here this the cost for this item is $410,000 and this is to replace aging um access points for our wireless connectivity so again aging but in a different um in a different area in technology so this is to replace those um with Cur current wireless access point so that we can continue to try to improve the accessibility for our students and staff thank you thank you Dr goet is there any further discussion from board members hearing none all those in favor say I I I motion passes unanimously 0 moving on to D 21.7 may I have a motion to approve the memorandum of understanding with the Maran education support professionals motion to approve motion by Vice chair Conrad second second by board member James Dr goet do you have additional information you would like to share regarding this item certainly thank you um board with your approval tonight this will allow us to hire our own interns and our um graduates of a Vanguard high schools U Future educator Academy for summer school if we have those vacancies available so be able to hire our own into those positions with this agreement thank you thank you any discussion or comments from the board I see smiles I just I was just super excited to to read through this um and I hope they'll invite us to come come by I'd love to see if that that happens if there's availability and we have students um that are participating in that I just think it's really exciting so thank you for sharing and we'll be sure to let you know let the team is is listening intently thank you thank you uh Vice shair Bo member James uh I personally employ one of the students who's a Vanguard um senior and is in the future educator program so at my preschool and I'm not going to um be lending her out this summer but she's amazing and I can see it's really very cool for me to see in live action the fruits of what uh Mary County Public Schools is delivering to her as a student and then she is producing within my school private school setting and so um it's really it's so awesome to see kind of the full circle of it and I think this is amazing because if the vacancies are there and we don't have we don't have the bodies to fill them why you know what better way than to reach into our own pool of candidates because there's some really awesome we call them kids but they're really young adults and they're doing really great stuff so I just wanted to share that little note thank you board member James and gosh I certainly concur it's it's just such an amazing opportunity and and these young adults have had a chance to really see and and work with our kids and so they're prepared and and I know they'll be very well supported chair yes I too want to um comment on this one this is this um Future Leaders Educators Academy is truly um an awesome thing for our district and I I want to commend um principal Carlile and the Vanguard staff and Miss Piner a Piner because they work very very hard with these kids um these young adults and they're we're growing our own teachers we're growing our own Educators and I I I'm hoping that this is something that's going to go beyond just Vanguard High School because it's very very much needed we know there's teacher shortages educator shortages and this is this is opportunity for these kids to get into the field of education so I I I applaud them for what they're doing over there at bang Garden you bet you bet we member Campbell we all have something to say about this thank you so why not chime in here so I'm going to take it from a little different vein because I think that the other board members have definitely talked about how amazing our program is to grow our own with Future Leaders and future Educators I'm going to say thank you to the veterans that are a part of Mees and the other folks that actually have to help us ensure that we can do this Innovative U partnership and so the purpose of this agenda item is anou with our Mees Union Marin education support professionals with the understanding they understand that we are going to be growing our own and it only helps us all and so um I'm just grateful for the opportunity that we're going to have to vote on this item absolutely thank you board member Campbell and and I think we have some input from our student board member too Mr n yes um yeah I think it's um I know some of my peers that are at Vanguard they're in that program and I think it would be a very good opportunity for many of the students to be able to fill those vacancies that I know you guys have here and I also think that it could be a very well useful Pro program for many of the high schools in Maran County good job V thank you for thank you for the P yes yes you and you and Mr uh board member Cummings are in agreement on that one and they say these kids don't pay attention pay excellent attention they sure do all right well this has been awesome I think we're ready to go and vote all those in favor say I I I motion passes unanimously 5 Z and we're already wishing the best of luck to the candidates um that they'll get the opportunity um to do this this summer and and we'll be really happy to see that happen all right moving on to item D 21.8 we have the a motion to approve the proposed central office staffing plan for 20124 2025 fiscal year motion to approve motion by Vice chair Conrad second second by board member James um Dr gullet any information in addition you'd like to share on this item thank you madam chair just briefly U members of the board as you know we had a a recent discussion uh at a work session about the central office staffing PL because we are all the district um and this central office staffing plan uh showed a decrease of 28 positions from central office again reminding everyone that the Esser dollars um are concluding this year and so our our Prime primary um plan was to make sure that we protect the schools with those positions and so that's why you see a net uh reduction of 28 from the central office thank you thank you Dr goet um any discussion commentary from the board board member Campbell thank you I was going to save this for my board comments but because the whole um impetus for my original conversation was actually this District Staffing plan I just want to say thank you to the team and all the many people that I've spoken with over the last week since we had this conversation now that we have the Staffing plan in front of us and the former program specialist es position has been changed and it is now going or there is going to now be a different position that will be a gifted resource teacher I see that clearly here um just grateful for the team and the folks who heard my concerns and have addressed them and I understand that there was a wonderful focus group that happened yesterday of some of our cons existing gifted uh educators and their voices and concerns were heard as well and I know that that will just be continuing um understanding that U we have several thousand students that this impacts and several thousand a couple families couple thousand families that this impacts as well um just grateful that the vision is out there and so uh hopefully the legs will be put to it once we make this approval tonight so thank you thank you board member Campbell any other comments or discussion from the board Vice chair Conrad um I just have a question uh really for for Dr gullet um and this doesn't fit exactly into this conversation but it is related so it's the best place I think to ask um in recent school visits there's there's been um some difficulty with the new threat assessment um paperwork that comes through Administration and I just wondered as we looked at the Staffing plan in the future I would personally like more information about how our staff um um are provided assistance in getting those accomplished so one that I recently um was able to look at was literally a three- ring binder for one incident um one threat that was made at a school and so looking in at what our administrators are asked to do already and the time restraints on the 48 hours they have to complete complete that um you know the first section is 19 questions and interviews and then 14 questions and it's it's very uh in um detailed and so we look at schools that may have two or three incidents a week um how are we how are our staff managing that and how are we supporting them in managing that and so although it doesn't fit directly into this conversation I would just like to know more um on the school level how our administrators um get support and getting those done in a timely manner thank you Vice chair Conrad thank you um Vice chair Conrad thank you for that so that so that I'm clear a threat assessment so any type of threat by a student inside School outside of school any type of threat the threat ass assessment process correct and so I know that's a state requirement I know that's something that we have to do but we all know the state mandates things and there's no funding or you know anything attached to it and so it is a it's a big job and it's very important and so I just wanted to have a better understanding of how um our district is moving through um filling out and completing all of that paperwork how you know how it has to be submitted and turned in um so I have a better understanding of how that's processed I appreciate that and and we will also we'll G we'll gather that data but we'll also include that because we will be having a work session on some of the new requirements from safe schools from the state level and um so I Mr mcfaden out here as well we include that in there because there are a lot of new requirements as you all know and many are not yet funded some are we're expecting to have some funding but we need to have some conversation publicly with the board and with the public about what that looks like to make sure that we're and as you know we're committed to safety is our priority right right up there with student outcomes can't have student outcomes improve unless we have safe um classrooms and buildings but um we will be doing a a a a work session on that and that we include this as well because there's a lot a lot of things happening right now with that thank you very much thank you very much thank you is there any further discussion okay hearing none all those in favor say a i i motion passes unanimously 5 Z all right we will move on now to board committee uh reports a special board meeting has been scheduled for April 11th 20124 at 7: a.m. the next administrative briefing and work session has been scheduled for April 11th 2024 at 9:00 a.m. the following administrative briefing and work session has been scheduled for May 2nd at 9:00 a.m. all right and moving on uh Miss Martinez anything from your seat tonight no Madam chair thank you thank you and thank you for all you do attorney Powers nothing from legal thank you thank you appreciate it Dr gullet just briefly Bor um we've we've had a great celebration tonight our students and our staff um thanks to our our community and families I also want to thank our volunteers and April is Florida school volunteer appreciation month so um regularly see our volunteers out in our schools and really appreciate all they're doing to support our students and I want to do a shout out to someone we don't get get a lot of attention sometimes um out in the field I was I joined in on the horiculture tour today at one of our schools and um led by Chris Roy so thank you to the work that they're doing in our partnership with Maring County Hospital District to have our students creating um growing not creating growing in our schools and they turn around and they're they're getting to eat in our cafeteria what they're growing and in seeing our we had our um ESC students hard at work um and they were building and CTE is part of that partnership and growing and students get to learn great life skills and business skills and and producing and so what a great partnership all the way around across our departments but also with our community so just wanted to do a special recognition of that thank you thank you Dr gullet Mr niggard anything from your seat sir um just briefly I'd like to thank the board for the um especially um District uh board member James for her comments on restoring the older parts of the schools because I at Lake wear this year we had a little incident where a whole building the entire air conditioning went out and we had to move over to the gym for a whole day I mean that that definitely messed up my learning that day and I had to I mean I didn't have to do my presentation that day which was good but definitely definitely I wish I wish it was air conditioning but I I thank the board for the restoration of most of the schools especially north Marin because I visited north Marin and the the roofs definitely need a little bit of Maintenance awesome thank you very much coming straight from the trenches we apprciate that all right uh board member Campbell sure and I'll just piggy back on that so we did approve a lot of repairs on our aging buildings this evening I tonight's Focus was on the North side but it doesn't mean that we won't have others on on the south side or or elsewhere that we are in need of significant repairs I um similar to Dr James recommendation that we look on from the outside in I also from this board seat am looking for strategies on potentially um combinations of of schools in the future and hopefully we will have additional funding sources coming to us in the next several months and if that happens then I know that our five-year work plan will be impacted even more significantly as we strategize towards the future and what we possibly can do to um lessen the load on some of those older buildings and create new spaces and and newer spaces for folks to be able to uh work and uh Ed be educated so that's that first comment um I also had the privilege recently to travel with the hippie program I think some of us have already done that but uh being able to go out and see a young parent uh and her young children and our team members at work helping that parent know how to educate her young children it was it was a unique experience honestly I I guess I thought that our team member was going to be going out and actually teaching the children the curriculum and that is not at all what occurs it's coaching parent in how to educate and so I can only imagine that that program is significant in how we are able to move up the ladder on kindergarten Readiness for Maran County and I've learned recently that there used to be even more of these um folks in the hippie program and as One retires or whatever we haven't replaced that position and so we don't have as many as we once did and I personally believe that it would be important for us to look at potentially using additional funding sources maybe title one from multiple schools I think we could use even more of those individuals to help continue the kindergarten Readiness that we're having in Maran County we made a significant step we were 66 out of 67 counties and so the more we're able to go in the highways and byways of Maran County educating young parents on how they can be their child's first educator I can only see that as a benefit to us moving moving forward additionally wow that 1991 Ford station wagon let me just tell you so people may be uh critical of the White Fleet that Maran County public schools has and so perhaps we do purchase new vehicles from time to time but I had the privilege of riding in a 1991 Ford station wagon with only am of radio in it with the roll down windows with uh the gear shift on the column the whole shebang and I'm like walk down memory lane so while we have the need for lots of different types of vehicles certainly if they're still running we're using them so that was a lot of fun uh but also a kind of a an eyeopener to say that we do have new vehicles in our White Fleet but we also are getting all the all the use out of the ones that we have um that are still running and ticken so I had the opportunity after that hippie visit to to um talk with Miss Beck at forom and that is certainly a hidden gym if there are any young parents that are looking for a magnet program for their early learner and I'm going to call it a magnet program I don't know that they've actually been coined that term yet but I'm calling at that uh they are a Hidden Gem and uh certainly an opportunity as they continue to grow the classroom space there for our early Learners just really grateful for the team at forom and all the things they're doing uh in a recent meeting I mentioned the srf uh opportunities and as we're building a new high school and looking ahead to what the um requirements are from education uh doe I I've learned that srf is a challenge to change but I'm never um going to cower from a challenge if it still is the right thing to do so continued conversation will be coming forward board as we do even more research as to when some of those standards were put into place in conjunction with when FHSAA Advanced indoor Athletics because I I believe the two haven't necessarily gone hand inand uh there are some other districts um simol in particular that has some gymnasiums on a couple of high school campuses and a middle school campus that they share with their County and so they use them as almost multi-purpose facilities that county has with um Parks and Recreation so I've sent those agreements and how those uh letters of understanding are between the semal school district and the county and what that looks like um so I think that there might be opportunity for continued discussion and as specifically on the one high school they do use a Fieldhouse as this kind of multi-purpose also Community Center of sorts um and it's on a high school campus but they're they're partnering with the county on that so continued discussion uh as we move forward speaking of the county I I recently had the opportunity to visit the County Commission Auditorium as well as the city council chambers and just as a point of note they both have been completely remodeled with new seating new technology new audio at our city and our County just going to leave that there I am looking forward to the finance Forum that several of us board members will be attending next week Florida school Board Association Finance Forum on Thursday and Friday of next week and I also wanted to to mention as the my final um statement the central Florida school boards Coalition meeting was yesterday serving as Vice chair uh has been a wonderful opportunity and looking forward to serving as chair next year in the vice chair role we have opened up the opportunity to have Roundtable discussions now and so I just wanted to give you all a preview our speaker coming up in May will be the CFO from Lake County that hopefully will be able to piggyback on some of the things that we talk about at fsba Finance Forum uh next week from the ffp but we're also going to have a round table specifically on board member and superintendent relationships and then in June we have already set a round table when we're all at the breakfast that happens at conference uh we had a specific request from a board member um from Valia County asking for board members and and superintendents to come with effective strategies to positively impact the student vaping epidemic and crisis that is hitting us all so be on the lookout for that just our June our breakfast meetings are usually kind of pump in circumstance in a way but we're going to come this time with actually a round table where we can have a a hard heavy discussion on strategies that are working elsewhere and so looking forward to just continued collaboration with other districts around the state so that's all I have thank you all right thank you uh board member campel and and definitely Great And Timely action items you brought up and thank you for your continued um good work as our advocacy person for fsba all right board member James thank you um really Dr Campbell hit on a lot of the the stuff that we have done in the last couple of weeks the hippie visit was great um it was awesome to go into a home you never know what you're going to experience and it was a wonderful visit so that was wonderful and actually I do think God put you in the right place at the right time um I was able to share with the parent about um they had gone to Fiddlers but they're they were they were really hesitant about putting their child in public school because they are concerned about lots of things that young parents are concerned about anyhow I connected um the mom with the principal at Greenway and she was going to get a tour so that she could get her child enrolled in some prekese programs that we have which is going to help prepare their student for kindergarten and so it was just kind of a great opportunity um and it made me think well how else could we embed those resources into the hippie program because the hippie um staff member didn't really understand that side of the table and so I was able to kind of close the gap there but she had been trying to convince mom that going to the school setting was going to be the best thing for the child and so that was just kind of you know a God moment there so that was great um next week Monday and Friday I will be taking on hundreds and hundreds of miles with the team as we go and look at prototypes for lakee Middle School's replacement so we are headed all the way to I don't know like three and a half hours south of here and then doing all kinds of visits between Monday and Friday to hopefully find a prototype that will be best Mr Jacobs the lakew Middle School principal is coming with us uh and a few other people and hopefully we'll find a prototype that is going to be and serve as an amazing place of learning for that school which has been on the to-do list for many a year so I'm looking forward to that opportunity and we're also interviewing four um finalists for the con the uh construction manager for the high school at the end of the month so we will be doing those interviews in two weeks I think and then uh that will be coming before the board and that is a pretty big item and so there were actually only four books that even got put in for it so all four candidates who put in a book are going to receive a um interview since but it is such a large project that the pool of people who are ready and able to participate get smaller and smaller the larger the project gets that's what I'm learning in this process so um those are kind of some updates I just wanted to share as I uh I live in Anthony and I do a lot of my life in downtown Okala and so outside of kind of that little thorough fair I travel to schools but I don't really go outside of that area unless I'm traveling to schools I do a lot of my shopping in that little thoroughfare and so I was driving to Moe's yesterday and uh we went out there a couple weeks ago for the groundbreaking we kind of took that route to the Winding Oaks property and then kind of down south and I um don't drive out there every day so I don't understand um and honestly it's probably more impactful to me because I don't drive it every day so I we were just there for the groundbreakings maybe two weeks ago three weeks ago and what I saw on I think it was yesterday was different and more wood and roofs than what I saw even two or three weeks ago when we did the groundbreakings and then as I was visiting with M reer at Mo she had just gone over 1100 students she was at 11:09 on Monday morning which then prompted me to look at the attendance report and which I check daily at certain schools and sunrise hit 1,400 students yesterday um and we the um it's it's as if I'm my concern as a board member and this is what I have expressed to anyone that will listen is we are going to open the two elementary schools and they will be they will be Beyond capacity is my is my dire concern and we are building them and they're designed for a wing to be added on and Miss dobins is going to kill me and the the the she just she's laughing the wheels are already in motion but if there was a way that we could find another 10 million to put the wing on the school it would probably be in the back I mean I'm I'm not the planner person but all I can see is that Sunrise is probably going to have, 1500 kids by the time that we get to the rezoning at the end of next school year and just from basic math you could that entire school is going to fill another school and so my my like gravest concern is that we are only going to scrape the top of solving our problem and we are also going to be in a we're going to be in a hole financially be I mean we're still in a safe space but we don't have this cup renth over of money to just plug more money in to build another school and to build another Wing because we're already have line items all $330 million to go to other projects and so I'm just really concerned that if there's a possibility that we could plan any better I just want us to really have some authen IC honest conversation about it because they the people are here forget they're coming they are here and I mean when you walk into an elementary school and it literally says welcome and there are names and the names change every single day and they're not going there's no kids going the number is not going down and coming up with seasonal workers how it maybe used to be in Mary and Oaks Community specifically that is not happening much anymore they are just coming and coming and coming and so I just want us to have super authentic conversation about any possible way we could maximize any space because they are going to open beyond capacity and my concern is the pressure valve that we're supposed to be releasing from Mo and ham and Sh um Shady Hill and Saddlewood and sunrise the pressure valve is not going to release enough pressure and then we're still going to be in the same spot and so then we'll have rezoned and and and disrupted hundred hundreds thousands of students and will still be in an uncomfortable spot and if that is just the reality and we're doing the best job possible I am okay with that reality I just really want to make sure that we have dotted every possible eye and crossed every te and if there is a way Miss Boston Ellis is probably really mad at me because if there's a way that we could find another $20 million to basically put on a wing at each of those elementary schools or maybe just the more Southern one the one that's going to take from Sunrise because that seems to be where there's more growth although you look at the Winding Oaks and there's just every single thing is a house so I don't know I've rambled a bit but I'm just really concerned from from a perspective of planning that I want to be able to confidently say we have done the Absolut best job preparing for this because often as we travel I say I can't be held responsible for the sins of the boards of the past I can only be held responsible for what we're doing right now and what we are going to continue to do to be proactive and solve problems and I want to make sure that I can stand firmly and say we are solving this problem to the best possible ability and as I look at all of those roofs and see all of those kids I just worry so I I guess I'll end with that thanks guys I hear you you're going to get some spirited responses thank you uh board member James um can I just yes I just want to piggy off real quick because I had really the exact same sentiment when I left Hamond Bowen this morning and you drive in again it's not a regular path for me um and it was exciting all the equipment was there working on the new elementary school but as I went in and and they're at a th students right now and there's a development that's going to have 2100 homes I thought the exact same thing I go this new school is going to be at capacity before we even open so I just Dr James thank you for opening up the conversation um that we do look at numbers carefully and all the research that's been done so that we are being proactive um and part of that is the relief some relief for our principles at those schools that are so overc capacity um you know they're just holding their breath uh for these new schools to open and so um I just I want to reiterate that thank you for the conversation I think both schools too are going to be at capacity as soon as we open the doors thank you Vice chair Conrad board member Campbell sure I I was going to say here here that is what I originally was going to say but it it also um begs the question I I personally believe this individual board member believes that when we redistrict it's not just going to be redistricting just in the South I believe that it's going to have to be districtwide that we're going to pull this Band-Aid off it's going to be a really difficult challenging couple of conversations maybe more than a couple that we're going to have to have and I know the team is already working on that but uh it we may also have some tough conversations about some schools from this seat that I'm seeing that have a lot a lot of open seats in the schools what does look like as we are redistricting and uh as individual families are choosing elsewhere or not to attend specific schools for whatever reason that might be so um as we add magnet programs as we continue to enhance certain areas but we definitely have pockets within the community that are bursting beyond their seams and have been for years and then we have other Pockets that have plenty of space so it's just a greater convers but thank you for having it because I I believe just as you have stated that specifically in those areas if we are not wanting kids to be on buses for hours on end we need to not only release the pressure valve we need to ensure that there's going to be enough space for all the pressure that's coming there so thank you for that thank you board member Campbell and um there is so much conversation that needs to continue across the community on this topic and there's two things that come to mind first one is uh I'm not sure that I would Define it as sins of boards of the past because I think some of our boards of the past have been saviors in the sense that they had the presence of mind you know to buy land when it was cheap can you imagine no I can't if we had to buy at today's prices you know we'd really be um in a ditch so I I am grateful um to board of the past for having the foresight um to buy land uh the second thing is you know when it comes to capacity this is nothing new I remember when when Saddlewood was built I remember one word Highlands was expanded no sooner did that happen those Portables didn't leave they were already you know full and there's so much complaining that goes around in the community of traffic spilling out into the roads well why is the traffic spilling out into the road the reason is because these schools are over capacity you know and even when the administration and and different people come together for creative ways to do their zipline or however they're getting them in and out of there um it it they're still you know backing up traffic you know we do not have the room on our rows to support the growth that we're experiencing and and that is the bottom line so as we continue to navigate through all of these challenges this is why the community conversation is so important um there's a reason why seol is an a district and one of the reasons is because they're doing an excellent job partnering with their County with all entities across their community and that's how great thing H things happen we have been talking around this need for a special for a shelter to house our special needs citizens for six years it is time to draft a letter it's time to show the leadership that I'm used to seeing on this board and ask for the appropriation ask for the signatures of the affected um elected entities and let's get to work together on this you know every time our schools have to shut down it creates a ripple effect across this community and it is something that communities have solved over a decade ago so it's high time that we don't just get out of our silos that we actually explode them and work together for the better of our community because the communities that are doing this are the ones that are navigating this growth the most successfully um so that's where I am with this I I'm thinking that board member Cummings that you're next anyway to be up to the bat so take a swing sir thank you um I believe it was at the last meeting or last work session I I kind of mentioned some of this same thing about um these schools going to be at capacity matter of fact I I know I said that Maran Oaks that day had just went over um a certain number and all those elementary schools out there in that area Beyond a thousand students overc capacity so we we have to be able to forecast um that there's going to be exponential growth it's already there it's already there and we have to be planning for that it would I would hate that as soon as we open the schools we're stuffing with Portables again um but I also understand uh we have to be fiscally responsible we can't just go crazy um spending so I I I think poers to be um our financial officers and stuff have and the past boards have put us in a good place to this but it's not just a school board problem this is a county problem as chair Thor just mentioned and there has to be more collaboration um and unity of Minds when we start dealing with these situations because we're not just dealing with the capacity of the schools we're dealing with the issues of the roads we're dealing with our those roads uh suitable for that type of traffic and all those things that are going into place of of Marian County changing so we have to really have some serious conversations we don't we can't dance we can't walk anymore we have to have the conversations and um with every every governmental body in Maran County because it affects every governmental body in Maran County um tonight we we um in our in our discussion items we approved I think four four four projects that roughly that came out of capital funds roughly about $5 million of um Replacements of different things and I hear things from people all time say you guys got too much money you guys have more than enough money no we don't no we don't we don't have enough money because if we did we wouldn't we wouldn't be in the situation that we are in trying to maintain these buildings we wouldn't I I looked at some of these um buildings um they're beyond their life expectancy of their roofs 20 years um we wouldn't have those on our own homes um the warranties are out so we have been doing a tremendous job so when I hear people saying that we we have more money we've been we've been doing a tremendous job as as the old folk would say of of getting the butter from the duck that's what we've been doing we've been squeezing every drop of blood from every turnup to to make sure that these schools were open that they were safe and now it's time that we got to pay we have to put up we got to put it up and so I I don't like to hear when people in the community are saying oh you guys have enough money you have more than no we don't we wouldn't have gone to the the situations of the impact fees and asking for the sales tax and all those types of things if we had enough we we have been going so long in a bad situation that uh now it's things are coming home that we have to deal with so I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm glad that we're getting some new schools I'm glad that we're getting ready to look at some high schools um but again we have to be realistic and we said we say in our board statement that we confront reality well reality is we are growing growing exponentially reality is those schools are going to be filled as soon as they soon as soon as day one reality is we have to have a plan in place for that that growth we have to have those plans in place so I'm looking forward to what this board is going to do to put other boards in a good position so they can make uh wise choices and and be able to handle the issues that they're going to deal with in in their years on the board but I think we right now are here at this board at the table we have to make those tough decisions and we have to have a mind to forecast that people are not moving away from Ocala a mar County they're coming so when we when we start planning When Miss dos and Mr Knight and Miss um Boston Ellison all of us are at the table trying to figure it out we have to come to the table with the mindset that um we're also preparing for the future we're preparing for the future because I I know I I know I got a grandkid on the way they're going to be they live in that District going to be going to those schools I got one in kindergart she got 12 years over there so we need to be preparing for all those things so those are my comments for tonight thank you uh board member Cummings and um to to wrap things up you know uh we've heard and and spoken uh a lot um tonight about a lot of different topics and needs and and challenges and I continue to be very confident that uh while the board members that we have are sitting here with the superintendent that we have and board attorney and board Clerk and student board member that we're going to continue to make good progress you know um every day in in addressing all of our our needs and and challenges um you know just geographically with Marian County being the size of Rhode Island anyone can say sure well there's plenty of room up in Fort McCoy but if you live down in you know marry and Oaks that's uh probably not a drive that uh parents are going to want to make or um that our that we could afford to even transport kids to get to those schools now that being said um you can either be stuck in traffic in town for 45 minutes or you can take a nice drive up 3:15 and and be calm when you you get to school so and and Fort McCoy is a great school and and so I think there is opportunity again to be Innovative about program placement and things like that to to try to attract um some of of of the population um of students you know to our outling schools that that do have capacity to me you know every card's on the table that's our strength as America as being Innovative and creative and thinking big and and and Visionary and I know together you know we can we can do that as as a community and and speaking of community uh my husband and I had the opportunity to go down to Spruce Creek on Saturday night to see the bellw high school performing arts and and concert band and show choir and and dancers and and just amazing I had seen them preco so that was a while ago now just such a wonderful wonderful performance and one of the best things about it is is that there's a whole group of citizens that get to see our kids in their best light you know and hats off to the Spruce Creek residents because they're huge supporters of of bellw high school and it's just so much fun to see that cross-generational uh interaction that occurred it was very uplifting so that was a great night and it was also fun to see former student uh board member uh uh Blake here tonight and he told me that he has decided he's taking his talents to UCF so he's going to be a KN he's made his decision and I didn't get a chance to see former student board member I didn't get a chance to ask Divia if she had made her decision yet so Divia let us know please we're on the edge of our seats and I just also wanted to thank my uh other board members for pushing always um to make sure that our athletic standards are are high and and that the facilities are are well serviceable I am ready board when you are to um discuss attorney Powers board policy where we make it districtwide for GPA I think the 20 and go is Antiquated I think we're doing a disservice to kids to make them think that with a 2.0 GPA that they're going to get in a school that they say they would like to go to the standards are just higher these days and I think Vanguard High School has proven with great adult support and inspiration that kids rise you know you you set the bar high and you provide the support underneath to push them up and over and so I'm ready to do that I think that so many kids kids have so much interest in in sports and if that's what's going to give them the motivation to try a little harder in school and also realize that if they really want to make it at a four-year University and graduate on time and not be home in December having lost their scholarship of their freshman year um that we need to be honest with them about that so Dr gullet I'd love to get your feedback on this because if the rest of Bo is ready I am born ready thank you madam chair I fully support that I I think we've I think we've seen just as you said so well um thanks to our dedicated students and and staff uh teachers absolutely and I think we need to raise the bar and I think it's time to do that now okay well if the rest of the board is in consensus whatever it takes to begin to craft something sure um chair if you um wouldn't mind I I just wanted to say I had an opportunity recently to sit with our athletic director and currently board policy gives them the ability to create an athletic code of conduct and so I know Thursday we have our code of student conduct that's coming for all students but certainly we I highly recommend if if we want to help draft that for them great but it does have currently in policy for there to be an athletic code of conduct as well and so they do have the ability to have that higher standard there isn't such a document that exists just yet so I I think that um whether that's drafted by us or drafted by Dr gullet however that needs to come about I don't know that it would be looked at the same as a code of student conduct is because that is something that the full board approves um but that was the research because I had very similar sentiments and speaking with them so I I attorney powers and I have already talked a little bit about because we were talking about attendance as well and some and Dr Gan I've talked about this some challenges with the dashboard and what the coaches are actually able to see from attendance and discipline and so we we've been having some conversation about that a little more globally as to what policy already would give them ability to do but we don't currently have anything that's in writing on that I don't know if attorney Powers he's leaning forward the only thing I would add is that I have had some discussions recently with athletic staff Personnel including Mr Tucker um they're uh consistently working on trying to update and upgrade some of their um procedures and policies and you're absolutely right that they that they the board policy does allow them to have an athletic uh student code of conduct and the one thing I would indicate there is that I think that coming from the experts there coming from the athletic directors coming from the coaches coming from um the district officials and Athletics um they are the ones that are in the most unique and best position to be able to itemize and lay out what they think will be most helpful to raise the bar without also immediately cutting off access to students who might be on the edge to need this you know need the best they can to bring them some kids come to school and and try their best to get at least the 2.0 because of the Athletics you know and and might not um might have a lot more difficulty getting to 3.0 and we wouldn't want to just leave them you know flapping so what we need to do is whatever I mean they may have suggestions as to what we need to do as to how to achieve that within a reasonable time frame that would um achieve that reaching for a higher bar without also pulling the rug out from anybody so um I would definitely say that uh that that would be a worthwhile conversation and uh that such meetings definitely should should occur so they can bring those proposals to the board the board can discuss it more fully thank you attorney Powers Dr gullet yes so any policy recommendation does come from staff so naturally that would come from the staff regardless and so that's my comment and the atic an athletic code of conduct does not become automatically board policy that's something that the code of student conduct does by operation of Statute so the athletic student uh code of student conduct be becomes um essentially District procedure um now it can then be adopted as a board policy within our Athletics um within our Athletics policies or added as a entirely new policy we could essentially much like we did um with the uh uh with the c uh code of Civility you know we can both have something that outlines the code of Civility within the code of student conduct which if it is outlined within the code of student conduct it does in fact then become policy so that might be the uh most direct way to get there rather than adding a separate policy is to uh work on that for the future to get together a and not doesn't necessarily have to be the prolonged future but to get together that code of athletic student conduct make that something that they uh sort of pilot and run out immediately and then began working on fleshing out details to make it part of the code of student conduct thank you attorney Powers it it would be my ask for this to have teeth uh again Vanguard High School has proven over four years is is what it's taken them to get to this point that it can be done and if it takes four years to get it done the first time in my mind now you now have a blueprint and so it can happen in a more accelerated fashion uh even if it needs to be phased in but I can say with authority as a former teacher that if you come to school very very regularly you do your work you turn it in and you are nice the chances of you having above a 2.0 are very high and I will also say further that if you are doing better in school your chances of doing better on the SAT and those standardized tests that we don't have really any control over the ACT your chances of doing better on those tests are probably going to be higher too to me it's just common sense and I hope I'm not wrong about that so I look forward to further discussion I look forward to accelerating this and making it happen for because that's what's best for our kids M talking about student we're talking about student code of conduct um um athletic code of conduct so um wouldn't it be feasible that Dr gullet would put together a committee or team to to flush that out rather than us trying to figure it out and then they bring it back to us because I think I do think that it should come up under at some point our code of conduct um but I don't want us to put something in place that does disenfranchise kids that are trying hard U we do have to have a standard I agree but there are some kids that are not there and may never get there but that but the athletic thing is what keeps them coming to school and um that keeps them involved in school so we don't want to move so fast or move so recklessly that we we uh forget about that group of kids that are doing their best thank you board member Cummings and I sure appreciate your your cautions and I would hope that there isn't anyone sitting up here that wants to move so fast and so recklessly that it it hurts students um so Dr G I definitely look to you for like we've done with other policies you re you review them and you bring things forward for us to review and and follow the pro the procedures obviously but I would like to get this going that would be my ask so Madam chair if I may I I so I board I need some clarification so um I think that it's important to simp simply go back to the the athletic code is procedure and it yes it can come and become part of policy and the policy allows for that to happen but I what I need to know is if the board wants to move through that process to bring it to policy or if the board wants to move forward with policy and we make recommendations so do we want to move through that Dr living good overseas Athletics she's already aware and and is going to facilitate that process with athletic code do we want that process to go forward as a procedure with recommendations to become policy separately or is that becomes policy because one's not required for the other to occur I just need to have some clarification my let me if I may um my recommendation to the board based on on how policies procedures work you all know what I'm going to say and that is that um if if we had consensus from Athletics from Dr Living Goods Department from everybody else that this is the code of athletic conduct that we want for our students we had that tomorrow it can be instated as a procedure whenever was chosen I mean immediately now that being said um during that period of time until either a a we choose to amend the code of student conduct which there's one coming up very soon that I doubt this would fit well into uh we can amend it in the future um or we can wait and do and add it next year after sort of the test year with it being procedure both have teeth so if it is if it becomes procedure at whatever time frame that takes for um for staff to put together then under procedure that becomes something that is enforceable um then from their policy can if if if we adopted code of student conduct June 1st and on July 30th we wanted to amend board policy to include this we could do the exactly that I just need time to post it so or we could wait until board until a code of student conduct came back around the following year that's entirely up to the board thank you attorney powers sure thank you again so thank you chair um so the way I see this and we certainly can can discuss it what my recommendation would be is that I know that Dr living good and Mr Tucker and the athletic directors are already in the process of working on something my expectation and potentially of other board members as well would be that that would be in place ready to go for our student athletes starting in the school year of 2014 25 and essentially that every student athlete that makes a team just like they have to pay their fee to be on that team as a parent of athletes you have to pay the fee just like that occurs there would almost have to be a sign off that also occurs that these students are also receiving this code of athletic student conduct and that they are agreeing and their family is agreeing that they are going to be abiding by whatever that says I also would recommend and again this is for all of us to discuss here but that upon that document whatever that is is created that the board then have the opportunity to at least review it and then if we so say we think this is good enough that we want to enshrine this in policy it's not just a procedure but we think that this should be added into policy then that would be for the 25 26 school year that we would actually make policy on that but again right now this is again attorney of powers and I went through several of our policies to say it already gives the opportunity in our current policy that our athletic directors and Dr golet's team can create such a document and it doesn't have to require us to do anything else from the board perspective but um I can assure you that just from my conversations some of the things that I thought were already happening that I thought we had all this conversation about an athletic attendance policy and all those aren't actually happening and so that's where a lot of conversation has really developed over the course of the last couple of weeks that attendance alone will be a great stepping stone for us to make sure that the things we thought were happening are actually happening and being put into practice and that's where I think this athletic code of conduct that will be hopefully occurring in 2425 school year with an ability for those families to sign off when they are paying those fees with the expectation of what those requirements are I think that might be in my recommendation of the the best step forward to to ensure that we're getting what we're trying to get out of this but certainly up for the board conversation thank you board member Campbell anyone else I think we're ready you know what you just said makes perfect sense to me um it's it's expedient it is long overdue in my opinion um you know we sit up here and and we talk a lot about uh increasing student outcomes um and this is how you do it and kids just never cease to to amaze me in their in their capabilities no matter how little they are the things that they are able to do given the right supports as board member Cummings was alluding to you know it's not like oh we just are going to expect this and not give you any help that's the beauty of of the Vanguard model you know and I've been around long enough to see what it was and what it is um and it's great so those are the things we want to duplicate celebrate make sure the community knows all about all right um I don't think I could I don't think I should say anything else I think I said what I said vice chair c Vice chair Conrad I'm just gonna use those as my comments good um I just have a couple things we've had a lot of robust conversation here um towards the end I just have a a couple of things I want to shed light on and then a couple shoutouts and so um when I joined the board and I visit schools the number one um stressor for administrator seem to be assessments and so in my latest visits to schools uh that topic has changed which is is a blessing um but I the biggest complaint is interactions with parents and families and so I just wanted to share a reminder that educating our children is a team effort and parents are the first first Educators the best Educators for their children and so um with that statement being made I just ask that we look for ways to support our staff members um when parents are not respectful in dealing with their students or picking up their students um or at meetings um with their students and their educational path and so it really as a board member it was just very disheartening um because when I grew up if your parent came in uh for a meeting it really was a team conversation of how can we help move a student or a child forward so um just reflecting on how that occurs and how we can support our staff in dealing with a growing number of disrespectful family members um as they work with the school to get what they need um for their child so that was one ju just one thing I wanted to bring to light the other thing I wanted to ask as we look um ahead at redistricting um our County that we make sure to include our administrators in those initial conversations because you go in and you visit with an administrator they know what students come from what area what subdivision how many students are in each household they know all of the in ins and outs of the children at their school um it it really is amazing that all that they remember right off the top of their head they can tell you and so just my ask as we move forward and those conversations continue that that our administrators at our schools um have kind of a round table so they can talk about what that's going to look like for them and how they think it would be best to proceed and so um that's my second ask for shoutouts I just wanted to give a little quick quick shout out um I visit when visiting with several staff members the new subsystem the esa ESS is going very well um they've been very pleased with it so I just wanted to give a shout out to that and I also wanted to give a shout out to our couriers I pulled up to bellw high school today about the same time that one of our couriers did and I got my bag and lunch for my mentee and by the time I got my bag and things and got out of the car The Courier had gone inside dropped off all of their things was back in the vehicle and they were pulling out so um you know our district is so large and it's such a big job and so how quickly and efficiently things are delivered around around our district is impressive so just a a a big thank you to that crew and all the work that they do every day to keep us uh moving forward and lastly I just wanted to share we have the Jim harbon media Festival um which is near and dear to my heart as a kindergarten teacher first grade teacher fourth grade teacher participated in that program um and it's it's just such a great opportunity and so that's coming up this Friday and um just want to let you know if you're available it be here at MTI and it really is a pleasure and a joy to participate in so I invite you to come join us thank you that's all I have all right thank you Vice chair Conrad and and thank you board member James for leading us off what in what turned into a very spirited discussion and then I ended up giving my comments before vice sh conr but but we all had a lot of En enthusiasm for the topics tonight as as we typically do so thank you again um for for your great discussion and and commitment um to helping every student succeed and um before addressing expulsion matters I wish to acknowledge that board members have received the alternative placement lists for students through March 19th 2024 um and I'm going to go ahead and ask for a motion to approve the expulsion of student jd24 d198 jd24 d226 jd24 d227 jd24 d228 and jd24 d236 with Educational Services for the remainder of the 2023 2024 school year and the first 2 and third quarters of the 2024 2025 school year may I have a motion please motion to approve motion by Vice chair Conrad second second by board member Campbell um is there any discussion hearing none all those in favor say I I I motion passes unanimously 5 uh may I have a motion to approve the expulsion of student jd24 d232 and jd24 d234 with Educational Services for the remainder of the 20232 24 school year and the entire 2024 2025 school year motion to approve motion by board member James second second by Vice chair Conrad is there any discussion hearing none all those in favor say I I I motion passes unanimously 5-0 we will be addressing for the first time any um off a parent um expulsion requests on Thursday morning at 7: a.m. before our regular ly scheduled work session therefore there being no further business may I have a motion to adjourn motion to adjourn motion by board member James seconded by Vice chair Conrad um this meeting all those in favor say I I I motion passes 0 this meeting is adjourned at 7:25 p.m. thank [Music] you e