e e e e e e e e e e we're gon to go ahead and start we are going to call this regular meeting of the Martin County School Board to order we will now have Bill Smithson humanist celebrant and lay leader say a few words followed by the Pledge of Allegiance okay good afternoon everyone uh thank you madam chair members of the board and superintendent main for the privilege of offering this afternoon's invocation as we convene tonight's meeting let us pause for a moment and reflect on why we're here in the quiet of this chamber may we find the clarity and resolve to fulfill our duties with integrity and with compassion let us acknowledge the responsibility and privilege inherent in our positions recognizing the faith and trust placed in us tonight as we make decisions that impact the entire Community let us appreciate the diversity of voices and the unique needs they have may our discussions be characterized by empathy reason and impartiality patience and understanding should guide our interactions that we may see common ground and consensus in our deliberation in closing I'd like to end with a quote from President Barack Obama the study of geography is about more than just memorizing places on a map it is about understanding the complexity of our world appreciating the diversity of cultures that exist across continents and in the end it's about using all that knowledge to help bridge divides and bring people together thank you and May the force be with you all of the United States of America and to the rep for it stands naice Mrs Falls will you please call the role Mr derer lizing present Mrs Roberts present Mrs Powers here Mrs Russell here please let the record show that Mrs pritchet was not able to make it tonight do I have a motion to approve the agenda with the following items added 7.03 12.01 items updated 7.01 items removed 14.03 and item 3.03 move to action item Madam chair I move approval of the agenda as you stated it um so what was I didn't have another one removed I got the updated you had a removed one yes 14.3 has been removed okay thank you I have a motion by Mr dley and a second by Miss Powers all those in favor I I I any opposed motion carries unanimously do I have a motion to approve the consent agenda I move approval of the consent agenda without 3.03 second I have a motion by Miss Roberts and a second by Mr dley all those in favor I I any opposed motion carries unanimously next we will move on to board member discussion hopefully all of you have had a chance to review the superintendent's evaluation tool if you have any changes you would like to make please bring them forward to our June June 4th workshop and we will open this for discussion there we will now move on to our recognitions first up is recognition for the 69th annual Florida State sign science and engineering Fair Miss bores would you like to come [Music] forward good evening chair Russell board members and superintendent Maine I want to uh apologize for the sound of my voice this evening I'm battling a little bit of laryngitis but hopefully you guys can understand me uh my name is Jennifer bores and I am the science coordinator for the Martin County School District and today we have the honor of recognizing the outstanding accomplishments of our Martin County Regional science and engineering Fair finalists who participated in the 69th annual state science and engineering Fair held from April 2nd to 4th 2024 this event showcase the Ingenuity creativity and hard work of our young scientists and Engineers from across the district before I recognize our amazing students I would like to recognize our district stem fair coordinator Miss Shannon Parks from Martin County High School I believe I can speak on behalf of the students and the parents that we are very grateful for her passion and dedication I would also like to take this opportunity to recognize our Martin County School District 2023 2024 outstanding stem educator Miss Simone flood from Stuart Middle School Miss flood can you please stand Miss flood is dedicated to mentoring students in science research has produced the most projects advancing to the state science fair and was instrumental in the success of the 2023 2024 stem fair season she is being awarded a check from the Styles Nicholson Foundation as gratitude for shaping the future of Martin [Applause] County the students from Hidden Oaks Middle School Murray Middle School Stuart Middle School Martin County High School and South Fork High School were celebrated during the mad scientist award sponsored by the Styles Nicholson foundation and the Cox science M Museum and Aquarium the students also had the opportunity to travel to Lakeland Florida in April with students from all over the state to attend the state science and engineering Fair the state fair brings together nearly 1,000 of the state's brightest students to Showcase their projects these projects within the fields of animal science engineering microbiology chemistry and much more are on display by some of the most innov Innovative young minds that will be changing our world I am enthusiastic to share some highlights from each of our Martin County Regional science and engineering Fair finalists and their awards at the Florida state science and engineering Fair students please stand when I call your name ahan Asana is from South Fork Middle School High School his project name was uncovering seasonal variation in algae growth and he placed honorable mention in in his category at the state science fair Sophia Gaspar Lara Mila hoistad and Alexis Lloyd from Stuart Middle School had their project name ice cream time nerra Goyle from Martin County High School her project name was a review a review of the use and promotability of mental health apps by teenagers she placed second in her category at the state science fair Nina Goyle from Martin County High School her project name was control of fall army worm a global pest using RNA interference and anti-sense I'm going to butcher this word agono Tides agon nucleo ties she placed fourth place in her category at the state science fair Matthew Geral and Ethan Timmerman from Stuart Middle School their project title was aerodynamics of air flows in a wind tunnel and and they placed third in their category at the state science fair Ilana Lovette from Stuart Middle School her project titled was St Lucy Inlet sand deposition continued she had a continuation project which is one of the hardest things you can do for the state science fair and she placed fourth in her category Claire Rollins from marray middle school her project was titled electric versus bass she won a $50 cash award from the Florida Association of science supervisors and another $50 cash award from the Heartland Regional science and engineering Fair Hannah Robbins from Hidden Oaks Middle School her project was titled solar cooker Jack Savar from Murray Middle School his project was titled biomass gas Veron Singh from South Fork High School his prodject title was a novel approach to waste recycling with robotic Force sensing and image processing using deep convolutional neural network he placed third in his category in the state competition mateline Tuma from Hidden Oaks Middle School her project was titled let us talk about green houses she was recognized for her project in her category and finally Brian Wang from Hidden Oaks Middle School his project titled was where are you vitamin C and and he placed fourth in his category at the state science fair finally I would like to invite all the parents of all of our academic Achievers to please stand and be recognized we deeply appreciate you for being invaluable Partners in education with Martin County School District thank you from the bottom of our hearts students and Miss flood can you please join me at the front to collect your certificates and take a photo with the school board if that's okay Miss bores I'm sorry do you have mly Moore will it hold from Stuart Middle School Molly Moore I'm so sorry Molly Molly Moore will it hold from Stuart Middle School [Applause] job missplay great job kid I know you did a great job [Applause] next we will have the 2023 2024 academic games County State and National Tournament participants Miss foros would you like to continue yes hi good evening I am going to pass over to the torch to miss Arian Denine who is our head coach of the academic games good evening chair Russell school board members and superintendent Maine parents teachers and community members my name is Arian Denine from Murray Middle School I'm an academic games coach and these are two of my three fellow academic games coaches Shere balm Gartner from JBE uh Kim Anderson from Crystal Lake and our other coaches Kevin mudro from Hidden Oaks he was not able to be here this evening uh we are grateful to Ms Jennifer boures the coordinator for the science program for overseeing our academic games efforts she has done quite a bit to coordinate our um cooperation with the school district at large academic games is a series of games played in three subjects English math and social studies the Linguistics and equations games are played with cubes and students make word or number sentences that follow the criteria set by the players social studies is a trivia game in the categories of presidents current events and a yearly theme this year the theme was History of Rock and Roll when we coaches realized how very old all of us are uh we continued the opportunity to participate via zoom and we're pleased to welcome a combined 66 players to our three games our County competitions ran from September through February and the state tournament was on February 26th tonight we are awarding our County winners in each subject and recognizing state tournament Players we also had the national tournament in April in Orlando at which we did have two players one thing I would like to note is that in the past there was a coach for each game at each elementary and middle school and students would participate throughout the fall semester taking part in a countywide competition for each game this engaged many more students from each school I would like to encourage our parents to contact the school board and ask them to reconsider reinstating this program if you have con questions about details please feel free to contact me or one of our other coaches first I'd like to announce the winners of our count games students as with science please stand up when I call your name in equations our first our fifth place winners were tied Shane seiller from seawind and Par Surman from Palm City [Applause] Elementary if you wouldn't mind holding your applause till the Lend of each category that would be great uh fourth place was COA odato from J Beach Elementary third place was Sonia Chen from Crystal Lake Elementary second place was Lou barski from Murray middle school and first place was Thomas Wallace from Jensen Beach Elementary congratulations I would like to clarify that for the purposes of academic games ele uh Elementary is fourth through sixth grade middle school is seventh and eth and we do have um County participant in the third grade who are learning the games and getting ready to participate at the state level the following year our third grade winners were uh duen Patel from Felix Williams third place Parker vogley from our second place winner from Palm City Elementary and our first place tied winners Steve Galvez from Pinewood and Julia Forbes from Jensen Beach Elementary congratulations and our winners at the middle School level second place was Wyatt meter from Murray middle and Landon kadari was first place also from Murray middle congratulations for linguistic uh Elementary fourth through sixth grade our fourth place winner was Emmy Chan from Crystal Lake uh Allison Choy was third place from Palm City Elementary L barski was second place from Murray middle and Sonia Chen was our winner in first place from Crystal Lake Elementary our third grade winners uh third place was Julia Forbes from Jensen Beach Elementary Liliana wesling second place from Jensen Beach Elementary and Gabriel boures first place from Jensen Beach Elementary and our winner for uh Middle School linguistic was Wyatt mezer uh from Murray middle and in our social studies subject Elementary fourth through sixth grade our winners were Nathan McGee Jensen Beach Elementary in fifth place coato fourth place Jensen Beach Elementary Christian Rogers third place from Hidden Oaks Alex Jang second place Jensen Beach Elementary and first place emry wishart from Jensen Beach Elementary congratulations [Applause] and our third uh third grade winner for social studies was Julia Forbes from Jensen Beach Elementary uh next I'm going to announce the students who competed in the state tournament in West Palm Beach on February 18th I'm sorry 26th students please stand up when I call your name competing in equations were Thomas Wallace COA Shane seiller and Par Surman participating in linguistics were Sonia Chen Lu barski and Allison Troy and competing in social studies were emry wishart Alex Jen Nathan McGee and Luc lubarski thank you so much for your participation and finally I would like to recognize the two students from Martin County who went to Orlando to compete at the National Tournament from April 21st to 24th I'm sorry Atlanta students please stand stand up when I call your name Lou barski sixth grade Murray middle school and Landon kodari seventh grade Murray Middle School congratulations to all our participants and winners and we hope to see you again in September thank you thank you congratulations to everyone and thank you all for representing the Martin County School District so well we will now move on to our district presentation of spam's Lego summer camp and mid-season update Dr Miller would you like to come forward good evening Madam chair Mr superintendent members of the board Tracy Miller Deputy superintendent it's my pleasure tonight to present to you our very own spam team who is here tonight to share with you some mid-season updates and also some information about what's yet to come so we're going to turn it right over to spam welcome e okay um we're g to talk about our 2024 season recap so so I'm Melanie Shoemaker um I was the team Vice Captain of technical for the 2023 20124 um season I went to South Fork High School um and I graduated South Fork High School school and I am Rissa Shoemaker and I also graduated um at South Fork High School through the international back program okay so um during the season or before our season had started we were we were given the the facility right across over here um from the school board and we moved in to make it our um STEM Center and we built an entire full field for first robotics competition and we moved in all of our machines and we're prep preparing for the season and so when the season started we had our um 2024 kickoff event where we had invited all of our sponsors and everyone out in the community to um join us for kickoff and for breakfast and this year for the 2024 game name Crescendo we had these large rings which um Parker has holding and so that robot would pick up those notes or rings and we would shoot them into a big opening or place them into like a hole that's in a wall and so we only have six weeks of build season where we had to design build manufacture and program the robot in all these six weeks it has to be functioning before then because we have competition usually in the first week of competition season and so we use CAD Anda our overview of a robot is so we have swerve Drive which you can Pi a cart kind of so you can like Spin and rotate at the same time um we also have we our robot is almost fully autonomous so Melanie can explain that part of robot um so as I'm driving the robot um it does most of the things for me so it will shoot for me it will score notes for me um all I really have to do is just drive around the field and push a few buttons to make it pickup notes um do the things I wanted to do um so so like automatically aim at the speaker which is like the big thing that mer was talking about um it also automatically aim at The Amp which is another thing that Mercy talked about um so all this was made possible Doe amazing programming team where we ranked second in the world um for programming and I like to add that it's out of 9,000 teams in the entire world and so our 2024 team performance was so we won the South Florida Regional and we also won the quality award in the tassey regional we're also the winner and won the autonomous award and at the Orlando regional we were finalists and we won The Innovation and control award and at the world championship we ranked third in our division which was one of the highest um we've ever ranked in history at Champs and I also like to add with all of these awards that we have won it would not have been possible without the support of the school board and um having all of our Outreach events um they were made possible because of everyone here and we also like to add about our experiences on spam in first um my experiences in first and spam have been life altering as I unlocked endless opportunities um had unlocked endless opportunities for growth and research so in I'm so sorry yeah I'm so sorry okay I'll start well in first grade my dad took me and my twin sister to a regional competition with first robotics team 180 spam I found myself fascinated by by the intricacies of how even minor differences could have an impact on how the robots functioned I was a proverbial kid in the in a candy shop while touring the pits in the same way kids admire star athletes I was left astonished at the students who were skilled enough to drive the robot from these experi experiences I recognized that I wanted to design build and program robots fast forward to 2018 I co-founded an all girls ft or First Tech Challenge team I continued to participate in FTC up to 2021 where I learned key programming principles I had a natural transition into F FRC due to the skills I learned in First Tech Challenge after being a part of span for the past 10 years I've had many opport opportunities due to the experiences I've gained I was offered a research position at Miami University of Ohio where I will get to work with the robotics engineering Professor because of my unique experiences and skills I was also accepted into Miami's Honors College with a 1% or less than 1% acceptance rate spam and first are the reasons why I have been inspired to continue my journey in robotics engineering [Applause] my experiences in first and on spam have been life-altering and has unlocked endless opportunities and growth when I first joined spam I was just a softspoken and undetermined girl I was unsure of where I'd go into the future when I became slowly more involved I began to Find My Voice through learning how to wire troubleshoot and communicate I began to find my potential through communicating and working with others I was able to take leadership in things that I would usually never have imagined I would do such as speaking in front of large crowds of people being an alliance captain and talking to the head referee at competitions or leading strategy meetings with other teams at competitions um these experiences allowed me to step out of my shell and talk with determination at competitions I also learned how to like promote the team and the robot through judging and that's another reason why we had won those Awards and on a more technical standpoint spam and first has given me the skills to excel in college with learning how to use drill presses band saws electrical tools and understanding of programming I will have skills that others don't already have when going into engineering I was given research opportunities with Miami University due to my experiences on spam and in first and high understanding of how robots work the mentors on spam have given me the confidence and knowledge to pursue engineering into my future [Applause] you guys come down for a picture [Applause] thank you so much spam team what you do is extraordinary and we are happy to have you here our next presentation is the Environmental Studies Center Council donation Miss Gainer would you like to come forward good afternoon at superintendent Maine and distinguished board members I'm Valerie Gainer the coordinator from the environmental stud study center and I'm here today uh to share some exciting news and updates and also somebody brought a big check um first I am pleased to report the successful completion of our impact 100 Grant we received last year $100,000 and our uh wet lab is revitalized now um this project was a a significant undertaking and we're proud that the transformation has um gone off without a hitch the revitalization has updated it with more Hands-On Lear learning experiences for our students but also has given it a clean and fresh look as well um a huge shout out to our maintenance and our facilities because they were an intricate part truly for making it happen um to celebrate this achievement we've had two open houses um including one that was a uh ribbon cutting for impact 100 and it was uh highly attended and it was truly uh our community gave us a ton of support and said how it shows how interested they are in Environmental Education so one last thing I wanted to report on is how many students that we reach with the environmental study center in our classrooms we reach over 512 classes this year in Martin County School District we also worked with Charter Schools and saw 42 classes and private schools we saw 30 we also dedicated a day for homeschool and had a huge event for homeschool um these numbers are a testament to the hard work and dedication of our ESC team and a strong Partnerships that we have with our schools it's through the collaboration efforts that we are able to inspire the next generation of environmental stewards additionally I'm thrilled to announce that the environmental Study Center Council is presenting us with a five $5,000 donation to The Martin County School District that is a generous contribution for um that's designated to support a salary of one of the dedicated teachers uh that is integral in our environmental stewardship stewardship program we believe and investing in our Educators is one of the most impactful ways to foster a deeper understanding and appreciation for the environment in students in closing I just wanted to express my gratitude to the Martin County School Board the superintendent and all of the ad administrators students that come to the Sun because together we are making significant strides in Environmental Education I'd like to thank the council for their continued support H for their commitment every year of bringing a check and introduce Colton rabau he told me tonight that he is here to present a big check not to talk so he told me to do it um uh Colton was one of my students at Jensen Beach High School and he was on the earth Savers which I headed back then and as you'll know uh he'll forever be one of my kids if you're an educator you understand your kids so uh he told me that he was going to bring the check and we would like to present it and then um we will M Mr Morrison will give you the real one so if we can get a picture real quick that would be lovely little thank you thank you thank you so much for your incredibly generous donation it will make a meaningful difference to all that come through the Environmental Studies Center our next presentation is on the five Essentials data Mr shazo and Miss plat would you like to make your way forward I don't want to mess that up good afternoon board chair Russell members of the board superintendent Maine I'm Heather plat I serve as the Director of professional learning and I'm here here with Jennifer Das shazo chief of staff and strategic communication we are here to provide a presentation to you in regard to our five Essentials data for the Martin County School District so in addition to what you will see in the presentation you also have a copy of the full report um Miss Falls had that for you so for the last two years we have engaged with our stakeholders through the use of a five Essentials survey five Essentials is comprehensive it's evidence-based it includes a diagnostic survey and the scores that we receive are used to drive Improvement results the five essential survey for students and teachers is made up of 22 measures and approximately 120 questions over 20 years of research is has been conducted by the University of Chicago um on school research in Chicago public schools and it found that three of the five Essentials were 10 times more likely to improve student growth in test scores and 30 times less likely to stagnate than similar similar schools that were weak on the supports so the five Essentials provide statistically reliable research-based information that allows us to drill down into the fine grained details of school performance and then closely track those changes over time so this is the five Essentials framework it's a visual for you it shows the five um which are inclusive of effective leaders collaborative teachers ambitious instruction supportive environment and involved families and then here you can see the core measures that align with each of the essentials the next slide describes how the scores are calculated and how we derive those scores and then following that you can see that um the survey uses that research validated framework and it is meant to highlight areas of strength and areas that need support so essentially it shows how teachers and students perceive their schools and then it's generally agreed that perceptions influence behavior all right so as we share some of the data with you on the upcoming slides please note the student teacher and parent rate of participation the required participation rates that you'll see listed there are set by the University of Chicago Research Center and you can see the rates in which um we received results so we would now like to highlight our areas of strength our most improved areas and our areas of opportunity for the Martin County School District the five Essentials listed in that visual right there with the color key underneath it show how we are performing overall as a school district um so we are showing four neutral areas and then one area where we are going to continue to work we're going to continue to work on all of them all right to begin we would like to share where Martin County schools are performing the highest so the first three measures listed here were scored as a result of questions asked of teachers and our highest measures based on the data are parent influence on decision making in schools collaborative practices and program coherence and then sorry Jen for if you can go oh it's okay I was just going to describe so where you see the numbers next to it we wanted to show you last year and then how we've improved this year or the difference for this year and then our score um for the most recent results um additional areas if you don't mind scroll thank you additional areas where we are performing the highest are instructional leadership as well as data from the parent report showing the highest measures being assessment of teacher trust and overall satisfaction so next let's look at what our five Essentials data shows is most improved for Martin County Schools over the two-year period um first we have quality professional learning and then we have collaborative practices those are two measures that increase the most over the two-year period and that is as a result of data from questions responded to by teachers our areas of opportunity as you can see here include Collective responsibility and then from the student lens um academic personalism and peer support for academic work which both fall under the essential of supportive environment this is just a chart or a quick glance of our overall observations and District Trends aligned to the five Essentials we worked really hard to color code it um but the colors might be a little hard to see but you can see the key underneath but this is just overall um as a district our Trends and then we wanted to share with you so so what now what so we have the data now what well once our results were released uh we met with all of our school-based administrators to share the next steps for Action leadership teams at each School are in process or have already discussed results with their stakeholders in addition our professional learning team provided resources and support for root cause analysis facilitation to support our schools in setting those actionable and measurable goals which will then be included in the school Improvement plans and in addition the five Essentials results are being incorporated into our strategic plan tactics as we develop our new strategic plan and then lastly from our team some additional District level support we wanted to highlight that we're building out a menu of professional learning options that will align with each essential so each of the five Essentials in order to support our overall District Trends as well as our school-based Trends and areas of opportunity um and we want to thank you as a school board for supporting our move to a more robust and comprehensive platform to capture this data in information that we are truly utilizing to drive School Improvement efforts as well as with the Strategic plan so thank you thank you thank you for your presentation now we would like to take this opportunity to recognize our student representative of the Year Austin Connelly Austin graduated yesterday from Jenson Beach High School with an unweighted GPA of 3.95 and a weighted GPA of 6.25 and was ranked number five out of 334 students he was accepted to University of Florida Florida State Auburn Hill Dale College Wake Forest Sanford and University of Central Florida he has chosen to attend Hillsdale College in Michigan Austin you're an exceptional young man who has overcome so much in your life we are so honored to have had you as our student representative this past year I know you will do great things and on behalf of the Martin County School Board we would like to present you with a gift we wish you nothing but the best thank you welome let me get a picture way [Applause] all right well we will now have Austin share his last student representative update go ahead Austin good evening Madam chair distinguished members of the board superintendent Maine I'm excited and sadden to be giving my last report today so I'll start at what was home in the past couple years Jensen Beach High School Jensen Beach High School recognized 65 seniors with GR graduation stools this year 24 of which also received a chord for 4.0 GPA all throughout High School Grace venedict Kaylee Strom Cameron kig and Anna oppenheiser were awarded National Honor Society scholarships Lyla Mayfield a graduating jbhs senior has been invited to join the lombardian stamp scholar community at the University of Florida this award is granted to only 11 students in the incoming class of of 2028 given due to their demonstrated academic Excellence intellectual curiosity and potential to be a leader in their field of study many Jensen Beach High School students placed in the Marvin s cone jured art show hosted by the Martin Arts Nina Puma was awarded the high honor of best and show for her peace The Other Woman also big congratulations to ninth grader Carly salsburg whose logo design was chosen as the new Martin County Centennial go go by the Martin County Board of County Commissioners the jbhs entrepreneurialship program hosted their first pitch night Trot bags a company that creates surfboard bags took home the top prize and will now compete at the state competition and are being submitted to the national competition in Chicago the jphs baseball team finished first in our district for academic scholarships and GPA Maddie PA was granted an internship at UF scripts Institute for the summer jbhs had two Pathfinder winners Lyla Mayfield won first place in the category of communications and Bren stoneberg won second place in the sports category jbhs has four young men who recently completed all the necessary requirements to earn their Eagle Scout badges Egan hammed Ethan Kut Kyle seor and George seor Martin County High School on May 10th Martin County High School senior n n Goyle was a was awarded second place in the 41st annual Pathfinder scholarship award in the science category South Fork High School please congratulate Harrison Towers Dustin datillo Cody Jordan Nick Kowalski Quinn Wadsworth and Antonio bito they all recently earned the Florida Automobile Dealers Association certification South Fork High School students did very well in this year's Marvin con jured art show please congratulate dafin Dalton and Julia Greaves who won purchase Awards Caitlyn shin and Ella Reber both received honorable mentions daffing Doan also placed third in the painting category and Julia Greaves placed first Julia gaves also placed first in the sculpture category Six South Fork students are now certified clinical medical assistants please congratulate Alexandria deand Kate Melton colen Moren marrison pas School Abigail Tango and Avery wiart congratulations to Cadets Kela Flores and Regan Heron for winning Cadet and leader of the Year respectively these rewards are only given to top two J TC Cadets who have demonstrated an exceptionally High degree of leadership academic achievement and performance of Duty both Cadets were presented with an award package containing a metal ribbon and certificate South Fork students Liberty landos Bailey Canton cartek cumer Charles Piper Xavier Newkirk and Alysa green were all selected for the naval stem summer scholarships they will all now attend the National Flight Academy this summer in Pensacola and finally please help me congratulate the Bulldog softball baseball and track teams for moving on to the FHSAA postseason State series competition thank you Austin next we will have our district update with Jennifer disazo good evening Madame chair members of the board and superintendent Maine it's my pleasure to bring you the final School District update of this school year in a recent evaluation conducted by US News and World Report all three high schools in Martin County were ranked amongst America's Elite educational institutions each of our high schools was ranked in the top 500 in the state and top 25% of high schools in the nation Jensen Beach was ranked 2363 in the nation and 145th in the state Martin County was ranked 4 4,199 in the nation and 233rd in the state and South Fork was rank 6,328 in the nation and 328th in the state in addition each high school was named among the top academic and athletic performers in the state for this school year South Fork High School earned first place overall in class 6A for the second consecutive year Martin County High School took second place in class 6A and Jensen Beach High School earned third place in class 6 in Class 5A and this is a designation issued by the Florida High School athletic Association let's give a round of applause to our high [Applause] schools as Austin mentioned we had some Pathfinder Award winners this year each year the Palm Beach Post Awards 54 local seniors from Palm Beach and Martin counties who have demonstrated outstanding achievements in the academic vocational and athletic categories this year three exemplary High School seniors from our district play in the Pathfinder scholarship Awards competition nerra Goyle from Martin County High School placed second in the science category Bren stoneberg from Jensen Beach High School placed second in the sports category and Lila Mayfield from Jensen Beach High School placed first in the communications category uh Lila earned a $3,000 scholarship while nerra and Brinn earned $2,000 scholarships please join me in congratulating these outstanding seniors each year the Martin County School District holds a special ceremony to honor its volunteers and business partners for their contribution of their time and talents to our school system the annual volunteer and business partner awards were held on April 26th and during the ceremony Karina Carter Monica canor Barbara Van Horn and Wright gain cini were surprised with our district level Awards our district is grateful for the over 36 00 volunteers who donate tens of thousands of hours of their time each year which contributes an estimated $1 million in volunteer time to the district please join me in congratulating them for their hard [Applause] work the Martin County School District recently hosted our second math week and WPTV visited some of our schools to see what that was all about let's take a look in inside classrooms to learn more about what could One Day become a Statewide initiative that was brainstormed right here in Martin County challenges it is a math game scavenger hunt so where do you have to look videos and more all add up to equal math week in Martin County Schools I wanted math to get some of the attention it deserves and to create a week where we could celebrate math have students excited about doing math District math coordinator Dr PA McMahon created the event last year the only one she's aware of in the state math week is amazing first grade teacher Kayla Carman is enjoying the focus on the subject that sometimes creates division every student can have a math brain and I think it's important for kids to realize that math is not hard math is just able to be conquered the students are learning about how math concepts are applied in everyday jobs I love how you picked up what do we learn in third grade what is the part that we learned inches and doing daily competitions all right I'm getting logged in getting ready to start the third grade math quiz with the class let's see how I do the focus I got that one wrong geometry Riley how you doing over there you're doing good what question are you on I can't say it all came back to me right away perpendicular I think I'm done I got four out of five but it's a new challenge are you ready math challenges it is a math game scavenger hunt we're having technical diff I don't know what happened with the video more um we appreciate the curriculum instruction Department particularly Dr McMahon for and her team for helping to bring math week to our school district we had an entire week full of challenges dress up days themes um that students of all grade levels could take part and age appropriate math competitions the district office dressed up it was phenomenal so let's give those those team members a round of applause and that concludes the district update for the 23 24 school year thank you Jen Mr Maine would you please share your superintendence update yes thank you madam chair I just wanted to uh start off by thanking the spam's robotics team again congratulations on just a phenomenal season and all of your hard work and I want to send a special congratulations to your 10 uh seniors that will that are moving on and have already graduated and uh are are prepared to go on to phenomenal careers in engineering and whatever they set out to do you all have been phenomenal mentors and provided the guidance that they've needed to be successful and so really appreciate the time that you've taken and look forward to what the future holds so thank you um I also wanted to take a little bit of time on the five Essentials data not much time other than to let you know that I'm not okay that we're not all in green um and we are going to continue to push as a school district in year going into year three to make sure that we're leveraging those areas and looking at that data and drilling down into those areas that we need to move the needle into those green areas so while we've seen improvements in each of those areas uh as a school district we're going to be very transparent with our data The Good the Bad and the Ugly uh and this is an area where we have uh Improvement to make and my commitment is that we will continue to work with our administrators and our teachers and School staff to keep pushing forward to where we get those areas to where we can be proud uh to share that data um I want to congratulate we have a couple of Administrators in the audience that are getting receiving promotions uh first and foremost I would like to congratulate uh Miss Kathleen wanel who is going to be our new assistant principal at South Fork High School uh Dean juanell or new assistant principal wanell if you please stand and be recognize in the audience Miss has spent the last nine years as a dean of student services uh she has served at all three of our high schools Jensen Beach High School Martin County High School and now most recently at Southfork so we are very pleased to have you on board to join our administrative ranks congratulations we know you're going to do a fantastic job and I would also like to congratulate Miss Tiffany Roth who's just been recently promoted to the principal position at Murray Middle School congratulations Tiffany uh if you please stand and be recognized Tiffany started her career at Murray middle school and is now going full circle back as the principal she is firmly committed and I'll never forget the day that I joined the school district three years ago now and one of my first interactions with Tiffany is as the principal Supervisor was I want to be the principal of Murray middle school and uh she has been committed to that goal uh for the last three years and the whole point of going to receive her principal certification was yet again to be the principal at Murray and so as the superintendent of schools she did a phenomenal job in her interview in front of the committee it brings me No Greater Joy than to make that uh come true for you and uh we know that you will serve that Community with pride and so congratulations on your promotion the Air Force Junior Reserve officer training Corps team at Jensen Beach High School has been recognized for their outstanding commitment to community service receiving the prestigious Silver Star community service award for the 22 excuse me 232 24 Academic Year chenin beats High School's Air Force RC was just one of 45 winners of the SilverStar community service award which is a testament to the values instilled in the cadets through their participation in the Air Force Roc program emphasizing the importance of selflessness leadership and civic responsibility the team's efforts reflect their dedication to the Air Force rooc program and deep rooted commitment to serving our local community the SilverStar community service award is the highest level award for a JROTC Service Unit can earn during a non- inspection year uh and this was another area of joy for for not only myself but the district because during a non- inspection year for anybody who's ever served in the JROTC this is a huge huge honor we normally know that during an inspection year they're going to everything all our tees are going to be crossed all our eyes are going to be dotted but during a non- inspection year to receive one of the highest honors just in shows that the program is committed to Excellence each and every year not just during uh those non- inspection years so I'm very proud of their instructors and those students within that program Congressman Brian Mass Florida 21st congressional district celebrated the participation of the 2024 Congressional Art competition and announced t bicone uh from The Martin County High School as the winner of this year's esteemed award the selection process conducted by a panel of distinguished local judges from the Treasure Coast culminated in Tatiana's outstanding achievement Brooke Vander waren also of Martin County High School was awarded an honorable mention every year the Congressional Art competition honors the exceptional artistic abilities of high school students from across across the country the competition's goal is to support and promote the Arts and to Foster creativity and artistic expression among our nation's youth the Congressional Art competition began in 1982 and since that time more than 700,000 students have taken part Tatiana's work will be displayed in our nation's capital building alongside the winners from each congressional district Nationwide for one whole year the annual art competition highlights the artistic abilities of talented students from the 21st congressional district and this year's competition featured 102 submissions from 13 schools across Martin County St Lucy and Palm Beach counties and again I go back to the fact that every child within our school district every student within our school district has a genius and it is up to us as a school district and as Educators to tap into those to the genius and you have seen many students this evening receive awards that is highlighting those areas of strength and those areas in which they Excel and it brings Me No Greater Joy uh and then finally last but not least to celebrating the class of 2024 we have completed three of our Traditional High School graduations Jensen Beach high schools last night and also Clark Academy we are extremely um excited for the next phase in our senior lives commencement season is the most spectacular time of the year for the Martin County School District and this graduation week was definitely no different as expected the class of 2024 brought their unique spirit and flare to the occasion at each of our high schools I invite our school board and our community members to watch as we briefly recap the highlights of our ceremonies through the lens of our public information team uh please expect complete video coverage of these momentous and Milestone events in the coming weeks class of 2024 is filled with a multitude of people athletes on top of their game artists whose creativity never ceases academics who continue to Astound the world with their Brilliance but perhaps something greater than that is the kindness and the uniqueness of each person here there are so many reasons this graduating class is so incredible high school can be very difficult and I'm extremely proud of everyone for making it to today because there was definitely no shortages of challenges along the way it's a team effort and we are so proud because this is a hug huge milestone and so many kids give up and your seniors that are in this room did not give up Friday night lik in the football stands cheering to the beat of the Falcon fans the teacher the office the Lunch Ladies too all of these people have helped us get through now it's time for you to write your own story so make it epic and you will see Glory students on behalf of the Martin County School District I extend my heartfelt congratulations to the class of 2024 may you continue to scale New Heights pursue your passions with Vigor and make meaningful contributions to [Music] [Applause] society Madam chair at this time this completes my superintendent's update thank you very much are there any other questions for any of the information only reports yes Miss Roberts um I noted that find it hold on 1509 which was the um monthly HR update on these Pages don't have numbers but there's a page in there that talks about vacancies and applications in process and it shows on that report that we have 54 instructional vacancies for next year as of today but with 20 in processing so this was as of a date of May 6th which means that as of May 6th we needed 30 we need 34 teachers um instructional positions to be filled I talked to Messa today and um I had asked her if she could keep me updated I I'm assuming that the board might want to also be updated on a regular basis maybe weekly or maybe maybe every other week as we move through the summer so we know what that number looks like um so I just want to bring that up Mrs Roberts sorry it's so loud um I emailed you all a link Mr Raymond prepared as of today a report and I emailed all the board members so if you prefer a Cadence for that um please let me know and we'll make sure it happens sure that'll be helpful I think thank you questions okay we will move on to public comment at this time yes okay we are actually going to take a quick break for just a few minutes and then we will reconvene shortly thank you e e e e e e what ready we will now resume our meeting and we will be moving on to public comment citizen input is vital to the Improvement of our district most times your remarks may be listened to without comment from the board members or superintendent this does not mean they are heard with any less intensity or concern where appropriate the superintendent and staff will investigate your comments and report back to you and the board with an answer we thank you for taking the time and having the concern to make our district better your presentation to the board should not exceed 3 minutes letters or statements from others not present can be given to our clerk who be sure that each School Board member and the superintendent receive a copy to keep our record straight and authentic our policy does not permit you to read the statements of others into the record first up principal Smith greetings Madam chair school board members and superintendent Maine I am Christina Smith the very proud principal of Warfield elementary school and it is with immense Pride that I stand before you today to share the Innovative work of our student Avid ambassadors students for change at Warfield Elementary we are dedicated to nurturing leaders in all of our students and our Avid ambassadors exemplify this commitment through their remarkable efforts to drive positive change within our school Community I am honored that joining me this evening are many of our student Avid ambassadors these students embody the spirit of empowerment and advocacy they are not merely participants they are catalysts for transformation through their initiatives they have shown a profound dedication to making our school a more supportive and enriching environment for all I am continuously inspired by the passion and creativity demonstrated by our students for change their projects have ranged from helping kindergarten students with their reading skills to reinforcing PBIS Expectations by organizing celebratory events for the entire school they have done all of this with the goal of fostering positive change and leaving a lasting impact as principal of Warfield I am proud of the leadership qualities of our students for change exhibit and the positive influence they have on their peers they embody the value values of empathy resilience and determination that we strive to instill in all our students I want to extend a heartfelt thank you to our esteemed school board members and superintendent for your unwavering support of our school and its initiatives your guidance and encouragement enable us to provide meaningful opportunities for our students to thrive and make a difference in the Indian town community I'm also thrilled to acknowledge the invaluable contributions of our dedicated staff Mrs royon our AVID coordinator and Mrs Montenegro and Mrs Torres are students for change staff leaders their tireless dedication and guidance are instrumental in empowering our students to enact meaningful change and finally I'm grateful for the unwavering commitment and enthusiasm of all our Avid Ambassador students for change Representatives their dedication and Leadership Inspire us all thank you board members for your ongoing support and thank you students for change for helping to create a better world thank you so much princip next we have Crystal eer chair I'm sorry can you have them introduce themselves please will you thank you would love to get to know just say your name I'm kelvon Miley I'm Daniel aeta I'm kayn angel I'm yam Airi Nara I'm Audrey Alvarez I'm ABA Flores I'm Elizabeth pigas I'm jiana buas I'm Ethan Cochran these are are all fifth grade students so they had a big day today we had our promotion Ceremony this morning and now we get to celebrate them here this evening so thank you for allowing us to do that we can get a picture oh yes just wait whenever there's students we have to that's why we're here we have to highlight kids stand up on the and stand up on there there you go yeah [Applause] right thank you next up is Crystal eert good afternoon my name is Crystal Wan eart I had the honor and the privilege of being the MCHS drama director ctor for 34 years uh there were no classes when I came only a fledgling Club no shows no competitions maybe a senior talent show in the spring that some teacher Got Hijacked into coordinating uh there was a gymnatorium the cheapest and worst design ever Bennett and it was clear that the Performing Arts were not a priority what I did have was a passion for the Arts and an incredibly supp Ed principal in the name of Wanda yarboro who the theater is currently named for who wanted MCHS to be on The Cutting Edge of everything she understood that many times but many people forget we are a little County uh we are sandwich between a northern County with 17 high schools and a southern County with 58 but she knew that small could be Mighty and she wanted that on every level I understood from the moment I asked for and received one class of theater this was a numbers game with one class I made sure we were as visible as possible to other students in the community the next year had a full load we grew exponentially from there more shows entering and competing and beating those other counties with established programs um I think it's wonderful that we hear our schools are in the top 25% that's awesome Martin County drama used to be in the top 20 the numbers game doesn't concern me that's and always was and always will be for electives Arts programs in schools have spent their entire existence On the Dark Side of the Moon let's face it English Math Science Social Studies never going to be on the chopping block numbers don't concern me this is going to be a rebuild uh by the way the Pathfinder update the Arts are also representing the Pathfinder we won first place five times uh I'm I am concerned about multiple reports that students who have expressed an interest are being turned away being told I've been told in texts emails uh there's not going to be more than one class blah blah blah uh also disturbing our accusations that students are being misled about the future of the program when I discuss this with and Martin County Administrator I was asked if I actually believed that my response was and still is doesn't matter what I believe what matters is they do and that if you care at all is what needs to be addressed once again the Arts are being moved to the back of the bus that's an old battle one that's been fought hundreds of times is that my time yes ma'am okay uh so please please I'm going to stay vigilant and I'm not going anywhere thank you Ava [Applause] Coker Eva Coker hello hello and good evening my name is Ava and I've been a theater student at Martin County High School for the past three years and I'm going to continue my theater education next year year as a senior and I am looking to make a change about your plans for next year about Martin County High School's plans for their theater classes next year as of now Martin County High School is planning to combine classes acting one 2 3 and four as well as classes technical theater one and two into one class this is as effective as would be combining Algebra 1 and Algebra 2 into the same class are chemistry and biology so much valuable class time will be wasted trying to cover the vast amount of topics that are covered in these classes as individuals not to mention the curriculum would never be stable or effective there's also a gap where higher level of students will be wasting time in learning nothing will technical theater one kids or acting one kids are learning just the basics they are all Martin County High School is also planning to not have a certified theater teacher teach theater without a certified teacher kids in these class classes will not be properly guided into enhancing their education in a way that is Meaningful as a student who is planning to advance my theater education into college enjoying H enjoying the num countless students from Martin County High School who are now working into in the entertainment field professionally these changes will affect the experiences that I get and that will help me enter this career path as a successful student and without a theater director I cannot be an actor member in my theater Community what is happening in Martin County High School's theater departments is very concerning and I beg you to reconsider your Martin County High School's plans for next year thank you thank you Madison Wells good evening I'm Madison Wells and I'm an officer for the drama department at Martin County High School recently our program has been cut down to one class period being taught by an Ela teacher for the next upcoming school year this year Tech 1 and Tech 2 class were already mixed into one class and being in a tech class with already doing tech one we were just repeating everything that we had already learned which will be the same case next year if the the classes are chosen to be mixed again the school the school has claimed it's because of lack of people signing up but people have stated that um that people are trying to go into theater and we're told that we don't have a theater class or that they need Le letters of recommendation which is false people people will come up today and try and get you to renew our teachers contract which don't get me wrong would be amazing but isn't what we need most we just want a teacher who has a theater degree even someone who's dueled in English and theater to teach the kids so our Productions don't end for good April 30th I started a petition to bring notice to this to show you guys how many to bring to you guys today to show you guys how many people care about Martin County theater the petition is now up to 828 signatures 828 people who are fighting for our theater Department a few reasons given to why they are to why they are signing is the drama department is a wonderful creative Outlet it helps me gain experiences the drama department is talented and hardworking these are a few of the most passionate students have ever met art is a very important in our young adult lives I was never officially a part of drama theater but the program has kindly welcomed me whenever I needed a place to go all of these are direct quotes from students who signed everyone in this program everyone who in this program cares and has a passion it's why we're here to talk to you guys today please give us a teacher who cares and can give the kids attending Martin County high school next year proper theater education we've had many successes this year such as susal Cabaret night and even helping a middle school put on a show using our costumes and stages stage as as well as many wonderful fundraisers that were able to lower our cost when we were when we had students going to States please don't take away the creative Outlet in a safe place and work with us to keep this program Lively despite it being smaller thank you thank you Jamie Lopez uh good evening Madam chair and board members I'm a junior at Mar County High School and I've been an active member of our drama department for the past 3 years we recently found out that next year we will not have a Drama teacher there will be one class for both acting and technical theater of all levels taught by some other academic teacher this does not provide a learning environment where all students can progress in their art the first semester of this school year I experienced something similar when I was put in an acting one class as an acting three student to put it bluntly I did not learn anything in that time the teacher had to focus on the acting one students who did who made up the majority of the class and did not have the same basic knowledge and experience that I did I was only relearning material with no real challenges this setup for next year with all levels in one class will not provide the knowledge for us to be College and Career capable like our school model says three weeks ago we we received a letter from a previous Drama teacher Miss egart who spoke earlier who shared how robust our theater Department was and how over 120 MCHS alumni are working in the entertainment industry today an untrained theater teacher who also has to split their efforts between drama and other academic students will not be able to provide the same level of support that allows for multiple highquality Productions and competitions throughout the year like we've previously had I encourage you to reconsider this plan for next year and continue with a qualified Drama teacher who can support drama club Productions and competitions thank you thank you Isabella Emerson hello and good evening of members of the board um I am here to express my concerns about our upcoming theater program I am a sophomore in MC in Martin County theater and I PS I am planning on pursuing theater for as far as my career would like me to go um I am grateful to have this opportunity to talk to you guys and I was also grateful to have the opportunity to work with amazing talents such as Tiffany Garner mine sorry meline Murray and Brook Crawford who has helped us with our production of susal Jr by shrinking our theater program it is taking away opportunities for future Generations um like Jamie Lopez has spoke we have had multiple instance where we've had kidss who were in supposed to be in other upper classes be put in technical theater one or in lower classes um so if we shrink our theater program it is taking away opportunities and moments and memories from future generations and that is a great concern for a lot of people who want to pursue acting um our spring musicals and plays in one act is something that we all look forward to something that we laugh about that we cry about and that we all talk about at the end of the year we all plan on pursuing theater or if not we just do it for fun because it's something that we belong in and something that we feel belong feel that we belong in and it gives us an opportunity to make friends and make memories um with the concern of other kids who would like to join theater next year in our upcoming years they cannot get the opportunity because people are getting told that they can't because teachers from middle schools are being told that they can't sign up because they haven't been in a theater program before I was also told that in my freshman year and I got put in a theater program and I really loved it and it's something that I feel like other kids would also love with that I end my conclusion with that I end my statement with theater is something that we all love and that we all have a great passion for and we would love to keep that program thank you thank you Bill Smithson it's me again okay Madam chair members of the board uh superintendent Maine I'd be remiss as a strict constitutionalist uh not to object to the uh House Bill 931 and and uh I believe it was Senate Bill 1317 but I am here to just express my objection which establishes a Statewide School Chaplain program and authorizes school districts and Char of schools to allow volunteer chaplain to be on school campuses and provide additional counseling support to students I strongly recommend that the Martin County School District does not adopt any referendums to establish this program within the Martin County School District first this chaplain program is a gross violation of our first amendment which states that no law respecting the establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof and promoting Thomas Jefferson to emphatically state in an 1802 letter to the Danbury Baptist Association in Connecticut and I quote believing with you that religion is a matter which lies solely between man and his God that he owes account to none other for his faith or his worship that the legitimate powers of government reach actions only and not opinions I contemplate with Sovereign reverence that act of the whole American people which declared that their legislative should make no law respecting the establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof thus building a wall of separation between church and state second out of respect for the diversity of Martin County residents and our student body who come from a wide range of religious and non-religious affil iations the chaplain program should not be allowed because of the divisiveness it would cause on school campuses and within the community there is so much more that can be said so I'm going to end it with a quote from Dr Russell mayor director of the Florida Council of churches he stated when addressing the rules committee in our legislator this is not a good idea it will cause psychological and spiritual harm to students who are not of the persuasion of the volunteer chaplain and volunteer chaplain don't have any of the training in human development and Child Development and I will end it with let's put the trained Professionals in and not some unlicensed untrained people with a religious affiliation thank you thank you Victoria [Applause] deener good evening Victoria defenthaler retired educator and former School Board member during my term as a school board member I completed the requirements and received board member certification the certified board member program is comprised of several training sessions these include School Finance policy governance and bargaining which must be taken through the Florida Schoolboard Association the requirements for the components of advocacy leadership and knowledge can be met through other training which must relate to their role as a school as a public school board member I found that the Florida Schoolboard Association provided excellent training sessions the Martin County School District website had a post congratulating the board chair and vice chair for earning their certified board member designation I understand they took courses through the conservative Leadership Institute and Hillsdale College the website for Hillsdale College states it is a non-sectarian Christian institution Hillsdale College maintains by precept and example the immemorial teachings and practices of the Christian faith so the training is both conservative and Christian in nature and this does not represent all students and families which is the role of public school board members School Board positions are nonpartisan meaning members are representing all constituents conservatives profess to believe in limited parental rights transparency and fiscal responsibility however it appears that they are only representing those parents who have the same conservative beliefs why are Schoolboard members taking courses from conservative think tanks are Martin County taxpayers funding this training also I saw a book reconsideration document that included a person asked for the book removal of Winter's Bone the novel by Daniel woodrell the description for the basis of the objective objection stated there is too much to list in this book that I cannot include crank cooking labs and drug use and gruesome scenes with page numbers listed by the objector the recommendation by the committee stated keep the book in the high school libraryies restricting checkout to Juniors and seniors the committee determined that it did not meet statutory redefinition of pornographic material or the conditions for it be being designated as harmful to miners Winner's bone literary merit is widely recognized the book delves into themes of family and responsibility and Relentless Relentless perseverance focusing on a marginalized ozar Community the book supports our goal of having a diversified collection representative of different American subcultures after the committee's recommendation was reviewed by the objector and was not agreed upon the book was removed from circulation due to slide 11 if you remember slide 11 was included in media specialist training that stated to always air on the side of caution When selecting materials this resulted in many books being removed unnecessarily which happened here in Martin County and we still do not have a policy and procedure in place to to correct this and return books to the shelves book Banning negatively impacts our children's education I've said it before and I'll say it again using our students as political pwns is damaging to their education and future success I don't understand how one person who's not an educator let alone a media specialist has been given the power and authority to make this decision thank you Jean Jordan good afternoon Madam chair school board members and superintendent main I'm here to speak about the code of conduct due process school policy and disciplinary action the code of conduct was written with good intent but the actions taken by Hidden Oaks Administration to follow the guidelines and procedures set out in the code to guide them in student conduct resulted in a snowball effect of disciplinary actions that were unfair discretionary and violated students rights to Due Process students accused of M misconduct should not be treated like criminals and kept in the dark while they are being removed from their classes detained their personal property taken from them all without any notice to neither themselves nor their parents why such actions are being taken due process is in the code of conduct to Ren that but yet it happened parents are then left with a biased and unfair un fuels process the first step is to appeal to the accuser if the argument is being made that the one making the allegations of wrongdoing and setting forth a discipline didn't follow the rules how many would ever admit that step one wasted time while students are excluded from their education and being told they were the only ones who did wrong and didn't follow the code of conduct further on in the process there has been comments that the actions by the students were planned where in the code of conduct or Schoolboard policy does it say that is a reason to uphold discipline even in light of the due process being violated this is not a first-degree murder trial these are young teenagers who took it upon themselves to stand up for their black and transgender peers for what they perceived as threats against those peers individuals involved in education should recognize that students this age are going through intense emotional development and may make wrong choices when faced with very real 21st century life situations none of the students involved have said their actions were not wrong but at what point does a line get cross from such actions being called harassment to freedom of spee speech especially when the students felt strongly about the perceived threats against their peers and Friends it is a very subjective area one that should not be taken lightly and should be reviewed with unbiased scrutiny when students Silver Rights are involved disciplinary procedures should not extend past what is set out in the code of conduct into affecting a students academics to the contrary utmost care should be taken to ensure that students are able to continue their Education Without hindrance and prior work negated we have experienced just the opposite has been done with the offered choice of further punishment by attending summer school which would never have been a need had the appeals process corrected the wrongdoing by administration at the very beginning it is unfathomable to see children punished severely for violating the code of conduct the discipline upheld over and over again without a fair process and investigation into allegations of threats but those that are charged with having the responsibility in priority to be fair andure that dispropor optionality and discipline has not occurred and civil rights have been protected are permitted to violate the code of conduct and their decisions to be dis for discipline to be held upheld thank you for your time thank you heather Rogers good evening I would like to alert our community to an article that was published on May 17th in the Sarasota heral Tribune the title is on the prow Christian and Bridget Ziggler Tech show coup's search for sexual partners by Steven Walker due to the explicit nature of the article it is not appropriate for a school board meeting the article details the couple's predatory behavior however with more books being banned in our district it is relevant to know who our school board members are and who they affiliate and align themselves with I want to remind our community that Bridget Ziggler is a founder of moms for Liberty a group which has been labeled as an anti government extremist group that engages in anti-student inclusion activities by the Southern Poverty Law Center a group that one of our board members is still a member of and was the founder of the Martin County chapter Bridget Ziggler was the VP of school boards for Hillsdale College Affiliated Leadership Institute until she was forced to resign the same place where two of our board members took courses for their fsba Association certification the same place that the mission statement reads the leadership institute's mission is to increase the number and effectiveness of conservative activists and leaders in public policy process to accomplish this The Institute identifies recruits trains and places conservatives in government politics and the media next I would like to learn if our P tax dollars paid for these board members to be certified at this institute this institute is highly biased bigoted and deeply embedded in Christian nationalism our students deserve board members that support and include all of our students finally please stop giving into the adult temper tantrums from the number one book Banner if parents are uncomfortable with a book they can sign the form to make sure their student doesn't have access to all books entertaining these tantrums is a waste of time for district resources and money I don't know how much more racist one person could be to attempt to ban The Color Purple perhaps The District's Public Relations team would like to reach out to Oprah Winfrey to get her thoughts on Banning The Color Purple we have already been featured on major news networks and Saturday live for racist actions in book Banning stop allowing one woman to micromanage the entire District she is not a trained professional and it's incredibly degrading to our media Specialists and Educators allowing this person to participate and call principles Liars during open to the public is not necessary and it would be refreshing to see board members and District staff correct someone that is publicly trashing admin administrators and teachers I'm going to submit a copy of the article for the public record and I took the initiative to highlight the inappropriate behaviors I hope every future voter and constituent understands losing theater Sports pools books teachers Etc is all a result of policy supporting vouchers and Charter Schools vote accordingly thank you that concludes public comment and now we will move on to our board member information share Miss Roberts would you please share the information on the 2024 millage reauthorization sure so this is um so that it's in the record and also for my fellow board members um as you know that on November 5th we're looking for the second reauthorization for the the millage that supports um some operating initiatives which include School Safety and Security mental health programs recruiting and retaining qualified teachers and support staff professional development and academ mic initiatives so I've created a um onepage document that at the top has a timeline that shows that our first authorization was on August 28th of 2018 which allowed for U millage to be collected half a mill to be collected on the next four tax bills which would have been the 2018 19 20 and 21 tax bills then we reauthorized on August 23rd of 2022 which is giving us permission to collect on the November 22nd 23rd 24th and 25th tax bill and people ask well why is this coming so soon this is two years after we had just reauthorized um the law has changed and you now need to reauthorize during a general election which means if you you can e reauthorize in 2024 or you can reauthorize in 2026 if we wait until 2026 to reauthorize we would not be able to collect on the November 26 tax bill because that tax bill is actually prepared prior to that election which would be in November of 2026 so you would miss that collection piece um there's some so I highlighted in red that the November 5th is reauthorizing for the November 26 27 28 and 29 tax bill so you would be able to see that there there's some questions and answers on there um that talk about what changes we've made over over the years you know one of the things that we've done is we've changed it to the up to half a m so that instead of being forced by the referendum to collect the full half a mill we can actually collect less than half a mill depending on what actually our budget looks like in a budget as we build our budget which is what we're doing right now um it also goes into how much money do we actually get from this funding each student gets about $900 it's a it doesn't go they don't get much money but $900 goes into the budget at a rate of $900 per student and yes the charter schools is required by law get a portion of that money then there's an example on there for like a Martin County homeowner that's saying reminding people that it's half a mill on your taxable value not on your market value and it's after the reduction for the homestead exemption so I looked up um one of my neighbors actually who has a three-bedroom two bath home with a $550,000 market value that has a 206,000 taxable value minus the 25,000 exemption means that their $181,000 um taxable piece for the up to half a mill would mean that they would have a maximum of $90.50 and so obviously if it's less than that if it's 10% less than that you would take 10% off of the $90.50 so um I just wanted to put that out there so that if any of the board members wanted to be able to use it if the public wanted to see it um I know that at last month's meeting the other question that I've been getting is does this have anything to do with the two elementary schools the Jensen Beach Elementary and the Palm City Elementary School that was done with capital money that was a sales tax referendum where we did a sales tax for seven years we have one and a half years left of that collection and the board voted at the last meeting that we would no longer be collecting it after December December 31st of 2025 so that will be over and gone so um just to clarify that's where that money so the the millage money did not go to help with those schools the millage money went to Safety and Security upgrades some um water intrusion issues that we had at several District owned schools some upgrades at District owned schools and then the rebuild of those to functionally obsolescent elementary schools but I just wanted everybody to be able to have it so if you wanted to give it out you could be able to have it and be able to use it so thank you thank you Miss Roberts I appreciate you creating the information sheet that will help to answer questions for taxpayers before the general election all right moving on to our action only items we have pulled item number 3.03 for from the consent to action it's for Treasure Coast Classical Academy charter contract 2024 to 2039 are there any questions from the board um yes I pulled that because I had a question on page 39 of that application is this yours Dr Miller I don't know who who's do who did this come from Lana oh Lana I'm sorry so page 39 of the application talks about the required reports and documents um and it talks one about that monthly we do get the financial reports monthly the piece that we aren't getting is the governing board meeting agenda and minutes so if if somebody can check and be sure that we start to get those that would be helpful and maybe go back a year and do that then the other things are on the page 39 and page 40 there's 17 items that we're supposed to be getting annually which include um we do get the financial audit we do get um the student achievement report we don't get it from you we can get it from the state but the school-based student code of conduct the dismissal policies and procedures um the employee handbook all of those pieces um I went through all of my records and I don't have any of those so I know that some of these say um annually unless if they're materially revised but I would like to request um tcca if you could get me a copy of of the documents that that would be helpful okay thank you very much thank you and I'll move approval of 3.03 thank you second I have a motion by Miss Roberts a second by Miss Mr dley all those in favor I I any opposed motion carries unanimously item number 18.01 School Board travel there is no travel requested at this time item number 18.02 2024 to 2025 School Staffing plan are there any questions from the board seeing none do I have a motion moved I have a motion by Mr dley a second by Miss Powers all those in favor I any opposed motion carries unanimously item number 18.03 approve State requirement for educational facilities srf and fire and safety report are there any questions from the board Mo approval of 18.03 I have a motion by Miss Powers second Miss second by Mr dley all those in favor I any opposed motion carries unanimously item number 18.04 approval of investment policy scope of permitted Investments and portfolio composition pursuant to Schoolboard policy 6144 are there any questions from the board second I have a motion by Miss Roberts second by Miss Powers all those in favor I any opposed motion carries unanimously item number 18.05 ratification of mcea agreements for 2023 2024 are there any questions from the board move approval of 18.05 second I have a motion by Miss Powers and a second by Mr dley all those in favor I any opposed motion carries unanimously item number 18.06 request approval of renewal in the power buying group and purchase us da foods are there any questions from the board Mo have approval of 18.06 I have a motion by Miss Powers and a second by Mr dley all those in favor I any opposed motion carries unanimously item number 18.07% second I have a motion by Miss Powers a second by Mr dorley all those in favor I any opposed motion carries unanimously item number 18.085 th000 are there any questions from the board have a motion move of approval 1808 second I have a motion by Mr dley a second by Miss Powers all those in favor I any opposed motion carries unanimously item number 1809 District comprehensive evidence-based reading plan are there any questions from the board move approval of 1809 second I have a motion by Miss Powers a second by Mr Dy all those in favor I any opposed motion carries unanimously item number 18.10 reconcile the GMP for the RFQ number 34-0 d2020 Palm City Elementary School replacement school project are there any questions from the board Roberts so I'd like to thank finance and Mark um and I really do appreciate using that direct purchase Method which saved us the 4% on $8 million which was a significant number and that really is appreciated thank you both move approval thank you second I have a motion by Miss Roberts a second by Miss Powers all those in favor I any opposed motion carries unanimously moving on we are going to our first review of Schoolboard policies and to approve the advertising is there anyone from the public that would like to speak on any policy items number 19.01.2016 [Music] policy number 1030 superintendent of schools are there any questions from the board I move approval of the advertising of 19.01.2016 [Music] no two second I have a motion by Miss Powers a second by Mr dley all those in favor I I any opposed motion carries unanimously item number 19.03 policy number 2252 digital classrooms resend are there any questions from the board second I have a motion by Miss Roberts a second by Mr dley all those in favor any opposed motion car cares unanimously item number 19.04 policy number 22601 Section 504 Ada prohibition against discrimination based on disability are there any questions from the board second I have a motion by Miss Powers and a second by Mr dley all those in favor I any opposed motion carries unanimously item number 19.05 policy number 24 31.03 concussions and head injuries are there any questions from the board move approval of a 19.05 second I have a motion by Miss Powers and a second by Mr Dy all those in favor I any opposed motion carries unanimously item number 19.06.13 athletic injuries prevention and treatment program are there any questions from the board move approval of 1906 I have a motion by Miss Powers a second by Miss Roberts all those in favor I any opposed motion carries unanimously item number 19.07 policy number 5516 student hazing are there any questions from the board move approval of 19.07 second I have a motion by Miss Powers second by Mr dley all those in favor I any opposed motion carries unanimously item number 19.08 policy number 5540 the schools and investigations involving students are there any questions from the board move approval of 19.08 I have a motion by Miss Powers and a second by Miss Roberts all those in favor I any opposed motion carries unanimously item number 19.09 policy number 5610 point0 one emergency removal of students this is a new policy are there any questions from the board move approval of 19.09 09 sorry I have a motion by Miss Powers and a second by Mr dley all those in favor I any opposed motion carries unanimously item number 19.10 policy number 6107 authorization to accept and distribute electronic records and use electronic signatures and to make electronic fund transfers are there any questions from the board move approval of 19.10 I have a motion by Miss Powers and a second by Miss Roberts all those in favor any opposed motion carries unanimously item number 19.11 policy number 6110 Grant funds are there any questions from the board move approval of 19.11 second I have a motion by Miss Powers a second by Mr Dy all those in favor I any opposed motion carries unanimously item number 19.12 policy number 6530 Reemployment assistance are there any questions from the board second I have a motion by Miss Roberts a second by Miss Powers all those in favor any opposed motion carries unanimously item number 19.13 policy number 7310 disposition of surplus property are there any questions from the board move approval of 19.13 I have a motion by Miss Powers and a second by Miss Roberts all those in favor I any opposed motion carries unanimously item number 19.4 policy number 7320 acquisition removal disposal sale or exchange of major tangible property are there any questions from the board board move approval of 1914m number 19.15 policy number 8340 letters of reference and disclosure of information regarding former or current employees are there any questions from the board move approval of 19.15 second I have a motion by Miss Powers a second by Mr dley all those in favor I any opposed motion carries unanimously item number 19.16 policy number 8452 automated external defibrillators AED are there any questions from the board move approval of 19.16 second I have a motion by Miss Powers and a second by Mr Dy all those in favor I I any opposed motion carries unanimous ly item number 19.7 policy number 8625 ban on texting while driving are there any questions from the board move approval of 1917 second I have a motion by Miss Powers and a second by Mr dley all those in favor I any opposed motion carries unanimously item number 19.18 policy number 8710 Insurance risk management and claim settlement are there any questions from the board Mo appr second I have a motion by Mr dley and a second by Miss Powers all those in favor I I any opposed motion carries unanimously item number 19.19 policy number 91601 complaint procedures related to alleged discrimination regarding accessibility of District facilities this is a new policy are there any questions from the board no move approval second I have yes sorry Mr sh and I I was just noticing you put an employees name in there we may want to only use titles so we don't have to change it um and have the the office listed under it the department that this person is in and their title it may be easier unless we haven't done that districtwide we have that discussion at the workshop yeah I think actually and there's another place where wilman's name is in there but I think in some cases it's actually required by Neola that a name goes in there I knew it was for Title 9 coordinator and that type of thing I wasn't sure about ADA thank you thank you okay um I have a motion we finish that we okay that again I'll second so um I think I did second it but yeah um I would be okay approving it with determination whether it needs a name or not if it doesn't need a name then just title but if it needs a name if it's required to have a name yeah and the policy says the following person is designated as the which makes me think that the policy was written by Neola with a to request a person's name since it's not just a we can certainly look into it and I'd also list an alternative title because I know Mr calron is also certified for Ada so if we couldn't get the safety manager there would be another level of a um District representative who's certified so where do that put us if we're changing the advertising review sorry this is first review so you can incorporate those changes and come back without having to go back through a first review so we have to have a motion that incorporates whatever changes we're going to do yes we can't just have a motion that says check this out and bring it back cor right hopefully you're defining the scope of what you're asking SCA staff to review and make sure that the policy when it comes back is in its final form I think it would the motion would be to instruct staff to come come back with either the names of the designated specific people or the titles depending on the requirements in the law I think Mr derley made that motion though I'm acceptable to that addition to my motion and the second agrees I have a motion by Mr dley and a second by Miss Powers all those in favor I I any opposed motion carries unanimously item number 19 20 policy number 9211 parent organizations booster clubs and other outside support organizations this is a new policy are there any questions from the board move approval of 19.20 okay I have a motion by Miss Powers and a second by Mr dley all those in favor I I any opposed motion carries unanimously now we will move on to public hearing of Schoolboard policies is there anyone from the public that would like to speak on any of these policies seeing none we will move forward item number 20.01 policy number 2270 religion in the curriculum are there any questions from the board move approval of 20.01 I can have a second I did sorry I have a motion by Miss Powers and a second by Mr dley all those in favor I any opposed motion carries unanimously ly item number 20.02 policy number 2371 Hope Scholarship are there any questions from the board I have a motion move approval of 20.02 I have a motion by Miss Powers a second by Miss Roberts all those in favor I any opposed motion carries unanimously item number 20.0 3 policy number 2455 drop out prevention and academic intervention programs this is a new policy are there any questions from the board move approval of 20.0 3 I have a motion by Miss po is a second by Miss Roberts all those in favor I any opposed motion carries unanimously item number 20.04 policy number 2460 exceptional student education are there any questions from the board move approval of 20.04 I have a motion by Miss Powers a second by Miss Roberts all those in favor I any opposed motion carries unanimously item number 20.05 policy number 2520 selection and Adoption of instructional materials are there any questions from the board Mo approval of 20.05 second I have a motion by Miss Powers and a second by Mr dley all those in favor I I any opposed motion carries unanimously item number number 20.06 policy number 2521 instructional materials program are there any questions from the board move approval 20.06 I have a motion by Mr dley and a second by Miss Roberts all those in favor I I any opposed motion carries unanimously item number 2.07 policy number 2522 challenges to adoption of in use of instruction library or reading list of materials are there any questions from the board do I have a motion um yes so moved second I have a motion by Mr dley and a second by Miss Powers all those in favor I any opposed go ahead um Miss FS can you check and see whether there Neola has another one of these in the pipeline to come just for whatever the new cases are yeah because there's I think there's some new stuff coming effective July 1 yeah so right yeah there's another one coming okay but I'm pretty sure this would be on it I mean I'm pretty sure because this is talking about challenging material that can be either a parent of a student of the district or a resident of the county and it doesn't have all the extra language in it so I'm 23 thank you okay um item number 20.08 policy number 2623 student assessment are there any questions from the board moove approval of 20.08 I have a motion by Miss Powers and a second by Miss Roberts all those in favor I I any opposed motion carries unanimously item number 20.09.2011 I have a motion by Mr dley a second by Miss Powers all those in favor I any opposed motion carries unanimously item number 20.10 policy number 8420 Emergency Management emergency preparedness and emergency response agencies are there any questions from the board we have approval of 20.10 I have a motion by Miss Powers do I have a second by Miss Roberts all those in favor I any opposed motion carries unanimously item number 20.11 policy number 8600 Transportation are there any questions from the board move approval of 20.11 I have a motion by Miss poers second by Mr dley all those in favor I any opposed motion carries unanimously next up is open to the board Mr dley you have nothing Madam chair thank you very much Miss Roberts um sure so I'd like to thank South Fork High School for their architecture and construction presentations all the volunteers that we recognized and were present and the ones that weren't present at the volunteer award ceremony the people who came out to the art and music event run by the Jensen Beach Chamber at the treasure GES mall at the end of April thank Jensen Beach High School for their talent show especially of interest to me which I really didn't realize it was a talent but it is a talent was the speed painting where this person like painted something really fast which was kind of different but I I didn't know it is a talent though um congratulate the students who got the perfect scores and thank the teachers and the administrative staff that helped get them to that so that they could get a perfect score um I enjoyed South Fork High School's end of the year band performance and also their IB banquet I did the readers lunch with the Indiantown Middle School readers um and enjoyed that again this year and always congratulations to the spam people and congratulations to the graduates and a shout out to Rohan Jack jock who is graduating from Harvard as even as we speak and then I had one question for the superintendent if you could check on for me um one of the speakers who spoke today was talking about um the drama class that tech one and act two happened at the same time and that acting one and acting three happened at the same time and I would imagine that there's different standards for those two classes so just so that we have some Assurance um that both sets of standards were met I mean I'm not I'm not necessarily confident that the students necessarily know what the standards are that they're supposed to be getting in that class but just so that we have some confidence that's all I had thank you thank you m Powers so um just really quickly I want to congratulate all the graduates of our three traditional high schools and Clark Advanced Learning Center it's always very um inspiring to attend the graduations it's a great time of year for all of us and it was really wonderful to see the parents and the students celebrated um and it was also I also had the opportunity to attend all three project graduations um it was I'm exhausted did last night was the last night I got home about 3:30 in the morning but it was amazing and I think the kids had a really great time it was great to see them um in their environment celebrating each other um I also had the opportunity um at the invitation of Congressman Brian Mast to attend the Congressional Art competition and it was a wonderful celebration in our own Martin County High School student who um was her art was chosen and the top three were amazing I would hang any of them in my home it was they were beautiful like it was really amazing how talented they are and the winner um she won a trip to Washington DC and to view her art hanging in the United States capital so she gets a trip for two um to Washington DC so that's really great and the Perfect Score recognition is always um a wonderful honor for not just our students but for the hard work that all of our teachers do every every day um and of course spam they're they're amazing and I always look it's it's really great to see so many young women getting into stem and I noticed it too at graduations um all of the young women that are graduating at the top of their class and going into a science um program in college it's it's really wonderful and that's it for me superintendent Maine yes thank you madam chair I just wanted to um make sure that the public was aware uh that the board does not make the decision to eliminate uh programs at the school site level those decisions are made locally by the school principal based on the number of students that are registering in or interested in a class while we look at individual allocations as a district team uh in reference to how many teachers we give a school based on the number of students that are enrolled and the classes that they're registered for for uh we take care of that on our end from an operational standpoint I will tell you one of the key differences at Martin County High School this year is that they made a commitment as a team to meet with each of their guidance counselors met with each of the students this year individually to go over their uh course elect and electives for next school year selections and they really took time and effort to make sure that students were uh taking recommended courses for more advanced level courses and less off blocks and whenever that happens uh we are very proud to report that a majority of those students opted to take uh more advanced level cour work including dual enrollment uh courses less electives and when that happens you see a decrease in the number of students that are taking drama Music Theater I just want to be very clear that personally I'm a huge supporter of the Arts and the board has been a huge supporter of the Arts as well hence why I say there's a genius in every child and since I have taken over a superintendent uh I think we've my staff has heard me push students going into the Arts and making sure that we're tapping into that so there will never be an intentional decrease in the offerings that we are um presenting to our students by way of the Arts it's just a natural process that takes place when you push students to take cours workk that they wouldn't have otherwise been exposed to or wouldn't have otherwise thought about taking themselves and they take the guidance counselors up on that offer to go into those those courses and so um I do have some data to report to you um Mrs Roberts that only eight students signed up for the tech 1 uh they did not receive any other requests for that tech one offering theater 1 received 25 signups theater 2 had two signups and theater 3 had six signups so I think what you're seeing is um it just makes an OP it makes operational sense to have to collapse certain classes because there were no there were not enough students to offer that uh those courses and so what I will say is that I have had several conversations with principal Selvage and she is well aware that as students Express additional interest in taking those theater and drama courses they will be more than happy to register those students into those courses and as the course numbers grow if there is enough enough to build out an additional section or additional class that definitely will be happening there there was not a push to eliminate a program the program is live and well and you also have to understand that when a teacher only has one certification um they can't be moved anywhere else they can't teach another subject area without having proper certification and so uh there's multiple factors involved but I just wanted to clear up some of that for for the record sure and I did um get some of that information I know for example that um the South Fork Drama teacher is not only certified in drama she's also certified in English 6 to 12 the Jensen Beach High School Drama teacher is also certified in science and that makes it a lot easier when you don't have that many students in a particular course because obviously the teacher has to have something else to do besides teaching drama if they don't have enough drama students so it's it's pretty obvious that if they are certified in something else they can be used to teach another course and not be um St so that we're paying somebody to not teach them thank you but I appreciate that and one other thing I think we would be remiss if we didn't say goodbye to Tom Harden and thank him for everything that he's done um our transportation department um is really um kind of the Envy of the state that we don't have many issues as a lot of other people a lot of other districts do and you will be missed thank you and I I [Music] will and uh um you know we have to be humble when we make a mistake and I made a mistake and I I left out Miss Ruth spes uh earlier today when I was announcing our administrator so that's on me and I own that we will have you come back in July so we can give you another official welcome but miss spers is in the audience and she will be taking over as our new director of Transportation uh from to so congratulations Ruth I appreciate that and uh we'll have you back again and just give you another introduction so thank you and congratulations thank you well congratulations to all of our graduates I enjoyed getting the opportunity to celebrate with you with no further business this meeting is adjourned for