##VIDEO ID:V7bCM-NUeug## e e good evening I call this meeting of the pellis County School Board October 22nd 2024 to order we will begin with an invocation led by Reverend coutura Pitman of Greater Mount Zion am Church in St Petersburg followed by the Pledge of Allegiance led by Vice chair Carol cook and the national anthem performed by soloist Ava Wagner from Palm Harbor University High School please stand and remain standing until the completion of the national anthem Reverend Cura Pitman good evening good evening and thank you oh thou in whose presence my soul takes Delight on whom in Affliction I call you're my comfort by day and my song in the night my hope my salvation and my all Heavenly Father we come this afternoon in a spirit of humility thanking you God that we have been able to weather the storms we know it was only you God who brought us safely through we've seen Devastation as we go throughout our County even within our schools but I'm sure the masses can say like I there go I but by God's grace we thank you God for those members who are looking over our students day in and our day out seeing for them that they become the students that you have ordained them to be as I look around and see 100% success is what we are all looking for throughout our County from topon Springs to St Petersburg every student every culture in always success that comes from the Magnificent teachers that we have at ministrators and all and that we all might be able to say thank you for what you have done what you continue to do we shout hallelujah amen to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all oh say can you see by the dawn's early light what so proudly we H at the Twilight last gleaming who BR stripes and bright stars through the p rollers fight or the r Poots we watch were so gantly streaming and the rocket red glare the bones bursting in air gave proof through the night that our flag was still there oh say does that star spangled B yet [Music] wave for the land of the fre and the home of the [Music] bra AA that was just beautiful thank you so much we will now share a video of how students at Fairmont Park Elementary have chosen to support their Community who is in need let's take a look so today our students came back and we had two hurricanes recently our 5,000 role models and girlfriends Club decided last minute that hey we have a lot of resources here at the school we're going to give back today so our student services surveyed all our students during the day we determined there's a large need for food in the community still many of our families without power so here we are we distributed 500 hot dogs this afternoon to our students uh both in the bus and the car Circle so we given hot dogs and chips to the community that needs help um I love helping people you're welcome and these two clubs in particular their mission is to give back to this community and so this was spurred by them today we had no input from the administration or teachers the kids came to us and said hey guys we need to get back to our our fellow students today we're hearing a lot of things in the classroom they really I think appreciated the fact that we have so much here to give and we're going to give back to the community so they they love it they gave back and and they had a great time doing it it's just wonderful there are so many efforts going on school by school and Community by community and it's thank you to everyone who is participating and certainly thank you it's it really wonderful to see students personally actively participating as well it's beautiful introduction of professional and Community organization Representatives Isabelle mascarenes our public information officer good evening Madame chair members of the board Mr Hendrick and staff it is my pleasure to introduce the following representatives of community and professional organizations from the penila classroom Teachers Association Lee Bryant president representing the north penila League of Women Voters Jee renolds from the penila arts for a complete education coalition Sue Castleman members of the media and attendance from the Tampa Bay Times Jeff solich today we have a presentation from the student rights and responsibility committee please welcome Jazelle yuera and Corbin Webb from Palm Harbor University High School and their principal Teresa Patterson good evening it's good to see you good evening my name is Jazelle Viera I'm a senior in the medical magnet program studying biomedical science at Palm Harbor University High School the home of the canes I'm currently the active president of Poker Club and an athlete being a part of the girls varsity track and field program for the last four years Madame chair and members of the penel County School Board superintendent Hendrick and staff thank you for all that you do to lead and support schools in our district and my name is Corbin Webb I am a senior in the University program at PHS I am a programmer of the robotics teams Vice founder of our drone Club as well as in leadership of future Business Leaders of America we appreciate all of the support the board and District leadership provides to elevate the student experience for all students in our district Palm Harbor University High School is a high performing nationally recognized school that has developed a curriculum to meet the needs of a diverse student population it offers an Innovative University program coupled with two Dynamic District application programs the international baloria program and the center for wellness and medical professions the school focuses on preparing students for the future while maintaining a safe learning environment that promotes the highest student achievement pH is nationally recognized for students achievements evidence of this is class of 2024 had 99.7% graduation rates 31 National Merit SE semi-finalists were honored by college board from the pH UHS classes of 2022 to 24 internationally recognized robotics program consistent National qualifiers and future Business Leaders of America Health occupation Sciences Association and speech and debates our regional Champion muaa Theta chapter hosted over 450 Elementary and Secondary School students for their annual Mighty moo competition this spring promoting access to accelerated math in our community and the center for wellness and medical profession and the Career Academy of Business Administration are both designated asies of disting Distinction with distinguished honors at Phu students are able to further their passions through a variety of extracurricular activities and athletic programs not only are there over 70 clubs and extracurricular opportunities on campus but Phu is the 10 time recipient of the superintendence award for highest GPA for all student athletes and a six-time recipient of the superintendent Cup last year we were honored with both these titles in addition hurricane student athletes have won 15 team athletic Florida state titles and 20 individual State Titles since the opening of the school in 1996 our performing art students Thrive as well for the third year in a row Phu chorus has had the highest number of students in panel's County selected for the All State chorus our Acappella group The after school specials are also frequently National finalists our thespian troop is among the highest honored programs in dramatic and musical theater by the state Broadway stars of the future and Walkers Rising Stars instrumentally Phu was the only school in the state of Florida that had two jazz bands receive Superior ratings at the FBA State Jazz MPA pH UHS truly is a school where our amazing faculty helps us to find and follow our passion to set our purpose and employ perseverance to achieve our goals but we are most proud of how Kane's culture serves our community with 25,000 volunteer hours annually from over 1,000 volunteers the collaboration between our school and Community is truly unique and a source of for Hurricane Nation thank you again superintendent H HRI staff and members of the board for all that you do to support opportunities for students to increase student achievement through these students experiences thank you thank you Jazelle and Corbin good to have you here tonight Mrs Patterson it's nice to see you and congratulations on these students and everything happening at Palm Harbor University High School we too are very proud of your school thank you item number two on our agenda amendments to the agenda I am going to uh mention that Mrs Peters is unable to join us tonight so all votes this evening will reflect uh the six members that are present Mr Hendrick are there any amendments to the agenda yes Madam chair there is one item 7.9 on the consent agenda was posted last week for the board and the public it's a request to submit the 2425 District best practices assessment as it relates to safety thank you board members any other amendments no as board chair I find good cause to amend the agenda as described by Mr hendrik may I have a motion to adopt the agenda as amended motion by Mrs Kane and a second by Mrs long all those in favor say I I any opposed passes six to zero the special order agenda this evening item 4.1 presentation of proclamation recognizing lights on after school day on October 24 2024 may have a motion in a second to approve this item motion by Mrs Caine and a second by Mrs cook Mr Hendrick would you please introduce this item yes Madam chair we are so lucky to have so many great Partners to help uh keep our students in those before and after school out of schooltime programs and tonight to recognize them as Dr Marilyn Petit ba who is a specialist in our Title One office and she's going to share more about the annual Proclamation and the partners in attendance good evening good evening Madam chair members of the board Mr Hendrick and staff launched in October 2000 lightstone after school is a national event celebrating after school programs and the important role they play in the lives of children families and communities the effort has become a Hallmark of the after school movement on Thursday October 24th the 25th Annual lights on after school initiative will highlight the remarkable work being done by Scholars who attend these programs pelis County schools has continued strong Partnerships in support of Extended Learning together these organizations work with our schools to ensure our Scholars have year- round access to educational and enriching activities today provides us with a seamless opportunity to recognize and thank those Partners present with us today are Karen Bois representing the juvenile welfare board Judy Patrick representing the Art Club Julie gy representing YMCA St Petersburg and Beth geig representing YMCA sun coast thank you for your continued support of pelis County Schools thank you so much uh Mrs Kane would you please read the proclamation absolutely so proclamation of lights on after school whereas the pelis County School Board stands firmly committed to Quality after school programs and opportunities because they provide safe challenging engaging and fun learning experiences to help children and youth develop their social emotional physical cultural and academic skills they support Working Families by ensuring their children are safe and productive after the regular school day ends they build stronger communities by involving our students parents Business Leaders and adult Volunteers in the lives of our young people thereby promoting a positive relationships among children youth families and adults and whereas all of our community after school programs provides significant leadership in the area of community involvement in the education and well-being of our youth grounded in the principle that quality after school programs are key in helping our children become successful adults and now therefore the school board of pelis County hereby endorses lights on after school the national celebration of after school programs held this year on October 27th 2024 and signed this 22nd day of October 2024 thank you board members any comments Dr py thank you so much for the presentation it's wonderful to see our club and jenal Welfare board and the YMCA represented here today we have all seen firsthand the way you dovetail with the students in our schools and we're very appreciative for the programs you offer thank you I have a motion and a second on the floor to approve item 4.1 all those in favor say I I any opposed passes six to zero thank you so much item 4.2 presentation of proclamation recognizing school bus safety week May I have a motion in a second to approve this item motion motion by Mrs long and a second by Mrs Caine Mr Hendrick would you please introduce this yes thank you madam chair and you know there are so many of the presentations and proclamations we have that we could celebrate every day and and obviously school bus safety is one of those that we want to see every single day and so here to talk more about this annual Proclamation is our director of Transportation Mr t- Mark hagwood T mark thank you good evening Madam chair school board members Mr hendrik and staff Florida joins States Nationwide in observing national school bus safety week this week October 21st through 25th 2024 and the theme this year is driving safely into the future sponsored by the national ass Association of Pupil Transportation this campaign emphasis emphasizes the importance of school Transportation safety back to home and to school panel's County School proudly celebrates national school bus safety week and our dedicated school bus drivers who transport over 21,000 students each day this week serves as a valuable OPP opportunity for parents students teachers motorists and community members to come together and highlight the importance of school bus safety design at with safety in mind featuring flashing lights large mirrors stop arms and the iconic yellow school bus color school buses are recognized as the safest way for students to travel to and from school in addition many of the community has recently experienced that school buses are also used to transport people to shelters during storms please join me in celebrating our school bus drivers in panel's county and across the United States during this important week thank you thank you thank you Mr hegwood Mrs Meer would you please read the proclamation yes thank you Proclamation national school bus safety week driving safely into the future whereas the health and safety of all students are essential to the happiness and well-being of the families teachers and communities and whereas students are 70 times more likely to get to school safely when taking a bus instead of traveling by car and whereas school buses provide the most and sometimes only reliable form of transportation to and from school which promotes attendance punctuality and encourages better student achievement and whereas motorists must remember to stop when a school bus is stopped with its arms extended and red flashing lights whereas school bus transportation employees should be recognized for their diligence and safety transporting the school children of pelis County whereas local organizations are encouraged to support student and traffic safety activities associated with National School bus safety week and everyone is reminded to keep a watchful eye for students going to and from school and to take extra precautions around students and school buses now therefore the pelis County School Board hereby recognizes October 21st through 25th 2024 as national school bus safety week signed this 22nd day of October 2024 thank you Schoolboard members any comments it's a good reminder that this might be a good week for all of we parents including me whose children take the bus every day to maybe have an extra special thank you for your bus driver I thank you thank you T mark thank you for being here I have a motion in a second on the floor to approve item 4.2 all those in favor say I I any opposed passes six to zero staying with our bus drivers item 4.3 recognition of school bus drivers with safe driving records um may have a motion and second to approve this item make a motion a motion by Mrs long and a second by Mrs Edmund Mr Hendrick would you please introduce this item yes Madam chair we annually like to recognize our bus drivers will safe driving records and in fact we do so in a luncheon that many of the board members attend each year but we like to also put it on the record during the board meeting they cannot be here because of course they are transporting our students home right now but we like to recognize them anyway so I'll pass it back to Mr hagwood thank you Mr Hendrick as Mr Hendrick said they're still out driving their buses right now so they didn't come with me today but penis county is fortunate to have highly trained and dedicated school bus drivers who safely transport students to school and back home daily school bus drivers often serve as mentors and confidants and they're the first person many students see in the morning and the last District employee that they see in the evening tonight we're proudly Rec recognizing 38 school bus drivers who have proven their driving ability with 10 or more years of safe driving we have eight of those drivers that have over 20 years of safe driving and we have one man Mr Charles Russell who H his driving record of safe driving goes back to 1993 which is 31 years ago we're going to be hosting a luncheon as Mr Hendrick said to celebrate the safe drivers on November 13th at stavos Institute at 11:00 a.m. and we hope you can join us thank you thank you so much we do um look forward to that luncheon team Mar I appreciate it um any other comments from school board members we're just going to give a vote of affirmation all those in support of recognizing the safe driving records of our school bus drivers say I I any opposed passes six to zero thank you thank you so much public comments on agenda items Mrs Hal are there any speakers to agenda items today yes Madam chair there is one speaker for agenda item thank you I'll go ahead and read our statement on public comment members of the public have three separate opportunities to address the board when we gather for a business meeting and tonight we have all three the first is public comment on agenda items the second is at public hearings most of which are policies the last is after our meeting when speakers May address the general business of the district at each opportunity for public input board members are here to listen to you this is not a time for interaction but the board will take your comments into consideration before it votes on agenda items the board is committed to a standard of Civility and decorum in conducting our meetings this includes refraining from clapping or making audible noises during or after a speaker's comments We Appreciate You assisting Us in maintaining a civil and constructive environment lastly please note that this meeting and all public comments will be broadcast live and the video will be publicly archived members of the public may always communicate with the board through our email address board pcsb.org or by calling the board office at 588 6300 thank you please go ahead Mr thank you madam chair speaker is Mark kutho he is speaking to item 7.3 and 7.4 good evening Mark clo Largo 7.4 your strategic priority fiscal and operational responsibility you never get that right never ever 7.3 the total cost $47 m925 th000 another boond doggle yeah and and what will that building bring more leans more melts it's called cause and effect cause and effect we have headlines like this even as the climate risk rise shortterm thinking prevails that's what's happening with the building like that we get a headline World breaks hottest stay record again and a headline like much of Amazon burns with dire implications and then of course you remember this graph showing the temperatures here's a new one battered by Hurricane Al Florida braces far more from Milton and this shows the record warmth of the water that fuels those storms well see when you make buildings that are stupid buildings you get the water heated and then you have this kind of nonsense why monster hurricanes like Milton are happening in the Gulf it's not geoengineering well in fact it is when you make those stupid buildings that belch the carbon and they heat the water the Hurricanes grow to a f thank you madam chair there are no more speakers for agenda items thank you moving on to unfinished business item 6.1 public hearing to consider the amendment to policy 0164 meetings notice of meetings 2120 School Improvement and academic accountability and 2414 accreditation this is the second reading and there are no changes since the first reading may I have a motion and a second to approve this item second motion from Mrs Meyer and a second from Mrs Edmund Mr Hendrick would you please introduce thank you madam chair this policy uh that was brought to the board for the first reading includes uh the notice of public meetings School Improvement accountability as well as accreditation and so to share those changes and updates I call on our director of strategic planning and policy Lena Eis Mrs is good evening Madam chair board members superintendent Hendrick staff and Community each year the district reviews School Board policies in alignment with State legislation and the Florida Board of Education rule Updates this year 35 District staff members reviewed 64 Schoolboard policies for compliance with bills from the legislative session and we're proposing amendments to three policies these policies have been discussed during the August workshop and the September board meeting policy 0164 notice of public meetings is being amended in response to Senate Bill 70002 the policy Amendment simplifies the posting of public meeting notices to the district website seven days in advance of the meeting policy 2120 School Improvement and academic accountability update updates outdated language about the school accountability system and 2414 accreditation updates districtwide accreditation and the regional accrediting body we recommend approving these amendments thank you Mrs ha are there any speakers to this item yes Madam chair we have one speaker Mr Mark kutho thank you Mr CLA Mark lutho Largo oh a list of strategic priorities oh this is something here I love this last one six fiscal and operational responsibility you aren't even close you squander millions of dollars destroying the future we didn't even get a direct hit from either Helen or Milton and what will the situation be when it is a direct hit fiscally and operationally sound yeah I saw that uh Argo High School jam packed jam-packed it it it's not fiscally sound not even close you aren't there unless you are making high performance passive solar buildings Madam chair Mr clo uh we stopped the clock so you don't lose any of your time but you need to speak to this particular public hearing and these agenda items your comments regarding our buildings were appropriate under the last time you spoke because that related to a building construction matter we have three policies that do not relate to facilities here so could you please direct your comments to these policies you're talking fiscally fiscal where are you spending in money but on the buildings Mr CL tell me you're not spending money there Mr you need to direct excuse me sir we've stopped the clock you need to direct your comments to the three policies that are under consideration none of them relate to facilities thank you this is your last warning um I'm looking at this right here here under your your strategic priority and if it fits under these other other agenda items why doesn't it fit here you're full of it I'm talking to the lawyer Madame chair there are no more speakers for this item thank you board members is there any discussion no this is the second reading we've discussed it in workshop and certainly had the first reading as well so with that we have a motion and second on the floor to approve item 6.1 all those in favor say I I any opposed passes six to zero item 6.2 public hearing to consider the amendment to policies 114 Z discipline of Administrators 3140 discipline of instructional staff 4140 discipline of support staff and 8405 school safety this is the second reading there are no changes since the first reading may have a motion in a second to approve this item make a motion motion by Mrs long and a second by Mrs cook Mr Hendrick would you please introduce this item thank you madam chair similar to the last policy this one has been discussed at workshop and this the main change here is to address employees who knowingly violate school safety law and outline the discipline therein and so I'll pass it to Mrs eison our director of strategic planning and policy to explain Mrs E the recommended amendments to policies 1140 discipline of Administrators 3140 discipline of instructional staff 4140 discipline of support staff and 845 school safety aligned to the new legislation in House Bill 1473 most of the new requirements in House Bill 1473 regarding school safety are procedural and do not require substantive changes to policy 8405 school safety policy 8405 is amended with technical edits regarding the threat management terminology and the district safety specialist position the new school safety laws require school districts to adopt staff discipline for knowingly violating the school safety requirements therefore the proposed amendments related to hb14 73 are for policies 1140 3140 and 4140 the proposed amendments adds an offense for knowingly violating school safety requirements with an Associated Progressive penalty range from suspension through dismissal for each of the three policies we recommend approving these amendments thank you Mrs ha are there any speakers to this agenda item no Madam chair thank you board members any discussion we'll take a vote all those in favor of approving item 6.2 say I I any opposed passes six to zero item 6.3 public hearing to consider the amendment to policy 2250 fundamental and magnet schools this is the second reading there are no changes since the first reading may I have a motion in a second to approve item 6.3 a motion by Mr Kane and a second by Mrs Edmund Mr Hendrick would you please introduce this item thank you Mrs hin it is that time of year where District application programs and the fairs are coming up next week Mr truskowski I believe uh but first we have to finalize the program of events and what's offered and so uh we normally have this a little bit earlier of course it was pushed back by some canceled board meetings but nonetheless uh miss truskowski our director of student assignment is here to share the annual updates to the district application programs Mr owski thank you madam chair school board members Mr Mr Hendrick and staff as discussed at the school board meeting on August 21st Amendment to policy 2250 fundamental schools and magnet programs is being proposed this is the second reading for the proposed changes and there have been no changes made as a reminder input and feedback is collected throughout the school year um there's an active link right now I got a message in today for another one um we take a reviewed by a team before coming forward with any recommended changes proposed amendments for the 25 26 school year include the separation of policy and procedures we had program changes with the expansion of the duel language programs by our grade level at Oak Grove and Walsingham or sorry bardmore um we also are adding an integrated arts Pathway to Gibbs pcca um pelis County's Center for the Arts we've done a lot of clarification with verbiage um updated charts and made some technical eror edits we also have content changes including geographical application and transportation areas weight List information um invitation deadlines and the military application priority ranking um for a full account of the changes please refer to the 2526 dapu summary of proposed changes in document um additionally I do want to inform you that we push back the DAP fairs um so we have the first one next Tuesday the 29th at Tarpon Springs the following Saturday um at Largo high and then Wednesday November 6th the South County Fair will be at Northeast High School um we have updated Discovery nights and shadowing information which can all be found at our website at www.pcsb.org thank you for your consideration and we recommend approving the Amendments thank you Mrs truskowski Mrs H do we have any speakers to this agenda item there are no speakers for this item Madam chair thank you we have a motion and second on the FL floor to approve item 6.3 all those in favor say I I any opposed passes 6 to Z for our consent agenda as a reminder we amended this to include item 7.9 may I have a motion in a second to approve the consent agenda as amended motion a motion by Mrs long and a second by Mrs cook all those in favor say I I any opposed passes six to zero item 8.1 on the non-consent request approval to initiate litigation against healthc care companies regarding insulin pricing into contract with Ventura law and Napo schik excuse me I'm not sure that's right I'm sure you'll say it correctly for legal representation may I have a motion and second to approve item 8.1 motion by Mrs cook and a second by Mrs Kane Mr kerski would you please introduce this item yes thank you madam chair board members uh superintendent what you have on the table in front of you for your consideration is a recommendation to approve uh joining litigation uh very similar to the litigation that you previously uh approved joining regarding vaping and then a second one regarding social media companies so this action is a nationwide action it relates to the overcharging of insulin and insulin related medication by some of the big pharmaceutical companies and some Pharmacy benefit managers and so we discussed this in more detail at our September 17th Workshop meeting um and since then which is seems like a lot more than a month ago but it was only about a month ago um since then we've learned that several other Florida school boards are either actively joining currently or very seriously considering joining ranging from large uh School boards like Miami day and Broward uh down to smaller and medium-sized school districts like Bay and Escambia so it uh we did not know at the time necessarily whether other school districts would be joining this but I'm I'm fairly confident in saying that yes we would not be the only ones involved in this Nationwide uh litigation against these pharmaceutical companies and and pbms Pharmacy benefit managers so um after we had the discussion and you gave your general consent to move forward at our Workshop I went back and negotiated a contract with the law firms of venture law and Napoli scholnick um and so remember that their representatives were present and in fact one of their attorneys is represented here in the audience tonight and so if we have any further questions uh Justin will be able to answer those but the contract in front of you attached to the agenda item indicates that it would be a contingent fee Arrangement so no public funds would be paid to to hire these law firms unless it is paid out of a settlement for which you would agree um or a judgment that we would obtain on our behalf so um there would be no expenditure of of any budgetary money coming out of any of the school board uh budgets for joining this litigation uh we negotiated a 30% uh contingency fee basis and we added some additional Provisions to their draft contract to further protect the board such as insurance being required by the law firms uh in case of any malpractice which we do not expect um and also some other Provisions that we added to our other litigation um cases involving publicity and things like that but certainly as we if this is approved I will continue to work with the law firms as they file the action and I will keep you updated as ENT to any significant developments of it and of course bring forward to you at a workshop any proposed settlement if we reach that level so if you have any questions I'd be happy to answer them thank you thank you board members questions I think it would be good if we could get give a sense of scale I recall that at the workshop at the September 17th Workshop we did discuss scale in the sense of about how much palis County Schools pays for insulin claims every year uh and then also the results of this litigation should it be successful yes um as your first point on the scale we we have spent millions of dollars several million dollars regarding insulin over the last several years uh this litigation is relatively new and the issue about how far back we can go in our damages has yet to be litigated and of course we're talking about large multinational corporations that are going to vigorously defend and make every argument that they can on their behalf but um I certainly certainly believe that we would be seeking um in the tune of millions of dollars uh related to overpayment um much more than that specif specificity I cannot give um and and then um Miss Hine as to your I'm I apologize your other point well I recall that if if we're successful we could actually recover some of the overcharges is that correct yes certainly that that would be the goal is we are claiming that we were overcharged and of course as a self-insured large organization it is the school board and the school district that sustained the damages of these overcharges and that is going to be our claim in the case and so certainly we're not looking to pay zero for the medication for our employees but to the extent that there was overpayment and if you remember the presentation at the workshop that the the costs to uh employers of these medications certainly went up exponentially um um much more than the cost to the uh organizations that manufacture them and so that that obviously is our aim in this case and uh as you heard and as you experienced in The Vaping case many times these cases proceed um there may be one or more bellweather trials that may or may not involve us but again there are many plaintiffs in this litigation um probably end up in the tunes of hundreds across the country and so if some of the rulings go f favorably in the procedural stages of the case than many times these organizations are looking to settle and that is what I mentioned anything that is offered to us um I would certainly bring to you at a workshop and speak with superintendent hendrik about whether we recommend you accept that or remain in the litigation thank you I did note in the agreement that while we um while we give Authority or authorization to the law Firs to represent us we still with we still maintain Choice every step along the way yes of course and and we I don't would not recommend you enter an agreement that says otherwise but yes it will ultimately be a majority of the board that votes either to accept a proposed settlement or to terminate the litigation or to just take some other course of action it's it's all within your control thank you any other discussion I think this is good fiscal prudence and I appreciate us recognizing looking out for those dollars looking to reclaim them and then to also make sure we're not overcharged in the future um we have a motion and a second on the floor to approve item 8.1 all those in favor say I I any opposed passes six to zero thank you non-consent item 8.2 request approval of the annual District safety and security report for 2023 2024 may I have a motion in a second to approve this item make a motion second a motion from Mrs long and a second from Mrs Edmund Mr Hendrick would you please introduce this yes thank you madam chair this is a new item that the state has required in uh last year's legislation to bring to the board and to the community an annual report on school safety and in there include things on how does the district train uh what were our successes with that how do we use technology to innovate um and then also what was our success and our challenges as it relates to visits for compliance around school visits for from the office of safe schools and so Mr Joel has put this together our school safety specialist is going to share with the board and the community some highlights from this year's report Mr Joel thank you sir good evening Madam chair school board members superintendent Hendrick and staff it's my pleasure to introduce the 2023 24 District Safety and Security annual report as Mr hendrik said this report complies with the safety legislation that requires my position to compile a full annual report on Safety and Security for the district and then present that to the school board within the first quarter of the following Academic Year the report is comprehensive as far as the initiatives and efforts have been put forth uh considerable efforts by this District to ensure that we have safe and secure school campuses with that I'd like to just highlight a few of the points within that annual report to bring those to your attention the first one is training middle of probably earlier this year we really embarked on an extensive training protocol two parts to the training one was to reinforce what was already mandated within the current safety legislation the second part was to address educate Provide support and resources for our administrators and District staff regarding the revisions in H hb1 1473 that were enacted earlier this Summer that training included our school administrators and staff we trained with the leadership from the Transportation section the leadership from food nutrition all of the staff with food nutrition over 800 members on a training day to cover the aspects of Safety and Security expectations of the district protocols that were in place and best practices we also trained with all of our head plan operators our school safety officers our sro's and multiple others to Total probably around 15600 members that we trained before the law went into effect another area that we accomplished this year is last year we embarked in a partnership with the penel county sheriff's office in bringing forward and implementing a emergency response mapping data software solution this was in response to H B 301 as a requirement for all school districts to imp last week we completed all mapping with our uh selected vendor for all the schools and sites for the penel county school district we're just waiting for those final documents to come forward I can tell you from my personal experience with the vendor that we selected and seeing the solution at its best it truly will provide our law enforcement Partners within this County a much better a more increased means of responding efficiently and quickly to any one of our campuses to address a critical incident the last thing I'd like to cover is last year we had the office of safe schools visit 67 of our campuses they conducted site assessments from the site assessments we had 55% of those schools that had no noted deficiencies I can tell you with confidence that with our relationship with the office of State schools and what we've learned from all of those site visits we have enhanced changed modified our training to address those areas that we continue to work on to ensure that we provide the necessary resources support and knowledge to our school administrators to ensure that we have a safe and secure campus if I could add two other things superintendent thank you Madame chair two things one is look this is uh my ninth month here seems a little bit longer but it's been nine months I've truly enjoyed it but I will tell you on behalf of myself our staff everybody in safety security we cannot tell you how much we appreciate of you our school board superintendent hendrik you and your staff our area superintendents and everyone else within the district because without that support this would have been a much more arduous task especially with the latest revisions on hb1 1473 and I will leave you with this although we continuously strive to increase our safety our security our awareness our diligence to be vigilant on our school campuses we also understand a balance we want to ensure that our campuses are still welcome they're open and they provide that respectful climate for our students our staff our parents and our communities and I thank you for your time thank you board members is there any discussion I have a comment I would just like to thank you and your team for the extensive work that you've done just to ensure that we're in compliance with State statue as as well as to all of the people who are navigating the process of multiple things so again thank you and your team thank you I might just mention um you know hearing about hb1 1473 again I mean we know at the beginning of the year that that that was very difficult as far as the you know single entrance band entrances those and those kinds of things and I just might ask you know how how's that going how are we doing I know we I think we you know the hurricanes and we but just bringing that back up it really had a serious day-to-day impact on our schools on students being able to get to the nurse's office you know you know whatever level of school on the after school activities on how do they get to the bathroom if they have to go outside and do we need more fobs and access points and so I'm just curious as a general update how we're doing with that yeah I'll make a few comments and I'll let Mr Joel do as well um you there's no doubt that it's impacted after school activities especially in a negative way um you know parents can't access the campus students can't move around you know you go from one place to another um and in some ways you know for sure it is increased safety right I mean for all the reasons that the law was implemented in other ways though it it also you know I don't want to say makes things less safe but provides opportunities that people can't get to spaces that would be more safe if they needed to but also just from Logistics standpoint and so I know the board has advocated its legislative platform to revisit that law to just look at some of those Common Sense measures that would be helpful um and and so we'll continue to do that but for example it's caused um school districts or schools to have to lock certain parking lots at night when there's events but they can't open them because they don't have staff to staff them because they can't staff the gate the next thing the next thing the next thing and so people are parking in neighborhoods as opposed to parking on our school campus so things like that that have been a challenge um does make us safer but has also been a challenge for the families Mr Joel yes sir and I absolutely agree I would say one of the greatest challenges that we've seen and some of the stress associated with 1473 is the Staffing and the ability to staff appropriately uh properly to ensure that we're compliant with 1473 with the house bill but most certainly our after school events uh especially the high schools have seen a significant impact on changing what we've done last year to what we're doing this year as far as securing parking lot entrances entrances into ball fields entrance into gymnasiums and so forth for both practices and for for games in some areas uh there's been a significant amount of frustration on how to overcome that hurdle um they have done well uh we have in my own words level set somewhat uh over the past few months U but there are still frustrations we are in constant communication with our principals our athletic directors as far as uh asking questions of what they can and can't do and we work with them uh very closely to as a matter of fact doing a lot of site visits to actually see what it is that they're occurring and to help them as best we can thank you any other discussion from school board members okay thank you we have a motion on the floor in a second to approve item point2 all those in favor say I I any opposed passes 6 to zero Thank you new business items introduced by the super thank you madam chair earlier today we had a workshop and we shared with the board uh our plan to make up lost instructional time from the nine days of instruction we lost from hurricanes Helen and Milton and so we proposed a plan to the board which after discussing it with the board uh and seeing General consensus the board has scheduled a special called board meeting for October 29th to vote on these items so that they can be finalized and communicated out to different stakeholders but in short uh the plan requires students and staff to go to school for full regular school days on January 6th and February uh 17th and a full school day which was going to be a shorten Day on May 29th we also proposed for high school and middle school students that there not be first semester exams that those be waved for all students and part of that is because we want teachers to have an additional four days five days to just teach and not spend that week assessing we also are with that modifying how grades are calculated just using first and second quarter as opposed to also including the exam we'll bring that to the board at the next meeting and allow for public comment on that proposal as well I want to thank our pelis Education Foundation who has been raising money to support Hurricane Relief efforts in our school schols with both school supplies and with individuals last week I had the opportunity to attend an event with Foundation president our CEO Kim Joel where I want to thank Governor Ronda santis and commissioner education commissioner Manny Diaz who presented the penel Education Foundation with $100,000 from the state's Disaster Recovery Fund four other education foundations across the state were also presented this these funds at a ceremony at Booker High School in Sarasota the Education Foundation has used funds already that they've raised to support uh particularly three schools that were directly impacted uh by Hurricane Helen but also individual students and teachers across the district at multiple schools with this new uh money that they receive plus over $600,000 that the uh Foundation has already raised I have a really exciting uh announcement to make tonight on behalf of the Education Foundation on Thursday of this week the penel Education Foundation will announce a a major new initiative to provide direct assistance to PCS employees who suffered personal loss in either hurricane the foundation will put forth an application beginning Thursday and offer financial assistance to employees who suffer damage to their cars their homes other personal property or anything related to their employment to date as I mentioned the foundation has raised over half a million dollars to do this initiative first supporting schools and now personally our employees employees will receive a communication this Thursday with more details and then may apply directly to the foundation from October 24th through November 6th this is an unprecedented level of support from our Education Foundation and I want to proactively thank them on behalf of our employees for their unwavering and unending support not only of students in classrooms with school supplies but direct assistance to our employees onto some more positive non- hurricane things uh last weekend the uh Florida uh art Education Association annual conference was held here in penis County in St Petersburg and several Educators were awarded with Awards our prek-12 visual art specialist Jonathan ogal and Richard Al sander school teacher Zachary Thompson were recognized by the faea for achieving the highest levels of professionalism in the field they also uh acknowledge one of our teachers Nate Greenwood who had an award for his exhibit in one of the ceramic competitions with State teachers and I wasn't going to mention this but since she happens to be here in the audience representing uh the uh arts for complete education a Lifetime Achievement Award was also given to former spanel County School's Visual Arts specialist Sue Castleman recognized for her lifetime achievements in the visual arts well deserved I agree in related note this week we also launched for the first time ever an artwork Exhibition at the James Museum dedicated specifically to students with disabilities the exhibit features artwork from 60 students from our four ESC centers and the work is on display through October 24th the public can go out and see that at the James Museum fall Sports is back in action or Are Back In Action and they are beginning postseason play and our penel County Athletic Conference championships are ongoing and I know our group from Palm Harbor had has already left but congratulations to the girls volleyball team who won the pcac championship last night and the boys and girls swimming teams who won the PCA championships last week want to also congratulate the penel Park High School boys bowling team and the Northeast High School girls bowling team that won those championships as well the cross country championships are going on as we speak I don't know who won yet today but those are happening uh hosted by dunen High School the boys and girls golf championships take place tomorrow at bardmore Country Club and the the High School JV football championship will be held next week as well as our Middle School Volleyball Championships for boys and girls will be next week as well I also want to wish all of our marching band students best of luck on their District music performance assessments which are coming up next week hosted by Palm Harbor University High School uh earlier tonight Mr trcy mentioned our district application program fairs that are upcoming on October 29th November 2nd and November 6th you can see our our district website for more information including Discovery nights and tours that are available in our schools and for our employees a special reminder that our annual enrollment benefits begins tomorrow October 23rd through November 4th where employees have the opportunity to enroll change or cancel their employee benefits for the upcoming year take a look at information sessions that are available on the website as well and finally the superintendent standout for this meeting is Miss lesle May a food service assistant at Curtis Fundamental Elementary who's worked for penel County schools for 4 years and she recently worked in multiple hurricanes at one of our shelters and was recognized by a school administrator for her unending positive attitude and strong leadership skills as she sered made and serve food for residents of pelis County she said uh the administrator said that she considered the high needs of the din of the population including making sure speal SP special Arrangements were made for Wheelchairs and those who had special dietary restrictions Miss May went a above and beyond showing leadership and asked great questions and made everybody stay safe and calm as they had a meal in their time of Crisis thank you Miss May for all you do each and every day and all of our employees for their work in shelters and with our students thank you madam chair thank you Mr hendrik items introduced by the school board attorney I have no report this evening thank you thank you items introduced by the board Mrs thank you I would just like to share with the public that today at our Workshop we discussed um the names of three types of facilities and there's still an opportunity to provide the board feedback on what you think the names of those facilities should be um you can email the entire board at board pcsb.org thank you anybody else no we also discussed in detail at the workshop today the instructional calendar for next year if people are looking for more details on that but as Mr Hendrick said we do have a special called board meeting for next Tuesday at 1:30 PM uh here here in this space to to vote on that um okay I think that's it all right thank you very much uh review of board requests Mrs Woodford do we have any requests tonight no items Madam chair thank you um with that and seeing no other business we adjourn this meeting and move to public present or excuse me public comment Mrs Hal do we have any speakers this evening yes Madam chair we currently have four speakers thank you I read our statement on on public speaking earlier so it still applies now of course so please go ahead and call the speakers the first two speakers are Lee Bryant and Mark kutho good evening chair Hine and board members uh superintendent Hendrick and staff my name is Lee Bryant I am the President of the pcta and the uh executive director of the pcta and pespa uh as we are recovering from uh the hurricane it has been traumatic more traumatic for some than others we are in the process of healing and the pcta is here for and pespa are is here for our members uh any help we can give we'll be happy to we have rescheduled for the second time the reading opens the world uh book event this time it will be hopefully December the 14th at John Hopkins University uh it's past hurricane season uh so that uh hopefully will not cause any more problems we still haven't had the books delivered because the books uh they've been busy delivering other things uh than than the books right now the referendum uh two weeks from tonight we hope to be celebrating uh the passage of the referendum I have been in penella schools for 29 years and I'm old enough to remember when and we were just talking about Arts education when the Arts education was a cart of stuff that was wheeled from room to room now we are fortunate enough to have art classes where students can work with Ceramics can work with manipula bles can work with Fabrics can build and create the music programs are stronger than they could have been and we have devices for everybody in our schools so uh the referendum is very important we would like to uh recognize a the penis Education Foundation they have done an amazing job uh the League of Women Voters in penis The pelis Economic Development Council the concerned organizations for Quality education for black students the arts for a complete education to pelis County uh Council of ptas the pelis Realtors Association Public School strong and the penel common good campaign along with the uh tons of work that our organization has done and including right now uh I'd like to recognize Miss Jamie Beck who is here for her last Schoolboard meeting she's moving on to a different County uh the other one on the other side of the bay I have worked with very few people in my life that I respect as much as Miss Beck she is an amazingly cre creative worker and she works so hard she's been back there working on the book reading opens the world uh event as we said here tonight thank you very much Mark lutho Largo so uh Governor defur climate denier 100,000 wow and I hear this word it's a big one uh you know that increase what was it again exponentially can you tell me the exponent you have that exponent no you don't have a clue what a joke what a joke yeah gonna have to have a sit down with my attorney exponentially yeah getting back to the geoengineering you're really good with that making your stupid buildings like that Largo high school that building at Clearwater High School with all that West Glass that's what's gives you Helen and Milton two hurricanes not one yeah and that graph here showing the water temperature can you understand it do you get the graph why that hurricane jump to a five it's going to be happening again for more than two decades I've been here bringing you the science of high performance passive solar building which means if you were to embrace that you wouldn't be belching the carbon into the atmosphere and then what would you be doing you would really be be you would really be fiscally and operationally responsible thank you the next two speakers are Tim Conroy and Tracy McConnell thank you for allowing me to speak my name is Tim conro and I'm a member of indivisible North pelis a nonpartisan group that supports public education social justice and inclusive democracy imagine we all can can imagine this because we're living it imagine not having a home apartment it's not far from my house mile from my house I see it imagine having 25 years of instructural materials destroyed from a flood all that work you've poured into your career imagine expenses beyond your means now imagine being forced out of your school as a kid imagine navigating Insurance navigating FEMA superintendent thank hendrik thank goodness we have the pelis foundation today I was remember I think it was Laura hind board chair Laura hind I think I saw something you put out on the website uh a call to give to the foundation and and you know I put it off because I was busy doing other things kept on you know you know life got me I I evacuated came back and um today I finally did it you know I finally got on that website and gave some money and I was I'm so proud of this District to do the initiative to to have families get direct support you know schools are unique school systems they really do build community and family and we got to help each other at this moment and I'm really proud to be a resident of the pelis county um and the pelis and be a supporter of pelis County Schools thank you so much hi my name is Tracy McConnell and I'm a third grade teacher at panoa Central Elementary I am here to advocate for two of my students that are ESC both of these students are on access points and I'm not sure some of you may not be aware exactly what that means but a student will be on access points if their IQ is below 67 so both of these students qualify for access points but they're in a gened setting so I am trying to teach genad students plus kids that also get speci special services for ESC and modify the curriculum for two students that have access points right away from the very beginning I thought you know what I'm really in over my head like I had ideas of how to do it but I was super struggling so I went and I talked to my principal Abby Canada and she right away like got somebody from the district to come out to give me support and we sat down and I shared the ideas that I had for how to modify the curriculum that instructional support person told me that she felt that I was doing a really great job with coming up with ideas for how to modify the curriculum the problem was is that once I would teach the curriculum to the whole class then modify the curriculum for the students that were getting access points then I would leave those students to try to go and support the Gen ed students then the kids that are on access points they're not getting any support and they start rolling on the floor and they're doing other things there's like no way to spread myself out thin enough to like be there for all of those students and I'm really having a hard time with this so when the district support person told me she said well you need to ask for an assistant ask for an assistant because that way the assistant can help after so I did do that but the problem is is that there's not funding I guess to get an assistant for those students I know that Abby has asked to have the students um placement changed so that they could go to a different setting because they were at our school last year the gap for the students is so large like they're operating at a very beginning kindergarten level and now I'm heading into midyear third grade it's too much and I feel bad for them even whenever you modify the curriculum for them we're still testing them at a third grade standard is it right for those students to sit down and take fast they're sitting and they're looking at a word of wall a wall of words right Madam chair there are no more speakers thank you thank you for being here tonight e