million so far in grants that have come through the foundation to actually help and support Broward County Public Schools. Those are not grants that otherwise could have been had through the through the district itself, but they needed a 501c3 and that's us. So, we were able to actually partner with
our the grants team, which has been amazing. Um, and then Guy uh and his group has been absolutely amazing. Obviously, Lisa and her group have been amazing as well. So, I just kind of wanted to throw that out there. We're continuing to move forward. Many of you have reached out to me about a few other ideas and grants that we're trying to
get. Um, I just kind of wanted to touch a little bit on that today. So, if anybody else has any ideas or thoughts on grants, I know that I'm working with uh with Trey and and it and and a few others. So, please reach out. Obviously, this is independent of everything that we do on a daily basis, but I wanted to
make sure that we were intentional about talking about the great work that the team does here at BCPS on the on the grant side and on um on the staff side. So, we're really excited about that and and the when the press release comes out, obviously everybody will get it. So, um we continue to to bring these dollars in to make sure that it's
affecting our students, our faculty, and our staff so we can continue to be an a district. Um being an a district isn't enough. Continuing to be an a district is the standard that I know that we all set for for ourselves. So, um just wanted to say thank you. Appreciate it. >> Thank you so much. Thank you for what
you do for our district. Do we have any other employee union or groups? Okay, great. Then I think we're going to go back to the superintendence report. >> All right. Thank you, Madam Chair. I'll
pick up where I left off. As part of our ongoing efforts to strengthen school safety, I'm thrilled to introduce two highly trained K9 teams that have joined our district. Thanks to a generous donation from the Make Our School Safe organization, these exceptional Kines will assist us. Yes. Thank you, Miss Alf
and your make our safe schools organization. Thank you. Yes. Oh, they are beautiful, too. We'll we y'all oo and a let me finish. These exceptional canines will assist in detecting firearms, ammunition, bombs,
and explosive materials, providing an additional layer of protection to keep our campuses safe and secure. Meet our teams. K9 handler Brian um Palado and K9 Alyssa. K9 Alyssa is trained in gun and
ammunition detection, capable of of identifying the distinct scent signatures of firearms and ammunition. Handler Brian Palato brings deep experience and commitment to student safety. be working alongside Alyssa to help train to ensure our schools remain
safe and secure learning environments. Also introducing K9 handler Michael Lejoy and K9 Nitro. K9 Nitros specializes in bomb and explosive material detection trained to identify both traditional and improvised
explosive devices. Handler Michael Loy Lejoy has undergone extensive training with Nitro to help prepare to respond swiftly and effectively to any potential threats. Alyssa and Nitro share a special bond. They are brother and sister. Strengthening the trust and
coordination between these two teams are remarkable. To make this initiative even more meaningful, we held a district-wide naming contest for our bomb detective K9. Members of our Make Our School Safe clubs across BCPS participated, showcasing tremendous creativity and school spirit. We're proud to announce
that the PMPO Beach High School Moss Club submitted the winning name K9 Nitro. Since returning to South Florida, both handlers have continued to train weekly with local law enforcement agencies, ensuring their readiness remains at the highest level. We're excited to welcome K9 Alyssa and K9
Nitro to the BCPS family and deep and are deeply grateful to make our schools safe and our community partners for helping make this initiative possible. This recognition and these new safety investments reflect who our district who who we are as a district, one that leads
with excellence, innovation, and care for every child. And as we continue to work, I'd like to end tonight's report report by celebrating all the incredible things happening across BCPS. Um, uh, and before we actually roll the tape, I got to take a look at the dogs, too.
Hold on. >> Yes. >> Can we do a John? Can we do a quick picture? >> Oh, they're so beautiful. >> Yes. Yes. Yeah. Quick quick picture. We'll stay and you want to get down there.
She's like, "Who are all these people?" There's no [Applause] >> All right. So, last month al has also been a busy month for our district. Beacon rolled the tape. [Music]
Heat. Heat. [Music] Heat [Music] up [Music]
here. Heat. Heat.
[Music] down. Hey [Music]
Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat.
[Music]
Okay. Heat. And before I close out my report, a huge shout out to Miss Freda Bole's 56 years of dedicated service and passion and commitment to our students here at BCPS. Yes. And looks amazing. That's my
report, Madam Chair. >> Excellent. Thank you so much. And thank you for the treat of the the kines and thank you to save save our schools make our schools safe for for donating the dogs and the handlers adds to the safety
of our district. So plus they're really cute. So thank you. Okay, we're going to go to the consent items that have been pulled. We'll start with that and at 10:00 we'll go back to our public speakers because
we don't want to miss anybody. Okay. So, sorry. Okay. Yeah. Yes. So, at Well, we already did those. So, can I have a motion in a second to discuss to pull to bring to the floor
item H2? >> So, move. >> It's been moved by Dr. Zean, seconded by Miss Thompson. Any public comment on H2? >> We have no public comment on any of these items, Madam Chair. >> Okay. U So, Mr. Sea,
>> thank you, Chair. Uh, I want to address an individual that's on this chart that I have some real concerns about. This, uh, is an individual who, uh, apparently has a propensity for fighting our students. And, uh, this recently came to light,
uh, because the individual was arrested, rightfully so. Uh, I don't know if he's still in jail. If he's not, I hope he is. Um, but I I'm I'm extremely concerned about this for a couple reasons. The gentleman's name is Jir
Clark, and I guess in his most recent role, he was a volunteer football coach that apparently got upset about a social media post and decided to fight several students over it. Now, if that wasn't
bad enough, come to find out that this was not the first time that this gentleman had been engaging in such conduct. In fact, apparently, he was previously employed at Monarch High School in Coconut Creek,
where he had been previously accused of a separate incident regarding the fighting of students. So, what I'm very concerned about and what I think the public uh needs to be able to hear from from this district is
how does this individual go from fighting students at Monarch High School and then he is allowed to continue or his place or I don't know what the exact circumstances are, but this most recent incident was at Blanch Elely High School, which obviously is a different
high school. I'm very concerned that this individual was able to travel between different schools and engage in this reckless conduct against our students. This is a u terrible incident or terrible set of
circumstances. This is national news. I pulled up a story from the New York Post this morning uh in which this gentleman was um was mentioned and referenced. this uh puts the district in in an extremely poor light and quite frankly
I'm a little bit pissed off about it. Um I would like to know how this gentleman was able to go from Monarch to Elely High School and essentially commit the same type of offense on a different group of students.
>> Dr. Hepper, >> thank you for the question. Mr. Sea, then ask uh M Dr. Lozano to provide any details that we are aware of. >> Dr. Lozano, chief human resources officer and as a district sir, we share your concerns. Um, unfortunately, no
district staff or employees were aware of the video incident that happened at Monarch High School until after the situation at Elely occurred. So as part of our budget allocation last year um we
reduced the number of monitors by 104 um in our budget and we did that through attrition. So we were still working on that process as this was a newer employee. Um as vacancies became available
um our probationary or newest employees were moved to locations um to handle that reduction of staff. So his move to it was actually Crest Haven Elementary um not Elely. he was coaching
at Yale. Um was part of that reallocation and was done prior to anybody um being aware of this video. Um the same result of termination would have happened the minute we received that video had we
received it on the day that occurred. >> So for the public's sake, Dr. Lozon, I just I just want to make sure we're clear. the incident, the fighting incident that happened at Stranahan. It is your position that the district was not aware of that before this individual
was moved to another school. That only came to light after his arrest for the second fight at Elely. Correct. >> Okay. >> Yeah, I know he Monarch. I know we he everybody understands he meant Monarch,
but just for the record, Monarch Straan. >> Oh, sorry. Monarch High School. Yes. Not to not to talk poorly about Shanraan. Um I think that's important. >> It is >> because when you read these stories in the press, I had a lot of concerned
parents that reached out to me and you know immediately the first place they went to, oh this is some sort of you know conspiracy. They're trying to shove this under the rug and move this guy around. So I I think it's important that the that the public uh hear our
position. Um, I'm a little concerned that it didn't come to light um earlier. Uh, that the video was I don't know the circumstances of the video if it was turned over to us, if it was published on social media. I I I don't know the entire circumstances around it, but um certainly and and and to close here, um
this gentleman should be fired immediately, terminated immediately, which is I believe what's on for today. Correct. uh and he should also f uh face the full extent of the law which I hope uh our prosecutors and state attorneys in Broward County bring the appropriate charges and that uh he faces justice on
this. >> Thank you. It turns out we do have a public public comment for H2. So if Sharon Sharon Pettis would like to come to the podium Good morning and thank you for giving me
the opportunity to speak today. I come before you with humility and respect to address a recent incident that has unstandably raising concern. I wanted to begin by acknowledge that I made a comment that was unintentional
and in hindsight poorly chosen. I deeply regret that it caused discomfort to anyone. Please know that I have never directed any at any individual, nor was I meant as a threat.
this that is simply not nor who I am and not how I conduct myself. It says throughout my career I have always strived to be a person of integrity, professionalism and respect. I have never posed a threat to anyone in my
workplace. I have never been involved in any discipline action. If I were truly considered a danger, I believe I would not have been reassigned to another location to continue working along
Colleen alongside Colleen's colleagues. It says, "I've spent over 40 years in the workforce and for the past 11 and a half years, I've had the privilege of serving the school board as an accounting specialist, too. And at in
that time I've worked diligently ensure capital payments are accurate in compliance and timely. I take great pride in my quality of my work and I trust that has been placed in
me. I've submitted 10 years of of performance evaluation that reflects a consistent record of excellent and professionalism and no history of discipline actions issues. In addition
to my professional responsibility, I have faced personal history challenge I mean health challenge. I was diagnosed with pulmonary fibrosis in 2016, rheumatoid arthritis in 2023. Despite these conditions, I have never let
anything let them in interfere with my duties. I've continued to meet every expectation set by my supervisor and I have maintained the same high standard in my work. I have always treated my colleagues with respect and kindness.
I've never had a conflict with any or another employee. I've always believed in fostering positive and professional work environment. I hope my record speaks for itself. One dedication,
reliable and respect. Today I ask the board to consider the full content of this situation, my longstanding service of the history of my exemplary conditions, conducts, excuse me,
conducts. I am committed to learn from this experience and continuing to serve with the same level of professionally professionalism and care that I've always strived to uphold. >> Thank you so much. >> Thank you. >> Thank you.
Dr. Holes. >> Thank you, Madam Chair. And uh um thank you, Miss Pettis, for speaking on your behalf. So, Dr. Heeper, I have a few concerns. Um and uh the the concern is
with Miss Sharon Pettis. Um, so I normally meet with staff to get an understanding and she, this particular employee was one of the three or four that I had questions about, but uh, I continue to have lingering questions in
my mind regarding this particular employee. The others were clarified. So, a few questions. Dr. Heepern, has this employee had any prior corrective action since the 11 years she's been with B County Schools? >> Dr. He >> thanks for the the question, Dr. Holus.
I'm turn it over to Dr. Lozano. >> No, sir. Okay. And she's been here since 2014. >> Yes. >> Okay. So, how long
has this employee been a uh an employee of the current department to which there is a concern? >> Dr. Dr. Lozano, >> 11 months. Okay, >> ma'am. You can't We don't go back and forth. So, thank you.
>> You're welcome. >> Okay, Madam Chair, did you want the employee to sit down or >> um Yes, you can. You can go ahead and have a seat. >> Okay. Thank you. >> All right. Is there any record now or is there any record
rather in the past that suggested this employee is a threat to others? Dr. Heer, >> Dr. Lozano, >> Mr. Azero, >> David Azero, executive director, professional practices. No, there is
not. >> Okay. So, Dr. Heburn, is there any sort of anger management option for employees who are experiencing stress uh that may cause them to um behave out of the norm?
Uh is there any sort of employee counseling that type of a option for us to be able to consider um when employees behave in a manner that is out of the norm but is not within their uh prior um
ex uh character or their prior um um history of behavior >> Mr. or Dr. Lazani or >> we have the assist employee assistance program. I'm not sure if it's anger management. We'd have to check with Dr. Agburn Barton if that's available.
>> So, Mr. Azero, can you describe the employee assistance program? What is involved with that? >> That would be best for Dr. Agburn to to describe that or I'm not entirely familiar with the process. >> Okay. Is Dr. Agurn here benefits?
>> Um, no, she's not. She's benefits. Uh but our familiarity and the rest of the team can speak um is more about mental health uh stress those type of issues when it comes to EAP services that people are referred to.
>> Okay. So if so Dr. Heburn if an employee is experiencing undue stress for whatever is happening in their lives and we all have our fair share of different things happening in our lives. Uh what is the option for those employees to get help by this district?
So if there's concern about mental health issues, um stress issues, they are referred to EAP services. Um it is uh voluntary most of the time, but I I do think we have some involuntary options um too.
>> Okay. Was this employee in in in any at any time including currently um referred to EAP services? >> Go ahead, Mr. Alto. >> No, she was not. So this this incident is a one-time incident that occurred and so the the magnitude of the incident is
why the recommendation of termination is here. >> Okay. So I read the incident and I look at the history of this employee and it appears to me there was some sort of a um outburst with some exchanges. Uh
it probably was not the right choice of words. Um so as a board I believe we must exercise um sort of caution that we are not
um reacting overly harshly to to employees. Um we must in my opinion exercise the wisdom to discern a credible threat versus an unfavorable spur-ofthe- moment outburst by an
employee. And um it's important that whatever we do, whatever consequence we provide to our employees, um that it's reflective of uh understanding and wisdom. Um people do
have bad days, people have bad situations, people make poor choices. um those poor choices in my opinion does not necessarily lend itself to bring the axe down on someone and and call it a day after service of 11 years with no
issue, no prior problems. Um I think there are better ways to to resolve it and Dr. Hepern um I think this employee could do well with counseling. Uh obviously uh her action reflect uh poor
choice. uh her history does not reflect a uh in in my opinion what is perceived to be a threat. I think this employee should be given an opportunity to get some counseling uh certainly get
suspended for some days and um and and uh if if there is some issue of functionality within within that specific department maybe this employee could fit somewhere else. But I just think termination is a very harsh option. Uh as I said, everyone has bad
days, everyone has issues. It was a poor choice. Um but when we do impact one person, we are impacting a series of other individuals who depend on that person. And I I I I think the the the punishment is harsh and we
should consider a number of days of suspension as well as some counseling. That's just my opinion uh regarding this case. So I I cannot vote for termination. I don't think it matches uh what I see. >> Thank you. Any Oh, Mrs. Rupert.
Um first of all, this I wanted to discuss uh Mr. Clark. He's uh got the court order termination. Correct. >> That's it. Yes. Okay. Um and then the background that my my colleague talked
about um is alarming. Um I don't know where Izzone 2 is. Can you update me where that is? Dr. >> He lozano. >> That's his location. Where is Izzone?
What location? >> It's important that I know where and you'll find out in like 30 seconds. >> Yeah. So that's assigned by director Lar Rosa to Izzones. So that's how they assign their security staff by zones,
>> right? I just need to know where that covers. >> It's central. >> Central >> central. >> Okay. The reason I asked that is um obviously the question was how does this persist um to go from one school to the
other? Um, and my my point being is that it's not just the board that needs to be aware of this. Um, it's also the um the local school and the community there as well as um
the the uh area directors. Because if you have someone that has multiple times done this, then there's enough talk going around for for um the information to get to the U. North area
director and they should take responsibility. So um I don't know what that looks like. that's not in my pay grade, but I highly suggest that when we talk about this and what what happened to make sure it doesn't happen again, we obviously need another checkpoint. And I
would think that the area director should be uh involved in this so this never happens again. So just another checkpoint for us to not not have this happen ever again. So that's my thought. Thank you, Dr. Z.
>> Where did he go? He's coming. He's coming back. Dr. Seaman. >> My apologies. >> Nope. This is a long agenda today. We're going to rip through it. Uh just for the sake of the community, I wonder, Mr.
Superintendent, if we can share uh kind of a paragraph or two about um the offense for um Miss Pettis. we we don't have that information available in the public uh documents they're released for this meeting but there are other
things and I just feel like in cases like this because this is a balance and and we have to in some sense think about um parody of consequences Mr. wholeness, you know, h how have other people been treated that have done this in the past.
I think it's very important. I think it's a fair thing to bring up, but I also think it's really important for the public to understand more than just what Miss Petta has said about what happened. And so, Mr. Superintendent, could I just get a paragraph or two about the incident itself and what um our
professional services uh group uh found um about what happened at work uh with this particular employee? >> Dr. Heer. >> Yes. Thank you for the question, Dr. Zaman. Uh, Miss Peree, >> thank you very much. Heather Peree, director of professional practices. So, this is an incident of an employee
violating the schoolboard anti-bullying policy 5900 to include bullying and harassment. It also included gross insubordination, failure to adhere to directives given by an administrator, and refraining from retali retaliating and or taking any action to interfere
with a bullying investigation. On August 12th, there was an employee in the office that was filing bullying and harassing against another staff member. This employee approached that staff member who filed the bullying and harassing claim on someone else and in a loud harsh tone repeatedly called them a
snitch, saying that they would no longer speak to them because they would just snitch to the supervisor. Despite the employee trying to stop the employee from these comments, this this employee persisted in voicing their hostile comments and later admitted to another staff member that they did call the
employee a snitch. And they did say snitches get stitches. On August 18th, they were notified of a on August 18th, they were notified of a bullying complaint being filed against them, and they were instructed not to retaliate against anyone involved.
Immediately following that meeting, they left that office and walked back to the desk, saw that co-worker coming down the hall and began to engage again in intimidating confrontation, making a loud and provocative comment such as, "So now I'm a bully. Snitches get
stitches." When the supervisor tried to intervene because it was going on and others were hearing, it was noted as a tie raid. When that happened, this employee reacted to the supervisor by calling them a racist and telling them to leave. Later, they told another staff member that they were leaving for the
day. They were citing another co-worker and they referred to someone else in the department as Bigfoot. When the employee attended a due process meeting, they were asked, "What does it mean to say snitches get stitches?" And they responded by saying, "That means you're going to get it." We've conferred with Dr. Jodie Washington and her department
who looked over the documents and stated that it was very clear that there was harassment, even a concern about workplace violence, and certainly insubordination, defiance, and retaliation. Thank you, chair. Um, it's important, I think, um, for board
members and for the public to be aware of more than than just a name on a table. And so, I I I appreciate sharing that. I feel like there are um clear rules that this board has set. Uh, we don't even have to write them down. They're so clear that if you
injure uh one of our students, you're going to get any kind of uh potential offense that we can that you may not injure a student in Broward County Schools. The challenge I think we have is that um you know, there are employees that have
long histories of doing great things and then they have a bad day. And I I recognize that we're all better than our worst day. Um, but this is more than just an incident of one uh one statement. Um, Mr. Superintendent, did all of this happen on one day or did
this happen over multiple days? >> Dr. Heburn. >> Miss Parente. >> Heather Peree. Um, it happened, these were two incidents. A August 12th was the first incident where the employee approached the one who filed bullying and harassment on someone else. So, they approached that employee and made the
first set of statements. And then it was August 18th when this particular employee was called in and spoken to about a bullying and harassment claim being filed against them. That's when they were given the directive not to discuss it. And immediately after the the meeting, they walked out and directed those comments to the employee.
>> So, um I'm not a psychologist, but I've dealt with anger management issues before. Oftentimes, they are single instances of someone boiling over. Uh it may be related to stress. It may be related to uh medical conditions. Uh you
know we life is a lot more complicated than we allow in our white collar environment uh to enter into the workspace. Often it's not so acceptable or understandable when these things happen over multiple days. However, um oftentimes people spike once uh and do
this. So I just want to note for the record this is multiple days. This is physical violence against a colleague. This is also uh threatening violence against somebody who's trying to report bullying, which is something we want employees to
be able to come in and and report and and allow it to be investigated. We don't tolerate bullying. Uh we don't tolerate physical violence against it. Um uh I appreciate the work that's been done by this. Um Mr. Mr. Superintendent, is there something between a long-term
suspension and anger management that uh would fit um uh I'll just say it that way. Is there a punishment that is between a 10-day suspension and a or I'm just guessing a number, Mr. Holus, Dr. Holus, but right um I'm just wondering if there
isn't something between the termination that's recommended to the board today and I'm just going to say Dr. almost maybe a 10-day suspension and required mandatory anger management, which is part of virtually every EAP program in the United States, by the way. So, I'm confident we have that here. >> But is there something between 10 days
and mandatory EAP and and termination? >> Dr. Heer, >> Dr. Lozona, >> we can also add a last chance agreement to that. >> So, so an alternate in the middle would be 10day suspension, mandatory anger management, and last chance. And that last chance would be, you know,
basically if you raise your voice, if you threaten, if you, you know, don't take a bullying complaint, what, you know, the the history of things and say any of those things happen again, uh, I guess you'd still have to come to the board, but the recommendation back to the board would be to terminate immediately. Is that correct? >> Correct. >> Terrific. Thank you so much, chair.
>> Thank you, Mrs. Thompson. >> Thank you, chair. Uh, Dr. Z. So my question just getting more details but also I just want we have a zero tolerance for bullying at our schools. We should have a zero tolerance for bullying at our workplaces.
And I just want the board to truly reflect on if we do not take this seriously, how the employees in that office are going to feel that the comments made towards them that we are saying basically it's a slap on the
wrist and I am not comfortable with that and I would like to go forward with the recommended action. Thank you. >> Thank you. Okay, we'll finish up with Dr. Holmes. >> Thank you, Madam Chair. So, um, again, I I I would mention that, um, uh, and I appreciate the comments from the
employee. Uh, she, uh, did seem to admit to, uh, uh, poor choices. Um, uh, again, she's been with the district for quite some time. Um, and, uh, uh, she's asking for, uh, a
chance. It's a it's a one-time uh error on her part. And so um uh and Dr. Zean, I I certainly appreciate uh uh your suggestion possibly suggestion as as far as uh somewhere between the uh
termination and um um you know 10day suspension as well as um some sort of uh counseling option. Uh I I think that would send a clear message as well as the suggestion uh by Dr. Lozano um that no further incident occur. Um I think
this would show um I don't think that would be a slap on the wrist. I think this would uh clearly indicate that we are serious as a board. um in terms of any bullying. Um I just think that uh unfortunately and sometimes it even happens to the best of us where you have
a a pretty bad day or a bad situation going on and and you just make poor choices. Um I think giving this person an opportunity to uh prove themsel uh I think would be responsible on our part. Um uh so I would I would like to make a
motion to separate the item and uh for the superintendent to review it and revise it and bring it back. >> Second. Is there a public comment on the motion? >> Good morning. Dr. Natalie Lynch Walsh, Plantation, Florida. I absolutely
support the motion. I have zero faith in any process related to anti-bullying in this district. having fidelity and also speaking from experience having sat on and the facilities task force since 2011.
This district does nothing to diffuse situations. It takes a very passive aggressive approach to management and allows things to fester and boil over instead of addressing them when there's a a chance to do so proactively.
So, I totally support giving this employee another chance by separating this out. I don't think they should be terminated because you you cannot be certain of anything that's in any report from this district against an employee
or a volunteer for that matter. And you they should have been proactive and assigned her to EAP. Thank you. >> Thank you. Board member comment, Mrs. Bulman. >> Thank you, chair. Um, based on the fact that there were
threats made to people in the department of the employee at hand, um, if we were to intervene and do as Dr. Holus has suggested um would the employee be going
back to the same department where she was threatening >> Dr. Heer >> uh employees that were making bullying complaints >> against somebody else, a third party. >> Yes, that's correct. >> Okay. So, I mean,
I think to Miss Thompson's point, you know, that that get this gets a little bit murky for us because that um you're sending someone back to the same department where they were threatening an employee. I think we do need to talk
think about what does that what message does that send to all the rest of the people that are working in that department and um the the victim Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Doc, >> hold on. Dr. Zean,
>> did you Oh, okay. Miss Thompson. >> Um, I have a question for the superintendent. If a student were to make similar comments towards another student, what actions would we take? >> Dr. Heer, >> I ask one of the regionals to chime in
and either Mr. Strauss or Dr. Tumer. If a student is found to be Oh, is Jod here? Oh, >> there she is. >> Go ahead. I wasn't sure. Dr. Washington, go ahead. >> Good morning, everyone. Jod Washington, director of school culture and student support. Students who are found to um be
bullies are administratively assigned to a district behavior intervention program. >> And how long are they outside of their home school? >> They are outside of their home school for a minimum of if they're elementary school age, they're outside for a minimum of a quarter. If they are
secondary grades 6 through 12, it's a minimum of a semester, but they have to work their way through the level system that is in the behavior intervention centers, which means they have to have a good attendance record. They have to have positive behavior while they're there, and they also have to maintain good grades.
>> Thank you, Dr. Washington. So, if we do this, we are punishing our students more harshly than full-g grown adults. I just I'm incredibly uncomfortable about the message that there's we are potentially sending to our staff and
their safety. Thank you, >> Dr. Holes. >> Thank you, Madam Chair. So, Dr. He um is there a in terms of if this item should go through for you to review, revise and
bring back, is there an option where uh for a specific period of time or or indefinitely that this employee could have a a a lateral shift uh uh that would align with the employees um scope
of experience? >> Dr. Pepper. >> Um thanks for the question. I can't make a guarantee on lateral shifts. Um, number one, we're downsizing depending on attrition. Number two, the skill set that is needed in different departments
um often um limit us and where we can place people. Um so that's the difficulties um in that part of the situation that I can't um make a guarantee here on the day about a lateral shift um for the employee. >> Okay. Thank you, Madam Chair. >> Thank you. I have a quick question. If
we were to to postpone this to take it off the list, where would the employee is the employee still at her job or is she been suspend like where is she right now? >> Dr. Lozano, >> the employee is reassigned at this time.
>> And where is she reassigned to? >> We'll get that to you, but she's not in that department as of now. >> So, we were to let it come back to us, she would not be in the same department. and she would stay wherever she's reassigned for right now. >> Correct.
>> Okay. Thank you. Okay. All those in favor of Dr. Hoiss's motion say I. >> I. >> I. >> Any oppose say no. >> No. >> Let's do a roll call. >> Roll call on the motion. Uh, school board members Alhadev. >> No.
>> Bowman. >> No. >> Sea. >> Hixon. >> Yes. >> Honest. >> Yes. >> Leonardi. >> No. >> Rupert. Is that a no? >> Thompson
>> Zean. >> Yes. The motion fails. 63. >> Okay. Back to the original item of H2. All those in favor of H2 say I. >> Madam Chair. >> Oh, I'm sorry. Mr. Sea wanted to clarify something. I apologize. >> Um, I want to just briefly shift back to
uh my comments earlier. Uh I apparently used the wrong surname for the gentleman that I was speaking about just for uh clarity of the record. Uh Jir uh Clark was the individual that I was speaking about uh who had the two fighting incidences most recently at Elely High
School which led to his arrest. I I I guess I used the wrong last name. The individuals Jir Clark. >> Okay. Thank you for clarifying that. All those in favor of item H2 say I. I. >> No. >> Those opposed say no. Motion passes with one descending vote. Okay, we are going
to go to public comment. This is the time. Hold on. Sorry. This is the time of the agenda where we have split the general public speakers to incorporate a morning session. Each registered speaker is reminded to
present their agenda comments in accordance with policy 1020. Our first public comment, our first public speaker is Dr. Natalie Lynch Walsh. >> Good morning again, Dr. Natalie Lynch Walsh, Plantation, Florida. Um, first,
there's no water in the water fountain out there again. Um, so I may not be able to speak later, which I'm sure will make some people happy, but we need water out there. It's not the first time. Um, and when you add things, could you
please make sure I don't know how you're going to do this, but you're not using Granicus. I brought this up before. Granicus has other modules that can leverage technology, and that is not happening here. So when things are added morning of like when you yank two three
of the items I was going to speak on the way the only way I find that out is by accident often. So like O5 where tech army's disappeared for today's discussion. Um that and I'm happy to see that the uh I the piggyback
item impacting BPI is gone. But you need to use technology so people can get an alert something. Anyway, um I want to reiterate district-wide strategic planning and I'm I'm here to give you a brief update on
the rebuttal because that's going along well and I heard something about a transition plan for the general council. Uh and I see Scott Travis has already tweeted out the memo. Uh wise decision strategic district-wide strategic
planning includes self-examination. Maybe your general counsel did that and made some difficult choices. Uh but she's not the only one that needs to do that. Uh rebuttal update. And just for the new people, this that
started with someone circumventing the very rules you were just all talking about. And then because the cover up is always worse than the crime around here. Many, many people involved in the cover up. But I've learned uh some new things
uh this week that I wanted to share with you. One, Florida statute 120.52 rulemaking has a laundry list of things that can invalidate your rules. So we're going to be talking about schoolboard meetings and rules of order. And then ironically
rule making is next week. But you want to look at eight A through F because if any of those apply to your rules, you could have invalid rules. And then related to the rebuttal I'm writing on this bogus bullying complaint,
defamation by implication is when something that is technically true contains statements that make it misleading. So when so for example, if your superintendent sends someone a
letter and says an investigation concluded on August 29th and found that your conduct violated, but they know that that investigation was totally false. Thank you. >> Defamation by implication. Thank you. The next public speaker is Trudy
Geranovich, but I don't see her. Okay. Next is Delvin King. Good morning board. On May 31st, my school rented out Blanchila High School gymnasium to host our high school graduation ceremony. Upon arrival, I discovered that coach
McNab, the school's basketball coach, had moved and damaged our decorations in order to host a basketball tournament on that same day. The tournament took place without any schoolboard employees there, school personnel, police or custodial
staff present, creating a serious safety and liability concern for B County Public School. Security footage reportly shows that McNab gave his keys to his son for him to open up Bland Chile High School, open the gym, and prepare for the event, an action that proposes major
security and uh security policy violations. When I raised concerns, the principal, Mr. Williams stated that coach McNab had an ongoing lease agreement for these tournaments and that the events were listed in Facilitron. After further review and public records,
it became clear that no such approved lease existed and none of these tournaments were in Facilitron. Subsequentially uh uh after further investigation, it was revealed that um there were multiple school board employees that was in on this job to
defraud Brow County Public Schools. There were more schools used. Blanch Elely, Coral Springs, Board Anderson, Coral Glaze, Hollywood Hills, Northeast, Deerfield High. It is that it is in my belief that this ongoing misuse of public school facilities can be seen. Uh
they he couldn't conduct this alone. evidence points that his sister Rachel Daly who works in the office of facility planning and real estate, she helped him out, showing him what facilities was available, showing him what he had to do. And if you can look at the video,
you can see that people have been paying the basketball coach, paying the school administrators, undermining the school board of Prow County and collecting money. There has been over, if I can calculate right, over half a million dollars made using these facilities
without the permission of the school board of Broward County without proper uh liability insurance. And again, Mr. Superintendent, you know what's going on. You're blocking the investigation. Mr. Williams, the basketball coach, and everybody else involved needs to be
removed immediately. And you know this. You remove Mr. Spence, but you refuse to move the principal. But I come to tell you right now, we're got I'm not going to let this go. They've been stealing from the district. And when you guys meet about Facilitron, you better find out what's going on. There's a video,
there's um body cam footage. What people have said on the body cam, I paid Coach McNab to rent this facility. Why can't I use it today? You can't use it today, baby, because I rented it out and I went through Facilitron. So, it's time, Mr. Superintendent, you hold people accountable because I'm going to hold
you accountable for your actions and the things that you do. and I'm tired of you covering up for the school for our school. We need new leadership. Thank you so much. >> Thank you. Next public speaker is Barbara Steltz.
I don't think I said that right. >> So the public the item I wanted to copy or comment on was withdrawn from the agenda and I just saw that. So, do I speak or do I not speak? It's up to you. Okay, then I will speak. My name is Barbara Stells. I'm a Fort
Lauderdale resident 33308 and I'm speaking on the withdrawn item of 0016 PY 25163. I'm an employee of Granger Industrial Supply. We understand the board's role is to ratify decisions recommended to
it, but I want to express our deep concern that our proposal for the Broward County Schools stock room and related zone locations did not receive full and fair consideration before recommendation was made. During the process of completing our recommendations, we were given two
goals. To deliver cost savings and to protect the jobs of the stock room employees and associated staff. We believe our proposal delivers greater cost savings than the competing option, fulfills the goal of zero headcount elimination, and aligns directly with
the goals we were given by staff to reduce inventory expense and increase productivity. Our proposal was developed as an initial proposal with the understanding that we would enter into good faith negotiations that would result in an ideal end state
for all parties. We developed it in order to protect jobs, save taxpayer dollars, and ensure quality service for students and staff. To our knowledge, Granger has been the primary vendor used by the stock room for years. Additionally, we're the primary vendor
for the state of Florida. As a resident, property owner, and taxpayer of Broward County, moving forward with the competing proposal without fully evaluating ours would, in my view, be fiscally inconsistent with the district's commitment to transparency
and continuous improvement, not to mention sound financial management. We respectfully ask the board before ratifying this decision to request a comprehensive review of all proposals, including ours, so that the district and the community can be confident the best
possible option is being chosen. I have come prepared with copies of our initial proposal, and I'm happy to provide those upon request today or in the future. Thank you for your time and your continued commitment to our schools and community. >> Thank you. Um, very quickly in our
policy it says before someone speaks, are are you a registered lobbyist with the district? No, I'm not. >> Since you came to Okay. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Okay. I think that concludes our public speakers for this morning. >> Hey, chair. Just a point of order. Um,
I've been doing government contracting for a few decades. I think that is a lobbyist. If if someone comes here on behalf of a company and and says that we want to do business with you, that I think is the quintessential definition of lobbying, right? >> My question was was she a registered
lobbyist? I wanted to know if she because they're supposed to identify themselves as a registered lobbyist. >> And I just want to point out maybe we have a little gap in our policy that um if someone comes here and lobbies us, they should register as a lobbyist. And so how do we enforce that? Uh chair or
general counsel? That that was my question a second ago to Miss Batista. >> So the policy says um that the person is supposed to identify themselves as a lobbyist not necessarily a registered lobbyist. >> Okay. >> Um so as as you mentioned Dr. Zean, yes
it the the presentation sounded like a lobbying attempt from >> clearly right. But um aren't lobbyists supposed to register now with Broward County before they lobby us? Yes, that is correct. So that's something um there isn't any um repercussion to not
necessarily registering in the policy. There is no you know other than the desire for the board that this that the board has stated in the policy that a lobbyist register. There is no penalty for not registering. >> Is there a fee for registering to lobby
Broward County Schools? >> Yes. >> Okay. It's just something we may chair in the future want to do a little work on and and if if someone's literally coming here to sell us their company, which is great. I mean, it's we we want to learn about uh companies and and what their capabilities are, that's really
good for the staff and for us to know about. Um but maybe we we can put that in the parking lot for future work and just figure out a way in which we can um encourage people to do the right thing or even incentivize them to do the right thing um in the future. Thanks, Chair.
Well, Dr. Zean, just it's policy 1020, which is going to come up later in this board meeting. So, just as a note, you might want to bring that discussion up. >> Not only will I bring it up, I'm going to type it out ahead of time. Chair, you ready? >> Okay, perfect.
>> Okay. Thank you so much. The next item, Can I have a motion in a second to bring H3 to the floor? >> So, move. >> It's been moved by Dr. Zean, seconded by Mrs. Bulman. Any public comment on H3? You comment. Okay. Um, Dr. Holes.
>> Thank you, Madam Chair. Okay. So, um, Dr. Hepern, um, just a few questions and, uh, I know that we we have a a B item coming up as far as reviewing supplemental pays. Um, so we
are spending over $60 million yearly on supplements. Is that correct, >> Dr. Hipper? >> Go ahead, Dr. Lozano. >> Not for the supplements you see on H3.
>> Okay. But in general, um, we are. >> So, >> Dr. Heer, >> go ahead. Dr. Lozano. So we are we have currently spent approximately 30 million on supplements to staff for extra periods, athletic
coaches, etc. Um being the sack chair at schools, that's what these supplements are. So currently um the district has spent approximately 30 million on these supplements. Um, our CFO can talk about
other supplements we pay out, but as far as this item, it was specific to staff taking on additional activities and roles. >> Understand? So, Dr. Heburn, the the review of supplement payments that's coming up in V2. Um,
those supplements are obviously um different from the ones here. >> Dr. Hepper, >> go ahead. Dr. Lozano, if you can talk about the question. >> So, Dr. Heburn, Dr. Dr. Hepper has tasked a work group and we have divided all supplements into different buckets
and categories and we're doing a comprehensive review of all supplements that we um distribute in this district. >> Okay. So the the supplements that will be under review in the upcoming item would be inclusive of the supplements that are here as well.
>> Yes, sir. >> Okay. So, Madam Chair, I'll have more questions when we get to B2. >> Okay. Thank you. Uh Mr. See, >> thank you, chair. For the uh for the sake of the public, what percentage of this $24 million that this board is is
being asked to vote upon now? Uh what percentage of this supplemental pay is going to our teachers directly? >> Thanks for this the question. Um approximately 86% of the supplements are going to teachers. Um so roughly about 22.6 mill.
>> So 22 out of the 24 are going to teachers. >> Correct. Thank you. I'm have a question also on supplement supplemental pay positions. There are um in this list of supplements there are seven people that are getting
the special Olympics supplement which I applaud greatly. But I do believe that there was a criteria for that supplement. It was for competitive Special Olympics. It was they would get half for if they did one season the
first year season and then the other half the other season. And looking at that list, there's only one school that participates in competitive Special Olympics. The other ones do the day activity and I don't think it fits the
criteria for the supplement. So could you um could you address that? We would look into those seven individuals and follow up accordingly, >> okay? >> And provide a followup. >> We could just be consistent with what the criteria is for the supplement
because there's a big difference between a competitive coach, which was what that money is for, than someone who hosts a day special Olympics at the school. They're very different things. So, I I believe that the supplement was for the competitive coaches.
>> Thank you for that input. >> All right. Thank you. Anybody else on H3? All those in favor of H3 say I. I. Any opposed say no. Item passes unanimously. The next item is B1. Can I have a motion and a second on B1?
>> So move. >> It's been moved by Zemen's uh Dr. Zean, seconded by Mrs. Rupert. Any public No, no public comment. Uh Dr. Zean, >> chair, thanks so much. I really just I mean there's some really fabulous uh
training available to senior leaders in Broward County including uh some of the topic that our chair uh attended. I just wanted to ask you to share some uh more information about what what was presented and particularly how it
pertains to us so that if there's anything that you heard about besides this amazing report that you submitted is full of great uh content but is there some uh summary of things that we should learn about the way we either do negotiations with unions or the way that
we develop policies that that we would benefit from knowing? Um I think that thank you for the question and um it was a it was a great training and just to give it a plug if you want to be a board certified a board a certified board member these are courses that are
required to be able to get that certification. Um the big push was the distinguishing factors between what the superintendent is supposed to do and what you as board members are supposed to do and how it's really important not
to cross over those lines in terms of governance and um policym specifically and it was interesting we there were different activities like here's the issue how would you write a policy on it who would have to so there's a lot of
interactive things along those lines So I think the bottom line was that you needed to have open communication with your superintendent and and have faith in the fact that your superintendent is doing the work and not try to cross that line. And in bargaining it was
also very interesting and timely. um the idea that you need to bargain in good faith, that you need to be honest, that you should be open um and that the discussions if you make a decision, you should be open with what that decision is. But
again, it's not the board shouldn't be negotiating with the unions that there is a bargaining team that does that. We as a board give them direction and we need to have faith that they do that that we should not be trying to do something behind the scenes with with
employees or union um officers of that nature, but to let the teams do the work that they're supposed to be doing. That was the general gist of it. If I could in response, it sounds like a lot of things Broward County School Board is doing are are are maybe
not best practices, but they're in general alignment with what FSBA recommends on both of these topics. Is that fair to say? >> Yes. There were a couple of pieces and I was going to talk to the superintendent about the policy and being able to
easily find policy which um we we actually do a lot that other districts don't do to make sure that we're aligned that we have a mission statement that they you know have all these different pieces. So I was happy when we did our activities to find what I was supposed to find in the scavenger hunt.
>> That's terrific. And if I could ask the general counsel, are there instances in our policies, Miss Batista, where we tiptoe up against the line of the difference between our superintendent CEO's authority on operations and
execution and uh and our statutory requirements on setting policies, establishing budgets, uh approving contracts um and the like that the 23 numerated statutory requirements the school board has. Are
we are we perfect in that regard? Are we nearperfect? Um when we review policies as we're doing today, I think it's an obviously an opportunity to make some improvements on little things like lobbyist and things like that. But in general, are we are we perfect? Are we
near perfect? Are we just okay? And I'm I'm glad you're free and clear now to tell us your your whole and full opinion. Um uh although I regret the reasons why that's the case. Um uh I'm wondering how how do we rate in terms of our our polic we have 1700 pages of
policies by the way 256 I think policies which seems like a lot of policies to me >> but um but they're there and are we are we perfect near perfect or just okay >> as you just said there are a lot of policies so for me to make that u
statement as to all of the policies I I in a general way I feel your you're um you know better than okay. Uh as far as the policies are concerned um I think the more uh challenging issues are um
when board members bring the items uh whether that's tiptoeing right against what the role of the superintendent um is. >> Terrific. And last question of the superintendent, how do you feel about our engagement with you? Uh we don't get to talk about this. This is something
that we could potentially vote on. So we're not really intent not specifically we shouldn't talk about it after outside of this meeting. How do we do with you in terms of respecting your rights as the CEO superintendent on all the things you have to do because your responsibilities are everything that's
not assigned to us. So we have 23 things that the law says we do and you have to do everything else. Uh which is an amazing I I think you're the most influential human being in the welfare of Ber County. >> No. Thanks for >> without a doubt. But how do we do in terms of uh about not crossing that
line? >> Um I think we do fairly well. I think um this journey is a learning process for all and we I think all the board knows I don't have a problem pushing back when it's when the line is being crossed um and providing information about you know
um distinguishing the what versus the how. Um especially learning from some things from our recent trainings um from FSBA. So, I think we have a great collaborative um partnership um that's very purposeful and aligned with student needs and district needs. And when the
line is getting a little gray, I speak up and and you know, let um individuals know like, you know, this is what we're already doing. This is what I'm asking my team to do. And so, I think the relationship is there. It's a it's a growing process for all of us, though. So, we strive for perfect, but sometimes it's hard to get there. So, but it's a
growing process for all of us. >> Thank you. And chair again, thank you for this huge and valuable report from the training. It's a model for the rest of us that go off and do these things to try and make to meet. Uh but uh there's a lot of things for us to learn even when just an individual goes off and gets his training. So appreciate the time.
>> Thank you. And I will just also mention something that was a big push too was to not put procedures in policy. That is, you know, very important because procedure is the superintendence lane. Um, ours is just to say what the policy
is that we want to have followed. So, that was important. Okay, great. All those in favor of item B1 say I. I. >> Any oppose say no. >> Motion carries unanimously. I have a motion and a second on item B2. >> So, move. >> Second. >> It's been moved by Dr. Zean, seconded by
Mrs. Leonardi. Let's see. Mrs. Bowman. >> Thank you, chair. Um, thank you for bringing this. I think this is a very necessary um endeavor for us. Um the
reason I pulled this was just to ask and to see what my our colleagues think about um accelerating the timeline since we're uh currently in the process of negotiating
raises or salaries. Um it seems to me that the faster that we can have this um analysis back to us, the better. And I would suggest maybe a December meeting deadline instead of May.
Well, I'll I'll just tell you the reason that I put the May is because May is when um they have to know like their new job descriptions and all that because this will not just change the the supplements, but there are job
descriptions that will have to be changed and brought back to us along with it. So, that was why I did the May just so that I give you context to that. >> Yes, Dr. Holmes. >> Thank you, Madam Chair. So um I have a couple of comments of my own and then I
want to also speak on um board member Bullsman um suggestion. Um so if if we actually bring this back at an earlier date date and I understand uh chair what you are saying um I think the
goal of this item right is to try to expedite um the process so we can spend less money it appears. Um so Dr. Heburn, if this is brought back earlier, would we realize savings uh within this year
as opposed to the upcoming 206 27? >> No, you won't realize any savings this year. This is for savings for the following year. Um, as we just did passing the motion for the previous item, we're paying supplements uh for the majority of folks for the entire
year, but for some uh athletic coaches, they start getting supplements for the seasons that they're coaching. Um but this wouldn't be realized savings for the most part until school year 26 um 27. >> Okay. So regarding supplements, if if if this is brought back earlier and there
are significant number of supplements that could be discontinued because maybe it's in a job description somewhere. Uh we are not allowed to to stop in the middle of the year for those uh uh
supplements and um realize savings. >> Yeah. Let me uh have Dr. Lozano chime in on that part. >> So that would depend on the specific supplements. Some of them are in our collective bargaining agreements that we would have to go back and negotiate out.
Um other ones um maybe the possibility of what you would have do is if it was split first part of the year fall second part of the year spring that person wouldn't perform that task in the spring if we brought it back prior to that. Um
so there are some supplements we could have those conversations around but others are most of the supplements on this list are part of our collective bargaining agreements. Okay. So, Dr. Heepburn, the supplements that are not a part of the collective bargaining unit,
could those be looked at earlier and brought back to us? >> Go ahead, Dr. Lozano. >> In talking with the workg group, we're comfortable with coming back with a presentation in December if that's the will of the board.
>> Okay. So, um, so I understand that, uh, maybe, uh, coming back with the supplement positions that are in the collective bargaining unit, um, can happen at the end of the year, Dr. Heburn, because we can't change anything with those. Uh, but so as not to have,
um, you know, excessive uh, I don't know what work is involved in bringing this back. Um would it be doable to bring back those positions that are not in the collective bargaining unit? Um as far as what would we would be able to uh not
continue it because it's in the job description of one of the of the employees or that is unnecessary. Is that something doable? Would that require um uh a lot of staff time to bring that back to us say December or November? >> Dr. He go ahead Dr. Lozan. I know the
work group has already embarked on a task or I have let Dr. Lazar >> and we could come back with with that that type of information to allow the board to see the categories of the different supplements and look at what what are the ones under collective
bargaining, what are the ones that are not, and what each supplement is for so you could begin to make some educated decisions as a board and how to move forward. >> Okay. So, Madame Chair, uh, is in order to have this done at an earlier date, do
we need to make a motion as far as the the supplemental positions that are not in the collective bargaining unit that we actually as a board could look at earlier to determine whether or not we would continue with them? >> Can you repeat that? I'm sorry.
>> Okay. So the the supplemental positions that are not in the collective bargaining unit that uh can be looked at at an earlier date as opposed to the end of the year. Do I need to make a motion to to bring that for the superintendent
to bring that back in December? Um so we can uh start to look at positions we could possibly uh not continue to save money in this current year. Miss Batista, do you think we need a
>> I'm sorry. Can you repeat the question, Dr. >> Okay. All right. Uh um Miss Batista, I I am trying to make a motion. I I don't know if it's necessary because the item that we have is for the superintendent to review supplemental positions in general. Some of them are in the
collective bargaining unit and some of them are not. So, what we're trying to do is uh to to follow up on board member Bulman's comment is to bring those that can come back early that are not in the collective bargaining unit for the superintendent to present those to us uh
in December and the ones that are in the collective bargaining unit to present at a later date. >> Yes, you would need a motion to amend um item. >> Okay. So, I'd like to make a motion, Madam Chair, to amend the current item uh that the supplemental positions that are not in the collective bargaining
unit come back to us in December and the ones that are in the collective bargaining unit can be in May of 2026. >> Second. >> Okay. Any public comment on the motion? >> Okay. Any board member motion? I'm I'm fine with it, Mrs. Bulman.
>> Thank you, Dr. Holes. Um the so the May date I also I'm wondering Dr. Heburn if it would be possible for that to be accelerated as well so that we have enough time to
digest it and discuss it before um we have to make decisions because that time period gets really >> busy and we it would I think be to our benefit to have the time to really look at it and have good discussions about
what we're going to do prior to May because May is when we should really have the decisions made already. >> Yep. So, um, good question. >> Earliest we could >> correct me if I'm wrong, Dr. Lozano. We're going to bring it all in December. Correct. Bar, um, bargaining units and those that are not in bargaining units.
So we can I think December would what would be nice in December if we could do a informative session so you can see each category what supplements are in each category and then we can look for even February March to come with a drill
down of specifics so you can see is comprehensive so we want to make sure we provide you quality and not just rush to December. So, if we could do an informative session in December to really give you a full explanation of
our supplements, I think that'll empower you to look towards the spring to make some quality decisions. >> Madame Chair, >> Dr. Holmes. >> Okay. So, I think the intent of the motion is not just information, but action, right? So, we're we're not
looking just to get information. We're looking for the superintendent to present action, >> right? Job descriptions. Correct. So if we have um positions that are not in the collective bargaining unit that we can um sunset, then that's what we're trying
to do. Uh so um I think that's the reason for separating both. Um, in terms of those that are in the collective bargaining unit, um, I I believe, uh, board member Bulman is suggesting that we looked at those earlier than May, maybe April or or whatever the
superintendent deem is doable, um, in order to make that happen for the upcoming school year. But those that we can sunset before the second semester starts, we want the timeline that's required to get that done in terms of bringing it to the board, the board
voting on some action to sunset those positions that are not in the collective bargaining unit that are supplemental um from say January onwards to the end of the year. So I think that's what we're trying to accomplish. >> Go ahead, Dr. Lazana. So, we have eight different categories
of supplements that total of $412 million. In our academic operational, we have $4 million. In our benefits to staff, we have $144 million in our contractual supplements. We have $24
million in our extra periods. We have $20 million in our overtime. We have $21 million in our referendum. We have $139 million in our secondary positions. We
have $43 million. And in our state funding, we have $18 million. So, this work group is breaking down all these eight categories of how we spend everything to bring to this board. So, what I think I'm hearing is the board
would like us to look at the academic operational ones that are not in collective bargaining and come with that decision. But like I said, this is a very comprehensive project. Dr. Heeper has tasked us with to bring the board
all this information. >> Okay. So, um, Madame Chair, um, uh, the motion then is to is to bring to the board, um, information and and suggested action on, um, uh, the supplemental
positions that are not collective bargaining >> by December >> by December. Uh and and just to explain the motion that we we as a board can take action based on the superintendent's information to sunset particular positions that are not deemed
necessary or that are in the job description of employees. >> Right. I think let's vote on Dr. Holes and if you want to make a subsequent motion to change the other date, you can do that. Okay. So we are voting on the motion that was made by Dr. Holes and
seconded by Mr. Seivera about bringing back the non-bargaining supplements, non-bargain supplements to the board by December. >> Yes. >> All those in favor of the motion say I. >> I. Any oppose say no. >> Motion carries.
>> Mrs. Pulman, did you want to make another motion? >> Um, yeah. I would Well, based on timeline, can you Dr. He >> Dr. Heburn give me a little guidance here? But I think that we're going to
talk about this probably a lot. So this earlier we have the conversation, we workshop it and then we have a vote earlier than May. I would be ideal. >> Go ahead, Dr. Lozano. If you can address uh the timeline for the rest >> said February, March,
>> I think you said February, March, but >> will of the board. Are we looking for a February March timeline? >> Yeah, February. Can can we do February? If that's the will of the board, we'll make that happen. >> So, I move that we um adjust the date
um from May to February 2026. >> Second. >> It's been moved by Mrs. Bowman, seconded by Miss Thompson to change the deadline to February 2026 instead of May. Um any public comment, Dr. Zean?
>> Thanks so much. Just I like this a lot. Uh, I'm going to make a motion subsequent that's going to limit the scope of this work. There are some monies that are included in the word supplement in our budget that are probably not what the the the board was looking at. And there are some for which
um you can recommend all day long to make reductions to the supplement that comes from the referendum. That money is going out. That's taxpayer money that they gave us to pay people a supplement. And by law, we will not fail to spend
that. So, I'm going to talk about that next, but part of I just want to say it now because I can support getting early because I think we're going to give you some uh scope changes that'll allow us to work on things for which there's actually savings. Referendum supplements is not one of those, for example, and
we'll get into that. We'll get into that next. Thank you. >> Thank you. Well, and so the the original motion wasn't to bring back all supplements anyway. it was to the ones that would have overlapping. So that's
why they kind of started what they did and they would they've already separated them out. They would only bring back to us the things that fit in what this is. So okay, anybody else on Mrs. Bulman's motion? All those in favor say I. I. Any
oppose say no. >> Motion carries unanimously. Dr. Zean, >> thanks so much. Um there were eight categories of supplements that our esteemed cabinet member brought up. Um some of those are
things like academic supplements where we bargain them for what we would pay if we pay it. It isn't a mandatory to pay it, right? But if you have a baseball coach, you give them $1,500 just for example, right? And so what we bargained
to Dr. Holness's discussion earlier is not the fact that every high school with a um must have a baseball team and must pay a coach. It turns out in Broward, I think all all of our high schools have a baseball team. I hope they do. And so they do that, but there are other um um options to pay supplements. And all they
guarantee in the CBA is that you'll if you have that and you want to have it, you you're going to pay this much uh to cover that. Um so cutting the supplement amount doesn't necessarily realize any savings. So it's just important to realize that. The second is uh the flow
of money is really interesting on supplementals because we use the word supplemental to talk about referendum supplemental, academic supplementals and all the other six categories um that we heard about and not all of those would generate savings and some of them are
statutory requirements. And so I just hope that the the the item which I'd love that we're doing this and I want to make one small change to see if we can do it better um is really for those supplements for which if they are reduced we would collect savings. Is that fair chair?
>> Okay. Terrific. And I um to the general counsel. Do we need to be clear about that the way this is written? Because it is written to say direct the superintendent to comp to conduct a comprehensive review of supplemental payments. But do we um should I Never mind. >> Yes. >> I'm just going to make a motion right
now to uh codify what I just said, which is those supplemental payments for which savings for which potential savings can be realized. >> Second. >> Okay. Public comment on the motion. Board member comment on the motion. All those in favor say I. I. Any oppose say
no. Motion carries. >> And chair, um I want to do one more thing that might require just a little bit of discussion. Um, I don't think these drills work very well if we just say go find us some money. I think they work a lot better if we say this is how much money we want
you to find. And so I would prefer to have a target. U given that this is your item, I would defer to you. I like numbers like 15% or so because it's hard enough to find 15%, but it's also we could dial it back, you
know, if there's some things on that 15%. Many of these uh lists have not been reviewed for a long time. They have been around and we just kind of repeat them. I find them to be too small in general. Uh but I'm happy to hear from staff if
they think this is another area at a in a year in which we lost $90 million due to decreased enrollment. Uh everything should be on the table. And so if there are some supplements we don't need anymore or if there's some that we could trim without having an impact on student outcomes, I'm ready to listen to that.
But would you be willing to to uh make a motion on a target of what kind of expectations you want to see back for those things where we can uh realize savings? >> I purposely didn't put it on there because as you just mentioned, we we don't know. I would just be making up a
number. I don't want to do that. I mean, we gave a directive of finding 65 million dollars in savings. This is just kind of a push to here's a place where you can start to find it. Um, I'd rather not say we couldn't do a second motion
after we get the the review back to see what's there, but I just didn't have enough information to put a dollar amount to it because I don't I don't know. >> I'm just worried that if we don't do um a goal, not a minimum, but just a goal
uh number that it's going to inhibit the staff from doing the right kind of work. So, I'll just make that motion. Uh I move that at the end of after the words uh optimized resource allocation uh to demonstrate a 15% reduction in
those supplementals by May of 2026. >> Is there a second? >> Say 15% or more. >> Yeah, >> I'm sorry. Yeah. Uh yes, sir. 15 a minimum 15%. Is that fair? Thank you. >> Sec. It's been moved by Dr. Zean,
seconded by Mrs. Leonardi, any public comment, board member comment? Mrs. Alhida? >> Yes. I just I'm trying to understand the direction that this item is going to because I'm a little perplexed here.
Yes, I get to eliminate duplicate responsibilities and possible savings, but I always thought the direction that we wanted to go as a board was to increase the amount of money that's being paid toward supplements.
>> So, these are different kind of supplements. So, I'll I'll give an example. Um, there's an office manager at the school and the office manager does payroll. they get supplement for doing a payroll, but it's actually in the job description. So, there are, and
I'm not picking on anyone. I'm just giving you an easy one. So, there are a lot of jobs where it is or should be in the job description, but it's not. So, they're getting a supplement. Those are the supplements that this item is addressing so that we're not duplicating
pay because we're already paying them to do the job. It's in the job description, but then they're also getting a supplement. So that's very specific to what the supplements for this item are. >> Okay. But I just want to also say that
that savings needs to then go back into supplements to increase the supplement the amount of money for the supplements >> or or to give employees raises which was the whole point of trying to find the extra money.
Mr. Sea, you pulled this item. >> Satisfied, >> Madam Chair. >> Yes. >> Thank you. Um, so, uh, just one last thing for me, Madam Chair. I'd like to >> Oh, you're not Oh, Dr. Zipped over my motion. >> Oh, sorry, Dr. >> Maybe it's so obvious. We don't need to,
but >> All those in favor >> All those in favor of Dr. Zean's motion say I. I. Any oppose say no. And the motion was to find at least 15% or more savings. >> Okay.
>> Thank you, Madam Chair. So, um Dr. Hburn, I'd like if you could bring back to the board um data uh on what the five or six larger districts in Florida are paying out for supplements, um the
different categories of supplements so we can have a comparative with Broward. >> Yep. We'll gather as much information as available. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. Okay. All those in favor of item B2 as amended say I. >> I. Any opposed say no.
>> The motion carries unanimously. Okay. The next item. So we have five minutes. We have an 11 o'clock. >> Thank you. >> We have five We have five more minutes. 10:56. All um can I have a motion in a second to bring item B3 to the floor?
It's been moved by Mrs. Leonardi, seconded by Miss Thompson. Let's see, Mrs. Bowman. >> Thank you, chair. And again, thank you for bringing this item. Um I have a basically the same concern just with the
timeline, the implementation of August. Um, I'd like to, I guess, see this plan much earlier than August 2026 to know what we're doing. Um, so that we have ample time to
discuss it. And I um I think we've also talked about, you know, I it would also go along with how we're streamlining our magnet programs and everything else. So, I'd just like to hear from my colleagues when we or Dr. Dr. Huffer when we could
reasonably start talking about this. >> Yes. So, great question. >> August. >> My interpretation of um the item is to implement the plan in August 2026 at the start of the school year. Um both the uh Stratton Innovation team and transportation team are already
collaborating um for this item as far as it anything that we do with Magnus is going to impact transportation. So, we're already discussing this item, looking at strategies for cost savings, hub concepts, and all of that. Um I will um lean into Dr. Wanza and Miss Paul to
find out um as far as the collaboration between your two divisions um what is a safe timeline to bring the discussion back to the board that's going to impact transportation and also um our magnets
because I know you guys are already collaborating already on this. >> Good morning. Um I will start and certainly rely on my colleague Miss Paul to um support any comments that I give. Good morning again Valerie Wanza chief strategy and innovation officer. So um a
part of our conversation with the board when we come in December for the um redefining our schools update and we um lay out um the scenarios that are discussed with the community over the next uh couple community meetings. A
part of the conversation will be as we look at um how prop proposals may come in January for the board to vote on. We're going to have um a segment of the presentation around potential cost reductions in transportation
um due to options that we're going to explore. So, I I would say in the December redefining our schools workshop, we can have um a lot of information for the board to consider and then um I rely on Miss Paul to fill in, you know, because obviously we start
the we provide the information, but then it's it's her staff that then has to go through all of the route planning and um you know, determining routes and things of that nature. But I can say um comfortably we're we're about 75% there as it relates to um magnets and what it
would look like and but we've been collaborating very much with the team and um transportation services. So, one of the things that we brought to the board uh in the last transportation workshop was the hub concept uh and uh
the Nova complex and uh trying to reduce the number of buses that go into the NOVA complex. So, we're definitely uh ready to move forward on that one on that plan. Uh so the next thing is obviously the magnet programs and we
have to make sure that uh you know changing the routes does not create a a situation where um students are not getting to school on time. Uh and so we as I said before we've been working with
um uh strategy and innovation to find out what the outcome will be for redefining and based on that that's how we execute. So we are uh working very intensely on this and and you have some
of the information that we provided in the previous presentation on the high dollar routes that we run and and uh the number of students on the bus and our objective is to reduce the uh time that students get on the bus and to improve uh the ability for the students to get
in the classroom on time. So uh again it's a work in progress and uh I will work in concert as I said before my team will work in concert with the strategy and innovation office >> so December
>> so around I would say December January so we'll have information in December um have additional information in January but we'll definitely be ready to vote on redefining but probably an additional discussion on transportation also in January. Sorry. >> Okay.
>> Y >> you want to make a motion? >> Yeah. So, um I'd like to move to amend the executive summary to say that the uh plan will be provided to us no later
than January 2026. >> It's been moved by Mrs. Bulman, seconded by Dr. Zean. Any public comment on the motion? Board member discussion. All those in favor say I. I. Any oppose say
no. Motion carries. Minus Mr. Sea who's not on the deest. Okay. U Mrs. Thompson. Miss Thompson. Thank you, chair. Um I agreed uh with moving the timeline up. I think if it's going to be incorporated into the redefining, it needs to be
marked for a longer amount of time because I do think transportation is is a more complex issue. And I also I have concerns about the hub model because I've seen in other districts that parents can still have their original
pickup time. There's just a different hub to make that happen because one of the co cons is that parents are now going to be responsible for picking up dropping off. So if you're in Pines and your new hub location is in Davyy, that
could be 20 25 minutes. that could make it nearly impossible for some of our parents to get their kids to this hub. Um, and I think there are more efficient ways to execute a hub model that would still be financially responsible. And I
would like to look at other models that would keep their original bus pickups and maybe grow additional hubs. Superintendent Sullivan, >> not today. Um, Chief Paul,
do you have anything to add to the discussion? >> So, we are looking at, you know, all alternatives, but it defeats the hub concept if if we remain the same pickup location. One of the things that if that
makes any sense, uh, one of the things that we're looking at is the number of kids that we have at each location and, uh, doing it in concert with security to make sure that we don't overload a particular place and or a particular stop and so forth. So, we are working
through all those scenarios and we have the right people at the table. uh will present that outcome uh in January as discussed previously, but we are looking at all of that. >> I don't think it necessarily defeats the purpose to keep the kids pickups the
same. Um so I would like an exploration into different concepts of hub models. Thank you. >> Okay. All those in favor of item B3 say I. I. Any as amended? Any any opposed?
Motion carries unanimously. Minus Mr. Sea. >> Okay, we have an 11:00 time certain. So, we are going to move to that. >> I have a motion. Before we go to that, u can we confirm that the guests that we
intended to be here have arrived? Oh, good. Thank you so much. >> Yes. Okay. Can I have a motion in a second on item A1? >> Second. >> It's been moved by Mrs. Roupert seconded by Mrs. Alhadef. Any public comment on double A1? >> No public comment.
>> Okay. Board member. >> Um, chair, I do believe Mr. Weiner might want to share some remarks. >> I thought Good morning everyone, Craig and Barbara Weiner. And let me assure you that our comments will be less than the three minutes. I just want
to uh make a couple of brief comments. First of all, that the museum really represents the story of humanity, not simply the story of what happened to the Jewish people during the Holocaust. It was a story of humanity. There were
millions of others that were murdered in addition to the Jews. While the Jews were the number one target, clearly there were millions of others of various uh races and and uh minority groups that were murdered as well.
What's important for us to uh to to have happen and for everyone to understand is that while it's very important for our students to leave school one day knowing math and algebra and chemistry and all of these these things, we also
want them to leave school as better people. We also want them to leave school as more caring people, more compassionate people, more accepting people, more tolerant people, not so jud judgmental people. That's what we hope
our students will come out of school with one day. You know, roughly 70 million people were murdered during the Holocaust or died during the Holocaust, uh, the period of the Second World War. The Holocaust really affects every
single one of us. Every one of us that are sitting in this room. Think about this. Had those people been allowed to live, how many would they be today? Maybe 300 million, 400 million people. If that were the case, what more could
we have had in sciences, in technology? What about medical science? Maybe all of us, maybe our parents, maybe our grandparents could have lived to be 120. Maybe we could have had cures for cancer by now. So you can see how destructive
hate and intolerance and bigotry, racism, anti-semitism, prejudice, how damaging these things are to our society. And let's just hope that this education will continue forever because
quite frankly there is no better tool to teach against hate, against bullying, against prejudice than Holocaust education. So this was our entire mission in making this donation to the Broward County
School System. We know and we hope that it will continue continue forever and we're just delighted and honored to be a partner with you on this on this mission. Thank you very much.
>> Yes. Thank you. >> Thank you. Thank you. >> Thank you, Mrs. Bulman. Thank you. Um, thank you to the wieners for uh this donation. Um, I don't think there is much more
that's uh that can have an impact and the importance of um how people conduct themselves and see the world than having holocaust education. And so this is a fantastic opportunity um for our students and I um so I really thank you
for that. This will be a generational gift that we'll keep on giving. So we really appreciate that. Um and I and I want to thank our legal department for all of the work that they put into this. This is um four parties to the contract.
Lots of moving parts, lots of considerations. I know that they worked very um hard and diligently on making this a reality. So, I just wanted to commend your efforts and thank you for this. Our students are going to benefit
for this for a very long time. >> Madam Chair, >> Miss Batista, >> and I accept the thanks on behalf of Maya Moore and Kathleen Jack Adams who worked uh tirelessly on this agreement. >> Thank you. Yes. And I was going to also
thank the legal department. I know we had a number of calls and also the wieners for the very generous donation. It says in our executive summary, and I think it's important, so I'd like to read it out loud, that this gives the students an um an opportunity to
interact with authentic artifacts from the Holocaust that allows our students to deepen their understanding of the ramification ramifications of prejudice, racism, anti-semitism, and stereotyping from a historical perspective while also
providing the opportunity for an examination of what it means to be a responsible and respectful ful person encouraging acceptance of a diversity and a plurastic society. And so for that we thank you immensely. This is going to
be such a great opportunity for our students for a long time to come. And thank you to Miss Batista and the team and Nova Southeastern also for being part of of this great opportunity. Mrs. Leonardi,
>> thank you. Just very briefly, I want to also thank um the Craig and Barbara Barbara Weiner Holocaust Museum collection and foundation um for for this donation. Um I think you know many of us grew up with people who had uh who
were directly touched by that event um which was a mass tragedy on a massive scale that that is hard to comprehend. um in the classroom. I think many of our students now don't
have that um direct line to history um that that we did. And so I really can't emphasize enough um the importance of Holocaust education as Mr. Weiner talked about um in in educating our students
about these horrific atrocities and what we need to do to prevent such events from happening again. Um so this is a wonderful opportunity for our students to learn um but for us as a society to continue to educate um against hatred.
Thank you. >> Thank you. All those in favor of item double A1's. Oh, this is Alhida. Yes, thank you. Thank you to Craig and Barbara Weiner Hop for the Hog for this donation. And I do have a question in
regards to uh our students. It specifically is it going to be at the high school level that will be able to go on this field trip to the museum? >> Dr. Heer, >> thank you uh for the question. Miss Alive, I have Dr. Washington give us some specifics.
>> Yes, good afternoon. Um it currently is for our students in grades 8 through 12. Okay. And how is it going to be communicated to the schools that they can go on this field trip? >> So, we've been facilitating field trips to the museum for 10 years or over 10
years. Um, so we'll use the the same communication channels that we have been using. Um, and again, just for more clarification, grades 8 through 12 in alignment with the Florida standards for Holocaust education. So, we'll we'll continue to communicate with all schools
the availability of of the field trip. >> And can you uh Dr. Heeper report back to us what schools take uh take this opportunity take available of this opportunity to go to the museum? >> Yes, we'll provide some progress
monitoring on that. Also, while I had the mic, um Mr. Weiner, Miss Weiner, thanks um for the donation. Um, I don't know if any of the board members had the opportunity to visit the museum. Um, but it is definitely worth the time and effort to go over to Nova South Eastern
University and see the museum. It's also intuitive also um with the AI um um can't even describe it screen where you can talk to Holocaust survivors also and very intuitive interaction. Um I won't
call them holograms because it's on a like a TV screen, but um thanks for the donation. Uh, I know we're our students going to take advantage of it. Um, you know, to continue to learn about the atrocities of humanity is important and as Miss Leonardi said, so we don't doomed to repeat it again. Thank you.
>> I wasn't done. >> Oh, I'm sorry, Miss Aladd. My apologies. >> That's okay. Uh, but again, thank you so much for the donation. It means so much to to my family and and again what Dr. Hepern said that history never repeats
itself again. Thank you. >> Thank you, Dr. Zean. >> Thanks much. I I want to join the chorus. Um it's been nice to get to know Craig and Barbara a little bit and their family. Um I just want you to know that since you made this donation, I've
received multiple phone calls from other people who would like to make donations of a similar kind. And it's one of those things that's contagious. And so, not only are you donating something that you've put together over a very, very long time that's going to influence tens
of thousands, hundreds of thousands of kids going forward, there are other people who have other collections or other people who have other content uh that they want to share uh either related to this or not. So, you've started a little bit of uh uh you've
provided some momentum to the community to start thinking about donating to Broward County Public Schools because we're a good steward of collections. are a good steward of your finances. Uh we work very very hard to kind of make the community a better place. Uh but your donation has done that directly and it's
done it indirectly in terms of getting other people to see, wow, if Craig and Barbara Weiner can donate something, so can I. And then somebody else says, well, if they too do it, so can I. So thank you very much on behalf of Ber County for your donation and for your
kindness uh and your lifetime dedication to helping other people. Oh, chair, I had one last point. >> What? >> I would I don't know what your plan is, but I would love to take a picture with the wieners after this. >> My plan. >> That would be such a great plan. >> After we vote. Thank you. All those in
favor of item double A1, say I. I. Any oppose? Say no. Motion carries unanimously. We will take a short recess so that we can take a picture. Thank you. [Music]
[Music] [Music]
[Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] Heat. [Music] [Music]
Hey, heat. Hey, heat. [Music] down. Hey Happy birthday. [Music] [Music] Thank you and welcome back. Next item is
item 03. Can I have a motion in a second? >> So moved. >> Second. >> Been moved by Dr. Mr. Zean, seconded by Mrs. Alhadef. Uh, we have a public comment on 03. >> Felicia Schuman. >> She's coming. Good morning, Madame Chair, Dr. Hburn,
and esteemed board members. My name is Felicia Schuman from Coconut Creek, Florida. I rise today to speak on item 0-3ITB- FY23-176 construction services minor project
Havoc. This amendment proposes a significant financial increase from 12 million to over 21 million and extends the contract term from 36 to 48 months.
Before this board vote yes, I respectfully request a closure review of the following discrepancies and gaps in documentation. Budget expansion without scope
breakdown. The amendment adds nearly 9.8 million in just 12 months. That's over 80% of the original three-year contract. Yet, there is no breakdown of which
schools are affected, what types of havoc projects are planned, whether these are emergency repairs or schedule upgrades. Vendor cap increase without performance metrics.
Each vendor cap is being raised from 200,000 to 350,000. That's a 75% increase per vendor. Sure. totaling 600,000 across four vendors. But there's no
public record of how much each v each vendor has already been paid. What work was completed where the timelines and quality benchmarks were met. Lack of return on investment documentation.
There is no meritable outcome listed, no costbenefit analysis, no explanation of how this increase improve HVAC reliability, reduces downtime downtime or enhances student safety,
procurement transparency. The vendor were selected through a competitive process, but the amendment does not include a summary of the original bid criteria, a justification for why these four vendors remain the best fit, any
evacuation of alternative option or cost comparisons, contract contract structure clarity. The amendment at amendment as 12 months. >> Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you for your time and continued service
to our community. >> Mr. Sea. >> Thank you, Chair. Um, in reviewing these uh proposals um I also have some some concerns as to what the scope of the work is concerned,
how the money is being um expanded and by which specific vendors. I also have uh a question regarding a specific vendor, Blizzard Air Conditioning Company.
This is one of the companies that's listed that's seeking renewal. And within our information uh packet, an evaluation was provided. In fact, it's entitled a supplier product evaluation form from
our procurement department. In reviewing this, I would suggest that Blizzard didn't get a great review. In in in fact, it was um I would say mediocre at best. Specifically, in section one of the
review entitled supplier evaluation, there's five categories that can be chosen. poor, fair, good, very good or excellent. Um, they were given all fairs and when asked how the satisfied the district was with this particular
supplier, we marked somewhat satisfied, which is the second lowest uh ranking you can get um on that particular category in evaluation sheet. If this evaluation was given to me as a professional,
um, I probably would not expect to have a job going forward. I'm wondering what the issue is with Blizzard. And in light of this, what I would call a poor review, is the district finding it necessary to continue to engage with these folks?
>> Dr. Fton. Thank you, Miss Andreu. Good morning. Jennifer Andreu, executive director, procurement logistic operations. Um, a lot was stated, so I'll try to summarize the most salient points.
Uh board member Sea, although you may have received or seen that um particular review, you will see that of the awarded vendors, we're primarily using two and the one you mentioned has not received
purchase orders or received payment for these particular services. So we did not feel that it was necessary to terminate their contract. However, um they're not being utilized.
Um, additionally, I just wanted to comment on the spending. So, this amendment um is not asking for additional spend authority today as well. I I I want to go back for a second because um perhaps you've you've solved
my concern, but in looking at the proposed amendments that were provided to this board, there is a first amendment um to the agreement for Blizzard Air Conditioning Company. Is it your position that we are in fact
not renewing with Blizzard? >> No sir, we are renewing. However, we have not been utilizing their services. So we still have this is a pool of vendors um for to be specific in the pool and then they are utilized based on
need and again services in the past experiences in the past. So we quote uh lots of times I don't see Mr. door set here right now, but sometimes uh a quote will be asked for all four of the vendors and then we utilize the quote
that is most cost effective. And so as you see the only two of the four have actually received payments, although we are recommending all four be renewed, only two of the four are receiving payments. Additionally, two
are also certified with uh the EDOC office and two said that if we did not renew, they would probably if we went out with a new bid, they would probably increase their prices by around 5%. >> So, we're signing a contract to renew
with them, but we're not actually utilizing them. We can, we'll have the ability to utilize them if we so need and so choose. >> But if they're a subpar company, to be generous based on this review, why would
we want to opt to renew with them in the first place? >> I would. >> That's that's that's the question. I mean, I I'm looking at these evaluations. This evaluation is they basically got a two out of five. That's not a good
score. If I was to be evaluated as a professional, if you were to be evaluated as a professional, I think we could both agree we wouldn't be striving for twos, right? Probably not not a good thing. So, I I understand the fact that we may not have utilized them a lot in the past, but in my mind, if you have a
company that's getting twos out of fives, we're not utilizing them anyway. Why are we going through with this contract? Why don't we just get somebody in there who's good at what they do uh in the H in the HVAC or AC world, right? And get these these blizzard uh folks
out here who are not performing well according to our own um surveys that we're providing in procurement, why are we continuing to deal with it? And maybe that's a rhetorical question, but um in my mind, you know, if if I had
a a large commercial property that was being serviced by an HVAC company, I wouldn't want the company that was scoring a two out of a five. That's just me. >> I will say that these are subjective. So, I don't feel comfortable speaking poorly about um the vendor. And so, uh
again, we have the ability to use them if we so choose and so need. Well, we already kind of did speak poor about them because who who filled out this evaluation? >> It was one employee. >> Okay. Who's speaking on behalf of the district, right? Um
Madame Chair, um I'd like to propose a motion. I uh I would move that we bifurcate uh or actually let me think here. Um, I would move that we bifurcate or remove Blizzard from the um
agenda item. Vote on the um vote on the remaining two. I'd like some further information uh from the superintendent or from procurement as to why they think we should continue any business with with Blizzard moving forward. >> Is there a second to the motion?
>> Chair. I know there is a point of of of uh order though. I'd like to ask our general counsel whether that's something legally that our school board can do. >> Miss Batista. >> Yes, the board can um remove uh the one of the vendors from the proposal
>> which I believe that's the motion, right? >> Yeah. To remove >> to remove Blizzard from from 03. I I don't want to hold up the the voting on that contract because I realize that there's other vendors. I'm just concerned about this this one particular >> second. Okay. Any public comment on the
motion? >> Board member comment. Dr. Zean, >> thanks so much, Chair. Um the reason I asked that question is is board members better think really hard about knowing more than our procurement department and getting involved in the decisions that they make. It is a perilous step for
this board to turn to the professionals who do this for a living and who are obligated through their oath uh of their job to do things that are fair, honest, and in the best interest of the school board. To remove someone because of a
single evaluation uh seems to me to be kind of the epitome of what a school board should not be doing. Uh, I don't I I I get that somebody one person if I heard correctly, right, Mr. Se? One person filled out this form.
>> Are you asking me? >> I mean, you made you made the motion. >> I know you. I just want you you heard the same thing I heard, which they said one person filled out this evaluation and and I'm telling you, what role does a school board have in getting involved in the way procurement selects people
for contract awards? I don't I could see that if you wanted to uh postpone this whole item for a month and ask them to come back and do some homework and bring it back and maybe do more um you know individual assessments of these people. Uh moreover, this is one of four vendors
that may or may not be used. This is someone on a list if they're not qualified for an individual job that they're allowed to bid on, they're not going to be selected. And so, um, I'm I'm forced here as a board of choosing between the staff who did the work on
assessing this to continue it, I think, for one more year, uh, and to have additional flexibility to get the work done that we pound on them about. Uh, and and I'm going to vote on the side of the staff that has done all the homework. I I would consider at some point in the future postponement of any
item like this if we want to know more. But I'm I I'm I would tread very lightly as an elected official of getting involved in the procurement intricacies of the organization to which we serve. Thank you chair. >> Thank you. Any other board member
comments? Um Mr. Se >> first and foremost I want to make sure that my motion was clear. Um my request was to remove blizzard from the the vote today in order for the staff to provide additional information as to why they think they're a viable candidate for the
opportunity to serve our constituents and the members of this community to the tune of presumably millions of dollars because we're voting on $12 million. Madame General Counsel, as a sitting board member, do I have the ability to ask or at least make a motion that they
be removed for purposes of today's vote to have my staff do further inquiry and find out if in fact Blizzard Air is a viable company in light of this evaluation? And I don't care how many people filled it out. It was presented to me on behalf of the district. And it's not a good evaluation. And I don't
want to be in the business of doing business with people who get poor evaluations. I think we should strive higher for that. Madam general counsel, do I have the ability to ask that an item like this that a an item like this via motion have a vendor removed so I can gain further
information from my procurement department as to making a final decision as to whether or not we should renew with them? >> Um, Madam Chair, Miss Batista. >> Yes. Yes, you do. >> Thank you for the clarification. And again, the motion is to remove them for
purposes of voting today so we can go forward with the other vendors and instruct staff to give further information, further details, further information about Blizzard so this board can make a decision later on as to whether or not it wants to engage them.
>> Madam Chair, >> Dr. Holmes, >> thank you. So, um, Dr. Fulton. Um I'd like to get some answers um regarding uh the process there. There are four vendors.
Were there many more than four and four vendors were narrowed down to where we are? >> I'll have Miss Andreu come up and speak to that process >> through the chair. I would This is a renewal. This went out um I believe
three years ago. So I would have to go back and look into how many applied originally when the original ITB >> Okay. So um no problem. So, Miss Andreu, um I would assume that uh 3 years ago or
whenever uh this was initiated, uh that the companies chosen would be um considered the the top four companies from those who apply. >> That is correct. Okay. And um Blizzard
uh would be one of those four as far as scoring in the top. That is correct. Okay. Is there a reason we have chosen four as opposed to 10, 20, 8, 6?
Again, I would have to go back to 2022 and see the original specifications and see if there were only four and the group decided, the evaluation group decided to go with all four because all
four met the criteria. That would be my assumption, but I don't want to make an assumption without looking at the record from 2022. >> Understand? So, Blizzard could not have been here if they did not meet the criteria established. Correct. >> Correct. >> Okay. And um Miss Andrea, we're using
two out of the four companies, but we could have um emerging um uh work that we could utilize more than two. Correct. >> That is correct. Um, and what challenge would the district face if in fact we
are using two and we only have a limited pool to choose from? Let's say we only had two. What are some of the potential challenges a district will have if we start to narrow down the list of available vendors for particular type of
work? Again, we could see price increases because there would be less competition in the event that PO had a lot of work. Um, we might not be able to meet all of the needs of the schools and the district offices.
>> Okay. And could it also be possible that even companies that we're utilizing could run into different concerns that we may no longer can use them that we have to now rely on those we're not using? Absolutely. I mean, unfortunately, we
are seeing companies that are having to close their doors because of these economic times that we're in. >> Okay. So it is in our best interest then to to even though we are not using particular vendors and they're within our accepted pool or approved pool that
they're there for all of the ne all of the things that could happen to which we may need to utilize them without disrupting our district. >> Absolutely. That is why the superintendent is recommending this.
>> Okay. So um Dr. Zemen, I concur. Um I think we have to be careful with how we're stepping into uh certain roles legally or not. Um because it it sets a precedence to which we may not want to
venture into. So I am going to support what's here um because I think it's important to have adequate number of vendors to choose from even if we're not currently using them. and I trust that the department has done their due
diligence to bring forth these um vendors. Thank you. >> Thank you. Mrs. Rupert, did you >> uh Yes. Thank you. Um Mr. Sea asked the questions I was going to. So I support
um the motion. So thank you. >> Thank you. Anybody else? All those in favor of the motion say I. >> I. >> Any oppose say no. No. >> No. >> Can we do a roll call? >> Roll call on the motion to remove the
vendor for member Bulman. >> No. >> Sea. >> We have to have it on. Right. >> Hixon. >> No. >> Holiness. >> Um I'm sorry. Uh no >> Leonardi. >> No.
>> Rupert. >> Yes. >> Thompson. >> Yes. Zean, >> no. >> Aladev, >> yes. >> Uh, motion fails 54. >> Okay, back to the original item, Mrs. Alhidev.
>> Yes. So, my question is in regards to the AC companies, how are they documenting the change of the filters at the schools? And are they using an iPad to go to the schools to document that
information and what program are they using? >> Dr. F. >> Thank you, Miss Paul. >> So, good afternoon everyone. Our um work order system, Maximo, uh is the way we
document all of our uh work orders and the work that we do on campuses. Uh we do have some at iPads, but as you know, we're doing a uh reboot of Maximo. So, yes, we will have iPads in the field. I don't know the exact number we have right now.
If Mr. Dorset is in the audience, he can probably speak to that in more detail. >> And then, go ahead. I'm sorry. My question regarding the the filters like so would we be able to look at a specific school like Heron Heights Elementary School and see like for the
last 3 years how often their AC filters have been changed. We to my knowledge yes we do have that uh documentation. We actually do a pretty good job of uh uh changing filters on a routine basis. So all of that information is the uh
archived and max. Okay, perfect. I will get a board member followup then. Thank you. Okay, all those in favor of item 03 say I. >> I. Any oppose say no. >> No.
>> Motion carries with one two >> to two ending votes. Next item is 04. Can I have a motion in a second? >> Second. >> It's been moved by Dr. Zean, seconded by Mrs. Leonardi. No public comment. Can um
let's see. Mrs. Alita, >> thank you. So, in regards to this this item and having some conversations with schools, it does seem to be that the schools are using the Navigate 360
software and the rethinked software. And you know I understand you know there is kind of it seems like different needs even though this they're saying that this is duplicative however I think that there is a need for
both of them and so I would like to see I wouldn't like to see the the navigate 360s uh terminated. I think that we should keep both of them. It's a a low amount of money and you know if there is
more research done at the school level to to say one is not really even being used then then come back to the board with data and information to support that. But at this point in time, I do
see a need for for both of these. And if and the navigate is specifically in regards to uh behavior management and and so in some of our our schools that you know they are using this software
with some of our most needed students that that need to work through the program. So I would be voting this down. Thank you. Thank you, uh, Dr. Zean. >> Thanks, Chair, and thanks, Miss Aldef. Um, you know, 40,000 people used this
last year. It's it's not a trivial. I'm I'm all about the data. Um, uh, and so, you know, I believe that we're in a financial situation where we've got to look everywhere to find uh, duplication.
Um what I've learned through this process is the the staff uh uh machinations on this is is very challenging. It's hard to look and and decide does this have duplication or not. And then you have in many cases uh
you know and this let's just be specific software A against software B. Uh I love that the staff Dr. Superintendent uh looked hard uh at students at teachers and administrators. Um, I think we need to figure out a better way to do this in the future.
We've got to be very uh mindful about what we can do. Uh, to Mr. Sever's point, um, there are tremendous opportunities to, uh, have vendors come in, uh, share new capabilities, what they're developing
next, uh, and like that. Um, I just think we've got some homework on the board or maybe we need to ask Dr. uh Heepburn to come back and talk a little bit more about the process so that the evidence is is presented in a very clear fashion for us for which uh we can make
a decision. These softwares really support different people though. One is behavioral management and one is is more of a classic uh curriculum model. Uh I I love what the staff did. um given the processes that we have not established
yet. But I think uh chair we need to think hard maybe at a future workshop about if what we're going to do is to compete um today's transportation system against a different one. If we're going to compete u a HVAC vendor against other
HVAC vendors and figure out how to make down selects in order to save money. um what is the evidence that the board needs to make sure that those decisions um are uh what's really uh good for the community. In this case, there is some overlap between these software tools,
but not perfect. Um and the staff was trying to do what Dr. Heperin has pressed them to do uh which is to save uh save money for the district. But it's really highlighted to me is that is that we need to look a little bit um chair, are you familiar with the federal A76 process?
>> I am not. It's um it's the way the federal government competes uh vendors against vendors after you've awarded contracts and you can have a government team, several uh vendors, several other governments uh all come in and present like hey this is how I can deliver this
service and it's a way of u making it really clear to the public and really bear to a governing board like us that everybody had a chance to kind of propose from some point going forward. Uh this one was very challenging. This was hard. We're in the middle of two contracts. Uh st and this board a big
favor. It's it's only in the interest of fairness that the government and vendors um multiple can get together and make presentations about how they would skin the cat. Um and in that we can find out who has the greatest capabilities at at
the uh at the best price. Thanks chair. >> Okay. Thank you. Anybody else? Dr. Holman. >> Thank you, Madam Chair. So um Dr. Dr. Heburn, this item is brought to us uh based on duplicity. Um and um it's been
challenged to some degree that um navigate 360 may be performing uh some task that may not necessarily overlap with rethink ed. So can you expound on this so I can
better understand so I can make an informed decision in my voting? Dr. Heburn. >> Um I'm gonna ask Dr. Washington to come up, but I also want to ask general counsel, we're recommend a termination
um of a agreement. What can and cannot be discussed here because it's a termination, >> right? And not only is it a termination, but it's a termination for no cause. So as long as um the comments that are made
are not related to um the company itself or the you know the the the program as far as you know how how well it did or how you know how it didn't do well or what what not. I think they're
appropriate. Um I believe that when um we looked at this contract from a legal perspective, the representation that was made was that the funds were not available to continue with with the program. And so
um you know and that there may be other uh dup like you said duplicate um services or or vendor or or software that would be able to um do what this um what this service is doing.
>> So Madam Chair, Dr. Heburn, if I may. Um so Miss Batista um the question being presented is not to negate the um I guess the efficiency or the function
of this company uh but simply to question the duplicity of the functions of it. Um so I would imagine it falls within the same no cause right because we're we're not uh criticizing the company in any way. We're just
determining if those functions are are already being done through other programs. And so I as a board member need to fully understand uh what is the duplicity here and uh and the overlap and then what is it that navigate 360 is
doing that we are not capable of doing through rethink or any other program. So um I can be sure I'm supporting it or not supporting it based on information. Go ahead, Dr. Washa. >> Good afternoon again. Um, so
the programs are substantially similar in the topics that they discuss. So, for example, if a student were to get in uh trouble and be assigned a lesson through sweetite 360 um for mistreatment of peers, for example, a lesson that they would likely
be assigned would be respecting self and others. Those same types of topics are available through rethink. Um and so that is the the life skills and wellness topics that are available through
rethinked address the behaviors that we assign sweet 360 lessons um to teach the students um when they do something wrong. >> Okay. So Dr. Heburn, I hear that part um
in terms of what the overlap is. So what is available for Navigate 360 that is not available through rethink? That's what I'm interested to hear. >> Go ahead, Dr. Washington. >> So the programs operate in different ways. I wouldn't say that there's
something that's not available. They the um they just operate in different ways. So, Sweet 360 is more of a restorative justice curriculum uh where they present the topic of respecting self and others for example and then they work through a
process where they ask the student to then go back and write their wrong. They go back and they apologize and um admit what they have done wrong and and that restorative justice process. But that is not uh something that is unique to a curriculum. That is something that in
classic behavior management you would do regardless of whether or not that's embedded in part of a lesson. That is still the adult interacting with the student. Um and so we really looked at it from a content perspective to see what was being duplicated because we can
do the restorative justice or restorative practices piece of it regardless of what um program is used. >> Okay. So Dr. Washington, would you say that if this board should vote to um
terminate Navigate 360 that Rethink Ed would achieve to a great degree, hopefully 100% the intent of what that program was meant to do through um Rethink Ed.
>> I am confident that Rethink Ed um using the lessons and the the topics that are available that we can achieve the same results. >> Okay. And my last question, Dr. Heburn, did we have Rethink Ed before we had Navigate 360? >> Dr. He,
>> Dr. Washington, if you guys are aware, not sure. >> Um, if I remember right, I was do doing my research on both. I think they came in both right around the same time and that was during the COVID school closures. Rethink came in for the purposes of mental health instruction
and then the um sweet 360 came in uh for the behavior modification management uh portion of it. So I believe they came in around the same time and I'm sorry so since they came in at the same time at that time we did not realize the duplicity of these programs when we
decide to get them. >> Dr. Heer >> go ahead Dr. Washington you can be frank. So, uh, neither Dr. Shapiro or I were in our positions during that time. So, decisions were made by administrators that are no longer, um,
with the district. So, I don't know what was presented at that time to know whether they were they realized that there was duplicity in them. Again, at the time, they serve two different purposes. In my time with the division last year, we really looked at the alignment of the programs that we were
um putting in front of schools and that is where we really dove deep as a division and um recognized where things were duplicative. >> Madam Chair, thank you. >> Thank you, Miss Thompson. >> Thank you, Chair. I would just like to say we keep asking staff to come back
with redundancies and cost-saving measures, and this is one of them. And then it seems to be there's a lot there's typically push back about it. Um and similar to what Dr. Zean said about the HVAC company, our procurement
process, um I think we need to trust our staff on this judgment. Thank you. >> Thank you. I was going to say something similar. um every time there's a a we go away from a software there's a school or
a number of schools or a teacher that reaches out and I appreciate that um because you get compl not complacent but you get used to the software and and you like what you like but we have asked for the staff to find where there are
duplicates and to pick the one that's best for the district and so I do appreciate that you've brought this forward. Thank you, >> Dr. Zean. >> Um, chair, I just want to ask the general counsel, from what you've heard today in this discussion, are you
confident that this is a legal uh contract that's being cancelled for no cost? >> Yes. I from what I've heard it sounds like it would be a a termination without costs
under the contract. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. Okay. Uh Mr. Sea, >> just just a quick followup to that. um to our general counsel. This proposed termination, does it expose us as a district to any specific liability in
the event that we vote now to to terminate this or are we terminating within the bounds of what the agreement allows for? >> Um the board is terminating within the bounds of the agreement. >> Perfect. Thank you. >> Okay. All those in favor of item 04 say
I. >> I. Any oppose say no. >> Alive no. >> And I believe Dr. Zean was a no. So a motion carries with two descending votes. Okay. We have a noon special time
certain. So can I have a motion in a second on item CC2? >> So moved. >> It's been moved by Mrs. Leonardi, seconded by Mrs. Rupert. Any public comment on CC2? >> Yes, Madam Chair. We have one registered speaker. Aaron go,
>> did you skip the part where we um uh validate the double letter poll items? >> Yeah, I haven't because we have I'll go back to that. We just had time certain. >> Just for the record, I need to add one agenda item back. >> Can you tell me? >> Can I tell you now?
>> Yes. >> 3. >> Oh, I added that already. >> Good. I'm in good company. >> Good afternoon. Um I am here in um to speak in support of this item. Um it has really been incredible to watch the
community come together in support of this sports academy. Um the intention has always been that it would be across the feeder pattern, Bennett, Sunrise, and Fort Lauderdale High. Um, and what's really special is that the enthusiasm really does transcend that whole feeder
pattern. And beyond that, the neighborhoods around these schools are very, very excited and invested in this. Um, so it these are exactly the kinds of programs, these innovative communitydriven programs that will attract and retain students and families
for years to come and be successful. Um, I think it only makes sense that these matching funds benefit the entire feed feeder pattern to ensure that this program can and will be successful. Um, and so I I I ask that the board approve
this today so that we can get going on this work and have this incredible program ready to go by next school year. Thank you. >> Thank you. Any other public comments? Okay, Mrs. Leonardi. >> Thank you. Oh, sorry. I'm sorry. Go
ahead, Dr. Lynch. >> Thank you. Um, just real briefly, think about if enrollment surges at Bennett because Bennett is the place that was losing students because half of the campus needs to be replaced.
>> Half the campus. So, we are backing into long range planning, which is the complete opposite of how this should be getting done. Not against the concept, it's just that we keep peacemealing. So, if Bennett's enrollment surges, now you have a problem and that'll be more money
that isn't part of a long range plan because you don't have one of those. >> Thank you, Mrs. Leonardi. >> Thank you. Um, and I want to thank the superintendent and staff uh for coming back to us with a specific scope of work. Um, as promised, uh, I think it's
a pretty straightforward ask to, um, you know, spread the money around the entire feeder pattern to support the sports academy that we, um, agreed on. Um, I just am I'm very excited to see this happen. Um, and I appreciate the urgency
with which this needs to happen. Thank you. Thank you, Dr. Holes. >> Thank you, Madam Chair. So once again, I thank the city of Fort Lauderdale for um working uh in sort of a concerted manner with the uh school board school
district. Um and I know we had voted on the 1.7 million for Sunrise Middle School and we're going to this item is to spread this across Bennett and Fort Lauderdale High. So Dr. Heepern um uh as we move forward should we move
forward with this item? the $1.7 million that will spread across Bennett and Fort Lauderdale. Uh did we assess the needs at Bennett and Fort Lauderdale um to and did we determine how this
money will be divided? >> Dr. Heburn. >> Yes. Um so I know Mr. Sullivan or Mr. Hill passed out a document that lists the scope for both schools and the total amount. Okay. Okay. Just saw it here.
All right. Um, so yeah, I am supportive of this item. Um, and I um and I appreciate again uh the gesture of the city of Fort Lauderdale and hopefully other cities will want to come along.
>> Thank you, Mr. Se. >> Thank you, chair. uh when this was initially brought in front of the uh of the board uh some months ago at this time um I remember a a large contingent of folks coming in uh
students, parents, coaches all came in um encouraging uh their support for the 1.7 uh million that was going to match what the city of Fort Lauderdale had promised them uh on a bond. uh project
from from years and years ago that they had uh apparently at that time not hadn't gotten off the ground yet. Um my only concern and and and for sake of of transparency and I raised this the last time this item was brought before this before this board, those kids that came
in and spoke to us and were trying to rally the troops, so to speak, um made a lot of comments about items that they thought they were going to get. um a new locker room, uh a gym replacement, and I remember thinking to myself, and I
pretty sure I mentioned this on the record, that the items that a lot of these kids and a lot of these speakers were were speaking about were not actually listed on the quote unquote to-do list that was provided to us in the information package. And as I as I
look here at what is being provided to Sunrise Middle School, which was um in fairness, the the bulk of the kids who came and spoke, I believe, were from were from Sunrise. Um these items once again do not fully reflect a lot of the things that these kids thought they were
getting. In addition, we are now taking that $1.7 million and we're diving it up amongst two other schools, Ben Elementary School and Fort Lauderdale High School. So, um I I I think it's it's important for everybody in the
community to know that when the initial ask was made um for the 1.7 for this school. Um I think a lot of people were under the impression that it was all going to Sunrise and that they were getting certain things that apparently
now they're they're not getting. And not only are they not getting the items that they had had talked about and had brought up when they came to the podium, there are additional schools that are um going to be using portions of the 1 uh7 million. So, that being said, um I'm not
suggesting at at this point since the since the money has already been voted on, I'm not suggesting that this is necessarily a bad thing that there's going to be softball fields reconditioned at Fort Lauderdale High School or that there's going to be some synthetic turf at at Bennett Elementary School and rebound boards and some posts
are going to be put up in the field. I I I think it's important that the public be made aware of uh some some comments that were made and a lot of things that people were under the impression of when this initial vote was taken apparently are not actually being delivered by the
1.7. Thank you. >> Thank you, Dr. Zean. >> Thanks so much, Chair. Uh thank you for um everybody that's worked on this. Um, you know, this item originally brought by Miss Leonardi is a uh a real model I
think for Broward County and I pray that Bennett Elementary School has a surge in enrollment and we have to build them a new classroom. I think that's exactly what we're wanting. But I also want to take a minute and thank Dr. Heburn for the way that the analysis was done here. The identification of an opportunity to
dramatically improve a program, Dr. Heburn across three schools that it reflects the values of the people that live in the boundared area. Um this is uh more than just closing schools as you said it's not about closing it's about repurposing and you know this is an
opportunity to do something well. So point number one point number two is it's ironic in a way uh because today is 300 days from August 10th of 2026. And so I want to remind everybody that can hear my voice that that is a heroic
deadline and our money runs out on August 10th on 2026. So we have 300 days left to build uh two synthetic turf fields, the the new floor at Sunrise. Um, I know AECOM is the program manager, owners rep for both the city of Fort
Lauderdale Parks and Rex and for uh our uh programs and I know Miss Paul and her staff have uh got this under control. Uh there's a city commissioner named John Herps. T and I on the 19th of every month have a meeting and we go over this uh construction plan to make sure that
uh we're staying on target. So I'm I'm very committed that we're going to pull this off in 300 days, but I just want the community to know that we need your support. There's going to be construction equipment there. There's going to be laydowns. There's going to be inconveniences on the tennis courts and things like that. Um, but we need to get things done like this. If we're
going to do, as Dr. Hopern has said, we're going to repurpose some schools to make them better, to draw people back. Uh, Bennett is a dramatically underenrolled school. Sunrise is still underenrolled. They ought to be full. Bennett used to be an absolutely full school with neighborhood kids going
there and very, very highly rated. Uh, Sunrise used to be a packed school and it's still got three or 400 seats left over. Um, I'm anxious that it has a a direct effect, but I also just want to remind everybody that uh 300 days is not a long time to get all this stuff done, and I'm anxious to see progress uh at
those monthly meetings when we hold them. Thank you, chair. >> Thank you, Mrs. Leonardi. >> Thank you. And I um I wanted to share the list and I hope that uh this list can be shared publicly. I don't know if
on the the agenda um but I I wanted to kind of correct the narrative with some facts and then share what's on this list. So for Sunrise Middle School, we have a knee wall replacement for flooring for indoor basketball court, which is something that the community
asked for. Chilled water fountain, which I believe was on the original um list or or part of the original discussion several weeks or months ago um when we had when the item first came before us. paving sod trees and landscaping ch and
a chilled chilled water fountain. Additionally for Bennett Elementary, a lit synthetic turf youth soccer field, rebound boards and corner posts, storage facility, and a lit pavilion. All very necessary things to support a a sports
academy. And for Fort Lauderdale High School foot softball field recondition and restoration mix, pedestrian gates to baseball and football fields. Um my colleague may remember that many of the community members who came out to
speak um when the the item was originally before us were not just from Sunrise Middle School. They were from Bennett Elementary and Fort Lauderdale High School. Um and today we heard from uh a representative from Sunrise High
School uh Sunrise Middle School, sorry. um who uh is an active parent and um active community member at Sunrise advocating for this to be spread among three schools. Um
Dr. Hepern, was this item placed on a public agenda that was noticed publicly? >> Yes. >> Okay. Thank you. Um, I imagine if you ask Miss Go or Miss Ferdig who's in the audience, if the community members who came out to speak several weeks ago are
aware that this is on the agenda, uh, I believe they would say yes. Um, I think many people did not show up today because they feel this is a no-brainer that we would spread the wealth among three schools. Um,
and I I think if we go back to the discussion that happened when the item was originally before us, the community members who came and spoke, they didn't come and speak saying this is what's going to happen for our school. They were informing us of the
needs of their schools, which happens almost every school board meeting that we have. We hear from people who talk about the needs of their schools, whether they're facilities, curriculum, programming, staffing. Um, that's how this works. We uh have public meetings,
people come tell us what they need, and we try to deliver what we can. Um, so again, I'm very grateful for the work that staff has done. I'm very grateful to my colleagues uh who have supported this, and I'm looking forward to to seeing this come to fruition next year.
Again, if we think about what why we're here, we're here to do good things for kids. This is good for kids, and I'm very excited about this. Thank you. >> Thank you, Mr. Sea. >> Thank you, Chair. Um, at this point, as
as I've stated earlier, the the money has been allocated. It's been aortioned. And, uh, from what I'm seeing on this list, these are good things. I want kids to have synthetic Turk fields. I want kids to have softball field uh
reconditioning and being brought up to speed. I certainly want gates around the baseball diamond and football fields for security and safety reasons. I'm not opposed to any of that. What concerned me at the And by the way, it was August 19th, 2025. I just checked the packet.
What concerned me is when you have members of the community who one by one come and speak to this board and they are under the impression that for example and I remember this because I remember thinking in my head that this is a a repeat request that we're getting or a repeat statement that we're getting
regarding the locker rooms and how bad the locker rooms were. And I remember listening to these kids thinking that if if they're here today advocating for this new locker room someone is telling them they're getting a new locker room. a new locker room was never in the in the
cards for this $1.7 million. So, my only concern is that we as a board are managing expectations properly. And when we have people and constituents and parents and teachers come out and speak their mind, which I always encourage them to do at all aspects of everything,
I want them to be on the same level playing field, no pun intended, as we are, right? I don't want them to think that if the board votes yes for this $1.7 million that they're getting this new locker room that I heard multiple kids talk about. So that is my concern.
You can't have a carrot dangling in front of somebody on a board vote for something when that was never really in the cards. That was never a suggestion. But for the record, I'm going to support this and I'm glad these things are getting um are going to get the replacements and they're going to get
the additions that they need. But I would encourage this board to exercise the utmost transparency as we all should as sitting board members when folks of the community come in and they have expectations for ABC and we're really only going to deliver DEF. That's my
only concern. But I am supporting the uh the motion, Madam Chair. >> Thank you. All those in favor of item CC2 say I. I. Any opposed say no. >> Motion carries unanimously. Next item is DD1. Can I have a motion in a second? >> So move.
>> It's been moved by Dr. Zean, seconded by Mrs. Rupert. Any public comment on DD1, >> Mr. Hill? >> Yes, we have one public speaker, Kimberly Mohorn. Mohorn.
>> Okay. Um, looks I don't see her in the audience anymore. Okay. All right. Um, it looks like I'm the only one that pulled it. So, I um, and I appreciate the response to Dr. Zeman's
question. So, it did address some of the concerns, but I just, you know, want to point out that 52% of 100 52 applicants of 100 applicable samples where the
final parent notification was not documented is just not acceptable. 52% the parent didn't receive any kind of notification for there being a threat assessment with their student and that I
know that we're working on it and there were some things and it does say it's an improvement from quarter 1 to and quarter 2 report but 52% is still not acceptable. So I I just wanted to say that out loud. There's a couple of them
also 76% um when the date when a copy of the final SSMP was provided to the student of concern of concerns parent guardian was not documented in the system again the
documentation to the parents is really really important so the I know they're improved and I know we switched to a system and we're talking about something backwards but these are big numbers for something that seems seems easy enough to be able to do. You're just sending
documentation to a parent to let them know something is going on. And then the other thing, which isn't a big number, but to me is a huge problem, is that although only five of 95 samples where they were supposed to check their
possessions wasn't being done, five is still too many. If they're supposed to be checking someone's possessions, there's a reason for that. And so there should that should be zero. There should never be a time when someone has been identified that their possessions need
to be checked on a daily daily basis that that's not happening and you only know if it's happening if it's documented. So, um those were just things that really jumped out to me that I had a huge issue. And oh, and then the last one, 65% the documentation was not
maintained for all actions identified. So again, I know this is documentation, but how do we know that they're following through if it's not documented? And I know that I hope when we see the next audit for
for the um threat management, I think we changed the name now, right? Threat assessment management. Um that we don't see numbers like this again because it's just it's frustrating and and we are the the model, right, for the state. were
supposed to be the model and these are things that just to me are not acceptable. So I just wanted to say that out loud. Mrs. Alhida, >> thank you. And I concur with you, Miss Tixen. It only takes one weapon, one gun
to get into our schools. Every bag that is supposed to be checked with a safety plan needs to be checked. There is no room for error at all. So my next question is to Mr. Rhodess in regards to our charter schools and our
auditing of their behavioral threat management. Can you speak to that and what is being done to audit our charter schools? >> I am still following up on the original request to find out how that got put into that direction. I don't have um I
don't have an answer that I feel confident that it's sufficient as of yet, but I'll follow up with you hopefully by the time we have our next meeting. >> Okay. So, to my colleagues, this is a big issue
and and we need to stay on this with Mr. Rhodess to make sure that our charter schools are being audited for their behavioral threat management. We are responsible for the safety at the charter schools even though they have
their own board you know and even we don't dictate specifically what safety measures they implement in their charter schools but we are responsible so we need to make sure that those charter schools are being audited >> thank you all those in favor of item oh
I'm sorry Dr. You're >> I'm sorry, but this is like a look it up and answer question. Like, are we auditing charter schools or not? >> No. >> Chair, are we responsible for auditing charter schools?
>> Dr. Heburn. >> From my understanding, yes, we're responsible for safety and security of their campuses, too. >> Anybody on this board okay with not ensuring the safety and security of 50,000 students that go to our charter schools? Okay. Can we do something to
fix that? Like now, >> Mr. Rhodess? Yeah, we we know that each of these charter schools have their own independent boards and they have their own independent teams and they report the information that they receive and that they um uncover back to our
district and to the staff in our district and that if there's anything in that that's supposed to rise to the level that we would need to look at, we've been under the uh the working model that that information will be brought to us and that we would then undertake that that responsibility. What
I don't understand, and this goes this goes to the fact that this program started prior to me being uh employed back here at the district, is how we got here. That's uh a conversation that I had with Miss Alhadef the other day. I've been working on trying to retrace
those steps to find out how we landed here. And when I have that information and it's solid and 100% verifiable, that's when I intend to bring that information forward. In the meanwhile, I do know that there is u a behavioral threat management team at each of these
charter schools and that they have the responsibility to report that information back to the district. >> So, chair, we we do a lot of things with charter schools. We do professional development, we do professional learning, we have school psychologists, we have therapists, we have um just I
mean they're not independent organizations necessarily. We have a lot of overlap between them. And if our responsibility is to report uh to any external authority or to actually conduct an audit, um I'd like to get started on that. Now, I mean, I I don't
I'm interested in the story about how we got here kind of, but not really. What I'm really interested in is are we doing the job that we were legally required to do? >> Dr. Wansa, do we get the threat assessment information from the charter school since charter is under you?
>> So, uh Chief Gregory will have to answer that. Okay, Chief Gregory. >> Yep. Go ahead, Chief or even Dr. Lozano. I know you guys tag team on some of this stuff. >> We do. Good afternoon, Michael Gregory, chief safety security officer. We do provide the uh through the threat
behavior threat management office department. We do provide that oversight for the school-based threat management teams. We provide the same services and oversight that we do for the regular uh districtbased schools, you might say. So there's no gap there as far as the information you receive, the threats
that are assessed, the uh interventions, the SSMPs, the same processes we do for districtbased schools occur for the charter schools. So that piece is in place. It's just a matter of working out logistics for them to be audited uh by the the district's audit office. That's
the only part that needs to be worked out. Oh, >> thank thank you so much, Chief. But I I I think chair if we have an obligation to oversee them and here's here's the problem we have with our community. We have that same obligation for our public schools traditional public schools and we audit them. We have the same
responsibility for charter schools. We don't audit them. Really like the safety and security of those 50,000 students that are that are residents of Broward County are less important. I just think this needs to be fixed. So
>> Mr. roads is what what hinders your department from from the at the same time that you're auditing the district doing the charter at the same time. If you'll recall when we were having the discussions about the scope of the IG,
the OIG had carved out charter schools from their investigative responsibilities or authority as well. And that's because charter schools all each pay for their own investigations or in this case audits. And that part has not been fleshed out
between the district and the charter schools to a point for me at least at this point today to have an understanding of how that would look, how that would work. And if we had to engage to do an audit at a charter school, would we have to first engage for them to agree to pay and what would
that amount be that we would have to have them pay? Because there's no budget for the district for audits to be done at charter schools. And if we want to have that conversation, I think we should have a workshop about that as as soon as possible so that we can, to uh Dr. Zeman's point, get to this answer
now and figure out where it is that we're going to go with that. >> Mrs. Alha, >> I move to direct Mr. Rhodess to bring back a plan to audit the charter schools for the behavioral um threat management. >> Second. >> Second. Any public comment on the
motion? >> Excuse me. Dr. Natalie Lynch Walsh, Plantation, Florida. Um, as long as the plan would be, he would tell you how much it would potentially cost, which is outside of his control. Um, seeing as he just said
there's no budget for it. Um, that would seem reasonable. I didn't realize that charter schools weren't getting budgeted, I mean, audited. But they have had their hands full just with regular schools in case you hadn't noticed with these behavioral threat. In fact, ever
since RSM, who used to do them, they got brought in house. You guys voted to bring it in house when the former chief auditor was still here. So, that's been a huge workload just by itself. But anyway, um support that so long as it's understood that the costs are not and it
should not take away from things he's already doing either. So, that would be additional additional budget to the audit department. Thank you. >> Any board member? I would just add to that.
Can we give it a deadline date, Mrs. Alida? Like at a at the next workshop or at a workshop? >> It just said bring >> I would like to see it be brought forward at the next school board meeting.
>> Okay. which is >> November 12th. >> November 12th. >> Okay. So, you want to add that to your >> Yep. Okay. Any discussion, Mrs. Miss Thompson? I just think it deserves to be at a workshop so that the board can actually
talk about it since that's what we have been talking about that meetings aren't for us to have comments and since this will be the first time that we're really evaluating it I think the more appropriate space is a workshop but also it seems to be a little bit more comp complicated than just okay we're going
to go audit them it seems like the charter schools at least according to Mr. roads answer kind of have to agree to us come in. They might be having separate audit already happening under their purview. I just think this is a much more
complication and I'm not comfortable with it coming to a voting meeting. It should come to a workshop. >> Would you mind? >> I would like to make a substitute motion to just add to a workshop instead of a schoolboard meeting. >> Okay. Um any comment on the
>> Yes. Dr. to Natalie Lynchwash, Plantation, Florida. That is an excellent idea because you are going to have a ton to talk about and that way it won't lengthen a regular meeting. Um, it absolutely should come to a workshop first. >> Miss Thompson, did you want to give it a
deadline? The next like a date >> just the next the next workshop is fine, which I think is the fourth. >> Um, so the next workshop is next week. Uh, I believe we have eight hours of uh scheduled for that workshop. um at will the board or November 4th. Right now we
have six hours scheduled. >> I'm fine with November 4th. >> Okay. >> This is Ala. >> I would just um suggest to Mr. Rhodess that you get all these questions answered
before the workshop and work out all the logistics with the charter schools on how to execute this. I do believe that we need to have a sense of urgency to have the charter schools audit it for their behavioral threat management and
and so I'm okay with workshopping it but after that let's vote on it and move forward. >> Okay, Mrs. Leonard, >> that was going to be my question is is this something that we will then have to vote on? Okay. >> If I guess if it has money attached to
it, >> it's part is it would have to change the audit plan. >> Okay. Thank you. >> You could potentially bring it to the November meeting after the workshop if the board wanted to. >> Perfect. Okay. Anybody else? All those in favor of Mrs. Miss Thompson's
substitute motion say I. I. Any oppose say no. Motion carries unanimously. Thank you. Um, so I think that was it. All those in favor of item double D1 as amended say I. I.
>> I. Any oppose say no. Motion carries minus Mr. Sea. The next item is double D2. Can I have a motion in a second? >> Move. Second. It's >> been moved by Mrs. Alhadev, seconded by Dr. Zean. Any public comment?
>> Felicia Schuman. Good afternoon again madame chair, Dr. Hburn and esteemed board leaders. I am speaking today on item DD2 RFP-FY22-013 external independent financial auditing
services additional spending authority. The district originally contracted MSLPA in January 2022 to provide independent financial auditing service which are
required by Florida statute 218-39 to ensure transparency, accountability, and compliance. In November 2024, Forbes Mazar's LLP acquired certain assets and
personal personals from MSL, meaning MSL could no longer perform the audits to maintain continuity. The contract was transferred to Forvis under the same terms and obligations. When board when the board approved this transfer in
September 2025, a paperwork error left out an additional $250,000 needed for the final year of audit services FY2026. Importantly, the Forvis Mars can complete can complete the audit. The
funds are already budgeted within the office of the chief auditor's assistant allocation. So no new funding is required. Approval of this additional spending authority ensures the district can continue receiving these essential audit services without interruptions,
maintain compliance with state law, and uphold accountability and transparency in our financial operations. The funds would go directly to Forbes. In short, this action corrects the previous oversight and ensures that district remain fully compliant, transparent, and
financially responsible. I strongly recommend approval of this additional $250,000. Thank you. >> Thank you, Dr. Zean. >> Thanks so much, uh, Chair. This, um, uh, item fundamentally makes great sense,
and we, we need to make sure that we have the funding. Uh my concern with this chair though is that we have a rollover that happens with the office of chief auditor and there's an opportunity to kind of align those funds that go
from one year to the next. Remember when we had the rollover for mental health and we put our foot down and said let's not do that. Uh I would like to ask the superintendent what is your view on rolling over money from one year to the next? >> Dr. He
>> typically um we don't roll over we absorb costs but um at the will of the board you know we we can accommodate >> well it's it's I mean just from a fiscal like spending perspective when the state and the local people give you money and you you tell them you need even more
you've got to you know educate the kids and take care of the mental health and provide safety and security and IT and all that if you don't spend the money they give you it's kind of hard to go back to them and say you want another bond or you would like to you know see if the they could work with us to lobby the state to give us more money or the federal government to stop taking money.
Uh so rolling over money is kind of a a de facto um uh bad idea in terms of local government. If they give you money and you don't spend it, I think Dr. Heeper, you've got to have an explanation about why you don't spend their money. Okay. So, uh I think you
and I agree with that. the office of the chief auditor well before the current chief auditor has gotten in the habit of rolling funds over and so uh chair do you know how much money the chief auditor's office rolled over from 2425 to this year 2526
>> Dr. Heburn question for Mr. roads. >> Um, I don't have the numbers in front of me. I had the documentation yesterday in the cabinet meeting. I apologize for not bringing those today, but there's more to that. If you want to hear that, I'd be happy to share that with you.
>> The contract that we're talking about on item DD2 is a contract that was approved for the first three years with two one-year renewals. each year had a fixed amount of $250,000.
210 for the audit of the financial statements of the district and 40,000 to perform an annual single audit. That number doesn't change throughout the course of time. The concept that Dr. Zean is bringing up is
um it's slightly conflating two concepts. One is the contract for our external uh operational auditors versus the financial auditors that are required per statute. Let me explain that the auditors who are responsible for
auditing uh per statute for our financial statements they generally even though they have a contract that goes let's just say from July one or no December 1 to November 30th they don't actually start their work until sometime in June July. We had a situation last
year where we got the u spend authority which is what today is about. Today is not about asking for additional funding. It's about spend authority. We got that in September at the September 10th meeting at the time we had intended to renew the contract of MSL. That's the
point in time that we started to learn that they were going to be selling off some of their assets. That created a problem that took about eight to nine months to review between uh purchasing and the legal department before we got to the point where we put together the
the special selection committee that's required per statute that um Mrs. Hixon chaired. We got the problem resolved quickly. We got the contract approved on September 16th and the spending authority to get us through the end of
the November 2026 date was not actually added into that. That's why today is there to correct that that issue. And so the idea is is that with regard to the operational audit contract that's also three years with two one-year renewals,
we have a situation where we can have auditors that are working under that contract. They start a project, let's just say in August or September. that project goes and it gets completed to the audit committee, transmitted to the board sometime in let's say uh February
or March, they now have the resources and the bandwidth to take on another project. We work out the scope of a project. We work out the cost of the project. We get enter into an engagement letter with them per pursuant to the purchase order that we have. They start
working on the project. The project isn't completed by June 30th. there's a natural rollover because between the contract and then the purchase order, we have two contractual requirements that we pay them for the work that they've done and that they complete the work that they've started for us to be able to have the audit plan completed. So,
the idea is it's not a matter of rolling over for convenience. It's a matter of rolling over because sometimes these audits are not strictly wiped up and cleaned up by uh June 30th of a given year uh a given audit plan year. So, the
idea here is is that yes, this is at the uh the will of the board, but if there's money that's owed when a purchase order gets shut down on June 30th, there's going to be a requirement for us to be able to stay in compliance with the the agreement that we've made with the
auditors that they get the full amount that they were entitled to for the full amount of work that they provided for us. However, the board wants to work that out. Um, I'm amendable to that. I just want to make sure you understand the full story.
Thank you, chair. Um, uh, not exactly sure what to say on this. There there is, uh, no conflation of issues. This item asks for spend authority and it's a reminder to me as a board member that we have rollover in
the office of chief auditor's account and I'd like to learn more about it. So, I'm happy to approve or provide my support to this particular item, but I would like to make a motion to ask our chief financial officer, excuse me, the superintendent, and if he wants to work
with the chief financial officer, that'd be great to just provide some information back to the board um at our next workshop, sir. the to just um explore the size of the rollover and whether or not that it gives us an opportunity to use this year's funds to
start paying for this year's audits. >> Dr. Hbert, >> I just want to clarify you you want this as a workshop item or just a memo to the board? >> Um I just want it as a workshop item. I'd like to talk about this concept of rollover is really important and we need to find resources everywhere we can
>> and if whether it was mental health or office of chief auditor or overtime pay or transportation we're looking around to try and find funds to pay our people better. Um everywhere there's rollover we need to look and see if in fact those funds can be uh uh used in the most
efficient way for the purposes of Broward County schools. When you roll over funds, you didn't spend them in the year before for which they were budgeted. Our practice has been to allow people to take the funds that weren't executed one year and just willy-nilly spend them the next year. I don't think
that's fiscally appropriate. And so what I'm asking is that um you bring uh just some more information back on in general on rollover fund for the office of chief auditor as a way for us to understand more about this and whether or not we can tighten up our uh spending uh
policies to be more efficient with government money. >> Yeah. So I'm uh Mr. Hill, if you can let us know what the timeline looks like for next week's workshop. >> Next week, what's the following week's work? >> No, no. I'm thinking of November 4th. It's
>> not urgent. It's just really important. We need to understand this idea and and and this item >> is one case of it, but there's some with much s more significant amounts of money and we got to make sure that we're spending this money wisely. >> We could just do um both items November 4th since it's all having to do with the
chief auditors. >> Okay. All right. So, we'll work with the chief auditor to make sure he get all the um information for the the budget for the past couple of years. And it's and it's really information from your chief financial officer about the concept of rollover and and what are the options that the school board has related to that. >> Yep.
>> I second the motion. >> It's been moved and seconded. Any public comment on the motion? >> Yes. Dr. Natalie Lynch Walsh, Plantation, Florida. So just to be clear, this is not just roll over for the office of the chief auditor, but for
in general because it it when it's just the chief auditor who did an excellent job explaining how unlike a lot of contracts, they don't end nice and neat like a lot of say academic contracts end at the end of the school year and then
you have to renew them for the next school year. Whereas his it's more floating. So what I thought I heard at the beginning of of this was that it was for all it applied across the board to the entire district which would be a great exercise along with trying to
understand things like how does O5 happen where you had like the opposite problem where people were spending money that they didn't have. So if you're looking at uh rollover across the district totally in support of that. if
we're just targeting the chief auditor. Not in support of that at all. Thank you. >> Thank you. Any board member comment on the item? I I actually agree. I mean, if we're going to look at rollover, because rollover is the issue, I think we should
look at all of the rollover money and see what that looks like. So, I would like to make an amendment. >> I It was implicit in my motion already, Chair. >> Okay. Um the idea take a case uh but we want the general uh concept of roll over
as well. It's >> started off and then it kind of changed but okay so the motion is to do all rollover. >> Uh the motion is to take one case for the because it's a reasonable enough size we can look at it and stare at it and understand the impact and then to also get lessons about rollover for all
accounts in Ber County School. >> Dr. Heern, do you understand the >> Yes, I I think so. Let me repeat it back. Take one specific case, i.e. the the uh chief auditor's office. Um understanding the impact of rollover, the rules, the regulations, the
practices u past and and present. Um and then a discussion about overall uh roll over the concept on it. U just to FYI with the board, we don't roll over money. um that may be a past practice, but we've stopped that as as
uh from last year's budget into this year budget just for some of the things that Dr. Zema spoke about. Um uh from for myself and definitely our CFO, if you don't spend the money and you roll it over, you're telling the people who are um providing the funding that you
didn't initially need the amount um that you funded in the beginning. So, it's just our concept um that we've had a hard um line on moving moving into this current budget year. >> Okay. Thank you. All those in favor of the motion say I. I. >> I. Any oppose say no.
>> Motion carries unanimously without Mrs. Leonardi and Mrs. Bulman. Great. I just realized I forgot to do all of the unpulled items. So, this will be the part of the meeting where we will consider all of the open agenda items.
The following items have been identified for discussion. E1, FF1, GG1, JJ1, 36, 10, 15, 01 368,
13 with a memo to vote down. 14 15 also with a memo to vote down and 18 and then double P1 23 5 and R1. At this time, may the chair have a motion and a second to pass the open items that have not been
pulled for discussion. Wait, wait, wait. I gotta read them. um which include double H3, CC1, JJ1, JJ4, JJ5, JJ7, JJ8, JJ9, JJ11,
JJ12, JJ13, JJ142,49,10, 111,27, P4, and SS1. It's been moved by Mrs. Rupert, >> seconded by Miss Thompson. Are there any registered speakers on the items that
were not pulled for discussion? >> Madam Chair, I just want to clarify. Did you say JJ1 for the items not pulled? >> I did not. >> Okay. >> It I read it and the ones that are going to be pulled. >> Okay. Um, so we have two registered
speakers. HH3 we have Dr. Natalie Lynch Walsh and double P4 we have Delvin King. Okay, Dr. Lynch Walsh. >> Uh Natalie Lynch Walsh, Plantation Florida on HH3. I just wanted to remind everyone and since you were just giving
out deadlines and timelines to the chief auditor that uh on the PBA agreement, we have yet to see an amendment that works in the officer's bill of rights into the PBA agreement. Um the superintendent was
directed to look at all things related to complaints and investigations in a prior meeting but there was no timeline given no deadline and so it remains an open item and this should be a no-brainer given what it led to. This
was a very significant omission in the PBA agreement that has led to enduring nonsense and should be the next amendment. They have no problem bringing an amendment for salaries. And I believe staff I know staff is trying to write
procedures but there is no reference even though the PBA manages to have references in other agreements with other entities. There is nothing about discipline, complaints, investigations or the office of bill of rights in this agreement and that needs to change
sooner rather than later when my rebuttal is done and it's on a long laundry list of things you guys need to fix. Thank you. >> That concludes everything. >> Thank you. Yeah, I don't see Mr. King. Okay. Oh, Miss Rupert.
Thank you. Sorry. I'm always very uncomfortable when the public takes the time to come down and speak with us and because we have in our policy that we do not go back and forth with the community members. There's never a really good time to talk about this. So, when we
bring the policy this afternoon, we need to talk about that um to make sure that they're they're getting their um appropriate time and answers. Um this morning, we had a member of the public who came to us to air his experience
with Facilitron as his high school and there was no communication back to him so that he could actually understand what we are doing about this. So, I wanted to give Dr. superintendent the opportunity to to share what he legally
can share. So, we know that we're not ignoring it as a board. It is actually going to be um handled via the superintendent and other and other organizations. So, um Dr. Heburn. >> Yes. So, I'm u passing on Dr. Lozano in
a minute, but it is an open investigation um going on and um turn over Dr. Lozano to speak on any limited information we could provide. Yeah, there is an ongoing criminal investigation that commenced immediately after that individual brought us his
concerns. We immediately worked on opening an investigation that's currently underway and active right now. Thank you. Okay. Um, let's see. All those in favor
of approving the open agenda items that have not been pulled for discussion say I. >> I. All those opposed say no. >> The motion um, all those agenda items are approved unanimously. So, we'll go back to the Oh, I'm sorry. Minus Dr.
Hoess, Mr. Sea, >> and Dr. Zean. It was still unanimous just minus those people. Okay. The next item is item E1. Can I have a motion in a second? >> It's been moved by Mrs. Rupert, seconded by Mrs. Leonardi. Is there any public
comment on double E1? >> Yes, we got Kimberly Mohorn. >> Okay. >> Good morning board or good afternoon. um just didn't know where I could actually speak at but this is seems to be the right place as far as security is
concerned. We have um a lot of security issues that need to be addressed. I we've you know met with the proper um protocol. We went through the um superintendent, the
area superintendent. We spoke to the area managers and yet still we have issues at our school. My question to the superintendent is
what exactly has to happen? Do we have to lose a child in order for you to make the proper moves that need to be made? We don't want to lose children.
And I know that many of you think that, you know, hey, if children leave, it's okay. But if we don't have children in those seats, we don't have a school. And some of you may think that's okay. But we're not
okay with losing our school. We will fight for Blanch Elely and we're fighting to make sure that we have the leadership that we need there. No disrespect for the current
leadership, but we've come to you concerning things and it continues to happen over and over again. We have taken actually a hiatus for the
past 6 months, but still we get phone calls every single day. So, I just wanted to just make that known that although we haven't been here, doesn't mean we don't know what's going
on. And I think it's unfair to the staff. I think it's unfair to the children that we continue to be the target of misandling of our children. Thank you.
>> Thank you. Any other public comment? >> No, Madam Chair. >> Okay. Um I pulled >> Oh, yes. Dr. Heer, would you like to respond? >> Yes. Thank you. Um thank you, Miss Mohorn. Um, I would encourage you also to send um any concerns that you have so
to me specifically in writing and also the board so we're aware of the concerns that you're discussing. I know you can't get into detail in three minutes but I'll definitely um encourage you to send it to me in writing and also copy the whole entire board. Thank you.
>> Thank you. I had a question on the item. So it talks about electronic ass access. So my question is do have we implemented electronic ass access at any schools instead of keys as of yet? I know we do
have that in other in other facilities, but have we started to do that at schools yet? >> Michael Gregory, chief safety and security officer, school district. Thanks for the question. Yes, we do actually have access control measures at the uh single point of entry areas of
the school and certain uh frontfacing areas. Uh the issue is this initiative is to expand it further and expand what we do and basically we're talking about the access card readers. That's the access control, >> right? Because I know early on years ago we talked about that instead of keys at
schools because then if you had somebody leave it would just make it easier than trying to re key a whole district for schools. So is that the intent of moving forward? >> Yes, that is the intent moving forward along with this guideline. That
initiative is rather expensive. Obviously the card system, the computer servers, running the wires uh is more expensive than a a key. So we are looking to utilize the grant fundings which this will us identifying that as a challenge in this SSR report will allow
us to place it in as a need in our uh school hardening grant. So that's the the goal and the purpose there. >> Okay. Thank you so much. All those in fa Oh, Mrs. Ala, thank you. Um, so one of the things that I would recommend is that we look into how we're going to use
AI technology and and specifically the AI technology with our camera system. You know, whether it's something that, you know, we might not be able to execute right now because of the lack of funding, but I do encourage Dr. Hepin
that that staff looks at schoolsafety.gov gov for different types of grants to implement AI technology and cameras. Thank you. >> And if I just could say, we know that is a priority of ours and we actually are doing a pilot with a few schools now and
when we know more and have the results back, I'll be happy to present that in a closed door uh in the next uh I guess the next semester. >> Great. Thank you so much. All those in favor of item E1 say I. I. Any oppose
say no. Motion carries unanimously minus Mrs. Bowman. The next item is double F1. Can I have a motion in a second? The move by Dr. Zean, seconded by Mrs. Rupert. Any public comment? >> No comments.
>> Okay. I would like to pull this every single time. So, just want to say thank you and congratulations to the district. This month's total is $14,436 or $436450 and $14,400
was spec was a huge grant for mental health. So can congratulations to the district and thank you to the grants department for all your hard work on on these things. All those in favor of double F1 say I. I. Any opposed say no.
Motion carries unanimously minus Mrs. Rupert and Mrs. Bowman. The next item is double G1. Can I have a motion in a second? >> It's been moved by Mrs. Leonardi, seconded by Dr. Zean. Is there any public comment? >> No comment.
>> Dr. Zean, these are >> for um everybody to look at sometimes in the absence of being involved in the negotiations. Um 1.6 million is enough to get public interest. Um, I just want
to make sure that the public understands that, you know, when you're running a multi-billion dollar construction program, there are going to be times when construction companies and and the government team have good, honest debates. Uh, and they have to, you know,
determine what shared responsibility is for this. U, I just want to make sure everybody in the community understands that this is a good settlement. This is something that makes sense for Broward County Schools. Uh we know it's a lot of money, uh but it's going to allow us to continue to build uh amazing facilities
uh in Broward County Schools. Thanks, chair. >> Thank you. All those in favor of double G1 say I. I. >> Any opposed say no. Motion carries unanimously. Minus Mrs. Alhidef, Mrs.
Bowman, and Mrs. Rupert. Next item is double J1. Can I have a motion in a second? >> Second. >> Moved by Mrs. Leonardi, seconded by Dr. Zean. Any public comment? >> No comment, >> Dr. Zean. >> Thanks, chair. I I just note in my
little uh prep sessions that I do on this that I think Bayer Middle School is one of the schools under consideration for repurposing. Is that correct, >> Dr. Heer? >> Yes, that's correct. >> And I just thought it might make sense as a board for us to think about that a little bit. Do we need to think through
either at a workshop or otherwise, you know, uh some options about what we do with schools that are still being considered for repurposing but haven't been decided yet. There are options like we keep doing maintenance and construction and wrapping up current projects. Uh there's decisions that say
wait why why you know spend money on a school that you know we might you know certainly in the in the running to be uh repurposed in some appreciable way. Um, I just don't want to have the questions from the public that come in and say, "Wait a minute, Bear. That's on your
list." Well, it's on a list to consider repurposing. It hasn't been decided uh what the final outcome for that is going to be. I just feel like uh regardless of the volume of repurposing schools that we do this year, we're going to have this this broad issue of repurposing
schools for the next several years at least. Um, and I wonder what do we need to do to make sure that we're doing the right thing for our schools for for um significant maintenance and construction if they're under consideration for being repurposed.
>> Did you just wanted to say that or >> I wondered if we need to talk about it or if we're going to just pass these without talking about it or what what would we like to do as a board? >> Doc uh Mr. Se. >> Thank you, Chair. Um, I actually had this on my list for another agenda item.
I I I guess I must have have missed this one. Um, for Bayer Middle School. And to echo what what Dr. Zean said, we're voting on on potential resourcing of of very, excuse me,
reallocating of resources to schools that are on our our redefining list and and none of us know yet what's going to happen with those. So, I I'm wondering if perhaps all of these uh change orders that are on double J this afternoon
perhaps should be um paused or or set aside until the redefining vote or decision is is ultimately made by this board. Um, I could see a lot of confusion if we're to allocate certain resources to schools and then perhaps
they are combined or closed or or or whatever is going to happen to these schools when this board makes the ultimate decision. But to commit the resources to these schools that are quote unquote still up in the air, um, I I think is is a little problematic,
right? And and I think if the decision is going to be made in December or January, what what is the harm of potentially um holding off on this until those decisions are made? So, um why don't we
do this? I'm going to make a motion to um this is JJ1, correct? on JJ1 to uh essentially remove the the vote for purposes of today and direct the
superintendent to bring this back after the redefining decision is made. >> Is there a second? >> Okay. So, the motion fails. I have a question for the superintendent and I guess for Miss Paul. A lot of times
these change orders come to us after the change has already been done. Do you know if that's true of JJ1, >> Miss Paul? >> JJ1 at this point is 98% complete. So,
you know, we're attempting uh with this change order to close it out. >> And you know, the notice to proceed on this uh project was in 2022. So, uh, in terms of whether this work has already been done, I'll have, um, uh,
Mike McIntyre from ACOM speak to this, but we are contractually obligated, uh, to do this work. It's already in progress. It's about to be closed out. Uh, and, uh, it will be problematic not
not to not to finish the work. >> Mr. McIntyre. Good afternoon Mike McIntyre Ecom through the chair. Uh I do not believe this work has been completed as of yet. The the bigger issue is if the work is
not done we cannot get final inspections and approvals for the fire alarm system which means the building is not usable because it will not have a functional fire alarm system. >> Thank you Dr. Holes.
>> Thank you Madam Chair and Dr. Zean. I do share some of your concern moving forward as far as what we are closing, what we're repurposing and so on and so forth. Um, which uh facilities or property we're we're planning to have
partnership with cities or and so on and so forth. So, what I would prefer to do is to um uh because we have items coming up. For example, we have a a painting item where we're I think it's a $10 million item to paint schools. Um, so I'd like for the superintendent to use
his uh discretion um in terms of aligning what we're doing uh in our in our day-to-day operation uh with the redefining process that we prioritize and and using his discretion determine
what what absolutely needs to be done, especially for schools that we're closing. um what is necessary to be done immediately as opposed to what can wait until after um phase two is completed. Um so I would prefer to leave that in the hands of the superintendent to use
his discretion to determine uh basically how we prioritize as we move forward with any any sort of change order or any um other upgrades to schools um especially for schools that will be closing.
>> Dr. Dr. Hepper, >> I concur. >> Dr. Zean, >> thanks so much. Thank you, Dr. Holles. I'm I'd like that approach. I'd like to offer like just one way for the board to stay aware of that, which is we consider
um any uh project that's being done on a school that has been identified by the superintendent for consideration, repurposing to expressly make a statement in the item that yes, this makes sense. uh even though it's on the repurposing list, I think the community
deserves that. Uh so that there's like this resolution of the conflict. Here's a school that either is identified for closing or might and here's what we're doing uh with that school and it makes sense. For example, when Mr. McIntyre said, "Hey, without this, we can't turn on the fire alarm, can't use the
building." Boom. That's a that's an easy choice, right? But I would prefer that to come through in in our summary. Um, so my motion is to agree with Dr. Holes to um allow the superintendent's discretion on these things, but that we
note it in the summary of description of each item that comes before the board. >> Second. You're making a motion. >> That was a motion. Sorry. >> Second. >> Probably didn't do it in a good way that time. >> All right. >> I haven't had lunch yet, Jeff, so I'm sorry. I'm a little >> Any public comment on the motion?
>> Yes. Natalie Lynch Walsh, Plantation, Florida. Um, yes. Thank you for the motion because I was having a coronary and and all kinds of things over here. This that type of action would have been appropriate when AECOM first started when Kathleen Shelley and I had a
discussion about I wish they would pump the brakes, but the removed board kept whipping AECOM to proceed even though we saw this coming back in December of 2020. Nobody wanted to stop the smart program. had to had to had to get it
done. But just like with JJ1, there are real kids and real adults in these schools and you can't just stop some of these change orders. It's too late. We're 5 years almost behind schedule. And I'll be speaking to JJ6, which has an extra wrinkle, but um yes,
it should explain what is absolutely necessary and needs to be done regardless of what you end up doing. that would help in transparency and at least then you'd know people were thinking. Thank you. Thank you. All any board member discussion on the motion.
All those in favor of the motion say I. >> I. Any oppose say no. >> Motion passes. Minus Mrs. Alhadaf and Miss Thompson. >> Oh. Oh, you said yeah. Okay. Sorry, just Mrs. Alf. Uh Dr. Holess, did you have something
else you wanted to add to JJ1? Okay. All those in favor of JJ1 as amended say I. I. >> Any oppose say no. >> Motion carries. This time without Mrs. Alade and Miss Thompson.
>> The next item is JJ3. Can I have a motion in a second? >> Second. >> It's been moved by Dr. Zean, seconded by Mrs. Leonardi. Any public comment? >> Yes, Madam Chair. We have one registered speaker, Felicia Schuman. Good afternoon, Madame Chair, Dr. Hburn,
and esteemed board leaders. My recommendation today is that while we approve the time extension requested for the Myiar High School project item JJ-3, we do not issue the final payment until complete itemized breakdown of cost is
received and revised. When contractors request large additional amounts like the $275,18128 cents change order being requested for this project. The board and the public deserve full transparency on where every
dollar is going. This includes the exact material, labor, and change order details tied to this amount. This isn't about delaying progress. is about protecting our smart bun money and making sure we can stretch these funds to support other schools that also need
infrastructure improvements. We know my maharai needs this work completed, but it is equally important that we manage it responsibly and ensure every expenditure is justified. This same level of accountability should also apply to any other schools with similar
high value construction projects moving forward. So that that's where consistent and fair across the dish district. By approving this time extension, but with withholding the final payment until an itemized list is submitted, we uphold
accountability and fairness in how we handle major construction projects. Let's make sure for every large project we fund, we can stand behind it knowing we've done our due diligence to protect our students, our school, and our taxpayers. because in addition to this,
this company has got almost over $14 million in three and a half years. So, thank you. >> Thank you. Any other public speaker? >> No, Madam Chair. >> Mr. Se. >> Thank you, chair. In reviewing the
executive summary, the contracts and the items that were prevented to uh presented to the board in regards to this specific project. It looks like the ask is for $275,000 to install 152 fire alarm devices and smoke detectors, some
strobes, things of that nature, along with the installation of those particular items. I did some quick math and there's 152 additional devices that are being installed. So inclusive of the
labor of the $275,000 that comes out to roughly $1,800 per device. I'm just wondering, Madam Chair, is that a good deal? >> Dr. Heepard, >> Miss Paul,
>> Mr. McIntyre, can you speak to this? Good afternoon. Mike McIntyre, vice president Acom, uh through the chair. Uh this had this estimate had a full vetting uh through Atkins. The number includes the devices as well as wiring
and conduit so that the system will function. Um and it's not just smoke detectors, it's heat detectors, it's strobes. So on average, $2,000 um is fairly typical for smaller projects. So in the in the range of over
a thousand per unit when you're averaging them out is is a reasonably good number. Some some of those devices would be more expensive than others. Smokes would be cheaper than heats. Both would be cheaper than strobes. So
overall for 152 devices wiring conduit and basically hooking the system up to operate is is a fairly reasonable number. >> Madam chair is all new wiring required with this specific project. I mean I I assume that
there had to be smoke detectors and strobes and pulse stations and all that already in place. Is it necessary to have a complete new rewiring job in order for these new devices to work? >> Dr. Heer. >> Mr. McIntyre. >> Yes, actually these are being installed because they did not previously exist.
So these are not replacements. This is an entirely new system. >> So of the 152 uh devices which include fire alarms, smoke detectors, heat detectors, and speaker strobes. Um all
of these are brand new and then obviously would require new wiring because they didn't exist. >> Correct. And it's your professional opinion that um $1,800 a pop, if you will, between the wiring and the install, I understand that's included in there. You think
that's fair market value for for for a project like this? the review that was done by the change order team as well as the estimate that was reviewed and the pricing that was re reviewed by Atkins who does it outside of our group all determined that it was a reasonable
price and the scope was in line with the required work. >> Okay, >> I appreciate the comments. Thank you. >> Thank you. I pulled this item um because it was a large number. So we have only a
few we actually only have four consultant errors and consultant omissions which is great but they total altogether almost $500,000. So there were two that were big change orders, the Myiramar and the Eagle Point for consultant errors and then there
were smaller numbers for the consultant omissions. So I just always like to put that out there so that we know that we are it's less numbers but the the value went up again. We were doing really well but
this month not so great. So thank you Miss Bowman. >> Just a question just for um my own personal information. If it's a consultant error is there any repercussion for that? >> I' I've asked that question a number of
times. There's a certain acceptable percentage. We're well below the percentage, but I still like to point it out that we were doing over two three million when I first started in the consultant error and omissions. And I believe the bond committee points it out
every time they do a report, but I think acceptable is 7% and we're like two or something along those lines. Thank you. >> Anybody else? Okay. Okay. All those in favor of item J3 say I.
>> I. Any oppose say no. Motion passes without Mrs. Alhadef or Miss Thompson. Next item is JJ6. Can I have a motion in a second? >> Move. >> Second. Been moved by Dr. Zean, seconded by Mrs. Leonardi. Any public comment? >> We have one registered speakers, Dr.
Natalie Lynch Walsh. >> Good afternoon, Natalie Lynch Walsh, Plantation, Florida. Okay. Anytime it's Stranahan, that always gets my attention. The backup for this item, the contingency use directive form, says this form is used only for unforeseen
conditions. Maybe I'm confused as to what an unforeseen condition is, but when you go from an original architectural design to a reuse so that it can be cheaper and faster only, that's not happening. And then um you have
AECOM trying to replace the they they wanted to replace the walkways leading to the new cafeteria, but one of your former people who was in charge um last name Baze descoped it is a story I heard. And then I'm reading the backup
and they tried to tear down the wooden walkways and put them back. Well, no. And then they put aluminum ones and now they have to widen them because I think I heard people will be getting wet because there's a gap between the old and the new. Imagine how is that unforeseen? Obviously this has to be
fixed but this Ranahan snafuss to give to the IG because this is fraud waste mismanagement or something >> because the the walk and and walkways is a bigger problem but that is the history of this. So it is not unforeseen and
then it also mentions drainage. Why is drainage unforeseen? They had to get drainage permits when they started doing the reuse, but back then we were making the project as small as we humanly could so that they wouldn't have to get the other type of drainage permit. So
nothing about this board item that claims to be unforeseen was unforeseen. And I'm not sure why it's being presented that way because it is a series of cockups that started at the front end with the reuse and everybody
trying to step over a dollar to pick up the penny with poor Stranahan as usual. and walkways continues to be a problem because the other set of walkways that you're going to see coming to the board are the ones with all the utilities running up and down Main Street where if
you just replace the building and they're still trying to figure out because those walkways also would and rotting. So, it'll be interesting to see. Obviously, the problem has to be fixed and yes, you just spent 20 plus million on a cafeteria. So, no one's going to be shutting down Stranding, but
somebody needs to be held accountable for the how this project was managed. And this is just another example. Thank you. Thank you. Any other public comment? >> No, ma'am. >> This is Leonardi. >> Thank you. Um,
kind of somewhat related to this con contingency. Um there is a gigantic hole um in the ground at Straahan that sometimes collects water and then acquires names um for said body
of water. So I'm wondering uh if we approve this contingency um I know it's you know for walkways and and everything but I would like to know the status of filling that hole at Stranahan High School. >> Dr. Heburn,
>> Miss Miss Paul, >> Mr. McIntyre, can you address that, please? >> Good afternoon, Mike McIntyre, ECOM. Uh, the hole in question is the leftovers from uh demolition of um a subb essence.
Contractor claimed they did not own the work. Uh we believe they own the work per contract and they have been directed to backfill properly. Um they refused so we put them on notice and we will move forward with the bonding company or use
their money to backfill. >> Okay. Um thank you for that. I'm glad that we are um trying to address that in an expeditious manner. I'm wondering so
um what is the timeline for recourse? >> So like when can I can when can straining high school expect that that to be backfilled? >> Mr. McIntyre >> through the chair. The contractor has uh I believe three more days to formally
respond. Um and if they do not respond then we will move forward. >> Okay. So, if we move forward, when can we expect there to be a resolution? >> It could take a couple weeks to get the proper amount of clean fill in, place
it, grade it properly, um, and bring it back up to its proper grade level. >> Okay. Um, if we do not approve this contingency, how would that impact the back filling? >> Oh, this this change order that we're
speaking to now is is not associated. um with the basically the pond that's been created. That's a separate issue. It's a separate contractual issue. This change order does not speak to that issue. This issue this speaks to um work that needs
to be done after abatement was done on covered walkway and the walkway and the covering needs to be replaced. >> Got it. I guess I'm wondering um I I feel a certain way about paying someone more money. Uh I I get that it's
unrelated. It's for a different contractual issue um when they have not done what they have were supposed to do by contract to begin with on a separate matter. If we do not approve this change order, then that covered walkway will not be
replaced. Um the CM at risk. In this case, the contractor is not getting full recovery for this change order. Um because it's unforeseen, uh they had some contractual responsibilities for the walkway. So they are not getting their markups uh that they would normally get per contract. Um the
contractor will take care of the ponding issue one way or the other. It will not be out of district money. >> Got it. Thank you. And just so I'm clear, um could that we expect this to be done uh by this I mean the the back
filling. Could we expect that to be done by the end of this calendar year? >> Yes. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Thank you. All those in favor of double J6 say I. >> I. >> I. Any oppose say no. >> Motion carries unanimously. The next
item is double double J10. Can I have a motion in a second? >> Moved. >> Been moved by Dr. Zean, seconded by Miss Thompson. Any public comment? >> No comment. >> Dr. Zean, thanks so much, Chair. I think we're on JJ10. Is that correct?
>> Yes. >> Thanks so much. Uh this is Markham, and there's some of us that always uh are moved by this. And for those of us that have walked Markham, how can you not? This looks like somebody backed up a
very large backhoe and wiped out all the good buildings and they left a bunch of portables. The cafeteria is dramatically undized. Every once in a while when I want to, you know, get someone to understand what we're dealing with in terms of some past decisions that make, I remind them that
we have an elementary school that can't even prepare meals. they have to be shipped into the school uh from a local high school. We've made a commitment to the community in Pompo that we'll finish this school by the start of school year 27 and I'm going to keep this uh kind of
front and center uh as we move forward. So, is this uh to me this looks like uh great news. It's nice to get a piece of this project done. I just wanted to check, Mr. Superintendent, are we still on track with opening Markham in the
fall of 2027? >> Dr. He getting a thumbs up from Miss Paul. That means yes. >> Yeah. And the reason it's 27 is there's a rebuild of the whole campus basically going on. Um and it's it's been delayed
and delayed and then debated some more and then delayed uh going back you know a lot more than any member of the current leadership team. Uh but it is a school with 600 kids that deserve uh completion and they deserve us to live
up to our commitment that we've made with this leadership team. I'm glad we are. Thank you very much. >> Thank you. All All those in favor of item J10 say I. >> I. Any oppose say no. Motion carries unanimously. Mine is Mrs. Aladev. Next
item is double J15. Can I have a motion in a second? >> Move. >> Moved by Dr. Zean, seconded by Miss Thompson. Any public comment? >> Yes, Madam Chair. We have one public speaker, Dawn Molson. >> Good afternoon, Superintendent Hutborn
and school board members. My name is Don Mucil. I'm here on behalf of the city of Coral Springs. I'd like to express our strong support for item JJ15, the continued partnership between Broward County Public Schools and the
city to host the all county honor music concert series. This annual concert series allows Broward County Public School students to showcase their incredible music musical talents to the public, their families, and their peers.
The city of Coral Springs deeply values this partnership and the opportunity it provides to celebrate excellence in education and the arts. We respectfully encourage your full support with a yes to vote on this item to ensure these
meaningful experience continue for students across Brow County. Thank you for your continued continued commitment to the arts and to our students success. Thank you. >> Thank you Dr. Zean. Thanks so much, Chair. Uh Coral Springs, uh and a number
of other cities have always been, uh big advocates for Broward County Schools. Um I've attended this honor series, uh in the past. It's fabulous. Absolutely amazing what our uh young musicians can do. It's a It's a lot of fun. I just
want to make sure I put this in the right category. Is this the same rate uh $17,000 that would have been charged to us if we were not a school district? Is there a discount to the point which I would like to uh say a special thank you to the
city of Coral Springs or is this full price that we're paying for this auditorium? >> Dr. Heer, >> I am not sure and I don't see uh Mr. Aapuso um Miss Paul has any of that information. >> I think we would have to uh do a board
follow up on >> Would you mind? It's not a school board meeting uh item, but I would love to make sure that we uh pay right respects to the city of Coral Springs. based on what they >> do. Do you go ahead? >> Good afternoon. Excuse me. Joseph Lucauer, applied learning supervisor,
music and performing arts. Um, this is not only a discount. This is this is really really discounted. They uh in in past years um up I think we
looked back five or six years it was it was $20,000. We came to them and we said, "Hey, we're in s in a tight spot. Can you help us out?" And absolutely, they helped us out. So, this is this is a a discounted
rate, something we expect a great partnership. So, we're very very happy that that we have this with them. >> I appreciate that very much. And if the superintendent would like a suggestion, which I don't like to do very often, it might be nice to note that the city of Coral Springs has been such a great
partner with that uh by either talking to their city manager or whomever makes sense if that's right. Dexter Heer, thank you. >> Thank you. I'd also just say thank you. Um I've been every year to one of the
concerts and it's such a an amazing event. The students go one day, they have they're from all over the county and they have a teacher they've never had before and they they play like they have been together forever. It's beautiful. So, um, thank you Mr.
Lucauser for always organizing that and thank you to Coral Springs for the great partnership. So, thank you so much. All those in favor of item double G. Oh, I'm sorry, Mrs. Alhuda. Yes, I too would like to say thank you to the city of Coral Springs for the partnership. Thank
you. >> All those in favor of J15 say I. I. Any opposed say no. Motion carries unanimously. Next item is 001. Can I have a motion and a second? >> It's been moved by Dr. Zean, seconded by
Miss Thompson. Any public comment? >> No comment. >> Dr. Zean. >> Thanks, Chair. I just need to know more about this. This is something that seems odd to me that um Broward County contracts with somebody to advocate for a specific vendor for free, but we get a
kickback. Um I don't like deals like that. I'm just going to be out there on a limb and say if we are are advocating for someone to sign up and take a class and it's a hundred bucks and we get three bucks back, I want to let them pay $97 and not give us the money. I also do not want to
put my logo on some vendor's web page just so that they give us some kind of kickback as if that is like normal business practice. Unless Ed to go is a vendor that we have assessed and we believe is the best for our community. I
don't want Broward County Public Schools advocating for them. So that's my view on this. So, chair, are we did we assess people in this space of the market and assess Ed to go as a vendor that we believe is best in practice? >> Dr. Heburn,
>> I ask Dr. Fulton and um provide some details. >> Thank you. I'm also going to ask Dr. Tumor to weigh in as well too. >> So, good evening board. Ted Tumor, Central Region Superintendent. Yes, there are no other companies uh uh
competitive companies um doing this in partnership with other schools. The only other uh uh institution in our area that does is Broward um community college. Um but uh these this is for our adult students and it's for lifelong learning.
So um this is what at to go uh does and this is how it services the community. >> Terrific. I'm not going to support this. I do not like selling our logo. Um, I don't like collecting a little tiny piece of money that kind of insinuates that um, you know, that this is a normal
business practice. I think we are a government agency. If we want to look at something and tell people that it's great, I don't need the vendor to pay us to do that because it seems like they're paying us to uh, advocate for them in a way that I just don't think passes
muster with me. Thank you, chair. >> Thank you. Any other comments? All those in favor of 001 say I. I. Any opposed say no. >> No. >> Just two descending votes.
>> Dr. Zean and Mrs. Ala. Motion carries. Okay. The next item is five. Can I have a motion in a second? >> Chair, are you skipping three? >> Oh. Oh, I'm sorry. It's because it's not on the paper. Sorry. Can I have a motion
in a second on three? It's been moved by Dr. Zean, seconded by Miss Rupert. Any public comment? >> One register speaker, Felicia Schuman. >> Good afternoon, Madame Chair, Dr. Hburn, and esteemed board leaders. I just want
to briefly speak about this uh science software is um says that it's just for K through five and it's pretty expensive. Um the proposed cost of it is $1,780500
I mean one 1,780,583.85 is a significant investment for a program that will only serve grades K through five. For that amount, we could be exploring other tools. Um that's just my opinion. Thank you.
>> Thank you, Mrs. Rupert. Thank you. Um, our committees are a vital part of our district. Specific acumen and experience that each of our members contain and their views are welcome information for this board member to see the whole picture before a vote. The same goes for our employees. They are the
professionals are working with our students or at facilities and can see firsthand what contracts, what software, etc. actually are working and those that don't. 03 teachers prefer generation genius.
Kind of similar to the Bill Bill Nye the science guy. This approach is more engaging for our students. Um they prefer that instead of progress learning and um the format itself is an easier one for the kids to follow along. I
appreciate the survey. I really I do um I know that a lot of time was spent on that, but I'd like to know if the survey asked them about just progress learning or also asked about generation genius or where's there a space for them to write
in what they would prefer. Um spending a million7 is a lot and we should be making sure that the product is great and preferred by teachers and students. >> Dr. Heer, >> Dr. Con >> good morning or actually it's good
afternoon uh Dr. become a chief academic officer. So, we annually provide a survey to teachers on the current software that the district has adopted or schools have purchased. Um, I do not believe we've actually questioned or surveyed them on generation genius, but
what I'll tell you is regarding progress learning. Uh, we've done a lot of data analysis around this efficacy and we've attributed it to a significant improvement in our science scores. It is it's also aligned to the state standards, the fifth grade ass science
standards. I can't tell you about generation genius. We've actually done a lot of school interviews, surveys with teachers aligning progress learning to that specific one. We also know that progress learning is in mult multiple large districts in Florida. Uh it's
state approved. It's one of our supplemental materials. It also is uh tightly aligned to the fifth grade science assessment. Uh one of the things we also liked about progress learning is it's attuned to I Ready, meaning that when a student takes the assessment, it
actually creates a learning path for them so that they could equally prepare themselves for those standards and benchmarks. It is one of the only assessments K through five that actually has an assessment that builds upon each grade level so that the teacher or the
students are not catching up to the students when they get into fifth grade which has been part of our issue is that science only gets assessed in fifth grade because that's what the state provides. But we know that grades three through four has science assess uh
standards that have to be taught with fidelity in order for it to get to fifth grade. So progress learning does exactly that. It actually prepares the students from K through five to make sure that they get science instruction and we are able to see if science instruction is
being taught with fidelity across the grade levels so that one teacher one grade level is not being held accountable for the assessment. >> Right. And thank you. I I do know that the older grades three three through fifth um I when I heard from elementary school teachers in the past week they
were saying three through five. um definitely has that matchability. However, for the first grade teachers and the second grade teachers, their students um attention span is not as well acclimated to get into that
particular program for um for the progress testing. And according to the teachers at I Ready and um discovery and also the um generation genius um those
actually attune to themselves better to the uh the younger classes. So, um, that, you know, just a heads up, uh, because I understand that what the state is requiring and when they're going to have that that test, but if we're able
to firm up the the the younger grades and give them a better foundation, I think we'd be moving in a a good direction. But, um, I do want to make sure that we are listening to our teachers who are the experts in the classroom. So, >> thank you. >> I appreciate and and I'll actually listen to that.
>> Okay. >> Thank you so much, >> Dr. Zean, >> thanks. And I appreciate school member Roupert's uh comments. I have some similar ones. Um first though, chair, when's did we adopt the new science uh uh program? >> Dr. Heer,
>> Dr. Co. >> So, progress to learning, we're a year into it. So, this will be our second year of district-wide purchase. >> And when we did the district-wide science adoption, was there no assessment option with that? No, because it's the adopted course. So like all
adopted cores, they have um so they have formative assessments that come along with the adopted core. Uh so our math, our ELA also have uh many assessments built into it. So yes, that one does too. >> I think this is expensive. Um I'm not
I'm not a fan of more assessments. Um I am a fan of helping teachers identify what instruction to follow through. I love the link ready. I love it with with being in the state standards. I don't like assessments, particularly K kindergarten, first grade, second grade.
We we already, in my opinion, assess kids way too often. It takes way too much of the instructional year. We only have them 180 days. We do PM1, PM2, and PM3, and then all kinds of other assignments all year long. I will submit a question formally to add up how many
Broward does. Like when we do a K12 student, how many assessment tests are there in the way? I think it's it's a lot. There's a recent school district in Florida that stopped and looked at it and they have 113 assessments over the 13 years. Uh that that's a lot of time.
Um chair, aren't there quizzes and tests and other ways to assess whether or not K through two students are keeping up with the science curriculum standards? >> Dr. Hepper, >> Dr. Con? >> Yes, there are u there are through performance matters which is what um the
progress learning is actually doing. So, um, again, I'm going to liken progress learning to I Ready. So, what I Ready does is it provides a diagnostic at the beginning and a learning path, which is what we all love about it, right? Um, and then students do get to take the
assessments. Uh, but I do want to clarify one thing. Um, as it relates to progress learning, K through two do not take assessments in science for progress learning. It is really meant to make sure that they get enriched uh they get access to and they are able to differentiate uh within that science
instructional block. So they do not get assessed like third, fourth and fifth grade. >> Terrific. Um the other question I have, what evidence do we have that this works? >> We have, you know, I'm almost done. Okay. >> Sorry. I know you're dying to talk, Dr. Con, and I'm dying to hear your your
wisdom on this. you know, uh, saying that students improve 5% from one year to the next, um, is very consistent with what we got in ELA. It's very consistent, actually a little less than what we got in math last year. Uh, this is a district that's getting better every year. So, what I'm curious about
is how do we know this is part of the recipe that is really driving that improvement in science proficiency? >> Uh, Dr. Heburn, if I may. >> Yes, go ahead, Dr. So, uh, we we do thorough research on all supplemental resources and, um, um, when we come to the board or when I come to the board to
speak about the academic initiatives and the supplemental materials, that's going to be one of them. Uh, so our adopted core is our tier one instruction. Our supplemental material for science is going to be progress learning. Our data over the past two years. And so we're going into year two of this piece. If
you look at our science data, uh our science data from last year to this year, uh we went from 45 when we didn't have progress learning, the percentage of the district in 2023 to 57% as a district. That's a big gap. Uh if you
break it by region, who are all using this program, they all went up incrementally by four to five percentage points in science. And we're attributing that not only to the science curriculum which is supplemental and we just adopted we just adopted discovery this
year. So we don't have the data that for that but we do know the last adopted core we were behind three to four years in its adoption. So we had to fill in a lot of gaps with supplemental materials to fill in to make sure that those standards were aligned. Progress learning filled in those gaps and we
have the data to support it. Was progress learning implemented at the beginning of the year for which you're citing data? >> Absolutely. >> I note um Mr. Superintendent that there's a tremendous uptick in the use of assignments in fourth and fifth grade
um and not a lot of usage. Uh for example, in grade one there were 3,500 assignments completed with this software. either that indicates that, you know, K through two doesn't need a whole lot of help because they're getting it or that we don't have rigorous standards or a whole bunch of
other things. But there's a huge increase in the use in grades three through five. Uh I'm I'm leerary uh when these items come up again in the future. I'll spend some more time ahead of time. Uh I just feel like we have a lot of assessments. Um and uh when we do an
adoption in a whole area, I hope that we can get the whole kit rather than having to do an adoption and then also buying uh other capabilities. Uh appreciate the time. Thanks, Chair. >> Could I uh expand on that for a little bit? So there is there is a a reason why
we see uh science instruction not being taught K through two with fidelity. Um is because of the number of minutes in the day. And so when you have classrooms and schools where where students uh based on fast PM data in math and ELA
who are behind students or or teachers rather are choosing to take or remove some of that science time for a double dose in ELA, a double dose in math and that's where that lower cortile in ELA and math. So they're making uh conscious decisions to say I'm going to plug in
where science would be taught. I'm going to plug in an additional block of math and ELA. So, we're working with the regions where we're actually intersecting and integrating math and ELA where appropriate science standards could be plugged in. And so, progress
learning helps us to see where gaps exist, where there's preponderance of students who are not meeting standards where teachers have to choose one or the other. and we're trying to make sure that they know when they're choosing one or the other here's a compromise that to
integrate it into it. So that's a discussion we just had at our BOI meeting with the regional soups uh around that piece. So I will tell you that is it very critical that we don't leave it to one grade level to plug it in. >> I appreciate that conversation and chair I'm always struck by the conversation
about instructional hours um and instructional quality. Uh, two of those things uh, really matter a lot and I hope that we keep them front and center as we're talking about academics in our workshops and on our schoolboard meetings. Thanks, chair. >> Thank you. Anybody else on O3?
>> Okay. All those in favor of say I. >> I. Any opposed say no. >> No. >> Motion carries with one descending vote. The next item is 005. Can I have a motion? And >> Madam Chair, I do believe that item was withdrawn from the agenda. >> Oh.
Yes. >> Yeah. >> Yeah, it was. >> That was withdrawn. >> Okay. It'd be nice if we, as Dr. Zean said, if you could give us what was withdrawn at the last minute because it's confusing.
>> You need the list. >> Yes. Okay. So, the next item is 006. Can I have a motion in a second? >> No comment. >> Moved by Mrs. Rupert, seconded by Dr. Zean. Any public comment? >> I skipped ahead. No public comment.
>> Thank you, Dr. um Mr. Sea. >> Chair, may I speak last? >> Okay, Dr. Holes. [Music] >> Okay. Um Madame Chair, um for this item in terms of um
uh painting, I I would I just wanted to also um mention to Dr. Heburn that as we proceed to do this that the redefining process is aligned with the priority of what gets painted first and so on and so forth. Just wanted to make that comment.
>> Thank you Dr. Seaman. >> Thanks chair. Uh I have a question about the prioritization of uh painting and I just note that this board has spent I don't know dozens and dozens of hours talking about FTE growth. Um, and I hear
a lot from the community that they drive by some of our schools and it just doesn't look like a place they want to stop and take a tour. Is there a way to combine those two ideas and make sure that the prioritization that we have for these funds would be to um in some
selective way find some schools uh that suffer from, you know, what they look like from the outside and our schools that we'd like to add FTE. Could we prioritize those schools uh as part of our plan to win back enrollment? >> Dr. Heer,
>> I have Miss Paul and her team go over the prioritization or criteria for the uh schedule. >> Mr. Dorset, if you can address those issues here. >> Good afternoon, Mark Dorset, executive director, physical plant operations.
Yes, we can rep prioritize some of the sites if you'd like if it if that's the will of the board. Uh what we did was we we took on uh a certain criteria to determine the the the the schedule that you see in front of you. So it's based
on age, current condition, the you know a gamut of of of criteria. So that's the list we came up with, but if it needs to be rep prioritized, we can sit down and and figure that out. I think there's um a lot of ways to
prioritize things focusing on gyms and auditoriums. I I I'm sorry. Go ahead. >> Well, you have, you know, you have some interior painting and then you have some exterior painting and that's how we decided you the interior is prioritized for the interior work and so so forth
with for the exterior. So, it's not a combination between interior and exterior for both lists of of of of painting projects. >> Terrific. And I'm and I'm just trying to I'm not trying to change dramatically the list. I'm just introducing a new
priority that ought to be considered in conjunction with the other ones that you've done that just says we're really we're really um in deficit in a number of schools from the way they look to people not wanting to go in and visit them and to the extent that we can
identify some schools that are underenrolled that have kind of a real problem with the way they present. And it's not just painting. It's three levels of fencing. It's lack of landscaping. It's uh uh you know very little attention to where people drive
by the school. So uh we have schools where the busy street you drive by and all you see is chillers and uh waste water, not wastewater, but drainage areas and and and that has an impact on people looking at that. When you drive past a charter school, doesn't happen.
They're really conscious of kind of the way their schools look as our private schools. Uh, I just want to adopt some of those principles when we make prioritizations like like this so that uh we we're doing everything we can to win back enrollment. >> We'll do. >> Okay, Mr. Sea.
Well, actually, Mrs. Alhadev wanted to thank you. So, I don't want to change the list because those schools on that list have been waiting a really long time uh on that for the schools. But as far as painting, I do have a question in
regards to, you know, when you paint a school, you're thinking not to do it in peace meal, like, oh, I'm going to paint the inside this year and then eight years later, I'm going to paint the outside and then five years later it's going to the gymnasium's going to be paint. If the school is going to be paint, the
whole thing should be painted inside, outside, whatever needs to be painted and done completely instead of peacemealing it. So my question is, are we peacemealing it or are we trying to do this completely? >> Dr. Heburn,
>> go ahead, Miss Paul. So, as you know, uh we've had extensive conversations about painting across the district. Uh our intent is to improve the curb appeal, improve, you know, the way the facility looks.
So, this is our attempt to do that in an organized manner. Uh your question is, are we painting a whole building uh at every school that's on the list? Uh the the real answer is probably not because it's a function of money, but we're going to paint the ones that are have
not been touched in a very long time. Uh and we're going to assess it as we go out. So, you know, if if it needs painting, yes, we're going to paint it. Uh but again, we have limited funds. So, this is our really first real attempt to
create a painting program um on a schedule. And so, I definitely appreciate your uh feedback and your input and all of those emails that you send when you pass by a building. We get those and we definitely consider them.
We try to take care of them as we can, but this is trying to put us on a a systemic uh program uh throughout. So, uh we will definitely consider that. But again, you know, we don't have the funding at this
point to paint everything we need to paint. you know, we'll start with the worst ones and then work our way down. >> And to Dr. Zeman's point with the private school, I know I was at a private school and I saw just a regular
maintenance guy. He was walking around with a bucket because they needed to make sure every little piece of that school was painted and fresh and looks beautiful. So, I would love to see the paint job to be done entirely when we're
going out of school. I understand the cost is an issue. You know, I think that's something that needs to be brought back to the board so we could prioritize our budget. Thank you, >> Mr. See. >> Thank you, Chair. Um, so I want to give
a kudos on this one because when I had opened this executive summary and all of the attachments, there was actually a breakdown with numbers and a spec and a target date and additional information regarding the project. So, I felt a lot
better reviewing something and under having a full understanding about how this $10 million is going to be spent because of these uh exhibits. I wish that we can get stuff like this a lot more with these multi-million dollar contracts that we're constantly being
asked to um to vote upon. I certainly appreciate uh the transparency from the staff. Uh it made it a lot easier to digest and understand and to explain. Um, I would also note on these evaluations,
the supplier product evaluation forms, unlike the last agenda item when I referenced these, it looks like all of these vendors scored fours and fives on their evaluations. So, I I'm encouraged to see that the district is deciding to do business with these folks who are
scoring fours out of fives on their evaluations. Those are those are certainly the people that I want to do uh business with. So, I appreciate the transparency. I appreciate the uh the calculations and the numbers. And perhaps more importantly, chair, I think our constituents appreciate the
transparency as well. >> Thank you. All those in favor of item 006 say I. I. >> I. Any oppose say no. >> Motion carries unanimously. Next item is 008. Can I have a motion in a second? >> Move. >> Second.
>> It's been moved by Dr. Zean, seconded by Miss Thompson. Any public comment? No comments, >> Mr. Sea. >> This is the print service. I'm I'm satisfied. I apologize. >> Okay. All those in favor of item 008, say I. >> I. Any opposed say no.
>> No. >> Motion carries with one descending vote. Mrs. Alhadev. >> Can I have a motion in a second on 13? >> So moved. >> It's been moved by Dr. Zean, seconded by Mrs. Rupert. Any public comment? No public comment.
>> Thank you. I pulled this just to remind everybody it is a memo to vote down. So all those in favor of 13 say I. >> Great job. All those opposed say no. >> No. >> No. Motion fails unanimously.
Next item is 14. Can I have a motion in a second? >> It's been moved by Dr. Zean, seconded by Miss Thompson. Any public comment? >> No, ma'am. >> Miss Bowman. Mrs. Bowman. Thank you chair. Um thank you to uh procurement
for the board follow-up. We got the numbers which support that this is um uh you know we're definitely getting the best pricing of based on what the pricing is that other school districts are engaged in. So appreciate having that. That makes the decision a lot
easier. Um, I actually just noticed that there was a little typo and so I wanted to make a motion to >> I was gonna mention that. >> Thank Thank you for pointing that out. I was gonna mention that. >> Um, so I just I would like to move to correct the items requested
um the recommended action to approve additional spending authority of um to amend it from 580,000 to 5 >> 50 >> 50,000. >> No, I think it's >> Oh, the I'm sorry. the the the agenda has it wrong. Yes.
>> Okay. Gotcha. Okay. So, to I thought we were saving money >> um to uh amend the agenda >> from 550,000 to 580,000 to reflect what it says executive summary. >> I just have a quick question to Miss
Shock Adams because it's just I believe it's just wrong on the agenda but not on the actual item. Do we have to actually make a motion for that? because I know in the past we have not >> I I don't think that it would hurt to go ahead and motion it because um the
executive summary needs to be corrected. The executive summary is uh contains the recommended action that you all are voting on. So if that is incorrect >> No, I think that's correct. It's just what's written on the agenda. >> Like when you see this paper, it's
written wrong in here, but it's right on all the items. Uh so that that would be so it's correct on the recommended action within the executive summary, but it's wrong on the summary agenda. Um then that does not
need a motion. Um if you do move it, that's not going to be any harm. Um I've seen that has happened before and that's created some confusion because sometimes a person's looking at the executive summary as opposed to the the um uh the summary itself. Um, so as long as you
mention to go ahead and make a correction, that'll be fine. >> Okay. So, Dr. Heburn, you can make that correction. >> Yes, we can make that correction. >> Okay, perfect. >> I withdraw my motion. >> Okay, thank you. Anything else, Mrs.
Bulman? Was that it? >> That was it? I was just trying to help us out. Yes, >> I I believe it's in the it's in the sheet of the paper that you had signed. That's why we were trying to make the motion to to change that sheet. I I think it goes beyond the executive summary. >> Oh, where's the
>> So, yeah, you have to be specific about because that wasn't what the motion was for. >> Well, I was confused because I thought >> No, no, it's not. I don't think it's you. >> It's probably us. >> Yeah. Please expound, Mr. Sullivan. >> Where does >> I have to get the I have to get the sheet from Miss Bulman. I I gave it to
her. So just to clarify the cover page or the uh what we call the R for or the cover page which the chair after the meetings sign off on that is actually incorrect within the requested action. >> So we're not call what are we calling this
>> cover page. >> Okay. So I move to amend the requested action cover page to um additional spending authority of 580,000. It's been moved and seconded. Any public
comment? Board member comment. All those in favor say I. I. Any oppose say no. Motion carries. U. Mr. Sea. >> Thank you, Chair. Uh, I am like board member Bowman also appreciative of the followup uh that was given. I know we
had this discussion uh at a recent workshop. While I think this is a astronomical amount of money to pay for for the services if if that's what market dictates um it is what it is. So I I am appreciative of the breakdown that was
provided and I also am very satisfied to see that the supplier product evaluation form that was given in the packet indicates that this particular provider has ranked in the very good category. So four out of five. Um, so kudos to them and I'm glad that the district continues
to do business with people who score well on their evaluations. Thank you. >> Thank you. All those in favor of item 144 say I. >> I. >> I. Any opposed say no. >> Motion carries unanimously. The next item is 15. Can I have a motion in a
second? >> It's been moved by Dr. Zean, seconded by Mrs. Rupert. Any public comment? >> Kimberly Moore Horn is registered, but I don't see her in the audience. Okay. >> Right. And I pulled it to vote down, but Mrs. Rupert also
>> Did you want to speak on it? >> No, I don't need to. I just wanted it withdrawn. So, thank you. >> Okay. Okay. So, again, this is a memo to vote down. All those in favor of the item say I. >> I. Oop. Excuse me. >> Caught me, chair.
>> All those opposed say no. No. Motion fails unanimously. >> The next item is 18. Can I have a motion in a second? >> Been moved by Dr. Zean, seconded by Miss Thompson. Any public comment? >> No, ma'am.
>> Uh, Mr. Se. >> Thank you, chair. So, just as a couple minutes ago is providing kudos on the painting and restoration breakdowns. Um, I've stumbled across 08 in my preparation for today's meeting on the flooring materials and no such breakdown
exists in this one unfortunately. So, we're being asked to approve $6 million without a breakdown as to how exactly this money is being spent. uh the specific schools. Um what I would um request or would like to see on on
things like this, chair, uh Miss Paul was very accommodating uh last go around with our landscaping and maintenancees service agreement. That was also a a high ticket item. I brought up some concerns I had with the amounts of money, where it was being spent, who was spending it, how was it
being used, and the like. uh Miss Paul came up with a fantastic uh solution in creating a website in order to provide more transparency to the uh to the public and to our constituents as to how those monies were being spent. Uh in
this particular item uh I don't see anything like that. I would like to see where the money is being spent as far as the flooring is concerned. Um, we're only on this one chair being given a a basically a pricing spreadsheet as to the p product cost, but I don't know
which vendor is using what. I don't know where the the money is going. So, um, I'd like some more information on that and to see if it's a possibility that we can get um, additional information sent out to the public so they understand where this $6 million is going.
>> Dr. Heburn. >> Miss Paul, >> the $6 million is going towards our work orders that we have in our system for floor and repairs, uh, laminate, carpet, and so forth. So, that's part of our
work order uh, uh, maintenance program. In addition, it also supports the DEFP. So, we have uh projects that are in the DE EFP, our capital program that this $6 million support. So, I would have to
give you a list of all the work orders in the system that requires floor and replacement uh as well as a schedule for the DEFP over the next five years. This is for not five years, but for 22
months, I believe. So, um, the, you know, we have we have issues that we don't plan that we have to respond to. So, the $6 million goes towards that. >> You, you had mentioned you'd mentioned work orders. Do we have an idea one way
or another what percentage of the 6 million is going to be used specifically to address the work orders as opposed to just holding this money for a rainy day? So uh it is uh we would have to pull that report uh for work orders
throughout the district. Uh and in terms of holding uh this for a rainy day, we will spend every dime of it because we have major flooring issues across the district. So we can provide you with the
the the big ticket items uh as well as the work orders that schools consistently put in. Uh we're running a city here. So the number of buildings we have uh this is definitely the 6 million is more than is not sufficient but this is what our ask is.
>> Understood. And and I think for members of the general public who want to know where their taxpayer dollars are going, um I would like to see something similar to what you offered up last time with the grounds uh and landscaping uh agreements that I think we approved for
11 million if I'm not mistaken. Um you did a good job of of offering a breakdown as to where all that all that those funds were going. I'd like to see something similar uh Miss Paul if possible in regards to this contract as well. Dr. Zean.
>> Thanks, Chair. Um, I know that um there's uh a law that allows us to piggyback a lot of stuff and um we're there are 14,000 school districts in the United in the US and 200,000 local and
and county governments when you put them all together. Um, I'm just always suspicious of things like commodities like flooring is, you know, something that's bought uh by millions of buyers and is provided by thousands of
providers that we can't uh find the time to compete uh wherever possible. Um, I'm How were these This is So, this is a piggyback. We did not compete this. We just went out and found someone else's contract. How did we pick this contract
to piggyback on? And how did we pick these vendors, Mannington and Shaw? >> Dr. Heer, >> Miss Paul. >> So, um, uh, I asked the same question. So, thank you for that question. Apparently, there's been a history of
you having contractors, especially in flooring, that have not been reliable or the quality of service. And so, uh, the district over time has used this piggyback to improve the level of
service and the quality of service to the district. So, I'll let uh Mr. Dorset take it after there uh from now for the rest of the explanation, but uh the piggyback is already, as you know, already negotiated. uh we're not having
to spend money to put out a RFQ, but because of the past history, that's why they've gone over the uh the past few years with this piggyback. But Mr. Dorsed, if you can provide additional context. >> Yes. Good afternoon again. Mark Dorset, executive director, physical plant
operations. The reason why we went to this piggyback is back in 2012, we were having a tremendous amount of problems with the local uh flooring contract. uh uh some of the the the um products that they were using was substandard.
You know, we had a myriad of issues with local uh uh uh participation. We wanted to to involve more of the manufacturers so we can we can maintain that warranty that that lifetime warranty or however long the warranty is. And those
manufacturers have local vendors that that they work uh for. So, so you would have like a Mannington or or a Shaw or something like that and you would have a local vendor who works with Mannington and they provide the services for us and
then we we we we will capitalize on the the backing of the strength of the size of the company. Is there a amount of time between observing poor performance and executing another $6 million
contract that is sufficiently long that you'd actually like to go out and get a competitive process going? 13 years is a long time, right? You're talking 2012 um when we had problems with local vendors. Now 13 years later, we're still
using that experience to piggyback. And and again, piggybacks are useful if they are uh researched and analyzed and they offer great value to Broward County schools. Um in general though, you get better pricing and better service and
better quality if you go out and compete and let you know 100 people figure out, you know, how could they guarantee the quality and the warranties and things like that. um rather than just doing this. In my own experience, 13 years is probably a little too long to continue to be reacting to uh insufficient
performance 2012 and and below. Um but I just um maybe I'm just trying to find a way so that the board can always feel confident that non-competitive awards while legal for school districts to do um are really in
the best interest of the school board. And I'm just not satisfied we're at that point yet. here. We're using experience from 13 years ago to say we're going to keep piggybacking. It may be we're having excellent performance from these folks, but they may not be the low price. And so, uh, I just put this in
the not quite resolved bucket, not because of this item, but because this process, we continue to do a gross majority of our contracting without competing. And competition is uh, in general a very good thing for government agencies.
Thank you. Um, I pulled the item because I have a a question. So, this is this is for the PO the request is for the PO um budget, but my question is, do schools have to pay PO
when the flooring is repaired? >> Dr. Heer, >> Miss Paul, >> no, that's a maintenance uh issue. So, one of the things that uh Dr. Zean, the answer is no, but one
of the things that Dr. Zean brought up was uh we're just not relying on the uh situations that happened back in 2022 or 2022. Uh part of the experience with flooring is we need to make sure that we
purchase the right products to put on the floors and so forth. By going through these major manufacturers the way we are, we have that guarantee uh that we get the right information, we use the right product on it and they back up their product. Uh we were not
getting that with local vendors. Uh and so we leverage um the expertise of these major manufacturers. Uh I understand what you're saying. You would uh like to u uh do RFQS and so forth. uh as do I,
but sometimes piggybacks just make sense and this is one of those times. Um and then another question you brought up is that uh I would work with Miss Andrea to actually see the number of piggybacks we actually use on my side of the house and give you a reference point and and you
know so we would not be making those assumptions that we use more piggybacks than we do RFQS. So, that's something I would love to uh do a B board followup if you if you would want that. >> Yep. And I may not be able to contribute anything to this conversation because
I'm not the PO expert, but I can tell you from my experience in um walking schools, walking with principles and and um leaders. One of the issues too that I think is the issue of the past 2012 and before is the stock of whoever whatever companies
were used in the past. If you walk some of our schools the lenolum tiles that uh oftent times have to be repaired >> because of the whatever manufacturer whatever businesses were used prior to 2012. They don't have those in stock anymore. Right. Right. And so the larger
manufacturers that we're working with manufacture and keep our floors consistent with the same type of lenolium tile or whatever the the flooring is because if you walk some of our schools, he's like, "Okay, why is this random um tiles in the floor um versus um what
was actually put down in the beginning?" So >> just to my concern about non-competitive bidding though, we could have done an RFQ and limited it to manufacturers of Florida and those people would have bid and we would be more comfortable with a competitive process limited to the
people that you really want. There are many more besides Mannington and Shaw and we don't have any confidence right now that we're getting the best price because we didn't compete it. We just went out and picked these two and they charge us whatever they want to charge. I understand why we did it. I'm just expressing again that we need more to be
confident that what we're doing in fact makes sense. >> Well, back to my question. Um, so I I appreciate the answer that it's that they don't have to reimburse PO, but that's not what I have been told when I
go to the schools and it seems like it's kind of double jeopardy. So if a school needs I'm going to use an example because it happened at one of the schools carpeting in the band room and they get carpeting in the because the
carpets molded you know they had a flood or something they had to replace it. They were told that they had to cover the cost of the labor. So we are not requiring that. >> If it's a maintenance issue then that's covered under PO under our capital
program. If it's a preference where they just want to put new carpet because they want new carpet, then that's a project, a new project, and they would be responsible for that. >> Okay. Thank you for the clarification. All those in favor of item 18 say I.
>> I. Any oppose say no. Motion carries unanimously. Minus Miss Thompson. The next item is double P1. Can I have a motion in a second? It's been moved by Dr. Zeman, seconded by Dr. Hoes. Any public comment on PP P1?
>> Yes, madam chair. We have two registered speakers, Dr. Natalie Lynch Walsh and Jackie Lusk. >> Okay. >> Good afternoon, Dr. Natalie Lynch Walsh, Plantation, Florida. I'm glad I asked for an update on my request for a public whether this was a public hearing or not
because I literally just got the response. Um, so I guess we won't have answers. I did send two emails in advance of this meeting with my concerns. I of course did not get a response. Um, the first is on the follow-up log. It was put under
workshops. And as you know, because we've been sitting in a regular schoolboard meeting all day, not a workshop. There are many times, and I provided examples when you might direct the superintendent to do something. So my request was to move it under general
rules so it's clear that the follow-up log is for any time you've asked for something, requested information at a workshop, at a public hearing, at a regular meeting, and that they have a way of tracking it. And the verbiage
that they use kind of qu calls into question whether they understood or maybe they understood what Dr. Zean was asking for, but are pretending not to understand. so that they bring him, I don't know, progress monitoring on students as opposed to the actual status
of the item at hand. I don't know. And the way it's worded, God only knows what you'll get. So, that was one issue, putting the follow-up log under general rules and maybe having Dr. Zean, who's usually very articulate, but that day, um, they basically took exactly what you
said and threw it into the policy and it doesn't make sense. They added stuff to it. It so it doesn't come across well. Um, and I'm going to say this again about volunteers. Volunteers are not random members of the public that roll up off of of the avenue
and come in here. There's a whole volunteer protection act. That's a state statute and that's on top of the public. So there is a section. So, a I appreciate that they were committee reports was pulled out, but it doesn't go far enough to make it clear to
everybody that if a volunteer, an advisory chair or designate comes in here and during the quarterly meeting with the school board, and yes, I'm in favor of continuing monthly. Nobody said they wanted it quarterly. If you want to have them participate electronically, that would be a huge help, but that
wasn't what I heard. Um, so with the chairs, they could be sitting in a quarterly meeting. Jackie might speak. Oh, there's Jackie. Jackie might speak to additional items. I historically would always speak to facilities and audit related items. That is within the
scope of our responsibilities as chairs. So, it needs to be a separate section. Um, and then I'm going to have to share this pretty uh a response to someone named Prettyman. you can give the the superintendent guidelines and should um and especially if you refer back to the
definitions in 120.52 number 8 A throughF uh you don't want whole-blown procedures but there's nothing stopping you from having directions and the section I think it's 9A5 >> thank you >> personal insults may be related to board business
>> next um Miss Mrs. Luskcom. >> Good afternoon, Jackie Luskam. Um, I urge you to all vote no to the draft. And here's why. On page 14, there is language that would change the cadence of advisory and committee chair
reports to the board from monthly to quarterly. That language resulted from board discussion when this policy was workshopped last month during which a couple of you suggested that advisory chairs had expressed a desire for this and that cutting reports would be helpful to us. Firstly, if those board
members who stated that were trying to look out for our interests, thank you. But there had not been discussion with us about it. I have yet to find an advisory chair who has expressed that they want our ability to report reduced to only a quarterly opportunity and that we would find it helpful. It would in
fact achieve the opposite. We need the ability to be heard on the issues we bring forward. Not just formal recommendations which you have the opportunity to pursue or not but the community feedback concerns trending themes, topics and thoughts. Parent and community
involvement is not something you should be seeking to reduce. It is part of what we exist to do. It is part of what scaffolds the continuous improvement of our public school system. If any chairs expressed a wish to not have to report monthly, I and I'm sure others are ready and happy to assist them on how to
instead submit their report in writing or virtually, which are already options in policy. I can maybe I don't know, but connect the dots to where this has come from, which I found out today and might explain things. I'm not sure. Whereas the board has discussed before where the
monthly advisory reports should be mandatory and decided that they should, I gather that has maybe been new and separate conversations since then in which it may have been suggested that the board should consider making our reports mandatory only quarterly.
Um, if this is what has occurred and it's been translated to this proposal now to remove monthly reporting altogether, that might explain it. I don't know. But for me as chair of ESSE advisory, it's a no to this proposal. I've spoken also with the chairs of
district advisory, north and south area advisories. I gather central is also against it too. Gifted technology advisory. I believe the parent community involvement task force, facilities task force and the human relations committee. I know at least one
of those did have a proposal uh they wanted looked at for making quarterly um monthly reporting um optional. I'm I'm not speaking to that today. Things that we do want to see are for the time that's allocated to our advisory reports
to be consistent on the agenda, for us to be able to see that board members are listening when we're speaking and for there to be a mechanism through which advisory and committee recommendations and concerns can get response from the board. Thank you. >> Thank you, Madam Chair. That concludes our public speakers.
>> I think um we have one more Mary F. >> Sorry, I just kind of came flying in. Um thank you for this opportunity to speak. I just wanted to talk about the reporting. Um I am here on in many
capacities. One on the superintendent task force. We discussed the importance of having that opportunity for committees to be able to talk monthly and convey to you something in a timely manner if it was necessary. So um love
the new format but the quarterly is probably a long time between um reports and having the opportunity monthly would be I think a better way to have ensure that you're getting community input in a timely manner. Um,
I've done this for a long time as you know. So, for 35 years, there's always been an agenda item on monthly meetings. I mean, on your month on your meeting agenda once a month for committees to give reports. And that doesn't mean every committee comes up and gives a
report, but if they have something and some committees obviously like DAC and ESC are going to have more frequent reports, but it's there if they need to. And I feel like that has worked really well particularly in conjunction with the new format. So I would encourage you
what however you change your policy to make sure that you're allowing for committees to come to you once a month and um and make that and and if they don't have something to say okay but many of your committees I know I know I'm just going to point to Jackie because I know she has a lot of stuff
that is timely and you need to hear in a timely way. So, um, I would encourage you to do that. On some committees, in particular, like the parent community involvement task force only meets the night before your meeting where you get this report. So, if we had to have
something in sooner than that or whatever, you would be having more of a time delay. Um, bottom line is your committees are important to you because they bring you information. Just ensure that the opportunity to present that information to you occurs in a regular
and timely manner. And um thank you and I feel the same way personally. Thanks. >> Thank you. I think that's it for public comment. I don't normally go first, but I'm going to go first because I have two motions for this. So, I would like to make a
motion to change month the quarterly meetings back to monthly on page 14. Second. >> It's been moved and seconded. Any public comment on the motion? Yes. Um I forgot to mention one thing which is pertinent to that which is that
district advisory passed a motion unanimously also calling for the uh monthly reporting to be preserved and that um motion originally came up from central area. I did just want to highlight again what some I've heard at least one chair say that they would not
want um monthly reporting to be mandatory, but I believe you've had that conversation before, so I won't speak to that, but I just wanted to flag it. Thank you. Thank you. Any p um any board member discussion on the motion? >> Just point to the page number though before we >> It's page 14
>> on the red line or the final. >> I'm sorry. On the I think it's on the red line. >> Let me let me go find it. page 14 on the red I'm on the red line so >> it was originally monthly and it
>> 1306 >> thank you >> school board member >> it yes so a it was it was um committee present committee reports at the first schoolboard workshop it said monthly and now it says
quarterly so I'd like to change quarterly back to monthly that was the motion You had a second, >> Miss Leonardi. Page 13, not 14. Sorry. Um, would that make the monthly report go back to making the monthly reporting mandatory
then? I don't. So, I would just say I don't know. We had this discussion and we said they're volunteers. Nothing is ever mandatory. If they come to the meeting, they have the opportunity to give the report. if they're not there, they can
send it in writing, but there's nothing we can do to hold them accountable. So, I don't think we ever called it mandatory in the first place. We had a long discussion about that if I'm not mistaken. >> Okay. Um, as the policy is written today
before us, without if this without this motion, would committees be able to still submit their reports to us uh like submit written reports to us monthly? >> Yes. Yeah. None of that changes.
>> Okay. So if we were to pol pass the policy without this motion as is, we could still get monthly reports from the committees in a written form rather than a verbal form. >> Yeah, I don't think it's written that
way in the policy, but sure. >> Okay. Um I I am respectfully opposed to the motion. Um, I think when I when I made this suggestion originally and when the majority of my
my colleagues agreed, um, I did so in the vein of trying to work smarter, not harder. Um, and despite what we are hearing now, we did repeatedly hear from our volunteers that it was ownorous to show up every month. Um, I think the
policy as it stands allows for a more thoughtful and a smarter way of of working. Um, we have our quarterly workshops with the students and they have been incredibly productive. Um, I
believe that the committee chairs um and our comm our appointees to the committees have a lot of access to bring issues to the superintendent and to board members. I know that my appointees uh submit monthly reports to me. Um I
would imagine and I I guess I would ask if uh the superintendent's office is in communication with the committee chairs on you know a monthly basis. >> Dr. Fol, >> Mr. Sullivan, >> I'm sorry. Um can you repeat the
question? I'm so sorry. Does is the superintendent's office uh in monthly communication with the committee chairs? Do they do they correspond with the committee chairs on a monthly basis? >> I don't know if I would say monthly, but it's a it's continuously and he does
meet with uh several of them individually quite often. >> Do when issues are brought via committee reports every month, are those um are those issues new issues that the superintendent is hearing about for the first time?
It depends on the issue. Sometimes yes, sometimes no. Uh I think the uh I can speak for the superintendent. He prefers that when issues arise that they're brought to his attention immediately and not in some kind of cadence of of meetings. >> Okay, that's my understanding as well.
Um and I can speak from personal experience when you know I my appointees to different comm committees certainly reach out to me um as issues arise as well. Uh, you know, I I have a feeling that this
is not going to to this policy is not going to pass as is today, but I do um want us to think about again working smarter, not harder and being um more strategic with our time. Thank you. >> Thank you. On is this on the motion, Mr.
Se? Okay. On Mr. Se. >> Thank you, Chair. I support the motion. I think it should be monthly and I think an incredible amount of work goes into what our volunteers do and this is something that they do because they're passionate about it. This is obviously
something that they're not doing for a paycheck. They're taking time out of their days. They're taking time away from their families to do these things. And having those monthly reports reported back to us is extremely valuable. I pay attention to those things. I
listen to them. I take notes on them. Uh I try to take suggestions when I get them. It gives our our our hardworking volunteers a voice. And from what I understand, it is it is not a mandate. So I mean, if there is a committee that doesn't want to do it every month, they
don't have to. I I I think the majority of them want to. And I think if they want to do it, we should provide that outlet. And to handcuff those folks who want to give us information under the guise of it's if it's too much information, there's there's no such
thing as too much information. There's really not. You choose what you want to do with the information. If you want to use it, great. Fantastic. If you want to delete the email without looking at the email, that's your prerogative, too. But the reality is I'm a I'm a huge fan of getting as much information as I
possibly can, especially from our hardworking volunteers that comprise these committees and take time out of their day to do what's something that they're very very passionate about and um share it with us. So, I I I appreciate um the responses I got on
this. I appreciate the the feedback. I I've heard you. I we've gotten a lot of emails on this and I apologize if I haven't answered all of them, but I I've certainly have heard you and I am in favor chair of the motion because in my mind there's just no such thing as too much information. There's really not.
Thank you, >> Miss Thompson. >> Thank you, chair, and thank you for making this motion. I pointed out at the workshop I thought this would happen because when it was discussed, none of our committee chairs were actually here. Um, and I just don't think that was the
right way to go about it. Um, I do think it's incredibly valuable to have our committee chairs come up and speak, not only for our information, but also for the public's information. If you watch the comments on our Facebook lives, people respond to the things that the chairs are saying. It's a way to get
more information out. And I do feel that it's our responsibility as board members to make sure that our community is aware of the situations happening and that we are listening and we are taking action on what they say. Um so I'm in favor of the motion. Thank you chair.
>> Thank you. All those in favor of the motion say I. >> I. I. >> All those opposed say no. >> No. >> No. >> Can we do a roll call? >> Roll call on the motion. School board members Sea. >> Yes. >> Hixon. >> Yes. >> Honest. >> Yes. Leonardi,
>> no. >> Rupert, >> yes. >> Thompson, >> yes. >> Zean, >> no. >> Alhidev, >> yes. >> Bowman, >> yes. >> Motion passes 17. >> Thank you. I have one more motion and
see. So I move to on page on the first page under general rules or letter sorry um H. So it's not it's on page two of 16 on the red line says if the schoolboard
chair is absent the vice chair will commence the meeting or workshop. If both the chair and vice chair are absent, then the superintendent of schools shall preside over the process for selecting a chair pro tempor tempor by a majority vote of the schoolboard members. So I move to change that last
part to say um are after our absent then the most recent past chair shall preside over the meeting. >> Second. >> It's been moved and seconded. Any public comment on the motion?
Board member discussion. And I'll tell you the reason I in order to have to have a a vote in order to get another chair. That takes a lot of time if there is a a past chair that's able to step in when both the chair and vice chair aren't here. It is
what we did in practice for a long time. It just wasn't in policy. So that's why I'm making the motion. Any discussion? Okay. All those in favor of the motion say I. I. Any opposed say no. >> No.
>> Motion passes with one descending vote. Okay. All right. Dr. Holus. Madam Chair. Um, we're still on the >> PP1, right? I'm sorry. >> P1 correct. Sorry. Sorry about that.
Okay. Um, Madame Chair, let me see. Is there anyone else who needs to speak? I have to get my notes together. I can go to the next person, Mrs.
Rupert. It was just accomplished. Thank you. >> Perfect. >> Oh, Madam Chair. Yeah. Yeah, I'm I'm good. Yeah. >> Okay. Um, Mrs. and Mrs. Mrs. Leonardi, thank you. I was hoping to get some
clarity on page eight of the redlinined document. Um, number one, uh, it says a speaker a single speaker may not exceed 12 minutes in total per meeting or workshop. not including their
general public speaking comment. This is the piece that I want clarity on. If any motion is introduced, the speaker is allowed one additional minute to speak on that motion. Um, so I guess my question is
like what is that what what is the one additional minute like is that one minute on the motion? Is that one additional minute to the added to the 12 minutes? Dr. Fton Hi, Mrs. Elevate. >> Yeah, sure. I was going to say, Miss
Batista could jump in, but I believe the way it's worded, it doesn't count towards the 12 minutes as it's currently written. >> That was the discussion that we had. Also, they have 12 minutes for public comment, but they get that one minute
for any motion that's made extra. >> So, that's added to the 12 minutes. So, if they're doing but they get three minutes for the motion, >> they get three minutes for the item. And if there's additional motions,
>> they get one minute for they get one minute of total speaking time for the motion. >> Each motion on the >> each motion. >> Okay. And we've been giving people just one minute to speak on each motion. Okay. Um and that can So then I guess
can we clarify can we add some more clarifying language to that to say that um that the speaking on the motions don't count towards the 12 minutes. Do we need to add that or I I just feel like it's
very unclear. Miss Batista. >> Yes. So, the way that is written right now, um, it definitely could be interpreted as that one minute that is an additional minute added to the 12 total minutes. So, it's up to the board whether you would like to include that
minute as part of the um total 12 or make it an additional additional time to the speaker's time. So whichever way the board would like to go, I think that that um more language would be appropriate to >> So would that be an extra sentence added
saying that this minute that those minute that minute is not does not count towards the the li the time limit or it does >> correct? >> Okay. Can you just I'm sorry to jump in just maybe in parentheses because it does say an additional minute which
means more than the 12 but to clarify it maybe in parentheses not included in the 12 minutes or >> if I may there's another solution too Andre which is >> in the next sentence we say time spent delivering committee reports and uh
responding to motions will not count toward the 12 minutes if that's the intent of the board. time spent delivering motion comments and committee reports does not count towards the 12minute total. >> I can't believe you and I had the same thought. It's so cool. I feel great.
>> Okay. Um so I would like to make a motion to add time spent delivering committee reports and commenting on motions does not count towards the 12minute total. >> Perfect. Any public comment on the motion?
>> How ironic. Natalie Lynch Walsh, Plantation, Florida, as a a beneficiary of that additional minute today, which I have been using strategically all day long. Um, and thank you for picking apart this section because I didn't realize public speaking was separate
from the 12 minutes and I was doing 12, which is why I ended up with like nine extra minutes. So, um I totally support this motion to clarify and um because I I do think people get confused about the
additional minute. >> Thank you. Any other board member comment? All those in favor of the motion say I. >> I. Any opposed say no. >> No. >> Was that two descending? >> I'm waiting to get your attention. >> Oh. Oh, okay. >> So, I think it's one desending vote.
>> One descending vote. Okay. Okay. Um Dr. Zean, >> thanks so much. I want to go back to a quick one on the lobbyist. Um on the red line version under um G I'm sorry. Let me make my attorney
friends happy here. Four. >> It's okay. That's weird. Yeah. 4G on the redline version page 12. uh we talk about um uh you identify yourself as um
name, city, and if they're a lobbyist, and if they fail to do so, the chair uh requests that they do that. Um it seems to me that on the end of that, we could add if a speaker lobbies the school board without having registered with the
school board of Broward County, the chair shall end the speaker's time. Um, the way I see that working is if somebody stands up and says, "I'm Alan Zean from Fort Lauderdale." And I start talking about, you know, uh, a paint company that I have and I need you to
use my paint company. Um, you know, if someone's a registered lobbyist, that's fine. They're welcome to come and and talk about how great uh, they are. They are not allowed to interfere, you know, in cones of silence and things like that. So, there's restrictions, but it seems to me that if they're not a registered lobbyist, they shouldn't have
the privilege to come and speak. to be a registered lobbyist. You register here and you pay to be a registered lobbyist. And why don't we enforce that when they walk in the doors and say, "Hey, I'm here to sell you my pink company and they're not a registered lobbyist." I think it's the only place that we can really just say, "Look, um, you know,
you're not on the list of registered lobbyists and u we need to end your time and move on to the next speaker." >> Miss Bodista, can you just give us if that's because people can come and talk about whatever they want to. So how does
that fall? >> Right. So I do have a concern that um I really would like to research further because to shill the speech of a person and mandate, you know, or burden the
speech, I'm going to say it that way. Burden the speech by mandating um for them to pay a fee. Um, I I just have some concerns with that, you know, without doing further research on it.
>> Um, the changes that we've made so far, do they represent significant changes? >> Yes. >> Okay. So, we're in a period where we're not going to approve this today finally. We're going to have to bring it back one more time. >> That is correct. >> So, I wonder if um at that point if we change this lobbyist
uh would have to stop speaking if they weren't registered. If we found a way to do that, would that also be a substantial change to the policy? Yes. >> Okay. I don't want to get into the permanent doop. Um >> are we >> right? But what would happen is if that
is legal to muzzle someone at that point to take away their first amendment rights and go through that whole legal uh thing, which I respect. I mean, it's a really good thing process to go through. >> Then we'd still have to come back another month after that. So that's what I meant by like we we have changes that we've done now that are substantial. So
we got to bring it back for a final vote. If we don't have substantial change, then we can approve the the new schoolboard policy 1020. Um is there a way um chair that the general counsel may advise us to um in to
uh provide a process modification that would allow us to know whether non-registered lobbyists are addressing us at least >> miss Batista >> like my preference would be that they
don't speak because like we instituted I think a year ago a rule that said if you want to be a lobbyist that's fine but we need you to register and there's a fee for registering to pay for all the fees we have to track for keeping track a registered lobbyist but it seems laughable that they could not register
and they just come and say hey I'm here we had one speaker today talking about a specific vendor product and she's not a registered lobbyist so maybe instead of saying they can't speak um what if we said in the same
similar language that that it the end, we invite them to become a registered lobbyist or something. I mean, I there ought to be some kind of way to close the circle, >> right? And I know that in U policy 1940, that's the policy that talks about, you
know, the lobbying and registration and all of that. Um, if you can repeat what you just said. >> If a speaker lobbies a school board without having registered with a school board of Bard County, the chair shall end the speaker's time.
And I understand that there there's some really good legal debate about whether that violates their rights to just come and talk to us. And so I don't want to overstep that. But today, if I made that motion and say that the chair shall identify at the end of their time that
they are not registered as a lobbyist and are required to do so. That doesn't stop them from speaking, but it does give them a reminder like, look, you broke our rules. You came and lobbied and you haven't registered to lobby and paid your fees. So, it's just a a comment on top of them and still
allowing them to speak. >> Right. >> You would find no violation of the First Amendment or any other laws, statutes, regulations. >> Right. >> Terrific. I'll make that motion. I move that if on G page 12 of the red line, if a speaker lobbies the school board without having registered with the
school board of Broward County, the chair shall remind them at the end of their time of the requirement to register as a lobbyist. >> Second. It's been moved and seconded. Any public comment on the motion?
Mrs. Alhuda, >> I have a question in regards to what paperwork they're filling out before because on that paperwork, are they saying they're a lobbyist? >> Dr. Fton, I believe so, but Mr. Hill, you can clarify. >> Thank you, Madam Deputy. Through the
chair. So yes, anyone that's registered now, there's a Microsoft form that they go and fill out and it does state that um that they are a lobbyist as well as who who is the principal in which they represent. >> Is it required to fill that out? >> It is. Yes.
And then once they basically fill that out, they make they pay the fee and then we add them to the school district. >> No, no, no. That's not what I mean. Oh, >> so when right you're a speaker, you come to this meeting, the paperwork you're filling out out there. >> Sorry, I thought you meant the
registration form for the lobbyist. Yes, it is actually on the uh speaker's card to identify if you're a lobbyist. >> So maybe there the because you is that optional? Back to that question. >> It states if you are a lobbyist, yes. Then you have to fill out that the rest
of it. So yes. >> Okay. Maybe it could be circle like I'm a lobbyist or I'm not a lobbyist because they can skip that and then we would know before like the chair would know because
she gets the list right as long as they would put it on the because I don't get the card I get a typed list that they >> Yes, you are correct. So if we make it mandatory on the form then we would have a better track on if they are lobbyists
or not not allowing them to skip that particular >> required information and then also I would say give it that that information to the chair and maybe you she can even announce it. So I don't know if that's necessary Dr. regime and what you're saying
>> that what that process you just described would enable the chair at the end to say I can't I couldn't stop you from speaking but you obviously lobbyed and you're not a registered lobbyist you know our rules are that you you register as lobbyist we just don't have any enforcement mechanism to to stop them
from lobbying us because they have first amendment rights just to come talk to us so it's still it still needs the motion it just it would give her or any chair uh quick information to say that at the Okay. Can you repeat your motion just one more time?
>> Page 12, red line. Uh G. If a speaker lobbies the school board without having registered with Broward County, with the school board of Broward County, the chair shall remind them of the requirement to register as a lobbyist at the end of
their speaking time. >> And it was seconded. Okay. Um Mrs. Leonardi, >> thank you. I guess I I think this is a a problem that is larger than um adding this provision into this policy. I think
it's a conversation that's come up a few times in my time on this board of like who is a lobbyist? What happens if someone who's not registered as a lobbyist is lobbying a school board member for something? So I and I think there will continue to be confusion
whether or not this this motion passes and I don't know if that's some a conversation that we have to have with legal at a workshop or something. Um but it I I don't feel that even if this motion passes that we will have more
clarity um or there will be fewer issues with this particular situation. um moving forward. So I I don't know if my colleagues are are interested in kind of trying to clean
that up in the future. Um that's where I am. Thank you. >> Okay, Mr. Se. >> Thank you, Chair. Um, is there any portion of the Florida statutes that would prevent an individual for coming in front of a
governmental any governmental agency and lobbying them for whatever reason without identifying yourselves as a lobbyist or being pre-registered as a lobbyist? I'm going to use an extreme example. um I can't practice dentistry, right,
without having a license and, you know, doing whatever I have to do with the state. So, I can't go and go, you know, open an office and practice dentistry. Can can someone come in here uh and effectively be a lobbyist without being uh meeting any type of registration requirement or does anything like that
exists under the statute? >> Miss Batista, >> I'm not aware of any um such provision. Um, I do know that when there is a governmental entity such as the school board and as long as the
requirements placed upon the lobbyist are contentneutral in the sense that you're not mandating a particular lobbyist for a particular area to register while not others. Uh, if it applies across the board to all lobbyists that that is constitutional.
you're, you know, you're required to register, um, you know, disclose who your client uh is and, you know, whatever, you know, compensation on activities you have. Um, anyway, that's that's the answer to to to that question. I wanted to just
comment that as to what Mrs. Leonardi um shared. Um there are provisions and and I don't know what the uh issue or the confusion may be as it relates to lobbyists other than you know perhaps you cannot you know because of
the shielding of their speech or potentially targeting you know their specific viewpoints. Um I don't know that you can tell them not to speak but as far as like when they come and speak to board members there is a requirement that the board member um and the um
lobbyists bo both um fill out a form um and that's pursuant to our policy. So can I can I clarify like where my confusion was? So, like for instance, if
I own a pencil company and I go to Miss Hixon and I'm not a school board member, I go to Miss Hixon, I say, "I want you, you should hire my pencil company. I want you to, you know, meet with staff and and you know, connect me with them
so that I can do business with the school district so I can sell pencils and I can make money by selling my pencils." Um, does that make am I lobbying Miss Hixon? >> Yes. And if I'm not a registered lobbyist,
what what happens then? >> There are no ramifications in the policy if you do not register or pay the fee. >> And what if Miss Hixon doesn't disclose that she she doesn't follow like we file our lobbyist contact form? What if she does not? I always
>> I'm making all sorts of accusations. No. Um what if she doesn't disclose that she met with me for my pencil selling business? >> Um then that board member would be in violation of their own policy. >> And then what's the ramification of that?
>> Well, again, potentially if if something comes to light, uh they could be censure u by the other board members for not abiding by the policies and by your resolution. Okay. Because I mean I think that like
I'm hearing from people saying that you know principles of their own firm aren't um aren't considered lobbyists. I think there's just like general confusion around this and I miss Hixon I'm sure files all of her appropriate paperwork.
She's the best. Um, so I I just I give that example because like I'm hearing from people and this is something that continues to come up is a point of confusion and like it doesn't really seem like we have any ramifications for
any of this. So I kind of wonder like what's the point then, Miss Batista? Well, so the point would be that um that's what the board has decided they wanted to have in their policies and if
you want uh further ramifications then perhaps you know we could think along those lines. Um I mean right now as I said there I don't remember there being any in the policy itself um that would hold them accountable call the lobbyist
accountable or the board member accountable other than what I just mentioned. This is Alhita. >> Thank you. So, I'm okay with Dr. Zean's motion. I do think though, Dr. Heepburn, it it's more of an operational type of
matter in the sense of if the whole process and with staff with filling out the form, the lobby, you know, whether they're lobbyists and then maybe the next step is there's a QR code to how to become a lobbyist and how to pay that fee. I think there's just lack of
communication of the process, but I don't think that is not something that we need to try to solve within this policy. I believe we allow Dr. Heer and it to solve that. >> Good idea. As in governance, they tell you not to put procedures in your
policy. >> And and that just kind of reinforces why this motion might make sense. All we're doing is reminding them. And I think in many cases we'll be informing someone for the first time like they probably didn't know that they uh we have a policy about that. I think it's difficult if you're a vendor in Broward
County or anywhere and you want to do business here to read through 1700 pages of policy and figure out exactly what you're supposed to do as a vendor. You know how to write proposals. You know how to sell. You know how to market and lobby and all that. But you may not know that Miami date county, Palm Beach, and Broward all have a rule that says you
got to register and pay the bill. All I'm suggesting in this motion is that we just remind people when they're done talking, hey, that was lobbying and you know, you're supposed to be a registered lobbyist. >> Okay. All those in favor of the motion say I. >> I. I. Any oppose say no.
>> Sure. If I could keep going. I have one more motion. >> Okay. Bless you. Um motion passes unanimously. Go ahead. >> Thank you. Um I'm sorry. Let me just make sure the appendix A is part of the formal policy. Is that correct?
Dr. Fton or Miss Batista. >> Appendix A is the verbal committee report of specification. >> Yes. So in appendix A which guides this and it's kind of gets to some concerns I heard about monthly reports is that
there's things on here like number seven committee meetings special guests and presentations areas of interest or concern number eight that I don't view nearly as important as the other things. if you uh stand up and say
your committee name and chair and the date and how many people were there. So, at least to say whether you had quorum or not. Um, synopsis is great. If you've been on a site visit instead of details because I'm not sure that the details of
a site visit is is important. Maybe a summary of them, but I'll leave that alone. But seven and eight seem like more information than I'm generally interested in. Like if someone came to an advisory committee and gave a presentation that's for the consumption of the advisory uh not for the
consumption of the school board. If a chair has areas of interest or concern okay but nine is essential. Nine is we actually took a vote made an official recommendation. Now you got my
attention. I'm going to listen to every word that you say because somebody made a motion at your meeting to go to those guys at the school board who are not listening to something that's really important and I need them to listen to this thing really important and I just view seven and eight as kind of things
that um take up time could be putting into a written report um but I'm not I'm we have time for public comment so if somebody has a personal interest or concern they can come during public comment and share that I think that
advisory committees are representing their committee and nine is really important and seven and eight uh in general I wouldn't find uh valuable in a report. I just want to open that up for discussion and if it if anybody else would like to share their thoughts that's great and I can end with a motion
if the discussion goes in any direction. I want to state the obvious as I guess I often do. I don't think anyone's following that thing anyway. So, I don't know that it makes sense to change it. I mean, if they have things that are
pertinent to those two things, it's fine to leave it there. But no one is using that guide to give us reports anyway. I'm just >> I appreciate that. I think some are, you know, there. I mean, this is our guidance to them about what to come talk to us about. Um, I'll leave that alone
for now. But, um, you know, we had a good conversation when they were here last about what really matters to a school board in in their report. I think that that was that was good. But, the the the official recommendations where they actually have a motion and a vote and they say, "Go tell those feckless jerks up there on the deis that they
don't know about this and they need to know about it." That really captures our attention. Um, but I'll leave this one alone. Thank you, chair. >> Thank you. I have one more motion for this. Sorry, I didn't make it before. On page three of the red line, very first
paragraph that's all in red. Um, and it's about the the prog the log the superintendent is going to do. I'd like to make a motion to remove that sentence from the types of meeting defined and move it to general rules as an I. So
under H and to change to add within 48 hours of the schoolboard workshop or schoolboard meeting. So, the superintendent shall maintain a follow-up list of board members questions, progress monitoring, and requests
and share the list with a date for follow-up response within 48 hours of the schoolboard workshop and or schoolboard meeting to in since it's not just specific to workshops, I think it should go under general rules
as its own item under H. C. >> Could you point out where you're reading from again, chair? I'm sorry. So yeah, page three on the red line, the there's a whole red paragraph. The last sentence starts the superintendent. >> I apologize. Just I just need one more minute. I was on the wrong I thought I
was on the red line. I was not. >> Sorry. >> I'm I'm back. Thank you, ma'am. >> Okay. So, take that whole last sentence, add the word and schoolboard meeting and take that sentence and make it I on page two underneath the H. So it would be
moved to general rules as opposed to types of meetings defined. >> Chair, are you proposing a change and a movement? >> Correct. So in addition instead of I mean the point really is to make I think we should have a follow-up log not just
from the workshop but from meetings because we're asking for things sitting here on the day is it's a way to keep us informed of what we asked and if we are getting the followup. So I'm asking to add and schoolboard workshop to the
sentence and then to move the entire sentence to page two under H and make it an I. >> Chair, could you read the the whole thing when you're done then please? >> Sure. So it would go under general rules
under H. So, it would become its I and it would read, "The superintendent shall maintain a follow-up list of board members questions, progress monitoring, and requests and share the list with a date for follow-up response within 48 hours of the schoolboard workshop and
schoolboard meeting." >> Could I offer just an orboard meetings? >> That's fine. >> Thank you, ma'am. >> So, a second. Any any um public comment? Natalie Lynchwalsh, Plantation, Florida. Um, Madame Chair, thank you very much
for the motion. Um, it captures all the different types of meetings, moving it to general rules. Um, the sentence needs some word smmithing. And since this has to come back, perhaps staff can reward it in a way that doesn't lump progress
monitoring with questions and requests because it's really progress monitoring on the questions and requests, basically a status report. And actually, um, the chief auditor does one for the audit committee. Maybe he can forward it to
Dr. Heepburn. In terms of format, it's it's kind of a basic format. Here's the request or question and here's the status and you keep a running log. So everybody and and you I believe when you initially directed the follow-up log,
you mentioned that there should be a timeline like is it going to be 90 days, 60 days the next meeting just like you do, you know, when you've had follow-up items today, a time certain for it. >> Thank you. Any board discussion? All those in favor? Yes.
>> I'm sorry. Are we voting on my motion? >> Oh, I'm sorry. I thought >> at some point I'd love to. >> I'm sorry. Skip. I thought we did vote on your motion. >> Um, >> yes, we did. >> Did we vote on the lobbyist motion? >> Did it pass? >> Right. Yes.
>> I thought I >> I thought I did. >> I'm trying. Listen, I'm jetlagged. I'm doing my best here. >> And maybe I'm more jetlagged than you, but I just didn't register the vote. Thank you so much, clerk. >> Okay. All those in favor of the motion >> speaker here for the motion. >> Oh, I'm sorry. Go ahead. I apologize.
>> Yes. To your um motion um regarding board member follow-ups, there was actually a um an ask from district advisory by way of a formal motion last month that asked um in addition to some other stuff, we recommend that board member follow-ups and their responses
should be published on a on a public facing portal. This is because sometimes we might bring up or any member of the public might bring up something, member of staff might um have it followed up by a board member and then you get the responses, but out here we don't. Um and
so that was an added ask that I thought you might like to consider as part of this. Thank you. Thank you. All those in favor of the motion say I. I. Any oppose say no. Motion carries unanimously without Mrs. Alhidev. All
right. >> Yes, >> I do have a question. Where are our followup? I know during the meeting agendas, they're posted on the actual agendas, but the follow-ups that we're getting after, do those >> the ones we get sent via email, do those
get put back on the agenda like post meeting where they live? >> Go ahead, Mr. Hill. >> Thank you, Deputy Superintendent. through the chair. And so if if the follow-up comes during the meeting, then it's when it's responded to, it's
included within the minutes of the me the minutes of the meeting. >> So then to um Miss Luskam's point, how they would get the follow-ups would have to be a public records request. >> No, the minutes are searchable on the
district's website. The same um page that you view the meetings on is also a link there that says uh minutes. So they can just click there, click the meeting dates and the minutes will just pop up. >> Oh, so I thought I So if we get a follow like we ask question, it takes like two
weeks for the followup, then they're still attached to the minutes. >> That is correct. or and I'm sorry and also within the same webs page where the minutes are sorry the the meeting agendas are >> um
>> there is another tab that says documents and they basically click on the particular item and all of the documents that were posted after the meeting can also be placed inside of that section as well. So it's in two places on the same page >> on the same page where you would find the meeting agenda. Sorry, I'm trying to
see you on >> the like when you go to the website and it's like meeting agenda. >> Correct. >> Watch whatever. Correct. Documents is where all of our follow-ups live. >> Correct. So, there's a top part that has the current meeting, but if you scroll down, it has the past meetings and then over to the right, you can click there and see all the executed actions and
inside of that lit dropown will be the executed documents such as the follow-up responses. >> Thank you. I appre I actually didn't know that. So, thank you. >> Yes. >> Thank you. And just as a a side note also because I spoke to the superintendent about this. I believe
they're working on an electronic document or not document but program that will have the questions we have. It'll have the follow-up. They'll drop the the response right into the same space. So everything is in one place. So
we can ask whether that can be public. So I know it's for us like a dashboard sort of. So we'll ask if we can do that. Okay. All those in favor of item P1 as amended say I. I. Any oppose say no.
Motion passes unanimously. Minus Mrs. Alhadv. And just as a note remember because there are substantial changes substantive changes. It will come back to us in the next schoolboard meeting for a vote. So um the changes will be in there.
>> Okay. Next item is double P2. Can I have a motion in a second? >> It's been moved by Dr. Zean, seconded by Mrs. Rupert. Um, any public comment on double P2? >> No comments. >> Mr. Sea. >> Thank you, Chair. I uh will be voting no
uh on this policy and this has come up in workshop before, but this is my first um I think official opportunity to bring this up at a at a regular schoolboard meeting. Section 4 subsection E4
discriminates on the basis of religion in this current policy as drafted. Uh the Supreme Court and various federal courts over the years have repeatedly confirmed that governments may not discriminate against the speech of organizations holding a religious
viewpoint. Religious speech is fully protected under the free speech clause of the Constitution. Recently, a US Supreme Court decision entitled Trinity Lutheran Church of Columbia versus Comr. The court held
that when a state denies an otherwise generally available benefit solely on the account of religious identity without satisfying the strict scrutiny test. It violates it violates the free exercise clause of the constitution. A church, the court went on to note, has
the right to participate in a government benefit program without having to disavow its religious character. Denying a church that right will allow secular group, excuse me, while allowing secular groups to access the benefit
inevitably deters or discourages the exercise of First Amendment rights. When a government does not speak for itself, it may not exclude speech based on religious viewpoint, as doing so constitutes impermissible viewpoint discrimination.
In our case, the district does not endorse a church or other house of of worship by treating it equally with other community sponsors. Our churches, our temples, our synagogues, our mosques, our places of worship have a
right to become a community sponsor within our district's uh partners and education sponsorship pro program without giving up their religious identity or beliefs. And my concern is the current policy as written specifically targets legitimate
religious organizations from participating in this particular banner program. I think this is unconstitutional. I've said it before and I'll say it again. I think this is opening up the district to um potential liability and lawsuits and uh I want to be on record with my position that I am
against this uh specific portion of the policy. Thank you. >> Thank you. Any other board member comment, >> Miss Rupert? >> Um can we ask council to Miss Batista give us a little insight into that?
>> Certainly. Um, as we discussed at the workshop, um, this policy came under scrutiny, uh, from a lawsuit that was filed by, uh, Mr. Stevens in court. And during that
lawsuit, the uh, one of the things that came to light was that there were banners at the schools with, you know, religious um that represented religious entities. Uh we have changed the policy as a result of that uh case and actually as a
result of the mech case which is a case um from Palm Beach uh where now the banners are no longer the speech of the different entities that are represented in in those banners. They are rather the
speech of the school board. So um as Mr. Sea just mentioned in that particular opinion it says when the government is not speaking for itself. So in this case and pursuant to our new policy the district which is a
governmental entity is speaking for itself. We are thanking our partners in education and other entities. Uh and through that process um we still have to have separation of state and religion
and therefore um that is the reason that specifically um religious entities are expressly um excluded from the policy. >> This is so bringing it down to common language
here. um a synagogue that donated $500 for a barbecue to for for one of their open houses, let's just say. Um we would not be able to say the name of the synagogue on our sponsor stuff as we're thanking them.
>> As the policy reads right now, that is correct. And that is the representation that the board made to the court when the court dismissed the case against the district. We said this is how we're changing our policy. We're changing it
to make it similar or you know very very closely aligned to the policy in Palm Beach and the Mech case which is an 11 circuit case and the court based upon that representation dismissed the case that Mr. Stevens have brought against the district.
>> Okay. Thank you for that. >> Thank you. >> All those in favor of item double P2 say I. I. Any opposed say no. No >> motion carries with one descending vote and Miss Thompson and Mrs. Alhadev are
not present on the deis. Next item is double P3. Can I have a motion in a second? >> Move. Second. >> Been move. It's been moved by Mrs. Leonardi, seconded by Dr. Zean. Any public comment? >> No comments. >> Okay. Uh Dr. Holes.
>> Thank you, Madam Chair. So um Dr. Dr. Fulton, should should this um policy pass today as it is written and as it pertains to um cell phone usage and so on, uh when will this be effective?
>> As soon as Sorry, thank you. As soon as this passed, um we're ready to begin all the communication. >> Okay. >> Sorry, we're just trying to >> That's okay. We're ready to begin the communications as soon as we get the final direction from the board. >> Okay. So today's Tuesday if it passes
today, >> tomorrow students can use their phones. >> We we will begin communicating that. Exactly. >> Thank you. >> You're welcome. >> U Mrs. Leonardi. Oh, she got off the
desk. Uh Miss Miss Thompson. >> Thank you, chair. I just I actually had um questions about uh attendance and I brought up to staff but there is reference to policy
5040 and currently our attendance policy is 5.5. I was just wondering if we need to make that correction or my understanding is 5040 is what the policy will be called. Tiser Heern
>> staff. >> Good afternoon. Um, so when the policy was revised, the attendance policy was also in revision. I believe and hopefully Mr. Hill can confirm that the new policy number for the attendance policy will be 5040, but it is currently
5.5. Does that answer your >> So is there I guess for Miss Batista, is there any like harm if the policy says a future policy or should we >> Yes. >> Should we say attendance policy instead
of the specific number since it's about to change? I don't want this coming back anytime soon. So if it's not a problem, >> Yeah. Madam Chair, >> go ahead. >> So my uh recommendation is that you uh have
the number that of the policy that currently exists um in this policy when the policy changes that the number be changed to align to the new policy number. That would not be a um that would that would
not be a substantive change. It's a technical change because it's the same policy. You're just changing the uh basically the nomenclature to identify that policy. >> Okay. Then I would like to make a motion to change the word policy 5040 to policy 5.5.
>> Second. Uh any public comment on the motion? Board member comment on the motion. All those in favor of the motion say I. I. >> Any oppose say no. Motion passes unanimously. Minus Mrs. Rupert, Mr. Sea
and Mrs. Leonardi. Did you have more? >> I I'm trying to decide if I want to. And then Okay. So, not to be changed now, but just I talked to staff and it's okay how it's written
currently, but there is an error where it says um it should be calendar days and not school days or marking period. I'm trying to find where it is in that but through the superintendent to staff.
Could you explain why that's >> okay? >> Dr. He >> staff. >> So the current u reference to the attendance policy in 5090 um speaks to a certain number of absences within uh it should say 30 calendar days and it says
30 school days. 30 calendar days is what is written in statute. And Miss Batista, please correct me if I'm wrong. Statute is going to supersede policy and we can make this change when we bring the policy back in the spring. >> That's correct. Thank you.
>> Sorry. Uh thank you for that clarification. And I would really love to see this policy be a more extended uh length of life. That's not what I want to call it, but it's like a longer term so that we're not like our code of
conduct doesn't really need to change every single year. Um, and I know staff has talked about making it a more extended term of service, >> lasting document, >> last Thank you. Um, and so I think that would really benefit not only our time
management since this has come back over three times, but also I think just for our students to really get an understanding of of what the code of conduct is without changes. And I am just very excited to vote yes on this and give our students cell phones at lunch.
>> Thank you. I have a quick question. Is is it necessary that this be one policy? Is it possible to break it down into different pieces and maybe it's an A and a B so that the whole thing doesn't have
to continue to come back and just those pieces that maybe need to be updated do that because there this is such a a comprehensive for lack of a better word
policy and it's a lot. Is there a way to chunk it as a teacher term? Right. To chunk it so we could d so it's more digestible, Miss Batista, I guess. >> Um, no.
Okay. All righty. Just seemed like a fair question. Okay. Any other board member discussion? Dr. Zean. >> Thank you, Chair. Nice try, Miss Thompson. We're not going to avoid the inevitable uh discussion.
Um, we're going to talk about cell phones at lunch because we need to. Um, there's a few things that I just feel like we have to talk about and make sure we're doing the right thing. And there's some new information that I think uh is relevant to this as we bring it forward
to the final vote. Chair, uh, this is a change to our policy. How many votes do we need out of nine or do we need a majority vote to accept this change? >> Yes, five. >> Thank you. So, um there's some wonderful things to
talk about and I'm just going to really highlight some new information and not kind of go back through everybody else's um uh long discussions that we had when this came up as a draft. We know that this is not a strict policy. Uh our students are not uh consigned to put
their uh devices in bags. They're not um locking them up. They're not taken away throughout the day. They keep them, as the superintendent recommended, uh, just over a year ago when we did this, they keep them in airplane mode, which allows for them to be pulled out quickly uh, for safety and security issues. We've
talked a lot about cyber bullying and how you can't cyber bully. You can't shame, you can't guilt kids if you don't have a cell phone, which I think is great. We've talked about how this affects our female students more than our meal our male students. They're the ones that are more susceptible to mental health problems and maladies uh, than
our uh, male students. We haven't talked much about security as much as I'd like. And in order to learn more about this, uh, I wrote to the chair of the MSD Commission, the current sheriff of Penllis County, and I asked Sheriff
Gualitari, who I probably pronounced his name wrong. >> Gutterary. >> Gutterary. There we go. Thank you. um uh what he thought about it and he wrote back uh an email which I'd like to share with my colleagues about uh his
response to chair. Can I just pass this out, Miss Leonard? >> Oh, yes. >> Thank you. Um this is a response that I you mind passing these out. I wrote uh to him on Monday of this week. Was that
yesterday? My lord. Yesterday. Um, and I just asked him uh uh the question on the bottom of this page, and you can see his response on the top. I'll give you a little bit of time to read this. It's an important u uh assessment of what cell
phones do to safety and security. Don't look at it. Yeah. Oh, I totally will. Yes, of course. >> He was not the audience I intended. >> Thank you very much. Let's just keep going. chair. Uh we've talked about training. We've talked about the need to teach all of our students uh better
relationship with technology, better relationship with AI, uh ethical decisions that they have to make in a world that is very different than the world of just a few years ago. I still think that's critically important. We're not where we need to be yet. Uh but I look forward to it. But our kids are addicted to cell phones and I don't
believe just personally that allowing people 30 more minutes of their drug of their choice is not a good idea. I want to share what our FAU report said. 70.4% of our students and educators said they
should not be using cell phones during the school day. 55.9% wanted stricter rules on student safety and mental health. Educators again in the FAU report the strongest negative impact of phones is on bullying and they see a clear
negative effect on student mental health and self-esteem. I know that we care about students. It's very clear. I think we just have a difference of opinion about kind of what impact this has over a short period of time on on our high school students. Um I have been on the minority view of
this. Uh but I still want to make this case in case someone decides to change their mind today. And I think the second piece of new information that's really compelling is that we need to listen to our superintendent. Uh Dr. Heepburn through the chair. Do you think changing
the policy that we had in place for the past 14 months on balance is a good idea, >> Dr. Heer? >> Um, my stance has not changed on this issue. So, it remains the same. I support the current policy as is. >> Terrific. And Dr. Heeper, do you feel
like you're on the fence about this or do you feel strongly about this opinion? >> Again, my again my stance hasn't changed. Could you share with us what your stance is in terms of the magnitude of your feelings?
>> Um, you express a lot of emotions, but it's hasn't changed. I feel like the Yes. The current policy uh is what I support. >> Terrific. And uh could you tell us again in just a brief comment, why do you feel this way? Why do you feel like the current policy bell-to-bell no use for
high school students over the lunch hour is better overall for our district? >> Yeah. um you know think this is a part of the policy that you know the students and I um you know firmly disagree um about I feel like the having it from bell to bail
throughout the day is is best um and you know to further codify that every time I meet with the business community as I had a meeting about two weeks ago with some um uh our aviation folks as we talk about program and all of that the the
one thing that they also talk about every business entity is our students soft skills that they are socially um inept in some sort. They don't know how to collaborate and communicate with each other. Um and so it's a it's it
resonates over and over every time I talk to the business community. Um and then not to mention all the social ills um that segue into our schools with social media use um during free time at school. Also, I know our our our principles may disagree with me also um
just for logistics purposes, but um I know they also deal with the secondary issues of cell phone use in schools. >> Terrific. Chair, do you know what the federal law is uh section 230 related to social media use? >> I do not.
>> Section 230, the federal law says that social media companies will never be held liable for addicting our children. It's an insane law. Our obligation is to take care of the kids, keep them away from these addictions, and to make sure that they are in the safest and most
secure environment they can be. I'm glad that I'm uh shared in this opinion with our leader, our superintendent, you know, that that while there's many good arguments to make on both sides of this
issue, uh on balance, why would we kind of tempt fate? Why would we take risks that we just don't need to where the benefits are there? Uh but they are not overwhelming. Chair, I'm going to move that on page 22
of the red line version, we strike the change during the assigned lunch period or so that the resulting sentence is on number two of page 21. High school students may not use a
wireless communication device during the school day except when expressly directed by a teacher solely for educational purposes. >> Second. >> It's been moved and seconded. Any um public comment? Board member comment.
All those in fa. >> All those in favor of the motion. Oh, I'm sorry. Mrs. Leonardi >> not. >> Yeah. I'm I'm I'm sorry because you said page 22. Can you clarify uh your proposed motion again, please?
>> Yeah, I'm just demonstrating my innumeracy. It's page 21. >> Okay. And just can you repeat the whole thing, Dr. Zean, please, just for clarity? >> It's a change in the red the on the redline version. See the words during their assigned lunch period or we would
strike that on number two on page 21 of the red line. >> There we go. The net effect would be we would keep the current policy of of bell-to bell for elementary, middle, which are restricted now by statute and and continue that to high school.
>> Mrs. Leonardi, >> thank you. And I know that we've litigated this at length, but I feel so strongly about the impact of this on student well-being, and I would feel
irresponsible if I didn't speak up about this again. Um, you know, several months ago, Dr. Zean suggested we read a prolific writer, Professor Jonathan Height, and I did. I read his book, Anxious Generation. And, um, you know, he makes
several key recommendations for schools to address in part the mental health crisis among our youth. One is to implement belttoell bans on cell phone use in our schools. And two is to increase unstructured play in our
schools. And lunch is one of the few opportunities in the school day uh for our high school students to have unstructured social interaction with each other. Um and again I I highly recommend uh anxious generation to my
colleagues to read um because it has some really interesting recommendations also on you know expansion of recess and things like that. Um, so it's hard for me to ignore uh recommendations that are backed up by
data both nationally and in our school district. Um, I think, you know, I've spoken to principles in district three, and even just last week, I was having a conversation um with a middle school
principal who talked about uh how the the ban on cell phones during the school day has reduced fights in his school. It's reduced um bullying. uh he he talked about how he watches kids walk out of school and they're not
on their phones, they're talking to each other and looking up and looking out into the world. Um and I I think, you know, I I know he's a middle school principal, but I think like these things, this has been a
long-term issue, a long-term habit that we all have to break. And I I see the positive pro progress we're making with our kids. And it would be devastating to reduce or take away the opportunity
these kids have to interact with each other without the the restrictions of a phone. Um one piece of the conversation that we have not talked about is the expansion and ubiquity of AI. And I
continue to read some really troubling statistics. Um, and I don't, you know, I think it's this is a much bigger conversation and I'm not scared of AI. Um, and I'm actually less concerned about the the idea of students using AI to cheat. I am more concerned about the
mental health piece. Um, there are studies now that are coming out that show that three out of four teens have used AI for companionship. And I would argue I would I would suspect there are a lot of adults doing
that too. Um I read yesterday uh a study that one in five high school students has had a sexual interaction with an AI chatbot. And again these technologies
are are designed to be addictive. So it is not the fault of our students. This is not a flaw of our students. It is not a flaw of us. Many of us have to do things to pro to stop ourselves from being on our phones all the time. Um but
we are competing for the attention of children that in it is not a level playing field. So again, I I support the motion. I think that is what does right by kids on so many levels. I would like to see us
do more as a district in terms of reducing screen time and increasing social interaction and unstructured play with our kids. And I think we need to to move forward in that direction as well. But again, I I could not uh not speak up
on this policy one more time. So, thank you Dr. Zean for making the motion. Um, and I I really hope that we can think about this intentionally uh for the health and wellness of our children. And I do I just want to say one more thing. Several months ago, one of our student
adviserss asked us, "What do we do to decompress?" And honestly, I put my phone away and I go outside with my kids and I look at the sunshine and the plants and listen to my children scream in my face and
it's wonderful and beautiful and I would not want to rob our children of experiences like that because it is not um it is it is just not a a level playing field with with the phones. So
um thank you again Dr. Eman for making this motion. Thank you, Miss Thompson. >> Thank you, chair. I'm obviously not going to be voting for this motion. I really have issue with people characterizing our students as zombies
or that they can't pay attention or that business communities complain about how they're acting. Our students, especially our high school students, are the next leaders of our generation. They have advocated for the possibility of having this at lunch. They have given us
reasons after reasons to do this. Their parents would like them to have this opportunity. Principles would like them to have this opportunity. How long is our lunch period? >> Dr. Heburn. >> Um, on average between 25 minutes and 30
minutes. >> And from the student perspective, how long does it take you to get lunch? How many minutes do you truly have in a lunch period? >> About seven minutes to enter the cafeteria. >> So what that's like 20 minutes to also eat.
The majority of your time you are probably not actually on your phone, but we are giving students the opportunity to check on their jobs, to check on family obligations, to check out for a moment, which is fine. As the only mental health professional, it kind of
frustrates me that we're using this as a clutch. I have also read The Anxious Generation and he does talk about active play outside. That's not happening in the 20 minutes of lunch.
I believe that we need to listen to our student voices. I believe that we need to listen to our community that overwhelmingly wants our students to have this. We're not forcing them to have it. We are giving them that option. And it has been discussed time after
time after time after time. And continually our students are asking us to please listen to them. We talk about how we value students coming to us once a quarter because we want their input. We want their leadership. And then they advocate to us
and we say, "No, we don't care what you're saying. You don't know what's best for you. Obviously, I feel very strongly about this. I believe that our students have the right to be listened to, and that's what I'm ending on. Thank you.
>> Thank you, Mrs. Rupert. >> Hard act to follow uh from my last two colleagues. Um I have been a no on cell phones from day one. Um my entire family was um crushed when my daughter was
cyberbullied. Broward was the leader and we changed that policy here and in the state. It became the the very first law for that and it was the mental health and wellness aspect of it. Um and it is insidious.
It is painful. It is very hard for students to separate an anonymous person to somebody who they know. All they are
getting is pain from that aspect. Taking it away at lunch, um I'm telling you, elementary, middle schools, and middle schools especially, that they're they're interacting.
There's joy. um they stay together when they walk out of there and there's conversation not boy boisterous but actual conversation um and they're working on those soft skills the superintendent has mentioned um I can
tell you on scholarship committees these kids are great on paper and then when they come in for the interviews it is an absolute different situation um even when we warn them and say really really really you want to know all these answers answers to these questions and
and they still have a a part where they're missing a beat or two. So, um I'm not going to, you know, try to talk my colleagues into anything. I just have a responsibility as an adult human being and um having been through what my
family has been through, trust me, I wish we never had that information for my daughter to access. She'd be a different person. Thank you, Dr. Holes. >> Thank you, Madam Chair. So, thank you,
board member uh Thompson uh for your feedback as I believe the only mental health professional here on this board and uh for you to be supporting this. Uh I am uh certainly grateful for your input. It's important that we are not
dismissive to the input of our parents and our students. We did send out a survey and the survey we sent out parents uh support the use during lunchtime as well as students. I believe there is adequate research to suggest that excessive use of cell phones is
problematic. However, limited use of cell phone uh during lunchtime which probably will be about 15 20 minutes at most um uh can also be beneficial. In fact, there's arguments on both sides and it's it's just as substantive on
both sides to say if it's damaging during lunchtime or if it's beneficial. Uh there are potential uh benefits as well as drawbacks uh if you look at it um both ways. Now I for one believe that
using uh cell phones during lunch can be beneficial. It can provide a mental break. It can uh allow students to connect with parents, especially students that are having uh issues prior to or during school uh to have that support system, have access to that
support system. Uh it can increase their productivity where they can do research, they can work on their homework. Um so I um I am supportive of this. uh and I am I am also very uh appreciative of the
input of our students and I see our two student adviserss here who I believe also support this and also our parents you know and I don't see in my opinion any convincing research to suggest that
using it during lunchtime is any greater um degree of um of negative consequence as opposed to not using it. So, I'm going to respect the input of our parents and our students and I while I do and I'll say
it for the record that I do um strongly believe that excessive use can be damaging but limited use during lunchtime can be beneficial and I'm going to continue to support it. >> Thank you, Mrs. Alhad. >> Thank you. I have one question. I know
the answer, but Miss Batista, does Florida state law determine whether you can use your cell phone during lunch or not use it during lunch? >> Miss Batista. >> Yes, Mrs. Alhadev. Florida law does um
state that except for um high school students um students are not to use cell phones during lunch. No, high school students during instructional time, but they can use it during lunch. >> Correct. Only high school students can use it during lunch time.
>> Right. So, state law allows high school students to use their cell phone during lunch. Thank you. Mrs. Bulman. >> Thanks, Chair. Um, glad to be talking about this again.
Just a couple things to I mean I think we can all agree this is a very fraught topic and it's not just because of cell phones at lunch. It's the entire way our society's going. It is the pervasiveness of cell phones, AI, the scariness of it,
the reports of it. I mean I would invite us as we continue down the road of supporting certain initiatives and other things that we are consistent. So, I don't know that we can celebrate AI and
then be super dismissive and critical of other technologies. That just doesn't make any sense to me. Um, and it's also very uh contradictory for us to provide
education online and on a screen all day and then say, "No, the screens are bad." I mean, I think they are bad, don't get me wrong, but it's been frustrating to me for the duration of my children's education that this is the direction that we're going. Um, and other uh in
other news, I've read recently that kids who have been admitted to top universities like Princeton are having trouble in their freshman English classes because they can't read a whole book. So, if we're really going to look at this, I think we need to look at it
holistically. And, you know, to Miss Leonard's point, nature, book reading, very good to unwind. We have to teach our kids this. Um, I think it's a parentto parent thing. Whatever we can do as a society and as a school district, we need to look at on a wider
level. So, you know, my main issue with the cell phone policy right now is that it's not enforced. And so, it's hard to sit here and say you can't have your cell phone at lunch when people are using their cell phones during the day. I mean, it's just a
fact. I know this to be true. So, um I I'm supporting the lunch because I think it's a small carve out, but that's with the caveat again, which I said months ago when we had this originally that we are making a concerted effort
that the cell phone policy is actually enforced for the rest of the of the rest of the day. I think that if we actually work on having the cell phone policy enforced except for lunch, we'll be much further ahead than we are now where it's not being enforced and you're not supposed to use it at lunch. So, those
are my comments. Thank you. >> Thank you. Those have been my comments from day one. Um, and you know, I I don't like to have a policy that I know we can't enforce. part of the reason why I'm sitting here because I was a teacher
in a classroom thinking what the hell were they thinking? Excuse my language. But um I I just don't I I know that there's just no way we don't have the bandwidth to be able to enforce it. So um I also won't be
supporting the motion. Mr. Sea, >> I hate to be the only one who doesn't speak on this very important issue. In case the the fine citizens of Broward County were wondering what Sera thinks, here here goes. I am in support of a bell-to-bell band
um of cell phones in our high schools. And uh for a very simplistic reason, um I'm not going to get into the mental health aspect of this. I think that's been been talked about at length. When this initially was brought uh before this board at various workshops and I
think we may have had a meeting on it as as well, I received phone calls uh emails, people would stop me and talk to me about this and and the biggest thing that really stuck with me on the cell phones was what was happening after the
lunch period was over, getting the kids back into class and getting them to refocus on the class. I spoke to a lot of teachers. I spoke to a lot of educators and I was told that process usually takes anywhere between 3 to 7 minutes to get the kids to refocus after
lunch because if they're given the cell phones at lunch, they're walking into the classroom with the cell phone in their hand. The bell has already rung. They're not putting it away. They want to watch the last 30 seconds of the Tik Tok clip or whatever it is that they were looking. And it's not only the person with the cell phone, it's Johnny
who's sitting next to him who's looking over his shoulder wanting to know what's going on on YouTube as well. This is a giant distraction. It takes away from instructional time. It takes away from the educational curriculum uh of the students in the uh in the classrooms. This was a big reason I was uh against
cell phones and in favor of the bell-to-bell ban to begin with. My uh opinion remains the same and I will be supporting the motion. I feel like was made like two hours ago at this point, but I'm still going to be in favor of it. >> Okay, Dr.
I just want to clear up this thing and I know we want to land this plane, but um our state law is uh about high school use says you may not use them during instruction. It does not say you can use them during lunchtime. Is that correct, Chair?
>> Miss Batista, >> that's correct. >> Thank you. I just want to be clear about that. Um, second is for those that don't want that want to enable kids to have these devices during lunchtime because it's difficult to enforce or you think,
you know, people are using cell phones now under the current policy, which the policy says you can use the cell phones, you just have to ask a teacher. Um uh if this goes through as people have spoken uh today and we allow for you know
lunchtime use you know what you get in general with public policy is you get a rule and then you get some degree of people violating that rule. Sometimes they get cost sometimes they don't but when you widen the aperture and allow them to use it more you get more uh even beyond that. So, uh, this is bigger than
allowing 75,000 students to use it for 15 minutes or 7 minutes or 35 minutes. Um, this means that we'll have more cell phone use. We'll have more distractions for the period after uh the lunch period. Um, we just have to be honest about what this does and it does go
against at least two uh experts that we have vested great respect in uh for safety and security in one case and for education in another. Um and and uh I just want to make sure that we are clear about the record. Thank you, chair.
>> Thank you. All those in favor of the I'll just remind you. So the motion is to change the way the policy is presented to us today back to not allowing cell phones at lunch. All those in favor of the motion say I. >> I.
>> All those opposed say no. >> No. Roll call. >> Roll call on the motion. School board members Hixon. >> No. Ponis, >> no. >> Leonardi, >> yes. >> Ruper, >> yes. >> Thompson, >> no. >> Zean, >> yes.
>> Alhidef, >> no. >> Bowman, >> no. >> Sea, >> four or five fails. >> Thank you. Um, back to the item. Mr. Sea, did you have anything additional
you wanted to You you you did raise your hand and ask me to add you. >> Okay. >> Okay. So, back to item double P3. All those in favor of the item say I. I.
Those opposed say no. >> No. >> No. >> I'm going to guess it's the same as it was. >> So, the motion passes five to four. >> Can we do a roll call, chair? We can do it. I think it's the same one, but we can do it.
>> Getting a roll call um on the item. School board members. Honest. >> Yes. >> Leonardi, >> no. >> Rupert, >> no. >> Thompson, >> yes. >> Zean, >> no. >> Aladv, >> yes.
>> Bowman, >> yes. Sea >> chair Hixon. >> Yes. >> Passes 54. Same vote. >> Okay. Thank you. Next item is double P5. Can I have a motion in a second?
>> It's been moved by Dr. Zean, seconded by Mrs. Rupert. Do we have any public comment? >> No, ma'am. >> Okay. Dr. Holes. >> Thank you, Madam Chair. Let me just pull it up really quick here.
[Music] Okay. So, um madame chair for this particular item um under under F and give me just one second. My computer
went dead. Okay. The red line version under F. Madame Chair, I just have a few questions. Um, so Dr. Heer, in the red line version of
this, um, does that reflect a change from the clean version or this is, um, well, I guess I'll ask my question another way. Renewal of existing contracts. um where the superintendent can
automatically renew certain contracts. Has this been in place before? >> Dr. Heburn, >> Mr. Chin Brener, you can provide some detail on this. I don't think it's a a change. Go ahead, though. >> Uh absolutely. Uh Pete Brener, uh
director Enterprise Project Management Office. Um there is no change in a sense that uh this provision matches perfectly with existing policy 3800. >> Okay. So this provision was in existence before. Correct. >> Correct.
>> As far as item F. Okay. All right. Under G um emergency purchase of commodities or contractual services. I'm sorry. Under R. >> Are you asking the same question? >> No. There's a different question.
Actually, it's the same but also different. So, under R where data processing agreements um where the superintendent uh can basically um execute data processing agreements on its be on the school board's behalf. Um
has this been in place before? >> Dr. Heer, >> go ahead. Freedom. Mr. Ser. >> Um, my understanding is that this does not currently mirror existing
policy, meaning it's not a a replication of existing policy. It's part of the proposed expansion of superintendent delegated authority. >> Okay. So this is now giving the superintendent uh basically the option of executing
data processing agreements that may have some degree of risk without coming to the board. Um yes though the the language itself and I can defer to my colleagues in the office of general counsel that the the language itself of the provision is
intended to limit such risk. >> Okay. But it does have some risk. Correct. Where where data is being provided to third party without this coming to the board and giving the superintendent the the option to be able to do that.
>> Um yes, with one caveat. Um you'll see in I believe it's the fourth sentence. This delegated authority is granted in recognition of the need for flexibility and timeliness in technology implementation where delays accompanying the new normal schoolboard approval
process could hinder innovation and responsiveness. That I understand to mean the the risk associated with the delay would likely be greater than the risk associated with the contract itself.
>> Okay. But but um I guess my concern is and and while I am happy with our superintendent, my concern uh and I and I'm sure this policy will go beyond the current superintendent is
that we are giving the superintendent the latitude to be able to execute data processing agreements uh that in to share limited data with third party vendors without coming to the
board. Um I'm a little bit uncomfortable with that because I would like as a board member if there is any data sharing uh that that the board is aware of this. Um
uh I guess I have another question, Miss Batista. If if in the event there is some kind of uh data breach or something that is negatively consequential
and we approve this today to allow the superintendent to execute data processing agreements without coming to the board and there is some um breach of data or there's some negative consequence as a result of something that remotely could happen. Is the board
liable? Miss Batista, >> the liability that the board may or wouldn't have um is not uh is not based on this provision. So in other words, just because you are delegating the
authority of the to the superintendent to sign off on certain data processing agreements does not increase the liability of the board. I also wanted to point out that in this section uh the school board attorney's office will
continue to review the agreements and also the delegated authority is um is not extending any further than what is already stated in policy 3800. So the limit is not increased. It's just this
type of agreement is being allowed to be to be um executed by the superintendent. So when you say the limit is not increased, you're making reference to a dollar figure. >> Correct. The same dollar figure um that is in in policy 3800
um which the board currently, you know, has that policy in place for many years now. >> Okay. So my concern is not so much the being within the dollar amount but in terms of the sharing of data with third
party vendors without the board having any input >> and I also have u Mr. Vnola on the line. I don't know if he has any anything to add uh regarding this policy. >> Actually I do. >> Great.
When you look at R and unfortunately my computer just went black. Okay, got it back. So when you look at the last line, last two lines on page six of seven, it indicates that every one of these agreements that the superintendent would
be executing, not only do they have to be approved as the form and legal content by our office, but they must also receive approval from information security and assurance department and the risk management department, which includes the privacy officer. So all of
the all of the reviews that any contract if it were going to the board would have from the people who are charged with responsibility of having contract provisions that that protect us as best we can.
Those folks are online and mandatory reviewers of any contract under this clause that the superintendent will execute. >> Okay. So, Miss Batista, I am aware that there are quality checks through legal counsel and so on and so forth. Um,
I would prefer that these kind of agreements come to the board. Um, and I I would want to possibly make a motion, but I want to hear the feedback from the rest of the board.
>> Okay. Dr. Zean. Um, first thing I just need to ask about is red line. Uh, to the general counsel, is this a redline document? >> Miss Batista, >> this is a new document, so that's why everything is in red.
>> But I've heard conversations that say, "Yes, we have this policy already." How can this be a red line and we already have this policy in place? >> We do not have >> May I respond, >> please? >> Uh, yes. uh the concept when this policy was drafted and and let me just tell you
about the genesis of it a bit. We had been hearing through our office during contract reviews over and over from various departments this particular we would like to have a particular type of contract where it didn't have to go for board approval.
The idea was all right the the points where we're hearing from the administration this is basically their wish list for extended contract authorities. We put all of those wishes in this policy along with as a one-stop
location to to find them. We put some of the we put the provisions where there was already delegated contract authority so you could look at this one policy. You can see the ones that are newborn in the policy and you can see reference to
the section numbers of pri prior existing delegations of contract authority. That's why you see some that were here before and some that are brand new. And my question chair is for those that were here before under a normal redline
document that lawyers are very familiar with using it would be in black ink so that me and members of the public could look at it and say oh I don't need to like like think that's a glacial you know some magic change that's nothing right it's the same as it's been why don't we get redline versions of the
policy chair >> Dr. He or Miss Batista, >> why don't you get red line first? >> There are parts of this policy that your staff has told us exist already, but it shows up in red, which Mr. Sea and Mora
can tell us and our general counsel can tell us a red line is only stuff that isn't in our current policy would show up as red. Otherwise, it shows up as black, indicating to the public and to us that it's already in place. Well, I think uh and correct me if I'm wrong, Miss Batis. I think they are referring
to a previous policy. It it may not be verbatim in this particular policy, but it refers to an existing policy, if I'm correct in that, Miss Patisa. And that's hence why the text is all red because the the entire text is new, but there
are some references to previous policies. So I I part the parts in this policy that are that already existed. I don't know to what extent uh they were changed from the previous policy and and then
included here uh that would merit you know for those provisions to completely be redlined. Um, I mean, I assume that even even if that were the case, there would be at least some portions that would be in regular black font >> or a reference that says, you know, this
came from policy 3,800 or this came from a memo written and approved by the school board 17 years ago, something. But this is very confusing to the board and it's it's um people will see this and not think kindly about our behavior today because they'll think this is a
brand new policy from soup to nuts and it's not. I mean there are pieces in this provision there already are. Um I just want to make sure going forward chair that if someone wants to give Broward County schoolboard members a redline document it follows the legal protocols of red line which means
anything that's existing is black. Anything that is struck is black with a strikeout and anything new is red. Good night. Do I need to That's not a motion. That's just like our process needs to be honest. >> Dr. Heer. >> Super. >> Go ahead, John. Mr. Sullivan.
>> 3820 is a brand new policy. >> Okay. >> I understand what you're saying. >> You really want to go there? >> I'm not disagreeing, but how >> why did you bring it up? >> Well, so how we're doing it's a brand new policy. So redlinined or not redlined, there is no existing 3820. It
refers to 3800 which is a separate policy that is in existence. So in terms of how we do a redline document, it's consistent with that. But I understand your point of why it's confusing. It's not confusing. It's um
yes, it's confusing, but it does not follow the definition of a redline document. A redline document doesn't say that is the policy number the same. that says is the content in current policy that goes in black so that the public and I know what's there now versus what's new. It's like it's a big
fundamental difference. You're asking elected leaders to vote on something but you're not showing them what's already there and therefore we don't know what's new. So I'm just going to ask again, can we follow the legal red line definition of all documents that we see before this board chair?
>> Dr. Heepern. >> Yes. >> Thank you. on uh page um three, letter E, I'm going to make a motion. I'd love given the superintendent authority. I do not feel confident
allowing that to be delegated to other people. So in E the purchase of commodities and contractual services line >> I apologize. Thank you. Super page three uh letter E. I'm sorry.
>> Line three. It says the superintendent or his predetermined design. Um I just think the public doesn't buy that. I don't buy it. Uh I we hire the superintendent. If he executes contracts that we don't like, we have recourse. If a designate does
it, we have no recourse. And so I just am going to make a motion to strike the words or his slur predetermined design. >> Second. >> Any public comment on the motion? Board member comment on the motion. Mrs. Mrs.
Bulman, >> I'd like to um friendly amend to extend that throughout the policy. >> Thank you very much. >> It occurs. >> I I amend my uh thing not just on E page three, but anywhere where it says or a
predetermined designate that it be the superintendent only. Thank you. >> Okay. All those >> all those in favor of the motion say I. >> I. >> Any opposed say no. >> Motion carries unanimously without Mrs. Miss Thompson on
>> I have two more chair and I'll be quick. Um last page we have a discussion of a data processing agreement. Um one of the things that we do in good order is called a data sharing agreement. Would that be covered under
this section called data processing agreement? >> Dr. Hburn. >> Mr. Ashner. >> Um I would have to defer to my colleagues in legal on that piece. based on the legal definition of processing
versus sharing. >> Miss Batista like to defer to Mr. Vnola. >> Actually, if we could just hold a second because I missed the question because I was cross-checking policy 3800
in addressing the superintendent's delegated authority. uh delegates to superintendent or his her predetermined design. So that language was not new in this policy. It
was it's already an existing policy. So if we're looking to remove predetermined design, you will probably want policy 380 to come back before the board so you can harmonize that.
And and what was the question I missed while I was researching? >> The question is, does data processing mean the same thing as data sharing? >> That I couldn't tell you. That's not
really a legal term. That's a technical term. And I would suggest that you look to your IT people in the absence of a specific defined term. terms are given their ordinary meaning and in this case
this is a term really for IT data tech people and what the ordinary meaning would be in their industry you would want to seek from them >> okay and I do see it does say data sharing in the body of that paragraph
says this delegated authority is oh no where did I go and similar initiatives are required limited data sharing with third party vendors, >> right? And what I'm uh specifically referencing is a a separate document called a data sharing agreement that
Broward County enters into with United Nations, with the World Bank, with State of Florida. And what we say is uh we will share our student data usually with a vendor that wants to do a a pilot exam, a assessment of whether something
worked in a certain way. They are very special agreements. Um, but I I guess um what I'd like to see is if our CIO could tell us whether or not he thinks that a data sharing agreement is the same as a data processing agreement.
>> Mr. Davis, >> Trey Davis, chief information officer. Um there there's a difference. uh there there is some overlap in cases but if we look at data processing for example it could include storage the handling of data uh the input and extraction of data
right so think about it from a handling standpoint with regards to you know data sharing especially in the in the sense of an external party right the data processing could occur in order to produce the necessary data to provide or
to share so they can work hand inand essentially so but there is a distinction Thank you. So, I'm I'm just going to uh for the record ask, would this agreement include data sharing agreements? >> This uh Dr. Heer, >> if it currently includes it,
>> does this agreement cover data sharing agreements? >> Um, based on um the five people that on on the team that commented, I would say no. Thank you. And I don't think they should because if it was in there, I'd ask to take it out. data sharing agreements are very good agreements, long-term agreements that ought to come
before board uh to get permission. The second motion I'd like to make, chair, is um at the end um and maybe it's even throughout, but I'm sorry if I missed it throughout. There's a report that would be made to the school board. Um so, for example,
just look at the last sentence on red line page seven. uh subsequent to its execution by the sup or is predeter well now it'll just say sub subsequent to an execution by the superintendent a report of such in this case data processing agreement shall be submitted to the school board
>> I'd like throughout this document to recommend within 48 hours if the superintendent thinks that's a reasonable amount of time >> Dr. He >> Yes, that's a reasonable by the time we um do that currently u with some of our um um JJ items. >> Yep.
>> So the motion is throughout the document wherever there is a report of something that should be submitted to the s the school board it should after that end up with within 48 hours. >> Is there a second? >> It's been moved.
>> May I make this? Go ahead >> to the movement. Bob Vnola, would you 48 hours? Would you want to make it two business days because you may have an intervening weekend or school district? Uh >> Bob Vnola saves the day again. Uh I'll
amend my motion if you don't mind and and say that within that throughout the document include whenever there's a report to the school board within two business days. >> Concur. >> Any board comment on the motion?
All those in favor say I. I. I. Any oppose say no. Motion passes unanimous. >> Last question that I have. Chair. We've run into situations where we have a contract with a vendor um either a third party like um I'm sorry.
>> Not not Granger. Uh there's a there's a independent assessment group that often will come in to do an education assessment. We >> is it? for accreditation. >> No, no, no. It's um it's like a a very
well-known third party that that comes in and independently looks at the data and gives, you know, like, hey, this software really did get that effect. We had one recently with headset contract. Somebody wanted to come West Ed, thank you. Phew. I had to pull that one out.
West Ed offered to come in and do an assessment. So, we had these 3,000 kids on headsets last year. We wanted to know if they worked, right? Westad said, "Hey, we'll do it for free." And Dr. Con, because he always follows the rules, says, "No, you can't do that because it's not in the contract." Right? So, I get that. I hated to give
up Wested's free services, but does this document uh chair maybe to the superintendent, does this open up any kind of authorities the superintendent would have to uh say, "Yeah, it's not in the contract, but it's also not prohibited by the contract, and yes, we
can do that kind of third party validation." >> Dr. Mr. Heepern or Miss Batista? >> No, >> no, that's not in there. >> Terrific. I would like this board to consider giving you that authority because I don't think the West Ed offer
was a unique thing. I think that the FAU or University of Miami or maybe even the world's greatest university, Florida State University might come down here and say, "I just thought I'd see if you were awake." Uh to do that, um are there other people that would like to discuss this? I'll find a place to make that
motion if there are. >> Miss Batista, >> I I need a little bit of clarification as to who would be donating those services. um if it's uh a company that is already doing business with the school board and has other contracts
with the school board and now um you know I I just I have some concerns if there is a a solicitation um that is made and someone wants to gift something that was not part of that
solicitation >> that is prohibited that they cannot provide it as you know pursuant to the to let's say if it's an RFQ or an RFP >> um you would not be able it would have to be a separate agreement that um like a donation agreement or something of
that sort. So I'm not really I guess I'm not sure what >> and I'm and I'm fine to add a general counsel review to make sure that it meets all the legal standards of it. But a place like Westad is a a nonprofit funded by people that just want good data and good analysis done on education
matters. um a University of Miami or you know research one institute may want to come in and do it as well. All of those I think could be reviewed by your office to see if they met the standards for what we'd like to do business with. All those things plus any other standards you'd like to adopt. But I don't like to
give up free assessments. I hate it when we can't get an assessment of, you know, an innovation we've done by an independent group because it's not in the contract. Um, and I think that that's a very strict interpretation of contracts. And that, you know, I think sometimes we can do things that aren't in a contract just because we we do
stuff all the time that's not in a contract. You know, we showed up here today and nobody told me I had a contract to show up here, right? So, um, is this the right policy chair to put something like that in? >> Miss Batista, Dr. Heepern,
who wants to tackle that one? >> I also would like Mr. Vola to um opine on that um on that issue because I think he may have some further information um related to what I what I just said >> as as I'm understanding what the
services are here. Now, it's striking me this might be on page six, subsection Q as in Queensland donation contracts because and this this is one of the new elements of this contract policy. Uh
that allows the superintendent um to execute contracts necessary for the donation of any goods or services. Sounds like these are services that are being donated and that would since you wouldn't have to go to a board meeting
to receive this donation. That was part of the reason this this clause was put in there so we don't end up missing opportunities that are timesensitive where someone's trying to give us something. So I'm wondering if
subsection Q might be able to carry the load for this this subject matter. I thank you and as always Bob uh Mr. Vnola thank you very much. I I withdraw my concern because I think this fits in it. When I read Q I was thinking of a
extent uh donation of you know uh and not thinking so much about reviewing uh an innovation that we're trying to to help us come up with a really good assessment. So thank >> that's all I have chair. Thank you. >> Thank you Mrs. Leonardi.
>> Thank you. Um, you know, we we over the years receive communication from the Florida Department of Education, the US Department of Education, and I would like for the district to have the
opportunity to be a little bit more nimble in response. Um, so I would like to make a motion um that this policy include a provision authorizing the superintendent to terminate contracts
without prior board approval when such termination is required by a directive or order from the US Department of Education or the Florida Department of Education. The superintendent shall notify the board of any such action through a written memorandum.
>> Okay. Any public comment on the motion? Board member comment on the motion, Mr. See? >> So, I've got some concerns with this. Um, we may get things from the DOE uh both federally and state. Uh and while I am certainly a big advocate for
following the law and following directives from those u institutions, when we are talking about terminating contracts that affect this district specifically, um I'm a little hesitant with all due to
respect to the superintendent and his team to not have that fully vetted um by legal and and this board making a decision. Um, I'm not suggesting that we ignore DOE directives both from the federal federal
DOE and from the state DOE. My only concern is, you know, what if it's a a a generic letter from uh from from the DOE regarding some institution or some company that we're dealing with. And we
actually take a look at that contract and you know deeply embedded in that contract is uh a liquidated damages provision, right? That subjects the district to millions of dollars in penalties and potential liability in the
face of an if in an early or illegal termination um under the agreement. So I'm a little hesitant to have a decision like that being made by the superintendent and and his team. I think that needs to be fully vetted by legal and I think that should be brought um to the board. And again, in no way, shape
or form am I suggesting that we ignore a directive from from the state DOE or from the federal DOE. I just feel that uh a decision like that that could subject this district to some severe financial liability for improper termination of a binding contract that
we have with somebody should be fully vetted by legal and should be a decision that's made by this board. If if >> so I would oppose the motion. >> Uh one one factor comes to my mind uh calling for legal to review one of these
situations is our termination for convenience clause in most all of our contracts is upon 30 days notice of the intent to terminate. So the way this usually triggers is we have an item on your board agenda like we have if we
have one today. You would authorize the superintendent to notify the vendor that we are terminating the contract in 30 days. So board meeting today superintendent delivers the not 30-day notice tomorrow and then at the end of the 30 days then
we have an effective termination. So part of having that go through legal is to make sure that we're doing it correctly with the proper notice so we don't have a vendor claiming we have a failed attempt to terminate the contract.
>> Mrs. Leard, >> um I suppose my understanding of this motion and if I need to amend it I I will um would be that the superintendent would of course that go through legal. I think that would have been the superintendent's uh
intention as well. Um but I'm happy to amend the motion to include um after a review with legal. Uh so I will go ahead and do that actually. So my new motion would read as follows. Um, I move that policy 3820 include a provision
authorizing the superintendent to terminate contracts without prior board approval, but after full legal review when such termination is required by directive or order from the US Department of Education or Florida Department of Education, the superintendent shall notify the board of
any such action through a written memorandum. And I assume that uh such memorandum could serve as a 30-day notice. Thank you. >> Okay. Any board member discussed? Do Mr. Sea?
>> So, I have the same concerns uh and here's why. Thank you for the amendment because obviously it's very important that our legal department have their uh their hands and their eyes and their ears on this. Again, if there is such a set of circumstances in which a contract needs to be terminated and there doesn't
have the convenience clause in it that most of our contracts do admittedly, but if for some weird set of circumstances a contract doesn't have that, I don't feel comfortable with the superintendent making decisions to terminate something without the board coming back and
listening to all of the potential legal ramifications. The last thing I would like to to to happen to this district is the superintendent makes a decision to terminate a contract because of a letter that he got from DOE. we get a big fat lawsuit and uh you know we're in the
press and and all that stuff and my constituents and and the good citizens of Broward County want to know why the board as the governing authority didn't have a say in what the in this ultimate decision to terminate a contract that's now resulted in a big fat lawsuit that
we're facing. So, while I appreciate the um all the good work that the superintendent's uh office and his team does and certainly the good work that our legal team does, I think we owe it to our constituents to make that decision collectively as a board as to
whether or not to terminate a contract, especially when we could be facing a contract. There could be again uh early termination penalty, a liquidated damages penalty provision, something in there could suggest subject uh excuse me to liability. I'm just not comfortable allowing the superintendent to make that
decision. With all due respect to Dr. Heburn, >> Mrs. Bulman, >> thank you. Um so I'm just reading between the lines. uh that we've had a a fact pattern I
suppose come before us recently where this was an issue. So um in this particular case my understanding because we have been provided with the information. So I do really appreciate that the board has been kept at breast but we had five days to respond to the
DOE to tell them that we were no longer going forward with a certain contract. So that complicates I I don't disagree with Mr. Sea, but it complicates the I think the nimleness here is because of the timelines that are being set and
when we're going to get that back in front of the board. It's sometimes an impossibility if we're getting an arbitrary deadline and then we have to comply, but our next board meeting isn't for another two weeks. So I guess um
to for Miss Leonard's motion. I would like to What am I doing? Amen. >> Offer a substitute motion. >> Well, I I don't remember all of the details of the original motion off the
top of my head, but I think substit >> Can I say something real quick? >> Yeah. Um, so, and I'm not trying to, you know, uh, if you want to make a substitute motion, that's fine. Um I just wanted to clarify that for the the recent example that uh you're speaking
of will be coming to the board at the November meeting so that the board uh delegates to the superintendent the ability to notify that particular vendor and give the vendor 30 days pursuant to
the determination for convenience clause of the contract. So that's the way that that is playing out. So even though the response did have to go out within 5 days um >> the termination doesn't have to happen technically until >> correct. >> Okay.
>> Superintendent, can I add to that? >> Go ahead, Mr. Sullivan. >> The only reason we haven't um been notified by the office of OCR whether our response was within their parameters is because the government shutdown. So we're not even sure if our response
about our action was acceptable. just to mention that. >> I Okay, so I don't I don't really know where we're at with that. I The only thing I would say to the this motion is that
if anything is being done, I would like the the um uh communication with the board to be as strong as it was with this particular situation. That's >> well I think it was just if I could jump
in at >> Dr. Zean's motion was >> every single item that was on there within two business days the superintendent would report to the board. So I think if it follows that motion >> it would have to have it in. >> Okay. Thank you.
>> See I'm paying attention. >> If I may Briner you can rest those feet. We'll >> Great job. >> Dr. He um the only other uh or madam chair uh the only other um
just thing that I could offer would be to maybe include in the motion um that Mrs. U Leonardi presented something along the lines of if the you know if the contract um is without it has a
provision for without cost um but if if you know if there is if it is only for cost that it be presented to the board under those circumstances. >> Do you want me to amend my motion again? Um, so I move that policy 3820 include a provision authorizing the superintendent
to terminate contracts without cause >> w that contain a ter >> that contain a >> termination >> termination without claw cause. right >> provision clause >> without prior board approval when such termination is required by a directive
order from the US department of education or the Florida of educa or the Florida Department of Education after a full review legal review the superintendent shall notify the board of any such action through a written memorandum
>> within within two business days >> yes okay and m okay Dr. Zean, >> thanks. Um, either to the maker of the motion or to the chair, um, are there any citable instances where the Florida or US
Department of Eds us to cancel a contract in a way that we couldn't do it through a special schoolboard meeting or at the next schoolboard meeting? >> Dr. Heer, >> go ahead, Mr. Sullivan. >> Um, so I'll phone a friend of general
counsel. uh it depends on the correspondence of so in the recent example they gave us five uh days although their letter wasn't clear whether that was calendar or business days we did correspond with them after the fact and they agreed that it was business days and not calendar days so if we had five business days I believe
the board would have the ability to call us a special school board meeting within that time frame but again we don't know if every instance would include that limitation that timeline of five days >> but in the recent case it would allow for a special school board And if we could use that as a good uh case study
for this motion, they asked us to respond about what we were going to do, not cancel the contract. >> So the if I recall correctly, the the letter never spoke about contracts. It just um spoke about our relationship with an organization, which in this case
was through a contract. >> I'm I'm hip. I'm I like our authority to approve contracts and I'd like to retain our authority to cancel contracts. I just don't see any instances. I also don't want to insinuate to any other legislative body that we're going to
follow something outside of law. And so if a US or a Florida Department of Ed uh tells us to do something, many times we have to do it. Um sometimes though it's in conflict with the law and we have to kind of figure out, you know, uh how do we deal with that, which I think is
something that the board is uniquely capable of doing. So, I don't know that there's a great need for this or any need for this. Um, but I also just like the ability to cancel contracts here at the board because we're also the only authority that can initiate a or can approve a contract. >> Okay. All those in favor of the motion
say I. >> I. Those opposed say no. >> No. >> No. >> No. >> Can we do a roll call? [Music] >> Uh, school board members. I'm sorry. Hness. Go ahead. Yes,
>> Leonardi. >> Yes, >> Rupert. >> Thompson. >> Yes, >> Zean. >> Alhidev? >> No. >> Bowman? >> No. >> Sea? >> No. >> Hixon? >> Yes.
>> Motion passes 54. >> Okay, that all that you had, Mrs. Leonardi. Okay, that was it. Thank you. >> All those in favor of item P. >> Madam Chair, are we voting on the whole the entire item? Yes. >> Okay. Remember I wanted you to come back to me just for >> Okay. Go ahead.
>> Okay. Okay. So, um I I still do have uh uh I would say an uncomfortable uh I think there's an uncomfortable degree of risk um even though minimal for um R which is data processing agreements. uh the word limited limited
data sharing um with thirdparty vendors even though in this case in my opinion limited in this case is uh is relative and subject to staff interpretation. Uh
I am still uncomfortable with uh data processing agreements not coming to the board that require limited data sharing with thirdparty vendors. Um, so just for the record, I'm going to make a motion to remove R so data processing
agreements can come to the board for approval. Is there a second on the motion? Any public comment? Board member comment. All those in favor of the motion say I. >> I. >> All those opposed say no. No. Roll call.
>> Coming. Roll call on the motion. School board members Leonardi. >> Yes. >> Rupert Thompson. >> Yes. >> Zean, >> yes. >> Aladeaf, >> no.
>> Bowman, >> yes. >> Sea, >> Hixon, >> no. Holus. >> Yes. >> 63 passes. >> Okay. Now, is that it, Dr. Holus? Okay. So,
now back to the whole item. All Okay. Okay. So, just bringing it back around the um and to um our council's point, I the policy 3800 has some of the same language. So, I do
think we have to clean that up. And if we're going to clean up 3,200, I think that numbering could be improved significantly. Thank you. Just because there's this like block or bold letter, bold that and it's
hard to reference it when you're looking at it. >> Okay. Thank you. >> And then, Madam Chair, before you guys vote, just know that these changes, I believe, do constitute substit uh subsidance changes. So, we'll need to present it at the November uh 12 meeting.
>> Okay. Thank you. All those in favor of item P5 as amended say I. >> I. Any oppose say no. >> No. >> Motion passes with one descending vote. This is the time of the agenda when school board members will hear from our
evening speakers. And we have one U Mariah Rabido. So, come on down. Good afternoon, chair, superintendent, and members of the board. My name is Mariah Rabidu. I am a parent, member of
the PTA and ban boosters, and speaking on behalf of students and families at Toquesta Trace Middle School. Toquesta Trace has something truly rare. It's the only school in Broward County that's been an A school since its open 26 years
ago, which is a legacy worth celebrating. One that many of you have celebrated since the school year began. Behind that proud headline, however, is something we need to talk about. The state of the facilities. The facilities in general across the
school are in unacceptable condition. The columns throughout the campus have visible cracks, not cosmetic wear, but signs of structural deterioration that raise real safety concerns. Inside the bathrooms, tiles are cracked,
broken. They're not just dirty. The dryers are rusted or broken or both. Many faucets barely work or won't stay on. There's no air conditioning, just open air stalls with visible gaps that leave students feeling exposed. On a
good day, it feels like a disgusting highway rest stop, but not one on a Florida highway because the state of Florida maintains their restrooms better than this. I want to be clear, this is not a reflection on the custodial staff. They're doing their best with what
they've been given. This is a result of a lack of board support, attention, and investment over 20 years, and it's showing. I recently filed a public records request to over understand the scope of repairs and maintenance over the years and the response was
astonishing. They do not have any records to their recollection of maintenance at Tqua Trace Middle School bathrooms. No records, no documentation, no trail of accountability for facilities that hundreds of children use
every single day. This isn't about comfort. It's about dignity, health, and safety. We would never accept this standard in a public building where adults work, like the one we're all standing in. So why is it acceptable where our children learn? I
want to acknowledge the hard work that's gone into improving many campuses across the county. But an a school with failing infrastructure sends the wrong message about what we value. So I'd like to end with an invitation, not a complaint. I
invite each of you to come visit to Questa Trace. Take a few minutes, experience the student facilities for yourselves. No cameras, no walkthrough prep, just a genuine visit. If it feels dignified, say so. If it doesn't, please
make this a priority. Our students deserve facilities that match their excellence. Thank you for your time. >> Thank you. And come thank you for coming to speak to us today. The last item on the agenda is double R1. Can I have a motion in a second?
>> It's been moved by Dr. Zean, seconded by Mrs. Rupert. Any public comment? >> No comment. >> Okay, Mrs. Alhadef. >> Okay, Mrs. Bowman. >> Thank you, chair. Um, I'd just like to give a shout out to Tequesta Trace. Uh, they killed it at the middle school
cross country meet yesterday and won the team award. So, okay. So, to RR1's, um, so this, uh, is a resolution to recognize America's Safe Schools Week, which is from October 19th
to the 25th. And, um, it came to my attention from a um, the manager of safety at South Broward that we did not have this resolution. And so, um, I'm bringing it forward. That's Mr. Waters.
That is like he's our campus security manager. Um, so we bringing it forward just to recognize and thank the district safety security emergency preparedness team and campus monitors, safe school officers, school resource officers, and
all of our other safety personnel. Um, but I'm going to pass it on to my colleague who is really the expert in this and has uh demonstrated such dedication and progress and also that wonderful dog demonstration this
morning. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you so much for bringing this forward. Excellent. I just have one modification that I'd like to change in the third to last paragraph where it speaks to whereas the board recognized the effect
of prevention strategies including safety drills, mental health supports, anti-bullying initiatives, character education, and I'd like to replace the words social emotional learning with student wellness to help build a culture of safety and respect across all
schools. third to last paragraph. >> Is there a second? Oh, second. >> Sorry. >> Any public comment on the motion? Board member discussion on the motion. All those in favor of the motion say I. I. Any opposed say no. Motion passes
unanimously. Mine is Mrs. Rupert and Mr. Sea. And then I'd also like to be a co-sponsor on the resolution. >> Okay. >> Okay. >> Miss is was that it? >> Yeah. >> Miss Thompson, >> I just wanted to echo my colleagues
sentiments on the resolution and thank Miss Bulman for bringing it to us. That's it. >> Thank you. I would um also like to thank you for bringing it forward. I think it's important to highlight that. So, thank you. All those in favor? Madam >> Chair.
>> Yes. Um, I think it would be amazing if the entire board would co-sponsor this resolution. >> I would love to do that as well. >> Okay. Thanks, guys. >> So, we'll all be on the resolution >> and then we can ask Mr. Cera, too. Uh, >> oh,
>> I'm sure he'll be fine. >> Okay. Yes, we're going to volunte. All those in favor of item RR1 say I. >> I. Any oppose say no. Motion passes unanimously. Um, as I mentioned before, I wanted to
bring something up at the end. So, I'd like to make a motion to reopen the agenda to discuss the general council's transition plan. Is there a second? >> Second. >> Can um all those in favor of opening the agenda? Reopening or reopening the agenda say I.
>> I. Any opposed say no. >> Motion car motion passes unanimously. I would like to make a motion to close the agenda. Second, >> right? Do I close it now? Yes. It's been moved and seconded to close the agenda.
All those in favor say I. I. Any oppose say no. Motion carries. So, as you are now aware, our general counsel has submitted her resignation effective January 9th. to move swiftly and maintain stability within the office of the general counsel. I move that the
board initiate an internal recruitment process and direct staff to post the position publicly this week. And I also move So that's one motion. I have a second one that an item be placed on next week's board workshop agenda to allow further
discussion and direction regarding the transition plan. >> Second. >> Okay. Um, public comment, board member discussion. Leonardi. >> Thank you. And first, none of us have had really the opportunity to publicly
respond to the letter of resignation. So, I just want to first start off by thanking Miss Batista for her decades of service to this district. um she has uh but you know before leading this office she um has dedicated her
life to serving students and and Broward County Public Schools. So thank you for that. Um and thank you for leading us through some very tumultuous times at Broward County Public Schools. Um and you've handled it with grace. Um so thank you um to Miss Hixon's motion. So
when you say an internal search process, do you mean that like we have our staff do a search like a national like they advertise a position? Can you just I I would like to have some more clarity. >> Sure. And I actually have an alternate
motion if you wanted to spend money and I think it's a direction. We really have to have a discussion about it and I think HR has some information for us. But I just know when we did superintendent searches that what I heard from the board was that they
didn't really like using an outside firm because they kind of picked who they brought to us. And so if if our HR was to put out an ad, then we would be able to see all of the resumeumés that come in, decide who we
wanted to interview, and then it wouldn't cost us well, we're going to find out the difference in cost, but you know, we wouldn't be paying an outside firm. So, I I think that's a good way to get something out right away and then if we find that doesn't work, it still
gives us time to look for a firm if we needed to. But this would get an ad out by the end of the week and then we could move swiftly on what we want to do moving forward. But I still think it needs to come to a workshop. I know Mrs. Alhadev has some information she also
wanted to share. So a board at the board workshop it would give us a good amount of time to be able to discuss what we wanted to do moving forward. >> Got it. Um so just be I have another I have some other comments or questions but um when we
talk about bringing it to a workshop what are we looking to discuss at the work at a workshop and when would that when would be we'd be when would that workshop be? So it would be next week the next workshop and we could make
parameters around what we wanted. >> Okay. So but we're looking to advertise the position by the end of this week and then do a workshop on the parameters or help me. Yeah, help me. Yeah, >> Mr. Dr. Lozano.
>> Good afternoon Lozano, chief human resources officer. So we would best practice would be to do the workshop to then the board would talk about considerations like the job description. Are you leaving it the same? Talk about
the need or not need for an interim general counsel and what will that look like as this process goes forward. Again talk through internal or external. Um so there are different process talk about how you want to handle screening
interview rounds. So we would have a workshop to discuss all those options and the board would direct us in which direction you would want to go. >> Okay. And we have a master board training next week and
then two workshop items. So we would just have three. Um, so I I'm fine with doing that. Um, I would just hope that we all understand we're going to be here for a long time that day. Um,
the I would also be open to hashing that out today, but I don't know if all of us are prepared to do that. Um, I I came to this meeting prepared to talk about either in support of doing an
internal search process like what what you're suggesting if we decide um that that has been insufficient. I would like us to do something different than what we've done in the past with the superintendent search. And I'm right
there with many of my colleagues in that. I don't think when we've hired an individual search firm that the results were acceptable. Um I would be open to doing a contingency search. So um you
know having the position out there and then having multiple search firms compete for the business basically and whoever delivers us the person that we hire would get paid. Um I we haven't done
that since I've been on the board. I know we talked about it um in years past. Uh so if we if our internal search process does not, you know, yield results that we like, I would be I would really like us to do a contingency
search. Um I'm a little bit concerned about the timeline though. So like how long are would we expect the job posting to be open? like what when would be the end date for um our internal search process, >> Miss Dr. Lozano?
>> So, we kind of worked out a draft tentative timeline. So, it would probably take two weeks for the planning and develop our search strategy. Um the board would determine how long you want to run the ad for, three weeks, four
weeks, a month. So, we would determine how long to run the ad. It would take us a week for screening and then another week for initial interviews. Um, another week to look at final candidates, do
background checks, references, full vetting, Florida bar review, etc. um another week for final interviews. Then we'd enter contract negotiations and then we'd present the contract for approval at the board and then we would
move into onboarding. So we're probably looking at a 14-week process on average from start to finish. >> So in that scenario, we would probably have to have an interim. Correct. >> Correct. because
>> and it >> Yeah. Okay. Walk walk me back a little bit. So what's the timeline for you um from like start to you guys telling telling us here are the candidates who
are qualified who applied? When would that Miss Leard we have to vote to extend the meeting? So, um, we are at time, so I'd like to make a motion to extend the meeting for an hour so we don't have to keep voting on it.
Hopefully, it won't take that long. Um, all those in favor of extending the meeting for an hour, say I. >> I. Any oppose say no. >> Thank you so much. Continue. I'm sorry. >> So, again, it would it would be determined on the job description. If
you leave it the same, it's going to speed up the process. if we make revisions to the job description that would have to come to the >> board for approval before we could begin the process. >> Okay. So, I think that's a very important piece for us to consider um
because we would be discussing that at next week's workshop whether or not we'd want to change the job description. So then if we were to change the job, so if if we waited until uh October 21st to decide if we're changing the job description, when is
the soonest we could vote on changing that job description? November 12th. >> So then, >> so we couldn't do like a special. >> You could. So, it would be November 4th
would be the I guess the point I'm trying to make is I'm a little bit concerned about waiting to do a workshop and I'm a little bit concerned about the timeline. If we if we decide that the internal search
process is insufficient, we're like probably into December at that point and then we're starting all over. So, I'm looking forward to hearing from my colleagues about this. I'm just a
little concerned. >> Dr. Seaman, >> thanks. I I'd like to make an alternate uh substitute motion where we decide today what to do with the hope that we actually hire a great general counsel to to come before uh January 9th. 13th weeks is great. It exceeds what your
contract required, Miss Batista. Um thank you for for giving us a little bit more time. I'd like to make some decisions today. And this is kind of the Zemen plan. We say, "Chairman, you're in charge of hiring us a general counsel.
You have $30,000 of discretionary spending. If in fact the internal search first doesn't work, you have our authority to authorize the chief of human resources to execute an incentive contract, not with one search firm, but with multiple search firms. whoever
finds the successful candidate, your goal is to uh find us a great general counsel uh in the most reasonable time uh possible and we as members of this board prefer to go fast with your wisdom
and guidance uh leading this effort. The reason I would ask the chair to do it is that the general counsel works for us and I think you should be assisted by our chief of human resources who can help you with the process. But I feel like we have to have a person
responsible for the process because at the end of the day, you're going to bring us back some qualified people. We'll probably down select. You're going to bring some people back to interview uh and we're going to participate in that interview and and we're going to be moving quickly. To Mr. Leonard's point all these with all due respect Dr.
Lozano this committee this and delay that and workshop board this I just don't think we can do that and we have the authority to vest in the chair the running of the process with your support and uh I would
argue very very uh strongly that the job description of a general counsel in every large urban district is carbon copy. Uh they they they all have to be part of the bar. They all do risk management and legal counsel and know supervised contract supervised state. I mean it's not it's it's almost I doubt
that there's even word differences between us and Miami date and Palm Beach and the largest 81 districts of the United States. So, I think what we have is sufficient as a job description, and we're not going to I just don't think we're going to find uh the definition of a general counsel for our school board
is well defined. And I feel like we have the opportunity to ask you in your 11th month of service uh to to take all the experiences you've had working with us and drive the process for us home. Uh, and I'd like to give you the authority to have up to $30,000 to spend. Um, if
in fact the using internal resources doesn't generate the candidates you like at some point and you just go, "Hey, we're running out of time. Let's open up an incentive search." As Miss Leonardi has pointed out, we could actually get candidates in 30 days. We could do final reviews in early December and we have a hope of actually getting a human being
here that's fully qualified in in January. Um uh so that's that's a very long description of my motion, but I that's the motion I would distill into a few sentences if um if if if people would like to discuss that further. I just want to get this going. >> Then is there a second on it? Substitute
motion. >> Second. >> Second. >> Okay. >> Um so board discussion, Miss Thompson. >> Thank you. Um, so to the maker of the motion, I guess if the chair is running it, but we potentially will have a new
chair on November 19th, 18th, it just transitions. >> Absolutely. I mean, that the chair is the title of our is the they they they have the ability to represent us. But again, I'm not saying that the chair would have any more than one vote in the
decision of the general counsel. It's just this idea of having nine people run a committee to do a process just doesn't make any sense. Uh we need to pick somebody that's a representative of the board and that's what we do with our chair here. Um it would transition over to a new chair if we have a new chair at the organizational meeting and they
would pick that process up and run it. But a person can make decisions. A person can you know get to a point where either it's working or not working with internal resources and then uh go with an incentive uh contract. So I I just feel like we really as a board don't
have a lot to talk about for the process. We have a lot to talk about once we get candidates. And so I would prefer to have our uh elected leader who's the chair now and then roll over to another chair if that happens in November uh to pick up and run this as a single point of contact for the school board.
>> And then to the superintendent is $30,000 like I don't even know what the cost is for this. So again, you're looking at about 20 to 25% of the salary of the individual you're hiring. So you're looking at more than 50,000 $60,000
range for this type of position. >> I'm I'm happy to authorize the amend my motion and and authorize up to 25% of the initial salary if that's what the market requires to get a bunch. I just love the idea of multiple firms trying to find a great candidate and place
them. And I actually think that there's a very likely chance we're going to get an internal a candidate through our internal processes. There's people already calling and talking about how awesome it is to work in Broward County. >> Those are my questions. Thank you,
>> Mrs. Alita. Thank you. So, first I just like to start that I I asked if the chair or vice chair brought this item forward as agenda item and I was told no. So, I wanted to bring
this item forward with backup information so that we could more aggressively move forward today. I was denied adding it to the agenda and then the agenda gets opened back up and gets put on the agenda. So just a little
frustrated with that process. So we have what's called the school board's legal services committee. Who's on it? >> Yep. Sarah, Miss and one more person. >> Yeah. So it's um right now on that
committee is B board member Bowman, board member Leonardi, Superintendent Heburn, and general counsel Batista. And we have one vacant position from when board member fam resign. >> Okay. So Mr. Seo would I would assume
take that position. So my I would what I believe and what has been done in the past and was actually done by board member Donna Korn in 2021 was to give the school board's legal
services committee the ability to review applications and and that's I think the way that we should if we're going to go down that process have the legal service committee meet and review the applications and then
bring something forward to us as a board. I think the biggest question right now is that we're we're not talking about is the financial impacts of what it's going to cost comparing if our staff does it or we do this this
search. So does staff have that answer >> and can Miss Batista is remembering that that process was for the interim not the actual general counsel. So, if you could address that also. >> That is correct. But that committee is
available if the board chooses to use that as an option. >> Hi, good afternoon. Susan Rocklman, executive director, talent management. So, the cost would depend on what you want to spend. If we want to do an internal search, we could certainly do
some na nation nationalwide reach um out there through some networking and other organizations. We could do some paid advertising, things along that line. I'm guesstimating at about 5,000 maybe, you know, depending on how far you want to reach using social social media and everything out there to get the word out
and using a s there's several different networking opportunities out there. We could certainly spend those dollars on doing an internal search and doing it internally versus going out to an outside company um which exactly as Dr. Lozano pointed out will cost to 20 to 30% of what the yearly salary for that
individual would be is the standard cost that um external companies would charge. Um it will take some time to find the company. I you know we may have to work with purchasing determining if we could just go into contract with them. We would have to go through all that process as well before we could just reach out and use somebody. So that
would also delay perhaps you getting through the process quickly because we'd have to take the time to find a s a company to do the search. >> Okay. But we I mean we we've done this dance. So we we have I'm sure a list of the companies and if we're going to do
what uh Miss Leonardi spoke about being competitive about it. There is something though I do want to bring to the board's attention in the job description is that we do require to this person to have the educational law certification
which there is I don't know Miss Batista could speak to it. Isn't there like less than 75 people in the whole state of Florida that has the certification? >> Yes, that is correct. About 75 individuals, lawyers, >> right, >> have that certification, but I don't
believe that's a requirement >> of >> Yeah. >> of the minimum qualifications. However, >> yeah, we we looked it up yesterday and it's not part of the actual minimum requirements. It's a preference and there and it because I had the same
question. >> Yes. And so it says that or they had to have practiced some kind of educational law which according to Miss Batista in our discussion yesterday. I didn't just pull this out of the air. Um was that
you could practice contract law or you could practice all kinds of different things in an educational setting and it would fulfill that. Because my concern also was throwing a wide enough net, >> right? We're going to limit the pool if we just have that. >> Yes. So, according to Miss Batista, the
job description we have now would not limit that. >> So, C is can staff speak to Well, I guess we're still on the motion, Dr. Zean. Um, so I'm against that, but I'm for the uh legal services committee.
>> Okay. So to did you >> superintendent? >> Okay. >> And if I may, >> Mr. >> Dr. Lozano is passing out the job description, minimum qualifications. The second the third says uh experience with education andor school law.
>> So let let's vote on Dr. Zean's motion first and then if it doesn't pass, Mrs. Allah can >> Dr. Zaman's motion which was to allow the chair to run the process and bring
everything back to the board regardless of who is in the position. All those in favor of Dr. Zean's motion say I. >> I. >> I. >> Those opposed say no. >> No. >> So the motion the motion fails.
>> Do you have everybody who voted? >> I'm going to have to do a roll call for the record because some I don't have everyone. I know it failed. I just don't know. >> I think it was only two people that said yes. >> Three. >> There's three. >> Oh, okay. Sorry. >> Don't pull away. Chair, >> if you said yes, can you raise your hand?
>> Chair. >> Dr. Zan. >> Dr. Zean, raise your hand. >> Okay, we got it. >> Okay. Okay. So, Mrs. Aluda. Okay. So, I move to allow the school board's legal services committee will review all
applications and make a recommendation to the school board for consideration of general counsel. >> Any public comment? I have a question on that though because it doesn't address are we going to leave it to start with
our HR putting out an ad and collecting resumeumés or >> I think maybe can that be a se separate motion because I would like to discuss what Miss Le already talked about more. Well, because if it if it's a the only
reason I'm asking is because I believe if it's a firm, the firm's going to shuffle out. I mean, that's the whole reason you hire the firm. They shuffle out who they're going to bring to you. So, it would change what happens at that
committee. So, I think we have to commit one way or the other first before we >> Okay, then let's talk about what Miss Leonardi was discussing. >> Okay. So, we're going to hold off on that motion for right now. So, Mrs. Leonardi. >> Oh, I mean I So, this had we brought
this up um I think when we were doing the last superintendent search. Several of us suggested doing a contingent search or a contingent contingency search where we put it out there. We're looking for a new general counsel. Firms
compete. whatever firm um delivers us, the person that we hire is the one that gets paid. And I know that this is common in other uh fields. Um I don't know like the minute details of that, but it was something that we had discussed when we
were doing a superintendent search. So that's um one avenue that I I think would be really interesting to pursue because it's we've done the internal search before. We've done hiring the one search firm before. I think this gives people
an opportunity to compete and really deliver us um some great results and um you know I I I think we have an amazing HR staff. Um one of my questions was going to be to them like
would they be calling candidates trying to recruit people specifically or are we just doing paid advertisements and publishing things on our website? Dr. Lozano, >> if we did it internally, we would certainly reach out to our networks through other school districts and other
places in in addition to doing paid advertising um social media on all of the different types of job boards out there that would attract candidates in this field. >> Got it. Because I mean I I gotta be honest. I don't know that like for a position like this um paid
advertisements and social media will deliver us excellent results that we're looking for. I think for a position like this it really is like word of mouth people connecting with their networks trying to bring someone in. Um which is
again why I I'm interested in the idea of a contingency search. Um I I had some additional like questions about the legal services committee generally and also um like the timeline. So I don't know if now is the right time to ask those questions or if you just want to
address the the question of a contingency search. I'm happy to keep my questions for later. >> Well, I have a question on that in particular and a question for Miss Batista. So have we ever done a I'm going to call it head hunter. I mean it basically it's head hunters, right? So,
what what would that look like in the in purchasing? Have we ever done that before? Because I don't know if that would extend the amount of time that we would be able to put out something, you know, I mean,
I love the idea. We have talked about it. I and I think it it's motivating for people to bring good candidates that way, but we government is very slow in a lot of things. So this I don't think we've ever done it that way. Do how
would we do that? >> We did utilize when we did the superintendent search, we have used outside companies to help us with that search. Um if the cost is under 50,000, then the superintendent can sign off on that agreement. Um, but if the cost is going to exceed that amount, then we
would have to go through the purchasing, >> but we wouldn't know what the cost was until someone found the right That's what I'm saying. >> Well, we have a general idea because we know what the salary is, and they would let us know what their percentage of that salary they're going to charge. Typically, as I said, companies are
going to charge 20 to 30%. So, if your general counsel is making 225, that's going to be 40, you know, anywhere to, you know, $40,000 and up. So, you have a little bit of wiggle room there. So, how would >> But depending on the companies, if you're going to go out, as I said, and
want to use several companies, they're all going to bring different list of candidates to you. So, let's say you get three companies, each one brings you five candidates. We're still going to have to screen the candidates and vet them and then bring them forward to you to make some decisions on how you want to whittle down each of those companies
list, which is doable. And then we'd have to make sure that company then is agreeable to say you're only going to get paid or receive um fees for your services if we select your candidate. >> That that that's what I guess I'm asking. I think we all would like to
know like what's the probability of >> we've never done that before. We've always used only one company. >> Other government organizations and other organizations do do that. So that's like just because we've never done it before doesn't mean it can't be done. Correct. And I would say like because we've never done it before, it's an argument for
doing it. >> Right. Well, and I don't disagree. I just want to if we decide to do that, we need to know what the path is forward and does it extend the timeline? Does it shorten the timeline? >> Well, it would definitely extend it from
putting something out today or by the end of the week because we would reach out. We have a list of companies that definitely specialize in um in in providing candidates in this field. So, we definitely have already kind of found some list of c of companies that do that. We would have to reach out to them to see who's interested.
>> Okay. Thank you. And Miss Batista, just as a side note, you've been in this business a long time. Do you have a list of friends that you might share that might be interested in the position? >> Well, I mean, I'm not sure that I have a list of friends that would be interested
in the position, but I do have a list of friends that may be interested. Um I do belong to the Florida schoolboard attorneys association. Uh and there is a conference that will be taking place on November 6 and seven which I'm planning
to attend and um there uh the people who attend that conference will be the general counselss from all the other districts in the state along with associate general counsels from those different school districts. So I think
that's a very good place to advertise and and you know share that information. Um if I may just suggest um to um Mrs. Aladv's point that you know before the
pool of applicants goes to the to the committee to the legal services committee I think it would be valuable to have HR just look and and make sure that they meet the minimum qualifications so that you don't get you know a pile of 150 résumés when really
only 10 or 15 are even meet the the minimum qualifications. So um that's just a a suggestion. Okay. Okay. So, Mrs. Leonardi, did you want to finish asking your questions?
>> Yeah. Um, for the because Mrs. Aladdaf had brought it up for the legal services committee because we do have one vacancy. Does um that district board member just automatically get added to the legal services committ committee or do we need to do an item to uh fill the
vacancy? We have to do an item to fill the vacancy. Okay. Um, and then I do think because and Mrs. Aladev also brought this up over the years when we've been doing a search for the general counsel position,
we did some things with the job description that I I would be interested in revisiting. Um, so that brings me to the the question of like if we can schedule some special if my colleagues would be amendable to scheduling some
special schoolboard meetings um for the next few weeks in order to be able to get the business of like filling the vacancy on legal services committee and um updating the job description if if everyone wants to do that um just to be
able to keep things moving forward. So, we could add, Mr. Sullivan, could we add a special school board meeting next week at 8? Because I think our training starts at 9:00. Yes. >> At the will of the board, yes, the training starts at 9:00. So, you could do a special as early as you like.
>> I would be I don't know how my colleagues feel about that. I just I listen, I know it's going to be a lot, but like this is serious business that we have to do. So, >> I agree. And Mrs. Alen's always here early anyway. Um, so everybody okay with do we could
do 8:30 if you want, but it'll cut into it never takes the 15 minutes they say it takes. So I think we would have to give it at least an hour. >> So 8:00. >> Yeah. >> And and that sorry that would be to revise the job description or to entertain motions to revise it,
>> right? As well as filling the vacancy on the legal service committee. >> Terrific. So, I just would ask my colleagues to if you have changes to the job description, bring them. >> Okay. Don't start reading it at 8:30. >> Yes. >> Thank you,
>> Mrs. So 8:00. >> That's a next week. >> I can't make 8:00. >> I can make 8:30. >> Okay. Well, 8:30 won't give us enough time. How about 8:15?
Yeah. 8 o'clock. And yes, you come when you get here. >> Okay. I'm I'm going to object. I'm sorry. I I have a standing medical appointment that ends and I can get here at 8:30 and I don't want to be eliminated from the discussion of this
board for the first time in three years. >> Okay. We'll do 8:30, but everybody better talk fast. Okay. So, 8:30 special meeting. >> Can I make a suggestion? >> Go ahead.
>> Can we move the FSBA training to another day >> and then allow that time period to focus on this? >> I can't speak for the trainer. So, we would have to ask I'm I'm sure we can reschedu it, but without
asking her directly, we would have to check. >> Okay. So, let's check in the process, but we'll say we'll do the meeting at we'll do a special school board meeting at 8:30. >> And if she's able to reschedule, then we will commence the special school board
meeting at 9 until 1:00. >> How's that? >> Madam Chair, >> well, have you sat in a schoolboard meeting with us? >> And then we can hash out some of the other issues that we're trying to hash out.
Yeah, >> because there will be plenty of them. >> Oh, well, hold on. >> We're calling. >> Okay. Well, I want to let Miss >> Well, it's about the training. Training have to be done >> by the end of the calendar year because then do we have time to even reschedule
it? >> We'd have to find out when the when Carol could come. >> Well, that's what I'm saying. But is there a time that we have to have that training done by? because then there might not be a time to reschedu it. It's my question. Got you. >> Okay. Well, we can let
>> Mr. Sullivan find that answer out. Does it relate directly? Yes. >> Is there any is there any cost to rescheduling? >> Okay. >> Additional cost. >> We'll find that out. >> I'm phoning a friend. >> Okay. Mrs. Leonardi, you want to >> Oh, just Yeah. So, just to be clear, for
next week for a special school board meeting, we would be discuss we would be voting on the job description. um we would be voting on filling the legal services committee uh vacancy and then we would perhaps be discussing the other parts of this transition that we would
need to discuss. Correct. That's that was those were my questions. Thank you. Okay. Um this is Ala >> I just have a comment that I like my colleagues just to think about. You don't need to talk about now. We can
discuss it next week, but uh super majority vote. We did lose a candidate uh because or someone who we were going to hire because the board didn't agree with supermajority vote. And so I don't not
asking you to weigh on it now, but just to think about that. >> Yeah, that was for the contracts for the legal council. That was why we lost the one um person. Okay. Um
so we I'm trying trying to we we moved around a lot. So I made a motion and then there was a substitute motion because we never voted on that motion. So there was Dr. Zean's motion which failed. Right. So Mrs. Valid's motion is
on hold because we were trying to finish trying to keep track here trying to finish the questions. So, are you ready to make your motion, Mrs. Aladv? >> And I do have a response whenever you want it, Madam Chair. >> Hold on. >> Yes. Now would be great.
>> Um, Miss Cook says that uh selecting uh general counsel is definitely crucial. So she understands there's no cost and we can reschedu as long as we reschedu within uh the next six to eight months. >> Oh, perfect. >> Thank you. >> All righty. >> That's good.
>> Great question then. Okay. So, >> well, I I don't really want to force the uh to do the contingency search unless I mean I can make a motion. We can vote on it and see if that's what we want to do. Um all right, whatever. I'll just make
the motion. I I move to uh for the Ber County School District to sorry I move for the school board's legal services committee. So they're going to review all applications given by
the external search contingency search. >> Is there a second? >> Second. Any public comment on the motion? Board member comment on the motion. Dr. Holes. >> Thank you, Madam Chair. So, when the
Legal Services Council review the application, I just want to get clarity. Are they going to bring back to the board a certain number of qualified applicants that they're recommending or what happens next?
>> I guess that would be up to us. I don't know that we would want to give a number. What if there's only three people that apply? But Mrs. Al, they would make recommendations to the school board, but they will also share all of
the information with the recommendations like the resumeumés, their letter, all the information, they'll share that with the school board. >> Okay. So I guess what I'm trying to understand, Madam Chair, the Legal Services Council, are they they're going
to make recommendation to the school board? Is are they going to recommend one candidate from everyone they receive or are they going to what are we expecting? >> It will be it'll be a you know hopefully >> five, six. I mean hopefully if you know
our staff vets it out before it they even go to make sure they they meet the standards the minimum qualifications and then I would hope they would be providing you know basically all of them that meet the minimum qualifications >> but they're vetting it they're vetting
it out and and the superintendent even though he's part of the legal service committee he would not be participating in that part of it. Okay, Madam Chair, >> and what about to what you just said, board member Alf, what about general counsel Batista? No. As well,
>> so you're so when we say legal services committee, we're talking about the three board members that serve on that committee. >> Correct. >> And it's a sunshine meeting and minutes will be taken at the meeting.
>> Dr. Holless. >> Yeah, Madam Chair. Um so the legal services council has three board members that will be um deciding on which applicants to bring forward to us. Um I
don't have a well I I do sort of um it seems as if there are limited number of individuals on the legal services council. Is there any other um in addition to legal services council that could be involved? any other particular group that could be involved in that
process in addition to the legal services council. >> The motion right now is just for the legal council. I mean that's their whole purpose really is to discuss legal issues with the >> Okay. All right. Go ahead,
>> Miss Thompson. >> I guess I'm just confused in general. So are we saying that are we're going to do an internal search? the internal people are going to give it to this legal services council which is made up of three.
So then we are spending up around $50 to $60,000 for these people to give us applicants and then you guys are reviewing them. There's just been a lot of back and forth and I would like a very like timeline of what's happening because two
people shook their head no >> so >> for very different ideas. >> Mrs. Mrs. Alhidev's motion was to use an external firm which means that companies would bring us people but our HR still
has to vet them. They would vet them to make sure they meet the minimum qualification. Then it would go to the legal council legal services council committee. But why couldn't the firm that we're spending a ton of money on
vet them and make sure they fit the minimum qualifications? >> They do, but then our legal I mean H it's our it's our employee our HR has to always fet them. >> Can I can I speak to some of that? So in
the past when we've done searches we all like the search firms bring us the list and we always whittle down the list to things that we are looking for. So, I guess the the question really is, do you trust the legal services committee to do that, to whittle down that list to help,
you know, have a more refined conversation down the line? If you don't, that's then just vote no on the motion. >> So, that's not what I'm confused about. I'm confused more about how we're getting applicants, not about the legal services component about it. It's either
are we using our internal people to recruit applicants and then that goes to you guys or we're using the contingency. >> So the motion is to use an outside. >> Thank you.
>> Yes. Okay. Any other questions? Go ahead >> to Miss Batista. um when we're talking about use and you know maybe HR too is where um when we're talking about using the outside firm
are well I I have two questions. One is what do you anticipate the pool of applicants being because they have to be Florida licensed attorneys. So that's going to limit it. It's not necessarily going to be a national search like a superintendent would be because that's a
different skill set. seem to be familiar with Florida law and then to be um particularly uh in the practice of the very many different uh arenas in which you have experience. How many how many
>> qualified applicants do you think there are in the state of Florida or that are Florida licensed? I I wonder if I'm just wondering when we're looking at the pool if we're going to get a lot of people with an external
>> firm that we wouldn't necessarily get just >> that was total applicants right >> going towards um using our HR >> so I I'm not sure how many people would be um applying for the job uh even with
a firm involved um as I mentioned before there are approximately 75 individuals of 75 lawyers in the state of Florida that that hold the certification in education law. And I'm not sure, you know, how many of those will be interested in applying for the job. Um,
obviously, you don't need that as a qualification. You just need to have had some experience with either education or school law. um education law being broader and being, you know, it could be at a university or or um just in an area
that touches upon what uh school district does. So, um I wouldn't even really know how to answer your question as far as how many people would be, you know, applying for the job.
I I guess the question is just is it I mean I I support an out using an outside firm if it's going to be fruitful. Um if we're going to end up with the same applicants because it's a much smaller pool than we would have like for a national search for a superintendent
then I don't know that that's what we want to do. Um and then I guess the second part is if we do do if we have to go through procurement to do um a contract for the external for the head hunter, would it behoove us to start an
internal search and then you know like and get get it moving and then kind of see where we're at at that point when we get that all put together. >> And if I'm not mistaken, I think we had three applicants the last time.
>> Okay. I think there was three if I remember correctly. It was not a very large number. >> Right. It's because it's an insane qualification. I mean, you have to have like management many attorneys. You have to know all kinds of different areas of the law that I mean, you have to be like a behemoth
>> to work with us. >> Yeah. I mean, it's a lot be public, you know, take a lot of grief. >> Um, I guess the the other question I have for HR would be uh if
if you were used, if I can be so can I talk? Okay. >> If you were going to lead the lead this um initiative to the point that someone made before, I don't think advertising on the website's going to be particularly helpful. Like
this would have to be a um a situation where you're actually making calls and trying to find somebody. Is that something that you guys have the capacity to do? >> You can take it. >> No, absolutely. We would reach out to
the 67 counties. They may have somebody in their, you know, that's willing to grow and wants to go into a lead council position. So, we definitely would reach out to them. We did do that previously in 21. Um, I believe if I recall, we got around 10 candidates for that time when we had the last time we had a um a
position open. Um, so there are and there are different professional organizations that we can reach out to in the state of Florida um that we would reach out to as well. Um, but yes, it would be kind of, you know, reaching out to our network of individuals in the state that we've worked with and getting
the word out. Yeah, I I I just I'm kind of in most situations I would say go ahead with the external firm, but in this particular situation, and I could be totally wrong. It just seems like there's a very small pool of applicants ultimately here.
>> So, I um I I agree with doing the internal search. That's why I made that original motion for similar reasons that you said that, but I do agree with the committee part. So, we'll vote on this motion and
if it doesn't pass, we can make it a separate motion. Mrs. Leonard, >> any >> Yeah. Um, just real quick. So, we keep saying like search firm. It would be multiple firms competing, which is not something we've done before. We have
done an internal search before. Uh, so I just want us to be cleareyed about that. Um, and in theory, we could widen the pool of applicants by changing the job description. Um, so that's a conversation I look forward to having
next week. Um, so I just want everyone to to consider that as well. Thank you. >> Thank you. And I'll get to Miss Thompson one second. U, Mr. Dr. Lozano, can for next week, can you possibly research
what using a contingency would look like and what that process might be so that you could better answer those questions for us? >> Absolutely. >> Great. Thank you. Um, Miss Thompson, >> I guess that's my question. Do we have to decide this right now since we now have four hours on Tuesday to discuss
this? I I think I think we could make some decisions like to launch, you know, the the announcement, but if we don't want to do that because we're going to come back and and redo the job description, we got to wait till next week. >> Yeah. Because it sounds like there might be interest in discussing the job
description. There's some interest in pursuing both internal and a contingency plan. I just think we don't have enough information. I'm trying to force it. >> Let's pick it up next week. >> Right now, it's fine, Mr. Sea. I don't want to talk about the process
because we are going to discuss that next week for four hours from what I've been hearing. So, I'll reserve my time for that. I do want to say uh however to Miss Batista, first and foremost, thank you for everything that you've done for this board. And I'm not sure if if it's retirement or a slowdown, but if it's
retirement, congratulations. If it's a lesser role, I guess congratulations as well, too, for the less uh the less stress that you'll have to absorb. Um, you know, being a being a general counsel for for any big corporation, a big company is is a tough job and uh it
takes uh a lot of insight. It takes a lot and a lot of knowledge and it takes a lot of of of courage to sit up here on the dis and field random legal questions from every single direction uh by both lawyers and non- lawyers, right? And uh
be ready on the spot, be Johnny on the spot all the time. And I know I have only been uh been up here for six months, but uh I can certainly um assert that uh in my time I've been very appreciative of the work that you have
done uh for the uh council you have given us as a as as a board for your willingness to write us those memos and explain concepts and even when you and I don't agree on things uh I still very much value your uh your legal insight
and your your legal input. Uh, and again, I I want to thank you and and congratulate you on your um your legal career uh which um I believe has spanned almost 32 years. So, that's uh very commendable. I don't think Miss Thompson was alive when you uh when you started
practicing law. So, uh we we certainly appreciate and wish you well uh moving forward whatever that next step may be. >> Yes. Thank you, Mrs. Alado. I'm going to remove my motion, but I'd like to make another motion.
I like I move to add Adam Cera on the legal services committee. >> Is there a second to the motion? >> Okay. Well, before we move forward with that, Mr. Sea, would that be something you would be open to? >> I graciously accept your uh proposed
nomination. >> Could we also nominate other people? >> Sure. I don't see why not. I'd like to add make a motion to add another attorney on our board. Uh, Mrs. Bulman. >> She's on there. Isn't she? >> No, it's you and me.
>> No, we changed it at the beginning. I appreciate that. >> Yes, >> you you dropped off. >> Oh, okay. >> You guys are a busy board. You don't even know who's >> Never mind. >> Thanks. >> Okay. All those in favor of adding Mr. Sea to the legal services committee, I
got it right. Say I. >> I. I any oppose say no. Motion carries unanimously. One less thing to do next week. So very good. Um sorry just for one next last thing for
next week. Um if if my colleagues agree if staff could bring you know the different options we could consider for the search um a contingency and then an internal that would if my colleagues agree would be great. >> Yes, Mrs. Alita. And if they could
please have the financials very specific in the backup. Thank you. In a in a timeline like what it would look like with all of the different I know you briefly read it out but maybe
if you could put that as the in the like a backup so we could look at it beforehand >> samples >> and yeah >> through the superintendent. I just want to be clear that I will probably not be posted until Friday because they're going to need time to put all that together.
>> Yeah. Okay, it's fine. Um I just quick like to also thank Miss Batista. I know that we have almost daily conversations. Um and I just have always appreciated. We may not agree often. Um, but I
appreciate that you you listen and explain and you know, you are always looking out for the best interest of the board and I think we're very very lucky to have had you. So, thank you very much and we wish you all the best as you move forward. Um, and you know, family always
has to come first. So, >> at this time, do any of my colleagues have any update? >> Can I just say one? >> Sure. I I'm reserving my comments for Miss Batista for when she's actually leaving. This is >> That's fine.
>> That's right. We can um at this time, do any of my colleagues have any update or student successes to bring forth um to the superintendent for consideration? Miss Leonardi, >> I just wanted to thank staff for their uh new updated executive summary. It's
very detailed. It anticipates a lot of the board questions. So, thank you uh Dr. Heburn and staff for giving us more and more information that we need to make good votes. Thank you, >> Mrs. Alhuda. >> Ah, to that point. So, maybe I missed
it. I don't see on the executive summary the letter and number >> and it's something I've been asking for for a really long time. >> Number. >> Mhm. >> Yeah. Why don't we have >> on the executive summary? >> Yeah, >> it's done. No, but it's I've been told
it's going to be done for a long time. >> Well, it will be on the log now that you've asked >> be done or somebody be tred and feathered right here. So, it'll be done. >> Anybody else, Mr. Sea? >> Chair, congratulations to uh Cypress Bay
High School. Uh lightning has in fact struck twice. both boys and girls uh swimming and diving took home uh first place in the uh Brow County Athletic Association Swimming and Diving Championships which took place on
Saturday at Plantation Central Park Aquatic Complex. The girls team edged out Fort Lauderdale High School. Big win for the girls swim team. >> And for the second year in a row, I might add um the St. I must also know
St. host St. Thomas was third with uh 340 points, but Cypress Bay has now won the girls title in 2021, 2024, and 2025. So, congratulations to Cypress Bay High School on the swimming and diving accomplishment. >> Very good. Swimming is the best sport
ever. Um the scheduled order of business for this regular school board meeting of the school board of Broward County, Florida has been completed. Seeing no obligation, I now adjourn the meeting. Thank you. Have a great night, and we will see you all next week.
Not great. >> I think you've become very