e e e 3 good evening I call this meeting of the pelis County School Board April 9 2024 to order I would like to start this evening by acknowledging the unexpected passing of recent board member and friend to us all Mr Bill Dudley Bill served this community his entire life from the baseball field to teaching in our classrooms just serving on city council and serving on this school board he was always willing and ready to raise his hand and as a fellow School Board member I think we'd all agree he was very thoughtful and considerate always kind and we could count on him to make us laugh even in the hardest of times which I think we'll all agree we have been through he is missed and he is remembered please join me in a moment of silence to honor his life we wish bill and his family Fair Winds and following Seas the meeting will continue with the Pledge of Allegiance led by Vice chair Carol cook in the national anthem colors will be presented by the Clearwater High School Marine Corps jroc under the leadership of major Jeffrey Hughes the national anthem will be performed by Clearwater High School's All County participants under the direction of Sharon Adams please stand and remain standing until the colors have been retired IED Al to the flag of the United States of America and to the republ for it stands one nation indivisible andice for all can you see by the dawn's light what so proudly we at the Twilight lastes and bright stars through the fight or the we were soing and The [Applause] Rock the BS bursting inir Pro through the night that our flag was still there oh do that starled W or the land of the free and the home of [Music] [Music] the please be seated at time can everybody hear me okay at this time um our Clear Water students will be performing a song called lift our voices um which is about um unity and social justice and learning how to love everybody up youres let us sing and dance shout to the world just give us a chance we are the future of the human race ready to soar let take our place together work together ready to fly we lift our voices to the sky come together together change will come with Justice andace for [Music] every restore Earth sea and open your heart find a no no second ches join us [Music] now together together [Music] F together together change willice and for come together together ready to fly we lift our voices to the come together work together change will come with Justice andace [Music] for thank you so much thank you Mrs Adams and you must be very proud of your all count participation thank you so much for being here this evening we will now be led in an invocation by Pastor Carlos senior from New Hope Baptist Church welcome Pastor Madame chair to the board thank you dear heavenly father as We Gather here today we be come before you with hearts filled with gratitude for the opportunity to convene and discuss matters concerning education within pellis County School District we thank you for the privilege of serving our community and for the dedication of all those involved in shaping the lives of our students we humbly ask for your guidance and wisdom to be upon us as we navigate the decisions to be made during this meeting grant us the discernment to see the needs of our students and the insight to address them with fairness and compassion we pray for Unity and cooperation among the board members recognizing the importance of working together for the betterment of our schools and the success of every student may our discussions be fruitful and may our actions reflect your love and grace we lift up all students teachers staff and their families asking for your protection safety within our school communities and Beyond provide comfort and strength to those facing challenges and Grant them the support and resources they need to thrive in your infinite wisdom you have created us all with unique backgrounds cultures and beliefs help us to embrace and celebrate this diversity fostering an environment of understanding acceptance and respect for one another and Lord as we conclude this prayer we ask for your continued blessing upon the pinelis County School District guide our steps protect us from harm and shower us with your grace as we strive to fulfill the mission of nurturing the minds and hearts of our students amen thank you Pastor we will now share a video showing denan high school students diving into underwater drone design and construction let's take a look instead of just building land robots we can build Ro that goes under the water and the point of that is so the students could design so they each have an engineering design notebook that they need to sketch out their plan and then they start building they build their R and then we go to the big pool once they've built the obstacle course and the mission so not only do they build their ROV but they also build the entire course that they practice on so the idea is the Z Purge will open the door we'll go through it and then close it or in any sense or just we'll pick up vaults and bring it back to the surface that way we can test if the SE actually works on the water or if we need to make some changes and that's the beauty of this is that we get to work with the njrtc students um eventually if we have majority njrtc the Navy will fund some of what we do and they've already provided some of the supplies a couple of grams of adding metal to the Rover it starts to tilt C perch is one of my passions I've been doing it for a long time I've worked on my roov design for very long time I've learned a lot more about the actual science of how it goes into it like what affects the ROV and the water like the solinity affects how the Rover runs the depth of the pool the size of the pool everything affects how it works it helps me see a reasoning behind what I'm learning everything that's behind me we build ourselves we have to find the pieces we follow instructions we learn many stuff during the process and it's been quite frankly it's been an amazing experience that looks like seriously fun Project based learning to me wow um next is uh item 1.6 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 representing the panila educational support professionals Association Nelly henes president from the penila classroom Teachers Association Lee Bryant president representing the north penila League of Women Voters Jean Reynolds from the penila arts for a complete education Coalition Sue Castleman today we have a presentation from the student rights and responsibility committee please welcome students Nicole papus and soul Montana from Clearwater High School and their principal Eric crowy good evening thank you for being here thank you um hi guys my name is Nicole I am a senior at Clearwater High School in the cake program I am also um our senior class president and I am vice president of our English National Honor soci Society along with a captain of our volleyball team um thank you to Clearwater's um Administration teachers for allowing me to not only get my Ace diploma um while being in the cake program but also allowing me to um figure out what I want to do in the future and be able to go to USF starting in the fall to do mechanical engineering um now I'd like to share some points about um clar High School um allies have previously been designated asies of Distinction by Career Education board through the pelis Education Foundation this year our cake program was named an Academy of Distinction with honors and we were the only High School to receive this designation um additionally our cake program has also been engaged in Virtual Enterprise caps Stone project and has been previously won second place in the nation competing against other schools and their online um virtual faux businesses we are excited that our cake and Ace programs were able to take their seniors on their annual New York City trip last month and our Juniors were excited to travel by train to Savannah this year and visit the financial district ports as well as the Marine time railroad museums the the underclass when students in the program were able to attend field trips the Port of Tampa eore City Universal Orlando Orlando already this year in addition to our daily tutoring after school we've also partnered with the c city of Clearwater this year to bring our Extended Learning Program closer to home and help remove the transportation barrier we have two teachers that are tutoring English and math at the North Greenwood Rec Recreation Center twice a week um clubs like live free club and save club and others are up and running and meeting regularly our Marine Corp jrtc program continues to represent us well at numerous events throughout the district and state we have been able to present the colors this year o at over two dozen community events every football game and will even present the colors for this Saturday's Tampa Bay Rays baseball game um our Marine Corps jrtc Academy team academic team Advanced to the second division and will compete in February hoping to advance to the finals in Washington DC um out of 90,000 Plus cadetes in the US only 710 Navy and Marie corpse jerc Cadets Nationwide won the department of the Navy's Office of Naval Research Navy uh Horizon stem scholarship and 35 of the CHS Marine corpse JTC cadetes or roughly 5% of the Nationwide winners came from clar high school these essays encompassed the cuttingedge stem topics such as environmental science Aerospace Optometry autonom autonomy and oceanography which are influenced the future operations of the US Navy and Marine Corps each winner earned a cash Award of $200 totally 7,000 this year our 4 this year 41 of our Marine Corp jrtc Cadets competed in the Iron Bear challenge this featured over 27 units from around the states of Florida our Cadets performed amazingly and were able to capture first place of the third year in a row our em um Marine cor JTC drill team placed third in the Marine corpse JC Regional competition in mtry Georgia this year and 39 Cadets participated in Toys for Tots campaign em amassing over 120 hours of community service 13 Cadet seniors have enlisted in the armed services and one Cadet was accepted to West Point it's uh obvious that our programs continue to Excel and I thank you for the continued export uh support we're extremely proud of our amazing extracurricular opportunities and thank you again for giving us this opportunity to share oh one of our members couldn't make it so um our another couple things is um our civil rights ambassadors continued to work collaboratively with uh penales County schools and the NAACP in the city of Clearwater to maintain the memor memoral memorialized africanamerican Cemetery located on the Schoolboard property in Clearwater uh most recently our group has participated in the city of Clearwater MLK breakfast and parade as well as the seventh annual night at the library in North Greenwood finally our civil rights ambassadors were excited to participate in the annual civil rights tour which is student-led project-based learning opportunities this year our students organized a Florida based tour and started in Tallahasse and ended up in Miami over 20 times we have received five star School awards for parents and Community involvement showing that our community is truly invested in our school now I would like to share some points of Pride at about our Athletics last year all of our sports team had a combined grade point average of 3.14 n and 16 out of 22 sports team had a 3.0 grade point average or higher over the last four years CHS has obtained 13 District champ championships made 16 Regional quarterfinal appearances and two final four appearances the varsity's boys football won the mayor's senatorial cup versus Countryside High School and again and advanced to the regional quarterfinals in the third year in a row this year 15 Varsity swimmers from CHS participated in the regional quarter fin finals and had five State qualifiers this was the most athletes we have sent in the 25 years this year we both both boys and girls swim teams were District champs two of our boys were Regional Champs and the girls were 23 Point shy of Runner UPS also our tornado swim and dive team has produced three state championships and broken two pcac records over the last four years years our lady tornado's basketball team earned their F fifth straight District Championship this year and finished two games shy of what would have been their third final four appearance in four years this year seven of our student athletes received the clear waterer for youth scholarship award worth $59,000 our student athletes TR truly have a passion for sports our Sports programs and we appreciate your continued support and willingness to provide our schools with these amazing opportunities and Facilities thank you for your time thank you L man greetings everyone I am Soul Montana and I am a current senior at clearw high school I have served my school over the past year as the vice president of the clearer High School chapter of the National Honor Society I am in 5,000 role models and a CHS civil rights Freedom Ambassador during my time Clearwater High School has helped me grow as a person and work on my dedication towards academics because of that I have also been planning for the future as I will be attending the University of Alabama because of my academic successes I will be able to attend the University of Alabama tuition free so I'm really excited about that thank you and I plan on majoring in accounting and I hope that I can continue to work towards being a student that CLE high school can be proud of in the future so a few facts about Clear Water High School is that last year Clearwater High received a c designation from the state of Florida and we were only 18 points away from a b we have a 95% graduation rate and an 88% acceleration rate with 98% % of the senior class accessing at least one college credit this year's senior class is trending to meet or exceed a 95% graduation rate and are projected to be above 92% for our accelerated curriculum regarding acceleration amongst PCS Traditional High Schools we have led the district in this data in this data point for 6 years now our school has embraced the concept of open access for all students to all r courses and as a result not only can all of our students take AP and dual enrollment courses they also have the opportunity to take advantage of our Cambridge Ace courses if a student receives their Ace diploma and they have the volunteer hours required they automatically qualify for the bright future scholarship regardless of their act or SAT scores over 600 students took a total of 1,150 Ace exams in June of 2023 and we also had a 244 AP test given in addition our Ace Program has consistently surpassed the national Pass rates in the following subjects biology chemistry literature and English and Marine Science even more impressively our following subject scores exceeded even Global averages in biology English General paper and travel and tourism again all students students at Clearwater High School have the opportunity to take Ace AP and dual enrollment courses on our campus and we are extremely proud of our academic accomplishments both our band and chorus programs will or have had students participating in the pellis All County performances this spring our tornado marching band performed at several competitions and received an overall excellent rating at this year's marching FBA assessment thank you for opening the College and Career Center at our school it is a great resource for our students to learn more about post High School opportunities entrance criteria and scholarships we have hosted multiple events in our Center and again thank you for providing this program for us this year during college application week our school counselors helped over 250 students with their college applications and scholarships we are really thankful for our school's renovation and rebuild during my four years watching the different buildings being constructed has been amazing Clearwater High School is over 100 years old and we have been in our current location for the last 66 years a big thank you to everyone even our CHS family for all the support for what the students had to go through those four years thank you again and that is all I have about the amazing Clearwater High School thank you thank you so much much you both represented your high school very well thank you for being here next we'll move on to amendments from the agenda but first I would like to um note that Mrs Kane is present with us she's on Zoom tonight so Mrs Kane whenever you need to speak up and thank you for joining us we're glad you're here thank you so much Mr Hendrick are there any amendments to the agenda no Madam chair I have no amendments board members any amendments Miss Meer yes thank you madam chair I would like to give me just a second I would like to pull um 7.4 and 7.5 from the consent agenda for discussion items 7.4 and 7.5 for discussion thank you are there any other amendments to the agenda seeing none as board chair I find good cause to amend the agenda as described by Mrs Meyer may I have a motion to adopt the agenda as amended motion by Mrs Peters and a second by Mrs Edmund all those in favor say I any opposed none passes 70 on the special order agenda tonight we have several things the first thing item 4.1 is presentation of the Proclamation recognizing April is National Occupational Therapy month may I have a motion motion from Mrs cook second by Mrs Meyer Mr Hendrick would you like to introduce this item yes thank you madam chair I'd like to call up Jody Becker our coordinator of occupational and physical therapy to share this year's Proclamation M Becker thank you good evening Madam chair board members Mr Hendrick staff and community members I'm here this evening to acknowledge April as National Occupational Therapy month sponsored by the American occupational ther thy Association recognizing National Occupational Therapy month in public schools raises awareness about the field of OT and its importance in helping students overcome physical Developmental and emotional challenges by highlighting the role of Occupational therapists schools can better support students with diverse needs and abilities celebrating occupational therapy month provides an opportunity to educate students parents and Educators about the wide range of services that occupational therapists offer the OT staff in pelis County Schools provide Direct Services focusing on fine motor visual motor visual perceptual skills sensory processing executive functioning and social skills all of which are essential for academic success and daily life functioning they also provide consultation to and collaboration with teachers parents and other school staff to integrate therapeutic strategies into the classroom and home environments OTS assist in developing and implementing strategies to support a student's academic performance including organizational skills time management and study skills and they address environmental barriers that may affect learning OTS advocate for the inclusion and participation of students with disabilities in all aspects of school life they work to ensure that students have equal opportunities to access educational and extracurricular activities as a student with disabilities approaches graduation OTS help them prepare for transitions to postsecondary education and employment they provide guidance on developing life skills vocational training and accessing Community Resources recognizing OT month can help reduce the stigma surrounding disabilities and mental health conditions by promoting understanding and acceptance it Fosters an inclusive environment where all students feel valued and supported in achieving their goals penel County Schools occupational therapist and therapist assistants are a group of dynamic hardworking and dedicated therapists they demonstrate the core values of commitment to Children families and the community Integrity responsibility and connectedness in the work they do every day I am proud as their coordinator and as an OT myself to represent and recognize our occupational therapy staff for their dedication and hard work on behalf of penel County School students I want to thank you for taking the time to recognize them today thank you Mrs Peters would you like to read the proclamation thank you madam chair Proclamation for National Occupational Therapy month whereas the penis County School Board of penis County encourages options for an active and healthy lifestyle and whereas the penis County School Board speaks for the best interests of the public in recommending occupational therapy by a licensed occupational therapists to improve fine motor visual motor and daily living skills to access curriculum and whereas through a national effort the penis County School Board and community members are encouraged to join together to raise awareness of the importance of Occupational Therapy during the month of April 2024 and whereas this effort will bring awareness to our schools community and around the country of the roles of Occupational therapists in our schools now therefore the the school board of pelis County does hereby recognize April 2024 as National Occupational Therapy month in penel County Schools signed this 9th day of April 2024 thank you any comments thank you so much thank you um let we'll vote on that uh all those in favor of the Proclamation recognizing April is National Occupational Therapy month say I any oppos passes 70 item 4.2 presentation of the Proclamation recognizing April is National autism acceptance month may I have a motion to approve motion by Mrs Meyer second by Mrs long Mr Hendrick would you like to improve uh excuse me introduce this item yes thank you so much Madam chair appr it uh I'll let you do the approvals so I'd like to introduce executive director Lynn moett who's going to share more about this Proclamation Miss Moet thank you good evening Madame chairwoman members of the board Mr Hendrick staff and Community April has been recognized as autism awareness month since the 1970s an important shift has been made to recognize April as autism acceptance month while autism Focus Autism Awareness focuses on understanding that autistic people exist acceptance affirms that autistic people belong acceptance is an action this encourages us to change the way we think about autism and how we support individuals on the autism spectrum autism Spectrum Disorder or ASD is a complex lifelong condition that typically appears in early childhood autism can impact an individual's social skills communication relationships and self-regulation and because it is a spectrum disorder each individual is impacted differently and to varying degrees current statistics indicate that one in 36 children will be diagnosed with autism boys are four times more likely than girls to be diagnosed the diagnosis rate for autism is rising steadily at a rate of 10 to 17% per year we are seeing this steady increase in pelis County we currently are serving approximately 2,000 students who have IEPs with a primary exceptionality of autism which is an increase from last school year in pelis we continue to emphasize early intervention for students since autism cannot be cured our focus is on professional development for teachers and ensuring that staff have the knowledge and expertise to provide services that meet the needs of the individual students this early intervention and focused Services help students build skills that will lead to Greater Success Through school and after they have graduated schools are encouraged to support National Autism Awareness Month and will be provided with a menu of options to support professional development activities and for students designed for um to support their sensory communication and social development thank you for recognizing and supporting National autism acceptance month thank you so much Mrs Moet Mrs long would you like to read the proclamation Proclamation autism acceptance month whereas autism autism is the fastest growing de developmental disability in the United States affecting more than three million people and whereas autism is the result of a neurological disorder that affects the normal functioning of the human brain and can affect anyone and whereas as the effort to address autism continues doctors therapists and Educators can help persons with autism overcome or adjust to its challenges and provide early accurate diagnosis and the resulting appropriate education intervention and therapy that are vital to the Future growth and development and whereas this effort will bring awareness to our schools community and around the country of the honor to take part in the annual observation of autism acceptance month and World autism acceptance day in the hope it will lead to a better understanding ing of the disorder now therefore the school board of pelis County does hereby recognize April 2024 as the autism acceptance month in the pelis county schools signed the 9th day of April 2024 thank you thank you Mrs mowet thank you appreciate it we'll take a vote on item 4.2 all those in favor of recognizing April as National autism acceptance month please say I I I any opposed passes 7 to zero item 4.3 presentation of the Proclamation recognizing April 2024 is National School library week excuse me National School library month not just one week but entire month of April May I have a motion motion from Mrs Meyer second from Mrs cook um Mr Hendrick would you like to introduce thank you madam chair I call bronwin slack our program coordinator for library media uh to the lect turn to share with us more about this Proclamation Miss slack thank you good evening Madame chair board members Mr hendrik and the community I'm here today to request your approval to recognize April as National School library month and celebrate the services that our library media programs and Educators provide to our students in pelis County since our last Proclamation the library media department is now under the office of student experience School libraries and their Librarians have always had the student experience at the Forefront of decision making and programming however this year the concept of the student experience and what could be possible through our libraries in pellis County schools has been Central to our thinking as a department as a result of the success and excitement around our boys read program we have expanded our district reading programs to now include guys read for high school students and have plans to pil uh guys read in our middle schools during the 2024 2025 school year I'm excited to announce that we are almost finished curating the book list for both boys and guys read uh to make sure the reading experience is Meaningful and enjoyable for all participants also in a first for our department we are facilitating a field trip later this month connected to In Harm's Way one of our 20203 2024 gu read selections students and sponsors will have the opportunity to learn more about military history by visiting the American victory ship and museum in Tampa through our district reading programs we hope to continue this trend of engaging students in experiences related to what they are reading both inside and outside the classroom finally National School library month is a great time to highlight some of the successes and events related to our school library media programs currently we have two schools going through the rigorous Florida Power Library School process Florida Power Library distinction is recognized each year at the annual Flor Florida Association of media and education conference additionally we have special events going on around the district this month our annual Battle of the books District competition will take place on April 24th and we have many schools that are planning for a school literacy fair event during the month of April on May 9th we will host our second annual penis County Schools student film festival at Largo high school and I look forward to celebrating with our student winners in closing I want to say how thankful I am for our library media professional for all they do every day I feel honored and proud to support this group of Educators I hope you will join me in celebrating and recognizing them in honor of national school library month thank you thank you Mrs cook would you read the proclamation yes I will thank you Proclamation for school library month whereas School library programs promote and encourage a love of reading and are influential in preparing students for lifelong learning through the development of information literacy skills and whereas School library programs close achievement gaps for all Learners by providing Equitable access to all academic resources and whereas School libraries Librarians play a critical role in supporting the instructional technology that is necessary to maintain a r rigorous learning environment at each school and whereas school librarians are instructional Partners who directly support and enhance student achievement now therefore the the school board of pelis County does hereby recognize April as school library month signed this n9th day of April 2024 thank you I had the opportunity to attend both the boys Reed and the guys read battles here in this chamber and it was exceptional um I really loved seeing the high school boys competing I mean that was awesome just that energy in the books and they were rifling through it you could tell they were discussing the different passages and there was a team of boys who had been gathered by their high school wrestling coach boaa I believe right so the boaa high school wrestling coach had gotten his team together to compete in the guys read battle how awesome is that I mean that I just thought it was so great so thank you for those programs and many more that you do exceptional item 4 point excuse me we have to vote on item 4.3 for April 2024's National School library month all those in favor say I I I any opposed passes 7 to zero item 4.4 presentation of the Proclamation recognizing April is National volunteer appreciation month may I have a motion to approve motion from Mrs Edmond second from Mrs long Mr Hendrick would you please introduce thank you madam chair our final Proclamation I call up Dr Seymour Brown our director of strategic Partnerships to honor our volunteers thank you uh Madam chairperson board members Mr Hendrick staff and the community I am proud to stand before you uh to recognize April as National volunteer appreciation month and it is done such and to recognize the hard work dedication and passion of our volunteers across penel County Schools volunteers play a vital a vital role in the success of our schools and students they support our students and teachers in a variety of ways including mentoring and tutoring chaperoning field trips helping in the classroom supporting front offices acting as guest speakers and serving in leadership roles in various organizations such as the parent teacher Association School advisory Council and booster organizations the district has currently has over 24,000 active volunteers who have provided over 4.5 I mean who have provided over 450,000 hours of community Ser I mean of service at so far this year which would equate to $4.5 million in salaries their dedication and generosity of time makes them an invaluable resource for every school and in the district and that is why I'm standing before you proud to present this Proclamation thank you Mrs edman volunteer appreciation month whereas the month of April has been designated nationally as volunteer appreciation month to recognize the hard work dedication and passion of volunteers throughout our nation and whereas this year more than 24,000 Volunteers in penis County Schools have given over 450,000 hours of their time along with their talent and resources to our schools which is a testament to the commitment and generosity of our community and whereas the school district of pellis County commemorates volunteer appreciation month by recognizing its valued volunteers through events and initiatives at the school district and state levels and whereas pelis County Schools believe that the district alone cannot meet all of our schools and students needs so we partner with individuals businesses faith-based organizations nonprofit organizations and Foundations in our community to make a difference and now therefore be resolved that the school board of pelis County and the superintendent hereby proclaim the month of April as volunteer appreci appreciation month in urges all to observe this month by taking time to recognize and acknowledge the positive impact of Volunteers in penis County who give so unselfishly of their time and talent in our district signed this ninth day of April 2024 thank you I know we have several volunteers that we get to recognize tonight here that's wonderful we also several of us got to participate in a breakfast with with um many more recently and we all just want to extend our thanks to all of the volunteers in palis County Schools you make a difference every single day and you know you come you show up you volunteer you you see our schools you participate with our kids and it's a wonderful thing I really appreciate it um the next two items excuse me vote on this one too so recognizing April is National volunteer appreciation month all those in favor say I I I any opposed passes 7 to zero item 4.5 is recognition of the 2324 outstanding volunteers and then right after that is uh item 4.6 recognition of energy star partner of the year for sustained Excellence award um our school board is going to come down for both of those to get to greet our partners um and I'll turn it over to Mr Hendrick to introduce thank you thank you madam chair and as our board makes their way down in front I want to call on Dr Seymour Brown again our our director of strategic Partnerships he's going to share a little bit more about how we've honored some of our outstanding volunteers share some of their recognitions and then we'd like certainly uh to have those individuals meet our board take a picture and recognize the great work that they've done in our schools Dr Brown thank you Mr hendri the outstanding School volunteer award program is a state recognition program that was created to recognize volunteers who have shown outstanding dedication and commitment to Quality education in Florida's K12 Public Schools this recognition program serves to highlight and Inspire strong school and Community relationships including Innovative approaches to improving the academic performance and resiliency of students this year the penel County outstanding School volunteer selection committee identified 13 honores and three category winners for more than 100 applications that were submitted from our schools uh and for the first time our school our district had a state finalist and we are very happy about that so at this time I would like to bring forth uh our honores and our winners from area one we have C hay Vickers from Tarpon Springs Elementary in our youth category please come forward and I think I'm gonna I'm going to go through without the Applause to kind of get you through here and then we'll give Applause at the end so please if you would just go forward you can shake their hands uh in our adult for area one Allison Ladon Cypress Woods Elementary and our senior category for area one Shane shannonbrook from dunan Highland Middle in area two in our youth category we have Madison J uh jaana from Safety Harbor Middle and our adult David sne Rich Crest Elementary and our senior is William schmidling from Oak Grove Middle who is also our state finalist in the senior category in area three youth is Delaney Fairbrook Orange Grove Elementary adult Robin Bean madira Beach fundamental and our senior is Carol Powers Bower Elementary School for area four and our youth it's Tiffany Whitman Rawlings Elementary who is also she is our representative from pelis County in the uh we have adult Sue Spurgeon sh Acres Elementary she is our representative at the state for adult and Senior Barbara Weaver from Scott View Elementary in our transformation Zone adult is Sandra menz lman Avenue Elementary and for senior Bonnie Zimmerman Mount Vernon Elementary and our exceptional and alternative centers adult is Lena Linda Reynolds Nina Harris ESC Exceptional Center and our senior is Josephine Gibson Nina Harris ESC exceptional centers now [Applause] the office of strategic partnership is just very proud of the more than 100 applications that were submitted it was a very hard Choice uh we luckily had some board members on board to on the selection committee and we are very happy to present our our winners and honores here tonight so thank you thank you once again to all of our volunteers our final recognition item item 4.6 is the recognition of energy star partner of the year for sustained Excellence award and I'm going to pass it to our chief operating officer Mr Clint herbick who will share a little bit more about the award and introduce our guests thank you Mr Hendrick and Madam Shar and board members I know most of us are familiar with the energy star program and we see that label that energy star label on appliances Electronics even even things like Windows that we buy for our house and when we see that label we know that it those items are energy efficient and they're also going to help us conserve energy but when you go beyond the label what you see is the energy star program is administered by the United States Environmental Protection Agency and thousands of organizations throughout the world including nearly 40% of Fortune 500 companies partner with energy star every single year and each year the EPA recognizes those partners for their efforts in emergency management and conservation through the energy star program the partner of the year is the highest level of recognition given by the EPA in fact only 1.2% of energy star Partners worldwide are recognized as a partner of the Year notable companies this year who are receiving a partner of the Year include General Motors Nissan of North America Lockheed Martin Samsung Best Buy and penel County schools and we are very proud to have been awarded uh the energy star partner of the year for the sixth consecutive year and this year marks our second year in which we have received the sustained um partner the partner of the year for sustained excellence and the question you may be asking is why are we being recognized and at this time I want to bring up Benjamin Roode with our partner of synergistic and he's going to share some of the reasons that the district has been recognized for this award Ben thank you madam chair members of the board um it is always an honor to be able to uh get up before you and just really it's bragging on the district so um it starts off with with Team um a team mentality both um with synergistic and with Mr herbick um his facilities department and even down to the teachers and the students all buying in and understanding that um there's little things that we can do throughout the day that help just save a little bit of energy and that adds up to Dollars um that can be refunded back into the uh into the schools and into the district and also um just what we do to help uh help better the Earth and and the environment so uh this last year uh the penel county schools had 53 sites that are individually recognized as energy star buildings um last year pelis was number two in the state this year we are actually um have the most energy star buildings of any school district in the State of Florida so that's exciting to uh to be able to share um since the start of our program um back in 2015 uh the district has now seen almost $60 million um worth of energy costs that didn't go out to the uh to your vendors didn't go to Duke you got to keep that uh within your organization so that's savings that you're able to redirect um into a lot of different initiatives and that's very exciting that we were able to to see those savings um last year alone uh the district saw about 35 million kwh reduction so that is a big number and I'll try to quantify it a little bit better for you um so that's about 25,000 metric tons of CO2 that wasn't produced and that's enough energy to power about 5,500 homes for a year and for anyone who wants this little tidbit in their pocket um it's enough to charge 1.6 billion Smartphones at one time so uh it is our pleasure to be able to present this again for the second year in a row and um we look forward to doing this again next year and I would also like to say that I want to congratulate synergistic um who's recognized for their 14th consecutive year as partner of the Year award and I want to thank the board uh for your leadership and direction in this program program and allowing us uh to go forward with the program and Achieve these fantastic results so thank [Applause] you right the board will come back up to the de and we will continue with the rest of our program our next item on the agenda is item five public comment on agenda items Mrs Hal do we have any speakers to agenda items today uh yes Madam chair we do thank you members of the public have three separate opportunities to address the board when we gather for a business meeting 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 and 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 construction environment lastly please know that this meeting and all public comments will be broadcast live on the internet 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 5 a 8630 thank you Mrs H yes Madam chair board members and Mr Hendrick uh our speaker tonight for agenda items Mr Mark kutho he's speaking to items 7.4 7.14 and 8.1 Mark clth Largo 7.4 fiscal impact yes oh I'll bet there will be uh 7.14 uh oh I mean one5 I'm sorry uh this is uh bid policies and procedures and uh your strategic priority fiscal and operational responsibility not purchases are necessary to continue to provide a high quality education education for all St students no no that's a lie that's a lie an 8.1 here you're going to go with penela County for building improvements to schools for emergency hurricane shelters well you know if you would have listen to me when I first came here and made high performance passive solar buildings you would have a bunch of buildings that would be hurricane shelters again the Strategic priority fiscal and oper operational responsibility we have a headline here Perfect Storm recipe with lenia high ocean temps experts see a very active hurricane season oh I can just see you guys you'll be really just running around in circles won't be pretty won't be pretty but you know this after the fact thing hardening your stupid buildings when they should have been made the right way in the first place now this is sheer stupidity the high performance passes solar building could be standing up to a hurricane 5 but you do stupid things like that clear water building that's going to fuel hurricanes regardless of this notion Madam chair we have no more speakers thank you there is no business under item six for item seven we'll take the consent agenda as amended first and then we'll take each of the pulled items separately so first may I have a motion to approve the consent agenda as amended motion to approve I have a motion from Mrs Edmund and a second from Mrs long all those in favor say I I any opposed the motion passes is 7 to Zer item 7.4 request approval of the administrative appointment of the Chief Financial Officer may I have a motion to approve this item motion to approve second motion by Mrs Edmund and a second by Mrs cook Mrs Meyer thank you madam chair in pulling these two items for discussion I wanted to highlight the significance of each of these roles in our district the Chief Financial Officer and chief academic officer after hearing from teachers parents and members of the community over the last week I realized that these changes to our district come with some reservation and concern I wanted to provide an opportunity for dialogue before we vote on these two consent agenda items and allow for the public to hear about these changes next to the superintendent and the deputy superintendent these two positions are critical to the success of our students teachers and District as a whole the fiscal responsibility of managing a $ 1.7 billion budget and navigating the academic success of almost H 100,000 students amid changing laws and statutes is nothing short of challenging and arduous work with that said I wanted to share my gratitude for the years of service to our district to Mr Smith and Dr Evans thank you Mr Smith and thank you Dr Evans um for your incredible work in these critical roles Mr Hendrick um would you answer a couple of questions if you don't mind sure okay great thank you okay so first could you share um some detail in regard to what the job descriptions for each of these roles are and how essential each one of these um positions are to our district absolutely uh so first just for the Chief Financial Officer I think that's the item we're on first um the Chief Financial Officer oversees the $ 1.7 billion budget as you said that includes not only the the revenue of that but the budgeting the payroll the auditing property records uh accounting all of those functions bid purchasing um all of those functions they also handle the budget process the millage rate the tax roll our bonds that we have all of that the capital budget which is part of the 1.7 billion so it's a it's a massive role and uh the job description is pretty clear but that it encompasses each of those okay um can you also share the qualifications experience and expertise um of the candidate for item 7.4 since we're doing them separately um and why you feel this candidate is the most qualified for this critical role um I can I mean the appointment is is mine to make but in terms of why this individual uh we did a national search and one of the things that uh I talked to the board about this when Mr Smith shared with his uh retirement with me um and by the way replacing 27 years in penel County Schools the last I believe 12 as Chief Financial Officer uh 41 years in finances not easy and so we wanted to have an opportunity for a national search and some layover for that so there was an opportunity to work with Mr Smith and I appreciate the board's agreement to do that um so if approved tonight Mr Jefferson will start on the 16th and have about four weeks of uh time to work next to Mr Smith his background in particular the last 10 years as a Chief Financial Officer and a chief operating officer of a company in Arizona uh and prior to that 20 some years in finance business economics and meets the qualifications and um 66 applicants not all of them I would say are qualified to take Mr Smith's spot uh but certainly Mr Jefferson is and we're excited to see him in that role okay thank you is there any other discussion on 7.4 thank you all those in favor of approving item 7.4 say I I any opposed passes 7 to zero item 7.5 request approval of the administrative appointment of Chief academic officer may I have a motion to approve 7.5 motion to approve motion from Mrs Edmund and a second from Mrs long Mrs Meyer um so I just basically have the same questions on uh for you if you'd like me to repeat them I can i' I've got them I've got them so first uh just to acknowledge Dr Evans who's in the back uh 24 years I think 25 years in penel County Schools 30 in education U very happy to have him come back and join our district when I became superintendent this particular position was the one I previously occupied so I know it very very well uh probably better than most and uh just the general oversight in that position is all of prek through 12th grade education as well as our current technical colleges and our adult education program so it's everybody from three years old to I think our oldest student right now is in their 80s so everybody um in between it includes pushing student achievement for the school district that is the main function is to drive student achievement and in the case of the different departments right it's elementary middle school high school it's the student experience like you heard about tonight um it's early childhood and everything in between the chief academic officer also oversees a very large budget next to Mr herbick one of the largest ones in the district uh who's the chief operating officer and so um that that's the main function of the job in terms of the second question uh Chief Jones who have had the pleasure uh of working alongside in the last couple of years as the chief transformation Zone officer um you know the number one thing you look for in someone to lead academics is somebody who has had a success in the past in pushing student achievement and her record uh speaks to itself on that certainly in the chief transformation Zone office spot where we've greatly improved not only school grades and getting uh schools out of state oversight but also improved proficiency and The Innovation that we've seen in the transformation Zone under her leadership has spurred work at other schools outside of the zone and that's the type of leadership we're looking for um she's also been a very successful principal very successful assistant principal um and teacher and has a business background as well which is a little um unique and different so very excited to see her leadership and in both cases well in her case she'll continue to do the current job till the end of the year Dr Evans retires this summer but it gives a chance for some overlay there so they can work together um and in her case and some others on the agenda tonight that you just approved it allows for a successful transition and that's one of the things that many people have said to me in the last week you know wow these are a lot of retirements and uh we tried to talk all of them out of it but at some point um after two years of asking them not to retire they you know at some point they have to so um you know this has been in the works for a very long time and it allows for smooth transition and stability is really really important in school districts and in large organizations and by doing these approvals tonight it allows for stability over the next several months for good transitions not only here but most importantly at the school level where we will then have some positions that need to be filled there and we need those with the right people in the right time thank you sure any other discussion seeing none we'll take a vote all those in favor of approving item seput 7.5 say I I any opposed pass passes 7 to zero under the non-consent agenda we have one item tonight item 8.1 request approval of the amendment to memorandum of understanding with pelis County for building improvements to schools identified as emergency hurricane shelters may I have a motion approve second motion from Mrs Edmund and a second from Mrs Meyer Mr Hendrick would you introduce this item thank you madam chair in addition to preparing for all the end of year things that we do like graduations and award cies we also are preparing for hurricane season and so we're beginning the training and the work that we have to do on the back end and one of those things is our relationship with Emergency Management and that goes on year round and this item just happens to be coming at this time of year and I'm going to pass it to our chief operating officer Mr herbick to talk through this relationship and the update to our agreement thank you again Mr hendrik and Madam chair and board members as you know state law requires that school districts in Florida partner with their local emergency management office to make on Charter Schools um in the district available for Hurricane and emergency Sheltering and for decades penel County Emergency Management is turning to has turned to us to provide those shelter space and today we provide about 95% of shelter spaces in pellis county and while not every single school is really suitable to serve as a shelter because some do lie um in flood prone zones every school and pelis must be built to those standards to uh be able to um withstand you know hurricane forces according to the folder building code and even to SF requirements um but while we build our schools to be able to serve as an emergency shelter um at times and occasionally some of those schools do need hurricane hardening upgrades due to um changes in the building code and also some of those components do need to be replaced from time to time such as these window panels that um you see on the on the agenda item to ensure that all schools um are eligible to serve as a shelter if needed panel County government has set aside a percentage of funding from the penny for penis program to pay for those improvements and those permit or those improvements are permitted by our U penel County Schools facilities Department uh they are monitored the construction is monitored by our department we do the inspections and we get BAS basically get to decide what goes onto our building and what does not go onto our building and uh we really take a close look on whether or not those improvements affect the um the operations of the school we want to make sure that they're not getting in the way of what our teachers or what our students need to do in 2021 you approved an agreement with the county that enabled them to use those penny for penel funds to improve and expand hurricane hardening at 10 different schools this amendment to the 2021 agreement presents a new priority list from the Emergency Management which reflects work that we've done since 2021 it also deletes East Lake High School due to the fact that uh recent um slash models indicate that it may be in a flood zone and updates estimates for the work uh for the materials and installation costs if you approve this tonight this will be forwarded to the count to Emergency Management who will then present it to the board of County Commissioners for final approv approval if approved by the board of County Commissioners we will expect work to commence this summer and again uh most as you see when you go through the scope of work most of this work is really centered on replacement of window panels called exitor panels and I believe exitor is a is a brand name uh but it's exitor panels to protect the windows all of our new construction um that you see that's going on in the past about 12 15 years have all in included impact windows and so a lot of schools you will not see those panels but these schools that need to be used as a shelter who do not have impact resistant Windows that's the purpose of the panels thank you is there any discussion on this item okay with that we'll take a vote all those in favor of item 8.1 say I I any opposed passes 7 to zero new business items introduced by the superintendent thank you madam chair uh I did address two of the leadership changes just a moment ago but I wanted to acknowledge a couple of others that will uh be supporting the board in our efforts in our district strategic plan that were just approved one uh to replace Mrs Jones as the chief transformation Zone officer later this summer Lisha Lawson the current principal at Fairmont Park Elementary School a long successful career as a princip in the district and we look forward to her leadership and also the minority achievement officer nobody mentioned our retiring Dr Brenson who's in the room tonight uh who's been with penel County school since 2017 but he is going to be wrapping up a 50-year career as an educator in Hillsboro and pelis County schools and I'm pleased that you approved Kathleen young Parker the principal at Campbell Park Elementary School principal at several other schools in the district uh prior to that to lead that role this summer and again really appreciate the board's uh support in doing these transition periods to allow for some layover and communication between the current and soon Tobe uh leaders in those roles couple celebrations for the district this week we found out that penel County Schools was recognized by the national postsecondary strategy Institute as a power of Hope winner our district received the recognition for our work in school counseling and guidance students guiding students in their postsecondary plans we have been at nipy then postsecondary strategy Institute partner for a while but this is the first time we've been recognized with a national award I want to congratulate Valerie Santos and all of our school councellors on their great work we also received this week the award from the or for the best communities for music education in the nation we've received this now for the fifth consecutive year but I'm here to tell you it's not an automatic award the designation is awarded to districts to demonstrate an outstanding commitment to providing all students with access to music and music education it's time for families if they haven't done so yet to register for summerbridge summerbridge registration is open and it's a great way to keep students engaged in learning over the summer it starts on June 3rd and our enrichment programs our summer camps mostly take place in July check our website to see which camps are still available we look forward to serving students over the summer our transportation ridership campaign is wrapping up in fact if you're here and you have a child in the district you got a phone call at 5:00 tonight tonight uh because we want to know if your child needs Transportation next year so please fill out that form in Focus so we can properly plan routing for our students our ESC parent survey is underway for parents of students with disabilities this is from the State Department of Education we've sent out reminders to those families to make sure we have your information on how we can best partner and promote parent involvement in their child's education our district Student Assignment office is looking forward to the second round of special assignment requests for next year it's open through April 15th these opportunities are for families who um want a different School other than their neighborhood school but did not apply during the magnet and Fundamental School process so check the website for more information about special attendance permits award season as the board is well aware is underway we've had three academic Awards ceremonies in the last I don't know seven eight days the carwise verl Davis and Maria Edmonds Awards and we are going to have more coming starting with the program to recognize initiative and distinction in education or Pride nobody knows what that stands for but that's what it's for the pride Awards which are now about 35 years uh in the making we have that coming up this Monday night we have the board recognition event for all of our regional and state champions coming up I believe that's May 1st the honors breakfast and many many more in the next couple of weeks I appreciate the board's support in recognizing our students across the district just last week we had students from St Petersburg High School here in conference Hall all presenting to uh myself members of my staff a couple of board members were here on how to best use artificial intelligence in public schools student teams from St Petersburg High School who participated in the Junior Achievement 3de program uh won the opportunity to come participate we had four finalist teams their presentations were fantastic um and we selected one who's going to consult with the school district on these efforts over the next couple of months the board and public will be able to hear more about that at our upcoming Workshop next week we'll have some of the students from St Petersburg High School there their winning team was called Team Green Machine in case you're wondering also want to congratulate BCAA High School who was recently revalidated as an avid National demonstration school for their work in in providing systems and Collaborative Learning for students for college success boaa was first chosen as an avid National demonstration School in 2017 and is one of three National demonstration schools in pelis County including East like middle school and Northeast High School they undergo a rigorous validation process and are required to be revalidated every four years and represent the top 1% of avid schools in the nation I also want to congratulate madira Beach fundamental student Braden Lions a seventh grader who earned a spot at the National Geography B in Orlando coming up in may he plays first in the regional competition and his score was so high that he's already guaranteed a spot in the international compet competition in Vienna Austria this summer good news for us he wants to be an international Diplomat and knowing your geography is a helpful first step on the way to being a successful International Diplomat I want to uh wish best of luck to our penel County Schools all academic team that's competing in the commissioner academic challenge this weekend in Orlando they compete Thursday Friday and Saturday we look forward to hearing how they do and also for all of our families attending the pelis County Schools day at the RIS game this Saturday 4:00 start we have principal Barry Brown was selected to throw out the first pitch from Gibbs High School he's been working on his fast ball and as you heard earlier cler High School's Marine jrtc will be presenting the colors and finally tonight I'd like to recognize one of our employees for their demonstration of core values and tonight's Honore is Anthony Burgess a school bus driver he was recognized by a principal in our district who said as part of my afternoon routine before dismissal I walk through the Bus Loop to make our driver's needs are being met when I checked on driver Anthony Burgess from Route 619 I had to stop and take a closer look the inside of his bus was adorned with positive and inspirational quotes that were made by his middle school and high school students he had encouraged them to bring their own artwork to create a more positive and uplifting space for themselves and the elementary students who ride his bus it's drivers like Mr Burgess that are exactly what our students need to start and end their day thank you Mr Burgess and all of our employees for the work they do in penel County Schools each and every day thank you madam chair thank you items introduced by the school board attorney I have no report this evening thank you thank you items introduced by the board I have something I would like to share um I've had several community members and staff recently and maybe you have to ask me where we are with the cell phone policy you know we had sent the survey we'd asked for a lot of input and and then and then we haven't said much but we did have a March 5th Workshop about it so I'd like to update the public on where we are with the cell phone policy and our discussion that we had at our March 5th Workshop um the presentation that was shared with us as well as the minutes from that meeting that share our discussion can be found online if you have trouble with that you can contact our office we'll help you find those so my summary of where we are in this and I'm certainly welcome being corrected um is is is this after really an entire Academic Year of research discussion and consideration um across our schools and families The Proposal that was made by leadership and received initial acceptance from our board at the March 5th Workshop was this to make the cell phone policy uniform across penel County Schools essentially none in elementary school none in middle school and some in high school and as as is always the case in our schools individual accommodations will be made as needed for medical or other um extenuating circumstances students and parents can always talk to their school leadership about their about their needs now when I say some in high school um that means no phones in class except for academic purposes specifically Guided by their by their teacher students May students may use them during passing time and lunchtime we had a thorough discussion and clearly everyone here is in tune with the impact of technology on Youth and our society more broadly my understanding is that the policy as presented will be cleaned up with some of the terms better defined as requested and then will be our Schoolboard meeting for our first reading in two weeks on April 23rd and then there will be a second reading and a Schoolboard vote as with all policies uh your input is welcome at any point in between now and then for certain I would just share that you know last summer when I raised this topic as a Schoolboard Workshop item um I was ready to just throw all the phones in the river and uh certainly as a mom I still am right now since then I have done an immense amount of uh reading research but most importantly I've been to every single high school in this district and spoken with every single principal and walked the Halls during changing time and sat in cafeterias to observe um we've also heard research through the Health and Human Services leadership board and also our juvenile welfare board both National research and local data on this um so I do now have come to the point where I do support the sum in high school but I do so hoping for these three additional things to happen um one I think our teachers and administrators need quick clear and consistent consequences to be applied and both for use and for Content those are two different things one student won't put their phone away won't put their phone away it's a problem that's a use problem content problem if they are creating or promoting content on a school campus that damages our campus or Personnel within it that is a whole another level of consequences and there should be two different consequence paths there and we should take that very seriously and swiftly the second thing that I would like to see um you know we know that in-person socializing is a vital part of the school experience and growth um so I'd like to see really purposeful encouragement and support of our student leaders creating and facilitating connection during their lunch periods you know we already see this at some of our high schools I don't know if any of you have been to Holland's High recently but they have a humanized chessboard out on their lawn with big pieces they play soccer in the back or football there's a lot going on during lunch at that high school and there's another high school that has games set up and competitions and things like that so it's already happening organically but I'd like to see some purposeful um um encouragement Challenge and also the resources that we need to give them to make that kind of um socialization happen Miss Peter I know you brought that up how important that is I agree with you um and I just want to share with you what I see so being at those schools walking around in passing time and even during lunchtime you know I kind of assumed they're all going to have their heads in their phones you wouldn't believe how many don't you wouldn't believe how many are goofing around with their friends and having a great time and talking with each other do they have to send their family a message or do they have to do something yes and are there some that are sunk into that thing so far that it's a problem yes but but I do want to tell you by and large our kids are pretty amazing but the third thing that I would say is education I think that many people have come alive to how phone and Technology can yes Elevate us and Elevate our work in the world but it also changes us it changes our neurology our relationships our assumptions I was speaking to a 10th grader in January and I asked her do you know how these things are changing us do you know what they're special doing to the young mind that is still developing and she said teach us and I think she's right there are at least two programs that I've seen that offer K12 digital citizenship curriculum um and I think as we roll out this new more strict cell phone policy um it's also an opportunity for us all to become smarter users of them so you know they are just too revolutionary of a change just like automobile deals um they they are not going anywhere these phones are sticking around we've got to learn how to use them and leverage them and mitigate any damage so we've done some digital literacy and digital citizenship in pelis County Schools but we could do more so I would like for us to investigate integrating a more thorough digital citizenship curriculum through our K12 schools um remaining on the topic of technology I wanted to share with my colleagues that we had a meeting of the health and Human Services leadership board last week um it was around the topic of technology and youth um we had heard national health and safety data it also is a significant safety concern um presented in December but then at this recent meeting it was very localized for us it was localized both by the juvenile welfare board and by pelis County schools and there is great interest across the county agencies and seeing if there is something that we can develop and Implement that has a positive impact on the health and safety of pelis County Visa tech technology so ideas that came up were maybe a collaborative legislative platform around this topic um or and a public information campaign came up did you know that um since juvenile welfare board started a public information campaign around um uh sleep habits infant infant infant sleep they have cut in half the number of infant sleep deaths in pelis County that's all from from a public information Campa campaign that's that's incredible so done well they can be very very effective and this might be a place our County will consider that kind of um investigation and investment so I'll share notes and presentations um from that meeting once they're available um and we'll continue to work over summer on the next steps of that Health and Human Services leadership board around this topic and I'll keep you posted thank you just got Miss Edmond I see your name oh excuse me oh I'm sorry go ahead Mrs long you wanted to yeah I'm also on the committee and I think one of the most important things that I saw and it really hit home was a student a high school student had written when we're learning to ride our bikes and we fall off you don't throw the bike away you teach us and then it went on to say we might be using our cell phones wrong but but teach us how to use it right that concept that they you know you just don't give them a smartphone and say here go on get take a you know get Facebook I know I'm behind I don't even know the new apps but they're right teach them teach them the dangers of some of these apps and show them how a cell phone can be used properly and safely but then show them the dangers too and and when when I read that and I saw you know it was a high school student that wrote it it was like yeah what what a great comparison you don't throw the bike away your kids going to get scrapes and come in crying and I remember those days but you know you teach them and I think that's what the high schoolers really want they want to be taught how to properly use because this is going to be a part of their life until the new technology comes out you know it will Mrs edman thank you Mrs hin for your report I would just like to confirm that the cell phone policy would be brought back to the board um work at a workshop for discussion as it was mentioned during that time may I respond Madam chair please thank you uh it's not slated to be on our workshop on April 16th we certainly can add it there or May 9th um our Direction on that day uh was to clean up the language but we were not talking about substantive changes to the policy um the policies that we were talking about were the bullying harassment and others and those yes those would be brought back if the board would like us to bring it back we certainly can with those definitions May Madam chair may I see if there is interest in bringing the cell phone policy back to the workshop because there's the potential to have additional edits and conversation that might be needed at the dis if we don't I think that's a good idea so the first reading was scheduled for April 23rd and we do have that April 16th Workshop so if there are a number of questions what other board members like to see it at Workshop again lots of head nods so if we could add that to the April 16th Workshop agenda we may need to amend the agenda that's posting in a moment but sure we can do that no problem thank you thank you any other board comments review of board request Mrs Woodford any requests yes I noted quite a few so the first uh from you miss hind was um three parts uh purposeful lunch interactions in our high school um offering those opportunities regarding cell phones uh Swift and consistent consequences for cell phone violations for both use and content and certainly this can be discussed at the workshop uh education through digital citizenship uh curriculum Miss Long added the dangers of Technology um and adding back cell the cell phone policy to the April 16th workshop for discussion sounds like you got it all to me Mrs Woodford thank you anything else okay seeing no other business I adjourn this meeting and we will move to public participation we're now moving to public comment on the general business of the district please note that the views and comments of public speakers are their own and not endorsed nor sponsored by the school board or District we cannot ensure the accuracy of statements made but we review concerns that are raised and take appropriate action which may include clarifications or the referral of speakers to the proper staff member for assistance 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 and assisting Us in maintaining a civil and constructive environment additionally please note that although board members or superintendent Hendrick may leave the Das briefly there are speakers in the back room and we will continue to be able to hear your comments thank you Mrs H yes Madam chair board members Mr hendrik our first two speakers this evening are Brandt Robinson and Tim Conroy good evening Madame chair members of the board superintendent hendrik and staff I hope you guys are having a great day and as always my name is brt Robinson I am in my 27th year teaching social studies and history at Donan high school and as always I'm so grateful and so honored so humbled to be here with you tonight you know as we wind down the school year I want to share something with you all and as I share it I really want you to think about not only your reaction to it but but what may have led to your reaction I know how incredibly involved all of you are but you know I say this with tremendous respect you know one of the things that we teachers rarely talk about on campus is teaching and learning and if you really think about the Art and Science of teaching to go through an entire school year where you can only remember maybe five or six ation we actually sat down with a colleague and talked about the nuts and bolts all that went into your lesson planning all that you mapped out so you could make sure an activity or strategy really worked effectively and I say this again with tremendous respect I want to urge you as we wind down this school year and we move into the planning for next year we have such limited time for training so whether it's preschool whether it's districtwide training or the limited time we have for training the year I want you to strongly consider how we might have principles be more mindful of time where teachers can actually collaborate so often trainings are done with the best of intentions but there're often topics that are chosen for us when what we might actually need is the opportunity to sit down and just have somebody else listen to us have somebody else explain what went into that activity that story you chose that technique you used how you handle situations where you have excessive attendance issues or other problems in your classroom you know that doesn't just come in your first year of teaching now I say this as somebody with no disrespect to my principal I have a wonderful principal at dun Eden High School Jim kibbler thank you so much for doing an outstanding job I have wonderful faculty done in high school but I I want us to be mindful of the fact that over the last 15 years one of the most devastating consistent statistics in public education is almost half of all public school teachers leave the profession before the end of their fifth year and we also know the last three or four years has been about a 35% reduction in the number of young people who want to go into the profession and what this means is that in the last two decades with standardized testing and all the pressures that standardized testing puts on us with our pacing guide knowing that a majority a vast majority of teachers are on annual contract and at the end of the end of the year their job is more tenous because they're considering how well their students have done on those results that's a lot of pressure and what that means is we need to have time to talk to each other and collaborate and we need to be the ones in charge of actually the conversations that we're having that would lead to a workplace where people felt more were validated and of course knowing Fair process and restor to practice I want to thank you all for considering that thank you again be well thank you school board members superintendent Hendrick and District staff for allowing me to speak my name is Tim Conroy since April is autism acceptance month let's take a moment and thank those students with autism who have taught us that a room full of of people with Autism is as diverse as this room full of people that definitions of intelligence cannot be limited to expressive language skills that when given opportunities and provided support students on the autism spectrum exceed expectations let's recognize their parents they're on duty 24 hours a day seven days a week advocating for their sons and daughters unque needs they often feel it's Groundhog Day repeating and reminding adults about their child's needs while doing it gracefully like other parents they want their children to have positive postsecondary outcomes some of these students will go on to college others will gain competitive employment or enter other post-secondary opportunities or training programs we must provide these students with the appropriate educ ation job training and opportunities they deserve let's take a moment and appreciate the collaboration required for Effective individualized Education plans to be designed it requires creativity and problem solving from parents students administrators early interventionists behavioral experts special education and general education teachers job coaches Advocates professionals like occupational therapists speech therapists and others working together to design a plan that meets the students unique needs the student must have the appropriate support but these professionals also need the proper support and training this months month as we celebrate students with autism let's examine the district's data and honestly appraise that we are not yet where we need to be and serving students with autism let's celebrate autism acceptance month through a renewed commitment to providing effective early intervention including applied Behavior Analysis Services more robust transition goals providing planning time and support for teachers and instructional assistance and by hiring more job coaches and identifying more job sites to improve postsecondary outcomes for all students with autism let's remember when parents and professionals enter the IEP meeting willing and open to engage in meaningful conversations about the unique needs and strengths of the student better outcomes are possible and they will be the result thank you the next two speakers are Lee Briant and Michael Johnson good evening chair hind members of the board superintendent hendrik and staff my name is Lee Bryant my pronouns are still he him and his and I am president of the pcta and a bunch of other things on March 27th the members of the Florida Board of Education and its welcomed presenters made the following statement quote Union leadership tends to be the biggest holdup in getting these agreements ratified so that the school boards can approve them I can tell you right now the unions are not to blame this Union Leader is not to blame what is holding things up is the unions fighting for fair wages for the workers I know our members are diverse in every possible way including their political ideologies but I think most of us can agree that Educators and education support staff professionals are not the ones to blame for the salaries that keep our Educators ranked 48th in the nation in Pay soon we will be returning to the bargaining table with PCS to strengthen our Union contract this year's focused on pay and insurance so it's my hope that we begin bargaining soon and find a way to come to terms in a timely manner I would also like to take a moment to recognize CFO Kevin Smith for his work uh with bargaining and the PCS budget working with them I've developed an admiration for your skills sir and your character and I wish you as we say in the Navy Fair Winds and following Seas I wrote that before you said it how much easier would his job have been if the State of Florida had funded our schools properly the budget surplus in Florida for the last two fiscal years was $4.5 billion Surplus and yet Florida was 48th in teacher pay now with the massive increase in funding it looks like Florida May jump all the way up to 47th in teacher pay I wish it were a joke but it's not funny to our employees in the school system uh next year the 2025 2026 School year is an open book year for pcta and we want to get started on strengthening the language in our contract to reflect our members needs and wants I'd like to look at cleaning up a few simple things to start with like the language regarding mandatory work duty such as graduation I've heard a few complaints about it being on Saturday this year the language in that contract has not changed on that since 2015 it needs to be updated we need to expand child care options for educator families and one thing that really puzzles me the word bereavement appears in our contract only one time and that is in the section in the sick leave Bank how can a family forward institution like the school system not offer bereavement for its workers many of our workers have hit the stage in life where we raise kids and take care of our aging parents at the same time and yet no days off when one of those parents or a family member passes away we can do better uh hello uh I have been teaching for about eight years now and I filled up an entire sheet of paper with a list of things said to me by my third fourth and fifth grade students and their parents um I have been called many different names for many different reasons among others just simply giving a student a consequence or arguing that is student did something that the parent didn't want to believe one of those things was a child throwing a teacher cell phone into a attention pond because they were afraid that teacher was texting their parents they were texting their spouse um my very first year teaching I was expected not only to teach but make learning gains with a student who flat out told me he wanted me to get fired um that same year I had a student with um on the autism spectrum who would make gestures with desks and uh whisper female students names um that year I was released because teachers are help to very high standards for academic performance and I was deemed not effective so I continued teaching I moved to a different school and I managed to grow and I managed to get better but I was continually screamed at I have developed a very thick skin I have put up a boundary between myself and my students but even this year a student who I absolutely adore required a phone call home and I could hear her telling her dad he was throwing stuff at me he was doing this he was yelling at me he was yelling at the kids and I felt betrayed but I also wasn't surprised parents don't have the same standards that teachers do if a parent decides that their child didn't do anything wrong then there are no consequences for that child and they continue to act poorly in class and they continue to distract uh just yesterday after i' had written these notes two of my students got in a fist fight before school started they were separated for the entire day but they walk home in the same direction they were separated before they left got in a fist fight down the street neither parent had come to pick up their student that day one in fact told us that it's our problem not hers and she came in this morning screaming at our front office staff because why not there are no standards for parents and as they continue to act the way they do their children will continue to act the way they do I love my kids and I am a relationship first teacher I have built very strong relationships with my very spicy students and I can't imagine doing anything else but I can only get called so many names thank you the next two speakers are Mark kutho and Tracy McConnell Mark luo Largo did you read the column in the paper the uh mom's stupid for stupidity Up in Smoke it's a good one you have to find that yeah oh I was just chastised I can't EX ize My First Amendment right here and show the future warmongers the book by General Smedley Butler war is a racket now you'd think the schools would embrace the First Amendment I'm going to have to have another meeting with my attorney it's uh not going to fly not going to fly boy I'll tell you what I hear the biggest lies here you know you with that energy star bull h and uh you made your buildings so that they're going to stand up to the storms but now we have to do these retrofits which is it so uh now we have the column or big big article here can we engineer our way out of a climate crisis oh yeah big big article here instead of you making the high performance pass the solar buildings you do stupid things like that Clearwater building that's not oriented correctly it just doesn't make sense it's a straightforward proposition you know like the Anastasia Indians knew we get our village underneath the cliff that faces the South not the north not the East not the West that was over 1500 years ago when do you see the light it's there are two big reasons why teachers quit the teaching profession profession one reason is lack of respect and lack of pay thankfully I'm lucky to be at a school where I feel like my principal Abby Canada and my assistant principal Stephanie wager are supportive and they respect me as an educator I can go to them with concerns or ideas and they listen they realize that when teachers and and administrators team up the students always win I know that I can come here and speak to all of you and you listen last year when I shared my concerns about curriculum Holly Slaughter came and spoke with me at my school then when I had concerns about the number of tests that were given you made the math end of the year summative optional when I came to the last meeting and shared my concerns about my student who needed help with an possible IEP an eligibility meeting was scheduled for her sadly that's not the case at all schools I know lots of teachers who feel they can't ask for help or share their concerns because they're afraid of being a Target this needs to stop how can teachers become great without the support of their administrators unfortunately I am affected by lack of pay this was made Crystal clear to me earlier this year my husband is an ESC assistant and we have two kids that are both in the Warhawk marching band as you all know the band was really celebrated this year because next year they will be going to the Rose Parade after the first parent meeting we learned it would cost about $7,000 for both of my kids to go to the parade my B my daughter said to me it's okay Mom we know that you don't have the money to send us it's no big deal but but it was a big deal to me here my kids were getting the chance of a lifetime and I knew there was no way they were getting there selling chocolate bars despite the fact that I have been teaching for 19 years tutoring four afternoons a week and teaching crochet two mornings a week we were not able to pay for our kids to go to the Rose Parade this is why my husband and I started donating plasma my husband and I each give plasma twice a week to pay for our kids to go to the Rose Parade not only am I selling crafts to get them to the parade but I'm selling my blood too I will take my it will take my Blood Sweat and Tears to get them to that parade I am one of the lucky ones at least I'm not being forced out of my apartment because of rate hikes pelis needs qualified teachers until you give raises that keep up with the cost of living you are going to continue to have a tough time hiring and aining teachers please remember this whenever we are at the bargaining table this year thank you the next two speakers are Mike Micah carw and Daniel amend W sh [Music] how good afternoon and thank you for your time my name name is Micah your mission is to provide the best opportunities for all students to succeed and gain the highest student achievement I would not have been able to make that introduction without Mandarin being taught at East Lake High School doesn't it go against this to limit the languages offered for a student to learn at East Lake High School there are only three languages Chinese French and Spanish the Spanish Department takes up a whole hallway there was only one French teacher and one Chinese teacher two years ago we used to have German and 5 years ago we used to teach sign language an American language that only broadens our methods of communic sorry communication diversely they were removed to save budget Chinese was threatened last year but kept due to the number of kids taking it now Chinese is being taken away again I understand that budgetary decisions are made by the school board and that is why I'm here before you today I will tell you why this class is important to our school East Lake is the only High School in the county with with a Chinese program with the exception of private middle schools there are appr sorry there are approximately 100 students learning Chinese at East Lake this gives it an alur lur to students wanting broader language opportunities in the county yet it is under threat at the moment I was told it's budget cuts but my question is why are we cutting language classes sorry why cut a program that broadens the minds of students and expand diversity and cultural awareness I've been a Chinese student for 3 years now and I can easily say it's my favorite class Shi ensures that we are exposed to culture along with language each language has its own style idioms cultural references and Heritage I it has given me a new perspective on many things I've been able to connect with people I never have on a personal level in their language I was able to hold a conversation with a cashier at an oriental market her face just lit up when I attempted to introduce myself I wasn't even that good yet but she said it's effort that matters my neighbor Yong she was delighted when I introduced with I've been able to learn about her life and experiences because of that introduction how she came to America and the struggle she faced there how she is super smart and has an engineering degree how she hates cats because her sister would chase her sisters would chase her around the house when she was little not everyone is accepting in our country and her English isn't that good so she tells people to call her even though that isn't her real name so I'm grateful for the knowledge I've learned to be able to communicate with her I was given an opportunity to learn Mandarin at my high school and I do not regret it a single bit there are 120 classes at East Lake only one is Chinese East Lake is the only CL sorry High School to offer Chinese everyone I've told about this class asks how hard it is I tell them it's pretty easy grammatically it's just the characters that are thank you than you for good evening Madam chair board members superintendent I you know Madam chair I'm glad you brought up interaction when I was a kid the schools were a center for everybody to to kind of hang out play sports even young adults when as a young adult which was a while ago you could go to the school run the track play basketball every one of these are caged off now I know that's probably for liability but you guys should maybe reconsider uncaging the the play areas the physical fitness areas get some of these people off the electric bikes and uh get them out there and do some real exercise and interact with each other instead of being on their bloody phones all day I say that as a guy who's on his bloody phone all day but that's a whole another story um so thank you you Chang kind of changed the direction I was going I'd also like to reiterate to this board or one in the future that I think it's a good idea that you guys do all contract the policing services with the panel's county sheriff's office every cop here could be a part of that change the police would have Independence and oversight beyond the whims of the board and the uh General Council and like I told the police officer a couple years ago I love good cops I hate selective enforcement and I hate political intimidation but you guys are great we just need to change that um you guys have the duty and authority to provide instruction to all students meet them where they're at irrespective where that is you can't work miracles there's you know I heard of one teacher today apparently their parents and name only who don't want to parent they just want to believe whatever their kid does and you know let them run like a Rabbid uh feral animals and I feel for you I really do I can't imagine my my kids aren't that lucky um but uh I do feel your pain and and I do think these folks do need some more money I think there's you know some tweaking in the administration that could be given to some of these teachers um and you that's that is your primary Duty there's a lot of proclamations not one of them were bad I've been in some of these meetings where it seemed like for an hour and a half it's been nothing about proclamations for stuff I've never heard of or neither has anybody else so maybe you know recognize Excellence that's awesome on an individual or departmental basis that's cool but maybe reain it in a bit and uh you know get back to the core Mission which is to get these kids educated Pay Teachers enough to where they can afford to do it and uh let's all be reasonable I don't think that's too hard to do you all have a good one God bless cheers the next two speakers are Carolyn Penta and Carla Korea hi Carolyn's not here so I'm Carla um I'm here to urge that the district find the money to pay our School nurses a living wage over the past several months I've had the pleasure of getting to know some of the nurses here in pelis County um and I've learned a lot I've learned that a lot of them are working second and third jobs and have to live outside of the county because they're actively getting priced out of the county and they can't support their families on the salaries that they make which are on average $30,000 per year I've learned that oftentimes they don't just work for one school but they're split between multiple schools frequently leaving schools with no medical professionals I've als Al learned that they deeply love their jobs so much so to the point that they've sacrificed their standards of living to provide unwavering care to the children of penel County Schools every school needs a full-time nurse their workload has significantly increased they are now evaluating more students and staff and the occasional parent or caregiver than ever not only are they evaluating more students but they are now committing more time to also following up with those families after providing them support return to school dates answering medical questions and guiding them to resources in addition to in-person triaging they're also triaging students staff and family members by phone they're chasing doctor's notes and classroom restrictions they're coming into work early and they're they're working through their lunch breaks they're staying home they're staying late and all of this for no additional compensation and wages that fall well below uh the national poverty rate they're overworking themselves while having to use food stamps to provide for their families I'm well aware of the budgetary constraints that the district is facing but we can't leave our students Health to chance I'd like to learn more about possible funding options please make sure that we have a nurse in every school when there's a will there's a way thank you madam chair there are no more speakers thank you this concludes this evening meeting thank you for being here