e [Music] good evening everyone and happy Full House Tuesday welcome to the March 26 2024 meeting of the Maran County School Board it's now 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 read our board commitment statement we are the Marian County School District leadership team when we come together to work we are efficient effective and productive our three most important characteristics are dedicated transparent and individually responsible to work well together we must demonstrate respect confront reality and be accountable we will always put students first and we will leave a legacy of success for the courtesy of those listening to the meeting I requesting everyone in the audience to please turn off their 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 Maran 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 peach colored form located in the lobby if you wish to address the board regarding a public hearing or a student discipline matter please complete a lime green form these forms must be fully completed and received by the board clerk no later than 5:40 p.m. the procedures applicable for each are on a separate sheet board clerk please call the role good evening Miss Martinez evening Dr Allison Campbell district one here Mrs Lorie Conrad District 2 here Mr Eric Cummings District three here Mrs Nancy thower District Four here Dr Sarah James District 5 here student board member Victor niggard from lakew high school here Dr Diane gullet superintendent here Mr Jeremy Power School Board 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 and then I think you'll also be introducing our newest student board member representative I sure well thank you madam chair members of the board great to see you this evening we do have a full house and it's great to see all of our students and our uh employees and our families here I would first like to start with um Victor niggard who is representing lakew Weare high school as a senior and we're so pleased to have him on at the board table tonight who will be with us the fourth quarter let me give you a little background about Victor you don't mind do you Victor I'm going to do it anyway there's a lot to be proud of here Victor's is excelling in the international Balor program and I am pleased to say that he serves he has achieved the top 5% of his class great accomplishment um he serves also as the vice president of the student government Association captain of the academic team and actively participates in various Sports and I also want to mention something that really impressed me is that you serve locally serving in the local soup kitchen so you're also helping those in need in addition to serving and Leadership roles at your school so thank you for being here I know the board will want to welcome you as well you're welcome how about we give Mr nyard a warm welcome the whole audience so on to uh further introductions of some amazing students I'm going to ask Miss Deb rle to come forward and she is going to kick off our evening of the inspiration and pledge and recognizing some um very talented students that participated um in an essay contest to support our for our second year launching literacy so it's not even launching anymore literacy in the community and in the classroom so uh thank you Miss rle yes good evening chair thrower board members and superintendent gullet as we continue to promote literacy in our community through our launching literacy campaign I'd like to introduce Miss Kelly Brower coordinator of instructional materials who will be introducing some very talented students tonight thank you good evening good evening it's nice to be here and see so many people here so good evening board chair thrower Vice chair Conrad school board members and superintendent Dr gullet in 2022 launching literacy in the community was started to promote the importance of literacy throughout Maran County Public Schools a web page was created to promote and support family and Community engagement while connecting standards based literacy lessons in the Elementary classroom with activities and conversations beond the school day marry and County Schools also proudly partnered with local barber shops and hair stylists to provide reading opportunities to students while they are getting a haircut the tradition of family reading nights of Barnes & Noble began and menus that promote literacy were and still are distributed to restaurants throughout Marian County this year we launched yet another exciting phase of promoting literacy throughout Maran County which allows students to learn more about how important literacy skills are in the careers of so many Business Leaders and community members this year we have produced 10 videos which have spotlighted community members speaking about the importance of literacy in their career we want all students to hear these stories about just how important literacy is in their career and which literacy skills have allowed them to achieve their dreams Maran County Public Schools values the importance of these important Community Partnerships to help all students reach their highest level of academic success while ensuring students have the ability to read write and speak in a way that allows them to communicate effectively all of their ideas that we know will change the world additionally part of this year's campaign was an essay contest that launched on January 22nd 2024 the first day of celebrate literacy week we received 160 essay submissions tonight I'm very pleased to welcome our winners we have students here tonight from kindergarten through high school this is truly a wonderful way to showcase the progression of writing I would first like to ask Harper a kindergarten student at Shady Hill Elementary to read her essay put down the bench for she's going to need a box to stand up I got a bench for you need to do something about to make you taller okay when you're going to reach right into that microphone and you're just going to read your essay baby girl you good hi my name is hble Hoy when I grow up I am going to be a dentist I have to write on the computers I have to White what's tooth is messed up I would have to read books on how to fix the teeth got it is that it so say thank you thank you good job thank you that was great next next I would like to invite Giovani a second grader from Greenway Elementary to read his essay [Applause] right I think you're good without the bench you're a big guy there you go remember everybody's in their underwear don't be nervous do I just read it yes yeah I'm just going to read it just read what you heard in order to be a Seth you need to be able to read one reason you need to be able to read to be a Sur is you need to read to get a recipe another reason you need to be able to read is to make menus the last reason you need to be able to read to be a self is to get ingredients for the recipes reading is important to be able to have a career good job thank you thank you job awesome good job for grades 6 through eight Our Winning essay was written by Luca from Oola Middle School Luca please come share your essay with us [Music] [Applause] did you know that literacy skills can be used in almost any job good literacy skills are important because of how commonly they are used in jobs and schools one of the best ways to improve your literacy skills is to read here are a couple reasons why reading books can improve your literacy skills as the saying goes practice makes perfect or as my teacher used to say practice makes better I would like to be a mechanical engineer and having good reading skills is important for this occupation because Engineers need to study books and articles for projects they also must be able to read messages from people on their team or other people involved with the project in writing tools 50 essential strategies for every writer Roy Peter Clark says that reading teaches valuable skills and people for people and engineering and others reading also improves your comprehension one way that reading expands your comprehension is by helping you learn how to spell words this helps because the better you are at spelling words the more words you will be able to comprehend having good comprehension skills are an essential part of effective communication everywhere including mechanical engineering the national academies of Sciences engineering and Medicine published a report titled literacy and science technology engineering and Mathematics stem fields that explains how reading comp comprehension is a necessary skill for being successful in the field of engineering and other surrounding Fields another way that reading improves your literacy skills is by improving your vocabulary having a larger vocabulary can make it easier to communicate with other people the better you communicate the easier tasks become having a large vocabulary also makes it easier to understand things such as instructions handbooks and user manuals using context clues is an essential part of vocabulary and communication skills the book reading in the brain the science and evolution of a human invention by Stannis Den hanen says that reading helps improve many important skills including context clues which are important for Success this is important because context clues can help you understand unfamiliar words lastly writing which is one of the most important parts of literacy can be greatly enhanced by reading this is because when you read a good well-written book or article it can give it can give you a good example of how you could write something of your own reading improves your grammar in spelling because seeing how words are spelled sentences are structured and the different rules of English can help you learn from the examples even though you are simply reading it you're still learning it reading also helps improve your organization skills this is important in writing because if you do not have a well organized essay then it is difficult to understand reading also can inspire you to create amazing things try out different writing styles it is important to improve your literacy skills because these skills can make most careers a whole lot easier literacy is such an important and widely used skill that if you are able to fluently use it you'll find it much easier to succeed in anything ultimately since reading is such an accessible option that can help improve your literacy skills everyone should take this opportunity [Applause] lastly from Westport HIgh School I am pleased to welcome georgees a 10th grade student to read his [Applause] essay people people good evening superintendent gulet chor co-chair Conrad school board members Dr cbell Reverend Cummings and Dr J my name is George El and I am a 10th grade student at Westport HIgh School it is an honor to share with you the importance of literacy towards my future career as a football player as a 10th grade student it is time that I determine a plan for my future since a young boy I have dreamt of the idea of playing professional football as the years progressed the vision became stronger and stronger as my K through2 career comes to an end in about two and a half years becoming an NFL player so go mine playing football Come A many challenges to include memorizing all of the plays completing countless practice routines competing against other teams focusing on strategies for the win and so much more my K through 12th grade experience has set me up to pursue and continue my educational career to college to be ready and succeed in in college I have to demonstrate the ability to achieve on various tests it is my goal to do well in high school academically and physically on the field to gain the attention of football Co coaches my literacy skills are used daily and in every subject area I must remain focused and avoid any distractions that may stop me from focusing on my goal reading is needed to succeed in all areas of my educational career I use my literacy skills to help me remain my focus minimize attractions and to study I have learned that I have to study and review my notes after class to remember the information as I study I'm using my literacy skills to review my notes to perform your best as a football player you must know the plays unless you want to get cooked and film football takes strength and speed and you will be forced to read the field and learn the plays there are two types of position on the field offense and defense the goal of the defense is to read the offense to work to getting the ball to the offense once the offense receives the ball the chance of scoring a touchdown increases a football football player must know how to read the field from notes shared by the coach in addition football players should know the various rules of football to understand the rules literacy skills are required for the team to know how to dissect the rules and avoid being flagged because this could cause the team to lose the chance of scoring a touchdown and winning the game reading is important for playing football it is important to read the plays understand the aggressiveness of the game and focusing on the speed of the game happening every second you must be able to adjust as needed in order to become the best football player you can be is important to focus on the game and understand the rules in football how do you do this through using loaly skills well I hope to see you at the top with me thank you so thank you to all of our students who submitted an essay it was truly wonderful to learn how literacy will allow you to reach all of your career goals I think I think District literacy committee for scoring the 160 essays and I think this was a wonderful Showcase of our writing skills from kindergarten to I forgot Jana okay we have one more fantastic come on J I'm sorry representing grades three through five with a big welcome I would like to welcome up JC Anna a third grade student from Greenway Elementary I am so sorry you too I'm so sorry my dear somehow I skipped in my script there you go did you know that reading best-selling novels can increase your vocabulary of unknown words by 80% obviously understanding how Greek and Latin words are formed in morphology will allow me to increase my knowledge of unknown words tremendously over time of course I wonder what you want to be an expert in when I get home every day I set a goal to read for a billion hours every day well I can dream I do right this will allow me to increase my IQ score tremendously as I read the Magic School Bus I am instantly transformed into a new world of reading it's almost like I am no longer on planet Earth anymore if you don't have money to travel a passport or a plane ticket then the Magic School Bus is the perfect read for you it may be fiction but it feels real take a trip into my spiraling mind and you will see why I travel all over the world as jump off the page at me are you ready these type of things take me into outer space and when I just sit there I see all the planets I just imagine I'm learning new vocabulary that takes me to a new sense of depth just like Miss fizzle I'm going to learn I'm going to take a chance at being a bestselling author even in China because why not by reading my books people can travel to 39 countries in just 1 month now novels will draw you an experience from teaching you a lesson to details about body parts to being instantly trapped into a game Let's time travel being a novel artist is a huge Fascination to me I can literally rack up a million reads online or views on YouTube in less than 30 seconds wouldn't that been F wouldn't that be fantastic after reading my story I know you want to be a novel Arthur too let's write a compelling Char character Adventure strong plot and twisting like the wind climax together all in all it'll get everyone talking I would love to take another trip around the world with you just come and join me we will have a bunch of fun traveling Adventures to Adventures H I wonder if we could go to space and get our suits on let's ask Miss fizzle thank you I don't know how I could have forgotten that I can't think of a better way to kick off a school board meeting so I think we're just going to give you all Standing Ovation absolutely wonderful way to [Applause] [Music] [Applause] go sing yeah writing looks bright in Maran County Public Schools very good all right so now you miss please stand please stand for the pledge yep and then getting our stretch on start 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 and we can't come down can't wait to come down and take a picture with everyone that just shared their essays and so we will um do that right now and on behalf of the school board just wanted to share I think we already showed you how proud and excited we are for your accomplishments and realizing how important reading is and it was genius to start with kindergarten and so that we could all witness the the progression in skills it it really is amazing so hats off to all the teachers and parents and everyone else that is uh working to help these kids be successful uccessful and kids your motivation and enthusiasm keep it up we're so proud of you all right let's come down and take a picture you did so great you did better than okay moms and dads go for it all right here we go two three couple more great great [Music] [Applause] job very close all righty we're on a roll Dr gullet we are and I'm going to have Dr living good come forward we have a lot more students to celebrate board so um Dr living good we'll turn it over to you thank you thank you good evening Dr living good good evening chair thrower board members our Victor our student um board representative and of course super superintendent Dr gullet I have the privilege of introducing our secondary cordiner Dr Tiffany Drummond she will share a few words about our math counts competition and introduce the winners thank you good evening thank you Dr living good good evening chair thrower board members and superintendent Dr gullet on Saturday February 10th Maran County Public School students participated in the local math accounts competition hosted by the Maran County forest chapter of the Florida engineering Society the event took place at Howard Middle School and the day of events included math counts t-shirts for all of our participants lunch for our competitors and in Awards based on category placements the schools that competed which are here tonight are Howard Middle they're going to come forward with their sponsor Miss Pamela Ernest [Applause] come this way we have Oola Middle School that also uh competed under sponsor Stacy [Applause] buckter we also had Liberty Middle School which competed under sponsor robbert [Applause] Wagner North Marian middle competed under sponsor William [Applause] lley Belleview Middle competed under sponsor Alexander [Applause] Rivas Horizon Academy under sponsor Deborah [Applause] MCN lakee middle under sponsor Miss Lenor Ellsworth and dellan middle under sponsor Bill [Applause] MTI let me paint a picture of what this day looked like the morning events were exams where students sat in their seats and performed as a group at the team tables then they worked individually for the Sprint and Target rounds as a team for the team round the afternoon events where students completed head-to-head at tables at the front of the cafeteria for for an overall winning and it was a unique yet gut-wrenching event the two teams that will advance to the state competition held on Friday this Friday March 29th are Howard middle and Oola [Applause] middle the two individual ual who will move forward to represent Marian County public schools are de D Dev Patel from Howard [Applause] middle and Alexander Spangler from North Maran middle right based on their performance these students May compete in the national competition held in Washington DC from May 11th to May 14th please give these mathletes a around Round of Applause for their exemplary work and competing on February [Applause] 10th thank you thank you so much and if you would just do a little HAL turn so we can thank you on behalf of the Maring County School Board hello Miss Ernest and and all of your teachers and and your families and all of the adults that support you and and kids for the hard work that that you put in there's a couple middle schools here represented that are perennial powerhouses in these competitions so they've definitely set the bar High and the fact that we have had almost every Middle School competing really is a testament to the schools and and the teachers and the support so uh please stay where you are we can't wait to come down and take a picture of you and many thanks too to the Maring County chapter of the Florida engineering Society for sponsoring this great event all right we'll head on down thank [Applause] you that's correct you're okay am your no you're good it's fine you [Applause] everybody smiling smile I see smiling [Applause] [Music] more that was perfect [Laughter] seriously you make me do cisic I'm a snack oh [Laughter] no one more all right so let's continue yes Madam chair uh Dr living good is back at the podium and and now we're going to move on to recognizing some very accomplished scholar athletes I I had two more groups to recognize so this group as Dr gullet shared will be our student athletes from Vanguard High School but I'd like to bring up our coordinator of Athletics activities um and jrtc to the podium so he can share sh a few words about that and his name is Donnie Tucker thank you good evening Mr Tucker thank you Dr living good good evening chair thrower board members Dr gullet um it's a pleasure to be here tonight to introduce These Fine student athletes from Vanguard High School um day in and day out we do a lot of stuff out on the athletic fields that people see but they don't see what these student athletes behind me do in the classroom room and everyone that every one of these names that I'm going to call have earned an academic scholarship um to play their Sport and attend college and get an education so um that's a very good feat considering that um what they do and and the time and effort that they put in on a daily on a daily basis um so without further Ado from football we have Christopher Allen and when I call your name if you guys will come up and stand in the front Christopher Allen Mitchell Brown Marquel Davis John Tavis Davenport Jeremiah eings Fred gasin Cameron King Dennis Lane kendarius Lee taywan Lesley tyon  Jeremiah rimbert dalan Ponder Cameron Powell Cameron Swinton jquan thoron zamarian farmer McCrae Jal Watkins Jerel Wilkerson Ryan Wilson Robert Wilson Terrence farmer and Anthony reasen all right these are [Applause] all I'd also like to introduce their head coach coach Edwin [Applause] farmer these are all of our football players from Vanguard High School now moving on to the sport across country we have Rachel Hill and Clayton [Applause] Knight the sport of basketball we have jardo Turner who I don't think could be with us tonight and track we have anniah hope who I think also had might have had a prior Comm commitment so these are all of our student athletes from Vanguard High School who have received a an academic scholarship to play a sport at the next level if we could give them another round of [Music] applause on behalf of the school board thank you so much all of you for coming out tonight it it really means a lot we know you're busy and it's a very busy time of year but to take the time to to come out and be recognized gives us a chance to let you know how proud We Are of your accomplishments we're sure they're the first of of many I wanted to ask is uh is Christopher Allen here was he able to make it tonight okay um I just wanted to acknowledge that um he is going to be going to the United States Naval Academy um that's where my father graduated from and I think it's always important to honor anyone that is um going into the armed service and willing to protect our country so if you would share our thanks um to Mr Allen from from the school board our special thanks and and to all of the rest of you you know you're going to have a lot of opportunity to do so many different things that are really good for you and you may want to think about so just keep in mind what all of the adults that care so much about you have worked to instill and what you've worked so hard to instill in yourselves so that you can continue to make those proud blessed choices and we wish you the best and don't think we're not looking for you on TV because we are and we celebrate every single time we see you so thank you again for coming out tonight and we are coming down for a picture so don't leave yet chair Thor if I could also introduce i' would like to uh recognize Mr Chris Carlile principal of Vanguard High School absolutely and the school's athletic director Mr Brett bevel we need him in the picture too and the ad and Coach farmer and everybody else thank you stent first l I think I need to recuse myself from that facilities item yeah and you can choose to disclose only or disclose and and obain so it's not truly a recusal it's an extension but you've already disclosed previously so you can just announce chck yeah I just SE that I had her print one because there's another thing that I had to have another board yes spelling be yeah I am having fun this is the best part of it it's hard to squeeze into all the photos just another okay that was exciting I would now like to introduce to you our coordinator of K12 curriculum Mark Ingram he will introduce to you our spelling be champions for the school year all right good evening Mr Ingram good evening you guys are getting your steps tonight I'm here to introduce the winners of the Maring County Spelling be which was held here in this Auditorium on January 30th Cali Godwin and Cathy [Applause] Lee students who qualified for the County Spelling be were selected first via class spelling bees or quizzes and school spelling bees two winners from each of our middle schools and winners from uh Trinity Catholic or Blessed Trinity also competed the be was sponsored by the gfwc Women's Club of Okala Who provided judges and prizes for the winners they're represented here tonight with Diana Meer Henry Sonia Palmer Tula bondan Sandra EML and co-presidents Debbie Ivy and Kathy Fountain and I want to thank them for their support [Applause] Dr Danielle livingood was in attendance to greet the crowd and also present Awards Kevin Christian served as the word caller and moderator and this was a tough one this year also in attendance we school be coordinators as well as principles and assistant principles from each school and tonight uh the school be coordinators are represented by Miss Fender from Belleview mle and Miss Barkley from Liberty Applause for [Applause] the 22nd annual County B ended after 22 rounds including 18 with just these two students in a tiebreaker both were named as the top spellers following a judge's decision to end the event in a tie Cali Godwin an eighth grader at Belleview Middle and Cathy Lee a seventh grader at Liberty Middle walked away as the co-district Champions the two winning words ended up being Stigmata and thank you all right we definitely want to come down and take a a picture with you and also the Women's Club thank you so much for sponsoring and please come down and and join in the picture uh being able to spell and and words are just it's personally exciting to me and Stigmata that's a good one and the fact that it went 18 rounds and then had to just end in a tie just shows how what amazing spellers you are which will always be helpful in life so without further Ado the school board will come down and take a picture with everybody thank you if there your principls are here please come down yep get together okay all right we have another more we have we well we're getting close doing good still a lot of people there oh School recognitions El yes oh yes the perfect audience yes yes so uh Madam chair members of the board before we um do our final recognition for tonight I just want to prepare you for next board meeting there are more athletes and more students coming to be recognized so great more to come more to come yes this is the best way to start a night really really proud of all of our students so I am pleased to have uh Miss Boston Ellis our Chief Financial Officer come forward and we've moved from Student Success to those who are supporting Student Success and she will be recognizing our principles and department heads for the amazing job that they are doing with their teams to support um receiving a a perfect audit which is also part part of the importance of what we do with our taxpayer dollars and that we're working in a very efficient manner so uh looking forward to celebrating thank you Miss Boston Ellis good evening you're on he muted the mic yeah he muted the mic got push the button there you go now it's green good evening chair thrower board members and superintendent Dr gullet to today we continue the celebration of our schools and selected departments for their excellence in bookkeeping for the fiscal year 2022 2023 they are to be commended on this achievement these 22 and believe it or not three of them are high schools and we know how hard that is to uh get that award recognition so 20 two of them have met the criteria of a perfect audit I also want to celebrate our internal accounts auditing Department which is led by Christine Corgan and also Patricia Eubanks we call her Patty and Jessica Pucket they audit the school internal accounts but both principals and secretary bookkeepers will tell you that this department also provides support and guidance so without further Ado I'll turn it over to Christine Corgan as we take this time to celebrate the big kids in our school district thank you thank you I'm gonna get good evening superintendent Dr gullet board chair Nancy thrower and board members um and thank you Teresa um as she stated we would like to recognize the 22 schools and programs for their perfect audit for the 2223 school year um a perfect audit just so you know does consist of these schools meeting all of our red book requirements the State of Florida has our Florida Statutes and then our Schoolboard policies that you guys have put in place the certificate they're receiving tonight says a Board of bookkeeping Excellence is awarded in recognition of achieving a perfect audit with no findings for the 2223 school year and it is signed by superintendent Dr gullet and our Chief Financial Officer Miss Teresa Boston Ellis I just want to say congratulations to them on their accomplishments for this they have worked very hard and they should be very proud of the work that they have done I would like to call up each school um and or program provide them with a certificate and this if they will stay up front for a photo at the end um for the following individuals would you come up um as you are called and please stay the first one I'm so excited um is one of our high schools as Miss Teresa mentioned um Belleview High School Miss principal Miss Heather guest and bookkeeper Miss Shannon [Applause] Morris is BW Santos Elementary School principal Miss Kim white and Shel hel here [Applause] secretary College Park Elementary School principal Miss Terry forze and secretary Miss Christine boyi Dell Elementary School Miss principal Miss Karen English and secretary Miss Sheila clay who is unable to attend this evening fident fident Elementary School principal Miss Stacy newans and secretary Miss Madison [Applause] husky Greenway Elementary School principal Miss Leanne ker and secretary Miss Kelly suven who is unable to attend this [Applause] evening hamt Bowen Elementary School principal Miss Tracy Crawford and secretary Miss Mary Kelly another High School Miss Lake wear high school principal Miss Colleen Wayne and bookkeeper Miss Noel [Music] Warner Lake wear Middle School principal Mr Jason Jacobs and secretary Miss Tammy [Applause] Tenny Legacy Elementary School principal Miss shmika Murphy and secretary Miss Liz Lucas then Liberty Middle School former principal Miss Melissa Connor and current principal principal Bo Mr Bo Williams and former secretary Miss Beth [Applause] knife Maple Wood Elementary School principal Miss Chrissy Carter and secretary Miss Lori Rabel [Applause] next will be Marian after school programs prior coordinator and Miss Pam Eubanks current coordinator miss Karen lorenco and secretary Miss Sarah Workman they are unable to be here this evening and we will make sure they receive their certificate Maran Marian Technical College principal Mr Gary smallridge and bookkeeper miss Karen Marlin she was unable to attend this evening [Music] and North Marian High School principal Miss Carol sales and former bookkeeper Miss Sherry Duran who came in tonight um to support North Maran High [Applause] School aolo Middle School principal Mr Matthew kof and secretary Miss Lori Hunter who was unable to attend tonight Al Elementary School principal Dr Diana Elsie and secretary Miss Valerie [Applause] lindr bar Elementary School principal Miss Renee Johnson and secretary Miss Jan Graham Stanton weell Elementary School principal Miss Cynthia Brody and secretary Miss April stage who was unable to attend this evening [Applause] Sunrise Elementary School principal Miss Kathy bis and secretary Miss Nidia [Applause] Delgado Ward Highlands Elementary School principal Miss Teresa buck and Miss secretary Atlanta Phillips they were unable to attend this evening and we will make sure they get their certificates and last but not least um yamina Park Elementary School principal Miss Victoria Hunter hunt and secretary Miss Jolene Hughes who is unable to attend okay um I work with you guys every day we love you guys thank you for everything you do keep it up and congratulations all right hi hello on behalf of your Maran County school board we're so grateful that at the end of your very long days that you were able to come out here tonight so that we can honor you and celebrate you and and thank you for your great work and keeping our schools solvent so that we can have all these programs for these kids that are being so successful so honestly um it is a privilege to have you here tonight and thank you for everything that you do so we can't wait to come down and take a picture so let's do it so you can go [Laughter] home on the stage behind everybody it do it here we go everybody's going to smile and say perfect one two three time and perfect good thank you so [Applause] [Music] much I'm so tired this might be our last night of having the yes it is hi I'm sarahy Victor nice to meet you I catch you before the meeting okay I don't know what that is yeah something that broke looks like maybe a frame okay maybe so boy now the auditorium sure was nice sure was yes on to this what a tremendous start to the night yes and I guess unless there's some puppies and kittens about to come out we have to get on to business yeah that's all right uh I have a recognitions next of our donations and we have one donation to recognize tonight of $1,000 to bellev high school from the Rotary Club of bellw and we always and truly appreciate the financial support and so many in kind um supplies that we've gotten from the community over the years and uh every single thing that we receive is is greatly needed and appreciated so thank you B uh thank you Rotary Club of Belle all right Dr gullet I think it's time to make a recommendation on tonight's school board meeting yes it is thank you madam chair I recommend approval of the agenda for the March 26 2024 school board meeting with the materials in the board packet those materials distributed to board memb 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 D2 2.1 d 22.2 d 22.3 d 22.4 d22.5 d 22.6 d 22.7 and d 22.8 that have been placed under discussion also we have item c16.3 that has been completely withdrawn from the agenda tonight thank you thank you Dr gullet uh board may have a motion on the superintendent's recommendation motion to approve the agenda motion by board member Campbell second second by Vice chair Conrad all those in favor say I I I motion passes 5 z uh moving on to 6.1 may I have a motion to approve the minutes for the February 6 2024 administrative briefing and work session motion by uh Reverend Cummings second second by board member Campbell are there any additions or corrections to the minutes hearing none all those in favor say I I I motion passes unanimously 5 may I have a motion to approve the minutes for the February 13th 2024 school board meeting motion to approve motion by Vice chair Conrad second second by board member James are there any additions or corrections to the minutes hearing none all those in favor say I I I motion passes 5 z may I have a motion to approve the minutes from the February 20th 2024 administrative briefing and work session motion to approve motion by Dr James 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 I motion passes 5-0 Miss Martinez would you please provide the proof of publication for tonight's school board meeting the notice for the March 26 2024 Schoolboard meeting ran in the Okala Gazette on March 15th 2024 the proof of publication has been attached in board Duckman to proof of publication thank you Miss Martinez we'll move on now to persons requesting to address the board and I will now ask the school board's attorney to explain the rules governing persons who wish to address the school board this evening you're on attorney Powers thank you madam chair 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 regarding either one of today's agenda items or a matter relating to the operations of the school district these procedures will ensure the public has a reasonable opportunity to be heard on school board matters and School District matters a written summary of these procedures are available from the table in the lobby public speaker forms are also available 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 school board's meeting in the order of reedt 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 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 24 hours in advance the board is here to listen to your comments only you may be directed to an administrative staff member following the conclusion of your comments for further assistance to address your concerns if there are matters dealing with student discipline including expulsions they'll be scheduled at the conclusion of the telev 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 student's first or last name identifying references to or identification of students and or their families are also strictly prohibited a speaker's speech does not reflect the endorsement sponsorship position or expression of the school District thank you for your attention to the board's requirements Madam chair that concludes my explanatory remarks thank you attorney Powers Miss Martinez do we have any speakers this evening yes Madam chair we have one speaker Melanie Slaughter thank you evening Miss slaugher good evening um I am here to let the board know what you saw today was something that coach farmer and Mrs farmer started for 4 years ago so my son was a just finished his freshman year four years ago at Vanguard High School and half the senior class was not able to sign football scholarships because they didn't academically qualify so coach farmer and I had a discussion and we I told him that the reason why my children do good in school is not because they're Geniuses it's because they are expected to and he took the bull by the horns and said of Mrs farmer and he started an expectation at Vanguard football that every child at Vanguard football would have a 3.0 GPA or above he got donations from Chick-fil-A to give gift cards out to students that made the 3.0 or above and it didn't happen right away and it took time summer school helped a lot so thank the board for that um catching students up and getting students to to qualify I think year round school is going to be a a great God send for kids that need extra help because it keeps them in school more and I I hope that that passes for wyam Park Elementary School there thing but basically what I want to tell the board is he made the expectation four years ago what you see now is the result of expecting a 3 0 every senior at on the Vanguard High School football team with the exception of one who I think had a 29 had a 3.0 or above when they graduated when we had senior night for the first time in five years on senior night at Vanguard football when I was there watching my sophomore daughter cheer they announced the GPA of every single senior that graduated and half of them had a three or above and half of them had a 40 or above and that's because coach farmer and Mrs farmer are making the expectations that there is no excuse you have tutoring you we offer tutoring at Vanguard High School now you anytime you want tutoring you can get it anytime you need help you can get it the teachers have bought in the students have bought in Mr carile four years ago used um Title One money to get a computer program that tells students you plug in your grades you have to have the grades in the core classes a lot of them don't understand that it isn't going to help you go to college if you have an A in PE and a c in English or a D in English and they they learn the chord that they have to have he they they have that computer program the parents bought into it the parents are now doing it Fred gasin whose father was here today who's one of the leaders on this football team started posting his son's grades on Facebook his freshman year every quarter he posted his grades and challenged every single player on the football team I can make over a 3 0 so can you I can make over a 35 so can you I can make over a 40 so can you and so I'm asking you to consider making that challenge because now my sons that are playing at Forest High School guess what they have a three-oh club down they not only have not only they have a lifting Club if you lift a certain amount you get a T-shirt If you make over a 3.0 you get a t-shirt they took them to dve and Busters last year for every football player that made over a Thro on that football team football is the greatest way to get boys to care about school it is the thing that they will work for that they will grind for that they will put the time in for and you can switch Athletics to academics very easily if you invest in the people that run these programs so I'm asking the board to not only do what you did tonight and congratulate the people that run these programs and these young men but do it for every school because that's how you keep these kids in school that's how you get them going to college and that's how you get them caring about academics thank you thank you Miss Slaughter really appreciate your comments they're very timely actually um Miss Martinez and I were just talking about this before the meeting that you get what you settle for in this life so thank you all right do we have any other speakers or does that conclude it that concludes it okay thank you moving on to some information items board items 9.1 through 9.7 are information only per board policy 6345 the superintendent is authorized to approve and execute any Construction contract change order that will increase the Construction contract amount by $225,000 or less or that will ideally decrease the construction amount item 9.1 construction of a security fencing system at yam Park Elementary change order number one work authorization number 31 project 23- 131 project uh 9.2 electrical system upgrades at fezen elementary school change order number one work authorization number 12 project number 14-12 item 9.3 enhancement to the security fencing system at Fort King Middle School change order number one work authorization number 17 project number 22-11 item 9.4 modification of the security fencing system at Dr NH Jones Elementary School change order number one work authorization number 25 project number 23- 131 item 9.5 modification of the security system fencing mod security fencing system excuse me at forom Early Learning change order number one work authorization number 32 project 23- 131 item 9.6 modification of this of the security fencing system at Sunrise Elementary School change order number one work authorization number 29 project number 23-13 1 item 9.7 replacement of covered walkway Roof System at Fort McCoy School change order number one work authorization number 18 project number 21-11 0 okay moving on to our consent agenda may I have a motion to approve consent agenda items c1.12 c2.1 with the exception of items D 22.1 D 22.2 D 22.3 D 22.4 d22.5 d 22.6 d 22.7 and d 22.8 that have been placed under discussion and item c16.3 that has been completely withdrawn from the agenda may I have a motion please motion by board member Cummings second second by Vice chair Conrad all those in favor say I I I motion passes 5 moving on to our discussion items we'll start with D 22.1 may I have a motion to approve the second renewal with Cox Florida Telecom LP doing business as Cox Business need a motion please motion motion by Vice chair Conrad uh second by board member Campbell Dr gullet do you have information you would like to share regarding this item I do thank you madam chair members of the board I'm going to speak to items 22.1 through 22.4 the first four they're grouped together um and Reserve comment for later and answer any questions their group because all four items um are pertaining to internet services being provided to our schools and our departments so and I want to make a a note here that 80% of these costs that you see and it's nearly 1.5 million in total but 80% of these are reimbursable through our e rate program so we've grouped them together for your awareness that's why they're under discussion thank you thank you thank goodness for the eate program correct also not included in the script but also uh to be included is a um item 10.1 public hearing the public hearing right you didn't do the public hearing I don't have it in my script no it was just an oversight in the script okay and the public hearing is related to um there are policies oh Poli so I it's it's on the agenda I believe it's not in the script it's on the agenda it is on the agenda correct Yeah okay or the consent agenda okay so I'm just letting you know so we can read that out when it comes so and that would be the time so I'm pulling it up on the agenda right now okay thank you um just so that we don't uh further confuse everybody we'll go ahead and do the voting for um these discussion items and then we'll go ahead back and do the the public hearing yes' okay all right is there any um discussion from the board on let's see that was item 22.1 any further discussion from the board regarding the second renewal with Cox Florida Telecom LP doing business as Cox Business okay hearing no discussion all those in favor say I I I motion passes unanimously all right moving on to d22 point2 may I have a motion to approve the Second Amendment with the city of Okala doing business as Okala fiber Network to approve motion by board member Cummings second second by Vice chair Conrad um Dr gullet you do you have any other specific information you'd like to share about this item nothing additional if there are anything specific that the board would like to know Mr Ben vudi is here also but no nothing additional for those other items okay uh any other discussion from the board all right hearing none all those in favor say I I I motion passes unanimously 5 we'll move on then to uh D 22.3 may I have a motion to approve the first renewal of the city of Okala doing business as Ocala fiber Network so Move Motion by board member Cummings second second by board member James um anything further from the board or Dr gullet okay hearing none all those in favor say I I I motion passes unanimously 5-0 moving on to 22 point 4 may have a motion to approve the third renewal with Cox Florida LP doing business as Cox doing business as Cox Business motion to approve uh motion by board member Campbell second by by second by board member Cummings um any further discussion from superintendent or Board hearing none all those in favor say I I I motion passes unanimously 5 Z okay let's go ahead ahead and get that um public hearing out of the way to approve our board policies and this is as to item 10.1 a public hearing to adopt the revised board policies and uh I will read from the agenda item to indicate that we had as soon as I can pull it up here the prior board action was we had a work session on February 1st of 2024 another on February 20th of 2024 and and one on February 26th of 2024 the adoption of the updated board policies will ensure that board policies reflect the board's guidance are consistent with statutory revisions and are available for review by all District employees the board's policies are located on board docs and are easily available to District staff and the public costs associated with this item are minimal advertisement costs for the legal notices thank you attorney powers and there's no vote tonight it's simply a public hearing it would be a public hearing and then we vote after the public public hearing okay all right I declare a public hearing is there anyone here that would like to speak to the topic of adopting the revised board policies okay hearing none any discussion from the board seeing none ready to vote all those in favor say I I I motion passes unanimously 5 Z thank you and that motion will be the motion to adopt the revised board policies that is correct correct all right great work on everyone's behalf on all of those all of those many policies all right may I have a motion we're moving on to d22.5 now may I have a motion to approve the contract between owner and construction manager for Construction Services related to construction of a new gymnasium at Oola Middle School which is Project 24-19 may I have a motion please move move by board member Cummings second by Vice chair Conrad Dr gullet do you have information you would like to share regarding this item thank you mam chair members of the board you will see the pattern tonight we've also grouped these next four items these are all construction related and as you know from our previous meetings recently we've been putting all these under discussion so they're all construction related and that's why they're they are under discussion uh no additional information um that I need to add other than what's in there already thank you thank you Dr gallet is there any discussion from the board um regarding the Oola middle school project yes board member Campbell thank you chair thrower so I just want to say uh as a mom of Oola Middle School basketball players I'm won my third basketball player at Oola Middle School it's unfortunate that this will be built in August 2026 because none of the Campbell boys will have the opportunity to actually play in it nevertheless I'm super excited uh that Oola middle school students will have the ability to have a functional wonderful working space for all athletic of uh activities that they have on their campus that are indoor and that actually fans can come and enjoy indoor on the aola middle school campus so I think it'll be a great opportunity but the other thing chair uh I will be recusing myself from this vote uh because of the contractor that we've chosen I have personal relationship with okay thank you very much board member Campbell any other discussion from the board right I just wanted to point out um I was excited to see that this also o includes part for the music program and so the gymnasium and for the music program which is really exciting yes it is very much so all right any nothing else from the board we'll go ahead and vote all those in favor say I I I motion passes unanimously 4 Zer with board member Campbell reusing thank you thank you all right moving on to d226 we have a motion to approve the construction of a horse pasture and shade structure at reic Coler Elementary School motion to approve motion by Vice chair Conrad second by board member Cummings Dr gullet do you have any additional information you'd like to share regarding this item nothing additional thank you thank you all right anything else from the board yes Dr James I just wanted to mention I'm I was visiting recently and Mr Manning and I um were chitchatting about this and other things and the kids are very excited and he's very excited for it to be a wonderful incentive to help students come to school and have an opportunity to spend time with a horse so um only positives coming from Reddit CER that's wonderful to hear my understanding is it's a pretty famous horse is that right Dr goet yes I met him personally he's movie star according he's a movie star he's he's impressive yes Doc and he was in the movie The Pirates of the Caribbean wasn't he yes he was yep yep so pretty cool right here in little mar mar County all right yeah isn't that [Laughter] neat all right if there's no more discussion we'll go ahead and vote all those in favor say I I I motion passes emphatically enthusiastically 5- z uh we will move on now to D 22.7 we have a motion to approve the construction of a new central warehouse Amendment two to the construction manager contract change order number two project 20-12 may have a mtion please to approve motion by Vice chair Conrad second second by Dr Campbell any more information you'd like to share with us regarding this item Dr gullet nothing additional thank you okay um anything else from the board all right hearing and seeing none all those in favor say I I I I motion passes unanimously 5 Z moving on to d228 may have a motion to approve contract for architectural Design Services for new high school CC c c project 24-105 I'll say again new high school CCC motion please motion to approve motion by Vice chair Conrad second second by board member Campbell any further information Dr gullet you'd like to share No Madam chair thank you okay any discussion from the board go ahead board member James um I'll I won't be voting on this item tonight because I was a part of the committee that went and did the tours for the prototypes but I want to say that um the committee spent two days going across um greater Central Florida I think we looked at six or seven schools and when we walked this was our last one over two days and when we walked up to the school it just felt like home it just felt great um and it's beautiful I know a few other board members got to take a visit um and it was just such a great opportunity to spend time discussing with the site leader there what they love which was a lot of positives and um I'm really excited to move forward with this design I think it's going to be a wonderful addition to Marian County and it feels very cleic and very fancy and it's going to be great for our community so um I fully support the board's moving forward in this um Direction awesome thank you board member James any further discussion from the board I don't think anyone else could have put it better I'm hearing none uh let's go ahead and vote all those in favor say I I I motion passes 4 Z with board member James reusing okay it is time to move on to 23.1 which is board member committee reports and concerns we'll start with a couple of meeting reminders a special board meeting has been scheduled on April 11th 2024 at 7: a.m. the next administrative briefing and work session has been scheduled for April 11th 2024 the following administrative briefing King and work session has been scheduled for May 2nd and then of course tomorrow uh morning at 9:00 a.m. we'll be at the livestock uh Auditorium for our joint meeting uh with our fellow elected officials and so we'll look forward to seeing everyone there and then again on Thursday for our work session so a busy week for everybody uh we'll go ahead and start with um Miss Martinez any comments things we need to know from your seat um board members just so you know I you I've made your reservations for your Summer Conference uh if you plan to uh not attend please let me know by May 30th that's the last day that I would be able to get a refund back anything after that then I would not be able to get a refund but your rooms are all secured for June 4th through June 7th so it's May 30th May 30th is the deadline okay you may want to send a reminder out on like the 29th or a couple days ahead just to make sure because that is um it's a very important conference a great conference but if for some reason something comes up we don't want to lose the the money for the hotel room for sure okay thank you Miss Martinez Dr gullet U yes just briefly thank you madam chair members of the board I I want to just take a moment again to congratulate our students from tonight and our school teams for the great work they're doing um want to thank you all for your participation in what was a historic day last week with the groundbreaking of our two elementary schools what a beautiful day uh thanks to the team for making that possible um lots more to come with with growth um in building so much to celebrate in Maran County right now I also want to just land on where we always should land on students we begin with students and end with students and today I had the opportunity and I know a couple of you were there as well to uh join in at the um Belleview uh c um kickoff and it was held at Belleview high school I want to thank principal guest for her leadership um she had the opportunity to share um I encourage them let her let's hear from Principal guest so she could share what's happening on our campus and so much to celebrate there but it's about the students and the students prepared uh breakfast The Culinary students and they had student ambassadors out welcoming engaging with the business Community leaders and so I think it was just a great Partnership of of continuing that work that showcasing what we're doing with students and allowing our students to participate with our community so I just want to um thank the C for that and thank principal guest and her team thank you board thank you Dr gullet and we will move on now to our new student board member representative um Mr Victor nyard from lakee high school thank you so much for being with us tonight uh thank you again Madam for this opportunity to be here but uh are you asking if I have any reports or anything absolutely uh no no thank you mam not today it's a lot to absorb in a short on of time yes ma'am thank you so much we really appreciate you being here I appreciate the opportunity you bet all right Bo M Campbell sure thing so great great things we had in the meeting this evening it's always wonderful to start with so many recognitions and we have an hour worth at the beginning it's it's just a lot of fun I have a special place in my heart for math counts I I love U what math counts is and the engineers in our local community that support that all day event that occurs my own family had adjust spring break plans one time because of one of my sons had to come back to Florida to compete and so that's it's just great have a special place in my heart there uh super amazing about our spelling be Champions plural uh because uh what an amazing accomplishment to go 18 rounds just the two of them together and one of them is in seventh grade so I think we'll see her again um and also all the great writers and readers that we had this evening it wasn't just about their writing ability but also how well they were able to read what they had written and it was so just great um also super excited for each of the student athletes receiving scholarships to play I said to each one of them that I was able to see quickly make sure that you keep your grades up as you get to school so you are on the field every time because as all of us who've attended College know sometimes that freshman year just you you get excited being away from from home and what that looks like but also thank you to miss Melanie Slaughter she always comes and brings great insight to us and talking about the long long game that Mr farmer coach farmer and his wife have done there at Vanguard and really seeing what that looks like from a freshman year on had an opportunity to speak with our athletic directors recently and reminded them that they have the ability based on policy that this school board has enacted that they can create an athletic code of student conduct and perhaps they do want to consider GPA attendance discipline requirements that they put in for our athletes and you know whatever they write and whatever Dr gullet is willing to approve from that perspective we have enshrined in policy that they can do that and so I I think that Miss Slaughter's comments tonight can be taken to heart and our athletic D our athletic directors can certainly consider that and then certainly recognizing perfect audits we've done a good job of recognizing them every time that our board meeting has come up but uh we obviously got to see them all collectively tonight so again just a recap of some great things that we had I also started my day at Bellevue High School as the new host location for Bellevue C just wonderful opportunity to showcase many of the folks walked in and said they had no idea that that black box also known as The Loft even existed at Bellevue High School The Culinary students showcase their work and it it just showcases the wonderful things that the Belleview Community offers not only to our students but also to the families there in Belleview um my my family my my children attend there so I was excited to be there uh so many other great things happening all throughout the district way too many to name the groundbreakings were were wonderful and reading to students and being able to be meet with principes and and District leaders there's been a lot going on I know we had spring break but wow there's a lot going on the only other thing that I wanted to mention to school board members just because communication that we have with District staff you aren't privy to unless we discuss it here um I as we approved this evening the architectural agreement to move forward with a high school I've been talking to miss Dobbins and Mr Knight and even Dr goet a bit about the desire that I had as an individual board member to ensure that we were providing adequate athletic facilities and that would include two gymnasium floors IND doors and so what I want to tell you I found out and I'm going to continue to research this a bit but miss Dobbins has told me that according to the certificate of participation fund as well as the SF Rec srf recommendations that they require that we're only able to build one gym floor so I am she sent me the link yesterday I'm going to be researching what most recently was updated in 2014 but srf stands for state requirements for educational facilities and the Florida building code I believe to be Antiquated board frankly I I'm going to be completely honest with you I'm G to research and see when some of this was put into place but the total square footage of the Court cannot exceed 6,500 square feet and a standard High School court is 4200 Square fet etc etc the seating capacity for a school of 2500 students is capped at 250 seats in the gymnasium I'm going to research exactly when srf put in requirements for gymnasiums but what we have approved as far as the architectural renderings that we've seen show multiple outdoor spaces football field two practice Fields Outdoor fields for baseball softball tennis courts beach volleyball all of these wonderful individual sports that are played Outdoors we have plenty of outdoor space and we are approving that to move forward but I dare say that srf has not looked at this since we now have boys and girls basketball and their JV girls volleyball boys volleyball competitive cheerleading wrestling girls and boys weightlifting just to name a few and those are all the sports that have to practice and compete indoors and we only have one location for that to occur I believe that's Antiquated I'm going to continue to do the research but I think that it might be something that this Board needs to consider in legislative priorities next year to work on potentially doe rule changes or whatever it's going to take to start not discriminating against our Indoor Sport athletes because that's what it feels like to me and knowing that it's a state of Florida regulation we need to work on it so those are my thoughts thank you so much all right thank you board member Campbell appreciate your next update on that absolutely how we can support okay uh attorney Powers anything from your chair down there we're happy to have uh the office of board Clerk and board services will be uh operating under the purview of the legal department and uh we've been doing that for a couple of weeks now things are running smoothly so um please excuse us as we get started here and get into our our new surroundings and everything uh we have uh reflected to staff that any deliveries to be made to the office of the board clerk um can be made directly to the legal department and uh uh we will still maintain offices as they have uh as they are currently um and uh we are very proud and excited to have this new this this new edition so we'll as we continue on we'll find ways to improve operational efficiency every way we can thank you very much awesome thank you appreciate it board member James good evening um I wanted to just touch on a few things that we did tonight and some upcoming things and also some things happening in District 5 so tonight we approved um our policies our revised policies which included some policies which had extensive um discussion as a board including the um posting of In God We Trust in all of our schools and I think that in doing research I think we're the first Public School District to make that requirement in the State of Florida but maybe in the entire country so I think we've done some really groundbreaking stuff here tonight and I look forward to continuing to work with community members to do amazing things throughout our school district um I wanted to give a shout out to Mr Ben benoni I was visiting with um Miss White at B Santos recently and she shared with me that um as many are are feeling the pressure of new students coming she has had to explore her existing space and find space for new students next year Miss dobbin's department does a wonderful job of walking with principles and helping them identify areas in their school that are maybe could be better utilized and so there was a few classrooms that Miss White needed to convert and they needed a little love and one of the areas of love she she shared amazing things to say about the facilities Department they're already out there painting and doing floors and all of the things um but she also had high high remarks for Mr binui and the entire technology department that are outfitting them with all of the smartboards and all the things they need to make them an exceptional space for learning next year so I wanted to take this opportunity to just share that a variety of departments are working now to address the growth pains that we will feel next school year and they're being very proactive uh today we received the email that we are scheduled to do prototype tours in um the third week of April for lakew Middle School's replacement so we will be hitting the pavement across the State of Florida to tour prototypes over two days uh with Mr Jacob and some other team members and find hopefully an amazing Middle School prototype that would be perfect for lakew middle school so that work is coming um we got I had a got a text message from athletic director Philip small and then an email the following day from Principal guest regarding the BW High School softball and baseball scoreboards that are installed um I know that there's a variety of us that spent a lot of time helping get us to a place where we were going to be able to make happen for them and I know that there's a lot of work that has occurred through the facilities department and with staff to address this need and also as multiple board members have made it a a public priority of theirs um including myself to make sure that we are putting some money into Athletics every year so um I wanted to to acknowledge that they are very grateful to have those two new scoreboards um for my district District 5 I just wanted to say um jumir opened their doors this past weekend and the north Maran um High School jrtc came and got to tour Bob B's mini array of um historic military planes so the students got to come and see just how historic all of the things that he has there Dr gold and I got to tour it maybe 18 months ago now with Mr smallidge and there are some really awesome stuff there so he uh welcomed his doors I had sent him a message and connected with him and he said anytime so the students came this past weekend and got an opportunity to take a tour um I want to give the county commissioner a shout out Okala Springs um Elementary is in a unique place that is basically just a two-lane road so Carline winds up backing up not on the road because then traffic would go all the way to the main thorough fair so they have created a a turn lane of themselves on the side of the road and it's made for pretty rough road conditions the principal reached out to me and I reached out to commissioner Carl alak who connected me with an amazing staff member and the Monday after spring break uh I think Miss redo joked and she said there was just a bunch of dirt here and I didn't know what was happening so um County staff got lots of dirt brought out there and addressed the um immediate needs and then we've had further conversation with Miss Dobbins in the facilities Department to try and maybe renegotiate how they do car and bus so that we can maximize it and try and get it off the roadway so just lots of really great collaborative conversations with us and other organizations to try and meet our families where they are and then finally I just wanted to say um there's been some conversation about a a new shop that has opened in Anthony on the four-way stop it opened like over the weekend basically it was a thrift store and it is not a thrift store anymore so I just wanted to clarify to the community that the school board is has no control over places that open um adjacent to our properties and honestly the County Commission if the zoning is not changing also really has no control over what's opening so it's just important for the community to understand that sometimes at the local level there's not as much control as we have and so if we are concerned as a community about smoke shops um shops that may sell um legal drugs being next to our schools we should take that up at the state level and have a discussion with our legislators about that because oftentimes those things are far beyond what our local control can do um but certainly beyond the control of Maran County Public Schools so I will continue to connect community members with the right people but unfortunately it's completely out of our purview so uh thank you thank you all and uh that's it thank you board member James board member Cummings good evening everyone um just a few things um this was a great meeting tonight the opening of the meeting was um like none other with so many recognitions I thank the superintendent for putting all those on tonight um before I get there in our in our consent agenda tonight we we approved the the uh yearound calendar for yina Park Elementary um I want to thank the team that put that calendar together it is a I think it's an excellent calendar I think it does not have as many uh disruptions or interruptions I think it fits the area and I really believe that this is going to be a benefit for the students at w Park in our district I'm grateful for um the team that took the time to listen to the concerns of the uh the people in that area that wanted to make sure that they were heard but also to um make sure that the they took in consideration many other aspects that people don't think about such as uh child care and PE uh adults work parents work schedules and all those things so I want to commend them on that because um we make those type of decisions or when we get uh the opportunity to do certain things everybody everybody has to be involved in the process and um that was um one of the this is one of the times that it came out really well I think um for this District I also want to commend U moving on commend um Miss Teresa Boston Ellis and her team for um the AIT 22 schools with perfect aits that is amazing that is truly amazing um that mean they had no error um in anything and they accounted for every red scent in that school so I'm I'm I'm excited about that because one of the things that are that we are charged with is um budget and and policies and to and we're very conservative on a lot of things especially when it comes to money we don't want to waste any money so um I'm grateful for those schools that that were able to have those perfect audits challenging the other schools to to get to that level and um I I pray that we they keep up the great work that they're doing in that department thank you Miss Boston Ellis and your team moving on last week um we had an opportunity to participate in two groundbreaking um for Schools elementary schools to help uh alleviate the stress uh and the growth in the southwest cor of Marian County um the those two groundbreakings were were needed needed needed and we're looking forward into and we I tonight um approv the architectural design for um services for a new high school Maran county is growing at leaps in bounds I think I think the number I heard last week there's like a thousand families or something like that moving in every week or something every month and that's that is really really really um it's a lot of people to just move into an area in a month's time um uh two of those schools um one was in the Marin Oaks area and the one is in the Sun Valley area are going to help let me say it again help to relieve the stress of some of those schools around there today at uh Hammond Bowen today Hammond bow went over a th students today today actually a th6 students I think and so that area is growing rapidly um I believe I truly believe that as fast as we get them Bild they'll be filled again and so we have to continue to be thinking about the future on what's going to happen we won't be may not be on the board at that time however we have to I think this board is in position to plan for the future and the reason that we were able to um have the uh property to have the resources to uh build these new school schools because someone had foresight that we need to make sure that we have the uh the land and the resources to do that so um I think this board has that opportunity to do it for another board and I'm hoping that we will not um rest on what on the building of these new schools but we'll start looking for other sites as well because um the growth is not going to stop it's going to continue it's going to continue to move forward and we just need to be prepared for the future preparing for the future moving on and I'm about through as preachers always say that they I'm almost through um we're gonna believe you the uh literacy tonight we we heard a lot of these these young people reading their essays from kindergarten to high school I was very pleased to hear and see the progression of uh those those students um the reading abilities um there are some great things going on in Maran County when it comes to literacy and I'm I'm praying that we continue to get more and more kids involved in the literacy um all of them needs to be be honest which it should be um but to to challenge them to participate in those those um essay contestants and all those types of things I think it helps the young lady that came up last my God she was something else um they often say that um if you get skipped you got skipped for a reason it was unintentional but it was the right skip because she uh as as others would say she was a showstopper she did a tremendous job her vocabulary was excellent and um way better than a lot of adults to be honest with you and uh she articulated extremely well so congratulations to that young lady but there was a there was a young man that read um I think he's um at Westport um he was one of the literacy students and his name is George's Alis I don't know if y'all caught that one it's Dr Alice's son but I want to commend George George's because uh George's uh has some other recognitions that have happened um through the school system but also outside the school system because of his uh connections to some mentoring groups he's a mentee for the alifi alpha fraternity and they have a program called the alpha Scholars Program in geores is um part of that their initiative that fraternity's initiative is to go to high school go to college so Georges is one of those students that's the alpha scholar that is a national recognized program and I want to commend him for that but not only do I want to commend uh the alphas for their recognition and for their pushing and the mentoring program all the divine nine uh organizations have mentoring programs in our area and I want to encourage um um parents I want to encourage the community to reach out to us as we reach out to you I left my hat I left my for hat here tonight for a reason because I know people like why does he put his hand on it's for a reason because Divine n uh organizations do a great thing in our communities and we we support our communities but we have mentoring Pro all the to be a member of the the9 you have to have a a college degree you have to have a college degree so scholarship and education are priorities with us and all of us and so um few years ago um my fraternity we brought our Focus program here before the school board and the the Deltas and the akas they also have minimum programs so I want to encourage us to kind of partner more with the Divine n and for the um Community to know that there are some resources out there that you can uh tap into that can help these kids be very very successful finally finally um we recognized a lot of student athletes tonight from Vanguard High School um very impressive very impressive very impressive um I want to commend um principal Carlile but not just principal Carlile I want to commend the whole VHS Village because it takes a village to deal with some of these kids and they didn't that's that what we saw in front of us that success does not come by one or two people it comes by a mindset change of people wanting to make a difference it comes by um folks seeing an issue and deciding that we need to do something about the issue and I I commend uh that VHS family but I also want to singularly commend uh coach farmer as well H his wife because I know that he personally took it upon himself as well as attorney Slaughter to to see that these kids had opportunities to go to college but they were missing the opportunity to go to college because they didn't have the grades so why have all this athletic Prouds but you can't get there because you don't have the right GPA so they decid to make sure they that they have not only the athletic ability but they have the academic ability so I want to I want to commend them for doing that because as we can see tonight we saw the result of that um their brainstorm nor and deciding to do something to not sit on the sideline but to do something about it so I commend them for that I'm I'm grateful for what they're doing I'm expecting to see a lot more uh student athletes and it wasn't just football there were basketball there were track there were different students from all all around so I commend uh the whole school for what they've done so it's truly been a great night and um and I'm looking forward to what's going to happen um in the days ahead head as we approached the last nine weeks of school don't get slack please don't get slack seniors please don't get slacked my son you hear me please don't get slacked now this is not the time this is not the time to go on summer vacation but this is the time to really Buckle in and make sure those things that you need to get done to get done and um those are my comments for tonight thank you board member comings on to Vice chair Conrad good evening everyone and um really all the sentiments that have been shared this evening I don't want to say again but it really was an amazing um night for Marian County Public Schools and when I joined the board um a little over a year ago um one thing that was important to me is that we as Maran County Public Schools tell our story um anything negative that happens it's the first thing that goes into the newspaper or you know or on the news but there are so many great things just like we saw this evening um between our students and the accomplishments of our staff members that are happening every single day and so I want to thank Dr gullet and I want to thank chair thrower um for making sure that we are celebrating all these successes and I know there's many more we see them at at the schools we visit every day um but it's just so great uh to see uh the reward the success of our students and our staff members um this morning morning I had the privilege of going to the public Ed Foundation I did miss I hated to miss uh the C kickoff at Belleview high school because I I represent Belleview High School um and was really excited about um the culinary program and the color guard performing there and it it just felt perfect after we just finished facility tours and we're you know we're asking for the community to come and see what's going on what our needs are at our schools um so I just it really just all fell into place I felt like for that to begin at Belleview and so um principal guest sure did have a full day today I told her I said goodbye and she left I was like goodbye I know you're ready to go home but I wasn't able to be there but really am celebrating um all that happened there this morning but I have a confession to make um you know I've been kind of on the outskirts with the public Ed foundation for a very long time a part of the golden apple program you know attended meetings here and there um but having the privilege of sitting on that board the things that they are able to accomplish and help our students and our staff with are amazing um I just I sat this morning in awe um at all of the things that they're able to help us with and so I have a few things I want to share that are coming up um first to go along with what Reverend coming shared about mentorship um Tak stock is still need in need of four um mentors so if you know anyone that would like to Mentor we have there's four females four girls um that need mentoring one at dellan two at lakee high school and one at Westport and I can only speak for myself but my time mentoring each week is one of my favorite times I enjoy sitting and visiting um with my mentee um chitchatting about what's going on in school what's going on in band what's going on in her family and so even though it is a commitment a weekly commitment um there is a lot of reward so if you know anyone that might be interested in in mentoring please reach out to me I'd be happy uh to connect you we'd like to get those spots filled for those students okay so I do have a little list um of things coming up um Apple Golden Apple horse is going to be moved to the Forest campus in celebration with Miss Brown and so that is going to be on April 24th and so if the board is interested in joining me I'd love to see you there um also that evening they're having a bowling fundraiser um for raising funds for the public Ed foundation and there'll be um they've got school teams that are coming to compete against each other they have some business sponsors it's sounds like a lot of fun I I don't know I don't think they've done it in a couple years because of covid but I do remember previously participating on a team and it's a lot of fun kind of a a pickme up as we go through the end of the year there's also um a McKenzie's moment golf tournament coming up on the 28th and the 29th and then takes stop graduation um is on May 1st at 7:00 at the Klein Center and there's also a district retirement breakfast on June 4th at the Weber Center and so I just wanted to you to be able to put um a few of those things on your calendar if you are able to attend I also wanted to give Mr Ben vudi a shout out I had to apologize to him first but now I'm going to give him a shout out so in visiting schools they were having some difficulty um connecting for certification exams and other things and so I just want to say thank you um some people were very happy to see you so you know they don't things don't get fixed immediately technology is tricky there's a lot of things to work out but just having you show up and acknowledge that there's room for improvement there is just greatly appreciated so thank you for all that you do and your availability it's greatly appreciated and last but not least I just want to say Happy Easter to everyone this Sunday I'm looking forward to um relaxing being with family attending church and I hope you are able to too thank you chair Thor thank you Vice chair Conrad um just a great night overall um I also wanted to acknowledge um our state representative Ryan Chamberlain for coming out to our groundbreakings for our new elementary schools and also County Commissioner Carl alic for his support um you know we're really doing all we can to he the community and serve the community and we know that so many parents including parents sitting up here are operating on razor thin time margins and just the thought that's going into these schools and I'd like to thank board member you know James for leading the way on that committee for us um looking at carlines you know the logistics of how we can help support families get their kids to school on time because we sure talk a lot about that um but you know put putting our thoughts you know where our mouths are and and really executing those plans and in very thoughtful ways so that's very exciting and um certainly tonight is just a great example that you know I heard it said earlier practice makes better you know we are practicing getting better all of the time so that and then I added so you can have many perfect moments and and we are starting to stack up those perfect moments those magical moments where it just feels so good for what this district is accomplishing and taking time out of the exhausting work and effort that that takes to be so committed and driven to also celebrate and and we don't hide from our challenges and we are learning we sure are learning how to celebrate and I think that that's that lift that will continue to keep us going as as we continue our our trajectory so that's what I'm going to end with tonight and it continues to be an honor and pleasure to be serving on the Marion County School Board um very sadly I always have to move in at this point to um before addressing you know expulsion matters and there when I think about it and at some point Dr Golden and I talked about this it would really be good at the end of the year to get a percentage tally you know we have almost 46,000 students now and I feel like I read a lot of names every two weeks but maybe in the end you know out of 46,000 students maybe there's 10% or less than 10% whatever that number is um that aren't getting it for some reason and we want that number to get smaller and smaller and and we will not rest until we make sure that every student and family knows what the opportunities are and then just hope pray and guide that they'll make the good choices so I don't ever have to read your students number on this list because it's a awful way to end the evening um so I have I have hope that as we continue to just work hard to make things better for everybody that these lists of numbers are going to get shorter and shorter and that'll be a celebratory day for all of us including me so before addressing expulsion matters I wish to acknowledge the board members have received the alternative placement list for students through February 26th 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 thank you may I have a motion then to approve the expulsion of student jd24 d198 JD 24-20 jd24 d202 jd24 d203 jd24 d206 jd24 d208 jd24 D21 0 jd24 d211 e jd24 d212 e jd24 d213 jd24 d215 e jd24 d217 jd24 d220 jd24 d223 and jd24 d224 with Educational Services for the remainder of the 2023 2024 school year and the the first 2 and third quarters of the 2024 2025 school year may I have a motion please motion to approve motion by Vice shair Conrad second second by board member Campbell is there any discussion hearing none all those in favor say I I I motion passes unanimously 5 Z moving on to 25.2 may I have a motion to approve the expulsion of student jd24 d201 jd24 d205 e jd24 d218 and jd24 d219 with Educational Services for the remainder of the 2023 2024 school year and the entire 2024 2025 school year motion to approve motion by board member Campbell second second by Vice chair Conrad any further discussion from the board hearing none all those in favor say I I I motion pass is unanimously 0 it is 7:30 p.m. I will now call the meeting into recess so we can clear the room for our off air thank you very [Music] much for