board meeting will begin in 2 minutes the school board meeting will begin in 1 minute please take your seats again the Schoolboard meeting will begin in 1 minute e [Music] good Happy Valentine's Day Eve everyone the February 13th 2024 meeting of the Marian County School Board is called to order 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 our board commitment statement we are the Marian County School District leadership team when we come together to work we are efficient effective and productive our three most important characteristics are dedicated transparent and individually responsible to work well together we must demonstrate respect confront reality and be accountable we will always put students first and we will leave a legacy of success for the courtesy of those listening to the me meting I'm requesting everyone in the audience to please remember to turn off your electronic devices 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 5 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 p 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 applicable for which are on a separate sheet board clerk please call the role Dr Allison Campbell district one here Mrs Lorie Conrad District Two here Mr Eric Cummings District three here Mrs Nancy thower District Four here Dr Sarah James District 5 here student board member Blake Barnes from Forest High School here student board member DEA nandor from Vanguard High School here Dr Diane gullet superintendent here Mr Jeremy power Schoolboard attorney here thank you Miss Martinez good evening Dr gullet if you would please introduce the member of your team who will be helping us with tonight's inspiration and pledge my pleasure thank you good evening Madam chair members of the board it is my pleasure to introduce Miss Kathy Audi who's going to come forward and she's going to introduce some very special guests who is who are going to lead us in the inspiration and pledge um and going to say a few words about a very special um event that happens in his community year of the sou Eastern Youth Fair um and also in celebration of CTE month so thank you Miss AI good evening chair thrower Vice chair Conrad board members and superintendent golet we're very excited this month to be celebrating CTE month we offer over 40 different CTE Pathways at the middle school and high school level with over 14,000 students enrolled in those programs last year some of those students earned 1600 Cape recognized industry certifications and those numbers continue to grow every year thanks to our amazing teachers also during the month of February as she said is the southe Southeastern Youth Fair this is actually the 84th year of the Youth Fair in your uh mailboxes you each have a program of the fair and a calendar of events so we'd love to see you out there tonight we have two students who will be speaking on behalf behalf of the Youth Fair and CTE month first is McKenzie Robbins a senior from bellw high school thank you evening young lady good evening can I move this good evening my name is McKenzie Robbins and like she said I'm serving as the District 5 ever secretary and I'm a senior at B High School I've been involved in the agult to program for the past four years I'm honored to speak to you tonight on behalf of our Career and Technical education programs CTE programs provide amazing opportunities for students such as myself in various high schools and middle schools across the district Career and Technical education programs offer benefits to our students which incl include practical skills that are valuable in the workplace earning certifications and developing leadership skills CTE programs such as agriculture culinary arts health and Robotics provide students with Interactive Learning opportunities inside the classroom and Beyond furthermore students are able to develop and explore passions and career areas they're interested in before they enter the workforce this makes them a very valuable asset to potential employers many students um especially in advanced levels are able to earn industry certifications that can boost their resume and allow them to enter the workforce directly out of high school being in the animal science program at B has allowed me to build on my knowledge by earning an agriculture associate certification and animal science certification many CTE programs also have student organizations such as clubs such as skills USA hoso Robotics and FFA just last week I was here with FFA members competing in the Parliamentary procedure Career Development event our team won first place and we will compete at State Convention in June I have been able to grow as a leader and have developed a greater understanding ing for agriculture industry through FFA and CT programs I've networked with many Community leaders and made lifelong friendships through FFA CTE programs throughout Maring County allow all of our students to experience these opportunities what I have learned from the CTE program has influenced my future career choices I will be attending Florida GF Coast University in the fall majoring political science and English on a pre-law track I would not have decided to become a lawyer without myol in agriculture and FFA this is because of the leadership skills I have developed by serving the FFA organization as an officer I have developed my love for public speaking and parliamentary procedure I love to advocate for the agriculture industry and hope to do this one day as a lawyer I have not decided on exactly what type of law I want to study but I know I'll be more successful because of my involvement in FFA and CTE programs once again on behalf of our on Maran County CTE program students we would like to thank you for your continued support of these programs and the opportunities they provide our students I truly appreciate the opportunity to speak with you each of you tonight have a great evening thank [Applause] you now I'd like to introduce Reagan row a junior at BW high school thank you good evening Miss row good evening and thank you for the opportunity to be here today to speak on the Southeastern Youth Fair my name is Reagan row and as she said I am a junior at bevie high school I am currently serving as the District 5 FFA president and I'm here tonight representing both FFA and 4 members across Maran County my time showing at the Southeastern Youth Fair started around 12 years ago when I entered the kitty goat show since then I have looked forward to the South Eastern Youth Fair as one of my favorite weeks of the year over the years I have pushed myself to participate in contests outside of my comfort zone such as tractor driving and the swine show these experiences have made me a more a more well-rounded person and I think many other students can say the same the seyf has played a significant role in my life and who I am today next week the 2024 SEF will kick off in just 10 days 863 exhibitors will proudly display a total of 2,000 94 entries while those numbers are impressive what I wish I really could count are the numbers of memories made and Lessons Learned contrary to popular belief the opportunities of the Southeastern Youth Fair are not just limited to livestock I am a firm believer that there is something of the Southeastern Youth Fair for everyone Horticulture exhibitions Farm Bureau speech contest home Arts photography barbecue contest watch me grow and the horse show just to name a few there are also volunteer opportunities for students ambassadors help the fair run smoothly from day to day and others assist with Adventures throughout February 27th 29th and March 1st over 1,000 Maran County public students that are second graders will have a firsthand look at Florida's major agriculture Commodities during the Marian County Farm Bureau Adventures program students and teachers will explore interactive exhibits and attend Hands-On workshops as part of the event and the tour I sincerely hope that you will consider attending our Southeastern Youth Fair this is in an opportunity to watch the Youth of Marian County show off their project that they have worked so hard on thank you for your time and I hope to see you [Applause] soon please please stand for the pledge 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 thank you Miss row before you step away and and we we want to come down and get a picture with all of you and your um FFA members and also just uh quickly on behalf of the Marian County school board thank you for representing your your families and and yourselves and and your chapters and your schools so well uh 84 years is a long time to be to have such an amazing organization as as part of our school system and I was in 4 and for me it was all about horses horses horses and look where I am now so you never know where life's going to take you um but congratulations to all of you and and we'll look forward to seeing you at the Southeastern Youth Fair and maybe one of these days when you come back you can bring some rabbits or something so that we can pet them yes ma'am thank you let's get picture yeah they're so good they're better speakers than most people pi I've taught you well here we go one two three couple more okay that was awesome um Dr gullet I understand we have two recognitions as well this evening if you would please introduce the member of your team who will be helping us with the first recognition yes thank you madam chair M members of the board I'm pleased to have Dr liven good come forward with first group of amazing students that will recognize tonight uh Sunshine State Scholars so thank you Dr liing good yes thank you good evening chair thrower board members our student representatives and Dr gullet I have the privilege of introducing our secondary coordinator um secondary curriculum coordinator and this is Dr Tiffany Robinson and she will um share information about our 2024 Sunshine State Scholars good evening Dr living good good afternoon chair thrower board members and superintendent Dr gullet I want to begin by saying and I say this with conviction and firm conviction we have phenomenal students in Maran County and it is my pleasure to introduce four outstanding individuals who submitted criteria for Sunshine State scholar before introducing these individuals let me describe the qualifications for such a distinguished honor for a junior student to be considered they must have expressed an interest in STEM related studies with participation in STEM related activities or competitions they must have a weighted GPA of 3.9 or higher write an essay outlining one of the most significant challenges America faces in this area of stem they must interview before a panel of STEM related business members within our community which some of those members are here tonight they must have taken Advanced courses and scored well on State and National assessments the students recognized tonight have achieved Beyond these requirements and it is an honor to acknowledge them this evening our first candidate Paulina tcoa who couldn't be here tonight attends for for high school and plans to apply to medical school her school day is often extended as she is a member of National Honor Society as aosa and academic team in her Leisure she plays piano violin cello and is a in um a member of the Okala youth Symphony Orchestra our second candidate Mr Sanjay carthic is in the IB diploma program at Vanguard High School focusing on chemistry and physics I do want to say last week sanj submitted a chemistry-based entry for the international science and engineer Fair he is an executive officer and National Marksmanship competitor for Roc Sanjay is also vice president of vanguard's academic team and plans to pursue post-secondary studies in aerospace engineering wow [Applause] our third candidate Miss Maria WWA who attends Lake R High School couldn't be here tonight but would like to acknowledge principal Wade for attending on her behalf Maria enjoys reading gardening and playing the guitar on top of keeping up with her academic studies she is actively involved in several extracurricular activities such as flag football Golf and weightlifting her postsecondary aspirations is to go to UF and get a master's in urban planning last but not least our fourth candidate Mr Carson vanderson attends Belleview high school and plans to major in either chemical engineering mechanical engineering or engineering physics he is president of the robotics Club treasurer of SGA and captain of The Varsity tennis team you can find Carson volunteering at robotics camps tutoring playing pickle ball or tinkering with computer coding in his spare time the two candidates selected to represent Maran County Public Schools as Sunshine State Scholars are Mr Sanjay carthi and Mr Carson [Applause] vanderson I do also want to acknowledge that Miss maram wlea has also his name has also been submitted as an alternate scholar these Scholars will be recognized dur a during a two-day program in Orlando from May 2nd to May 3rd um for their academic accomplishments we ask that you please give them another round of applause as we know they will represent Maran County [Applause] well thank you for your time that is really really awesome and congratulations on behalf of the the Marian County school board for all you have accomplished so far and all that we have no doubts you are going to continue to accomplish as as you go through life um anyone that plays pickle ball has a competitive spirit so maybe one day I'll see you on the court but but but truly I I think that um you give us the opportunity to just exemplify and amplify the opportunities we have here in Maran County Public Schools so it's all about partnering together and and helping kids uh live their best school life so thank you again for uh being able to be here tonight and we sure understand the ones that couldn't and we'd love to come down and take a picture with you and so we will thanks I'm gonna get him going can I get a couple of you this side okay thank you all thank you good well I just find like if I get out of the Habit it's really hard to get back into it keep thinking I'm further over and you've been so gracious CU I don't even know when I come in I don't know just I'm gonna go wherever just make sure you have candy there you go what so least of my worries today ER be the big okay and I think we have another recognition right Dr goet we we do Madam sure actually board we have two more recognitions so get ready so Miss Kelly Brower will come forward and she is going to introduce our beanstack reading challenge winners so it's a very unique name and um I think you're going to like what you hear thank you good evening Miss Broward good evening good evening chair thrower board members superintendent Dr gullet I'm super excited to share some great great news about a new program that we purchased this year called beanstack for all of our schools within the district this program is the leading solution for motivating students to read something very close and near to my heart so beanstack allows individual schools to grow their reading culture it encourages healthy reading habits and literacy skills this program motivates students to read books in their classroom library and it Fosters teacher media specialist collaboration we launched the program in October pretty much late October and students and teachers have read and loged just over 2.1 million minutes very impressive November 8th 2023 we ran a beanock kickoff event students and teachers were encouraged to log the reading minutes in beanstack from November 8th through January 3rd 2024 the schools with the highest percentage of active students logging their reading minutes in beanstack would receive receive additional funds to purchase books for their Media Center teachers who were modeling to students the importance of reading by logging their personal reading minutes were eligible to win a prize as well the students the top 250 we had well over 10,000 students who logged them minutes but the top 250 won tokens for our book vending machine that we keep at the Discovery Center on January 20th we celebr it with the students at the center those tokens are good from any time here on out and the students can go over and select any book that they would like the book vending machine was purchased by the Marian County Literacy committee that's chaired by our principle of the Year misso Additionally the Discovery Center graciously donated free admission for the day to each winning student and one adult companion it was the first day of their new exhibit of the turtles and it was a really exciting day to be there tonight we would like to award the teachers who read and loged the most minutes in beanstack please join me here at the podium with your principal as I call out your name at the elementary level the winning teacher was zaraa Turner from Harborview Elementary School Miss Turner logged 18360 minutes of reading principal Baxley is here this evening to accept on Miss Turner's behalf at the middle school level we want to recognize Miss Lenor Ellsworth from lakare Middle School Miss Ellsworth loged 3,75 minutes of reading wooho our winning teacher at the high school level was Miss Ashley WS from Westport HIgh School Miss wans logged 8,473 minutes fantastic job here the schools with the highest percentage of active students logging their reading in beanstack were Spar Elementary School with 91.3% of all of their students logging in beanstack brand new program so I'd like to recognize principal Johnson and Mr Harley the media specialists the winning middle school with 7.81% of their students logging minutes in beanock was Hill Crest I would like to recognize Miss shank the media [Applause] specialist the winning high school with the highest percentage of students logging their reading minutes in beanock was Forest High School I would like to recognize assistant principal Willis and miss poers the media specialist each we're already clapping Al together we awarded nine schools first second and third place first place schools have won an additional $1,000 to purchase additional titles for their Media Center collection that is woohoo yes a lot of money lastly while we do not have all 200 50 of our student winners here tonight I wish we could have I would like to invite Miss Ceno principal of Okala Springs Elementary School to introduce her two of her students to say a quick word about reading and beanstack thank you misso good evening good evening so we were very lucky on the literacy committee to receive a grant from the pilot companies and I have my assistant principal here miss Hall and I have my two students nard and Ethan you guys want to come up and so we were able to purchase the vending machine and the Discovery Center was gracious enough to house it for us and so we had the great event with beanstack and these two fine Scholars um both earned coins to spend in the machine and they're just going to tell you a little bit about bean stack and the importance of reading all right evening young s you guys can do yeah my name is Ethan and I'm from I'm in fourth grade a student in Okala Springs Elementary School I'm here to talk about how beant stack and reading have changed my life reading has helped me throughout my life because it helps me through fluency G helps me gain more interest in more new activities and helps me learn new things throughout the world my experience was quite challenging at first I never knew what to do but I I got it down after I found out how to use the app soon I was able to use the app without any worries I'm here to talk about this because I won the challenge well one of them and and I'm here to talk about why reading has changed why reading and my experience was important to my challenge [Applause] by hello my name is nard Paul mtin I am in fifth grade I am in oala Springs Elementary reading is important because it can really enhance your critical thinking SK skills and your problem solving skills like if my mom needs help with something then I immediately know the answer to her problem immediately um and I'm pretty sure that's because of my reading and I absolutely loved logging my minutes into bean stack because I love reading and I could win a prize for it I mean who wouldn't want that job job [Applause] awesome and that's it for us thank you so much thank you Miss Broward and don't go away because we we sure are going to come down and take a a picture with you and again on behalf of our school board just wanted to say congratulations to the winners and bean stack may be be like a weird name for a reading program but evidently it has grown Deep Roots already in our district and I love so many things about it Elementary Middle High uh there's an obviously an inclusion piece to this that is huge congratulations to Hillcraft school for a winning for middle school that's amazing I don't think in all my years with the system I've ever really witnessed anything like this as far as such a great all-encompassing reading program so thank you for bringing it to the district Dr gullet and your team and we'll come down and take a picture everybody just scooch in a little bit you're fine where you are just scooch in there you go here we go one two three couple more good there's only four speakers though speak sorry all right my goodness those were some really great Cloud n moments wonderful way to start our school board meeting tonight and we're going to go ahead and and move on to oh we have one more we have one more one more one more I know it's been an exciting night of recognition so our very own East Maran principal I'm going to have her come forward Miss Sarah dos with some special information to share and a special partnersh ship thank you so much District Five come hi misss hello good evening Cher thrower Vice chair Conrad Dr gullet and board members I'm joined by Wes Haron and Cheryl te uh Wes Haron is with his compassion and um I I just wanted to take some time to acknowledge all that his compassion and his team the cheer squad back there um have done for East [Applause] Maran uh because of his compassion and the partnership that we've been able to establish we uh have been able to start our Bobcat Den aside from funding with donations from his compassion which means we've had uh hygiene products um undergarments everything that just families need to get through the day we've been able to call upon them when we need just a morale boost and something to to spoil our staff and teachers we've been able to reach out for incentives for attendance for again both staff students um our our families when we're we're trying to partner and broker some needs we've been able to reach out to Wes and his team and with that we've established what what we call at East Marian Fab Fridays so it's just a morale booster of our students our staff our Roar store so our PBIS store is basically filled with all of the things from his compassion so um I'm going to ask Wes to speak for just a moment I told him no but um so you can understand what the not for-profit looks like and the purpose thank you so glad to have you good evening thank you I really had nothing for here cuz she told me I wasn't speaking well we uh provide uh over 21 million pounds of food to Maran County each year for free everybody you see there is a volunteer we have over a 100 volunteers they work hard starting at 2:30 a.m. our first truck was 2:30 this morning uh we put out about three semi loads of product today to the community and it's valuated about $61 million a year when you use the USDA numbers so so uh we're very proud of that we're very proud of our crew we're very proud of serving uh the school board and uh we we serve the rock that's also uh serving the community we provide them with food and products we provide food and products to 153 agencies in Maran County Boys and Girls Club You Name It We we provide it we do it for free every day with this representative crew they just rock and uh we have our board president Pastor Rocky we have a n member board um that uh makes a lot of decisions on where we can spend the money each month and uh Pastor Rocky you want to say hey uh Rocky shrable um and uh I guess that's about it we we were very proud to answer the call uh we first called um I forget who we we called you called her Cheryl she's also out there as well and um we said um how much do you need and she says well I don't know let me call the county and then the county said uh well I think you said we need 67,000 tins of pop popcorn for Christmas basic so um I said wow when y'all get out of school she said next Tuesday I said okay so within three days we provided every school in Marian County with popcorn so but we do that every day that's nothing unique to what we do so um we're we're proud of what we do and we just thank you for the opportunity to serve thank gosh oh I just want to say one one more thing we aren't just food we we receive semi loads of donated CVS products that we provide the feminine hygiene products for all the schools if they want them anything for any of the programs we get it that is just absolutely amazing just amazing and thank you uh principal dos for bringing this to our attention so that we have the opportunity as a school board to just thank you in person and and your board and your volunteers it it really is incomprehensible the amount of work that comes out from your size organization and and the difference um that you're making I know resources are sparse especially you know out in the East Marian area once you get across that bridge so what you're doing is is life sustaining and life-changing so we'll be very proud to come down and take a quick picture with you thank you for all you do and all can all of you guys come yes everybody his Compassion Team you yes you may sit in the back but now you need to come to the front please thank you thank you this is great I was $155,000 worth of goods I want to Y right get stand in front got make my job really challenging here we go and one two three couple more and good to go thank you no if this was a toll road we'd have a it is it is no you're not collecting fees not I told I told have a dollar oh supplement okay well we certainly have been filled with fantastic Cloud n moments tonight so far so let's just keep it going and we will move on to recognizing a few donations at this time we'd like to recognize the donations the district has received of $2,500 to Maran County Public Schools to benefit the UCF NASA minority University Research education program and also $1,000 to Vanguard High School to benefit the soccer program for expenses and incentives the total value of tonight's donations are $3,500 and thank you always to our generous supporters for everything that you do to help support our mission of helping each and every students succeed Dr gullet would you please make make a recommendation on tonight's Schoolboard meeting agenda yes certainly thank you I recommend approval of the agenda for the February 13th 20204 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 d9.1 D1 19.2 d99.3 D1 19.4 d9.5 d196 6 D1 19.7 D1 19.8 D1 19.9 D1 19.10 d9.1 D1 19.12 D1 19.13 and d914 that have been placed under discussion thank you thank you Dr gallet may I have a motion on the superintendent's recommendation some move move by board member Cummings second second by Vice chair Conrad all those in favor say I I I I motion passes 5 may I have a motion to approve the minutes for the January 9th 2024 Schoolboard meeting motion to approve motion by board member Campbell second second by Vice chair Conrad are there any additions or corrections to the minutes hearing none all those in favor say I I I motion passes 5 z may I have a motion to approve the minutes for the January 23rd 2024 Schoolboard meeting move motion by board member Cummings second second by Vice chair Conrad are there any additions or corrections to the minutes hearing none all those in favor say I I I motion passes 5- Z Miss Martinez would you please provide the proof of publication for tonight's school board meeting the notice for the February 13th 2024 board meeting ran in the Okala Gazette on February 2nd 2024 the proof of publication has been attached in board docks under proof of publication thank you Miss Martinez will 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 in compliance with Section 2860 one14 of Florida Statutes the school board has adopted uniform procedures for public 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 on school district and school School Board 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 the Schoolboard 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 each speaker will have five minutes of time however if there are more than per five persons who wish to speak the board May seek consensus to limit each speaker's time to 3 minutes when the speaker has one minute remaining the speaker will receive a visual notice to complete his or her comments speakers may not yield their time to other people speakers and meeting attendees are expected to conduct themselves in a respectful manner therefore verbal attacks and profanity are strictly prohibited pursuant to the procedures for public comments item six speakers are not to identify specific individuals other than themselves or their child unless a statement is provided Ed 24 hours in advance the board is here to listen to your comments only you may be directed to an administrative staff member following the conclusion of your comments for further assistance to address any concerns if there are matters dealing with student discipline including expulsions they will be scheduled at the conclusion of the televised portion of this meeting parents May address the board regarding a discipline matter at that time to ensure student privacy only a parent or Guardian may use the students first or last last name identifying references to or identification of other students or their families are also strictly prohibited a speaker speech does not reflect the endorsement sponsorship position or expression of the school district thank you for your attention to the board's requirements Madam chair that concludes my explanatory remarks thank you attorney Powers Miss Martinez do we have any speakers this evening we have four speakers Madam chair four speakers okay Miss Lindsay Bigalow thank you good evening Miss Bigalow good evening Lindsay Bigalow last name is b i g l o w good evening Dr gullet chair thrower Vice chair Conrad Dr Campbell Dr James Reverend Cummings Attorney powers and Miss Martinez Lopez as well as our school board our student school board members I stand here tonight as a proud 8th Street Eagle I'm here to express my deep concern with the proposed plan to merge 8th Street Elementary and Oola middle School into a prek-8 school I feel the proposed new school would be a disservice to our current students and future students to come we have worked incredibly hard to earn and maintain an a school grade and we feel the answers to the questions of why are we doing this and especially why now and so quickly have not been adequately addressed there are so many things that need to be considered in making this decision with just a few being timeline the staff academics and safety first the timeline why is this proposal happening so quickly it has been stated that discussions over merging the schools have been in the works for years so my question is why now there are reasons it has not happened in the past I would be interested in knowing what they were and if they are be being considered now the timing of the recent discussions of school start times in this proposal do not seem to be an accident in fact it looks as this if this is being proposed in order to solve that problem as adults our students should come before for our convenience next the staff asking one principal to lead a prek-8 school is unfair I feel we would not see our principal as much as we would need them yes there are schools with more students than this proposed school would have but there are varying needs at the prek-8 level that are not middle or High School level issues and one principal would be stretched thin would Elementary PA professionals or support staff be asked to cover in the Middle School level or vice versa teachers and staff trained in one area may not be comfortable in another what if we lose some of our veteran teachers and staff over this third academics the proposed change is all about the opportunity for acceleration I feel confident that our teachers are already working tirelessly to do this is acceleration developmentally appropriate age appropriate acceleration can be accomplished without merging the two schools what about those students not zoned for 8th Street will they be given these same acceleration opportunities there are many other academic issues with this proposal finally safety the number one priority in our schools keep students safe and then they can learn how is it appropriate for our kindergarten students to ride with eighth graders arrival and dismissal for 1300 kids within one city block on a campus with multiple entrances and exits is setting up for a large safety problem from what I have gathered in the last week there are more questions than answers but yet a very quick timeline that this is expected to be done in I am saddened at the thought that a school rooted in Traditions and Rich history is going to PO eventually change in the blink of an eye thank you for your time and consideration thank you Miss pigalo Miss Amanda esil thank you good evening hi my name is Amanda esel EQ UI v l good evening chair thrower Vice chair Conrad members of the school board and Dr G it like I said earlier my name is Amanda esell and I proudly serve as the school counselor at 8 Street Elementary for all students prek through fifth grade I am here today to also discuss the proposal to merge both 8th Street and Oola middle into one prek 8 school and I will piggy back on some of the ideas that my colleague Miss Bigalow already mentioned I understand that there is a sack meeting scheduled for Thursday but I feel it is important to to speak tonight to reach out to those that are unable to attend and future parents who could be impacted by this change we all know that 8 Street and Oola carry long-standing Traditions but in true School counsel fashion the points I want to make relate to the safety and the well-being of our students at both schools so we heard about this possible merger just a short week ago and we are very confused at the time once again as a parent of a current Oola student I understand that the new proposed time is a shock to those who have gotten used to the current time of 7:45 myself included but I refuse to believe that cutting an administrator and completely erasing the identity of two high-performing schools is worth having a combined start time Middle School is but a short season in all of our Lives we've made it through through and they will also and if the time changes to 9:20 I believe families will adapt just as those in the rest of the county have I think it's important to note that the state has not even given their input on what a K8 school start time should be and both schools could potentially be starting at 9:20 if this merge is approved again how can we justify having students as young as four start school at 9:20 there is ample research supporting later start times for those students enrolled in the secondary setting however none of that research States elementary students experience the same benefits I also understand that if the merger happens students in grades K8 will be riding the same buses together and I know that this happens in Maran County already but that doesn't make it right or safe for our young students who are very impressionable at this time have you once again considered the safety and logistical implications of having over a thousand students arrive and leave campus when our Carline exists on city streets we have no holding area for these students another point was the idea of acceleration in specific subjects who is to say we are not already accelerating those students who we feel are ready to work above and beyond their GR level we were told other schools were already implementing acceleration in Maran County so it proves that acceleration can happen without combining the two schools 8 Street Prides itself on High student performance and we can and will continue pushing our students to their highest developmental potential you say you will keep the same staff if we merge but we know that that is simply a short-term decision what will our combined numbers mean for future job positions will instructional and support staff be pulled from their daily duties from one campus to support another I don't feel that we can safely say all student needs will be met and that worries me the truth is we will never fully become a K8 School even if that is what is decided on paper because other elementary schools feed in to Oola middle 8 Street contributes less Le than 20% of the new sixth grade population at Oola each year if we merge do our students have an advantage over those other students in Maran County who may not have an acceleration model and how do those parents feel about that this proposal seems altogether rushed without fully considering Alternatives in closing I want to say that I am a proud parent of a current Oola student and also a parent of an 8th Street student but I am also a proud employee of 8th Street Elementary I will continue to advocate for the success and well-being of the students enrolled and for the continued success of our school as a whole thank you very much thank you Mrs [Applause] squille Mr Mark sap good evening sir good evening Mark Edwards sap sa honorable chair honorable members of the board thank you for giving us the opportunity to speak to you it's not often that we come down to Grace you with our presence we know you have a lot to do and you take the minutes that are necessary to listen to us it looks like your hands are being tied on the state level with HB 733 they're telling you what time your schools must start and stop um looking at that and just glossing over it from a Layman's perspective it doesn't have to be implemented until July 1st 2026 this is an opportunity for the Maring County public school system to set the standard and let Tallahassee know how we want to run our schools by showing them how we want to run our schools you have an opportunity to use your transportation department to take the Cuffs off of them does design a logistics plan to move your students and rotate your school times based on getting them to school at the appropriate times it's one advantageous for daylight hours and being little kids or for the bigger ones that need apparently sleep a little more that finally come to work for me and need a little more motivation so I would disagree in that respect I'd like to see the bigger ones at school earlier um based on proximities of schools let your transportation Department go into proximities of schools on bus routes to run the routes efficiently that's everything we need to do you have the talent in your system take advantage of it you've got two years before you have to implement this don't do a shotgun start don't be first you'll figure it out you always do with schools that are combined on the same campuses if you're going to break one apart and do these run times you've got a Bus Loop that runs right through the middle of it that could cause a safety issue that's been discussed kids crossing what you considered your bus loop at a PE time would not be advantageous for anybody to lose a child or have an individual hurt run over by a 38,000 lb bus you can keep your staff that sounds a lot a lot like you can keep your doctor if you like him please don't make promises you can't keep we know things change we know things are very fluid when you combin assets and allocate them to be the most efficient and used in the best way possible downtown we've got a lot of property downtown that doesn't have a height restriction or a moratorium it's a very valuable asset sell it get the money use the MTI campus revamp it rebuild it build a monstrous massive beautiful Administrative Building down here that will do wonderful things that we can consolidate your resources put everybody kind of sort of in the same Hub maintenance might be in a different place those guys don't actually sit in the front office like y'all do and we might possibly be able to work together faster being in a conjoined unit you all have to work together a lot every day you need to be able to bounce ideas off each other very quick you can't do that on 13 different satellite campuses downtown you have a massive piece of property right here that can be used yes I know it has a sinkhole yes I know there's one in the back they claim is new but it's a wash out it was the same sinkhole when I was here in the '90s it was the same sinkhole the kids used to run into and go to the Cascades in the 70s it hasn't changed if that was the case FedEx wouldn't have built here because they were worried about sinkholes there's ways around it this is an opportunity to win we can defeat it you can build an infrastructure that's impressive and we can be what we've always intended to be Marian County school system has never had that facility that works like that you've never had an admin building that was something you could be proud of that people could come to and be a part of we've we've done it how we've done it because that's the way we've done it you've worked with the tools you've been given now let's go ahead and get some new tools and really build some things that we can go into I think that is all of my notes I appreciate your time and thank you very much thank you we appreciate you coming Miss Jennifer Cary is this our last speaker yes thank you good evening Jennifer Cary c a r y good evening tonight I come to you as a former educator I taught elementary middle and high school students in Maran County over the last 14 years and as a parent of two Elementary age children in the school district I believe that my unique background as an educator gives me a broad perspective but most importantly some necessary Clarity I want to discuss the topic of combining 8th Street Elementary in Oola middle school and a single educational structure this concept while proposed is optimizing acceleration poses several challenges that deserve our careful consideration I would like to EMP emphasize that ultimately a decision surrounding this topic should be made in the best interest of children and should ensure students have the same level or better concerning safety and academics aside from the academic implications it's important to consider the safety and logistical side of combining the two schools Paramount is the aspect of safety a K8 model means only one principal between pre kindergarten and 8th grade so in the event of an emergency the remaining administrators have more ground to cover and fewer eyes on a potential safety situation safety at a school should never be sacrificed and with the design of each campus it's hard to imagine that the current level of Safety Management and how drills or Alice Protocols are handled would be the same or better in a K8 structure combining the schools means that Transportation will change dramatically instead of two car lines that are staggered and relatively short in terms of timing we are looking at roughly 1,300 students being released all at once on a small City street thereby blocking neighborhood homes and city streets side streets even more than is already the case the main advantage presented to stakeholders is the potential for acceleration of our third through fifth students while this may sound advantageous there are ramifications that come with acceleration for acceleration sake Child Development experts p and Ericson among others have done vast research explaining that children undergo distinct stages of cognitive and socio emotional growth as they progress in school while I am not opposed to challenging our students and or meeting them where they are it is crucial to make sure that they are ready for this so having a pulse on student Readiness is key allowing these schools to be able to closely monitor their own students in their already existing structures will allow each school to continue to do what is best for students with all that being said why does the model of a K8 School need to be considered to accelerate students acceleration takes place within both School confines as they currently exist and the evidence is shown in the state test scores and the school grades for both schools while neither school is perfect no school ever is why are we considering changing something that appears to be working as we navigate the complexities of educational restructuring I ask you to consider the insights provided by research and educational organ organizations we must carefully consider the implications associated with combining these schools and remember that what we do should be in the best interest of children regardless of convenience We should strive for an educational system that addresses the unique needs of each developmental stage fostering optimal growth and success for our students thank you thank you includes our speakers okay thank thank you to all of our speakers this evening appreciate you taking your time to come out and and share your thoughts okay we will move on to our next agenda item and may I have a motion to approve the 2023 2024 recommended instructional materials for adoption of nine specified courses may I have a motion please so Move Motion by board member Cummings second by Vice chair Conrad Dr gullet thank you instructional materials are adopted Ed according to a process defined in State Statute and that is 1000 6.28 and board policy 2520 nine titles for nine courses are being recommended for adoption this evening thank you thank you Dr gullet I declare a public hearing is there anyone present who wishes to address the board on this topic seeing none may I have a motion to approve the public hearing for the 2023 202 4 adoption of instructional materials for mathematics for grade three acceleration motion to approve motion by Vice chair Conrad second second by board member Campbell is there any discussion hearing none all those in favor say I I motion passes 5 z may I have a motion to approve the public hearing for the 2023 2024 adoption of instructional materials for mathematics for grade four acceleration motion to approve motion by Vice chair Conrad second by board member Cummings is there any discussion hearing none all those in favor say I I motion passes 5 may I have a motion to approve the public hearing for the 2023 2024 adoption of instructional materials for mathematics for grade six acceleration Mo to approve motion by board member Cummings second second by Vice chair Conrad is there any discuss discuss hearing none all those in favor say I I motion passes 5 may I have a motion to approve the public hearing for the 2023 2024 adoption of instructional materials for mathematics for kindergarten social studies motion to approve motion by board member Campbell second second by Vice chair Conrad is there any discussion hearing none all those in favor say I I I I motion passes 5 and I believe we just passed mathematics for kindergarten I'm not sure the social studies was supposed to be attached to the end of that item it says materials not mathematics instructional materials for mathematics for kindergarten social studies is what I have it just says kindergarten social materials for kindergarten social studies okay that was a typo on here right so Brower can because we have several of them that say that I think I can take it from from here these are Miss Brower these are all coming up for social studies yes ma'am okay thank you appreciate the clarification may I have a motion to approve the public hearing for the 2023 2024 adoption of instructional materials for first grade social studies motion to approve motion by board member Cummings second second by Vice chair Conrad is there any discussion hearing none all those in favor say I I I motion passes 0 may I have a motion to approve the public hearing for the 2023 2024 adoption of instructional materials for second grade social studies motion to approve motion by board member Campbell second by board member Cummings is there any discussion hearing none all those in favor say I I motion passes 0 may I have a motion to approve the public hearing for the 2023 2024 adoption of instructional materials for third grade social studies motion to approve motion by Vice chair Conrad second second by board member James is there any discussion hearing none all those in favor say I I motion passes 5 may I have a motion to approve the public hearing for the 2023 2024 adoption of instructional materials for fourth grade social studies motion to approve motion by Vice chair Conrad second second by board member Campbell is there any discussion hearing none all those in favor say I I I motion passes 5 and finally may I have a motion to approve the public hearing for the 2023 2024 adoption of instructional materials for fifth grade social studies motion to approve second motion by Vice chair Conrads second by board member Cummings is there any discussion hearing none all those in favor say I I motion passes 5 thank you board may I have a motion to approve consent agenda items C 11.1 through c8.1 with the exception of items d9.1 d19 point2 D1 19.3 D1 19.4 d9.5 D1 19.6 D1 19.7 D9 19.8 D1 19.9 d910 d9.1 d912 d193 and d914 that have been placed under discussion may I have a motion please motion to approve motion by Vice chair Conrad second by board member Campbell all those in favor say I I I I motion passes 5 Z thank you now we're on to discussion may I have a motion to approve the 2024 202 School Staffing School level Staffing ratios I have a motion to approve motion by board member James second second by board member Cummings Dr gullet do you have information you would like to chare share regarding this item thank you madam chair board members you may recall we had a discussion on this topic on the um February 6th work session and if you have any additional questions um Miss um Morant is available from Human Resources thank you thank you Dr gallet now open it up to the board for any comments or discussion board member James thank you um I just wanted to take a moment to pass on my acknowledgement and appreciation for hearing the concerns that I aired personally during the work session um there's been an addition to the ESC Staffing ratios that says students not to exceed the top end of the range which I think recognizes that in our inclusion classrooms and in our classrooms that are self maintained we are now not going to exceed the top of the range and I believe that this is going to protect what's happening on our school campuses and protect our teachers and Educators in our classrooms so I want to say thank you for hearing that and acknowledging that and Bor for agreeing to move forward in that direction and the other just comment I want to make is I understand how tirelessly Miss Morant as well as Miss Boston Ellis and um Miss Talbert Irving and their respective staffs have worked to come to a place where we have Staffing School level Staffing plans that are going to acknowledge the work that's being done on our campuses and not cut anything from our schools as we try to um figure out what to do with the Esser money or the lack of Esser money and so I just want to publicly acknowledge the work you all have done I commend it and I'm thankful for you hearing me as a board member and willingness to engage in constructive conversation about it and come to a place where we're respecting the schools keeping what you have on your campuses and they can keep doing the good work because the data shows that the the influx of supports we put in schools in the last three years with covid money has improved our data across the the district overall and I'm proud of the work our schools are doing and I know that these resources will continue to support their work and we're going to continue to see Improvement so that's all I have thank you board member James um chair comrad thank you chair um I too want to thank our teams for listening um and taking in um there were quite a few concerns that were brought forward at the work session but I also want to acknowledge that the challenges that our school faces face are are still severe um lack and the lack of teachers going into the ESC profession and finding Paras to fill those positions is truly a challenge and especially in our inclusion classrooms where they're sitting at 16 17 18 students um and getting new students every day that I just want to our staff to know that I support you um I hear you I see you and I know that the challenge is there every day I feel confident I am also thankful for the statement added um at the bottom where we hit the top of the range but I just hope and ask that our teams continue to be vigilant at monitoring these numbers um as our classes approach especially our inclusion classes uh approach that maximum number that we're we're making strides um to incourage staff and train staff to go into this area in education where we're seeing such a shortage so thank you thank you Vice chair Conrad board member Campbell thank you chair and thank you to the team as well as to fellow board members for the extensive discussion that we had about this during the work session grateful for the work and grateful for the addition of the language that we're not going to exceed the top end of the range but I would be remiss if I also didn't say again what was said in the work session while I'm fully in support of this school School Staffing plan as presented I am also in support of removing the Hub option that we have for our es Department I believe we need to start providing these Services where students are and the schools they're zoned for rather than having the esess hubs as our current model stands um but I am in full support of the direction that we're going with this Staffing guide today thank you board member Campbell yes one more thing um I just wanted to share um in the last work session the the idea or the term for hubs was new to me um and so after further discussion with schools particularly elementary schools this last week um it it really is a challenge and so although I didn't have a lot of participation in that part of discussion last week I too would like to see um some ideas and new strategies brought forward on how we can meet the needs of our students at their base campuses and also relieve some of the stress our schools that are hubs are facing on a daily basis so um I just wanted to acknowledge that that um I was removed from that part of the conversation from lack of information and I do see a need right here um in Marian County thank you Vice chair Conrad and um for my part I also want to Echo the other board members who shared their gratitude and appreciation for for the hard work and and continued effort to do everything that we need to do to provide as much support as we possibly can to each and every school and each and every student and each and every staff member that that are there uh knowing that our budget is going to be tight that means we just have to continually rep prioritize and make sure that we are preserving everything that is contributing to our acceleration and our success so thank you for that uh my second comment hopefully is just going to be really easy and maybe it's just because I'm old but I noticed on the little footnote where it says note it's really really tiny and it's a pretty important statement because it says even though the font's really small it says units may be added or or removed you know based on U need and I think that that's important to have that be a little bigger because we know that we don't control students coming in students going out what type of abilities or needs they have so uh that would just be a a suggestion I I think that we need to make sure that the schools understand that there's that opportunity so that before they're completely dying um they ask for help um the next thing I wanted to share is definitely more complex it comes from being involved with ese since 1997 um need drives placement not numbers and while I completely support in theory not waiting till we get to the top end of the range to try to do something something that's just common sense if the IEP says the kid needs to be in a self-contained setting or needs to be in an inclusion you either need to have an IEP meeting or that kid needs to go where they're legally supposed to be placed so I just wanted to point that out as far as the hubs are concerned um there are students let's acknowledge that have tremendous needs no matter what campus they're on it's going to be very challenging especially until the kids begin to stable and you look for opportunities to include them in areas where they can be quite functional that is a tremendous and and ongoing Challenge and just because more than 50 years ago uh thankfully you know kids got to be able to be included in public school doesn't mean that it's been easy and so I just wanted to point out that because of the geographic size of our district if you have two kids in a unit and done ell in well that's not exactly a big class and what I've seen over the years is that then those kids get shipped into town so we have kids that are on buses for two hours or more that already have tremendous issues so then not only are they having issues in the classroom they're also having issues on the bus so we can sit up here you know quote unquote on high all all day and say what we would like to see happen but the reality is different and that that's only going to change by looking very deeply at our mtss process this is tied in with attendance we hear more and more that because a student hasn't been coming to school or they leave and go to a different school it's almost like the mtss process has to start all over again um there's a tremendous delay sometimes in in getting services to kids and getting them appropriately placed so while I appreciate the not exceeding the range I would even more appreciate the reality of looking very deeply at our mtss process doing whatever we can to accelerate that in the right ways while we as a boards continue to really advocate for attendance policy that is strong and that can be backed up so that we can solve some of these systemic issues that have been going on for more than 50 years so uh those would be my comments and I appreciate everyone's passion and expertise and hard work in recognizing the challenges that our schools face on a daily basis and and knowing that your school board supports you so unless there's any further discussion I believe we might be ready to vote on this one okay all those in favor uh say I for the school level stash Staffing ratios I I those opposed nay motion passes 5- Z thank you may I have a motion to approve the First Amendment with ESS Southeast LLC have a motion please 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 yes thank you madam chair members of the board this item pertains to our substitute Services Program and Miss morand is still at the podium and she's going to provide an update on the progress and particularly to this item which is an amendment to the original contract thank you thank you Dr gallet and chair thrower um as Dr gullet mentioned this is the first amendment with ESS Southeast LLC which is the organization that we've contracted with to provide substitute teacher Staffing services for the district the amendment before you reflects applicable pay for substitutes working at school locations and an on an extended Bill schedule as substitutes at these locations work an extra hour ESS has been a great partner with mcps since the team started on December 4th 2023 in all transparency and as with any major transition and or change in work we've encountered a few unanticipated bumps however the es ESS team along with teams around the district have worked diligently to resolve the issues with as little disruption as possible I would like to just pause and take a quick moment to give a big thank you to our HR team risk management Finance sis technology Federal programs and academics for their past and ongoing hard work and collaboration with this project January 2024 was the first full month with ESS and we've seen great success the overall fill rate for January was 83% which is an increase from 77% the ESS team continues to recruit strategize visit our schools participate in their activi activities and provide provide training to our current and new substitute and substitutes and we continue to look forward to a long and rewarding relationship with them thank you Miss Morant board any discussion or comments question yes go ahead V your I just have a couple of clarifying questions um so this would really just be for the remainder of this school year correct because next year we're losing the extra hour correct that is correct so this will be until Jan um June 30th 2024 okay and was back pay a part of that consideration yes they will get the retro pay okay all right thank you you're welcome thank you Vice chair is there any further discussion on this particular item okay hearing none all those in favor say I I I motion passes unanimously 5 Z thank you may I have a motion to approve new job description for School attendance Advocate Court liaison approve motion by board member Cummings second second by board member Campbell Dr gullet do you have information you would like to share regarding this item I do thank you so this is a new job description for a school attendance Advocate courtly aison is an exchange from a school work um position School worker position I'm sorry social worker and so miss um Delo doll is going to provide some information about this new position and the job description thank you thank you good evening M Del noal good evening board chair thrower superintendent Dr gullet and board members I'm excited to be here tonight to speak to our proposed School attendance Advocate Court liaison position I know you uh the mcps Educators and families understand the importance of consistent School attendance and the current need to make every effort to improve our attendance rates in the district across the state and Nationwide in order to reinforce our commitment to continue improving attendance and meet our achieve 20 2026 uh goal it was imperative for us to have someone who can dedicate their time and talents to supporting schools and our initiatives a few key components of this role are serving as our courtly aison serving as a resource to school teams and helping to lead our attendance Council and attendance campaign as you may know Court hearings are now held on a monthly basis as opposed to the previous quarterly schedule this process requires time-sensitive documentation and tasks necessitating a greater commitment of time and attention to the process we're also looking forward to having someone who can be a resource to school teams providing information and coaching as needed when schools are analyzing their data and problem solving how to address identified needs and barriers lastly Community engagement and support are vital we want to ensure that we continue to have an Avenue to listen to our community stakeholders and create opportunities for for them to partner with us to address attendance our attendance Advocate would chair our attendance Council and help in the planning and implementation of the yearly attendance campaign we have a variety of ideas and are excited to have someone that can dedicate time to helping us bring those to life thank you we'll now open it up to discussion from the board any I don't comments okay I have a a couple things I would like to share and um first of all I applaud this uh this new position we know how important attendance is in fact we have a full District initiative showing up together that's how all-encompassing it is and that is the commitment and and priority um I have a concern about um this job description in the sense of when I compare it to a job description that was just that we just approved as part of the consent job agenda which I know is also a needed position um coordinator one for uh MTC as I did a basic compare and contrast I noticed that the coordinator one MTC position has 15 essential functions listed and the attendance School attendance Advocate courtly aison position which is right now classified as a program specialist has 28 essential functions and it doesn't appear to me that the summary matches the essential functions and what I mean by that is it's it's my opinion um and I'm looking for input from the board because I'm about to offer an amendment uh to elevate this new attendance Advocate courtly aison position to a coordinator one from a program specialist I think there's every good reason to do that I think that this person is being tasked with a tremendous lift uh they're going to have to be a super self-starter I'm very familiar with the um Wellness mental health and wellness I Department I know you guys doing an amazing job as a collaborative group you support each other but let's face it you know I think everyone sitting in this Auditorium will acknowledge we have an attendance problem and and we need leadership and at at higher level I think and we want the the responsibilities to to reflect that Broad and and foundational expectations that we have and when I looked at the job description I'm seeing action words like you know develop educate plan chair provide to me that screams leadership so I would rather not be Pennywise and pound foolish on this um I think that we are wasting a tremendous amount of time money and resources just trying to get kids to school and regularly and convey to the community how important it is to support education you know across the whole community and we've got great support um but but it is to me it is a signal from the school board that we are taking this very seriously that we want this person to have the the support The credibility and and the salary that that matches what we are going to be asking them to accomplish so that's where I am with this I would love to hear from the rest of the board what they're thinking Dr James um I didn't get behind that I have a clarifying question to her clarifying question do you see this evolving into a department or CU this is this is a single person so do you see it becoming or Dr gullet to something that is larger than a single person we don't and so that was some of our reasoning behind doing it at this level um when we compare what our other coordinators in our department are doing what they're doing is supervising staff so they're supervising staff they're doing performance evaluations they are leading their divisions in implementing things that are division-wide so this person has a lot of functions in their job description but they're not daily tasks um and they're not completed in isolation or independently they would kind of lead and kind of pulled together what we want to do to make sure that we're focusing on attendance initiatives and focusing on what we need to do however the implementation of it is still a department collaboration um and so because they're not really working on budgets and contracts um they're not necessarily supervising or doing performance evaluations then it wasn't comparable to the coordinators that we have in our department thank you for sharing that I I um I appreciate the sentiments you've offered chair thrower I would say that I would tend to agree that it should be a program specialist right now um for the reasons you shared and if the position evolves into something more which I could get behind the chances are it's probably going to evolve into something more I appreciate the sentiment for now but I think we have such a heightened focus on attendance and I could see it becoming something more and in the time in which it becomes something more I would fully support a coordinator that would then have supervisory roles over a program Specialist or other individuals who would be supporting the work of this leg of the department but I think for now I I do understand and appreciate the the classification as it's brought forth to us thank you thank you Dr James is there any other um discussion or comments from the board go ahead yes chair thank you and this may actually require Miss Morant but I don't know if it will or not so just bear with me as I get my question ready you can just stay seated Miss Morant you don't have to walk all the way up here so I completely appreciate chair thrower's sentiment on what this looks like as far as the job duties and responsibilities and I would propose while you're proposing moving it to a coordinator I actually would counter propose I suppose as I'm pulling up the salary schedules and that's where um just looking at a base salary for the district specialized Personnel of a tier 69 which is what this is classified as right now that's presented to US base salary starting salary would be $655 if we moved it to a coordinator one the base salary be $83,900 as opposed to a 69 that is a program specialist but it doesn't have a number of days that is associated with it and that classification of 70 is a starting salary of $ 77,4 N3 so I'm not sure if that 70 is one we're phasing out okay she's nodding that's thank you that's what I was curious because that's where I was going I'm like okay can we can we split the difference here and actually go to a different but we're phasing out that classification that is just a program special with specialist without the number of days Associated okay then that does not help me because I was going to try to figure out a a middle ground I I appreciate both uh considerations actually I understand the justification or the need for putting them at a district level specialized position as opposed to a coordinator position but I also o can respect having that many responsibilities for a brand new position having started many brand new positions myself I understand what that looks like and how it does evolve um to board member James point it it does evolve into something much more especially if you're a self-starter and you're really taking on the task that is before you and even with the courtly aison position we we haven't quite had what that looks like yet and I'm sure that that will be a help to us as well so I defin itely could get behind supporting a different salary range that that person starts at um but I just don't know where that fits on the salary schedule so thank you oh um I'm I'm hearing the conversation I'm listening to everything that's been said and in our conversations when we talked about this this Staffing plan and all of these other pieces we also talked about budgetary restraints and and constraints and um seeing that this is I can get behind behind it if that's necessary right now I don't know if it's necessary and the reason I say that is because it's a new job description currently we don't have any on that position right now correct so it's a position we're going to be advertising correct so I would I would suggest that we air on the side of safety and cautiously proceed um by let's looking at this position in this year let's assess it for this year and then come back and if need be then we reassess and do what we need to do I don't think we need to just jump out there and push it to that point because I do think it will evolve I do think there's going to be some additions to it but I think we need to be able to have some some sensible data on making that decision instead of just making a quick reaction tonight based on what we see as the for um the number of PE uh pieces that they're doing in their specific job so if I clarify so the courtly aison um was never a position it was a role it was uh another Duty um that one of our social workers was doing it was a part-time so they were part-time social worker part-time courtly aison so this is new whereas we want to have one person that's dedicated to doing that as well as supporting our attendance initiatives thank you for that clarification and I I know that we are on the right track you know if just by introducing this job description and and really prioritizing this um as I look at the 28 essential functions I can't help but think that this person is definitely going to need some help um it is a big beast to tame and I sit in truy court and so I I have some background knowledge on on what this is going to take and I wish that it had been a more prioritized position years ago um because we all know where we are with our attendance struggles so um I want to just share that I have uh concern about not setting this person up for failure you know um and when you're asking someone to to shoulder this big of a load where it seems very very clear what the lift is going to be to me the salary is not commensurate with the responsibility and what we're asking I do also understand and thank you for all the great conversation Miss D noal and that there's the opportunity to get some summer contract you know and and that type of thing because attendance problems occur all summer we have so many kids that we wish would come to summer school the ones that come a lot of times aren't the ones that we know really need to be there so this this is a year round wraparound uh I'll you know I I feel like what I'm hearing from the rest of the board is that there's interest but maybe not now so I'll accept that and I'll just make sure I know my comments are on the record all right anything else okay sounds like we're ready to vote all those in favor say I I those oppose nay motion passes unanimously thank you okay moving on to uh D1 19.4 may I have a motion to approve the Grant application Early Childhood music education incentive program motion by board coming second by Vice chair Conrad Dr gullet do you have information you would like to share regarding this item I do thank you board um we are very appreciative and grateful for Senator Keith Perry and his dedication to music education especially in our early grades know how important that is for our students and this is a Grant application Miss rle um is going to provide some additional information on this but but very grateful for his support of our students thank you good evening Miss R good evening good evening the early childhood music education incentive program was created to assist participating school districts in implementing and supporting comprehensive music education programs for students in kindergarten through grade two the grant provides funds to purchase items such as instruments supplemental curriculum technology and professional learning participating schools this year include forom Early Learning Okala Springs Elementary and Reddit Coler Elementary each school's comprehensive music program includes all students at the school enrolled in kindergarten through grade two is staffed by a certified music educator and provides music instruction for at least 30 consecutive minutes two days a week wonderful thank you Miss ridle is there any discussion or comments from the board board member James thank you I just wanted to acknowledge I'm I love District 5 I live on the North End and um I could not be more proud that Okala Springs Reddit Coler and I've just taken on forom it's not officially on my under my name on the website yet but I call it in District 5 because it is and I'm just grateful that they have this enhanced opportunity and that we're acknowledging their needs and what we um can do to support them so I just wanted to give a little District 5 shout out awesome and we may have to have a conversation about Florida because that was Evergreen so I just adopted them but we love all of our schools and it doesn't matter the district and that's the most important thing any other comments just just a quick sh I too am just very grateful um for this opportunity for our select schools and we started off our meeting talking about um literacy and our students reading in the amount of time and we know there's so much research that correlates between the development of music and how it helps the brain develop in that correlation with reading and so um I'm just excited to see these two things uh paired up and I was excited that this um this presentation is very well-rounded you see that there's a technology piece and a training piece and there's Hands-On instruments for the students to use and to me that sets students up for Success so thank you thank you Vice chair board member Campbell sure thank you chair I'll just be brief super excited about this I I want to First say that I distinctly remember the Early Education music that I had and the music educator that I had from kindergarten through sixth grade back in the day when that was a thing and uh the impact he made on my life and so just really grateful that Senator Perry has taken on this initiative as he is terming out this year this is definitely a part of his legacy and I'm grateful that Dr gullet acknowledged that that this is because of senator Keith Perry and because of his passion for this project that we were a part of the original group and are now expanding Beyond and just just really grateful that we've been able to take advantage of the passion that he has for this project so thank you so much thank you and yes if anyone gets a chance to get out to oakrest and check out their steel drums that's pretty amazing thing too so this we really will miss Senator Perry's support with music education it's definitely a passion of his and we've certainly been the beneficiaries of that if there's no more discussion are we ready to vote okay all those in favor say I I I those oppose nay motion passes unanimously thank you may I have a motion to approve the Grant application 20123 2024 Unified School Improvement Grant otherwise affectionally known as unisig may I have a motion please motion to approve motion by Vice chair Conrad second second by board member James Dr go do you have information you like to share regarding this item yes thank you again board and and the school Improvement Grants are not unfamiliar to this board but this one is for $1.26 million um for eligible schools Miss kard is going to provide some some background uh specifically to this Grant application thank you good evening Miss coner good evening board chair thrower Vice chair Conrad superintendent Dr gullet and board members the Unified School improvment Grant funds have been allocated to serve traditional and Charter Public Schools that are implementing a comprehensive support and Improvement plan in the 2023 24 school year eligibility is based on the 2022 school grade data from the Florida Department of Education as Dr gullet mentioned the total amount awarded is 1,268 550 the state did give our district and schools permission to begin spending the grant funds earlier this year and all Grant funds must be spent by July 31st 2024 the grant funds are currently being used to increase positive student outcomes the schools are using the grant funds to hire additional pair of professionals to work with identified students mentoring Services curriculum resources additional reading intervention materials resources to support Lego robotics instructional and non-instructional salaries for planning and collaboration instructional and non-instructional salaries for after school tutoring for our students a Tutoring company for our students and transportation buses for that after school tutoring the schools will continue to create robust learning opportunities for their students with the use of the Unified School Improvement Grant funds awesome thank you Miss ker board is there any discussion or comments I just go ahead Vice CH thank you I just wanted to share um are schools that are receiving uh the the benefit from this so we have East Maran we have lakee middle Hill Crest Horizon academy uh Maran Technical Institute Silver River Macintosh area school and New Leaf Center so there's a diverse group um that are receiving these funds um and I I just love the list that Miss ker shared with us you know again it's a well-rounded um approach so planning and tutoring after school resources and support for our teachers and our students so I'm just really excited about that and also thankful for the opportunity that these schools have absolutely thank you Vice chair any other comments or discussion okay hearing none all those in favor of the unisig grant say I I those oppose nay motion passes unanimously 5 Z okay moving on item D1 19.6 may I have a motion to to approve the Grant application Workforce Development capitalization incentive program known as the cap Grant and it is Taps number 24b 178 may I have a motion please motion to approve motion by Vice chair Conrad second by board member Cummings Dr gullet do you have information you'd like to share regarding this item yes and Mr Gary smallridge is going to come forward and talk about this item aboard as you know we are deeply committed to Workforce Development leading to Industry certifications for our students and so m Mr smallidge will provide specifics regarding this um opportunity for through this grant thank you good evening Mr smallidge hey good evening um board chair thrower Vice chair Conrad board members and Dr gullet um I'm going to call it the cap Grant it's a little easier to say but the cap Grant was um shared with us with us not too long ago um the directors of um the technical colleges and basically it is100 million that Governor Dan sanis set aside for 912 CTE like secondary programs um postsecondary programs like MTC offers and state colleges so when we heard about it made a lot of sense for us to write a proposal and it worked a little differently than a normal Grant they they wanted us to write a concept proposal which I believe you have and um we had to pitch basically our plan and the only real rules was that we had to make sure that it was dual enrollment um qualified so we had to have the programs opened up for dual enrollment students and since we're heavily into dual enrollment now at MTC this all made sense for us um you guys have been to MTC you know that West Bay big open area we do a lot of trainings in there people use it for trainings we haven't really been utilizing that space it has huge ceilings probably higher than this ceiling where I'm standing right now and so we wrote a concept proposal to build that space out and to do a remodel model Grant and we would build a wall down the middle build two brand new classrooms with big windows so you could see from the classroom add into the lab areas and one side would be for our dual enrollment welding program and the other side would be for our brand new program that we started with hbac uh we started that program as a night program very successful so we pitched that we wanted to make it a day program and then open it up for a day full-time program and then even nighttime and we just have to bring dual enroll students into that which is easy for me to get on board with so we pitched that asked for 1.39 million and that was in working with Robert Knight's team working with my program specialist they got all the equipment quotes for us in a really big hurry we pitched that and we got it approved so we we um we're past actually the proposal stage they've actually awarded it since we got on the board agenda so we got the award letter and we should start pretty soon is awesome thank you Mr smallidge that is very exciting news is there any comments or discussion from the board go ahead board member Campbell the only comment I'll make is thank you Mr smallidge the the foresight and the um just enthusiasm for what's happening at Maring Technical College I know you haven't even been there very long but with an appropriation request coming your way from last year and hopefully another one coming this year and now another remodel happening on that campus we are committed absolutely wholeheartedly to Career Technical education and I know later this evening we'll be talking about even more Capital dollars that we need in other schools but we have creatively found out how we can make this happen in Maran Technical College so just thank you and the best part about it is that we're doubling seats for the Dual enrolled students that was part of the requirement and it's it's it was easy to write so uh a lot of changes coming to MTC guys stay tuned keep watching our website and hopefully that next appropriation request comes through abolutely thank you is there any more comment or discussion from the board okay we're excited thank you thank you all right um we are ready to vote all those in favor say I I I those oppos nay motion passes unanimously okay we will move on to item d19 six may I have a motion oops just did that one all right too excited D9 point7 we have a motion to approve amendment number two to the construction manager contract guaranteed maximum price for early site work and materials procurement related to construction of new Elementary School X which is Project number 24-12 may I have a motion please move move by board member Cummings second second by board member Campbell Dr gulet do you have information you'd like to share regarding this item uh thank you board as you know we've been bringing forward these items for the new construction um under discussion each time and this is just the second phase of that project a large dollar amount and of course um for the uh new Elementary School Miss Dobbins is available if you have any specific questions regarding this item thank you thank you Dr gallet um is there any questions or comments from the board okay hearing none all those in favor say I I I those oppose nay motion passes unanimously moving on to D1 19.8 may I have a motion to approve the contract between owner and construction manager for Construction Services related to construction of a 16 classroom Wing addition at Liberty Middle School which is Project 24103 may I have a motion motion to approve uh motion by board member Campbell second by Vice chair Conrad Dr gullet do you have information you'd like to share regarding this item uh yes thank you again so this um proposes for your consideration it's the second highest ranked um company because the one that we Tred to negotiate with was the top ranked um we were unable to negotiate so the proposal is to move to the second highest ranking um from the facilities Department again miss Dobbins can answer specific questions um and the description is under the rationale methodology for why we went with the second highest thank you thank you is there any comments or discussion from the board okay hearing none all those in favor say I I motion passes unanimously 5-0 moving on to D1 19.9 may I have a motion to approve the replacement of the gymnasium roof at dellan middle school project number 24-17 may I have a motion motion by board member Cummings second second by Vice chair Conrad Dr gullet do you have information you'd like to share regarding this item yes thank you so the dellan Middle School roof is 30 years old and in desperate need of replacement so miss doin is going to provide a presentation on this item thank you you even chair through our board member superintendent Dr gullet uh following our January 25th work session where we went in depth on our aging facilities this is a a perfect example of our aging facilities so the gymnasium at denell and middle school is built in 1948 making it 76 years old as you recall we used Esser $3 to air condition our gyms at the middle school level and as we are a air conditioning that gym it also needs the roof replacement which is 10 years past the time it needed to be replaced and it makes no sense to add an HVAC for it to leak out through the insufficient Roofing on that building it is for 343,000 out of capital outlay which was approved earlier this year thank you Miss dos board is there any comment or discussion like to raise okay I'm glad we're able to replace the roof and maintain a 1948 gym that's anyone that's ever been out there it's pretty it's a pretty cool building all right all those in favor say I I I those oppose nay motion passes unanimously 0 moving on to d19 point10 may I have a motion to approve the replacement of Technical Services building Phase 2 remaining construction project number 23-12 n this is the building that very sadly burned down may I have a motion motion to approve motion by Vice chair Conrad second second by board member Campbell Dr gullet do you have information you'd like to share regarding this item I think you covered a chair I mean simply the technical services building burned down and we have to replace it so we are asking for your approval to do that thank you and it is what it is any thank you any discussion from the board okay all those in favor say I I I motion passes unanimously 5 all right moving on to item D1 19.11 may I have a motion to approve the proposed amended ordinance related to impact fees amending the code of maring County Florida Chapter 10 at all may I have a motion please motion to approve motion by Vice chair Conrad second by board member Cummings is there any discussion from this board or comments at this time um sure chair my my only thought and I was trying to get to the right page because we had an uploaded document today I believe it's page eight is where the multifam categories begin my only comment uh to the board is potentially to at least add either SF for square footage or sqft something like that because right now it lists multif family apartment 1 to 700 and then 701 to 9 00 and I don't want any ambiguity in this whatsoever as to what that means and so that's my recommendation I don't know if attorney Powers wants to comment on that or not but if you if you'll look at the um items that we've put because when the board directed us to put this on the next available um meeting of course that takes a lot of back and forth between a lot of different uh staff and uh from both both us and the county so um just up Ed today was some final uh proposed edits from um Mr Minter and um I know that Mr hurle he has also met with uh the technical working group staff in order to get together some of the edits we actually as late as today have been working on and and putting some of these into here none of them are substantive edits however they are as as uh the one that was just pointed out ones which could have some bearing or impact and someone might want change changed um so the what you have in front of you there with that final uh one is a is a redlined document which does indicate some uh last minute final changes as well now what I would propose is that I have to put this in final form I have to you know turn off and turn off red lines and and put it in final form for acceptance what I would propose is that the board delegate authority to the board chair working with legal to uh make any scriveners error type edits or um any edits of that nature square footage um I would I would Define them as uh non-s subsid of changes to the ordinance prior to submission to the commission these would be ones that would affect the acceptance or execution more so than the intent so edits for clarity essentially so if the board votes to accept this and there should be another minor change uh as of this exacte type that we're talking about here on the redline doc documents uh that I would be have the freedom to be able to do that so that we don't have to reconvene a special board meeting in order to get everybody together to fix um you know a stray wording error or one that is late sub uh it's it's a late Comer that is suggested by a staff member from the county or from our somebody sees something right sounds reasonable to me provided that that is that the board grants that discretion uh for non-substantive changes to be made at the discretion of the board chair as recommended by legal then we'll move forward from there and submit this to back to Mr Mentor incorporating the changes that he is also recommended and Mr Hurley he is reviewed okay yep got full consensus yes all right sounds great any other discussion yes uh board member James thank you um I just wanted to take a moment to acknowledge the work that's gone into this um I I told attorney Powers when the meeting started I feel like since I took office this has been a topic of conversation and the board before us had started the work and we came into it and it seems like we have been working on this for the last 15 months um but I want to take just a brief moment to acknowledge the people in our community as well as within our organization who have supported this work so I want to thank Kevin Shey for his support in this and representing the CP in the business community and the impact it will have in our community I want to thank David Tilman the president of mcbia and his representation for the Builders Association in Maring County um christien drer and the entire city council uh who Christen has been very councilwoman drer has been very um active in this conversation and I want to acknowledge her representation of the city and the city's public conversation recently on this matter to move forward um commissioner Michelle Stone and the entire County commission for again uh being willing to hear our concerns and and help us move forward and finally last but certainly not least at by any means is our staff um David hurle Miss dek Miss Dobbin all of their respective departments um how tirelessly they have worked to get all of the data work with all of the different parties and get to today um there were moments in this journey I wasn't I didn't wasn't sure we were going to make it and I feel really grateful that as a community and as a team we have worked together um to get here so I just wanted to publicly acknowledge everyone's work and if I missed off um saying someone I acknowledge you too whoever that is because it's taken a team effort and I'm grateful to be here and I'm excited decided to move forward and vote on this item tonight thank you thank you board member James Vice chair comment real quick I don't believe I can say it any better than Dr James um has said it but we both joined the the board at the same time and it has been an ongoing conversation and there have been many highs and many lows in trying to get to this point where we are tonight and so I too just want to acknowledge that many community members City Council Members County Commissioners um there's been just so much conversation and so much give and take and I so I too am excited to be here in this position this evening in hopes of moving forward so thank you to everyone involved thank you Vice chair Conrad board member Campbell sure just echoing the things my fellow board members have said certainly I believe our first intergovernmental meeting chair thrower in more than a Dozen Years occurred in 2021 so we've been along for this ride for a while and it seemed like we would never get here but yet here we are on February 13 2024 and as soon as uh board member coming sits down I'm ready to call the vote let's go all right great yes thank you um that was a great segue because board member Cummings and I have been part of this since we took office and in 2018 and and realizing that in trying to come back from the Great Recession where we got so devastated in this community trying to figure out the timing of when it would be right to begin to reopen the conversation on on impact fees and I am very grateful for all of the leg work and hard work that's gone into this because I know that future Boors will not likely ever be in this position again um School School Board city council County Commission you know we have a a good uh group in place now we have our uh technical working group we have our interlocal agreement updated there's just been a ton of work that has gone into getting us to where we are today and that is very well positioning um future boards for for future success and and just you know much faster uh collaboration and and turnar around for the benefit of our of our whole community which includes our school district so I am ready to vote all those in favor say I I I motion passes unanimously 5 Z all right like I know we just take a moment and pause all right moving on to item D1 19.12 I have a motion to approve the proposed resolution of the 1 half cent sir tax motion to approve motion by Vice chair Conrad second second by board member James is there any discussion go ahead Dr D um again I just want to say that we um we've been this has been happening in the community for a while the conversation's been happening and again I just want to give thanks to Reggie bu and Kevin chiley for bringing forward this proposal to us as a board and doing the leg work to poll and figure out how we would could proceed as a board and Miss doin department for very clearly painting the picture for the needs that we have in our community for our deferred maintenance and aging facilities and how just how this sales tax will be used to support our schools and our infrastructure so um I I really do look forward to having um the C lead us through this journey uh to November and um pray that our community moves forward in a Direction that's going to support our schools in infrastructure thank you board member James any other comments discussion Camp um my only comment and echoing what Dr James has said there but I also want to give a shout out and a thank you especially to the legal department and also to our two employees who did the translation on this uh because that was done quickly and in short order and there was a lot thrown when when we think of the things that have been happening IL legal just in the last week to two weeks there's a lot there policies and impact fees and sales tax there's just a lot so I just wanted to say thank you to attorney powers and to your team in legal which is only two other people and uh all the work that has gone in as well as to the employees who worked on the translation because I don't think I realized just how much needed to be done as quickly as we needed it to be done so just just grateful that we're here as well thank you thank you board member Campbell and yes globally thank you are we ready to vote all those in favor say I I I motion passes unanimously 5 and as with the last item um I you will see on your uh sheet there or on the agenda that there there was an email even later even today from uh Mr Minter with a couple of suggestions wording suggestions and I'm going to be meeting with uh Mr buer who I believe was in the audience earlier if he's not now um in order to and with Mr Sheely in order to um make sure that those if they need to be slightly altered those would not be substantive changes but they would be changes that may affect the interpretation so I might have to go back and get a new translation and do it again so those factors if just as with the last item if they're non-substantive changes for clarity or to correct scrier errors I would again ask that the board chair be granted the authority by the board in order to sign off on those changes so that we can get this on because with this item we are we are on a timeline uh for aaga in order to be able to get this in 180 days before the ballot so I wouldn't want to have to call another special board meeting for a minor and non-substantive change most definitely I think I think you have a consensus okay great you thank you uh thank you attorney Powers all right so any more discussion we're good all right all those in favor say i i i v we already voted geez let's vote again it was so much fun the first time okay let's move on uh may I have a motion to approve the school start times start stop times for the 2024 2025 school year motion to approve motion by Vice chair Conrad second second by board member James Dr Gull do you have information you'd like to share regarding this item thank you madam chair just as a reminder we discussed this on the uh 6 February 6 work session so um if you have any additional questions Miss dobins is available thank you thank you okay uh board we'll open it up to discussion comments I I just have a few comments um go ahead I sh there's been a lot of Communication email phone calls um this is a big item for a lot of families and a lot of students and I just wanted to share that the decision is not taken lightly but my job as a board member is to make sure that we meet the needs of all of our students and so this conversation has been happening for 10 or 12 months we've been struggling as a district to get our students all of our students to school on time and at this time we have 16% of our students that are missing first period classes we have 32,000 miles to cover every day to get our students to class and so I just share those facts with you to know that the decision is not taken lightly we um this board member is making a decision that will positively affect our students and their education and our job to get them to school so they can receive their education and so I just wanted to review some of those things we shared at the work session um because the concerns are not taken lightly but we have a job to do thank you Vice chair board member James okay um just I I want to just make a brief statement I I think that it has far been time for Maring County to get to a triple tiered route system for transportation and school start times um I know that Chang is uncomfortable and um it can be challenging to think about how we will approach this but I do believe that the time has come I want to just make a point of clear clarification I didn't receive a single complaint from a High School parent or teacher so while 54% of High School population is going to be significantly impacted significantly being more than 30 minutes I received not a single complaint from a high school so if we were to remove the high school students from the change because again they did not complain only 8% of our student population is negative ly impacted 8% 1.7% of elementary students with a 40 minute change specifically at 8th Street and 11.8% of students total between elementary and middle school so 8% of our district is not a large enough percentage to make a change that is not representative of what every student needs to be successful so I'm going to absolutely support moving forward with the times that were proposed because that is what's best for our district as a whole and I will continue to be a board member that problem solves and comes up with strategies and finds Solutions as I have always been and will continue to be to help meet any pain points that parents are experiencing and I will be a fierce advocate for for expanding map and creating ways to help fund map for families that don't have access to it and find a solution but I'm never going to not make an uncomfortable and hard decision because it inconveniences and is uncomfortable for some if the majority are going to benefit from a decision that is our job as a board so that is all I have thank you board member James board member Campbell sure thank you chair so I will not be in supportive of this and I think that I I expressed all the reasons in the work session um for some of the same reasons that we had a speaker this evening Express in part because there wasn't a board member a part of this committee we have not seen what all the formulas look like and I believe there still are alternative Pathways that we could have chosen while I agree that a three- tiered busing model is the direction that the school district needs to go I believe there are still other ways that it could be done to the point that we haven't heard from high school students Andor families I would say it's because they aren't really aware of what's happening because this has happened so quickly and I'll liken it to just being in Tallahassee with a group that I happen to run into of high school students and I mentioned to them how's your start time they happen to be from Belleview high school and they were like oh no it's not a big deal because Belleview High School just had a start time change for this school year and when I said oh no not right now you'll be going to school at 8:30 next year their eyes all got really big and they were students who were advocating in Tallahassee for their program and their school people aren't aware this is happening and it's happening so quickly there are teachers that are concerned specifically from a couple of these middle schools and there are families that aren't even aware it's happening and specifically the impact that it's making to district one schools I absolutely cannot be in support of this this evening I understand the challenges we're experiencing but what we're about to vote on is an impact to 45,000 plus students and while we have late buses absolutely about 2,800 students Max that are impacted by a decision we're making that impacts 45,000 and I cannot be in support of that tonight thank you Bo member C BL your comrade um while while I um I hear you uh board member Campbell um I disagree that this conversation has just started this conversation about Transportation has been happening since the moment I stepped on as a board member we have faced Transportation challenges since before I became a board member and the transportation department has been here for almost every single work session presenting and problem solving ideas on how to get our students to school on time and we still have 16% of our students missing their first period courses I personally believe this three- tier system is something we have to try because we have tried everything else that has been brought before us thank you thank you Vice chair board member Cummings M chair thank you um this this has been a situation that's that did not just pop up overnight um we have been the system has been broke for a while we know that it's been broken for a while and we've thrown so many different things at it um we've tried different strategies or whatever you want to call them we've tried different things and this is since I've been on the board this is probably the one that's been the most comprehensive as far as trying to go forward with the path um when we have the number of students being late to school or missing a a period of class and then we then we say we expect schools to do better and we expect the grades to get better um we're sending double messages so I'm I'm I'm in favor of moving forward with this I think this is opportunity for us to try to work is it perfect no it's not perfect it's not perfect is are there going to be people that's going to be upset of course um but we have to make decisions that's going to affect the greater masses and we have to affect uh make decisions that are tough and there's going to be some folk that's going to be upset um change is never never easy however we won't know unless we do implement the change so I think we have to move forward because we cannot continue to go down the same road that we've been going down these past few years and expecting something different to happen if we don't uh nothing be so failure but a try so I'm I'm in I'm in favor of us moving forward with this and I know there's going to be folk that's going to write us they're going to send emails they'll even call um but we have to make the best decision because one of the things that we say is where every student succeeds not just some students not just some districts not just some neighborhoods but every student and I think this is a this may be a plan where every student in our district can to see thank you board member Cummings board member Campbell thank you I I want to say that I do not disagree that Transportation issues have been a challenge ever since I became a board member and sure long before that as well the entire State and the entire nation is having significant challenges with transportation and I do not deny that point my point is this solution this solution came up two weeks ago and I believe that we haven't had the proper time to vet it but what I also want to say that is happening tonight if in fact this is approved we also have eight of our 10 middle schools going to a seven period day in the drop of a hat with one quick change that perhaps those families aren't aware of we also have a high school that's going to a seven period day understood I understand the justifications of all of that but both of those massive significant changes to significant numbers of families in our district are occurring with one swift vote those communities are not aware that these changes are coming so I I guess it's good that we're having it in February because we have the next five to six months to prepare them for what's coming I understand that marry and after school programs potentially will be a solution for some especially in before care for middle schools but the cost prohibitive nature of that as well as the space for that continues to be a challenge and will be a challenge specifically for I know the parents I've heard from directly in district one and I just cannot support this tonight so that's all I have to say thank you is there any more comment or discussion from the board okay U I'll just briefly share that uh we have tasked Transportation over and over and over again with coming up with strategies potential Solutions you know hiring outside drivers uh reorganizing routes um all kinds of appreciation for our our transportation team to try to get them to stay we have training lots of training we've uh beefed up our code of student conduct because if a kid can't sit on the on the bus and behave I don't care if you're three to a seat you know you're not asking that much and and riding a the bus is a privilege and it makes it even harder on kids when those buses are late late late late late and then you have problems at the bus stop so to me um I like to look to the people that are in the trenches and that are tasked with solving the problems by Department this is what they are proposing and you hit the nail on the head uh board member Campbell that we all as parents have five to six months you know to to get this figured out and and I remember those days you know with my kids at at three different schools none of them went to their base high school was crazy and you look back sometimes and think you know with both two parents working and everything else how did you manage to get it done well we car pulled we did a hub bus not to be confused with the other hubs we did Hub stops uh we availed ourselves of lots of different things you know to to get it done for our kids so this is when it is tough because you're never going to receive 100% approval and no matter what you do somebody's going to be affected um but I'm ready to vote and those are my uh comments I I hear everyone else and really appreciate all of the feedback that we got from our community and I hope the community at least feels like they were heard um we were able to make some adjustments with schools that don't use busing at all so there was really no point in disrupting those families just because just because uh so we're going to continue to be a board that that problem solves works together acknowledges issues and moves forward so with that being said all those in favor say I I I those oppose nay nay motion passes 41 thank you okay moving on to item d914 may I have a motion to approve the board clerk reporting structure motion to approve motion by board member Campbell second second by Vice chair Conrad is there any discussion from the board go ahead board member James hi um I'm I'm wondering there's no attachment so I'm just wondering what we're approving because there's no attachment to this item so in my brain I thought we were going to see either the orc chart or we were going to see what Miss marant typically attaches and not blaming Miss marant what is typically attached to an HR item which is like a plus one a minus one for any HR item there's an attachment that indicates the the shift in the the Staffing the district Staffing Plan and there's nothing attached here so I I am very confused about I mean aside from how I feel about this there's nothing to there's nothing attached there's nothing to vote on I'm just very confused about what doing with this particular I I think it needs to get brought back with the appropriate attachments at a later meeting I just don't think it has the the direction for what we're doing Madam chair I'm I'm in agreement there I I don't know what we voting on I I see what the topic is but there's nothing here that's any Clarity other than the topic um I know we kind of had some discussion in a work session but this is this is this is this is anything to vote on tonight what I see well if if I remember correctly there has been times before and I don't remember the specifics but the organizational chart usually does follow our discussion I know that previously when we request the organizational chart it usually follows or comes after we have the discussion at least that's my experience and my experience is limited as I'm I'm a newly board member and so I think maybe there needs to be some clarification on that process and another question that I have is is the organizational chart a legal document or it is a a guide for us to use um within our staff the organizational charts created by the superintendent's office I mean the organizational chart under the board divides off into really two offshoots one is legal department and the other is superintendent but is it a legal binding document are we legally Bound by what is on this document or chart I I believe I'm sorry I I let's let him answer question goe it's not the org chart I mean the org chart represents what the what has it the sum of Prior District Staffing plans and what the and what the superintendent has laid out for the roles with under her department and I I would have to defer to the superintendent to tell you uh I mean as far as being a binding document the board really doesn't interfere with the superintendent's choices within her organization chart of whom she puts where because that that's that's the board's um I mean that's that's a superintendent's decision just as it would be my decision under my Authority for my two employees and you know but that really doesn't matter much so because they're they're two employe I can swap them on Tuesdays and Thursdays you know the same thing but um so the board really I won't say the board lacks authority but it's the that is the role of the superintendent to to identify under her organizational chart where those employees would lie so I would say that that's probably a better question for HR and for the superintendent um is it a legally binding document I just don't think it's a document that the board really has much authority over well and that's kind of my point it seems really it is a tool to provide guidance on well how however to maybe this will clarify the organizational chart isn't really relevant to to this discussion because of the fact that the question that has to be answered now what would have to happen is if you wanted to keep the current reporting structure of the board clerk under the um under the board directly then you would do nothing my suggestion would be that in order to justify that it should have been adopted with a contract not just a job description but the board opted not to do that so that would be my ction for the future that I would indicate that you should do however the item for tonight what's voted on whether we put everyone through the work of doing a uh structure under the organizational chart and whether we have HR create plus ones and minus ones and everything else really needs to just be the question for tonight needs to be a decision of does the board want to retain their current structure I'm getting down to what I'm thinking like ballot language now does the board wish to retain the current structure or does the board wish for the reporting structure to go under the superintendent if the under operations so if the board's decision is that they want that to return to an operations reporting position then the organizational chart is within the purview of the superintendent to decide where on that organizational chart that that role lands thank you and I'll I'll accept if there's anything that you know the superintendent or or Miss Morant or anybody else want to add to that but that's my understanding thank you attorney Powers thank you for the uh clarification because uh according to my understanding and we've talked about this several times including the last work session so there's no surprise to any school board member that this was going to be on here and to me the question is very simple is this position going to remain under the school board or be moved back under oper operations to me it's very simple and I'm ready to vote but I'm not talking thank you chair and I I too am ready to vote with just the the quick comment to say it's not the organizational chart we're discussing this board did approve Last Summer the district Staffing plan that has the board clerk reporting directly to the board as opposed to reporting as a part of the superintendent operational staff that is I guess a legally binding something we voted on and approved so that is the district Staffing plan similar to what we just approved this evening as a school Staffing plan so it's not the org chart that we deal with it's the Staffing plan and we approve the Staffing plan as is and so I agree with chair thrower that it's an up or down vote whether we want to change it and actually have the district Staffing plan change so that this position then reports back to the superintendent to put in her organiz ational chart wherever she sees fit or if this position will report to the board and subsequently to the board chair as the job description currently says chair if I can should there not then be an amendment just like there is for item 17.1 Amendment 2324 District Staffing plan- board clerk should there not then be an amendment to The District Staffing plan because to chair Campbell's or board member Campbell's point yes it is not the orc chart the orc chart is not a votable item it's the it's the item that we look at that shows where the organization Falls but what we vote on is the Staffing plan and then when we amend the Staffing plan like we did tonight in the consent agenda there is an amendment attached to an H an HR item that Miss Morant uploads so if we are amending the district Staffing plan tonight I'm confused why there's not an amendment to the Staffing plan attached to this item and I still have that same level of confusion because I don't know how that we're going to move forward with amending a staffing plan with no item attached to to the item go ahead attorney Powers wouldn't it simply be that there is a plus one in one column and a minus one in the other column if it's that simple then why does Miss Morant upload an amendment every time for the consent agenda well because this would be the same position and the same employee in this case just being the reporting structure of to whom they report would it be to the board or to operations so that's not a that that that's not really um going to affect any of the numbers except for whom that person's supervisor is is it the board chair or is it or that is it the operations and if it's operations then the further delineation of the organizational chart becomes an item for the superintendent so it's a zero sum they're always generally because we are we our cup does not runneth over with money they are all generally Net Zero so I I mean I'm looking at the two we approved tonight we're getting rid of a social worker and adding a school attendance a court Advocate Court liaison and we are getting rid of a bookkeeper and adding an account clerk funding source is the same so right this is the same position it's not deleting one position and adding a different position it's the same position um and that position has has when it was adopted by the board as opposed to uh having them previously sat with operations every there was a a new job description was put into place and that new job description would have to be developed if it's intended to be developed but the question is would operations need to develop a new Staffing plan I'm sorry a new job description um do does legal need to develop a new contract or do you want to make the decision as to whether the per whether that position is going to report to the board or the superintendent and then do what it needs to make that happen but when a position moves from one Department to another and Miss marant can correct me if I'm wrong there is a header above each department so for tonight it was exceptional student education and the two positions that were being interchanged are under that same department but in other times in other instances when a position is moving from one part of our organization to another there is a header that says minus one in one department plus one in another department and the absence of having that document and that Amendment attached to this item does not make it clear what is happening it it is not clear it's clear to us but it's it's not clear to anyone else thank you Dr James uh board member Cummings one of the things I remember in the conversation when we were having this conversation was um who this person would report to whether it be the board or uh someone on the superintendent's um cabinet or authority whatever and one of the things I heard is that um that we kind of wanted there were folk that wanted to be a direct report to the superintendent superintendent especially shared with us that that would not necessarily be her job function and um she would not her her schedule is does not allow that I don't think all that stuff is cleared up in this I still think those are still areas that that we need Clarity on I I don't know why this is being pushed so hard tonight I think we need to seriously get the things that Dr James was just talking about that one how it's going to line up under the the chart and and then we need to move forward from there thank you board member Cummings did you have something I just just a quick comment I felt like we had moved this forward really to provide some protection for our board clerk as we talked about the evaluation piece and um the the piece of coverage when she's out and so I'm not I'm not in a hurry I don't mind if we bring this back the next time and and provide the documents that um Dr James and Reverend cumings are more um comfortable with I'm totally okay with uh that compromise but I do if I remember correctly the conversation came about because we were looking at protecting her in this position and so that that that's important to me as a board member thank you Vice chair go ahead sure chair thank you so when I look at this item as a discussion item in our Schoolboard meeting the effect of action and results is provide clarity as to the reporting structure of the board clerk role if we vote that up or down as a discussion item in our agenda this evening then subsequently we would receive the documents that have been requested with a salary schedule change with a proposed job description if that in fact is warranted with a proposed contract if that is a direction that the board wants to go moving forward in the current Arrangement that we're in but as I Look to vote on an item that is in our board agenda that we approved earlier whenever we said that we would you know basically having a vote on discussion item 19.4 it is to say that we are providing Clarity to the reporting structure of the board clerk I am prepared to vote tonight on what that Clarity is if I am voting to keep it the way it is or move it to the superintendent and I don't believe that requires knowledge of the organizational chart I don't believe that requires actual the document to show that I need to see a plus one in one column and a minus one in the other because it is the same position the job duties will not change with the exception of reporting to the chair or reporting to the superintendent or or her staff and that's really the only change in the job description so with that I would call the question on discussion item 19.4 thank you board member Campbell um is there a sec excuse me is there a second on calling the question calling the question yeah and going moving this to a vote right right we need a second can the board can the chair second it yes pass the gabble to the vice chair a second now we have to vote right to go ahead and vote right are what what's the mo okay calling the question um would after each board memb has had an opportunity to speak the proper way is not to call the question um even though that's typically the way it's done in practice that's that's not what Roberts rules typically allow for so what you would actually do is call for a vote get a second and then move forward now um in that situation however if you can't get two people to agree to call it for a vote then it dies at that phase so I he I'm hearing some still lack of clarity so perhaps the board wants I I've only spoken just to my understanding of what things are here I try to stay within my Lane if the board wants to hear any further commentary from anyone from operations I don't want to put them on the spot but that the board May address that otherwise the board's understanding I believe the board can interpret for itself would be that there might be some lack of clarity as to what the item is there for and what the board wishes to see if that's the case I would suggest that the board state for operations what they would like to see on this item for the future if it were to be brought back at a future time so I think that they would need Clarity if they're going to bring if if we're asking Miss Mor to bring things onto this item I didn't Place anything additional in this item but I noted where my prior contract that I had prepared was in Prior board docks um but it really requires that the board Express at least initially what its interest is that could and generally should be developed by consensus of the board if there is not consensus of the board then it has to go to a vote of the board so if you fail to have you have a motion in a second on the item the question now is simply do we End discussion so as of right now discussion has not been ended so at this point are are you if there is no further discussion then we move to a vote there's not a need to call the question thank you attorney Powers um I will s offer that we all knew what we were going to be voting on tonight it was very simple there's been discussion and all we're voting on tonight is whether to move the position from under the school board where it's been for a few months to back under operations that's the only thing we're asking as far as the rest of it that's not what we're voting on tonight so um I would like to make sure that you know whatever happens with this vote well if it ends up going back under operations as the current chair until the anything until anything comes back before us that needs to come back before us that the superintendent under operations would put before us as far as uh where that position is going to be who it's going to be under that's my understanding it's a superintendent's purview not ours um but I am fully prepared to continue uh working under the current structure until the until those decisions are are made I want things to remain going forward smoothly and and seamless so that was my understanding that we all knew what we were going to be voting on tonight and it's either keep the position under the school board as it's been for the last few months or move it back under operations it's it's pretty simple and we do have a motion in a second so I think it's time to vote Madam chair just one question for clarity so the motion says to approve the board clerk reporting structure right so it doesn't identify one way or another doesn't say so I just I because when the vote comes through that's exactly how it will read in the minutes so it's just going to say five yay nay whatever it's going to say those exact words is that how we want that or do you want that amended to say reporting back to operations or reporting to the board it's it's binary so you would pick one yeah and and say move to somebody would move to change the reporting structure or maintain the reporting structure that's what we've been saying the whole time it fails or it it doesn't say one way or the other it just just says for clarity for reporting instruction it doesn't say for it to go to the superintendent and it doesn't say to stand it's it's vague it's nothing there so what are we voting on so chair can we ask Miss Martinez who was the motion in the second to see if we could amend the motion on whoever made the motion so the motion was made by Allison Campbell and the second was Miss Conrad that was the original motion okay off of this so attorney you can help me make sure that I do this correctly I would like to amend the motion and I would make a motion that the board Clerk's role report to operations and the superintendent and that's my motion now you would need a second as amended I will second okay so we now have amended motion on the floor we have a second so do we need to go back and vote on the first vote on the amended motion vote on the amended motion okay so we will be now voting on the amended motion all those in favor say I I I those opposed nay nay the motion sorry I was just echoing what you said the motion passes three votes to two with board member Cummings and board member James dissenting [Music] okay all right we will move on now to board committee reports and concerns we'll start with a few meeting reminders the first one is the next administrative briefing and work session has been scheduled for February 20th 2024 and the following administrative briefing and work session has been scheduled for February 22nd 2024 we'll go ahead and move on to uh committee reports concerns and comments anything from legal tonight nothing from legal thank you thank you attorney Powers Miss Martinez no Madam chair thank you thank you thank you Miss Martinez Dr gullet thank you I do just a couple of items um board as you are well aware February is magnet schools month we have a lot of activities going on celebrating um all the ways that we are supporting Student Success through our magnet programs and it is Black History Month a lot of events celebrating um black history month so um please be on the lookout for those weekly updates and additional items in our community I also want to just take a moment um to thank thank everyone board I'll start with you for your support of approving our ordinance tonight and a resolution for impact fees and sales tax it has been a long time as was stated and I can't count the number of hours excuse me that I've spent with the team the team um thank you all for all the work we spent uh sometimes it's been seven days a week around this and I want to thank the community have been a lot of conversations our community members even to the point of them bringing forward proposed language and so a lot of work to today to approving this item but um it's been a long time coming and I appreciate the board recognizing the need and I appreciate um the team's work and the community recognizing the need and I do believe that we have community support for what we're trying to do for our students but just want to say thank you because I've um prested and last a lot of a lot of my team on this process and so um just really proud to get to this point to do what what is often probably the hardest thing that we do is is asking of others and giving financially and otherwise to do what we need to do um as I shared last week not just for our current students employees in our community but for the future and I believe that we've done that tonight so um I want to thank everybody for that um and thank you board thank you Dr gullet and we'll move on to our student board members udent board member um Miss nandur do you have anything for us tonight um no just thank you for having me again and it's a pleasure to be here thank you thank you and we'll move on now to uh board member Barnes yes ma'am um I would like to say again as davia said Thank you for having me um excuse me um I would like to comment on agenda topic D1 19.4 the music Grant application um as a student in a high school band program I find it extremely inspiring that you all are incorporating music into schools um at such a young age as I know I personally drew a lot of inspiration from my experiences with music education Elementary School uh and I'm very glad to know that we are expanding opportunities for our young students to learn and grow musically um I do have one topic to bring to the table tonight um board members I am sure you understand the importance of an internet connection uh for school um students Administration and teachers make great use of the utilities provided by the school board and the school system and we are extremely grateful for this access it lets us do a lot of things that we would not be able to do um however in recent weeks there's been a significant increase in the number of block websites and images within Forest um and other schools as well I've heard a lot of um agreement among a few of my peers and other schools of the same thing has happened with them um to my knowledge heimler's history certain College Board videos and most of the educational videos on YouTube are all blocked as of right now um as are other websites crucial to lesson plans and student learning these websites are all invaluable resources that student stud and teachers alike used to assist their curriculum this restriction of content is keeping students from being able to study and research it keeps teachers from implementing their lesson plans and it limits the overall functionality of the internet within a learning environment many images are also blocked which further decreases the functionality of co-curricular resources many AP classes use a program called albert.io which relies heavily on images to assist students with test preparation however those who do not have internet access at home are not able to accurately complete these assignments and others like them as most of the images that such research requires are all blocked I just want to bring this issue to the tension of you all in the hopes of resolving it as it impairs the functionality of our classroom environment thank you thank you uh student board member Barnes and I see Dr Gull has been taking notes Mr Ben Mr Beni is out here too he's over technology so your comments uh came to at the right time because the right people are here thank you sir appreciate it thank you all right we'll just continue board member Campbell sure and thank you for those comments for sure I from the YouTube perspective it's possible that it's on the user or on the the developer side if they're not choosing when they're uploading it that it's for children then it's probably they're causing the blockage but I see Mr B shaking his hand so it's possible that we need to work with college board or whomever to ensure they're uploading videos correctly so that students can have access to them and I know that there are certainly are some laws recently that have stipulated certain content that we actually are able to have in school systems but I'm certain Mr Ben Veni will have an update for us on that whenever uh we have additional information but thank you so much for that I think that the number of resources that media Specialists now have to review prior to them being used as educational resources in classrooms has grown exponentially and perhaps there'll be some legislative changes to the law that is currently in place from last session to help that in general uh I just wanted to say thank you for all the work that this board has put in this has been a lot that we've had on the agenda this evening and frankly we're going to potentially be finishing up with this meeting a lot earlier than I anticipated so just want to appreciate all of the community engagement that has occurred I know the volume of email s received over multiple items that we discussed tonight and those that will continue to be in discussion has been vast and more so than we've seen in recent weeks but I'm grateful for it I'm grateful for the engagement I'm grateful for folks coming to a Schoolboard member because that's why we're here that's why we were elected and that's why we were chosen by this community to represent uh parents and this community and so I as a parent will be grateful to be a part of the meeting tomorrow evening or no Thursday evening sorry it's like zooming past Thursday evening uh at for the Oola and 8 Street sack meeting that decision will be made at the school level and so I know we had some passionate speakers this evening about that decision it will be happening at the school level and so in that sack meeting following that sack meeting there will be a survey that goes out and the decision will be made from that point on so while I appreciate the exposure and the passionate support uh of the topic this evening to the school board the school board will not have the final say on that is my understanding so uh just for clarity for those watching at home I was not able to participate in the wyomina park conversation that occurred last week because I was in Tallahassee representing the school board so I was grateful to be there for Marian County day and participating as a Schoolboard member I want to say a shout out and thank you to Mr Davis from public relations and commun Communications manager who was there with our table intent and representing Marian County Public Schools and uh just a great time to be there with other government officials throughout the county and other businesses just supporting what I believe should be called Okala Maran County day uh so that we can have even greater representation of what all the great things are that are happening in Okala and Marian County um and just the things happening in our schools I know I had the opportunity to pop by a call Springs the other night with just wonderful things happening there with their kind of stem night Math and Science night and then came over here to the Big Springs uh stem fair or the awards ceremony and there's just a lot of great things our calendars are very full right now I know there's things popping on our calendar I also want to give a thank you to all the principles who are sending us those requests putting something on our calendar and if we can come we're going to come and so but sometimes we don't know about your events unless you put them on our calendar and ask us to come so thank you so much to all the principles who are doing that and trying to engage the Schoolboard members in the work um and finally I I just want to say that as a parent of um of Marian County athletes I'm also grateful for the work that our coaches both volunteer and paid do with our students and our student athletes every day there's a lot of work that goes into being a mentor and being a significant positive impact in students lives and our coaches in many many sports are unsung heroes in this district and I just wanted to say thank you to all the coaches that are working so hard with our student athletes my own children are benefiting from it and I'm grateful thank you thank you board member Campbell board member James thank you um again I just want to reiterate I'm grateful for the work that staff has done tirelessly they continue to do tirelessly we have a lot of initiatives all at once and everyone is working so hard to do what's best for every student in Maring County and I'm grateful for each and every one of you as well as our community members who were here tonight to support voting on a sales tax as well as an impact fee ordinance and just our generally supportive of the work that we're doing in Maring County Public Schools I have a question about Thursday's meeting is there going to be an opportunity for a zoom I know a lot of schools do have zoom options for sack meetings um I know that at my child school that's available are we aware of whether there'll be a zoom option for Thursday night th night Thursday night's community meeting for Oola meting board member um James I'm not sure that would have to be answered by Miss rle or miss kard one of them can come forward thank you we did that for yamina didn't we yeah there was a zoom for while me know yeah hopefully we have the technology good even evening right I hesitate to say that but um Miss rle and I and the team will certainly work with the technology team and Mr Ben benenti to make sure that um we have that option getting B back there behind you so okay from Mr benanti if that link could be emailed out to the families by Thursday morning at the absolute latest so that those families are aware of um the way they can participate if they're not able to come in person um that would be appreciated I know that I've seen conversation online from both 8 Street and Oola families regarding being able to participate for whatever reason they're unavailable to come in person and would like the opportunity to have a zoom link available so they can at least type questions and be able to participate in a discussion I certainly think that makes sense so yes and I just want to reiterate that um we can certainly send it to a parent email um it does get sent through Sky alert and it and it works through Skyward so if as long as the parent has the email listed in their Skyward then then that's how they would get it yes um of course it would go through Sky alert so if you don't have your stuff in Skyward then you're not gonna get the email but yes ma'am U James while you there I have a question right there um so you said they would be have access to zoom and to ask questions and the reason I asked that because and I've shared this before um last week at yina there was an opportunity to ask questions through Zoom or chat so is that going to happen at a street and aola you're saying there was or there was not there was not I I couldn't hear that part either sorry there was not okay so I can describe to you how um we as the team have um thought through Thursday night um the people that are there um in the audience um certainly we will do the presentation we are going to have index cards and depends on every chair in the auditorium um again that would look a little different virtually but we have the chat rooms available on teams that they can write them in um anyone that wants to can write their question down um members from our team will be there collecting the questions as some of us are presenting the presentation that evening um and that way if there are 10 of the same question um and so forth they will be able to group the questions um and then we will read the questions and respond to the questions that evening after our presentation part questions would be responded to that night that was our intention yes but an individual could write in the comment section of a zoom or a teams whichever the platform is and similarly to the notepads their questions could also be collected via the chat and then collected and or answered collectively yes as I'm planning on the spot for that virtual piece I believe that someone would man that from the team someone would else would man that part so that we can make sure that we're doing that as well and I I I let me say this I'm not trying to put anybody on the spot by asking that question but those were those were concerns that came back to me after last week at why I mean I shared that with Mr Frasier um because if we don't we have a meeting and we don't give folk the opportunity to ask the question and get a response at that time you people people walk way out that meeting with a bigger question mark on their on their forehead so they need have the opportunity to I I mean no no hate but I am trying to believe people uh put them on on on the mark because we're having a community meeting in less than 48 hours and these are questions the community is asking about how they can participate and I can't speak to the lack of it for wyam Park um that wasn't brought forward to me or I I probably would have put people on the spot then but I I didn't hear those and so I I couldn't advocate for that and I apologize to that Community for that but I am putting it on the spot because there's no other time to have this discussion before Thursday because this is a incredibly rushed whole situation so and and Dr James since Reverend Cummings interrupted you I'm going to do that really quick as well um Miss Kinder could you also speak to the FAQ sheet that is available because I know that was not sent out to parents as a parent in one of those schools believe staff and it's been posted on the website but there are nine questions that the team has already answered that perhaps folks may be coming to the meeting with those questions so if they just review that document additionally that might help clear up some confusion if maybe you could tell us where we can find it yes absolutely thank you um we did um put together a document an FAQ document frequently asked questions of some of the questions we were getting from um staff from parents from both School communities at 8th Street niola middle um and we did respond to those questions we put the document we posted in our district website as well as each of the schools web page their home web page um we also emailed it to the principals to email out to their staff um and certainly we can use the sky sky alert messaging system to um get it out to the parents ahead of the meeting um we can do that first thing tomorrow morning and again that would be accessible to any parents emails that they have linked on there as well um and then to the point of the questions at the community meeting um on Thursday night um that was always our plan was to allow for questions because that is part of our timeline and process um just as we've done in past Community meetings that I've been involved with here in Mary County where we've had um emotionally charged meetings um we we always ask the people to write the questions down so that we can group them so that we can not you know hear the same question 10 times um to use time wisely um but we will be able to answer questions on that evening so um thank you for sharing I just have some clarifying questions question and I guess you could call this um naive of me but I I do believe that this board would vote on a change to a start time if oil and 8th Street became a K8 school is that correct maybe Dr gullet could you provide or or attorney Powers if if if the staff and families agreed to move forward this board would have to vote on the start time is that correct that's correct it would come back as an amendment to what you approved furthermore this board would have to vote on a change to the name that is correct okay to clarify the board will vote on this decision this is not a just a community decision the community will provide feedback and guide the work of staff and staff will bring proposals to the board but the board will vote on this item because we will have to vote on the name and we will will have to vote on the change to the start time so I just wanted to provide that point of clarification because this is going to be a board votable item unless I'm mistaken right you're right okay those two pieces will be yes but the actual choice to make it a K8 will not be a board decision but it won't be a K8 if we don't approve a change of start time in a name if we don't have a name we don't have a K8 if we don't agree on a name and vote on a name we don't have a K8 Dr go so you have two items the first is the transportation you approved a proposal tonight for that and you have two separate schools if the schools became one we would go through the process of submitting that to the state for their approval because remember we have an msid number ass associated with a facility so that would be part of the process we would have to do that from the operational standpoint the board would have to look at um proposed changes perhaps to Transportation I'm not saying that they are definite but that would be a consideration to say if it is one school would would we want to look at different bus transportation times or the same right one doesn't is not causal to the other but it's a consideration the name change as we'll do with other future buildings would come um through Community input and they will be proposed to the board and brought publicly to the board so yes to both of your items I just wanted to provide that point of clarification to the community um other than that I feel like it has been a robust evening and we still have more conversation after this so that's all I have thank you thank you m James and while you were on the topic I'd like to get some clarification because my understanding is that as a superintendent you bring agenda items and then the board decides to adopt the agenda and then we have our meeting if based on the results of the meeting the community meetings and all of the input am I clear in understanding that then you may or or may not with your team choose to bring it to the board for a vote that's correct okay and and as you said earlier chair um we're talking about naming schools and start time we haven't even said we local right local input if if the staff Community parents uh choose not to move forward it I will not be bringing recommendation to the board that that is for the local community to decide we I as we've said before board's not making that decision I'm not saying that we're making that decision if the local community wants that then that recommendation would come to the board okay thank you all right board member Cummings um you you you know you other student right no we did both both yes Miss Divia didn't have too much to share tonight I was like skipping her she was quick okay but thank you because it takes a village and a board it has been a an extremely robust night of um an agenda um we've heard a lot of things we heard from our community concerning um school start times and uh the merger of of two schools two historical schools in our County um we've heard about the impact fees and the sales tax I want to commend our teams for how they pushed um to make sure that the impact fee and the sales tax information was on this agenda um we've worked on that for for a very very long time very very long time so it's it's great to finally see it coming to um some type of a Headway going somewhere so I'm I'm very pleased with that um we um last week I had the opportunity to to attend the um the community meeting for Wy Park um concerning it being a pilot school for year round school I was very dismayed in being at that meeting one for several reasons and I've and I'm not this is not a surprise to any to people that were there that I talked to um I was dismayed by um it lasted 17 minutes was very short for it to be a community meeting 17 minutes um there was an opportunity for the community to um ask questions and get a response there was a opportunity for them to write down a question but they did not get the response and there wasn't an opportunity for that Community those that attended on Zoom to um get their response because the zoom cut off in totality there was about 57 people that was in attendance with this meeting when I say 57 that was 20 on zoom two of those were staff um two of those were District staff members so I will say 18 and there were about 37 in the building um my concern and I saided this concern when we were briefed on this my concern was how was this going to be pushed out to the community for them to know about this meeting that there are ways to get people to a meeting and that if we did not properly um advertise this that we would have poor attendance at a meeting that's going to affect a large group of people in a school that has the number of students that yina park has and to have only 50 people um 50 parents 50 people input that's not good I shared that we could have done some other things and I will hope that in the future going forward that we will make every effort to make sure that in situations like that that those communities um are properly advised I think sometimes we have the we think that everybody has the same access to the same things um everybody does not have access to um digital uh to the internet everybody doesn't have access to Sky they may have access to the Cy but they don't use it because phone number have changed different things have have and we have to do our due diligence to make sure that we've done those things to close the gap to make sure that we get the proper input on that that is a huge decision that's going to be coming uh that has been made and um we attributed to we gave him 17 minutes so um that I I cannot get away from being dismayed about that I cannot be um get away from the comments that were given to me um after that meeting and I think we did ourselves a disservice to that Community by not addressing some of those issues on that night um I'm grateful to hear that right across the road we're going to we're going to have a community meeting for a street and anola and we're doing it different um just the way that was being done for a street and anola it should been done for that same community over there um there shouldn't be any difference there the game plan should not be any different whatever Playbook is for a street aola should have been the same playbook for wyam in the park it should be the same playbook for dellan should be the same playbook for East Maran so we have to do things right if we don't do it right we're going to catch we G we G we're GNA catch it y'all can put any word in there you want to put in there but that's what's going to happen um so I'm I'm I'm addressing that now so that it will not happen again because there are things that we could we could have put there's three huge huge apartment complexes in that in that community and this is nothing again I've shared this with some people we could have went to every one of those apartment complexes and put a sign at the entrance of those apartment complexes we have the ability to have put a bus at each one of those apartment complexes and transported the folk there and back that's making sure that we made sure the message got out we have to we have to we cannot just assume that everybody has the same resources and I say this at my church all the time just because I'm doing good doesn't mean everybody else is doing good just because I have certain things doesn't mean everybody else have the same things so we can't keep putting everybody in the same box when and when we know that that school is is has issues is struggling so we say we want every student to succeed then we need to make sure that they're succeeding and we have to use the same playbooks around the county through it that one um cuz I'm I was supposed to be escorting my wife and something tonight so that's why she's already texted me said we a going to make it but anyway anyway um this is more important this is more important um we have a great District we have great people working with in our district we have to show the people in our district that we appreciate them and support them on on all levels and I'll say this um I believe in supporting staff when you can I don't believe in supporting staff when they're wrong um and so I say that as a general statement to the whole District whatever you do just make sure we're doing it right that we document things the right way that we bring It Forward the right way and when it's done the right way you've covered all bases you've covered all bases you've taken us you've taken things where we don't have to worry about legal because you've done it the right way we follow procedures so I'm just saying that not I'm just saying that to everyone so please don't put us in a position where we're saying where it looks like we're against staff and we're not against staff we we we're we're all on the same team it should be us on the same team with the staff with the par on the same team with the parents and we're all working to get the same outcome out of these kids positive student outcomes that's what we're supposed to be looking for closing Black History Month I sound like a preacher now don't I um it's it's Black History Month um I'm I'm grateful for all the activities that I've been seeing and hearing and all the invitations to um the different um black history programs some of us were at North Mari a couple weeks ago it was really a awesome event um for their black history I think they started it was the first day yeah it was first day um they had an awesome event out there and there are others that have invited invited us and I I encourage us to go to those that we can make um not going to make every one of them it's it's impossible to make every one of them but I knew that that do do know that we want to try and make those that we can um fezan has a huge one coming up this week this weekend um unfortunately I won't be able to make that be out to State however I encourage our community to go and understand the significance of what they're celebrating um black history is American history is all of our history from we we encounter it every day every day every time we go to a traffic light we're in cting black history every time we earn use earning board every time we turn the air condition we're encountering black history so I don't want it to just be minimized um um I celebrate Black History every time I look in the mirror every time I look in the mirror every time I look at one of my kids I tell them that that you're black history so um I'm encouraging that I'm encouraging what we're going to have one at for fezan forest and then we have a big one that the county puts on at Howard Academy in a few weeks so um I know Miss Randolph would be remiss if I did not say please get your tickets to go to the Gayla on the 23rd and um we look forward to having a wonderful event that's it thank you board member coming my sure Conrad yes thank you um I just wanted to start with a general statement uh when I joined the board my vision was to see the district and the staff and the community come together for the betterment of our students and their education and over the last year there's been a lot of different presentations a lot of different people come forward and I just wanted to commend there's only a few of you left um the 8th Street staff in the way that you presented today that you showed up you didn't have 97 people share your message and as a board member I appreciate that but you had key people parents teachers guidance counselors different people representing um and sharing what's important to you about your school uh and I just wish there was more of that and so if you will please take that back to your staff and to your families and and share with them how much as a board member I appreciate that I want to know how you feel and what's important to you um and the things that you want to keep and that you admire about your school and so I just wanted to say thank you I'm glad you hung up to the very end it's been a long meeting but you did it really well in in my opinion so thank you so much I wanted to share that to start um just real quick don't want to do a review of our meeting but there were just so many wonderful things that were shared at the beginning of our meeting tonight and um the Youth Fair is near and dear to my heart um our family as big supporters of the Youth Fair and if you have the opportunity if you've not visited the Youth Fair before there really and truly is something for every single person and I was just so tickled um that one of the presenters tonight talked about tractor driving and there's speech and there's cooking and there's sewing and you know showing your pigs and showing the cattle and um dog agility I can't even think of all the things it really is just such an amazing program uh that our kids and our staff members are able to participate in and so I know that my children they're adults now um but if you ask them about some of their favorite school memories it always includes um their time at the fair so just encourage you to come out and participate if you have a little bit of time there's always a lot of good food there too um also just I was really amazed uh with with some of the students presented this this evening um with our stem studies I had to I had to ask them when I went down to take the picture because I wanted to make sure that I heard them correctly a 3.9 grade point average in accelerated classes and so that's just really unbelievable so so proud of the work that they're doing um again just want to thank our teams for all the things really that crossed the finish line for us this evening um with our impact fees and our sales tax just a long time coming in a lot lot of conversation um that was presented and I I too I wanted to reiterate what um I believe board member Campbell shared there are so many events that go on in our community and as board members we don't know unless someone lets us know and so recently we have received quite a few invitations for things that are going on in your school so I just encourage you to please please keep those coming we're here to support you and um lift you up in the work that you're doing every day and so just looking forward to um tomorrow Valentine's Day as a former Elementary School teacher that's a big day teachers got to eat your wheedies tonight because their kids are going to be hyped up tomorrow but anyway just thank you to everyone in the work that they're doing and looking forward to moving forward thank you Vice chair Conrad and yes you know invite us to everything we'll come to as much as we can because we're we're thrilled to be able to be back at a place where we can have all these events you know after the everything having to do with covid and just having to be so structured on just keeping schools open so it's really wonderful I don't know if there's more events now than there were before or just that there weren't any for so long but but it really is great and and we appreciate each and every invitation and and tonight I was just reminded of the the depth and breadth of our school system when it comes to our kids and how amazing they are I mean we have kids that are you know 4.9 unweighted GPA or 3.9 unweighted GPA all this and then you know we have kids that know plenty about what a bush hog and a stump jumper is and I don't think that there's anything that is any more or less important in that because we're offering opportunities you know up down and and all around there is a place for each and every child and in Marian County Public Schools and we're everyone is working so hard to just help make every student succeed and and it's not easy a lot of the times but it is so so worth it so the the energy is there the momentum is there and we're just going to keep rolling and while being mindful of our communication because we do have a lot going on and we want to make sure that we're getting the messaging out in ways that the parents are receiving it and it doesn't help if you're phone number's changing every five days and and it's not you know and we don't even know what it is and and a teacher can't even reach you so so let's make sure that not only is the school district doing their part you know to use the communication tools that parents respond to as much text as possible that's that's what we do um you know the sky alert messaging uh the you know putting signs up at places you know what whatever it takes and and continuing our Outreach and then and really expecting that that inreach comes back to us that is the partnership and that's what going to continue to make our district more and more successful um it's just a very interesting being a a Schoolboard member I was reflecting on what we approved tonight and we approved everything from an impact fee ordinance to a sheep enclosure for Maplewood Elementary School so you know uh there you have it never a dull moment um I I think I will just close with um being continuously grateful for the opportunities that we have um as as a board to do what we're doing and everyone that is sitting up here uh together and also for everyone um in the community that that just helps make it happen it's it truly is a a partnership and it continues to be an honor and pleasure to serve on the Maring County school board so with that um we do need to move on to um student disciplinary matters and before addressing expulsion matters I wish to acknowledge that board members have received the alternative placement list for students through January anary 10th 2024 Miss Martinez are there any parents who have submitted a timely request to speak on their child's disciplinary matter we have three off air Madam chair thank you Miss Martinez so we'll continue with that um shortly may I have a motion to approve the expulsion of student jd24 d129 jd24 d132 jd24 d133 jd24 d137 jd24 D13 9e jd24 D1 motion motion to approve motion by board member Campbell second second by Vice chair Conrad is there any discussion hearing none all those in favor say I I I the motion passes 5 uh moving on to agenda item 22.2 may I have a motion to approve the expulsion of student jd24 d151 jd24 d152 jd24 d154 jd24 d155 jd24 d157 with Educational Services for the remainder of the 2023 2024 school year and the first 2 and third quarter of the 2024 2025 school year may I have a motion motion to approve motion by board member James second by board member Campbell is there any discussion hearing none all those in favor say I I motion passes unanimously 5 may I have a motion to approve the expulsion of student jd24 d156 with Educational Services for the remainder of the 2023 2024 school year and the first quarter of the 2024 2025 school year motion motion to approve motion by board member James second second by board member Campbell is there any discussion hearing none all those in favor say I I I motion passes unanimously uh it's always distressing to end a a mostly very uplifting school board meeting with expulsions of so many students um we are committed to providing a safe and orderly learning environment um but it continues to be very distressing to me personally to see kids get themselves into trouble like this and have to be out of our school system and away from all the opportunities that we Showcase tonight all right I will now call the meeting into recess at 8:51 p.m. thank you [Music] okay