Hey, hey, hey. Hey, hey, hey. Welcome to today's schoolboard workshop. This workshop of the school board of Broward County, Florida is now called to order. To ensure a safe and productive environment, please note the clearly marked emergency exits. Do not block exit doors and all attendees must be
seated except for media. Once the room reaches capacity, attendees will be directed to the overflow area. If the fire alarm sounds, exit the room calmly, continue outside the building, and remain there until authorities give clearance to return. Thank you for your cooperation. I will now introduce my school to lead
us in the pledge of allegiance to the flag. Please rise. Please stand up for the pledge of allegiance. >> I pledge algiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the
republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> Please sit down. seated. >> Thank you.
>> Board member Dr. Holes has requested a moment of silence. Dr. Holes. >> Thank you, Madam Chair. At this time, I would like to request a moment of silence in memory of Jason Ramage, a dedicated employee at Discovery Elementary. Jason was known for his
kindness, compassion, and unwavering commitment to his students, particularly those in the ASD special program. He supported his students, colleagues, and families with patience, care, and a genuine love for his work. Jason's
presence touched many lives. And though he will be deeply missed, the impact he made will forever remain in the hearts of the Discovery Elementary community. Thank you very much. >> Thank you. As we begin, we reaffirm our
vision. 100% proficiency for all students. As an A-rated district, we remain committed to sustaining this achievement and supporting every student to reach their highest potential. Our theme this year is believe, empower, achieve, one Broward. Before I begin with the agenda, I'd like to turn it over to the superintendent for some
opening remarks. Good morning chair, school board members and public. Good morning students. Thanks for also being here today and and u parents I see some principles in the room as well and and other support staff. Um so I have two things to to
share with the board. Um any feedback is welcome. So u based on uh consensus from a previous workshop uh we will move forward with directly negotiating with Niola for our policies. Once a contract is in place all the policies will need to be reviewed. So therefore, unless
critical, we'll be pausing bringing new policies until we begin that process with Neiola. We do have a a couple of policies that we're still going to bring forward, such as the facility rental um and a couple of more, but for the majority of the policies that are remaining um with that direct
negotiation with Nola, we're going to do a pause since they're going to go through all of our policies um once we finalize that contract. Also, um the second thing with the board support, I haven't um talked to Mr. Magley about this yet. Um but of course he directly reports to the board. I would like to request that the chief
auditor engage in an external audit uh firm to conduct a review of our referendum. This will help to demonstrate that we are what we already know that the current referendum funds are being used in accordance with the approved ballot language. So, if we can get um approval for the from the board
um to move forward with a um firm, an external firm to uh conduct a review of the audit, uh that would be awesome. Um just to continue to be transparent and um build confidence with our public. >> Any more board member objection or
discussion? >> All right. Do you have your direction? >> All right. Great. We will now proceed with the agenda. Today's workshop will operate in accordance with schoolboard policy 1020 and the board will review items as advertised and presented by the superintendent. Our first item is
student experience data dialogue. I now turn it over to staff for a brief presentation. >> And I will turn it over to Mr. uh Dr. Wanza first before we move over to Mr. President, Mr. Landis Splberg. >> Good morning. Thank you Dr. Hammer. Good
morning, school board members. Um to our colleagues across the organization, definitely um guests here in the boardroom and those watching online. I'm Valerie Wanza. I'm the chief strategy and innovation officer. Um we certainly this is the last of our um student
dialogue with the board members for this school year. We are eternally grateful for the student leadership um of Landon Spelberg and JC Leon. Not sure how we're letting them graduate without a bachelor's degree and some kind of employment contract, but we'll get to
that in a later conversation. Um, but before we begin, we um I would ask my cabinet colleagues if they can introduce themselves and then I know Landon is going to walk um the board and the super the other board direct reports through introductions as well. So, um Miss
Hollingsworth. >> Oh, good morning. I'm Roman Johnson, chief financial officer. >> Good morning everyone. Simone Hollingsworth, chief student services officer. >> Great morning everyone. So happy that you're here this morning. We're so ready to hear all the amazing things and
feedback that you have to share for us. I'm Angela Fulton, deputy superintendent. >> Good morning everyone. My name is Mark Dorset. I'm the chief operating officer. Task assigned. >> Good morning everyone. Fabian Con, chief academic officer. Welcome.
Good morning, Trey Davis, chief information officer. Welcome to all. >> Good morning, Ernie Lozano, Chief Human Resources Officer. >> Good morning, Germaine Fleming, North Region Superintendent.
>> Good morning, John Sullivan, chief of staff and communications. Welcome. >> And before um Mr. Spelberg begins. We would be remiss if we did not recognize Miss Brown, the director of athletics and student activities, as well as Miss Sineia Santiago, who was out there. Um
Oh, there she is. She always hides in the back for their leadership and their work um with all of our student um activities, athletics, and student leadership programs. And with that, gentlemen, you're on. >> Thank you, Dr. Wanza, and good morning. Welcome to our student experience data
dialogue. We are excited to have a new and improved quarterly student and schoolboard feedback session today uh where we have two new purposes to hear from our students and also to review the data that's been collected through the superintendent student engagement
initiative. At the start of the 2025 2026 school year, the superintendent launched the superintendent student engagement initiative. This initiative contained three main goals. One, establish implementation guides for principal student advisory boards. Two,
create and implement a thought exchange feedback loop at all high schools. And three, ensure every student can easily identify necessary information for success on district web pages. 44 schools were identified to participate in the initiative made up of 29
traditional 9-12 high schools, three technical high schools, four 6 through 12 schools, three education centers, two alternative high schools, the Broward Virtual School franchise, and college academy at BC. Each principal participated in the initiative and
designated an assistant principal as their student engagement ambassador. In July 2025, the district launched a new web page which included a refresh students page with easy to navigate language for the most requested and access resources. In August 2025, the
district successfully launched the principal engagement packet, also known as the PEP, which is a comprehensive best practice and resource guide for high school principles seeking to establish a principal student advisory board. And in September 2025, with the support of the Division of Teaching and
Learning, Department of School Culture and Student Support, Department of Athletics and Student Activities, and the Office of Strategic Initiative Management, the district launched the first of three quarterly student feedback surveys to all 44 participating schools. The survey conducted through
thought exchange asks five questions each quarter and uses a powerful artificial intelligence tool to synthesize student input. A 75% benchmark of participation was adopted after the first quarter survey administration to encourage schools to
receive a meaningful population of student responses. Two administrations of the survey were later held in December 2025 for the second quarter and March 2026 for the third quarter. Across all three quarters, the district
collected 146,000 submissions of student feedback with an average 78% response rate districtwide. With that being said, we will move on to our presentation. So today we will go over the student feedback initiatives and then go into
quarter 1, quarter 2 and quarter 3 data dialogue. This is a overview of what I just briefly spoke about and I want to talk about this for a moment to show you where we've been, where we are, and where we're going. As you can see in the
prior to this school year, the district had extensive student feedback initiatives. However, we needed to improve this to expand it to all of our schools, especially our high school populations. As you can see, this year we've expanded the principal engagement packet, speak up, speak out sessions to
non-traditional schools, the superintendent student advisory council, establish these quarterly discussions, and increase school-based initiatives. Looking to next year, we're looking to expand to elementary school pilot programs, an expansion of quarterly
student feedback surveys to middle schools, and increased support structures for school-based administrators. Here's a look into the initiative. This is the excerpt of the principal engagement packet which was shared with all of our high school principles.
Pre-made plug-and-play resources for them to create a principal student advisory board at this school at their school. We expect that this take took the process from hours just down to approximately 30 minutes. Here's a look into our quarterly student
feedback survey. Uh and the QR code is on the screen. This is also a clickable link to show you the preview of our survey. There is an AI powered survey tool embedded that asks students follow-up questions based off of their responses to make sure that we're receiving the most accurate input.
So, with all that being said, we are here today for our DI data dialogue. Our students here today applied to participate or were selected by their principal. Applications have been reviewed for the set criteria and the only criteria as we previously shared is
that students may not have been externally suspended at any point with the exclusion of our non-traditional schools. Next slide. The following slides will present district-wide averages of student respondents for selected who selected
strongly agree or agree to each respective survey question. These may be referred to as favorability scores. One student represents each single board member's district, middle and high school. Two students are representing our non-traditional schools. So, we're
going to take a pause and have our students introduce themselves and then we'll uh move around the table and have the board members uh Miss Depri Bruno and Mr. Maggley introduce yourself. We'll start with Amy. >> Good morning. Good morning. My name is Amy Galves and I'm a eighth grader at
Austin Olsen Middle School. Good morning. I'm Sophia Allen and I'm a junior at Hollywood Hills High School. Good morning everyone. My name is Paris Sangford. I'm an eighth grader at Walter Seag Middle School. Good morning board. My name is Nami Castro and I'm a junior
at Everglades High School. Good morning. I'm an eighth grader at New River Middle School and my name is Ka Bahari. >> Greetings. My name is David Santiago. I'm 11th grader at Northeast High School. >> Good morning.
>> Good morning. My name is Anna Fletcher. I'm an eighth grader at Millennium Collegiate Academy. >> Good morning. My name is Sophia Resto and I'm a junior at JPT Tabella. >> Good morning everybody. I'm Chrisa Gregory from William Danny Middle School
and I'm a seventh grader. Good morning. My name is Ashley Tower. I'm I'm a junior at Piper High School. >> Good morning. I'm Scarlett Gammonetta from Indian Ridge Middle School and I'm in seventh grade. >> Good morning. I'm Jay Fleming, a senior
at Nova High School. >> Good morning. My name is Kennedy Simpson and I'm a seventh grader at Lines Creek Middle School. >> Good morning. My name is Anan. I'm in 10th grade at Defa Beach High School. >> Good morning. My name is Jules Lam
Moore. I'm a sixth grade at Pine Ridge Education Center. >> Good morning. My name is DeAndre Spence. I am a freshman at Linder James Education Center. >> Good morning. My name is Rebecca Thompson. I'm the District 2 school board meeting member. Good to see you
again. >> Good morning, guys. Mora Bulman. I represent district 1. I represent Sophia and Amy and DeAndre. Thanks for being here today. >> Good morning. I'm Debbie Hixon. I'm one of the countywide school board members. Thank you. So, so I represent all of
you. Um, and it's so nice to see you. Thank you for coming today. >> Good morning, everyone. My name is Kathy Depri Bruno. I'm the general counsel, meaning that I'm the lead attorney for the school board and for the school district. and I am so impressed to see sixth graders, seventh graders, eighth
graders, high schoolers. All I can say is wow. >> Good morning. I'm Sarah Leonardi, school board member representing district 3. >> Good morning, Dr. Howard Heburn, your superintendent. Always an awesome day
when we have kids in the building. >> Good morning, students and everyone. I am Jeff Holes, um the vice chair and I represent district 5 and I believe I have two of my students uh here. Crista Chrisa from William Dandy and Ashley
from Piper. Good to see you all. >> Good morning everybody. Adam Cera representing district 6. So Scarlet and Jay, I'm your schoolboard rep, but it's good to see everybody this morning. And I and I must say DeAndre and David, I'm loving
these bow ties, man. You guys look really, really sharp. Kudos. >> Good morning. My name is Lori Alhadeaf representing district 4. And hi to Sophia and Anna. >> Good morning. I'm Mark Maggley. I'm the chief auditor for the school district
here. And it is in fact very impressive to see you all here. And I' I've watched your uh leadership over the last few months and it's been very impressive and I look forward to seeing all of you continue on. Thank you. >> Thank you. All right, let's get this party started.
So, we're going to start with our data dialogue for the first quarter. Beacon, if you could pull up this slide again. Thank you. Sorry, I know I'm I'm jumping all around uh with the screen here today. So, we'll leave this up for a moment to show you these are the favorability scores that were collected for our
quarter 1 data. These were the five survey questions that were asked to our students uh at all of our schools. There were also two additional open-ended survey questions uh that pres that presented some extensive data. We're going to start with our first question this morning. And because I started with
Amy last time, I'll start with DeAndre. >> Oh, thank you. Uh we I was told that we have two board members on the line if we want to have um Miss Rupert and Dr. Zean introduce themselves. Thank you. >> Good morning everyone. I'm Nora Roupert
and I represent uh district 7 and welcome you all and uh look forward to um discussing this wonderful information. >> Thanks Landon. Alan Zean uh uh Beaman in here from San Diego. We're out at a big conference with Arizona State University
on K12 education, but uh glad to be here and great to see the students. >> Thank you. I apologize that I skipped over you both. Um, so we're going to start with DeAndre with our first question. Sorry to sorry to pick on you, DeAndre. Um, but our first question
shows that uh quarter 1 data showed a strong majority of students feeling supported by their teachers and feel that school leaders listen to student input. So our first question is, what are some ways that students feel school leaders? Go ahead, DeAndre.
>> Good morning. Students may feel supported by teachers whenever a teacher listens to a students feedback and acts accordingly post to um listening to their feedback. Um I don't really have anything else to say. Thank you. Students
might students might listen to um teachers feedback by um taking that advice and putting it in their head and um just continue doing um life with it and just go around with it and just um
use it around the school and yeah. So well student feel supported by teacher like um how they always give advice how they treat us always try to make us understand all that. So we feel
those support >> um students can feel supported by their teachers when their teachers like give them feedback about how they're doing and what they can do to support their education and fix the rates. I think students can feel supported by
their teachers and school leaders, by the adults in in the school making themselves accessible to students. For example, my principal is in the crossroads during lunch so students can come up to her and talk to her and ask her different questions. So, I think when teachers and school leaders are
accessible, students can feel supported. Um, also what Jay said, my um, principal, we can all ask her questions like whenever and she can also give us great advice and to make us improve ourselves at school. So, we can feel
really supported by them. I think teachers can make students feel supported when they um ask students for feedback and make it a safe and comfortable environment. Letting students know that it's okay to give him feedback and constructive criticism.
Some ways students can feel supported by their teachers and heard by school leaders is for me I feel like you have to be comfortable enough with your students so that you feel willing enough to talk to them and they can talk back. And like for instance at my school, my principles and APs often walk around lunch and just them making them small
conversations with us makes it so that we're willing to tell them about issues and stuff like that. Some ways students feel supported at my school is through the connection um connections being built through clubs at my school. Not only with teachers but
also the principal and APS and other staff members. They open up to students and have that open line of communication with students rather than students go to teachers as well. At my school, we offer a principal advisory board where issues are brought up and we work on plans to
improve. I feel like this is an amazing way that students can feel supported by teachers and also staff members like our principal and ours. Students feel supported when a teacher listens to student feedback and they actually implement a change in the
classroom and learning environment. >> Another way students can feel support is when a teacher show up and show they care care overall dedication. >> Some ways students um feel supported by teachers is if the their teachers give them the opportunity to be heard which creates an environment for the students
to open up to. So, at Everglades, um the teachers are very amicable and we're able to speak to them and raise our own concerns about the classes and whatever the curriculum um what's coming up during the week. And
they are very um excuse me, they do mend their classes to what would help the students in learning and getting better results from their teaching. Some ways students feel supported by teachers and heard by school leaders is
when it is publicized that support is available. When they know that they have someone to talk to if they're going through anything. Um and also communication between teachers and students. Like if say for example we take a feedback survey communicating that there will be action taken after the survey and it's not just going to
sit somewhere. >> Thank you. Um I believe that students feel supported when um administration or teachers in general are more accessible. As someone stated before, I don't remember. For example,
at my school, guidance counselors stay outside during lunch because that's where we eat in case we have questions to ask them, which I've done that so many times. I've gone up to them so many times with any questions that I had and they listened and they taught me. They
told me how I can change and what I can do better. So, I do think that's very helpful. >> Well, at Olsen, we have lots of teachers and our APs. Everyone, all the staff members are there to help us become
better. and students feel supported by their teachers and all the staff members at our school because if we have any issues or we're feeling any type of way, we can go to our teachers and or during class after class and we can say, "Hey,
so I was having this issue during class or there's this where I'm going I'm going through this and teachers will help us find out a way how to solve it and how to work it out. Thank you. See, it's not that scary,
right? You guys all got it. Great job. All right, so our next question, um, as we showed in the data slide, quarter 1 showed lower results around school cleanliness and facilities with lots of opportunity for improvement. What aspects of cleanliness and facilities
are most important for supporting a positive learning experience? We'll start with you, Amy. I say that having a well speaking with a few of my classmates, having a cleaner environment in our classroom helps students focus more and having the
opportunities to not be distracted easier by having a mess in the classroom or by there being students are disrupting the class. Um, I believe that the vents are the most important because
there's always possibilities of mold. Um, it's happened in my school and a lot of students were sick and I feel like that disrupts how we learn because that leads to us having to stay home to being sick. So, yeah.
>> Yes. I feel one of the most important things is just proper maintenance with the bathrooms. not the bathroom specifically, but the entire school. Um, for example, if something spills on the floor, making sure that it is cleaned up immediately. Um, I know we just experienced a lot of rain this past
week. Um, one thing that my school did was they put caution signs in the hallways cuz I know some feet can get slippery and that can lead to some accidents. So, those were definitely helpful. And then also just little things in the bathroom like making sure there's always paper towels and things
of that line. >> Uh I agree with Paris with um the supplies needed in the bathrooms because I feel that positive learning experiences can be fostered from clean and functioning bathrooms. So, possibly um dayong custodians that um clean the
bathrooms like on a regular throughout the day because I do feel like after lunch specifically, the bathrooms can start to smell and it kind of affects us going to class. So, it would be nice to have clean bathrooms throughout the day. >> In terms of facilities, I feel like classrooms play a big role in a positive
learning. For example, if the classroom is a mess, I feel like that creates easy distractions and it's harder for students to learn that way. I agree. Cleaner classrooms would definitely help us focus like no trash and dirt on the floor. >> I believe that having a clean and neat
classroom would promote better student learning because knowing our school cares about our health and our wellness is important. I would say sanitation is extremely valuable to our school because it promotes a safe environment as well. it it's a motivation for students wanting
wanting to come. You're not going to want to go to school if your school's quite dirty and it unmotivates you. Um especially like bathrooms at my school. I feel like the sanitation takes away from students instruction time cuz
at times there'll be um only one bathroom or one um toilet open. So students would have to wait in line for over 5 to 10 minutes and that takes away from instruction time. Adding on to what Sophia said, I als
add adding on to what Sophia said, I also feel like sanitation is important in classrooms because what how long we stay in there, all of the germs can really sit and like just seeing it on the desk doesn't really help. But I think another part of that too is making it so it's more normalized for us the students to want to clean the area so it
can feel normalized to have a clean environment. I agree what was what what was said previously about having cleaner restrooms. Um sometimes the bathrooms can be quite dirty or they don't have paper towels or toilet paper that we
need to use the restroom comfortably and so I think unclean restrooms make it very uncomfortable to be at school. So I think increasing the cleanliness of the bathrooms is extremely important. >> Okay. Having um cleanliness can be very
important to having a positive learning experience and without it being like sanitary. We it can cause a distraction in school and lead to um students not to be motivated to learn more. I would say um more so speaking about
facilities, the drainage at my school is a bit of an issue. Whenever it rains during the school day, um the doors in front of, for example, the math building will be flooded in front and then students can't really get to class as quickly as they usually do. On a more
broad scope, I would say um kind of piggybacking off of what Sophia said about making sure that students feel that they can maintain their health at school when it comes to disinfecting surfaces and then keeping the air vents clean. Um
um I feel like the most important facility that should be cared for is honestly the hallway because um there's a lot of trash in the hallways at school and I've actually slipped on a piece of trash and fallen and it made me late for class and it's really hard to get to
class when there's so much stuff in the hallway where you can't even move. So yeah. Um honestly I there is no major concern about that but I can also agree with y'all like the bathroom should always
clean how like um um how like how we go to the restroom and I can pick up what um Paris and Sophia said. how we can how people can go in the restroom. Sometimes people just don't they don't just clean up
after theel sometimes in the restroom. The floor can the floor can be the floor can be sticky and other stuff and like we and sometimes we just need to clean up after ourselves in the restroom. And I just don't like seeing that because
why? Because other people is going behind you and using the restroom behind you. That's just disgusting. I personally can relate at my school about the unsanitary of the um facility, but I have past experience from my old
high school of urine all over the bathroom and the stalls and stuff. There is barely any um supplies to clean yourself in the bathroom stalls. Um,
I've had problems with um, what is it? Something like an events like there's animals living in the ceiling like sounds like rats and stuff. I've had that experience. And who somebody said it? I think the
student from Everglaze said it. Having custodians clean the bathroom throughout the day and not only in the in the morning and after school hours. So that's all I have to say. Thank you for sharing that. It's very important. And Jerusalem, you've been hired. We're going to put your quote on the sign in
the bathroom. All right. There you go. All right. So, um, we have wrapped up quarter one data review. Beacon, if you could pop back up the presentation, please for quarter two. Thank you. All right. So, looking at the quarter two data, I know there's a lot
on this slide. Uh, so I'll briefly walk through it. Um, we did ask a question to our students about guidance counselor resources. You'll see there's a footnote at the bottom there. Um, that addresses that we did take out the students from the in the denominator that said that they didn't need counseling services,
right? So, we did have that as a fifth option. Um, so rather than saying, you know, they strongly agree and they've never used counseling services before, we did take that population out. Um, so that is just the footnote there. we saw uh some really good areas and also some
areas for improvement. Uh and as always, we're looking at district-wide data, right? So, we're doing in-depth analysis school by school. Uh but you're looking at more of of a district-wide data share. So, we're going to go to our quarter 2 data review. Quarter 2 data
shows, and DeAndre, we'll start with you. I'm trying to give you guys warnings so you know who's starting. Quarter 2 data shows high access to learning materials, clubs, and access to counseling support. What is one resource or opportunity at your school that makes
you want to go to school? Excuse me. Um, my school is full of resources. We have textbooks for learning, um, online learning websites, counseling, etc. I think that
the benefit of doubt is that students will love to have something that they can I would say work with instead of just listen listening to a teacher give a lecture they can go on their own on the websites and go at their own pace and I feel like
that's better for the students now with all this technology in the world >> I like um like um how we can go to um one resource is that um how we can go to
school and we probably won't understand in school but later on if um some of us have taken tutoring. Um, some of us can take tutoring at home and stay after school for tutoring and then and then
you could tell the tutor the tutor like what you're struggling with in class and then they're going to help you and they're going to um move you through what's going to help you in class and stuff like that. So yeah, that's all I got to say. >> I think that one opportunity student can
have like that can make you want to go to school. It's like the support of the school. Um if you don't listen something that's you can always ask for help that's always help a lot. Um to be honest, I love school. Um and
I'm really glad to have the resources that we have. Um like the fact that we have individual textbooks for science and math. Um, it's it just makes my life easier. So,
so the thing that keeps me coming to school is, I'm going to be honest, SGA. Um, that's my motivation because I know I have the SGA class. Being a senior is hard. So, I think students finding their motivation and finding whatever it is
that they feel like they're comfortable with at school where they feel at home, whether that be an extracurricular or a person, a counselor, an administrator, I think them finding their own motivation is what will keep them coming to school.
For me, I really enjoy going to student council and we have like a bunch of clubs that keep us involved in school and we also have a bunch of resources like computers and textbooks that we can all um look at for reference in school
and I really enjoy that. >> Personally, I really love that we have study hall class. I think it's an amazing opportunity for students to get extra help or to make up work or to just talk to their favorite teacher. Like for example, today one of my teachers is
hosting a study session for um the ACE journal paper Cambridge test. And so it's just an amazing opportunity for um us to get extra help in areas that we might be struggling in or to prepare for tests that are coming up soon. So yeah,
for me honestly I can't really choose one. So I'm just going to go with my top two which is SGA and mock trial because I feel like those of all things is what really makes me want to not miss school or or skip it because with first off with mock trial we get um we get to argue with other schools, make our own
opinions and then we get to try at like real courouses like the circuit one which is kind of down the street from here. But with SGA, I also like the opportunity of being able to be a leader and also like since I'm the secretary of my SGA, it's helped me better be able to organize my ideas and all that stuff in
the minutes. So yeah, I would say what um motivates me to go to school is the clubs that my school offers and the ACE program. With the ACE program, I feel it's really changed my opportunity to go to college. It's like changed that um trajectory. It really
offers like a really great opportunity for students. Um, and going back to clubs, I strongly advocate for Brace Club. I love Brace Club. Um, I really am happy that the district did that. I really see the difference that it made
in my school. Um, I see the way that students show up for meetings and they're excited to learn more about what the future entails for them. Um, for me, the opportunity to be able to speak to my teachers if I'm
struggling academically on a topic. And at my school, there are opportunities for like after school tutoring that I have attended and they're super helpful in preparation for like fast testing to help us get higher scores.
My school has an abundance of resources, but one thing that I want to highlight is my brace advisor. She is phenomenal. She like helps all Northeast students even with like sports and academics. She's so dedicated like top tier in in terms of opportunities. I really
enjoy extracurricular activities after school and I feel like I can see the difference that sports motivate kids to show up to school and be a part of their school's um sports team. So something that um encourages me to go
to school and gets me excited to go to school is the welcoming environment that invites me in the morning. Um like for example our 9th grade um assistant principal Mr. Smith and my principal Miss Super Bowl is always outside and says good morning and greets all the students and it makes me feel comfortable and excited for the day. Um
and also I'm I have the privilege of cutting it close to the first bell because of our swift and efficient um security screening. So, I get to go through the metal detectors fast and get to my first period. And um another a resource that I greatly appreciate um at my school is the media center because I
have a lot of paper heavy classes that I need to print a lot and I don't have that resource at my house to print um a lot of papers and documents. So, I have the ability to do that. And another resource that we offer is Mu Alpha Theta, which is a club that I would attend as a to be tutored last year and
now I am the tutor. So it is um yes thank you. So yeah it is a very helpful club and also SNHS which is uh the science national honor society and that also provides a lot of tutoring for chemical um for science clubs.
One opportunity that I think um makes me enjoy going to school is that our teachers are very supportive of us doing group work. Um, a lot of times in my class I'm presented with the opportunity to work with my peers. Even if it's on something small, my teachers are very
supportive of that and they have um instilled a lot of trust in us that we can still focus on doing our work um while still working with each other. And then another opportunity that my school has is an incentive program that we have. Um
they're um they're called night books and they are very they started about two years ago I believe and they were fully started by the students. The design and everything was designed by the students and they are earned from your teachers
for good character. You get them when you get honors things like that. Um and yeah I think that is really something that kids look forward to a lot at school. Um, similar to what David said, I love
my brace advisor. She constantly posts new scholarship opportunities, deadlines. She notifies everyone when a scholarship is about to end. And it really motivates me because I feel like a lot of kids, especially my age, spend
so much time overthinking about college and the future and what they want to do. So, I feel like my brace advisors really help me with that. Um, and yes, that's it. Well, at my school, there are
lots the what I like and what makes me really want to go to school are the sports, the clubs, and the extracurriculars that there are at my school. I am a very athletic child. I'd say I did most sports and I just love
going to get to meet other people because this year I was the soccer captain for my team and I met so many wonderful girls and now during the hallways I see them and I just smile at them. And another thing I want to go all the
way back to Jerusalem. The tutoring I have gone to tutoring at my school. And one thing I would like to say is that yes, tutoring is good and everything, but I would like if maybe we could extend it for all year long since maybe like a little bit more early, not just
for fast testing for PM3 because um now I have a class which is geometry study hall where we recap, we do lots of things for geometry for students who aren't really understanding the class or having a little bit setbacks. So, I
would like if we could have like tutoring all year long or have even more extended maybe a peer-to-peer because there's lots I have lots of classmates who need help or were like just struggling with the math
assignments. Thank you. >> Thank you for sharing that. So, some of you already addressed our next question. I think you were sneaking to the next question a little bit, but we'll do it again. Um, many students have shared that they have a trusted adult at
school, but not all do. What could help more students feel supported? And we encourage you, if you want to, you don't have to, to maybe shout out who your trusted adult is at school. We'll start with you, Amy. Well, at my school, I have so many
staff members who I can just go up to and talk to and say, "Hey, how are you?" or just like get a hug and get and just be able to like feel better to talk to them about whatever I need to. But I have like a little special shout out for
Miss Muika. She is I'm working on a like novel study with her and I just love seeing her every day at lunch and I can go up to her. I could talk to her and she's just there for me whenever I need her and all staff members are there for
all their students. But I just wanted to give a little special shout out to her. Thank you. >> Okay. Um, to start off, I want to give a shout out to my US history teacher, Mr. Curry. He always, well, when he's waiting at your the door when you walk
in, he is always like, "Hello." He always mentions something new. If something changed about your appearance, he's like, "Oh, new shirt, new earrings." He finds a way to make every lesson interesting and sometimes they
can be boring, but they he always finds a way to get you engaged and ask questions and after the class like I really leave the class feeling like I learned a lot. Um, however, something that I think could help students feel
more supported and more engaged in a way is if it was less lecturing and more like engagement. Because I feel like with strict lesson plans with teachers, which I don't blame them at all, but with strict lessons plans, it's it's
very easy for students to just feel like just straight hearing a teacher talk and then straight to book work when I feel like there could be more opportunities to make it more interesting and fun because that's what really pushes students to do better.
>> Yes, I 100% agree. Um, I think one thing that could help um, students feel more supported is if each assistant principal just had sessions with each grade um, and each grade's guidance counselor as well and talk about them if there's
anything that's frustrating them um, anything that's bothering them or any concerns that they have at school and let them know that they can talk about it freely and that there's nothing wrong with having someone to talk to. And also I'm going to shout out a few of my teachers, Mr. Doover, Miss Ryan, and
Miss Zara. Thank you so much. And they are some of the trusted adults that I really know that I can talk to at my school. I'm very thankful for them. >> Okay. So, I think Oh, sorry. Uh, possibly implementing a big and little
program. So where the upper classmen can adopt underassmen and pro like show them the ropes around campus, show them possibly like their trusted teachers and um and introduce them to their friends or um advise them in clubs that they should
take and classes they should take. Uh and I also would like to shout out Mr. W. What could help students feel more supported is that they know that their staff is there for them and that they're accessible to them, that they're they can feel safe to talk to them. And I
would like to shout out Miss Galano. She's my marine science teacher and she makes our lessons very fun and engaging and she um in terms of our lessons, she always has a lab that goes with our lesson and she makes everything not seem
boring. And I feel like when I walk out of marine science, I feel like I've learned a lot. >> Something that I think could help students feel more supported if teachers overall reach out more. But at my school, well other schools too, like we have so many resources. I think it's
just like us as students, we have to go and like reach out and try to find it. For example, if you want to major in biology, you can go to a biology teacher and say, "Do you recommend that um major?" And like get advice from them. And I want to shout out Miss Jameson. Woo. And also my brace adviser again,
Miss Gordon. Thank you guys so much. >> I would personally feel more supported if there was better communication between the school and students about opportunities and events. And I would like to shout out my administrators because if there's a problem, they will
go and fix it and they're super supportive of all the students. Um to kind of go off of Anna, I would say shedding more light on the resources that the school offers um through like digital media like social media or even at school like over the announcements
because a lot of students don't know the resources that we have and they think that our school just doesn't have it and they compare ourselves to other schools but in reality we have those resources they just don't know about them. And I would also like to give a shout out to Miss Collins, my junior class sponsor.
Thank you so much for everything. I feel like what what could help students feel more supported is I guess as I said with the first question is just to try and make the connection with your students because nobody's none of us are going to want to talk if you don't even try to make a short conversation and I think for my shout
out is my SJ club adviser Miss Pink and my pre-law teacher Miss Lumson because Miss Pink any little achievement that you make she will hype you up in the best way possible which really makes me feel better about myself and also like with pre-law and mock trials skills. She often is always there to help us whether
it's with our opening, closing, or just any little things so that even if it's not limited to just those aspects, we can talk to them and they'll always be there for us. >> Our trusted adult is our amazing superintendent, Dr. Howard Heer.
>> So, I want to begin by giving a shout out to my assistant principal, Mr. Cody. he's actually the one that recommended me to be here and just knowing that he believes in me and supports me was very motivating to me as a student and I think that one way students can feel more supported is that if we focus more
on test taking skills in the class a lot of the times teachers focus a lot on teaching the content which is amazing but for tests like the EOC the SAT I think it's important that we spend more time on test taking skills how to read the question how to understand what the
question is asking so we can accurately answer the questions. At my school, I have a lot of teachers and staff members that are really um really amazing that can help us feel more supported. And one thing that I
think is really important is to have those staff members and teachers more available to students and let the students know that they are supported by many people at my school. And I would like to shout out my civics teacher, Miss Nortman, because she always makes every lesson fun and not boring, but
also really interesting to learn about. I think something that could make students feel more supported is is if they knew that even if they're not always in trouble or always needing help or if they're not always high achieving
or always in a leadership position that they're still seen in the school by their teachers and their counselors and their administrators because I think it's it's really easy for the adults in a school to see the extremes of students but not really the in between. the students that are in a few clubs, not a
lot. They go to regular classes. So, I think that would make a lot of students feel more supported. And I want to shout out my SGA adviser, Mrs. McB, and my guidance counselor, Miss Prosper. Um, I want to shout out my science
teacher, Miss Janan, because she is the very first teacher I've ever had that made me feel seen for my learning preferences and how I feel about um her instruction. She always finds a way to make it fun. And um she's just one of
the coolest teachers I've ever had. And I honestly um wish all my teachers would use Canvas and make it easier to navigate and stay caught up because some of them don't use it and it makes it really hard when you accidentally miss a day. So
>> well I want to shout out to Miss Cavalo also Mr. Medina cuz they are very helpful. Um always try to make you keep going, always try to give you advice. like that's unbelievable. I really love
them. Um also school can improve by help the student to recover from mental issue that can help them to learn better all of that cuz them student they not going to talk but
they have problem like mental how that I think that's very helpful for them too. Thank you. I want to give a special shout out to um Miss Porter. And I also want to give a special shout out to Dr. Brown. Why?
Because every time when I go out to dismissal, I feel safe around because he makes sure every kid go on the bus safe um go home safe. And I love that. And I had to realize realize that because I I just
I just love that about it because that's my favorite thing about the school really and how I can feel safe and what he said the first day of school how Primary Education Center is one of the safer schools of Brown County. Now I really see why I believe him now. Now I
see really see why why he said that because he's I see my AP and him outside every single day and he just makes sure the kids get on there safe and yeah um I feel like a way students can be um
to sorry I feel like a way students can feel more supported is um rewarded students are criticized more than praised. And I feel like if students are um congratulated for more things than they
are booed for, they'll feel more supported and feel safer around and they will have more trusted supportive staff to go to. I want to give a special shout out to my principal Michelle Lurant and
my mentor Shante Butler. They're like I don't know, they're my supporters. I love them. Thank you. Amazing. All right, we're going to go on to quarter three. And I promise you board members, we did not pay the students to
uh to speak uh and share all these positive experiences. So, uh you all are doing amazing. Um and we're really really happy to hear those positive experiences and also your ideas to make your experience better. So, as we move on to our last quarter, just know you all are doing amazing. All right, let's
move on to quarter three. What you'll see in quarter three is that uh we expanded the opportunity for schools to add three school specific questions. We heard overwhelming feedback uh from the school-based administrators participating in this initiative that they liked the questions
that the district was giving them but they also wanted the opportunity to add their own. Um so schools did uh opt in not all schools did but some schools opted in to be able to add three school specific questions. We also expanded the AI capabilities in quarter three to do
some really meaningful follow-up and um I want to share this with you because it it really gave us some really enriching data. Uh there were that second question I feel that I belong at my school. Um and then the last question I would recommend my school to another student. If there was differences between that
experience so for example let's say I said I agree I strongly agree that I belong at my school but I disagree I would not recommend my school. the AI saw that difference and asked the student that follow-up. So, they said, "We're happy you belong. Um, but why aren't you going uh to recommend your
school, right?" And vice versa. So, we were really able to understand what that difference was like. Um, and with the AI tools, we were able to categorize that at a school-based level. So, um, we we've got some really really good data from quarter 3 that I wanted to share.
So looking at the first question uh when we see that 78% of our students are sharing that a staff member has talked to them about our future goals. Um and DeAndre we'll be starting with you. Our question is what is one thing your school does to help you feel prepared
for your future? Um and maybe we're going a little bit off script here, but what is an idea that you have for your school um to help you be prepared for your future? The way my school helps me prepare for my future is first and foremost prepping
for all of the testes. They give us extra study time um one-on-one tutoring in case we need it in certain circumstances. They would um give us group projects to help us get
along with our peers so we can all understand it together. And I think that's a amazing opportunity for us. >> What DeAndre said, um I agree because like we um some kids need children and
um some kids need some extra help and yeah. >> Um I also agree with them like they said like um always have help. So group work also um project that also make you feel
prepared for your future. So um wait what question? >> Okay. >> Um my school helps me feel prepared for my future. Um my teacher is using like real world examples to help us kind of like experience what it's going to be
like for us once we leave and start to start our own life. So, at my school, my brace advisor publishes a college and career readiness newsletter every so often, so we can have opportunities to apply to different scholarships, look into different
careers, if there's a job fair, if there's a college fair going on, that's what we'll find out about it. I think something that can help students feel better prepared for their future, um, would be more SAT prep. um implementing that more sophomore year right before
you take the school day SAT could help a lot of students that maybe can't take the SAT two, three, four times. So, I think that would allow a lot of students to get better test scores and then prepare them for applying for colleges.
At my school, many teachers can let us know about like the announcements or special events or meeting dates for special clubs. And they also have um special times that we can all study together like at tutoring at my school and that makes me feel like really
prepared for the future and when those dates do come. My school does really well at helping prepare students for college. For example, um a few weeks ago they held a workshop on how to write a college essay. We also had a college fair at our school where colleges came to the school
and we were able to learn more about the schools and I learned about schools I haven't even heard about. And so I really like that. But I do want to touch on the um what was previously said about SAT prep. I definitely think that students need more prep with SAT and it needs to start earlier even as far as
freshman year. Um so we can get better scores and be prepared for college. One thing my school does to help me feel better prepared with our future is with our pre pre-law program and the experiences that we have. Like for
instance, we have a we had a partnership with Greenspoon Martyr and basically they come to our class and give us help with litigation skills, how to properly analyze text and all the sorts of those things. But with all the things that it teaches me personally, it makes me realize that a lot of the stuff that
they're teaching us doesn't just have to stay with what the program we're in pre-law. All those public speaking skills, knowing how to analyze stuff doesn't just limit yourself. So it helps you in the future no matter what you want to do, which I do like a lot. Um, one thing that my school does to
help us prepare for the future is through our brace program. Um, our brace adviser helps students all day, all the time. I help her a lot as well cuz I'm a brace cadet. So, I work handinhand with her and I see the impact that it makes on students and how it refreshes them
for the future. It really calms them down and lets them know like, hey, I got this. like I'm able to take this next step. A lot of stuff that our school does is like a college fair like mentioned before. And then a thing that
my school does that I really like is that we have colleges like BC, FIU, FAU come and help students with their applications for that next step in their life. At my school, the teachers and support staff, they're very focused on preparing students um for further education by
providing advice and always listening whenever students have questions and ask for help. But definitely having better communication about the teachers being there and able to help would help students because not every student is going to advocate for themselves and
speak up when they have questions. One thing my school does is like host different workshops, college fairs, and send out different military branches so we can see all our opportunities even besides college. And one idea I would say is just more tutoring, especially for ACE classes.
>> One thing my school does that helps us um become prepared for the future is my school host Saturday camp and it's EOCC prep. and I can see a difference from me going in my EOCC results and that really helps me.
So, one thing that Everglades does to help students prepare for future for our futures are the EOCC review sessions that they host during our study halls for all juniors. And these review sessions also help me and my peers in ACE US history to prepare for our ACE exam. And we also have a very active
brace adviser that posts announcements about college workshops and opportunities. And um another program that was newly implemented at my school was the CTE summer internship program which gave interested students the opportunity to go to the Emirate Bank Arena to meet with quality internship providers and to uh engage in a practice
interview which I feel prepared me for the actual interview that I got with an internship provider from the program that also landed me in a summer internship. One thing that my school does to help me uh feel prepared for my future is that they make it very known that it's
important um to have many achievements and do good in school and have goals for your future. Um and we also have a lot of different classes and opportunities at our school that are good for career planning if you want to go down a certain career path. Um they also have
many opportunities in different subjects for the EOC whether that's reading, math, history, science. Um and then also reminding us um about the requirements like for any field trips that are coming up and we have field trips for every
grade. So that doesn't only apply to eighth grade um and that there is a certain criteria for that and if you want to be a part of that you have to meet certain requirements. But they also make it known that it's not this this and this like you can still enjoy your time but just be aware that there are
certain things that you have to do. >> Thank you. Um my school does many things to help us prepare for our future. Um there's different classes and extracurriculars. for example, Jerotc Hosa, which I'm in,
which is for people that want to go into the medical field when they're older. Um and along with that there's um not only is there the college fair but throughout the entire school year different colleges even even one from Japan like
different colleges go to my school and they spend the study hall period um just educating on whoever wants to listen about the college and the requirements to get into that college. Um, and along with guidance counselors who, as I
stated earlier, who is always in the cafeteria or right outside on the patio during lunch to answer any questions that you have. In my school, there are lots of teachers who come and they give you like life lessons or they tell you like personal
experiences. My history teacher, my US history teacher, Mr. go me on a little shout out. He's always telling us, "Oh, so I did the military for this amount of time. I did this and that and and I think you guys should do this or like he
sometimes gives us like one-on-one talks." He's like, "So, you're doing good or I think you should do this instead of doing that." He's always like giving us like even personal examples or things like he's always giving us personal examples of things in the
future that we could or that we should do. And so does um my gym teacher coach and Juluchi. He's always every single day he gives us a pep talk. He's like he's like, "Oh, I saw this and I and it
reminds me of you guys." And today we're going to be talking about this before we do our two labs. We're He's all both of my teachers are always like telling us about our future. They're like if you if you want to do college, if you want to
do university and things like that. Also, I'm in MTL since 7th grade since last year and we've gone to FIU and Barry University. I've learned a lot and I think I kind of know
how to uh apply to university already and I'm just about to finish middle school. So I think that going to all these universities and I'm even much more excited for high school for all those opportunities. Thank you.
Thank you. All right. So, our last question uh for quarter three shares that 70% of students said that they would recommend their school to another student. DeAndre, what makes your school worth recommending and what could make it
better? Unfortunately, I wouldn't recommend my school to another student. It's an alternative school. You have less privileges. And every time someone asks me what school I go to, I tell them I go to Linder James. And based off of their parents and their body language, I feel
like I've been judged. So, I wouldn't recommend that to anybody. That's all I have to say. I wouldn't recommend because um every
time I wouldn't recommend because I feel like I'm safe there and plus I feel like I don't want to go nowhere else but I have to. My gosh, I don't want to go nowhere else, but I have to. Oh man, I feel so safe there and I love my school
that I'm at right now. And um thank you God. So honestly I I would recommend Dfield cuz they doing a great job that they are great school you feel safe. Um I feel
almost like home cuz the way you feel the help like student also the teacher too there's a great environment. I really love Dfield. So I really enjoy my time in diff cuz sometime I always think that um I'll be done. I'm not going to
be there again. So I usually like enjoy my time every day really enjoy the field. So I love def then I would always recommend def cuz that's a great school. That's all I have to say. Thank you.
>> Um I love my school. All the staff there are so kind and welcoming and it's just a really nice place to be. um you find friends really fast. Um but I wouldn't recommend it to anybody because people haven't really heard of my school. So when they're like, "Oh, I
haven't heard of your school, so it must not be a great school." I feel like I'm judged like DeAndre said. Um but it really is a really great school and I'm really glad I'm there. Thank you. >> I would definitely recommend my school.
In fact, I often recommend my school because of the programs that we offer. We have an AI program which is impressive and innovative. Um, we also have different clubs and activities such as our award-winning debate program. And
besides all of that, I feel like a lot of students at our school, no matter what they're interested in, can find their place. I've seen that a lot of students that are I would say they they deem themselves to
be different as in they don't really fit in a lot of places. They find somewhere for themselves to fit in and feel like they have a community. So I think anyone that I would recommend to to my school I would tell them that they will find their place there. >> I would defin
I would definitely recommend my school because I love my teachers. are also kind and welcoming like Kennedy said. But um something that would make it better is by having more accessibility to more of the sports programs and um more electives because it's really hard
for me to choose between some of my favorite subjects at school and but I would definitely recommend it and I love my teachers. They're also amazing. Similar similarly to what others said, I think some people do judge Piper High School definitely based off of its past.
However, I would recommend it because personally, I've been to other schools and I've just found that the students there, I've had such pleasant interactions with the students. The staff is really kind and helpful. Um, and I do really enjoy being at that school. However, I think one thing that would make it better is increasing
access to counselors. They do try to make it um the counselors readily accessible by um however I just feel like they're hard to get to especially because a lot of the times they're in meetings or they're just not always available for students and it's I I
personally find it hard to um get into contact with counselors without having a parent. So I think increasing access student access to counselors would make it better. I think what makes my school worth recommending is our magnet programs
which is pre-law and premed because just from my age and just being in seventh, we can already go to courouses. We can go to law firms. We literally go to even go to workplace be making the laws and all those experiences. But then with premed, you also get to go to hospitals
and you get to go to clinics and then also in class the hands-on activities too, which I personally love cuz if you keep on making me sit through lectures, I'm not going to learn a thing. But I feel like when I'm actually like trying to do it myself, it makes me more entertained, which I think a lot of students would like. But I feel like what can make it better is how the
teachers talk about students because when you're in like the higher classes or what some might say the better, which I don't fully agree with. They talk about the kids who aren't in such high classes like not exactly saying slow but not as intelligent which I intelligence
which intelligent. So I don't think it's right. I would recommend my school based off of the programs that we have like ACE and AP courses and also the technical programs we have. We have engineering pathways, HOSA as well and we have um
early childhood which is for um students who want to become teachers in the future. I feel with all those programs are worth recommending our school because it gives that it opens those doors um into those careers. I would say what would make it better is promoting
safety at our school more. I feel my school has a little bit of a reputation of not being the safest and I would really like to see more security guards who are trained and know how to react
when a situation happens. I feel like my school is very focused on academics and they offer many opportunities for accelerated learning. They like allow you to take college classes when you're in 9th grade all the way up through 12th grade. And the staff
is very focused on the students wellbeing. So I would recommend my school. >> I would also highly recommend Northeast High School. It's like a phenomenal academic school and have wonderful staff. especially again my brace advisor, Miss Andrews, our dedicated
anatomy teacher, and our lovely admin. One thing that I would say couldn't improve is the obvious, the bathroom maintenance. Everything else is pretty good. What makes my school worth recommending is the magnet program that it offers, which is marine science. Within marine
science, we get to go on a lot of field trips like snorkeling, shark tagging, and kaying. And I feel like it gives students an opportunity to see what they could be when they grow up. and it gives students a chance to see um what goes on in the marine industry.
I would definitely recommend my school because uh I find it to be a supportive environment and the best way that I can describe it is like Hollywood Arts from like the Nickelodeon show Victorious because I feel that so many there's so many different groups that allow
students to express themselves and platforms to showcase their talent. But one thing that I think can make it better is overall student engagement because I noticed that there is a stigma that having school spirit is something to be embarrassed about. And I feel it
would be difficult to alleviate that perspective from upper classmen. So that's why I feel that it would be beneficial to foster the big and little relationships to um hopefully advise and steer newcomers to toward a more engaging campus.
>> Yes. Um, I would definitely recommend my school to um, other students because I feel that Walter C is a very welcoming school. Um, when I first started there, I didn't know anybody and within a few days I had already made friends and just
the environment of the school all around is good. Um, and I also very much like the system that they have set. um just the it's the little things around the school that you don't really notice at first, but once you um are showing up to
school every day, it's just like at other schools, they don't have this. I don't know what I would do without it. Um and then also the stability at the school, it's very like like I said, they have a very strong system that's set. It's the same thing every day, nothing
new. Um, and then they're also very willing to make accommodations if there's something that you need. Um, you shouldn't be afraid to ask for it. And I think that's very good, especially for someone who's coming in new or new students that are that plan on transferring to the school. That's very
good for someone. >> Thank you. Okay. Um, for me, I personally feel 50/50 on whether or not I would recommend my school. Um, in some cases it is very
strong in things. For example, if you want to go into the military, my school has an amazing JOTC program. So, you might thrive there. Um, but I also feel like I would not recommend my school because it is so it's very small
compared to all the other schools and it's over capacity. There's so many students and so many students don't know what they want to do or what feels right to them. So, they're just kind of like floating, I guess. Um, what could make
it better, similar to what Naomi said, is a lot of students think that having fun or participating like pep rallies and stuff like that is embarrassing when really that's what any adult remembers from their high school experience. And I
just feel like with my school, there's a lot of things that we don't have that I see many schools, especially ones here that we don't have. Um um for example, mock trial. I've seen so many schools have mock trial and I've always wanted
to have that in my school, but I never have. So, I guess that's why I feel 50/50. um to make it better, I would say finding a way to engage the students more because I have seen when our like our student body, for example, if it's
like the junior class or something or the senior class, I can see what it looks like when they're all engaged and they're all excited about something and I feel like that's should be more normalized in my school. >> I agree with Sophia. I would and wouldn't recommend my school. It all
really depends on the person who I will be recommending because not like this. This school also isn't just for anyone or for everyone. It's for like the people who it's for anyone who wants to become a better person because if you
want to become better, if you want to know something, if you want to do something, you must speak up for yourself. You can't just stay quiet and expect people to just say, "Oh, she probably wants that and that's why she's like that." No, you need to speak up. You need to say, "Hey, you need to find
someone who can help you. Someone who like that's why the staff members are there. They won't just guess what you want. You need to like if like Sophia and Naomi had said, if you want to be in a club or like having school spirit is amazing because I've been having school
spirit since elementary and that's all I mostly remember. I don't remember the classes or anything. All I remember is like the extracurriculars I've done and all the places I've gone for all the activities. So I would and wouldn't
recommend my school to everyone. >> Thank you. So that wraps up our questions section. I want to give a shout out to the students here and the parents. This is the fourth session that we've done and this is the first session that we've had perfect attendance. Uh so
good job. um but also for sharing your true lived experiences and for being brave and bold uh in sharing that. We know it's hard to sit in a room full of adults. Um so thank you for being here. I also want to
take a moment because this presentation was meant to be the reflection of the superintendent student engagement initiative to thank our superintendent for challenge challenging us to pursue a true paradigm shift in student voice. Your call was very clear to us at the
beginning of the year not just to have students participate but to lead with courage to think differently and to ensure that every student feels seen heard and valued. We thank you. We are sincerely grateful to the core project management team behind this initiative
whose expertise turned vision into reality. The office of strategic initiative management and specifically Mr. Carl Yates provided the structure, strategy, and technical insight needed to bring this initiative to life. The work was strengthened by the leadership
of Mrs. Patty Brown, director of athletics and student activities. Your ability to lead with both clarity and empathy ensured that school leaders felt supported and empowered throughout this process. We thank you to Miss Zenia Santiago. Thank you for being by our
side throughout this all. You've been an incredible asset and idea partner to this work and we appreciate you. We're especially thankful to Dr. Jod Washington, director of school culture and student support, whose unwavering commitment to students anchored this
initiative. Your willingness to confront challenges directly while never losing sight of what is best for students brought integrity and focus to this work. We also recognize Miss Simone Hollingsworth and Miss Kelly Fischer for their steady leadership and presence
during times of transition. We extend our sincere appreciation to Dr. Angela Fulton, deputy superintendent, Miss Shenika Lee, and the teaching and learning executive team for ensuring for ensuring that meaningful participation was intentional, not incidental. Thank you
to Mr. Alan Strauss, Dr. Germaine Fleming, and Dr. Ted Tumer for championing this effort at your schools. And we want to thank the participating directors, Miss Hi Darbar, Mr. Todd Leace, Miss Teresa Hall, Miss Dvita Johnson, Mr. Ricardo Santana, and Mr.
Thomas Carell, whose dedication to supporting schools made measurable progress possible. And finally, we offer our sincere appreciation to our leader, Dr. Valerie Wanza, chief strategy and innovation officer, and Miss Pauline White, for shaping a comprehensive,
strategic, and forwardthinking approach to student input, ensuring that this work wasn't just isolated, but part of a broader strategy for our district's future. And finally, I want to thank our incredible school administrators who helped us make this happen. A lot of
work goes into getting 146,000 student responses. So, we thank our principles and our school-based administrators for making this happen. And finally, the biggest thank you to the students here at the table. You really brought life today.
You really brought life to the data that we presented on screen. We could not have told the story of the survey without you and we appreciate you. With that being said, I'll turn it over to Madame Chair and we welcome board member discussion. >> Thank you. First, we have Dr. Zean.
>> Oh, thank you so much, Chair. I appreciate uh the opportunity and I hope uh this team's uh connection stays uh good. Uh I happened to have uh done a little student feedback on my own this weekend. We had a uh a group of sixth
graders at our house for about 24 hours, which was a whole another way to get uh feedback from kids, but what we heard today is just incredibly valuable. Landon, uh we have said this before individually and we've said it collectively, but you are the pride of
Broward County. Uh thank you every day for showing uh the community uh the great things that can happen to students in Broward County schools. You you're so good. By the way, Landon, I often forget that you're a high school senior uh heading off to a great university here
this fall, but uh this has been uh a hell of a year with you and I just wanted to say thank you uh from the bottom of my heart. One of the things I love about these sessions, chair, is just how frank uh the children of Broward County are. uh they don't pull punches, they don't uh shy away from the
spotlight. And again, just a reflection of the quality of students, the quality of the education that they've been getting that they can walk into a room like this in front of lots of adults and and and warm up quickly. Maybe the first question was a little uh little stilted,
but boy, they warmed up and they gave us everything they got and and I really appreciate that. uh if the feedback from anybody uh parents, students, uh community members, uh mayors, you know, about different topics and things like that could be colorcoded, you know,
green for great, yellow for okay, and red for, you know, highly critical. Over time, I've learned to love the red, you know, to study things that, you know, people are critical about to try and and fix those. And it is just kind of my own
way of looking at this data. But but we got so much green and yellow and and a lot of green uh on this and I don't want to miss that. There's a lot of great scores in the first, second, and third quarter on these data. And we also got some really to me fascinating insight
into like not every data point is exactly what it seems to be. I was going to ask a question about why do only 70% of our students recommend our schools to others until I heard kind of the additional feedback from students that they're in a school that that they don't
recommend for a whole bunch of reasons or that quite in an adult-like fan manner. Hey, it depends on who I'm talking to. You know, to some kids I'd recommend this school. I think it would be a great fit for uh this kid and maybe not such a great fit uh for another kid.
And so it it reminded me that, you know, a score by itself is just a number and you have to be very careful about reading infinite wisdom into that until you get more uh more feedback. I did have one question though for the superintendent if uh if you don't mind,
chair, there is a first quarter score that bothered me when we got it. It bothers me today. 56% of the students responding saying that their school is clean. Have we done anything since first quarter, Mr. superintendent to try and improve the cleanliness of our school
our schools. >> Yes, that's a great question. Um yes, there have been some um things put in place since first quarter when this data was available. I'm going to have Mr. Dorset talk about some initiatives um that they've been put in place and how that's scaling to other facilities as
well. >> Good morning, Mark Dorset, chief facility officer, task assigned. Uh to your point, uh Dr. Zemen, we have uh established um uh a posi positions
that's called the um quality assurance. Um we we've put those specific uh uh positions in place just to make sure that we monitor what goes on on the dayto-day and we we specifically want
those positions to report to the night shift because that's where a lot of the work happens. We wanted to make sure that the work is done at night. I heard a couple of of concerns regarding uh uh cleaning the the schools during the day
between classes. I'm I'm I'm I'm taking notes of all of that. One of the things that we we're suffering with right now is uh uh being able to obtain uh custodial uh uh staff for for the schools. A lot of the schools are are
lacking uh custodial staff and and and Dr. Hepper and they must have been in our meeting yesterday to talk about what we need to do to get those people on board in these classrooms to clean the classrooms. So, we are looking at um uh
alternative ways uh to get those classrooms cleaned. I've heard about um supplies not being in in classrooms. So, I took a lot of notes exactly as to exactly what was going on and we're definitely going to make those
improvements. But to your point, we have started the process in making the improvements to to to uh increase those scores. >> And Dr. Zean, if I may jump in here, Madam Chair, I want to also highlight uh to your point, Dr. Zeman, about the red.
Um, so when we did in-depth data reporting at a school-based level, we did see some consistent red. Um, and that's where we took the opportunity to work with Mr. Dorset's team in PO to do follow-up school visits uh with students at some of the schools where we saw some
of the most struggles. Um, and Miss Hi Darbar has many of those schools in her portfolio and she really challenged her principles to open themselves up to those conversations with the students. Um and we had our uh meeting yesterday to follow up and a student at one of
those schools shared that they have seen the improvements made uh since quarter 1 uh specifically around garbage cans, mirrors, bathrooms, things like that. So that's an initiative that we're looking to expand. Uh but some of the most critical areas we addressed immediately.
>> Thank you very much uh Landon and and uh Mr. Dorset. It's uh good to know that uh we're moving out on that. Uh I'd be anxious uh chair to think about doing another survey maybe Q1 of next year and see if our scores are better uh across the district. So, thank you very much
and thanks again for all the students for coming today. You've made my day uh just listening to uh your thoughts, your passion uh and the depth of your uh answers. Absolutely remarkable group of students in front of us today. Thank you.
>> Thank you, Miss Rupert. Thank you, Madam Chair. Um, and thank you so much, students, for uh really sharing uh with your heart and and really getting involved with this. I I appreciate it. Um, I do have some
questions for um Mark Dorset. Um, we talked about the proper maintenance should be followed, the bathroom supplies. Um, but I wanted to kind of see uh the weather draining problems.
Uh, what are we doing prior to hurricane season and in hurricane season and of course we just came through all that rain. Um, I know that there's certainly a lot a lot of schools that are uh involved with having some drainage problems. So, what can we expect moving
forward? >> Okay, thank you for the question, Miss Rupert. Uh, we've actually had uh uh staff and uh outside vendors go out and uh survey our um uh site drainage
system, the the um drainage system that connects throughout the campuses. We found a lot of debris in them over a period of time, you know, that gets filled with leaves and and all different types of debris. So, we do have a
service that go out specifically before a hurricane season to to clean those drains out to get uh the water flowing. I know there's been mentioned of schools uh for instance um uh Nova and Board
Anderson specifically we focused in on because we know that there are problems out at those schools and um that was one of the schools we actually visited to and provided uh some followup to the principles on on the drainage concerns uh at those two sites. But this is a
district-wide uh initiative. we do have to certify the the the site drains uh every 5 years they get certified through the through the county. So we do have a maintenance program to do that but over over the course of sometimes uh you have
uh leaves build up and so forth uh in the drainage system. So sometimes that uh kind of holds us up a little bit. >> And thank you for that Mr. Dorset. So would it be accurate to say that um
between now and June 1st um they'll have been uh um pushed out to the schools that we know have problems and then just a you know a general uh check few before then. So is that kind of happening now?
>> Yes. usually the schools that are uh uh problem uh schools with regard to drainage. We know we know the list of schools that we've had drainage issues with um and we pay close attention to those schools. We wanted to make sure that things are done at those schools to
to minimize flooding because because of the area you may not have adequate um uh outfall. you may not have the uh specific uh um um drainage in the particular area. Uh specifically, we had
issues at um uh Rickards where we actually install some pumps out there cuz we know that that system is u uh compromised right now, but right now we we manage that. We monitor that on a regular basis during uh heavy raining
season or sister anytime there's a heavy rain there people dispatched out there to look at to see where we are and what we're doing and if we have to get uh our vendor Shannondoa to go out there to to recclean or redo whatever we need to do
to those drainage system we do that. >> Awesome. Thank you for that. Um, and I'd had a kind of a teeny bit of a story here, but when you're in your school and you know, you see there were some examples of garbage in the hallway and
slipping on some of the rappers that people don't, you know, don't take care of that. when I go to a a campus and I'm walking with principles, students, uh you know, whoever they I'm there to meet and uh if I see something on the ground,
I pick it up, you know, and then it's it's amazingly fast how principal AP the students will do that. Um, and it it's I know it's overwhelming when you see it a lot and you're busy, but I'm wondering
if um if the students think that having a a response, seeing student leaders doing it and seeing your staff members doing it would would help it all. They think that. >> So, we'll open it to the students to
answer anybody that would like to. You don't have to, but if you'd like to. Um and Miss Rupert, to your point, that's part of our strategy and recommendation for future years. Um to increase the level of student involvement in school cleanliness. Um we've heard at all of those focus groups where students
acknowledge that they can play a role in that. Um so we definitely hear you on that. And then we'll go around the table if anybody uh wants to share anything uh in response to Mr. Rert's question. Miss Mr. Rupert's question. Anybody want to share anything? >> Anybody know?
>> Go ahead, Amy. Well, I say that if students see that their APS or their friends or anyone starts picking up trash, most likely they will do it as well because it's like if you see someone doing it, you're like, "Oh, they're doing it, so why
can't I?" And then everyone starts doing it. It's like the same thing with like friendships and like stuff like that. If you see someone doing something bad, your friends doing something bad, you're going to do it as well or you're probably going to be influenced. So if
we start having students involving to do good things, then the rates of like disciplinary things can go down and we have more student involvement. >> Right. Thank you.
>> All right. I have um other >> there's more Miss Rupert if you'd like. I didn't know. >> Okay. Sorry, I can't see. >> Um I definitely think students um participating in picking up trash that they see can help. But I do want to acknowledge the fact that sometimes it's quite disgusting if something is
unwrapped or um like a piece of candy or piece of gum is not wrapped. It can be very uncanly to pick that up with your hands. So, I propose maybe having like student cleanups during study hall or something where um a teacher organizes it or um an administrator um gets
students together to help clean up the school and contributing to having a safe and cleanly environment for everyone. >> Great. Great. Uh sorry, excuse me. This is Naomi Casta with Everglades High School and I do agree with what you said
about the bystander effect. if you do see someone doing it, um the people around are most likely to do it as well. So, I would take what you said and I will implement that with my SGA, possibly have a day in the school where we have um a cleanup um
a cleanup activity. Uh I do agree with what I'm pretty Ashley, right? Yeah, I do agree with what Ashley said that it is nasty. I don't think kids would most likely pick up stuff with their bare hands like in passing. So, if we do have uh dedicated time to do that with gloves and trash bags, I think we can clean up
the school efficiently. >> Great. So, from what I've seen and what I've kind of like figured out, um students sometimes do it on purpose because I don't know. Um,
but if there's like maybe an incentive for them to do something, like if a teacher is like, "If you help me clean up the school, I'll give you like extra credit on an assignment that you didn't do that as well on." Like, I feel like that
would make it easier and it would keep the school in shape and it would also make other students happy. So, I really like that idea, Kennedy. And I think another really good in incentive is giving volunteer hours or service
hours because some students don't really have the ability to um go to places. They don't have transportation to go to a place to get volunteer hours. So, I think that um encouraging student cleanup through um providing volunteer
hours would definitely um encourage students to participate. That's a great idea. >> Can I speak? Okay. Um, to add on with incentives for the cleaning, I would say something that we do in my school is like coping good coupons. So, when you
do something good, you get a coupon and we have carts that we roll out on Fridays that have like sweet treats and whatever that kids can come and exchange their coupons for. So, um, apart from volunteer hours, I would say that in implementing copying good coupons is another good incentive to have on
campus. Those are great ideas. >> I think everybody that wanted to speak spoke, Miss Rupert. >> Okay. And then the last thing I want to say is I was very um my heart was very full when I when I heard several of you
guys talking about the ability to be yourself. That your school environment gave you that opportunity to be who you are and accepted as that person. And um I share, you know, I'm a little bit
older than you guys. And uh when I grew up, one of the best things I've ever experienced in my life was public school in New York, but also the ability to be your own person. Um, it was a an
environment that was um extremely accepting and um it it gave me the ability to try things and to graduate early and do things that I might not have done if I didn't have that um that
feeling that that I you know I'm worth this. Um, you know the sorry my dog has great ideas as well but we cannot figure out how to translate dogism to everybody else. Um, sorry about that. Anyways um
how how it is to be um you know the ability to be yourself. So I was very happy about that and of course we want that within a 100% of um all of our schools. So um I was very very happy to hear that um many of you had shared that
you you have that ability and um I you know I don't think our job is done until the way that some of you feel have all of you feel that way and that acceptance and um I thank you all for sharing that. Thank you.
>> Thank you Miss Hixon. Thank you. Um, I again want to thank everybody for coming today. As Landon said earlier, it it may not be that easy to come into a room full of adults and and be able to share what you believe
will help your school may be better. And we really appreciate that feedback and you know, I personally feel glad that you were comfortable enough to just say what you thought. Um, so I really appreciate that and Landon called out everybody to thank. So, um, you know,
um, I'll ditto that this is such a great experience and I appreciate, as Dr. Zean said, the fact that we had some survey data, but then it we gave voice to what that meant because numbers mean one thing. Um, but when you can put behind
what those numbers mean, it gives us a pathway to how to move forward to continue to make the experience for students better. So that's a gift to all of us and um really appreciate that. I wanted to say a couple of things and I have questions for the superintendent.
So Jay, I really appreciate your point about um being able to see all students because I I do agree with you as a teacher for a long time and it's really easy to see the really good students and the students that are causing a lot of disruption because they draw your
attention immediately. But there are students in the middle that have to feel seen um valued and heard and um I love the fact that you mentioned that point and DeAndre to that also um that you should be praised more than criticized
and I I think that was also a very good point and sometimes it's easier to point out the things that are going wrong than it is to point out the things that are going right and um the just based on your conversations there's so much going right in our district and I think it's
important that the students share that with the public because we get slammed a lot for things that are going on, but I think they're often more adult behavior issues than they are what's happening in the schools. So, thank you for that. Um, Sophia asked a question or gave some
input about the vents. So, I'd like to ask the superintendent, how often do the vents in the schools get cleaned to her point of, you know, having mold issues? >> I'll follow that question over to Mr. Dorset. >> Uh, thank you for the question. Uh
normally when we uh uh do our coral cleaning process, we not only uh uh clean the coils in the in the system, but we also uh clean the vents up in the duck work and and and the actual vents
themselves. So all of the interior portion of the of the vents as far as that is can be reached is cleaned. Um, normally the when you when you look at event uh that might be just dust or debris that's laying from the the
diffuser itself sometimes um well when we when we do the coil cleaning process we clean the entire thing. So sometimes uh dust build up on the vents. We clean the coils I would say once every uh 6
months. right now. Um I would have to confirm that with my my team though. I I think they they do it once every six months and that's the complete cleaning of the of the HVAC system. >> Thank you. And is there a way if a student or um employee noticed that the
vents were dirty or they had some concerns, how would they go about notifying someone so that maybe that could be, you know, taken care of at the moment? Yeah, that's just through normal work order process. If a student tells an adult that eventually gets to whoever
the principal is tasking with and putting work orders. >> Okay. So, so maybe there's a way in terms of letting students know if again see something say something but in a different way who is that person? Because if we're just if you tell them
to tell a teacher and a teacher doesn't know where to go, you're playing that whole hamster on a on a wheel trying to figure out where they're going to go. So maybe because what I noticed here is some of the huge concerns students had late last year, middle of last year was they
didn't know where to go for counseling or if they had an issue or and now that number is much better because we made an effort to make sure students knew where to go. So we're hearing an issue about cleanliness, especially the bathrooms. But I will say
that all the town halls that we've hosted um which one's coming up on Monday, uh students have clearly said they do not use the bathroom and the concern I have for that is students will go all day not using the restroom in
their school because it's not sanitary enough. That's we can't have that. That that's a lot of issues. So in line with also the duck just in general if there's a facility issue who in the school should a student go to. So I think if we
could give them that information along with if you need mental health services or you know college information that should be also something that's really accessible to the students because they're the ones going in the bathroom to see you know
does it need toilet paper does it need to be cleaned or whatever. so that maybe it could be addressed quicker rather than them just being quiet and not using the bathroom because I just don't think that's healthy for anybody. Um my other question is about tutoring.
Uh we heard a number of things and I'm really um glad that we have tutoring on campus but I had a question because I think this is correct but I'm not sure. Is there a online tutoring platform available for students on Canvas?
>> Um I I'll uh ask Dr. con to to provide details on that, but I know we have an ITB where schools have access to online tutoring services that we've acquired through ITB and they can um purchase those services for their for their students. But I ask uh Dr. Con if he's
back there. I can't see. >> I am. Okay, go ahead. >> Good morning everyone. And you're correct, Dr. Heburn. Uh there is an ITB that lists uh several high dosage tutoring companies uh that are available. Actually the board approved two of them through the Florida tutoring
advantage. So at the secondary level uh students have access to Kmingo. At the elementary level uh the students have access to varsity tutors but those are district uh sponsored paid for through a
federal grant but schools can use title one dollars through the ITB to purchase high dosage tutoring. So they could they have access to those things. And so it's it's happy to hear how students are encouraged by using that. Uh I think one
student mentioned tutoring at home. Uh some of that is also considered part of I Ready Curriculum Associates as part of some of that tutoring piece. So there's a plethora of different opportunities that schools and parents have access to. >> So thank you for that. But my question
was more for if a student goes home and they they're working on their homework. I know we did this during COVID, so I'm just wondering what the options are now and they're struggling. Can they go online on varsity tutor and and do a
tutor at home? Like is is there access through Canvas based on whatever it is we purchase through the district that if they're not at school because they're all mentioning that they have availability, whether it's peer-to-peer or, you know, whatever they're doing, but when they get home and they need
help, what is it that we have that's available to them? and how can we make sure they know how to access it? >> Yeah. So, uh with Canvas, Canvas is a learning management platform. It it's where the teachers house their curriculum and their instructional materials. Uh it is not where um there's
an actual tutor that they go on to. It is where resources are available if they have supplemental resources they can. question though like if if if varsity tutor was a resource available couldn't we put a link on canvas that they could click on to use?
>> Yes, absolutely. Uh but it would be something where the schools would have to purchase uh that particular uh high dosage tutoring for that specific school or that class or that subject area. >> So, but the district covers the cost. I
guess that's where I'm getting lost. The dis district does cover the cost for some schools for those soft for that. That >> is correct. Some schools. >> Why couldn't those schools post it? >> So maybe students. >> Maybe I can help out here. I think Miss Hixon, you're referring to Clevver, not
Canvas. I'm sorry. Clever. >> Clever. Yeah. So Clever Varsity Tutors is available on Clevver. Okay. Um as well as additional resources. So like I just opened varsity tutors and clicked on one of my classes and there's extensive tutoring that Dr. Cohen referenced. So that's as opposed to
Canvas. Sorry to interrupt. I just wanted to >> from someone who uses it, they unders they understood what I was saying. So thank you. I appreciate that because I think it's important for students to know that that there is a place for them to be able to go to get tutoring if they're at home and I was pretty sure we
had something available. So I apologize. Clever, not Canvas. Um, and the last thing I just like to say is to Miss Roupert's point and um, to some of the conversations that you're having, I think it's important that students take
pride in their school. And one way to do that is if they're like when you do beautifification days, right? If you're planting the plants, you're more likely to say to someone that's throwing garbage in that plant or stepping on it walking through, "Hey, don't do that.
You know, we we put this in here." you have pride because you put grit into to making that work. So, I think the more you could have days of of cleanup around the school, you you're less likely to throw the garbage on the ground if you're the person who's picking up the
garbage when it happens at other times. So, I really appreciated your response to Mrs. Rupert's question that, hey, I'm going to do it at my school and we could do it during personalization period time. So you are the voice for your schools. So I hope
that when you leave here that you go to your principles and say, "I'd really like to start this this initiative." I don't think students always know how powerful their voice can be and how much adults really do appreciate the input that you give them. You know, like I
mentioned, I was a teacher for 32 years. So when my students came in and wanted to use an electronic game thing to to review things, I was like at first I was like, "No, no." But they pushed it and we um we ended up using it all the time
and my students taught me so much more than I think I ever taught them. So I think your your vision, your input is so important to the adults in your school. It's important to us. Um, and I just want to again say thank you for coming
and sharing your your thoughts with us, but also make sure when you go back to your school that things that you heard here today, things that you thought about today, that you also continue to use your voice to make those great changes in the school. So, thank you so
much. >> Thank you, Dr. Holes. >> Thank you, Madam Chair. So, um, uh, London and, um, just here as always, thank you for the wonderful work that you both do to lead our students and you
make it seem so seamless and yet I know there's a lot that goes into it. So, we appreciate both of you so much. I want to thank all of our students for being here. We appreciate you. And I would be remissed if I did not thank the parents as well. If we have any parents in the
audience, raise your hand. Any parents? There we go. So, thank you. Give them a round of applause. Um, I just want to say um also to some of the students uh there is some familiarity in terms of uh where you go to school. Uh Paris, I did I did uh
teach at at Walter C. Young uh a while back and um Kennedy I taught at Lions Creek a while back and Ashley, my son, graduated from Piper. So, uh, good to see all of you here. Um, just want to say, um, in terms of, uh, and also I
just want to say a big shout out regarding Piper cuz it's really special to me as well. Uh, big shout out to Mr. Lewis and I know you all are doing shout outs, but also to a great guidance counselor. I think he's the best in the district, Mr. Dwight Francis. Okay, so
big shout out to him as well. Um, so regarding the and I know board member Hixon made some comments as well. Um, Dr. Heepburn, uh, this might be, I'm sure, for Mr. Dorset, but the concern seems overwhelming as far as the
restrooms in the schools. Um, and I think that is that should be high priority. And I and I did hear Mr. Dorset mention that uh they have made some changes and have been doing uh um extensive cleaning especially at nights.
But the question I have is considering that the restrooms are an issue um how can we prioritize the restrooms that there can be ongoing cleaning uh throughout the day um where there is some sort of a frequency time schedule
to which um all of our schools the restrooms can be clean especially uh when kids come in in the mornings and they go to class and especially after lunch. um how can we increase the frequency and enforce it or have it in
some kind of a routine um part of the requirement for a custodian. So if Mr. Dorset could answer that because I think that's a real problem. No student should have to uh be reluctant to use the restrooms and wait all day because our restrooms are not clean. Uh for one
thing that's uh not healthy for them. So Mr. Dor said I think this is priority. Um, so if you could comment on that and and actually before you comment, can you tell us how frequently throughout the day are restrooms uh looked at? Um,
maybe not an extensive cleaning, but at least uh touching up um and is there anything already in place to enforce this? >> Thank you for the question, Dr. Holes. Um just want to say that those questions
we have to direct those to the principal as they are the leaders of the custodian at the school. So we don't here at district we don't uh establish this the uh this cleaning schedule for the sitebased custodians. So that would be a
question that I would have to defer to either the area office or the principal at the school with regard to how often the the the areas are touched during the course of the day. >> Yeah, I was going to mention that um too. So thank you for um adding that Mr. Dorsa. It is a a a sitebased um kind of
uh leadership model when it comes to to schools and their custodians. I I I think the grand scheme of things that most principles try to accomplish is having, you know, that reoccurring um cleaning of certain areas, especially
hightra um areas or or areas that are used the most on campus. Every principal knows that. I think one of the issues to accomplishing that at most campuses is staffing. It is a high turnover position um with custodians um or or schoolbased
facility workers. So to to um gain that constant person to go in who has that expertise is demonstrating that level of pride um like some of us are used to when we went to school. Um but today it's a very high turnover position. We just like uh Mr. Dorset said earlier um
you guys must have been in our heads because we were talking about this yesterday or or was yesterday Monday? Every day is Monday for me. Um but uh actually talking about how do we augment some of these services with contracted services and things like that to fill some of those gaps. Um because it is a
high turn turnover area. Um schools do not have the same consistent custodians year after year because of the turnover. But the goal is to kind of mimic what you see um in some of your shopping centers or stores or restaurants. So sometimes you see that list of where
that custodia came in and signed in that they actually cleaned it at this time, right? Um and also getting some support from the people actually used the bathroom too. Hey, make sure you don't flush this in the toilet and things like that. So it's it's a partnership, but it is a high turnover position um that kind
of uh create some gaps for us to to really fulfill the the the mission, but looking at how we augment that with some contracted services for some custodial services that are external to support Okay. So, Dr. Hburn, I I hear you, but
I'm not sure if I am overly satisfied with that answer, and I'll tell you why. Um, we have every school in Broad County has custodians. Um, uh, I don't believe throughout the day there is any school without a custodian. I think um what I
would love to see is that and I know that we have a lot of uh um uh different uh um roles and and duties of the custodians, but the restrooms to me are high priority. They're of the highest
priority. It's it's sanitation, it's students health, it's students well-being. So there and I understand the the comment is that the school-based principles and so on uh each has their own uh guidelines but I think it should
be standardized. I think it should be directed by the district because when you have uh situations where kids are not able to use restrooms and it is left up to uh school-based leadership, uh I'm not sure if we'll get the same
uniformity in terms of standard that we need to have for students um health and well-being. So, Madame Chair, I don't know if this board can uh but I believe that um we should request that the
superintendent um provide some sort of a um standard to which uh restrooms especially are prioritized and the frequency to which uh at minimum they should be done on a
day-to-day basis. as far as the custodians that are there. So, Madam Chair, is it a consensus that I seek? >> Um, before I I seek the consensus, Dr. Heepern, are you able to do that? >> Yeah. Um, I don't disagree with Dr. Honess in that it's uh a it's a priority
and it is a priority at the schools. There are and the reason that it is sightbased is that there's a lot of variables from schools to schools. Every last one of the schools that these students attend have lunch at a different time of the day. it may be 30 minute or 20 minute swing. Um there is
standardization about how you should clean the chemicals that you use and how you're trained to actually clean the bathroom. Um so it is a priority. It's just that every school is different. Different layout, different number of of bathrooms, different number of staff
depending on turnover or not. Um so there is standardization. It's just that the variables are different per school. So leadership knows, hey, I want my custodian to clean after um every lunch. I want my custo because I know as the principal, what's the high what's the
hightraic times? What uh part of the day students are using the bathroom. Um and so those are the nuances that are unique to the principal versus us as a district saying, "Hey, we want everybody's going to clean their bathrooms between at between 10:30 and and 12." That may not
be the high traffic times for that school. So as far as standardization there's standardization for training chemicals and how to clean as far as times uh of cleaning that's where the variables are are >> okay so Dr. type and can there be standardization as far as frequency
because if a school is not the restroom is not addressed all day >> absolutely >> right and and you know we hear it from majority of the students uh they're saying it's a problem >> absolutely >> and it's not one of them I heard it from at least three or four of them so not
necessarily the specific time but can we standardize a frequency to which not necessarily deep cleaning but but some sort of a touching up throughout the day at a certain frequency. Is that possible? >> Absolutely. Um so I think that's a um uh
work that's between the um PO and also um the TNL team, right? Collaborating with with their principles to come up with what that looks like as far as a specific time. It's going to I know it's going to be different. Um so we'll we'll
just let them do their work and figure out what that >> understand. So can Mr. endors it and PO report back to this board of any changes to address that particular issue because I'm I'm personally concerned about it. >> Yeah, as we are as we are. Uh but I know there's a lot of variables and is uh we
can bring back something because there's a lot of variables that they have to consider just for uh standardization around time. The other things are pretty standard with with how and what to use. >> Understand? But but I'm speaking of standardization around frequency. >> Yeah. >> Okay. All right. And madam chair, I'd like to move on uh to some other
concerns. So I just want to also mention that um I believe Sophia uh with F when with F as a spelling mentioned um that there uh need more safety uh there was some concern about safety for Taraveella. Um I believe you had
mentioned that. So um uh Dr. Heburn, I don't know. Um, is it possible to to have a member of the staff uh later on kind of um see what >> Yeah, absolutely. >> What more concerns are there as far as the safety?
>> Um, now in terms of uh DeAndre, you mentioned perception of others uh um that may influence your decision as to not recommend Lenir James. Um uh I guess and I and I hear you but I wanted to find out do you think Lenir James is
effective um in uh outside of the perception of others in terms of you attending Lineer James do you think Lineer James is effective in helping students stay on track and becoming successful? What is your opinion on it?
I've heard that um students have graduated from there with an college, not a college, a high school diploma and a GED, but I haven't got there yet. And I don't plan to graduating from I don't plan on graduating from that school. I
plan to go back to my home school, Cooper City High School. But I feel like um how do I explain this? Can you repeat the question one more time? >> Do you believe or do you feel and I know
you you you were concerned because when you say you go to linear James the perception from others um that you're um providing this information uh is not that great based upon your feedback. So but on the other hand do you feel the James is helping students to be
successful academically outside of the perception of anybody else in terms of your attendance there? Of course, um the teachers take their time with the students um and they plan their
teaching, what is it called? They're teaching plans according to the kids test grades. Okay, very good. Um Dr. Heburn, they some of the students mentioned test prep help. Uh that that's a concern. Um are
you able to provide us with feedback on that and if more is needed in that area? Yeah, actually took a note on that. I heard uh test prep early for the national tests like the SATs and and the ACTs. Um some students want to start that in in ninth grade and probably even eighth grade. I know we give PSAT what
eighth grade and and um 10th grade. Uh, for the most part, >> um, I was specifically referring to ninth grade, but I do think that starting in eighth grade would be helpful. But, um, from my personal experience, I think starting from 9th grade would have helped me prepared
better for the test. >> Yep. Absolutely. So, I'll uh have the academic team back there uh kind of give us some synopsis of what we do right now. Okay. >> Um, and how we support test prep for for those national tests. >> Awesome. So, I'm not sure if uh this is going to make Dr. Fleming more nervous
or Jay, but but I'm going to make a couple of comments here. Um so, Jay, you mentioned students find their students um it's important that students find their own motivation, right? Um so uh I'll ask uh London and Jier um how can
peer support help students to find their motivation especially for the quiet reserve child in terms of um identifying those students how to how to bring awareness to them o of the programs the schools offer and how to help them find
their interest so what recommendation you have in terms of peer support >> so Dr. Dr. Holes, you hear from us all the time. >> I would love to hear from uh some of the students that are here to address that question if that's okay with you. >> Okay, we'll hear from two of them and then we'll move on.
>> Two of them. All right. Anybody want to share in answering? Could you repeat the question? Dr. Holless. >> Okay. So, uh Jay did mention that students uh should find their own motivation. But in doing so, it's important that they have uh some sort of
uh uh support maybe from peers uh to help them to to be aware of the um um you know the the programs that the school offer as well as help them find their interest. So how can peers help these students especially the quiet
reserve ones to find their motivation through programs at the school? >> Okay. Well, from my experience at Everglades, we offer a club a club um a club drive. So, basically,
it's we have all the clubs open out onto the campus on the courtyard during lunch and all the students can go grab flyers, pens, stickers, whatever that advocate for the club. And not necessarily every club and every student interest is something that has to be loud or something that students um have to deter
from shyness for. If their interest is art, National Honor Society, we offer that. If it's um like working stage hand for theater, we also offer that. I feel that changing um students um
their ability to with public speaking and things like aren't necessary all the time if they don't plan to pursue that. So yeah, we do offer um support for students who do have shyness and want to pursue uh their interests.
>> Okay, great. And and thank you so much. Um lastly, I just want to talk really quick about um uh I believe that there was the issue of um initially when we started out talking about um the
importance of of listening to student feedback, of valuing students feedback, of being accessible to students and also not just listen but taking action. Um so I guess um this may be for Dr. Heburn.
Dr. Dr. Heburn, how will you provide direction to school leadership to increase attentiveness to students in terms of um uh uh staff listening to them, gathering their feedback and taking action? >> Thanks for the question. I hope we're
already in that we're already in that process. Um especially through this student engagement initiative. The data that is being shared with you has been shared throughout the year with principles and assisting assisting them in um closing any gaps, making any
improvements um that you know changes or enhances the student experience. So it's an ongoing process. So, you know, this is uh the first year of really diving in robustly with uh understanding our student experiences and and really trying to do something about it >> um to really change the narrative at
schools and and enhance the student experiences. So, this will be ongoing um but this was a a great start to this year um to really enhance those opportunities for our kids and listen and and and listen to them with true intent and true purpose of actually reacting and and changing the way we do
business. >> Understand? And madam chair just one last question for Dr. Eburn regarding feedback. So Dr. Eburn, is there any I is there some sort of a student portal that exists um in terms of um where um
uh say uh that we can empower students to inform the district and board members of their concerns. um where they can select their school uh select a category uh such as um you know cleanliness, restroom, school leadership and we can
capture those feedback. Does that exist for students? >> Um not per se a portal um for that. It's more organic at the school level. Um so you have the student advisors are collecting the data as you see right now from uh the different quarters but and
and also in addition to that they schools have been creating uh what do we call them student councils >> principal student advisory >> principal student advisory group so they can capture additional feedback from a various diverse group of students um uh ranging from as simple as cleansiness to
also uh student club opportunities and other engagement opportunities um so they can tackle those issues that are very unique to their Okay. So, if I'm a student at a particular school, is it doable where a some sort of a portal could be created where any student
randomly can go in and click on a category, a school, a category and say, I have this concern and the district captures it. >> Yeah. Um, schools can create uh surveys, survey link and things like that to capture that type of information. >> Okay. But is it something that we
possibly could do on a district-wide basis to to get a better feel as to what's going on on specific? >> Yeah, you can. And I don't know u I don't I don't want to um speak on what you guys are already doing. If are we can you speak about if if some of that
is in existence right now? >> So I'm going to speak to um to next year. I will not be here so I'm not sure what will happen with the recommendations but uh we are in the process of creating a a place on the clever dashboard where every student outside of the student uh survey window
because we only will do that next year twice um to have that ongoing place. The feedback we've received from principles is that we need to be very intentional with how we do that uh because it's a something that they need to continuously monitor right and that takes a lot of time and energy. Uh so we're working
with the those administrators. We have an administrative focus group and then with the regional directors to figure out what that framework framework will look like and uh that should be finalized within the next month. >> Okay. Great. I thank you so much. Thank you everyone. Thank you Madam Chair.
>> Thank you Miss Thompson. >> Thank you chair and thank you students for sitting and bearing with some of this. I know it's incredibly challenging to sit for multiple hours. So I appreciate your focus and attention. Um, I was also going to address the bathroom issues, but I feel like our students and
other members have addressed it. The only other thing um that I would like to add is potentially having a QR code in the bathroom. So, if they are um dirtier or whatever that the principal and then someone at the district gets notified and then that way we can keep track of
what schools are having a high prevalence of students complaining um about this issue. Um, the other thing I want to address is how we get student feedback and especially how we as schoolboard members get feedback. Um,
this is something Landon's been assisting me in meeting with all my high schools and middle schools about one. How do you guys get news about what's happening throughout the district or throughout your school? Um, so that's my part A to this question. And I mean like how did you guys learn with no
commentary on the policies about cell phone policy? How did you guys learn about potentially changing graduations? How did you guys learn about potentially changing block schedule? Like, where do you get the news about what is happening in your school um or in the district as
a whole? >> Go ahead. >> Okay, we'll go around the table. Go ahead, Amy. Well, to answer your question, my principal, Mine Carly, she's always during morning during the PA when she's
doing um in like during instruction, she will give us the same speech over and over again and she'll say about the cell the phone policy, about dress code, about sorry about like all the policies
that there are And it's like every single day like at some point maybe yes students are like they memorize it from listening to it all like two three years of middle school but she's always repeating the same
thing. She's always like so remember students we're not allowed to use our phones. It's this like I forgot the number of the the policy, but she's always repeating it and she's always reminding us that we're not allowed to use phones
and like things like that. And I also have my history teacher. He's like very into like the policies and he's always reminding us as well. Thank you. Mhm. >> Um, for me the way if it's like a new
policy, I follow the Brower County Public Schools Instagram, so I do get information from there. But same with what Amy said, every morning when we have our like morning announcements, um, that's where they remind us to not have
any um, earbuds, phones out. So, yeah. I agree with what both Amy and Sophia said. Um, I'm definitely reminded by my teachers all the time about dress code, phone policies, and also like she said,
I do follow B County Public Schools on Instagram. So, I do also get information from there, especially at the beginning of the school year if there's a new policy that's being put in place. We're definitely reminded of that. So, we can be cautious of that as the school year starts. And then um also I don't know if
any other schools do this, but we have a quarterly um discipline assembly, but it's really just a reminder of all the rules and regulations um that come from the district and also that are specific to our school just in case anyone forgot
or especially very helpful at the beginning of the school year to new students who aren't aware of those rules yet. >> Um I do agree. I at my school, we also have our principal go on the PA during the morning announcements and she does
address uh new policies. But apart from that, we also have a Gator Gazette at my school that we have on our Everglades website. So, it does uh highlight the new policies, but in reference to the change in graduation venues, that's not applicable to my school. We weren't
affected by that. So, >> um, my school, especially my principal, uh, she's she goes on the PA and she reminds us of dress code and no phones. Teachers as well are constantly reminding us of no phones. And, um, as well, our teachers um, the morning
announcements and on there, the new policies are on there for us to constant to constantly see them. So I'm going to add to my question because I think some of it's getting missed. So we take a really long time to create these policies, right? So for the cell phone
that took months of the board discussing it. So when there are things coming down the pipe like where you guys could potentially advocate for yourself if you knew that these changes were coming, is there any avenue for you guys to figure
out what's happening on the schoolboard level other than potentially your friends sharing like Tik Toks or Instagram reels about like graduations changing or being annoyed about cell phones? Like how can the district improve that communication? not like
telling you after the fact that these things are hap like happened and are approved and there's really nothing you can do about it but like in that process is there any way you guys are getting that news does that question make more sense okay Ashley
I would say from my experience no we don't really I don't I mean personally and talking with my peers we don't really know what's going on with the school district until we hear teachers talking about it or stuff like that I mean I remember when I first heard about
study hall maybe um them getting rid of study hall. I only heard that from my teachers um conversing amongst them. So no and I think that a way we can improve um that is what what Dr. Holiness said is that having some kind of platform
where we can go directly to the school board sending a message um concerning a specific topic because I feel like going through a principal or an assistant principal is not really helpful. they're not always available. They're very busy and it's not always um students aren't
always comfortable talking in person and so having a online platform where we can be an anonymous would definitely be helpful. Mhm. >> Um there's really sorry there's really like no way for us to find out um what's
going on with the school board because we don't have morning announcements and the only time they come on the PA system is at the end of the day to announce bus numbers. Um, so I feel like it would be
best if maybe the school board sent out like a newsletter to all like the administrators and then they sent it to every single parent so the parent could notify their kids.
>> Yeah. >> Sophia. Um, I would say I kind of disagree with some people cuz at my school, I feel with my principal, we have a very good line of like communication. When the policy about changing study halls and
like the block schedule came up, she had told me um cuz I'm an SA, she had told me to come with like five other members from SA and we're going to discuss like what that means for our school and how that would look next year. Um, we also have something called SAC which is I
believe every month where teachers and students can also attend and voice their opinions and vote on situations at school. For the district level, I really agree with like Ashley and others that we should have a direct like line of communication or a platform and a newsletter would be very like beneficial
for students who cannot or don't have that direct like communication with their principal. Thank you, Jay. I think keeping students informed as to what goes on in these schoolboard meetings is very important because like you said, a lot of times students don't
figure out what's going on until it's already happened and that creates a lot of outrage and a lot of upsetness amongst students and staff and schools. So, I think if students were able to stay in the loop more when it comes to when these things are happening
actively, um I'm not sure how they would be able to stay more informed with these meetings since a lot of students don't actually watch the schoolboard meetings, but I think if there if we figured out a way that we can like really tell the students what's going on while it's happening, that would help a
lot. Jerusalem. >> I agree with I agree with Jay on that one because um we need some information from the school board and yeah, basically what she said.
>> Chris Sona, if I but I think I butchered that. I'm so sorry. >> Um I also agree with what everybody was saying. I feel like it would be better if we just because I feel like as a student myself, we don't really feel like we can have an impact on all of these policies and stuff. So maybe I
don't know like on Canvas when it's in the process of a policy being made, maybe we can like answer questions about it, how we feel or even have like comments regarding it because I personally feel like a lot of the time when these policies are made, I never just think that maybe it could maybe something else could be done, maybe we
could be aware, but it's just like once it happens, it happens. Yeah. Uh, David, >> I also highly agree, but one thing that I do know that most of us teens use social media, so maybe like utilize the BCPS Instagram page and like post updates more frequently so like we know
what's happening. >> And Paris, >> um, one thing I was going to say, I agree with everyone. Um, another thing that could be implemented, um, is I know you guys are very busy, but even once in a while coming to the school and asking if there's any issues
to address, like I know we, um, kept talking about bathrooms and things of that. Um, but even just coming to the school for a little bit can be very beneficial, >> Amy. So, like as Paris was saying, maybe doing like little assemblies like
gradewise and you could ask us exactly what Paris was just saying, like little assemblies would really help. Thank you. And that's something Landon and I are planning at least for the district 2 schools to do more frequent site visits and forums and stuff like that. Uh, by a
show of hands, if we put the policies on Canva that we're going through, who would who thinks that would be helpful? If we did more of social media debriefs about what could potentially happen at schools, would that be helpful? If we
sent out text messages about what's happening, okay, a few if we sent out emails. Okay. And then um and I have a question regarding emails and then I'll go back to you guys so we can wake you up. Um
why don't students have access to their emails to send emails and communicate that way? Dr. Hutburn. >> Um go ahead Amy. You looked like you were going to answer that question. I'm you're going to yield to you first and then I'll yield to the CIO team. The
reason is because I feel like I think I heard that when a 12th grader graduates their 06 number is given to like a new Broward student. So maybe poss possibly that's why
>> I think though I'm not sure. Thank you. >> All right. Um I can't see who's behind. Go ahead Mr. Davis. >> Trey Davis, chief information officer. you're partially correct with that uh P number issue relative to um archiving uh
in the system as well as a licensing issue, but there's also a uh security assurance uh concern with regards to student email uh as well. So, it's a good good question. >> So, I would like to see a pathway or
proposal of how we can give emails back to students. I think this is incredibly important as their way to access schoolboard members and any really decision maker administration. Um it's also for our high school levels when people are trying to get internships in
the district or elsewhere to be able to use their school email. Um I think shows more um professionalism than potentially whatever your Gmail name is, which I won't try to guess. Um, I also find that when students do reach out, a lot of
times it will go to our spam because they are not approved emails. Um, and so I understand that there may be concerns. I also understand that we are the AI capital of the nation. And if we can figure that out, I think we can figure
out the emails. Um, and so I want to go back to our students. How would you guys like to be able to give us feedback? Like what is your preferred way of speaking to adults
or to complain about something or just get your voice heard? Paris. Um, I think any programs that are maybe on Clever or on Canvas that were able to give feedback anonymously, because I feel like even if you were to come in
person, the most likely situation that would be in is if you were to say come to an SGA meeting, um, you would have to say your complaints or your feedback in front of a larger group of people. So, I think being able to give feedback anonymously
would be very beneficial and would make more people be able to speak freely about what they have complaints about. >> Uh Ashley, >> um I definitely agree with Paris said um about having a designated platform. I
also really like emails and so maybe having someone in the district who is specifically there to answer emails from students about concerns that they're having in their schools would be very good. I don't see your name, but stripes. Um, so
what if it was like Ashley and what Paris said, sorry. Um, but also like it was a forum where like other people could also share their thoughts and like Yeah.
>> Yeah. I don't know. Sophia. >> Um, I would say an app similar to like Fortify where you can like submit stuff anonymously, but obviously not for serious situations. It would go to like the district board or whoever um deals
with communications. I would say also maybe a Microsoft form, something like that, or even like polls on Instagram. Mhm. >> I do a lot of that with like at school to get students opinions quick and easy with polls and I feel like it's really beneficial.
>> Thank you Naomi. >> So in the discussion that we had at my school on Friday with Landon and you yourself um we were discussing how in-person things and providing examples like hands-on examples um pro like raise up the issues that students have with it
like in the moment. And um for the st the students who don't feel comfortable also like to speak in roundts, I feel like they would have the opportunity if you were on site to go to you after the fact and present their concerns or to even have like a box where you can write down your your thoughts and then put it
in there. Um yeah, like a feedback box. >> Anybody else? >> Awesome. And then I guess one more question for Dr. Hepper. How do we communicate directly with students about our policies, about changes, about events happening? Because I know when I
do um district town halls, the parent link goes to parents. So, how are we making sure that students are act and that's Landon and I talk to people about the town halls we have and how there's a lack of attendance and that's because every student goes, "Oh, I didn't know that that was an option." So, what is
our avenue to communicate directly with students? I'll bother that to Mr. Sullivan. >> I'm in my seat. Look at that. Um, good morning. So, we typically don't communicate with students. We can
communicate with parents that student communication is really done through our school leaders. Uh, so I can get with the deputy to see how we can maximize um those communication efforts as it relates to making sure the students have that information because at the district level, our standard practice is
communicating with parents and not students. But we can definitely work with the deputy and the site leaders to come up with a a standard operating procedures. >> I would like to see a followup for that, especially because we have town halls and internships and service projects that are specifically geared towards students and students don't know that
they're an option. >> And we'll probably have to also um partner with general counsel just to see um what kind of if there's any restrictions of us doing that um communications directly with students without informing the the parents first. But um we'll see if there's a way to do
it and come up with a plan. >> Okay. Uh so thank you guys so much for your active participation in this. Thank you Landon and Jier for setting this up. And also thank you to our incoming student adviserss. Um you have big shoes to fill
but I know you guys will do it. >> Thank you Mrs. Elda. Thank you. I'll be fast. Good job everyone. And special shout out to Jerusalem and Anna and Sophia. Way to go. Um, I did have
concerns also about the SAT ACT test prep, what we're doing so that all students can get that. And as far as the bathrooms go, I know that there is also a vaping problem that we have and we're going to be putting in vape detectors in
the bathrooms. I also think signage could help too in to have that in the bathrooms. And what I tell my boys is carpedium, seize the day. And what that means is don't wait for the perfect time. Take opportunities when they come
and live fully in the present. Thank you. >> Thank you, Miss Bulman. >> Thank you. Um well, it was great to hear everybody's feedback. I think that this is always my favorite um part of the
job. We spend a lot of time hearing a lot of issues and complaints from adults and it's nice to know um to really be on the ground hearing what you guys are experiencing because there's there's a difference between what you're experiencing every day and kind of the
perception of um people that aren't actually attending school in your seat. So, I I really appreciate that. Um, and not to beat the dead horse with the bathroom situation, but I think Jerusalem really, uh, hit the nail on
the head, um, recognizing that a lot of that has to do with the students that are not keeping things clean. And so I guess my question, and I actually live with a four boys and a husband, so I'm
very familiar with the situation in the uh, bathroom. I can clean it and it's not cleaning in a couple, you know. So, I guess so this kind of sags into something that we we have a district initiative that we're
going to be um starting recycling in the schools and we also want to start composting because we have the most organic waste. We produce the most organic waste in the county in the school district. And one of the concerns that one of the main challenges I guess
is that if you start uh having recycling receptacles, if you start collecting organic food waste, it doesn't work if it's contaminated and people are just throwing other things into those bins. And so I guess my my question is how we
and you guys are all leaders. How we can um you know kind of move forward to create a culture of pride like Miss Hickson was talking about with pride in the school and pride in in accomplishing those tasks so that like you can get the buy in from the other from the other
students um to participate in those things because everyone benefits if we're doing these things. But you know, how do you get the message across to the other students to care about that? Does anyone have any? Oh, great. Thanks. I think definitely um making them into
incentives will definitely make students more interested in them. And then not only that, but um like you said, you guys are planning to start uh recycling and composting for schools. I think
turning um those into activities or events that students can look forward to doing them will definitely make them want to participate in them more and not just as a oh you see trash pick it up that's it like make them want to be more engaged in it.
>> Okay. Make it make it fun instead of an obligation. All right. Yes. Ashley, >> I definitely agree with what Paris said about having incentives. I also think that we should have at schools a recycling club or a cleanup club like I said previously and maybe we do free
field trips like we go to the beach and do cleanups. That's kind of like fun activities that get that um get students excited because we're not just going to be at school, we're also going to clean our communities and stuff like that. So incentives, starting clubs and doing
field trips to places that need to be cleaned up. Okay, >> that's a really good idea. Jerusalem. >> I agree with um Paris and um Ashley. And I also think that um um people on the intercom should um say it and announce
it that um that we're using recycling. We're we should use recycling and students tell other students to recycle and pick up and put it in a recycle bin. Yeah. Thank you. >> Thank you. Yeah, I think that's I think that's great. Um, so hopefully all of
you will help at your schools to lead those efforts when they're when they're rolled out. That's going to be happening pretty soon. Um, and um, and it's just important that we're all working together to accomplish that because I know that some people
would prefer to, you know, ruin whatever the efforts are of the majority, but I think if you guys are leading the way, then more people will have the buy in and then we'll be more successful. So, I appreciate all of you listening to that. Um, I wanted to thank Landon and Jir.
You guys have done a fantastic job. Um, I would can't imagine having this level of leadership in high school. It's just so impressive. Our your successors have big shoes to fill. I hope you're taking lots of notes because it seems like we
have a lot of outreach and student um communication that we need to be working on for next year. But uh we would not be able to do our jobs and reach the people that we do without you guys. And so I just can't thank you enough. You're
going to be very successful. We're always here for you. But you guys have just done such an amazing job. Um and I just one and I something that I took away from all of you that I thought was really great. There's always going to be
issues to address. Um, I know there's stigmas attached to certain things that we need to be working on, but something that I heard from every one of you is that you all have at least one person, if not multiple people that you're giving shout
outs to that you feel comfortable with that are making your experience at school um, better and um, allowing you to be engaged. And you know, Landon went through a list of thank yous to all the people that have made this possible
today. And it's just so impressive how to see and to recognize all the people that make um going to school better for the kids. And so it's nice to recogn again when we're listening to problems and complaints all the time. I really
appreciate hearing that those people are there for you guys and that you recognize that as well. Um, and so I'll just end I think uh I also really like that Chrisona is getting those litigation skills early in middle
school. So uh we'll be relying on you to lead the uh communication efforts uh going forward because you're prepared for that. And the the other thing I I agree with, you know, the SAT prep um I think is a very important thing for
us to to recognize. Um, and I'd like to look into that further because I think that while we're providing the tests, um, there's a big uh, gap between the people between students that really
understand what it takes to prepare for the SAT and how the guide like how you get to that point. Um, and then just sitting down to a test that you're unprepared for and you have no idea what's happening. It's there's that's a huge gap that I think we need to fill.
Um is there >> No, I'm making I'm making note of your as a follow-up. >> Yeah, because I just I know for my own kids, it's like my one my oldest son is obsessed with, you know, getting a high score. My next son has no idea what the top like what this even is and he's
sitting down to take it. So, like if we're preparing >> people to at least have a baseline ability to take the test, then I think that we'll be doing um everybody a service with that. Um so anyway, thank
you very much and uh that those are my comments for today. >> Thank you, Mr. Seivera. >> Sure. Uh first and foremost, thank you to all of our students for participating today and for your feedback. Uh I do very much enjoy these sessions uh with
our students and of course to our parents in the galley. Thank you for raising such wonderful kids and for uh for joining us um today. I think our future in this county and this state is is very bright with you guys uh climbing the the proverbial ladders. Um, you
know, having this insight about what's going on in your your schools is is very very important to to all of us because um we can't be everywhere all the time, right? And you guys are at your respective schools every day, hopefully
every day or as much as you can. Um, I try to make it a point to visit all my schools uh in District 6, but certainly there are uh other schools and other places outside the county that I don't get to visit um as much as I'd like to. So, it's always great to hear uh from
all of you with your invaluable uh insight as to what's going on. Uh just a couple comments. Uh I think the bathroom thing has been uh explored and and discussed at length and in nauseium, so I'm going to I'm going to pass over that one. Um I think it was Sophia you had
mentioned at lunch that you have guidance counselors at your school that are able to talk you that's fantastic and I would courage I would encourage um all of you especially those in high school and you have the opportunity to have members of um your school staff there especially counselors and stuff go
talk to them put away your cell phones at lunch and go talk to people in school who can give you advice about where you're going to go to college or what kind of trade uh schools available to you. Take advantage of that. Obviously, it's nice to be social. You want to talk to your friends, you want to find out
what's going on on Friday night. I get it. I was young, too a very long time ago. But, um, certainly if you have that available to you, uh, utilize it and take advantage of it. So, thank you for sharing that. Um, uh, Sophia. Um, Miss Gregory,
how are you? Thank you so much for for bringing me up to speed about William Dandy's programs in the medical field and the law program. That always makes me very very very excited. Um I don't know if you
know this, but there is an extremely intelligent, articulate, and zealous lawyer on this school board. She sits all the way down at the other end of the table. Her name is uh Oh, did she leave? Oh, look at that. giving her a shout out
and she's not even here. Miss Bowman is is is a lawyer. So, I'm glad that you um are participating and brought that u to my attention. Uh Nova Better School has a law studies program with the great Miss Murphy and what you guys are learning in those programs is just is
just tremendous. Uh I'm also a lawyer by trade and I didn't start getting any classes like that until like my senior year at UCF. So, the fact that you're able to do it in middle school, you're already 10 pitches ahead of the curve. So, good for you. And if you have a
desire to to to go into the the legal field or to become a lawyer at some point in your life, you're going to be way smarter than some of your colleagues when you ultimately get to law school. So, kudos to you for taking advantage of that and thanks for bringing that um to my attention. um
the school spirit issue. Um I'm glad that we touched on that and I I have definitely seen a shift uh among students on the school spirit issue. Um I graduated from JP Turval High School in 2001,
many many decades ago at this point unfortunately. And um I loved my high school. I told everybody where I went to high school, especially in Coral Springs. I was telling all the Douglas kids I was a ter kid. I was telling all the Coral Springs High School I'm a Terella kid. I had a tremendous amount
of school spirit and the fact that um it seems that we're we're shying away from that um is a little disappointing and certainly I'm not putting blame on on on anybody but um I I would just encourage you guys be proud of where you're be proud of where you go to school, be
proud of where you're from. Um be proud of your of your community. And um you know I I realize that no community and no school is perfect. We obviously strive for excellence at this in this county and on this board, but um I do understand the reality that that there's
room for improvement in in a lot of aspects of of uh our schools and we're going to continue to work hard to make sure we reach that. But um I do think school spirit is is is important. And as as corny as the pep rallies may seem, um you know, some of the comments I heard
were, you know, when you grow up and you're an adult, those are really the core memories that you're going to take with you. And it's true. Um I remember all the pep brothers we had. Um I was an athlete. I played football for four years and going out and with the band playing and and everybody cheering in
the gym was really really a special experience uh for me personally. So, I hopefully that um you guys can experience that um as well. Um let me see. Uh DeAndre, you want to come
back to District 6? You want to come back to Cooper City? We will welcome you with open arms, young man. I'll hook you up back uh with the great principal Karan at U Cooper City High School. We'll talk offline after. But if you are serious, you want to come back to Cooper City, we'll help make that happen for you. Okay? So, thank you for that. And
lastly, to our great student advisors, the amount of work that you've done this, well, over the years, not just this year, but especially this year, has really been tremendous. Uh you have helped provide a perspective that um none of us up here possess cuz we're not
in schools, right? We can visit, but we're no longer students anymore. So, Jier and Landon, I I I thank you tremendously for all of your hard work. Uh, I wish you both the best of luck moving forward. I know you guys are going to succeed no matter what you
wherever life takes you. I know you're going to be very, very successful. And I hope that when you guys are are rich and famous one day, you won't forget about Broward County. Um, and lastly, of course, I'd be remiss to not welcome Lilian to the uh to the new roles. It's great
seeing both of you here. I know we had some meetings together in um up in Tallahassee and and I'm glad that um the future of the student advisor advisory positions uh will be bright with the both of you. So uh so welcome to uh to you guys as well. Uh thank you chair.
>> Thank you. Um I'll just get right into it. The the question about the student email addresses I'd like to delve into a little bit more. Um, I know our uh CIO mentioned a security concern, a licensing concern. Um, could he
elaborate on that? >> Mr. Davis, >> Trey Davis, chief information officer. I can't get into deep detail relative to some of the operational security issues. What I can say is there is a uh enormous
risk uh allowing external email uh to come into students. um relative to the way that we we archive student numbers and and reuse um you know that's something that could be you know addressed uh to have done internally. Um
but essentially that's the uh the rationale is there are a certain amount a certain threat uh to students that we find unacceptable by allowing uh it the outside to use the email not just within the domain itself
>> right but I guess that's not necessarily I think the question that was asked before the the question I'm wondering about is like why students can't use their student email to email within the organization So, so at the moment that's it's due
some to P numbers, but there is a restriction on um student email and correspondence with uh certain employees internally. >> Um do we currently pay for student emails? Do we pay Microsoft for that?
We we do have licensing for for that, but um there are some restrictions with student student licensing that that could prohibit the archiving of said mail. >> Okay. Well, so I I help me understand this. It is my understanding that and
maybe and correct me if I'm wrong, does each student have an email address assigned to them? >> They they they have a a P number but not necessarily an active account. that the P number is used to identify uh potential uses of applications like that
are in the Microsoft suite. But um I think a follow-up memo might be useful. >> Okay. Like in plain language um I think would be important. And I guess I'm very concerned if we are currently paying Microsoft for some level of student
email and we're not utilizing that. Um that's really concerning to me. So I I don't know if that's the case. I would like in plain language some some detailed information about what that looks like. >> Yes, there that's it's a great question. There there's no fiscal impact to us on
on the student uh email side of the house. So, I can tell you that uh at the moment, but I do think a follow-up would be useful with more detail. >> And I I think to you know, Miss Thompson raised this issue and I've been raising this issue internally for a while. Um,
like I have to regularly check my spam to to make sure that I'm getting, you know, I'm reading all the emails from parents and students. And there was something that came up uh recently where, you know, I I checked my spam and I had like a dozen maybe a teacher like did something in her class or something,
but like a dozen student emails in my my spam folder that I didn't even see or wouldn't have seen if I hadn't checked. Um so I understand that we have to maintain security in in um you know our organization but that can't be a barrier
for communication with students and parents. And I've experienced this as a parent where I've emailed a principal of a school like in my parental capacity from my personal email and I just don't ever get a response because and it's not because the principal is not responsive, it's because they don't get that email.
Um, so I would really like to see us clean that up because I'm wondering like how much we're not capturing as an organization um because things are going to spam or our our filters are blocking it. Um, in a a more positive direction,
I was really excited to hear Jay mention Miss McBean McDonald. She is kind of an icon at NOVA um and saved me in a previous life from having to be a sponsor of SGAA. So, thank you to her. Um but and I think that touches on the
theme of something that I I wanted to to highlight from the conversation today. Um you know the things that the students consistently talked about were having a sense of community. they, you know, the trusted adults that they
could go to, um, feeling safe and cared for, being engaged beyond academics, um, in schools and the people in those schools making them feel confident about the future. Um, they didn't talk about,
you know, they want to go to school for testing or for software. They talked about the people who work in those schools um and and how they make them feel safe in as a part of a community in Jerusalem. I think your comments on on a variety of different issues, but for me
on the the safety that you feel um from your your principal and at your school was really moving. So, thank you for those comments. Um and when we talk about being an A district, those are the things that make us an A district. So, I
think, you know, as we move forward in making policy and and all of these changes that are coming in the the school district, um we keep that that sense of community and safety and um you know, having optimism for our kids' futures. We keep that at the heart of of
our decision making. Um Amy Amy mentioned something. I I wanted to touch on the tutoring piece because Amy, I know you talked about, you know, you wanted more tutoring um all year long, not just before PM3. Can what what did that look like? Like are you talking
about in-person tutoring or the varsity tutors platform? Can you elaborate a little bit on that? Well, I'm when I said that, I meant like it could be in person or it could just mostly be just there for students because like like there's lots of
students I know that they they can't like they don't have they probably don't have resources online to like or at home they don't have it online so they can go and figure it out themselves like maybe like something after school like how
they do for PM3 testing but like mostly like all year long or like for a wider for a wider set of time. Thank you for elaborating on that and that's kind of what I was hearing and um you know as a
board we've had conversations about over testing and I think like again looking at our education as more holistic and not just we need to prepare our students for this PM3 test but you know we need to give students opportunities to remediate and and engage with their
academics all year long and not just to prepare for a test. I I hope that we we heard that. Um I also wanted to highlight the conversation about the extracurriculars. Like over and over again, you all talked about how important the extracurriculars
are. Um and I just want to shout out Miss Bulman who uh brought an item several months ago to uh you know pay our sponsor or or pay increase the supplement pay for some of our extracurriculars. So shout out to Miss Bulman. Um, and of course, like everyone
else, I would be remiss if I didn't thank our student adviserss for um, you know, really lifting this position up uh, to another level and uplifting the voices of the students that you serve and that we all serve. Um, and you know,
just thinking to the future, I'm wondering or I'm hoping and I'd hope I maybe you guys can explain this a little bit more, but is there an infrastructure that you've put in place to keep these conversations going, keep the dialogue and the surveys and the the feedback
going? >> So, Miss Leonardi, this is what keeps me up at night. Um, we have developed a pretty comprehensive transition plan. Much of that is um I'll be frank is contingent upon staffing levels for next year. Uh so we are awaiting some
confirmation of what that will look like next year before we divide out uh some of this work that currently lives with us to make sure it's uh accomplished properly. Um, so we have incredible support from uh the cabinet members that support us and I think I can confidently
say that many many of these things will uh continue into next year and um we've created a recommendation and guardrails document uh that will be presented to the superintendent within the next few weeks. >> Awesome. And I will just say like again the the job you both have done in the
past year um and you know your entire service in Broward County Public Schools. I think the adults in the room have a lot to learn from you um and the way you've conducted yourself uh with such professionalism. Um and then I I would also I want to take a moment of
personal privilege and congratulate Landon for his acceptance and commitment to UNCC Chapel Hill. Um, did you want to say anything? >> Go Tar Hills. >> Um, all right. Those are those are my
comments. Uh, anything else from my colleagues? All right. Um, that concludes this item. Uh, we will recess briefly to take a photo and do a transition. So students, you're going to go up uh over here where uh in front of the screen and in front
of the day. We'll take a picture with your certificates. Thank you all. Down. Down. Heat. Heat. Yeah. Wo. Yeah. W
yeah. Heat. Heat. Hey, hey, hey. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. down. Down. Thank you. Our next item on the agenda
is our committee reports. I would like to thank our chairs for their patience. Um, I think we can all appreciate that we wanted to give full time and hear all of our student voices. Um, I appreciate the committee chairs
that reached out ahead of time with any special requests. So, thank you to those individuals. Um, Mr. Hill, could you please add five minutes to the clock? We will now hear reports from the following. We'll start with audit
committee. Oh, he gave me a name tag. I like it. Um, okay. Well, I don't have much of a report today. We have not met since the last time that I was here, but uh we are meeting on May 7th, but I wanted to come today because last time we talked about
creating a parent university on the financial uh challenges facing our district and um and inviting the superintendent to speak. And I just wanted to tell you if you didn't catch it, it was wonderful. We are so appreciative. I'm speaking on behalf of
our committee or the audit committee that we were able to work with the district advisory council and the parent community involvement task force to put something together to show the collaboration that we can have as a district. And um one of the things that I know we've talked about that I
probably mentioned last time, but I'll just mention it again. Um, we just encourage you to have a meeting or some kind of a forum at every school where you can play this program, encourage our community to watch and ask them for their ideas on how to address the
challenges facing you. So, that's the followup I hope you'll do. And again, we want to thank Dr. Heeper and John uh Sullivan who was handing out name tags a minute ago. And um I want to thank Lori Canning and Nadia Clark are who had just
did it was just phenomenal. It was an incredible event and um so thank you and with that I will see you next month. >> Thank you. I don't see we have the student advisers at the table yet so
I'll go to district advisory council. >> Good morning to the board madam chair Dr. Hutburn and staff. I'm Brooke Bordy, the District Advisory Council Communications Chair. DAC met on April 8th. We heard from Children's Services Council, and we thank the staff that
came to speak to us about redefining before and after school care, school clubs, and enrichment. The DAC policy subcommittee met and discussed the SAC funding memo that was issued last month. DAC has significant concerns about this memo and that it contains many
inaccuracies. Primarily being that school advisory councils provide an advisory function regarding SAC funds. Uh when in fact schoolboard policy 1403 and Florida statute 101452
sub paragraph 2 uh both state that sac votes to allocate those funds there. It's not an advisory nature. So DAC will be providing a comprehensive written response shortly. Um but more importantly, there's just a sent sentiment that these funds belong to a
school that it allows schools to make progress on their specific programs um and and have kind of specializations and this is what draws K children to those schools for the district to sweep those funds against this board's policy
and against statute um just for those weakens our schools. Um, an issue we will discuss at our next meeting is the non-renewal of school resource officers. The decision regarding Margate SRO's came as a surprise to all stakeholders. DAC would like clarity today as to how
that decision was made and whether that applies to all schools that currently have a municipal SRO. This issue was already strongly opposed in Marqu just over this weekend um where the SRO's are a part of the community with deep knowledge about all their students and
the facilities that they serve and protect. It can be expected that similar opposition will arise in other affected municipalities. So, it's important that we get clarity about the process of how this decision was made um and how widespread it would be. DAC would also
like to know what the plan is to have an armed officer on every school campus come August and specifically whether the hiring and training will be complete in time to roll out to all campuses on that early August start August 10th start date. DAC would like to see a written
plan for compliance with state statute on this matter. And further, DAC would like to know how behavioral threat assessments will be conducted districtwide since law since sworn law enforcement is required to be a part of the BTA team. Lastly, this issue of SRO
non-renewal should be viewed through the lens of the referendum. We all know that we need the referendum to pass, but if to the public we're reducing the level of security that we're providing in the schools through this decision, it will make it harder for that referendum to
pass if it in fact includes language referencing safety and security. Uh switching gears, the elementary subcommittee continues to discuss testing and I Ready. Um we've really taken a deep dive into educational technology, student privacy, and
parental consent. Last week, we also discussed the 15-year longitudinal study of I Ready effectiveness and the fact that it found no statistically significant learning gains for students who used I Ready versus those who did not. We're going to continue speaking
about this and can come back next month. Uh during the discipline meeting this week, DNC DAC inquired about the parental consent being housed within the student code of conduct. I personally found that really surprising that consents would be in the code of conduct. Um, we learned that parents are
expected to find the consent several clicks within the BCPS website. So, it's kind of a disjointed process to figure out what parents are actually consenting to and how our children's information is shared. We urge the board to reconsider this method and try to obtain true
informed parental consent. School budgets remain a primary concern for DAC. Florida Statute 101452 sub paragraph 2 requires that principles present and discuss school budgets with the school advisory councils. And this
school board's policy 1.3 requires that staff chair sign off on a school's budget. Budget training is essential to both of those requirements happening. It has to be informed and because we have major changes coming this year, we need a new training from the district. We can't train ourselves this year. Um,
DAC's budget training has been cancelled three times now due to delays and lack of information regarding school budgets and not having a staffing allocation model for next school year. DAC would appreciate some guidance on this issue. And lastly, we've heard the board reassure the public on many occasions
that the necessary staffing reduction would not come at the school level. And instead, our principles, just as of last month, were told to ex add a 10% reduction to their projected FTEEs on top of the reduction that the office of
demographics has already planned for. Uh this is going to reduce the number of specials teachers, increase class sizes, and reduce the number of guidance counselors available at our schools. DAC's next meeting is May 13th at 6:15 p.m. in this room, and we'll be
following up on many of these issues, including SRO's and redefining. Thank you. >> Thank you. North area, please. >> Good morning. Our last meeting was on March 11th. We had a presentation from the North Region Superintendent's Office with an overview of the department
support model and the responsibilities of the directors. We appreciate the North Region's collaboration with our committee and in having these conversations, we have gotten a lot of feedback on how we can better work together. One consistent concern we hear is how parents concerns and emails are
often circled back to the schools once they have reached the level of the regional superintendent's office, which just kicks back the concern to where it started. as we continue to have conversations about how about how the regional directors and BCPS cares handle parents school level school related
concerns and communicates with the community. I will bring back to you our recommendations and concerns. Many concerns have been raised about school choice availability with parents being denied choice seats to schools that are only enrolled at about 50 to 75% of their capacity. I spoke to Dr. Wanza and
I understand there may be some cases that were based on availability of the ESSE classes, but that is not the case for all. I've been told that these are all being worked out, but it's concerning to hear anyone would be denied choice to schools with enrollment so low that they were being considered
to close during last year's redefining conversation. There used to be a forward- facing dashboard that showed in real time the open seats per grade. We would like to see that on the main page of the school choice site with projections for the next year so parents can make choices with reliable
information. I want to give a special a special thank you to Miss Hixon for her persistence and advocacy and helping us to keep our accountability funds for the next school year. I will remind you that these funds have not been allocated by the state since 2021
and we have been carefully budgeting them every year to best support our our SIP plan, our school improvement plans. I understand that districtwide we are be being given a blanket 10% cut in projections for all schools. My question is when schools come in above
projections, will they receive additional funding for staffing? This week, I had a parent call me with an alarming security concern. Her child was with a group of students that were left alone wandering the school campus during a lockdown drill. I do not need
to go into detail because she has reached out to board members that have already forwarded this concern to Chief Gregory and I spoke with him this morning about this, but this has been a concern we have brought in the past. What is the protocol for students who are not in a designated space during lockdown? Are we including these
scenarios in our lockdown training and drills to ensure students and staff know what to do if we have an actual situation? In this situation, the students did not know where to go, and I'm told that staff did not direct them. Over the last few days, I have received
many texts, phone calls, and social media messages from concerned and upset parents, residents, and city officials from the city of Margate about the non-renewal of their SRO contract. I was among the many community members who sat here for hours just two years ago to
voice my opposition to expanding the Broward School's police force. The community vehemently opposed the idea. They wanted to keep SRO from their local PD and their schools. I understand we have a tremendous financial loss since
then. We have had a tremendous financial loss since then. However, these decisions should be made and discussed with the community before any final decisions and before being sent out to city officials in a memo. The city officials feel bl the city officials
feel blindsided and the community feels this is just another example of the lack of communication, explanation, and transparency from the district. I think it would be meaningful to the community if the district had a community conversation or town hall with the
municipalities affected by the non-renewal. There's more to come. My question today is what will be the cost savings? What are you paying the Margate SRO's? Who will be in their place? And
what will you be paying them? Thank you. >> Thank you very much. Central area. >> Good morning, Madame Chair, school board members, and Dr. Heburn from the central region. Our last general meeting was on March 12th,
2026, which included a presentation from the mental health assistance allocation resource team or MART. Uh, their presentation included strategies for parents and guardians to support our scholars with coping skills, well-being ideas, and resilience. uh things that we
can do at on the home front to support the school mental health endeavors. We also had a visit from the deputy superintendent Dr. Angela Fulton who along with the central region office staff gave us an overview of all the
district offices um excuse me regional offices and uh also highlighted some of the things that the central region office is doing, planning to do and will continue to do for our scholars, our parents and our guardians. Our next meeting will be this Thursday, April
16th, 2026 at 9:45 a.m. Discussion during that meeting and within the region continues to surround transparency in funding decisions, particularly regarding student travel, industry certifications, and extracurricular activities. As stated by
my fellow chairs, there are also other areas where funding is a concern, but this was particularly highlighted during our meeting because a parent brought up a concern regarding participation in competitions. When we have children who are going for their industry
certifications, the theory is taught in class, but the hands-on experience that they can get at these competitions is super valuable. It exposes them to more than just that classroom training. We have a case, this particular case was one where in previous years they were
able to offset the cost for the students which allowed students who may not have been able to manage that full cost to attend something especially in New York City or other other uh big cities. They were able to pay for those students to attend. this year in waiting for the
funding to be released, some of the children had to drop out because they did not want to be on the hook to pay something that they knew that their family or their guardian could not afford to do. Um although the trip is still occurring, again, we have students who will not be
participating in these events because they could not afford to go. We also had uh situations where parents were concerned about the course cards and the course selection sheets. Once a middle school or a high school scholar submits that sheet, they do parents feel
like they do not have a way to track that. That way when the the uh excuse me, the schedules come out and students have the wrong classes, they honestly do not know what classes their children should have. And that's not for any fault of them because these is parents
who are just as um these are parents who are tied in with their children's education but they are unable to track what their children should be taking. This is especially important for those in our accelerated classes or those who are in different
CTE classes. There are certain classes you must take as a prerequisite to the other. Um we had one child who in her freshman year was put into a fourth level class which is a senior class and it took weeks for her to get out of that class. So the one thing that we would
like to have is if the parents can see those course selection cards some of the uh confusion that happens in the beginning of the year where people are in the wrong classes. We can actually deal with that prior to school beginning maybe even before the prior term ends.
The last thing would be data tracking on those career um those industry certifications and related student opportunities. If we have children who again in this situation where the industry certification would have benefited from them going onto a competition, we need to have a way of
taking account of what they're doing and how we can assist them in making sure that they get everything they need in order to pass their exams once it comes time for that. The same could be said for some of our uh A students, some of our AP students, our IB students. There
are certain pieces of data that can be collected and be presented maybe to the parents through focus or through uh Canvas where they can see exactly what where their child is ranking, what their child is doing and then that way they can have good conversations with the
counselors, the testing coordinators and so forth. Again, we thank you from the central re Oh, lastly, um, an incident occurred recently in the central region where see something, say something came into, uh, account. I won't mention the incident, but what I will say is I want
to congratulate those students, the friends of the student who actually had to deal with the consequences of their actions and also that parent for seeing something, a parent listened to their child, they said something and a situation was averted. So again, from the central region, we thank you for
your time. Thank you very much. South area, please. Good morning. Um, chair, school board members and superintendent, acting superintendent. Um, Linda Ferrara reporting for South
Area. Uh, we had the pleasure of having Dr. Fulton at our meeting, our last meeting, and we were discussing the purpose and function of the regional office as parent, school, and district support as a support hubs. Um, Dr. Fulton and I had um examined the
historical evolution of the regional offices. That was great reminiscing about that and hopefully we can get to where we once were on that. Um one of the issues that did come up was the inclusion of regional contact information in the student code of
conduct so that parents have an idea of where to go, how to transition from issues within their school and how to work up uh the chain. Um we did uh discuss assessment and testing discussion and we had uh Lwanda Wright uh uh provide information on the federal
programs department departments. Um and that's it. Thank you. >> Thank you so much. Um we'll now move on to diversity committee. >> Good morning. Um what was everybody saying? Board
members, superintendent. Good morning staff. All right. So, um the diversity and I said I had sent an email to the uh chair, but she didn't respond. So, the diversity committee met uh on March 5th and April 12, April 2nd
for our general monthly meetings. I was unable to secure representation March, so I'm providing the report for both months today. I I sent it um an email to Chair Leonardi to allow an extra two minutes, but I'm going to try to see if I can fit it in five. Oh, I I I got it.
Oh, thank you. Appreciate you. Oh, thank you very much. Okay. Uh, the committee has had 18 site visits this school year. We have um observed facility, academics, discipline, programs, resource availability, and safety and security protocols. The committee remains committed to the nine conditions and their indicators as we as we move
through this school year. The committee will be evaluating last year's site visits simultaneously with the school site visits this year. We believe this will enhance the annual report with tangible findings. Our site visits observation this year reveals communi communicative issues with um new
processes across the board. Safety and security issues that are situational with no conformity, facilities in adequate shape. However, cleansiness and aesthetics are an ongoing issue. Um academics are within the instructional calendar standards with some schools
more proactive than others. We are still we still see some challenges with Maximo and school facility managers with work orders. Uh the committee had Mr. Dorset and his area managers at our March meeting. In that meeting, the facility team provided insight to work order backlogs, the implementation of Maximo,
IBM, and a breakdown of the facility department and roles. The committee got a better understanding of the challenges of the district and what is being done to remediate. What the committee is very concerned about um is the fact that district is in a financial bind and has
to surplus employees. The surplus of 3,000 personnel over the next three years is disquing. The district is already operating at a deficit in facilities and PO. Uh back in 2010, the district stripped PO personnel by half and I don't believe those um uh
employees were replaced. The conditions of our school is a testament to the lack of PO personnel um and facilities. The committee strongly recommends that the district truly consider personnel on the impact that they make versus the definition of non-essential employees that the government has. All employees
that contribute to the education and well-being of children are essential employees. We hope that the superintendent and the board look at where to trim their where where to trim. They consider their customer base, our children, and how equity will be affected when looking to provide exceptional education. In our April
meeting, we discussed a diversity response report that would be included um that would be included and emphasized. The committee appreciates the staff that accompanied us on site visits. The PO staff are extremely knowledgeable and able to provide the committee with the responses right away,
tackle items observed that need attention timely. The technology person when at site visits was when at site visits because they didn't come every time was able to provide the committee with insight and answer questions. However, um yeah, they weren't they they didn't
come all the time. Um other staff that have joined us were not sure why they were there other than to take notes. Um, so I, you know, when we do have, uh, staff with us, um, the expectation is is that they're versed in their position
and they're there to kind of provide some insight, but also give the district uh, the the diversity committee um, a pathway on how to create or, you know, provide recommendations. And we can't do that if you they're just there and they're like, well, we don't know. They
just told us to come. Um, we want to thank Dr. Hoes for joining us at our April meeting. Thank you so much for being there, Dr. Hois. Um, it was a pleasure to have him there listening and actively taking notes. It it felt it truly felt collaborative and we encourage the rest of you to come when you when your schedule permits. This is
also extended to our superintendent, general counsel, and chief of staff. He not even in here. All right. In conclusion, as um as a reminder, we ask that each board member check in with their appointees for updates and attendance. It is imperative that committee members attend monthly
meetings and participate. The success the success of this committee is capped at the level at its least effective member. So I implore you to encourage your appointees to attend the monthly meetings. We believe in having everyone participate in our goal of helping this district showcase it excellence and
diverse equitable education. We look forward to our continued coll co-c collaboration in the this quest. Thank you. >> Thank you Miss Narnique and it was a pleasure for me to be there as well. Thank you very much. We'll move on to ESC Advisory Council.
>> Good morning, afternoon, wherever we are. Thank you very much um for having us. And Dr. Holdness, you were at our last meeting too, so you've been busy. Thank you for coming along. Um our last meeting um uh focused primarily on
transportation issues. This is something we had wanted to get to grips with for a while. So I was grateful we were finally able to get somebody along from the transportation department and Dr. Wanza kindly came along too. Um we um crunched down lots of um issues with them that we
had wanted to share for a long while um and really start hearing about some solutions to um and one of those um concerns relating to our deaf and heart of hearing community. Um we have just launched also last month a deaf and
heart of hearing subcommittee. It went great. We had a very um productive and healthy meeting. Great collaboration from um Andrea Seott and the um ESSE department. So between our ESSE advisory meeting and DHH subcommittee we did talk
a lot about transportation. No student just because they are deaf or hard of hearing should be being put on a bus for 3 hours, but some are to get to school. 5:00 a.m. pickup for an 8:00 a.m. start. Um, kids arriving to school so tired
there, no no fit state to actually then do any work. Um, and students being co-mingled for elementary, middle, and high on the same bus. So you imagine um students who are being picked up right at the top of most of the um of this um district being transported down to the
deaf and hearty hearing clusters down in uh Plantation at South Plantation and um Peters and Seol. Um it's it's not great. Uh it's not equitable. Um and uh something does need to be done and has done for a long time. Um I was grateful
for a meeting with Dr. Hburn and Dr. Fulton last month. I would love for those to continue because customer service and behavior management and so many things that we keep bringing up just aren't making progress. Um we have another example yesterday of a 9-year-old who was slapped in handcuffs,
put in a police car, taken off and an attempted Baker act. Doctors said nope. Um I make no judgment on the incident itself, but the preceding circumstances and the months in fact years of torment that this child and this parent have gone through with BCPS simply not
providing the service that they are required to provide, not communicating, not providing transparency and accountability. This can't be the customer service experience that people have. And then we end up with cops saying, "I'm going to um teach you a lesson uh and saving it all up for a
Baker Act incident." We can't be having incidents like that. We can't be blowing them off. We can't be having regional uh offices not getting stuck in when there is a parent complaint and untangling every ounce and every inch of that
complaint and giving accountability and transparency and resolution. We're not getting it. and it shouldn't be on me to have to keep calling um it out. I'd also actually like to welcome Mr. Pri Bruno Bruno um as general counsel. It's the first time I've sat across from you in a
room um since you were hired and I'm very welcoming of your um advent here because I hope you're going to be able to help sort out um some of the perpetual problems that we keep reporting here too. Uh some of those relate to public records requests and
BCPS's perception of what it does or doesn't need to release. Um uh what else do we have? Oh, going back to deaf and harder hearing. Um we did hear as well from parents um and I've heard from others who have left. Parents who have actually literally left the
district, moved out of Broward specifically because of the transportation problems with their students and have moved on up to St. Augustine where there's a deaf and hardy hearing school that uh that can cater to them um and uh and not be uh subjecting
them to that kind of um challenge. Um, what else? So, customer service report. I I put together a big report. Um, lots of us contributed to it. I handed it in with lots of great suggestions. I don't know what's happening to it. I would love for something to happen to it. It
was uh made in the spirit of uh constructive progress. Um, and one of the problems being as others beside me have mentioned this circling back to principles of issues that are escalated to regionals for a reason. We can't just keep uh passing parent complaints around
in a circle. Um likewise, we uh I handed in a very good report, I thought, on elopement and various um improvements that could be made to the districtwide elopement plan. I would love to hear if somebody's doing work on that that they are also um able to work with us. Um
happy autism awareness month. Our next uh autism committee meeting on the 23rd is taking a sneak peek at ESY extended school year. Um, and one finally thing I want to mention, there's a letter going around that's gone to parents of kids at Lakeside Cluster telling them that their
kids are going to be moved out of the cluster to a different school. They're not being given a choice and yet Lakeside is meant to be a receiving school. Um, I think there needs to be some clarity around why that is happening and uh that parents be given the choice. Thank you very much. >> Thank you, Miss Luskcom. Very
informative advisory meeting when I went as well. Thank you. Are we going to move on to the ESOL leadership council? Anyone from Esau? No. Okay. So, we're going to move on to facilities task force. Good afternoon. Um to the
superintendent, acting superintendent, and acting chair and all board members. Um facility task force met Thursday um April 9th at Plantation High School. Our invited guest um included Amario Guvara
from ADA Compliance and Elo Castada from PO District Management. During our meet our meeting, we addressed critical concerns regarding ADA compliance and procedure oversight. It was agreed that the FT by FTF that
any building modification, construction projects or architectural changes must be routed through ADA compliance department to ensure review guidance and full adherence to accessibility standards. Failure to do so creates
unnecessary risk, inefficiency, and additional costs to the district. And many of you might say, well, that's common sense, right? However, we discussed um certain examples that highlighted these issues. One in particular at Blanchley High School, the
modification of the patio required correction after the fact to meet ADA standards. Also, at Cypress Bay High School, an obstruction to an accessible pathway resulted in the need to construct a new ADA compliant walkway. So these are
preventable issues when properly processed and are followed from the beginning. Um we we wanted to make sure that we we brought this to um your attention because this may be the reason why we're
cuz ADA is expensive. So this may be a lot of the reasons why we were we're were lacking in funding. Um, we also reviewed the Maximo system and the aging report which we request every month. Um, which raised an additional concern
regarding accuracy, accountability, and reporting integrity. For example, uh, Coconut Creek High School reflected a low number of work orders in the system. However, based on the visible conditions of the campus, that data was widely
regarded as inaccurate. The the suggestion is that either under reporting, delays in processing or breakdowns in the work order system which led to another question um does
every custodian and assistant principal have they been trained completely yet? While I do um want to acknowledge that the community has stepped in creating a facility support model and u with the assistance of the district personnel
including um Norah Rert um D Mark Dorset and North area maintenance supervisors Miss Cartwell um Caldwell the progress has been made. This raises a larger concern. If the community had not intervened, where is the accountability
for the condition of the school? How has the public school been allowed to uh a public school deteriorate to the point where it reflects conditions that are unacceptable for any learning environment. Additional a major concern raised both
within the task force and by the children today, the students today and also online um is this conditions of the bathrooms um on campus. So these are all quite you
know the bathrooms that they're they're unacceptable. the student the course of students should have not have to enter facilities that are unsanitary, poorly maintained or degrading to the basic of their basic dignity. So, we're just asking that we um make
sure that we take a look at that. Um Blanch Elely, we we actually um went through a an actual conversation with a custodian. Um I sent the information to Mr. said and the former chief that his
his attitude towards it was basically if the children don't care he's not making his staff do anything about it. So that attitude does not help the situation and um the question is what is the district plan to do to address it
because apparently it's an issue throughout the district. What systems of accountability are in place to ensure that bathrooms are routinely inspected, maintained, and held to a standard that reflects a safe and respectful learning environment?
Now addressing a matter of governance and accountability. Um I wanted to talk about um making sure um that oh thank the superintendent for allowing me to be a part of the selection process for the next chief
um of um facilities. However, after looking over the um applications and the resumeumés, I think we should probably open it up again because we only had one that was semi um
qualified and we have a huge district. So, we need to save money. we don't need to get someone in that's not qualified if we we're planning if we're trying to make sure that um our budget stays on task.
So um my suggestion or you know my thing is that everyone should get a chance to look at these applications knowing that these people are not qualified for the position of chief. They're qualified for other positions but not the chief. Um,
our next meeting is May 7th. I had asked for extra time. I didn't know if I was going to need it. She did email me back, but I'm sorry if I'm over my time. Just a few more things I want to bring up. Um, our next meeting is May 7th. We were
what I wanted to read is I requested the presence of the key facility leaders as early as August. That request was made in good faith and were re reasonable notice. Although our March meeting was rescheduled to accommodate the district diversity so that I can attend the
district diversity committee meeting where the facility staffs were fully represented. The facilities task force continues to experience a lack of consistency of participation from those same individuals. This raises a concern
because under the principle of good governance, it is important that our facilities task force which is a large part of your budget that the concerns that we bring are valid and they have
merit. So we need to have our questions and our concerns addressed immediately, not after week after week or month after month. So, um, we're just asking that, you know, I see that a lot of you are
visiting the others and I and that's wonderful and I appreciate that, but we need that same attention um the facilities. Um, also I would like to thank um uh Bowman um member board
member Bowman for giving a new appointee. Um, we sent her out a welcome letter. I hope she feels welcome to come and not just us being there as appointees that our time is important
and lately it's just been us just having the conversation not saying that the liaison wasn't there he was there his his staff member was there but we need someone who could who's going to be able to answer questions and get things done
and that's the end of my report thank you >> thank you Mohorn Do we have anyone from gifted advisory? Okay, we'll move on. Green advisory. Okay, human relations committee. >> All right, good afternoon. Uh, uh,
school board uh, and staff. Nancy Fry, chair of human relations committee. Uh, first off, I want to just echo what we've all been saying about the bathroom situation. Thank you, Dr. Hoiss, for um, really driving the conversation on that. Apologies if anyone else spoke to that.
Uh Dr. Holmes' were the only remarks I heard driving in. Um but that is feedback we've been hearing for years about students avoiding the bathrooms. And it goes beyond the cleanliness factor. Uh again, I I didn't hear the whole conversation, so apologies if this is redundant. Uh it's also been uh
bathrooms in disrepair, bathrooms blocked off because they are nonfunctional, stalls with broken doors, uh issues like that, too. So it's beyond just the uh basic cleaning of them. Moving on, uh we held our last meeting on March 23rd and we actually have our
next meeting tomorrow. So, uh we will have new information shortly. Uh we are working on a policy review since uh the policy and bylaws have still been in limbo as far as what's actually approved and we have not been able to get clarity. But since the last changes were
voted on about 3 years ago at this point, we're just going to send a fresh uh slate of all of that over. So, we're working on our policy review tomorrow. And then the following month, once our policy is voted on and approved by the committee, we will follow with our bylaws review and then have everything
sent back to district staff hopefully for approval in a timely manner so that we can have uh we can all be on the same page with our policy and bylaws. Uh as always, I want to uplift the work of the school culture and student support department. um and the work that they do
on a daily basis uh is for our students is just incredible. Uh I know that they're building relationships to support the Holocaust Museum and um yesterday they also held a documentary screening for Yamashoa uh the Jewish
Holocaust Remembrance Holiday and uh hopefully I'll have more information about how that screening went tomorrow after our meeting. I do know that their work has been in impacted by a number of their staff members taking on instructional positions at schools. I
know this is a necessary um thing to happen right now so that our schools can m can stay fully staffed. Uh but I am obligated to say that our kids in the schools want to do more and they're being held back right now because of these staffing issues. So whatever we
can do to alleviate burdens elsewhere to make sure that the department is still able to maintain their mission. Um one of the things that is really been a focus is needing staff to build capacity for our human relations uh councils and our other pro-social groups. These are
not a nice to have. This is the boots on and our staff members are the boots on the ground to guide these adviserss and students. Um, our students need to feel like they're part of the school community and the this is one of the integral ways that this happens. Um,
some of the feedback we hear about students that are moved over to charter schools is that they feel heard and supported. So, for us to be competitive and to be able to keep students and bring students back, they need to have that same feeling when they're in a Broward County public school. And as we
know, student experience leads to attend. Better attendance leads to better enrollment. And that's that's our funding right there. Um, additionally, we want to we've uh created a new focus that we want to assist teachers um and
uh club adviserss on how to access grant funding and other external funding sources. And we want to also maybe even extend that to the students on how to do funding solicitation and ways that they can raise money independently for their groups, ways that they can raise money
for their schools and um kind of take part in that and not just wait for funding to come down and how they can be proactive about it and and take a little bit of control over that. Um, and that just feeds into our larger mission for the year, which was giving students
experiences and um, instruction on how to advocate for themselves. So, it all it all kind of weaves nicely together. Um, and I just want to close with a great quote that uh, came up at our last meeting that the best things are kept secret at Broward Schools. and just to
make sure that we are uplifting all of the the amazing work that our students are doing and let the other students know what is available to them. I know this was a topic that was coming up during the student panel earlier too, but students knowing what opportunities are available to them, what their
classmates are doing, what their uh peers are doing at other schools, and just making sure that we're uplifting our amazing students. Thank you. >> Thank you. Multilingual Advisory Committee, Parent Community Involvement Task Force.
Good afternoon, Aaron Gold, chair of the Parent Community Involvement Task Force. I want to start with a sincere thank you for the strong collaboration around the parent university on the budget and district finances that took place on March 31st. That effort grew directly out of the conversation at the last
committee reports. Um, and many people worked within a very tight timeline to make it happen. We are grateful to Superintendent Heppern, Miss Johnson, Mr. Sullivan, and other district staff for their strong partnership. A huge shout out to the incredible face team,
including Lorie Canning and Nadia Clark for ensuring that information was accessible, familyfriendly, and truly grounded in what our community needs to hear. That work is more important now than ever. I also want to thank Cynthia Dominique and Mary Ferdig for their partnership and to recognize the
collaboration with DAC and the audit committee. Having these three committees co-f facilitate this program I think created a really powerful full model for how we can align efforts in service of our students, families and community. Um as Mary mentioned earlier, the content
of the session was incredibly valuable. Um but also we want to make sure that we extend the reach as far as possible. So the task force recommends that the session be re-shared um and more broadly promoted through principles, SAC chairs,
school websites, and other district channels and prominently promoted on the district homepage. Um and we believe district support of DAC's budget training is a critical next step in the process to engage community in this
dialogue. This theme of amplifying and ensuring highquality communication with stakeholders carried throughout our meeting last night. We discussed the need for clearer, more timely communication around magnet and innovative programs and other school choice options, especially new ones, so
that families can make informed decisions without confusion or missed opportunities. Um, we heard specific concerns around programs that are just being announced now after the choice window has already closed. um and preventing access for interested
families um and some confusion. We also discussed how communication gaps are showing up operationally at the school level. So an important example that was raised was funding for essential equipment like walkie-talkies. Um in some schools PTAs are being asked um to
cover those costs and in others we're hearing they're funded by the district. So really creating inconsistency in access. Um, the task force believes that clear systemwide guidance on what is centrally funded versus school-based responsibility is essential, especially
for safety resources. And we've asked that Chief Gregory could provide clear written guidance to principles to address this specific issue to clarify. We also spent time on an issue we have been hearing consistently across the district for months, and it's the
disconnect between families, schools, and nonprofit service providers. Um there are families in urgent need of support organizations that are ready to help but the systems to connect them are not quite there. Um someone referred to
our need to be a matchmaker. Um and and um to address this we are exploring several solutions including centraliz a centralized resource database that would be both family and schoolf facing. We think this could be a really critical resource especially as we are are in the
budget crisis that we are in. um a nonprofit forum um and some more immediate tools to help guide schools and families. We were grateful to have representatives from the Center for Autism and Related Disabilities join us to think through what the challenges are
and h some solutions we might put into practice. Um and we're excited to collaborate with the ESC advisory on that as well. Um, we recognize that the district is navigating very difficult decisions that are going to have significant impacts on people, schools, and students. Our goal is to ensure that
families are informed, schools are supported with clear guidance, and our community can engage as true partners in the work ahead. So, continuing to have close collaboration with the advisory committees and district staff to keep the community informed and involved is
essential. Thank you. >> Thank you. um Broward County Association of Student Councils and student advis student advisor to the board. >> Thank you. And I know this was shared in the beginning, but I also want to thank you for your patience uh and us running over this morning with our students. We
appreciate your grace and uh allowing them to finish their conversation. So, thank you. Um we've shared a lot this morning, so I will be brief. And I want to recognize uh some really special people who are here. First of all, I
want to recognize Jir um because Jir often goes sitting here listening and uh he may be quiet at times although I try to force him uh to give presentations and to speak. Um but Jere is the brains
behind what we do with student leadership and student engagement. Um I think I sometimes get a little bit too much credit for the work that that Dier does. Um, so I hope you know that because Jir is uh really the I would
call you the strategist behind our strategy. Um, so we thank you and uh this will be my last committee report. We'll still be in office next month. Uh, I will be taking an AP exam. Uh, so I will not be multitasking. Um, but while I had the floor, I wanted to recognize
Jir. Jir also found out yesterday that he uh will will be attending Nova South Eastern University on scholarship. for recognizing his service. Um, so we are grateful for you and we appreciate you.
Um, I also want to recognize the future. Our next student adviser is coming in who were elected at our last month Broward County Association of Student Councils meeting um, as the new student adviser and alternate student adviser. So, Lily Reid, please stand. Lily will
be the incoming student adviser to the school board and Myle Suko will be the incoming alternate student adviser. So they answered tough questions from their peers. There was a a long
conversation. I'm proud of them because they did not know the word succinct when I told them to be succinct. Uh so they've learned that word and uh we are really just looking forward to your leadership. Uh I know that this board will continue to support student
leadership. Um so they will be here learning as we begin to transition. Um with that all being said, I want to say thank you for creating these opportunities for us uh to have forums like this morning and we're looking forward to another successful month uh in our role. Thank you.
>> Thank you and congratulations Jere. If I had known that, I would have also shouted you out. Congratulations again on your commitment to NSU. Um, small business advisory committee, technology advisory committee.
Good afternoon everyone. Linda Ferrara, chair, technology advisory committee. We've had two meetings since we last met. Uh, so I'll try to be quick about this. Um our March meeting which was on March 9th we had a discussion on the art artificial intelligence initiatives. The
district continues to expand its AI strategy including the planned launch of browschools.ai as a centralized public resource for AI and immersive technologies. A student developed AI chatbot is planned to assist users with navigating public district public district and school
websites. Um there is uh it was determined that there's a need for clear governance, ethical standards and policy alignment as a AI tools scale districtwide. Um we had a conversation on the Microsoft uh co-pilot adoption as
that's increasing um as more and more um students and teachers participate in that. Uh we had discussion on the assi assessment management and work order system. Uh focus includes mobile access and elimination of paperbased processes. Uh
part of the problem we're finding is that there are uh some schools that are using Maximo to log their work work orders and some that are not logging them in appropriately. Uh we've had a discussion at facilities task force about one of them having 60 work orders
outstanding not logged into maximum. Um, we also said there's another pilot program that's uh going into effect using the digital devices. Uh, prior implementation attempts were attempts were ineffective because they were not followed through and hopefully you know
we're correcting that. Um, as always we keep on top of the onetoone laptop program. Uh, one of the problems we've encountered is career and technical education programs require higher spec devices not included in the standard refresh program. There was a waiver
process that was put into place that was funded but there seems to be no money on in that. So concerns uh were raised regarding adequacy of devices for certification and industry aligned programs. Um they are unable to utilize
the current technology as technology for those programs have increased. Um they are not able to um ascertain those those types of equipments. Uh we are seeking additional guidance from district leadership before formulating recommendations.
Uh technology related RFP processes uh concerns raised regarding limited IT involvement in select technology related procurements um is continues to be an issue. Uh recommended uh improved coordination between procurement and
information technology during RFP development. Um that was it for the March meeting. for the April meeting. Uh we had an overview from plant moran on the enterprise resource planning RFP that's going out. Uh the district-wide
ERP requirements are finalized and prioritized with significant engagement from business process owners. An internal uh in evaluation committee nominated by district chiefs will score proposals uh which we're assuming would include uh a TAC member. uh an EIP ERP
public information hub will launch with the RFP to provide ongoing transparency. It looks like that RFP is scheduled to be released sometime within the next couple of weeks. Um okay u something oh the other uh issue we had
was you utilization of the smart metagasses and wearable technology. Uh there are certain standards that the district does use, but it doesn't seem to be uh explained to parents. There is no policy clarity, privacy protections, and consistent district-wide
communication, which needs to be um elaborated on with parents. It's not in the um there's a certain blurb within the student code of conduct, but again, a lot of parents are now using these meta glasses with prescriptions.
um ACT and SAT do not permit them. Neither does the district. They follow the same standards as those two groups. Um so they are not there. Uh we did take a look at items B1 and B2 from the last school board. Uh student screen time
monitoring, classroom monitoring is currently uh supported through linewise and class classwise, but that is through um the teacher component of that. A parentf facing tool uh custodio is planned for rollout for 26th and 27th
school year allowing parents to monitor school um issued devices and one personal device at home. There is a current uh app available Microsoft family safety app which the district was not aware of whether we had access to that or not. It's part of the Microsoft
package. So uh we're looking further into that. Just have like two more items. Um the committee received clarification on reports of device procurement limitations. Uh we would appreciate that the supply chain risk uh
contract enforcement and long-term s sustainability also be addressed with TAC. Uh there is a shortage of device due to components for those devices. Um it hasn't affected us yet and I know we're uh working with a second um
contractor um which is under litigation at this point. So hopefully that'll be cleared up soon. Uh parents have raised the issue of I Ready data privacy because of the lawsuit that was initiated with um two states. Uh we have been reassured by um Richie Bound's
office that that is not the case. Uh student priv privacy is enforced and uh it is also stipulated within the contract. Um the committee emphasized the importance of proactively proactively
briefing on TAC on major technology issues and that is it. Thank you. >> Thank you. Um I'll go to board members and just a reminder it is up to the board member who has the floor to call on any committee chairs that they would
like to hear from. Mrs. Alhadaf. >> Yes. Thank you. My question is to the superintendent. So I would like the superintendent to address the issue of the SRO, the school resource officers with their contracts
not being uh the that was referenced today by by the reports. It has come to my attention that the districts had decided not to renew the SRO contracts with certain municipalities without an indepth in-person prior discussion with
board members, principles or municipalities themselves. This really came across as a shock. We are collaborative partners in educating our students to make a safe environment. the schools impacted and the communities are deeply concerned because they do not
understand the BCPS SRO plan that was just rolled out. SROS are not just a security presence. They are trusted adults, mentors, critical bridge between schools, families, and law enforcement. The SROS are a key connection between the community, schools, students, and a
part of the behavioral threat assessments. They are embedded relationships that just can't quickly be replaced. So I respectively ask that in-person meetings occur with the mun municipalities and communities directly
in person that there stronger conversations of why this decision was made by the superintendent. We cannot make these decisions in a silo. It needs to be collaborative. >> Dr. Fton. Thank you. Um, I know Dr.
Heeper definitely wants to address that question. I know there has been conversation since the letter went out on Friday and there has been a plan of action. So, respectfully, I would like to allow him to address the question. >> So, we can expect Dr. Heburn back at the >> uh Yeah, he will be back for the
transportation presentation so we can address it then. >> Okay. Thank you, Mrs. Anything else? Miss Hixon, thank you. Thank you. Um, that was one of my questions, but I wonder I know Dr. Heburn
was wanted to address it, but we have people that asked the question here. Is it possible to have Chief Gregory maybe give some background on it? >> Sure, Mr. Gregory. >> Michael Gregory, chief safety and security officer for the school
district. Uh thank you for the question. Um this goes back to approximately September. So I'll uh say that we have we value the partnerships we have with the cities and the and the agencies that
provide u contracted school resource officers to the school district. Uh we have a close relationship with them. We value that relationship and that partnership and we're often in close dialogue with them. Uh since last September, we've been engaged in uh
negotiating the upcoming year's contract with the uh agency's representatives. Uh that dialogue has been going back and forth since September and as early as October uh the district uh provided that
information to the uh municipalities and the sheriff's office negotiation team members of the potential of reducing uh the number of contracted SRO's from the current level of 201. uh we have 14 separate contracts in this
one county for police SRO services and that represents like I just said 201 SRO's that are contracted. Uh so as we've gone through those conversations since last October uh it was well aware by the the team uh that the district is considering
this path and based on the proposals we received uh it became clearer and clear that this needed to be uh transitioned into more of a uh full for full-fledged plan for uh the next few
years. uh in discussions with them as well as internally we ran the numbers and we determined that the cost today of an SRO uh is roughly 18 to 20% higher than the our cost of an internal police
officer SRO. So the issue wasn't so much a matter of eliminating SRO's. It was a matter of transitioning positions off of the contract to be so those services as a full-fledged law enforcement SRO could be provided internally through the
school police at a almost 20% savings to the district at this time that we were dealing with these financial concerns. Uh as we looked at that further, we we recognized that we don't want this to be a shock to the system. We don't want this to be an abrupt change in how we do
business globally, I should say, countywide. U so the approach is roughly a 12 13% decrease off of the number of SRO's that we contract with for the
upcoming uh school year. uh not 50, not 80, not 40, but merely 13% uh reduction of 201 comes out to about 27 out of our 201 contracted SRO, we'd
be transitioning to be provided internally as school resource officers uh full-fledged state of Florida certified police officers providing school resource officer services. So, that's a little bit of the history of uh how we got to where we are. Uh why this
is a a strategy that we need to review. It won't uh turn into a a u massive increase in the police department, the school police department overnight. This this process is uh strategically designed to take several years. We're
looking at maybe 8 to 10 years uh of a roughly 12% transition annually. Uh the goal again being to reduce those number of the number of contracts that we have out there uh from 14 to fewer. So I'll
I'll pause there and give obviously Dr. Heeper the opportunity to fill in uh from his perspective as well. >> Thank you. I just didn't want the community members to leave without some part of the discussion and hopefully they can stay for the other part. Um the
the next question DAC made mention of um the district telling school principles we actually heard it in a couple of places also north area 10% reduction of students above what demographics was projecting. So um Dr. Dr. Fulton, can
you address or doc or um Miss Johnson why it is that we're adding another 10% reduction above what we're our projection is? And the question was asked if schools end up having more than
than that number, what guarantee is there that we are going to make sure they're funded appropriately? So, I can start and I'll allow Miss Johnson to um fill in everything I um anything that I may leave out. But what traditional way it it it does is when we
get kids registered, it's really not a kid that you count on until they show up. So, once they show up, that is counted. It's called a student in a seat. And then after the 10day count, whether you over or under, adjustments are made to ensure that the students that are there that we're actually
getting the credit or the FTE for the student. So, I would let Miss Johnson share anything additional that I miss out and that definitely has not changed. Right now, what we have made to ensure that with the school choice window, we are highly encouraging our parents to make sure they register once they get
the notice because that helps secure that spot. But again, until that student shows up, it's not considered a guaranteed enrollment because we have you registered. But once you show up, you're actually a student that is counted in the membership count. So,
Miss Johnson, if I left out anything, please feel free to add in through the chair breer Johnson's chief financial officer. Well, we get the count and the forecast projection from the state and the state in February saw
additional reduction. Our count is done internally. Budget office doesn't do the count that is done by our FTE projection office and they saw a significant reduction of 2,000 students in February which we are going to get a reduction from the state for the loss of those
2,000 students. that entails we have to take that reduction along with the reduction forecast from the state. It's not an artificial number. It's not made up. It's a number that we based on our forecast we're going to lose those
students. So the budget office has no we multiply. We don't do the actual count. >> Okay. So the 10% reduction above the demographic projection was because you've seen in the last few years that we have something above that. So you're
trying to be proactive. Is that No, this year was significant year. The FT office projected that we lost in February we actually lost 2,000 students. So it won't affect our money this fiscal year, but when we get our final calculation from the state, it will impact us
starting the next fiscal year, that 2000 reduction. >> No, I get that. But the the question or the concern that was brought up is that principles are being told that they have to calculate an additional 10% reduction
above what they were told was the projection. like a 10% 10% less students than what the projection they were given for next >> really we didn't take the f the 42000 because the projection was around 7,000 loss of students so if you say 10% of
that is 700 we didn't take the reduction that the state also we actually lost 2,000 students so be on the safe side we took a 10% instead of taking the whole 2,000 and we'll chew it up during count season >> so what I will add to that we went
through a membership period I want to say last month and every school was given a projected membership um um count and the schools verified well this is a membership count that we are expecting if they felt that they were over there is an option to be able to say you projected me at 700 kids but I think I'm
going to have 800 so as long as you have a justifiable reason to why you're going to get a hundred extra kids that is also taken into account but because that is significant amount you have to truly justify and Those things could be a new neighborhood is a new development has
come up and we're projected to have 100 kids. So that actually makes sense. So those are the things that that go into the membership period when you're doing an increase into your membership projections. But it is a joint collaboration between the district offices and the schools because it's a
numbers game to ensure that we're creating the correct enrollment count. So, so budgets can budget based on that and schools can staff based on what they get for their membership count. >> I I still think I don't think you're answering the question that I'm asking
though. So I I will ask um the DAC representative, can you explain to because the way I understood what you were saying was the district sent the principles I'm just school a you're going to have 800 students next year but
then came back and said the district said now we want you to do project for 10% your budget should be 10% less than that so you're going to budget for 720 not 800 even though we gave you an 800
number is am I understanding what the concern is? >> That's exactly it. >> Okay. Thank you. >> And and the projections have been accurate. Even this last school year when we lost so many students for my school it was accurate. Exactly. So to add another 10% we're going to end up
being understaffed losing things and and I'm not hearing that we're going to make up. Why is it that we are well they did say I mean I did hear that once the numbers come in and and they call butts and seats right >> what I didn't want to say that but yes
>> once the students show up they have to fund them on the FTE but what's being asked of principles right now is that they were given a number again let's say 800 but now they're coming back and saying your budget's going to be even 10% less of that. So my question is why
why are we doing that if the projection from wherever demographics or the state or wherever we gave original numbers from why are we now and this is for next year not for this year. Why are we now asking them and telling them they'll get
10% less of their budget? Well, um, first we got the projection from the state and we started off with those projections, but we drew up the FTE count came in February. When we got the calculation from the February count, there was additional 2,000 reduction of
students across the system. We only took 10% because we didn't take the total amount that that was equate to that loss of students. So, we just took we was conservatives with the schools. We only took a 10% reduction from the schools to
account for those 2,000 loss of students. This is the first year this occurrence is happening. Just like last year, the Esau kids from the immigration laws had changed and we the state came back and say you're going to have additional laws for 1500 students. Right
now, based on our numbers internally, we took a major hit in February count and we lost 2,000 students. So, we're spreading that out to make sure that we indeed if those students already left us, then we need to count for those loss
of students above what the state had projected in a first projection. >> So, it's a loss of students this year that we're putting into account for next year because if they're not here this year, they're not returning. >> Correct. >> Okay. Thank you. It wasn't clear in the answer the first time. So, thank you for
that. The next um question, the north area asked about the school choice and um the information being on a dashboard and the idea that a school who still has seats is either denying or putting someone on a wait list. So, can can
someone address that and whether it's possible to have a dashboard um that enables people to see how many seats are left? >> So, yes to the question. We actually discussed that yesterday and having a dashboard that is forward- facing so parents can see the availability across
the school district so when I'm making my choice I can at least have a high likelihood of picking a school that has open enrollment. So that did come up. Apparently you had a conversation with Dr. Wes and that was shared yesterday. So thank you. >> Okay, great. Thank you. Um I have a
question. Central area asked about how parents can track the courses that their students have signed up for. So I may say this wrong and Landon and Justier feel free to correct me, but do we still have NViance? Isn't NViance where they
So what is it? So thank you for that. Where what is it that parents can do? Because I know when I did scheduling it used to be in Nviance whatever the students signed up for and the parent could see because I did SK I did the schedules. So where can a parent go to
see what their students have signed up for? Is there a way that they capture it either taking a picture or what program does that go into now that replaces is it Zello? Okay. >> So it its focus is actually Naviance we
no longer have that but uh Zello actually came in as the the next option from the state. So all schools and for uniformity all schools now in the state of Florida access Zello. But to answer your question Dr. Um, I'm sorry, Miss Hixon. It would be uh focus is where a
parent would go in to be able to see the schedule that a student has. >> So that that's not the question they had though. I'm doing course selection cards today for next year. How can a parent see what did my student sign up for so
they can compare what the when August whatever day the first day of school is and they get a schedule. a parent can say, "Okay, these are the courses my student signed up for, or they signed up for ACE marine science 1, but they're in
ACE marine science 2." So, how where could a parent go? Is that in focus? What the students sign up for? Not what the schedule is, what they register for prior, their course selection card basically.
>> So, go ahead. Go ahead, Alan. Yes. Um just to help out here. Um so through the course selection process, schools historically have a hard copy course selection card that goes home with the students and the parents sign
the course selection card. So when you did bring that up, what made me wonder was so the parent does sign the course selection card with the selection. So at that time the parent can take a picture of it, can write it down, whatever that is. And then what Dr. Fulton was saying
when school starts and they learn their schedule, they can compare what they signed in the spring off based off of that course selection card to what the actual schedule was. So I think that's as I listened to your your statement, that's kind of what rang in my head.
>> Go ahead. >> Hi, thank you for the opportunity again. So just to explain, yes, because I have signed off on those. My daughter's in the 10th grade, so I understand that the concern is what's in focus. So let's say I handed it in this month or last month,
March. We get to May, we get to June and 26 27 will load. Now once that loads, right, the parent can then see the classes that were selected, but they don't match. So now we have to wait
until the schedule comes out to verify what the child has. We get to school, we get to that orientation day or that openhouse day, however you want to, whatever the school calls it, right? You get there, you get the schedule. The schedule is incorrect. And now we're talking about accelerated courses. We're
talking about honors courses. And the children and the parents are told, "Oh, you have to wait two weeks. We can't change anything." So that's two weeks of instruction that is missed. or a parent now has to take off work to try to get to a counselor, to try to get to an assistant principal to say, "Hey, I need
this change because my child needs this class to get their Cambridge diploma or their AP or whatever it may be." Those two weeks of instruction are vital and sometimes it takes a month. We had some kids who I I think by the time we were able to work with the parent to get the
stuff changed, we were looking at mid-occtober. So, you see where the issue arises. There's certain things that if we have a little bit more transparency, if we have the time, we can get that fixed when the let's say when the APs and the and the principles start coming back, the
guidance counselors start coming back so there's not this mad rush that first two weeks of school to get classes changed cuz it's a lot, you know, and and we just want to give everyone involved the opportunity to be able to work these problems out before it becomes something where the child is missing class time.
And I I understand what you're saying and as I'm thinking it through, there's a lot of scenarios that play in sometimes with schedule changes. It could be I wanted this elective, now I'm changing, I want something else. Those are not considered emergency changes. So those may take because there's a period
where they address those. There's some primary schedule changes where you are clearly in the wrong class. You are freshman, but you have a senior class. >> Correct. Those are immediate because you're right, you you can't sit in a senior class when you were freshman. So again, it could be where we may have
some systems in certain schools that are not responding quickly, but uniformly across our district, there is a process to ensure if there is a true wrong course that you definitely can't take, we do have guidance counselors. They come in over the summer. they actually
their schedule start have them starting earlier to address some of those things. I'm hoping that maybe something that fell through the crack, but that's not a part of the way the system should operate. When there's a student that is >> coherently in the wrong class, but we do
have again where I signed up for this elective or this course, I no longer want it when I I want something else. So, my friend is in this class and I'm not with my friend. We get a lot of that. Those are the ones that are we put those secondary because we have other major concerns that have to be addressed
first. >> Yeah, Dr. Fulton and uh Miss Hixon, these are not elective courses. I would not have brought that up. These are I'm talking about core courses. I'm talking about honors courses. I'm talking about AP, IB, uh Cambridge. and to lose that
class time, it it really creates a struggle for the child to try to play catch-up, especially when you're already every day you're learning something new, but you still have to go back and try to learn what you didn't learn. So, um, again, if there is a process, maybe there's something at the school level
that needs to be, you know, re recommunicated, but we really need to it's it's last year it created a lot of stress and I had parents bringing it back up as we go into this next selection process. How how is the school going to ensure that
now that my child is in your school because it was a lot of freshmen. Now that my child is are is in your school, what are you going to do to not have this happen because I can't take off work again? >> No. And I agree and thank you for bringing that back up and we'll address it because there is a system in place to ensure those timely schedule changes are
done in a timely manner, but it sounds like we have some instances where it didn't happen. So then we have to address those. So thank you. >> Thank you. A couple more. um ESC um com the committee chair brought up the customer service report and alopement
plan that was shared with all of us. So can um Dr. Folton you give us an update or some followup on where we are with those and what action is going to be taken based on that information.
>> So we do we we do have and want to thank Mrs. Luskum for sharing that and we still reviewing it to determine what are the next steps. I think we had the meeting a couple of weeks ago. So, >> okay. Thank you. So, that she knows that we received it and some action is going
to happen. When can we expect to have that brought to the board? >> We can provide that in a follow-up. >> Okay, great. Thank you. Um HRC, thank you for um something that you said because I literally just had this conversation with a principal yesterday.
Often people say we're the best kept secret in Broward County. And I always say no one should be a secret. We should be screaming it from the mountain tops. There are so many amazing things. I think I mentioned this a couple of times, but I'm very excited to say it again. We were in a school, I think it
was Chapel Trail that has dual enrollment and their preschoolers sang a song to us in Spanish. I mean, preschoolers, they was amazing. We went to Hollywood Hills. Um, not Hollywood Hills. Sheridan Hills had an ortorial contest and preschoolers memorized a
poem and performed it in front of an auditorium full of adults like they were on America's Got Talent. They were amazing. So, those shouldn't be secrets, which is why I'm repeating myself again. I mentioned it last week. So, um, you
know, we've talked about this as a as a district and we did ask about having posts and and how we're marketing students and teachers sharing those similar stories. So, Mr. Sullivan. I don't know where he went, but I've seen
a couple of posts here and there, but there should be an actual plan on how we're rolling out these very quick social media things that or you know what we're doing on TV. I see magnet occasionally on TV, but what is the
marketing plan? Because we always hear that that we're having some issues in terms of marketing. I hear it every school I go to. So, what is the the action plan on ramping that up? Because I'm gonna think this is the second year of asking this question,
Dr. Fton. >> Oh, thank you. Um, so we I think it was a couple of weeks ago where we kicked off our district-wide marketing plan where we all of our schools have a social media um account whether it's uh want to say ex Twitter X uh Instagram,
Facebook and then there is a staff member that's tasked at every school to be their social manager expert. But we do realize that not all school leaders may have the expertise into social media. So when we provide a mandate, you
have to provide support. So we we have had several trainings and have ongoing trainings to ensure all of our schools are supported in how they leverage social media. To me, social media is the one free tool that can have information travel at light speed. And it would
behoove us not to use it for that ability. And uh the date that we launched it, every school, we had a dedicated time that we all would launch our social media campaign. And then we did a follow for follow to make sure that we increased the engagement. And um
it it did kick off very well. I don't know if your social media timelines were lit up. I know mine was with all the schools. And then we had to um retweet if you were on X or share of view and Instagram that so that it can increase engagement. So, we do understand when it
comes to marketing, and I wrote the term down, and I I smiled whether it was a good term, but certainly not proud to know that the best kept things are kept secret at Broward County Public Schools. It's sad, but it's true. But definitely with that feedback, we definitely have to make sure that I mean, great things
are happening in our schools every single day, even right now as we're sitting here. And if we don't get that message out, it doesn't it doesn't get out. And I want to thank you all for acknowledging that there are some great things in Broward County Public Schools. And so with our campaign of social
media, we ask that, you know, when you all tag, I know a lot of you have um advisory um tags in in terms of social media, tag schools. When it hits my timeline, I push it out. I engage in it. I make comment. All those things just continue
to increase engagement. And as a community in here, we can continue to help. But it doesn't stop here. We just need to continue to do um everything that we can do to ensure that we keep the good news out there in social media when it when it comes to BCPS because
BCPS is a great place to be. >> Thank you. And I see Mr. Sullivan is here. So, um if you could answer the question. We were going to do little clips of students and teachers and parents and start pushing that out as not just the schools. And I before you
answer that, I want to give a shout out to Steven Foster. They did a cute little skit with Full House in their saw that school and Yeah. So, you know, it's great when schools can do that, but some don't have that ability and it was very nice. So, but what are we doing
districtwide? I know one or two of them came out and then it kind of fizzled from there, like just highlighting student experience on social media. >> Uh, sure. and the deputy did a great job of uh describing what we've been doing.
Um so I might not be able to outdo her. Uh so our social media presence has actually increased tremendously. Um our engagement on all the platforms has uh increased. We have a large following and then depending on um the audience for
those uh different uh accounts we try to target it for that. So Insta is typically um our students are on there versus uh our employees are on X and then Facebook is really where uh we reach our parents for the most part. Obviously there's uniqueness to all
that. Um we do we have done the student testimonials. Uh we could always do more. Uh so we'll continue to partner with our school leaders to really assist them as the uh deputy said to empower them to get some of this messaging out. Uh the district obviously can do uh a
lot more but by empowering our school leaders we can really amplify our ability to do even more. >> Okay. But my question like the district what are we as a district doing >> besides putting it on the schools because some schools
>> Yeah. We've we we do a lot of our own. We've done uh student testimonials. >> For whatever reason I'm not seeing them. >> So there might be reals on Insta. So if you don't I'm not sure. Uh, but I think your platform might be more of the uh >> I do have Instagram.
>> I promise. >> I'm like, how do I answer this or I'll get myself in trouble. >> No, >> I'm proud of the deputy though. She didn't say the Facebook. >> The Facebook. >> We've been working on her. Um, so again, we could always do more. So, I'm not going to disagree with that. So, I'll get with the >> I'm saying I would like to see us do that.
>> Yes, we could definitely do more follow-up plan for that. Um, thank you. And I think everybody now like tags us. I that's what I think you were mentioning. >> Yes, we try to So, it's not a perfect Thank you for that, but we try to um make sure everyone that's part of the uh
educating the our uh leaders to make sure they're tagging folks and they have a tag for their own schools. So, we we're in a better place. We could do more. Uh so, we'll continue to make improvements. >> Thank you. Um, Nancy, >> sorry, just real quick, I wanted to
throw in that this is a great place to leverage uh our HRC's that are in our schools and use those students to help either if they have the social media knowhow if the staff doesn't or to just utilize them within any kind of videos,
photos, etc. Like we have the students, they want their voices heard, they want to be engaged in their school community. this is a fantastic place to to tie that to tie them in with that. Um, and I also just want to give a shout out to my daughter's school, Tradewinds Elementary. If you look at their
Instagram, they send if any school is struggling with how to generate content, look at the Tradewinds Elementary Instagram. Dr. Ellie does a phenomenal job. So, >> she does. >> She is a >> Thank you. Oh, Miss Luskum. >> Yeah. Thanks for bringing this up
because I'm I'm not I don't have my head in the sand, but I didn't know anything about this. So, might it be an idea like how are parents going to I see you making faces, Mr. Sullivan, but I'm trying to help. Um, if you have a certain number of people who have bought
into this, you surely want to bring more into it, right? So, those of us who didn't know, I think listen constructively to some ideas we might have. One being that if schools were to communicate to all their parents and say, "Hey, did you know we now have a Facebook page? Hey, did you know we now
have an Instagram page?" Parents might actually then find it. Also, um, we've asked many times for there to be a sort of communication plan because sometimes there's information gets put out on Facebook, but it's not put out by the school or it's put out by the school or it's on a on it's on a remind or it's on
a this or that. there is not a kind of consistent rolling out of messaging from the district. It's great to have it across more platforms. Um and the other thing was we have asked many times as well if we can restore the or you can restore the process by which we are
informed of things like this so that we can be helping evangelize too. I've got a Facebook page with 10,000 people on for ES. Um we can be helping you to spread that message. So it's not a kind of rolling eye moment. It's a it's a just um take on board that not everybody
does know what you know and if we can be helping to disperse the message, it should be a good thing. Thank you. >> Thank you. I have two more things. Oh, just >> briefly. Um I've been running the student advisor Instagram page this year. Um Sarah dinari, madam chair, was
on one of our Tik Toks and really got a lot of views on that one. But um I would say that the main problem is there's too many. Um a lot of our schools have a school Instagram, then they have an athletic Instagram, then they have an activities Instagram, then don't forget
about SGAA and speech and debate. So certain information is going on certain pages instead of the general page that it should go on. And I would say the same thing for BCPS. We have the BCPS page, then we have another department page and another department page. So if I'm going to be looking for ESC stuff, I
would have to go to directly to the ESC page instead of looking at BCPS and seeing everything there. So it's more of about generalizing and putting everything on one space. So it's a one-stop shop. >> Great. Thank you very much for that insight. Um, two quick questions I hope.
I'm sorry it took so much time. Um, HRC also mentioned something about their bylaws. So um, through the chair, Mr. Hill can you even if it has to be a follow-up don't bylaws go through because it said it was legal then no it
wasn't legal it was through us so whoever can answer the question where are we with bylaws for our committees >> um so I think the process is it goes through the lison and then we present that to uh general counsel's office or we don't um
so I'll let Mr. He'll add to that so it's correctly stated. >> Thank you, Mr. Sullivan. So, the bylaws um the committee chairs work with their liaison and they review their bylaws and then give it to the liaison and the liaison bring it to the chief of staff who then places it on an agenda. So, it
does not get reviewed at this current time by our our general counsel, but that may change. >> Okay. because we haven't seen bylaw. No bylaws have come to us and we've had this discussion for a while. So, I'm just wondering
>> where that sits because I she brought, you know, they brought it up. So, I'm just wondering Yes. >> Um I just wanted to say that DAC is finalizing 1070 because a lot of the committees are waiting on 1070 because that'll dictate what goes into their policies and their bylaws. So hopefully
by the end of the month we'll be DAC will be done with that review and then we will sit down with Mr. Sullivan, Mr. Hill and review that. >> Mr. Dri Bruno, >> I I would recommend that the bylaws do be um are reviewed by legal. There have
been times where there may be some language in the bylaw that is problematic. So if we can catch them beforehand, I would appreciate that. So if they have bylaws, should they be the liaison should be sending it to you? >> I I think offline we can come up with a
process and then share it. >> Perfect. All right. Thank you. And very last I want to say um congratulations and thank you to the parent community involvement task force for the very um informative budget
university that you had the other day. I thought the parent questions were very good. the district did a good job explaining things, but I really appreciated they had a different levels. Um, people asking questions because there's different parental involvement at different levels. And I would agree
with you that we need to continue to share that out. So, if the district could make sure I'm I'm sure we shared it afterwards, but maybe find the right places to put it in. um because it did have a lot of information and although there were a lot of people watching it
live, there was a couple hundred and we have a hundred thousand a million people. Um so more people could definitely watch it and I think the schools should encourage um their parents to to watch it as well. Thank you very much for the time.
>> Thank you, Mr. Seivera. >> Thank you, Chair. Um first off, thank you all ladies for your reports and for your commitment to the district. Um, I I don't think it is a secret that I'm very pro law enforcement. I've been that way
for a very long time and will continue to be that way. I always will support the brave men and women who put on the the uniform, wear the badge, and keep our kids um safe. Uh whether that's at a county level, a city level, or a school board, police department uh level, I was
always uh support our great men and women of of law enforcement. That being said, I I think the issue that we're running into here with this recent development with the SRO contract, specifically in the city of of Margate and in Fort Lauderdale, was the
lack of transparency, if you will, about how we got um to this point. This was um something that was disseminated um to the public, to certain uh police task force, and to
certain uh elected officials um late last week. Um incidentally, I learned about this when my phone started going off last Friday when the letter came in. Um I did see that we got an email earlier in the day, but uh I hadn't seen
it yet. This uh decision for the benefit of the public was not made by this board. This decision um was done um internally and I'm not suggesting it was the right or wrong decision, but I think it's
important to be transparent with our constituents and the public as to how we arose how we got to this particular situation. I would very much like to see and I'm uh interested in when the superintendent comes back and is able to comment how we
can get this back to either a workshop or a schoolboard meeting and put this back in Sunshine in which comments from the public can be made and there can be some participation from members of the public in determining what uh potential
next steps are. I am I don't think it's any secret a big advocate for transparency and public participation in things. That being said, um I do want to clear up some misinformation that I read, excuse me, over the weekend
and that I had to dispel on on various phone calls that I've been fielding on this. And uh Chief Gregory, I'm going to I'm going to call on you for this one, sir. If I may see so behind me. Okay. Excellent. Um there uh is insinuation
and innuendo going around the bowels of the internet that we are taking away sworn law enforcement officers are great SRO's from schools and replacing them with guardians. Chief Gregory, in all of the letters
that have gone out and of all of your plans thus far, is there any mechanism in which a school resource officer will be replaced with a guardian? >> Thank you for the question, Mike Greer, chief safety and security officer. The
answer is no. The SRO contract transitions are for sworn B County public school police SRO's. >> Thank you for that, sir. So I for the benefit of the public I want it to be very clear that we are not removing sworn law enforcement officers and
replacing them with guardians. Now for the record I love our guardians. I think they do a great job but um I I want to be clear that our our law enforcement officials will stay um at the school. That being said um I am a little
desirous of doing a deeper dive into the data on this reaching a full understanding about how we got there. Uh, Miss Morse, I'm going to call on you if you'd be so kind. You asked three questions if you can kindly read them back into the record. And, uh,
I guess Madame Deputy Superintendent, um, I would like a followup with the answers to these three questions. Miss Morris. Well, one of them was just answered. Who will be their replacement? Right. Um the
other one was a request that we hold um a community meeting or a town hall with the municipalities and the community not just the city officials but with the community to come and voice their opinion. And then what is the current contract? What are the oppos the SRO's
being paid? And what will be the cost savings? So what will the new contracts be? >> Thank you for that. and and for purposes of the record, I too would be very interested in having uh a a town hall or a further follow up on this with with the community. Um
I I look at the redefining process and what we did with with that where we went to high schools, where we went to our our schools, we had um open conversations, we had Q&A, we had presentations. And I'm not necessarily suggesting this needs to be that
elaborate, but certainly I always welcome and always encourage members of the public to be involved in this. And I think it's very important that we as a board and we as a district are very very transparent in the moves um that we are making. And actually, as I see he ready
to sit down, I will repeat my question to the super and see if he'll be kind enough to put on record what he thinks. Um Mr. Superintendent, we are talking about the recent development with the SRO situations specifically in the cities of
Margate and Fort Lauderdale where those letters went out later uh late last week. My question to you, sir, is are we able to bring this back to either a designated to have as a designated workshop topic where members of the public may come in and uh comment and
participate or are we able to add this to a school board uh meeting agenda item to allow this to fully be in the sunshine and allow the members of the public to participate in some way, shape, or form and ask questions as to what our next steps will be with these
SRO contract situations. Um, thanks for the thanks for the question, the comment. First, first um I wouldn't suggest a regular school board meeting because uh we would bring contracts to the regular school board meeting for the board for the board to vote on. And then I would ask for the
workshop, what's the ultimate outcome we're looking for in the workshop? Um is it to go over a specific plan of transition? uh which I know we've been talking to the um negotiation team for the cities and also BSO and the crew um
about this probably since I want to say September or October. Um so it's it's not no surprise to the negotiating teams um right about um our our due diligence and wanted to transition due to the sheer cost and also some other factors that have nothing to do with money.
Well, I I I appreciate that and with all due respect to the negotiation team, I'm more concerned about my constituents and members of the public who want to come in and ask questions and figure out how we got to this point, at least have their voices being heard. Um, you know, I I know that there was um some time
ago, I was not on this board, where I believe there was uh the talk of potentially having a full-time, fully staffed school board police department with presumably hundreds of um sworn law enforcement officials. I I don't know what happened with that, but obviously
that never came to fruition. And I'm also hearing these concerns out in the community about this about how local cities want local cops from local departments in their local schools, which I can certainly understand and I
can certainly appreciate and this in no way, shape or form is a knock on the schoolboard police department uh officers, but I I I understand that point. So allowing the public to come in at some forum and engage with the nine of us and
with the cabinet, have their opinions heard, their voices heard, if you will, I think would be very beneficial in helping guiding us along this process because I understand that right now it's only two or three departments, but this may spawn off into more departments um
as the months and years progress. So, I don't want this to be seen as something that, you know, is is it's being done behind closed doors and the public has no idea what the hell is going on. That's my concern, as with all things that we do. So, how can we put this into the sunshine and allow members of the
public, our constituents to come in here and voice their opinions and concerns on this process? >> Yeah, absolutely. So, um, we work at the will of the board, of course. If there's no objection, we'll just choose a workshop date. I know we're we're pretty loaded. Um, so we'll have to look at a
workshop date to try and squeeze something in. But if there's no objections to bringing that back or bringing it to you for a discussion so the public can provide some feedback, ask some questions, that's not an issue. >> Okay. I I guess I would ask the chair to maybe poll us then. Obviously, you know what my opinion is. I brought it up. Uh,
but I can appreciate the fact that we may have jam-packed workshops, but this is a pretty important issue. Who's keeping our kids safe at schools? So I would just ask that we squeeze in some time uh at the soonest available date to have this prop back.
>> Um before I ask for consensus, I just want to have a better understanding for myself um before I give my uh you know where I land one way or the other. Is the purpose would the purpose of the workshop ultimately be to perhaps direct the superintendent to change direction
or is it simply to get public feedback? >> I think it could be both. Right. If we have, you know, 500 people come to us from our various districts and express their displeasure, okay, that may be a good indication that
this is not what the public wants. If we have two people come in and everybody's like, "Yeah, this or you know," or maybe a little more than two, but we have some people come in and say, "This is the greatest thing since sliced bread." Maybe I I I don't know. The point of the workshop is to allow people to come in,
express their opinions, get whatever is on their mind out to engage with, you know, their elected officials who represent them in their respective districts. And then we can make a decision after that happens as to whether or not we potentially want the superintendent to stay the course or
perhaps we revisit um other issues. And and I would also just like if I may, Chair, just put this out there and um Miss Bruno, stop me if I'm crossing any kind of negotiation line. Okay. But it's my understanding we've gotten to this
point because we can't reach a consensus from certain city departments as to um a reasonable wage, if you will, for what the SRO's um are needing to be paid compared to what we can uh supply our SRO for on a yearly salary basis. Maybe
we go through this SR this this process at a workshop and some of these chiefs and some of these departments come back and say, you know what, let us go back to our commission. Let us go back to our mayors. let us see if we can get a grant to maybe make up some of the difference. But maybe this leads us back to the negotiation table and maybe this there
is a path to allow city officers to serve in city schools. I I I don't know. But at this point, I'm going off of a letter that I saw in a text message that someone screenshotted from Facebook.
That's how I uh became aware of this. Now, this session has been very beneficial. We've heard from the chief several times. Um I've also spoken to Chief Kevin about this um as well. But the reality is I I think this is this is too premature to figure out what
specifically next steps will be. I just think everything needs to be on the table. And most importantly, I want the public to have the ability to come in and participate in the process. >> I didn't mean to upset you by asking the question. And I was just trying to understand what the the purpose would be
because I think for me what I found very helpful in terms of having conversations with the community and um getting public feedback is hosting roundts. I hosted one yesterday at Sunrise Middle. Um so enable in in order to get like really
good conversation. Um I found you know roundts and town halls uh to be more effective in getting that community feedback. um and then you know bringing items to to direct action from the superintendent but um it is up to the
the entire board. So um I don't know if Miss Rupert I'll just go around and and gather consensus if you'd like to do a workshop or what you would like to do in terms of gathering community feedback and taking action on this issue. Miss Rupert, >> um I'm here. Yeah, I've been here the
time. Um I I am open to any and all. you know, that was uh you know, just to be very clear, I I spoke to the superintendent and to Mr. Sullivan and Mr. Mr. Gregory um way before I even talked to a reporter who reached out to
me. So, I I don't want it to be, you know, to seem like I was uh you know, jumping the gun or whoever, but um it was extremely important for me to reach out to the superintendent. And I did I I was very candid and he could tell you um
I that I'm not, you know, at this point not going to support uh that issue. It was a um a gigantic shock to to the Margate community and I understand uh that um Dr. He says that it's not a
surprise for any of the negotiating team, but I I have to honestly say yes, I'm sure it wasn't to them, but it was to commissioners, and we can do a better job that way. Um, but I will definitely look at uh the opportunity to reach out
in a workshop uh forum out in the community just like you described. Um, Madame Chair, I I agree. it's a better process to do that uh and to get pretty valid um uh encouragement and and uh comments back and forth uh for us to be
able to understand um what what the community is is thinking about. So yes to a workshop for me or and yes to a a board meeting if that is uh what the will of the board is. >> Miss Thompson. >> Thank you chair. I have some questions
before I provide my uh feedback on that. Um, is there any safety concerns to having a workshop on SRO officers in an open format? >> Um, go ahead, General Counsel. >> There's no safety concerns so long as it's very generic and we're not speaking
about our security plans and being um very open on those things. Those are will be protected. But general conversations, I think, are fine. Terms of a contract would be fine. And then is this is how we run our safety program a
policy issue that would be determined by the board or an operational? >> So Florida statute 106.12 actually puts it both in the hands of both the superintendent and the school board. >> Thank you. Um, I I at least as one board
member have been aware that this was the direction we were exploring for quite some time now. Um, I have concerns as Chief Gregory stated with 14 different policies um determining what how our students can
be treated in each of our schools. Um, I am still planning on bringing an item related to the pepper spray incident at one of my middle schools. Um, I believe that Chief Gregory and our superintendent have the safety of our students at the forefront. Um, I also
want to remind our colleagues that in order to to work collaboratively with cities, they also have to be willing to work collaboratively with us. And because of the impending concerns about property taxes and how that's going to
dramatically impact city budgets, they are looking for us as a way to cover extensive costs. So I think that background needs to be considered and thought about on this board. Um I am not
interested in a workshop. I would agree with our chair that the best way to communicate is to go to the people and go to your community and then bring direct actions to the board. Thank you. >> Um, Miss Bowman.
>> Thank you, chair. Um, you know, the the the issue that I have with this is finding out about this through a letter that we got emailed to us. So, I would have appreciated um
better communication to be um appraised of what we were what direction we were heading in. It wasn't clear to me from prior conversations. I know that that was um this has been something that has been suggested because of financial um
considerations and I and I understand that and I and I don't object to looking at other options. Um, but I I would like to see the full plan if we're planning on rolling this out over eight years and how that's going to impact everyone. I
you know, I don't have any idea what that looks like right now besides what's been said today and then what we have in that letter. So, I don't know what the best way to address this is, but I think as people that are um representing
people in the community and having people call, I mean, I'm getting calls about this now. I'd like to be informed about what our plan is so that I can convey that to the people that are calling me. So, I don't know if a workshop is the best way to do that, but
I think as just internally as a board member that we should have a better idea of what the plan is so that we can talk about that. I will wait. I I'm going to reserve I don't really have a strong opinion about whether or not a board
workshop is the way to do that. Um, I just would like the plan. Miss Hixon, >> thank you. I have two questions for the superintendent because he wasn't here before and then give it so quick. Um,
Dr. Heepern, can you tell us what cities are affected this year? >> Yes. Um, and correct me if I'm wrong, uh, Chief Gregory. Uh, Margate, um, Fort Lauderdale, Hollandale, and Coconut Creek.
And those are because the right now we only heard really from Margate the the other in Fort Lauderdale the Hallandale and Coconut Creek. They're not when school starts, right? That was part of a >> correct. Um sorry to cut you off. Um
some are starting at the beginning of the school year and some will be starting January 2027. So, it's a transition to allow us to actually staff up as well and just uh have a smooth uh transition. Uh for some cities like uh I
think Coconut Creek, it's not all um it's it's uh several schools. Uh and so um Chief Greg can speak a little bit more about this than I can, but it's starting with the the smallest number of of uh schools or smallest number of
cluster of SRO that are servicing certain schools. Uh you may hear Fort Lauderdale and people think oh Fort Lauderdale is a huge city but actually the majority of Fort Lauderdale's schools are actually staffed by guardians. So they don't have a lot of their police officers actually in our schools. So that's the um the strategy
to start with as we transition over time. And again, this is not it's it's it also helps with cost savings, but also helps with standardization of of of policy, standardization of training because you have 14 different ways uh of
doing something based on the leadership in those cities. >> Thank you. And one other question and then Oh, go ahead. >> I'm sorry. Just to qualify uh to be accurate with what we stated earlier, uh obviously the schools that are closing and those will be impacted as well.
Also, there'll be a Pimber Pines and Plantation and Myar uh are impacted as a result of the school closings. >> Okay. Yeah, I think that's probably not a surprise to anybody. But, um my my other quick question and then I'll answer it is I've gotten a couple of
texts. How would moving SRO's from the city to the school board, if anything, how would that affect threat assessments? Uh it it does not actually uh probably enhances our threat assessment ability because we have more continuity because it's our school
police department doing it. All the internal staff that assists with threat assessments um from the school base all the way to the district base. So it actually enhances that capability. >> Thank you. I just wanted to ask that out loud because um so I I agree with the
chair and Miss Thompson about a town hall. I think when you're in a place where that's all you're going to talk about and the community has more opportunity, but I think after the town hall, we should then have a workshop where then we can discuss it. I think
the town hall is just us listening, the superintendent and the um chief being able to explain first how they landed on this decision because there are pieces that were mentioning that I think the
community needs to know that there are 14 different agencies that determine how you react with pepper spray, how you decide when you're baker acting, all of those things. And some of the conversation has been about streamlining and making it consistent. And I think
that they would understand that. I think the part is that they were we're not being transparent. And I I don't want to say it that way. They don't feel as if they have enough information to understand why a change is happening. And so I think a town hall would be a
better place to share that with them. and it let it just be about the public and then come back to a workshop for us to shake out among ourselves what we think. But I um to the general counsel, if the superintendent has believes in
his role as superintendent that moving to this direction is what makes the most sense, especially since we have tasked him with finding um reducing things in the budget that make sense and this wouldn't really change the safety of our
schools. What do we as a board like? Because you know there's this line that feels like can we cross it? Can we not? Remember we had grand jury and there were people removed because they went into operations that they shouldn't have. So
can you kind of spell that out a little more on you know what what's the role of the superintendent here and what's the role of the school board? So the school board is responsible for governance and the superintendent as a chief executive officer is responsible for the day-to-day operations of the school
district. The interesting thing with Florida statute 106.12 is that it's a little unusual in that it says that each district school board and su and district superintendent shall partner to be able to come up with these
um different um safe school officers. So that's why I said both together. Um if the superintendent is making a recommendation to the board based on the task that the super that the board has given to the superintendent both for budget and for safety, it is to the
school board to make the determination as to whether or not they want to accept that recommendation. >> Thank you. >> Um I will go to Dr. Holes. >> Thank you, Madam Chair. Um and Madam Chair, I'd like to um when it's my turn to speak to comment more on this, but in
terms of your um getting consensus. Um I would be supportive of the the chair's um uh suggestion as far as a town hall as well as um board member Thompson. Um, I think the town hall would help to um
at the very least um address some of the um misinformation and possibly disinformation um because um you know I've heard that there are uh communities that are thinking that it's going to be guardians at the school u replacing the
municipality um police officers and that's not correct. So I think the town hall Dr. He would actually help to clear up some of the um information that might be misleading whether intentionally or not. Um so the public can understand um
you know um that we're we're not um having um uh guardians uh replacing police officers and and whatever other information is out there. um that may try to or intentionally indigate uh the changes that you're making as far as
utilizing our in-house officers. So, I am supportive of the um the town hall. I'm not sure beyond the town hall. I think that depends on the pulse of the public whether or not we need to address any further discussion because if the public is fully um um satisfied with um
the input from the superintendent and it is shown through their feedback and input then I am not sure if it would necessitate having a workshop. I think we just need to clear up any kind of um information that might be misleading to the public. So the town hall is where I would start.
>> Mr. See, I have you as a yes for a workshop. >> Well, if I may, if I may, sir. And first and foremost, you didn't upset me, Sarah. You I don't think you've ever upset me the entire time I've been on this board. You've always been a consmate professional, and I certainly appreciate that. Um, as far as my two
cents, um, I think Dr. Holmes raises a good point. Um, I think maybe the avenue here is having the town hall, uh, having the public being able to come in and speak to us. uh perhaps at more hours that are a little bit more convenient to some folks who work and have children
and and family commitments and depending on how that goes, we can maybe play it by ear to determine if a if a further workshop um is needed. So, Dr. I I I like the idea and um I think that would be my vote at this uh at this point with
the understanding that obviously if the community is um in in in an uproar or it's very very apparent that needs to this needs to come back to the board uh in a capacity in which we may need to give the superintendent some further direction, then I would be in favor of that happening. But I think the town
hall is is uh is in fact a good idea. Thank you, >> Mrs. Ala. So the issue that we have here is how this was all rolled out and the lack of understanding of the plan and the lack of communication to all key
stakeholders. I'm in favor of doing the town hall, but I think it needs to be done where there is a presentation creating the plan and what that looks like and then there being small groups and then having people speak. I don't
think this should just be like one person coming up and and speaking. It it needs to be more of a workshop with the community so they can understand the plan and then we have to have the workshop and then I think there needs to
be a school board meeting to to vote on this. One thing I think that you're we're not taking into consideration is the the cities with them just learning about this now being very shocking. they didn't have time to plan within their
budgets for for this missing of the SRO and that funding and then how they're going to have to backfill for their police. So, I would have loved this whole conversation to to happen in September
or much much earlier to then be at the point we're at now and then this kind of bomb just drops on everybody and everybody doesn't understand what's going on or they don't understand the plan is a problem. So, that would be my
suggestion to do the town hall workshop and then schoolboard meeting. >> Okay. Okay. So, I I heard a desire Oh, go ahead, Miss Bowman. >> I really appreciated member Hixon's desire to have a town hall
and her arguments for that. So, I will go with the town hall. >> Okay. Um, so what I've captured here is that the majority of the board would like to do a town hall. Um, I've heard
Miss Hixon, Miss Rupert, and Mrs. Alhadf say that they would like a town hall then a workshop. Um, and Mrs. Alhadf then suggesting a schoolboard meeting after that. Um, but I did not hear a majority of the board say that they wanted
both. Um, I did capture Mr. Seivera suggesting the town hall and then playing it by your seeing where to go from there. So, if anyone would like to add, >> Madam Chair, And then Dr. Honess. >> Yeah. So I I think Dr. Hoes mentioned that also. So I I think you we would do
the town I would agree to do the town hall maybe everybody's okay with it and then it ends there but based on the town hall then making a decision whether we need to come back and I don't care if it's a workshop or a meeting.
>> Dr. Holus. >> Thank you Madam Chair. So I would reiterate yes I I that is um my suggestion is that the town hall drives the decision to proceed to next steps. Um so if the town hall ne necessitate
based upon feedback from the public a workshop or and subsequently a board vote then we proceed but I I I don't think we'll have that information until we we conduct a town hall and let that drive the next step in terms of a workshop and a board meeting.
>> Okay. Okay. So, I I am hearing a majority of the board request a town hall or support a town hall. Um, and then a minority of the board would like to for sure have a workshop. The majority of the board, what I captured was they
would like to play it by ear to to see where we go from the town hall. >> Do you have your direction, Dr. He? >> Matt. Um, Madame Chair, Miss Rupert, >> thank you. I'm sorry I texted you and um I didn't realize we're moving on this quickly. Um, and one more thing I just
wanted to add to this part is that I think what upset the the cities um was that the different letters went out with different names on them. Um, and it was uh, you know, city of
Margate got theirs but the city of Coconut Creek didn't and then it was like a second goound. So I I honestly think in um you know really making sure that all our information is complete and
transparent at the same time is an important aspect. So um I just wanted to put my two cents in there because it's it's almost like waiting for the um other other sho um shoe to fall. So I I really think it needs to be complete um and and the
information has to be accurate and transparent. So, thank you. Thank you, Madam Chair. >> Thank you. And is Dr. Zean on the line? >> Okay. >> And if I can uh just add chair um because the the timeliness um is
important. So, the town hall will probably most likely be within the next two weeks um so that the cities have ample notice of the upcoming strategy. Um,
>> will will your staff work with the board members to figure out >> work with the board members to figure out a good time? >> Yeah. And I think most of us would hope that it would be in the evening to accommodate everything. >> And and and I also want to add to um um one of the crux of uh the issue too is communication. Um as I haven't had a
chance to talk to all the city managers uh who received the letters, but I did talk to one and the assistant city manager and profusely apologize of of how it was communicated. um some directions were given for communication uh with the chiefs and I think um um
some of the staff uh put a couple of steps ahead of a an initial step that they probably should have taken to uh talk to folks in person and things like that. So, you know, uh publicly um uh you guys know how I am. I don't I don't mind apologizing for any missteps uh
that myself or my team um have implemented. Um, and I think that's uh for me that's more of the crux of the issues is how it was communicated to the cities. And so when I get a chance to talk to the other mayors and city managers, I I will do the same um as well. Uh because we should have talked
to them verbally first um um before we sent out a specific letter uh which didn't really detailed all the information that they needed to know prior to prior to receiving that letter. So u lessons learned. uh we're always um in continuous improvement mode for everything that we do, but we'll we'll
communicate with the with with your assistance and because it's going to be probably in the next two weeks. >> Thank you, Smith Bowman. >> Absolutely. >> Uh thank you. Um so I I have a question about the the status of where where we are right now and I
apologize if this has been answered already. The letters that went out went to the Margate Police Force because I um I have a call with the mayor from Hollandale that I have after this meeting. Have they received the letter or is it just
>> No, I think everybody has received a letter U besides Coconut Creek. Coconut Creek will be >> But Hollandale received a letter. >> Yeah. Yes. From my understanding, Hollandale. >> Did we get a copy of that? I think everybody received a letter besides >> Coco confirmed received that that it's
gone out. >> Yeah, I know for sure Margate for sure. >> Did we So, can we get a copy of that? So, I Okay. And then I'll talk to you about it after I need to be prepared to have that call. So, thank you. >> Mrs. Alhadaf,
>> since Coconut Creek didn't receive their letter, can we have an in-person conversation with Coconut Creek? Yes, we that was the plan to have an inerson conversation with them today before we actually send a letter. So that's the um run of show is actually to have a conversation explain to the chiefs
what's going on. I know we've had conversation with their negotiation teams but I don't know if negotiation teams have gone into um the whole entire plan with with detail so they understand that it's not guardians, it's school police officers, what's the transition time, what does that look like, what do
we need from you as as far as a transition and whatnot. uh just to make sure it's done smoothly. >> Okay. Thank you, >> Dr. Just to confirm that the conversation has happened with um Coconut Creek. Uh that was what the delay was for sending their letter out was to make sure there was a a personal
conversation first. So, that just occurred today. >> Okay. Um we're still on the advisories. So, Mr. See, I don't know if you had any more comments. You had the floor. >> I'm satisfied. Thank you >> Dr. Holes.
>> Thank you, Madam Chair. So, um just to continue my comments regarding the advisory and I did have additional comments on the concern regarding um police officers. So, I just want to make it clear that um I know that that I am
very supportive of our police officers. In fact, my brother is a retired police officer and I've also fought for onampus resident officers. Um, and I believe majority of us do. Um, uh, so I have
some questions. Um, uh, Dr. Heern when contracts expires um do you normally bring those um to the board typically for um um intent of
non-renewal? >> Yes. So um two things when we're initiating a new contract or new agreement we bring those to the board. when we're severing a contract or if a contract is has a end date, right? Um,
and it expires, we don't bring expired contracts to the board. They just expire. But if we need to sever a contract during the term of that contract, we would bring that to the board. >> Okay? But if the contract expires, what's normally the process, not just for police contracts, but >> any contract, it just expires. They
don't come back. >> So, it doesn't come back if there's going to be any intent of non-renewal. >> Correct. Because it's it's uh it's not going to be renewed. just expires. So if the term is a year in that calendar year, let's say it's June 30th, um and it expires, it just expires. We would bring a new contract for certain
services to the board. >> Okay. Y >> So um do you recall that as a board we discussed the increase in use of our in-house um police officers over time and to reduce um um municipality officers. Did we have that discussion?
>> Yes. >> Okay. Um did did the board direct you to save cost um in terms of not just police officers but districtwide? >> Yes. >> Okay. How will in-house
police officers prove more beneficial to us than outside municipality officers? >> Um the the first obvious thing is that we are training them. we can do reoccurring training. Um they're in in in a school or district setting um the
whole entire time. They're better oriented to our specific needs. There's less policy red tape that that is out of our control. Um so we can have better continuity in and providing the level of service that we want to see with um uh
better control because they are our employees as well. Um and also being able to do what we need to do when we have accountability issues as well. we can we can actually um provide that level of accountability that's needed if one of our officers is is u not abiding by policy or protocols.
>> Understand? So is is there any advantage uh in using outside municipal municipalities police officers as opposed to using our in-house police officers? >> Um no there there is no advantage. All all of them are sworn law enforcement
agents um you know that that are that are armed. Um I think using our police officers provide greater advantage because you don't have the numerous amount of um um difference in policies and and um training standards and things like that um that is ultimately out of
our control. >> Right. So you bring back more control by the board and by the and by the district. >> Understand? So, can you detail to the public the expertise of our SAR certified in-house police officers as it
compares to outside municipalities police officers? >> Um, I'll let uh Chief Gregory um detail that. >> Mike, excuse me, Mike Gregory, chief safety and security officer. Just to set the the correct expectation
of information, all of the officers in Broward County are certified law enforcement officers, including the school police. They all have gone to the academy. They've all been certified by the state of Florida, and they're at the same level of knowledge coming out of the academy. Uh the officers who work in
the in the cities obviously have a broader area of responsibility with dealing with burglaries and robberies and crimes, traffic investigations, and the rest. The officers who work on school campuses, they focus on youth issues, youth concerns. They become
specialists in that area of policing when it comes to the rule, the statutes that regulate interaction with students, the statutes that regulate how you can interview a student, if they are the subject of an investigation, what can happen during school hours versus after
school hours. And as Dr. He brought up earlier as well the the participation in threat assessments. Uh they become more of an expert in that particular area as well. Our existing school of resource officers currently participate in threat
assessments. anytime that there's a new contracted SRO and they haven't completed their um full array of training to participate in a a behavioral threat assessment. Our staff participates in that threat assessment at that school on behalf of those law
enforcement officers. So again, you become more of a specialist in youth issues, youth services, mental health issues for youth, as well as where we want to really grow the program is actually in the development of a a light
type of curriculum where we have 10th graders that may be preparing for their restricted driver's license or their driver's license and they we want to be able to prepare them with what is the tra what are the traffic laws in in Florida that you need to be aware of? uh what how should you conduct yourself if
you get pulled over by the police. Where should you pull over? How should you uh conduct yourself? Um all these extra things that we could do if they were under a single command that we don't have that ability when they're when they're managed andor under policy and
training standards from 14 different agencies. >> Okay. So, Mr. Gregory, would you would you agree or would you um conclude that in-house police officers with their expertise more on youth issues um are
possibly um um better uh equipped in terms of keeping our students safe um and understanding issues revolving around school matters. I I want to be uh fully transparent. I don't think that I I believe that every
police officer in Broward County on one of our school campuses would do the right thing uh in in keeping our children safe. What we're talking about is taking the next step and going to a higher level, an enhanced level of service over what we currently receive.
>> Okay. So, let me ask a question another way then. Is there any evidence or research suggesting that outside police officers are are more capable of um creating a greater or better safe or safer environment for students as
opposed to in-house police officers? Are there any evidence or research existing that one group of police officers can necessarily uh ensure a greater safety of of our students as we compare inhouse versus outside? I'd have to prepare a follow-up
for you on that. >> Okay. Um, so my my last question, um, Dr. Heburn, are there are they are our in-house and I'm and I'm asking these questions because I have to make a decision on this and I and I really need
to understand if we move in the direction of increasing in-house police officers if our kids are are less safe or if there's less expertise to guarantee our kids safety. So this is not pretty neutral on the on the issue. I just want to understand the facts.
>> If if I may, I would so we have a in-house program right now um and that's our guardians. I would not say our schools that were that are um secured by guardians who are armed um right and securing a school
just like an SRO are less safe than a school that has a that that has an SRO. Uh when I when you ask that question, that's the first thing that comes to mind. What we have a program in house right now. Um and they do an amazing job. They keep our school safe. They they they know all of our kids on our
campuses. They're out viligent. They're monitoring the perimeter. Um they they greet guests, kids, parents, whoever showing up at the school. Um so I I would not say that is a less safe environment versus uh what the uh municipality
>> I understand. But we are not renewing some contracts for our police officers from municipalities which would be Margate, Coconut Creek, Fort Lauderdale, and so on. And we're going to be replacing those should should we move ahead with our in-house police officers.
Is that correct? >> That's correct. Uh but for me, the question isn't about who's the most safe. it's what's the better option uh that provides the the best value to the district and the best consistency um to the district when it comes to
accountability and certain standards. Um you don't have as a board, you don't have control over the municipality police department, right? We don't set their policies. We don't set their their their training standards or whatever protocols that they abide by. Um, as a
board, the folks that we hire here in this system, the policies that the board develops, the directions that the board gives the superintendent is what governs and operates this system. And that's and that's the control you have. So, those are th that's one major difference. The other major difference is the cost
factor. We pay about $119,000 a year uh for um the contracted SRO's that we provide services to. Uh according to the negotiation team for the cities, they say that uh their the cities are still supplementing that cost probably about 80,000 a year because
they say they their cost is about 200,000 approximate per year. So they're supplementing $80,000. Our salary in fringe on average for an SRO in our system um is only $100,000 give or take a few dollars. So those are the two
major um differences as far as decision- making. And I would say I don't think either or is safer or less safe. Um it's u uh more control right about policy and governance and operations and also the
difference in the cost factor that provides the same level of service if not greater because you have more continuity um at at a better value for the district. So those are the two key components as as I sit back and make that decision. It's not about who's
safer cuz all of them well trained. All of them. >> Y understand. So for the sake of the public um because I know there's a lot of misinformation out there that the replacement of a um one set of police officers will be replaced by another set of police officers that are inhouse. Correct.
>> Correct. That that are school Broward County school police officers. >> All right. So I have another a couple of other comments. Um there were some concerns about lockdown um that one of the committee um um chairs mentioned as far as staff not knowing the process. Um
Dr. Dr. He know these are isolated cases probably but um I would hope that someone can get with that committee chair to find out which school this is and and who does not know the the lockdown process because if that's not being followed and kids don't know what
where to go and staff uh that's problematic especially when we should we have a situation that's actually real. So I would love for staff to get with that individual. I forgot which of the chair mentioned that about the lockdown process. Um, was it you, Nicole?
>> It was me and Chief Gregory and Miss Hixon have been working with the parent in the school. My question was, so they've already addressed it, >> but I guess this we have brought this before. How are we training in situations where
students are in between class changes or in this case it was a senior privilege, they were leaving early. So, are we training so students know where to go if they're not in a designated space? your classroom. We're doing drills in classrooms. But what if the student is
in the hall? You know, just different are we training for all scenarios because in this case it was a drill. The students didn't know where to go and this parent says that staff was not paying attention to the students that were just wandering around. >> Understand? So, so Dr. Heburn, you'll address
>> Yeah, we'll address that. Thanks for thanks for that feedback. >> No problem. And my last concern is um Miss Luskcom mentioned an issue uh that came up in the um meeting the advisory meeting that I attended um that um some
of the deaf and heart of hearing students and other students with disabilities are on buses for about 3 hours or so. Uh and I I understand the issue Dr. Heper and it it's it's a little bit more complicated. Um but I know we're going to talk about transportation later on. So I guess my
question is when we start the next um uh session on transportation um will it address this issue uh as far as um uh um specific kids having to be on buses very long especially our learning disabled kids? >> No, this is this is for uh choice
programs and and depot stops for choice programs. This isn't for um ESC transportation or students who are zoned for their school's transportation. This is u for cost savings for um creating depot stops u for our choice students. >> So Dr. Heburn can and I know we had a
lengthy discussion at the advisory meeting and Dr. Wanza was there as well. Um can can we look into or can you look into how we can exhaust all options in reducing the the time that uh our
learning uh uh challenge students um and students with deaf and heart of hearing around the buses 3 hours is quite a long time so I don't know if some >> and are we talking about um going to the plantation schools this yeah so we'll look into that I know I can tell you that's a complex issue when you have one
single program um right to service a whole entire county and if they're coming from every corner of the of the county. I' I've visited VSSY I think like two years ago. We got we have elementary school kids that are traveling on a a very lengthy bus ride
to get there because of you know you don't have enough of those type of programs around the district. So we'll look at it. Uh we'll have to look at also expanding that program somewhere else. >> Right. And I I am sure it's it's a complex issue but I I believe that just looking at all options there's there's
usually some solution uh that at least can reduce the times and miss >> and thank you for having that discussion and I know Dr. and you're looking at, you know, all kinds of regionalizing stuff, but in the interim, we have to have solutions. This is entirely
inequitable and discriminatory. This this isn't a let's talk about it down the line and it'll and the solution will come when we make the broader changes to regionalizing services or whatever you might do. This is an immediate thing. You are losing kids. You have lost kids.
You will continue to lose more. Those parents are having that conversation and we've called them back to a meeting on the 21st of April for our deaf and heart of hearing subcommittee. They want answers. So, it's not going to be a kick the can down the road. I I get the difficulty, but there has to be some flexibility and some pivoting to make it
equitable for these students. Three hours is is is everybody should be horrified by that and should be demanding answers and I'm sorry that they're not. >> Yep. And uh you got our commitment. We'll we'll review that. um look at some transportation routing changes or whatever the case may be. We'll we'll
look at it and um get some answers to see what we can do. >> Yeah. And doc and Dr. Hebrron, I know Dr. Wansa was at the meeting, so I don't know if she has any added comments if you don't mind. >> Go ahead, doc. >> I I I don't have any added comments. We The next item is about transportation.
We will um potentially um you know talk about it then. I know that we did look at and we have Mr. Sullivan and Miss Nolles looked at something for us too around in years past, we would um the the district would actually provide a
mileage um reimbursement if you will if parents wanted to transport their children because at the end of the day and and you said it Dr. Heer, when you go from Deerfield to Plantation on a school bus and if there are other kids on the stop and every stop is like a
15minute process, it does add time. Um, so we will bring it up in the next presentation, but um, it it certainly isn't something that we take lightly and you're correct, Miss Luskum. People need answers and they need them forth with. >> Thank you. And sorry, Dr. Hburn just said it wouldn't be in the next
presentation. So, will it or won't it? So, if you if if you look at the last page, it talks about things that we're working on. And one of them is it one of the callouts is the um explicit um uh ride time as it relates to some of our
special needs population. So, we um we we will touch on it. It may not be in depth, but we will touch on it in the next presentation. >> Thank you. Because people are looking for solutions. Not a next year we'll do this. We we need that now. Like if this was your kids, you wouldn't have them on the bus for 3 hours in the morning. You
wouldn't. >> Thank you, Miss Laskco. Appreciate it. Thank you, Madam Chair. >> Thank you. Before I go to round two, would anyone else like to speak? Um, I just want to flag uh the mention of the bathroom conditions from the human
relations committee. I just wanted to shout out Mr. door set um and and offer, you know, a solution to when these these issues come up about bathrooms with broken stalls and graffiti and all sorts of things. Um I was able to send Mr.
Dorset and Dr. Hepper and some photos of a bathroom at Fort Lauderdale High School and I wish everyone could see the before and after photos. They addressed it immediately. Um so, you know, as these issues come up, please feel free to reach out to the superintendent. feel free to reach out to your board members
um because that is something that you know can be addressed very quickly. Um Mrs. Alhidef. >> Yeah, thank you. So as this SRO conversations unfolding, I I really see a bigger problem that we have here.
Meaning that is this plan to eventually in 8 to 10 years have our own BCPS police force? Yes. The board discussed this, I don't know, a year ago. It didn't go through, but it hasn't been
discussed with this board currently now. So before we even go to a town hall, I believe if the that's part of the plan, it needs to come back to the board in a workshop for the plan to
be presented to the board with what the cost savings are, how many SRO's are in the different cities, what that costs are, what are we what will we be saving by doing this, why are we picking certain cities,
to um take their SRO's away. Maybe you take one SRO away from every city. I don't know the answer, but I think it should be workshop first because by just going to the town town hall immediately.
I don't think it that's not the underlining what we want to get to. It hasn't been decided by this board. Unless I'm wrong. I think the communication that we've heard loud and clear um probably over the past two years especially this year
is we uh is to uh transition not so much creating our full-fledged own at the you know uh uh tomorrow but to transition and um uh lower the amount of of uh dependency on SRO contracts from the
outside. >> Okay. So I just want to make sure all my colleagues are hearing this are aware of that that this is the plan that we are going to be going and moving forward because I don't believe they you
guys understand this. >> I mean I understood it but uh we can go around again and see if there is consensus to do a workshop. Um, many people are not on the deis, so I don't know if people want to return. Um, but we can go back again and ask everyone
again if they would like to do a workshop. >> I'm a yes. >> Um, well, maybe we can do this at the end of the meeting when everyone is back or >> Yeah, they're scattered. Miss
>> Okay. Did you hear me? >> Yes, I did. Thank you, Miss Rupert. >> Thank you, ma'am. >> Hi, Miss Hixon. I would like to do the town hall first and see where the community I'd like to hear them first and then like I said decide after that whether we
go to a workshop or a schoolboard meeting. Miss Thompson, >> Miss Bowman. or Mr. Sea >> repeat the ask please. >> Mrs. Alhadedf would like to do a workshop before we do a town hall. Um,
>> can I just But also what I said was that I don't believe this board understands the plan meaning that the plan is over 8 to 10 years to eventually go to have our own police force. We that conversation that was years ago
that we had this current board hasn't made that decision. >> Dr. Hebrron, could you just clarify because that's not what I I didn't hear you say to have our own. Yeah, it's more about decreasing the number of contracts for better continuity. So we are not dealing with 14 different policies, 14.
It's not so much about creating our own organically that may happen but the in the uh in right now in in our windshield is about how do we gain better control um and continuity uh and also cost
savings at the same time. uh providing the same level of service if not better by reducing some SRO contracts because the the cost are continuing to go up. I think they've doubled like in the past 5 years and and um right now they're asking for more because they're passing
on that increased cost u to us and there's only so much uh we can afford. Um, and you know, with with the acts for additional compensation or for the contract, there's certain things that we can't even negotiate in because they
have to buy by their own policy, right? They have to buy by their own training standards and things like that. So, there's a lot of concessions that we won't get naturally because it's um they don't work for us. Um, we're we they work for their own municipalities or or the um or or the sheriff's office of the
county. Um and so it's more about decreasing the number of contracts um so there's more streamlined approach to how we police our schools or keep our schools safe. >> I would I'd be in favor of of of the
workshop. Uh I I just want I just want one point of clarification, one question. Was there a point in time where there were serious discussions by this board presumably years ago to create a separate school board police department
like for instance Miami date county has? >> Yes. >> Right. Was that was that a serious conversation? Did that ever get to a board vote? What what was the status of that and how long ago was that? >> Yeah. So about two years ago, I believe it was 2024, um 2023, 2024, uh the
board, the majority of the board actually asked the superintendent to pursue that. Um then there was, you know, conversations in the community. It came to the board, I believe, in a in a workshop. >> Um and the board reversed course. Um so
this has been an issue we've kind of waffled on over the past few years. So the the community at large at least two three years ago did not want an expansion of the Broward County Public Schools Police Department. Is that
accurate? >> It was uh mostly elected officials who came. Yeah. So members of of the community. >> Okay. So now presumably Miff we're doing this to have a better understanding and sort of I guess retake the temperature
of where everybody is is is now at as to whether or not this can be a potential option or whether or not this 8 to 10 year uh plan could um come to fruition. I I would be okay. I'm I'm never against more uh open sessions. I'm never against more town halls. Um I I I do have just
one one question. Are we at the point, Mr. Superintendent, where, and I I hate to keep picking on Margate because I know this is um I know there's multiple departments that we're dealing with. That's just a lot of what I dealt with over the weekend involve Margate for some reason. Um if if Chief Palma comes back and says, "You know
what? Um I've been watching the schoolboard meetings. I've been talking to my constituents. Um I I I want to come back to the negotiation table to see if we can come to a mutually agreeable arrangement in which our Margate police officers can say for I
just want to be 100% clear uh Dr. Heburn and for the benefit of the public we will entertain those conversations. Correct. >> Potentially, but it doesn't work like that. They don't negotiate city by city. It is they they negotiate as a group of cities.
>> Okay. So, if the group and and again, I I apologize for for pointing out Chief Palma, who by the way does a great job at Margaret. Um if the group comes back and says, you know, we've we've heard this, we've listened to this, we're ready to come back and and renegotiate
Uh, and Miss Bruno, tell me if I'm overstepping here. We'll entertain those talks, >> right? And we could potentially change course based on those talks, right? >> And we'll entertain the talks. U, but it doesn't solve all of our problems, right? Like I said, another uh major
issue, too, is you're dealing with 14 different ways of uh um doing business. >> The reason I bring this up, um, Dr. He is I I want the public to understand that this isn't just like a lip service thing like we're just going to do this dog and pony show to show you or or make
it seem like we pretend that we we care, right? That's not the case. First of all, I do care very deeply incidentally about this issue. Um but there's potential that based on how these workshops goes, how these town hall goes that this could change the trajectory of where we're at right now. Correct.
>> Correct. >> Okay. So, I'm in favor. Thank you, >> Miss Bowman. What are you >> whether or not we are going to have a workshop again? >> No, I I know the question. I What did What did Mr. Cera fall on? >> He he would like to do a workshop.
>> A workshop. Okay. >> And these two are doing a town hall. >> A town hall. >> All right. I'm I'm good with the town the staying with the town hall with the understanding that there's going to be a plan presented at the town hall. >> Dr. Hepper.
Well, not that we agree, but what their proposal is. >> There's a question. >> Yeah. I guess is there >> The problem that we have is that we don't know what your plan is. >> Yeah. We can get you to plan in short order. >> So, you know, it's kind of like we could do a workshop. We could do a town hall.
But if we don't know what the plan is, I I'm having a hard time making a decision because I don't know what logically makes sense because we don't know the plan. >> Gotcha. >> So, will a plan be presented? a plan to be presented. Um, we'll also send you the the plan and it's and it's uh yeah,
we'll send it to you, too. It's it's it's simple. We're um as we're suns setting contracts and replacing those folks with our folks, but we'll send you more detailed information about that. But that's the >> Well, and also there's going to be
presumably hiring needs, right? >> Yes. which I think you know I I guess you know when this was happening two years ago and I know that I know that things have changed obviously just in the you know just in the landscape of what we're dealing with but my understanding was
that we there was a you know like a shortage of police officers in general at the time which was one of the reasons why we didn't or why I wasn't on the board but why the board decided not to do it because like Palm Beach if I remember correctly Palm Beach County has their own police force but then they are
having to contract out because they didn't have enough officers. >> No, that's not true. >> Those things I think need to be addressed in the plan. >> Yeah, we'll address those in the plans. And I was in Palm Beach County when they actually staffed up um of a couple of hundred police officers in in >> Right. but when they were presenting the
proposal in 24, there was >> a there were positions that were open and there was an issue with competitiveness and things like that. There's a lot of moving parts, I think, to it. Uh, we'll give you guys a plan.
>> Mrs. Alhad. >> Okay. The superintendent cannot present a plan to the community before the plan is presented to this board and the board opines on the plan. If you do the
opposite, then guess what? You lost all your authority. You cannot then say whether you agree with the plan or do not agree with the plan. We are the board. We are the ones that are supposed to be dictating if we agree with the superintendent's plan.
>> Yes, Miss Hixon, >> I had a question for the superintendent. Um is there if we change to district SRO's as the discussion moving forward
does that affect any of the other positions in security like how does that affect the area security managers the area I mean sorry the security monitors all of that does that >> No you're just replacing SRO's you're replacing SRO's from municipal SRO to uh
school district police SRO's Okay, perfect. Thank you. And I Oh, sorry. One more thing. I would just say I I appreciate what Mrs. Alade is saying, but I don't know how I feel about the plan until I know how the public I want
more information from the public because I represent the public. And so before I we have like we sit down and decide it as a board, I want to hear what the public has to say because if we change our mind, then we're we're wishy-washy
or we're we're switching it up on them. So that's why my preference is to do the town hall and get information from the community first. Thank you. Um, Miss Bruno, I have a question uh that I think has kind of come up over and over again, but is it within the
board's authority to say to direct the superintendent and say, "Well, actually, you can't cancel those contracts with X city." So, if the contract is pending, then you would have to terminate the contract. Um but I my understanding that these
contracts are expired. So if these contracts expired then you are looking at either a renegotiation or a new decision with regards to how to move forward. >> The contracts expire June 30th 2026. >> I I so I let me ask the question in a different way then. Is it within our
authority to tell to direct the superintendent and tell him don't let those contracts expire? >> Well, you have to renew them. renew the contracts basically for specific cities. >> Yeah, you so
the superintendent will bring forward a recommendation. If the board decides that I don't want to move with this particular recommendation, I want you to renegotiate or renew the contract. That could be an option that the board explores. So, it's all based on how the board wants to direct. the
superintendent basically saying that I have a new uh plan on how to move forward um based on this particular statute. Um the it is up to the board to work with the superintendent as to how to move forward with that. >> I don't know if that answers >> Yeah. I mean, I'm wondering, so like if
the if the contract's just expired and, you know, would the superintendent be even bringing an item forward with >> you would have to because this is a contract that is statutoily required. So 106.12 says you must have a school
safety um officer and you have four choices on how you do that. You can have a school resource officer. You can have a um I'm going to pull up to make sure I give you the exact wording. A school resource officer, a school safety officer. >> So I don't need you to read that because
I I saw I saw your email, but so I guess I'm I'm still unclear as like so exity contract is expiring June 30th. The superintendent moves one of our school district employees into that position. Is there an item that would we would
vote on to move a current like school uh you know Broward school as police officer into that school? >> I see what you're saying. You're saying without a contract, how would we be a is there something that needs to come before the board for approval? Um
I I would say yes, just because of how the statute is written. It doesn't necessarily have to be a contract. I think the superintendent just advising the board, this is my recommendation would be enough. I don't because there's obviously not going to be a contract if we're filling the slots with our own
officers. I think it's just really the superintendent just advising the board that this is the direction that I would like to move forward with. >> And that needs to be a board item. >> It could be done in a workshop so long as the board gives, you know, a
consensus approving. I don't think you necessarily need to have a board item, but the board needs to be aware and the board needs to approve either through an agenda item or through a workshop and a consensus saying yes, I agree with this move forward. Okay,
>> Miss Bulman, >> I'm going to change my position to agreeing with having the workshop first because I think if we don't I agree with Miss Aladv's point that if you don't know what the plan is, then what are we even getting feedback on? I mean, then that's just a
free-for-all, and it's a a kind of a wide ranging opinion about whether or not you want to use city or um in-house officers and and we need to know what our what the plan is first. So, I I'll
>> Okay. I'm hearing a majority of the board say they want to do a workshop now instead. Do you have your direction, Dr. Heburn? Yes, we will schedule that workshop um hopefully in the next two weeks within the next two weeks because uh just to give the cities um ample time
to transition based on um whatever the outcome is. So um yes, we have our orders. >> Thank you. Any other board member discussion on the advisories? Miss Rupert. >> Sorry, mine was to say workshop. You got me. Thank No, I'm talking about the
advisories because we are still in the workshop on get receiving the advisory committee reports and so I didn't know if you had any comments on that. >> No, no, no, no, not at this time. Thank you so much. >> Any other my colleagues? >> All right. Thank you so much for your uh contributions to the school district.
Our next item is student transportation update. We will recess the meeting for two minutes. Heat. Heat. N. Yeah. Oh, I see. Wo. Yeah.
Wo. Yeah. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Mhm. Oh. Hello. Heat. Heat.
All right, this workshop is now reconvened. Our next item on the agenda is student transportation update. I will now turn it over to staff for a brief presentation. >> Thank you, Dr. Wansa. >> Thank you, um, Madame Chair, Mr.
Superintendent, board members. Um, so I'm I'm Valerie Wanza. I'm the chief strategy and innovation officer and I have the privilege of, um, in this interim period serving as the senior leader for um, student services and fleet student transportation and fleet services. And joining me today is the
executive director of the department, Dr. Simone Clower as well as the manager for transportation operations, Mr. Vincent Harrell. And what we will do um in the interest of time, understanding um that this is an important topic, we will do an abbreviated presentation and
then um ask you know obviously allow the chair to entertain public comment and then obviously any questions from the board. But what I can say is what we are looking for today is really some feedback and direction on the implementation of the smart stops um hub model and we'll talk about some other um
innovations and strategies that we're looking forward to implementing as well. So Beacon if you can there you go and Dr. Claus I'm going to hand you this and remember we're going to do an abbreviated and then go to public comment. Okay. Oh, can you guys
Oh, my papers. I apologize. Hi everybody. Good afternoon. As as Dr. Wansza stated, my name is Dr. Simone Claus. I'm the executive director for transportation and I have the privilege today of introducing Smart Stops, the smarter choice. It is going to be we're going to
discuss the efficiencies as well as our options for rolling this program out. Um it's based I'm going to go quickly through the slides. There's like 44. If you guys have any questions though, we can stop and I can go over them. I do have a narrative prepared to to explain
exactly what smart stops is. But as Dr. Hepburn stated earlier, it is um basically changing our regular routing patterns that we have from our corner to corner stops to a depot stop for our choice schools. So it includes 6 through
12 secondary and magnet high schools. Those would be the schools we're considering um for depot uh pickups. So go ahead. Okay. So that's a little too small for me. So I need to go a little closer here on my screen. I
apologize team. Thank you. Okay. So today the rationale for today's presentation is currently we transport over 52,000 students daily. The current routing methodologies have been analyzed to create greater efficiencies for our school choice programs in high schools
and 6 through 12 schools. The implementation of a centralized smart stop transportation model will streamline operations and reduce routing concerns and improve overall efficiency. The request today we have from the board is to provide feedback and on
implementing the smart stops transportation model at selected choice high schools and 6 through 12 campuses. Today's presentation again quick right we're going to go over our staffing demands the cost of transportation the proposed model why it's important that
we think about this model now and then go to board discussion we can also discuss if you guys part of the powerpoint includes uh the updates for Senate Bill 296 and house bill 733 this is about bell time changes if you guys are not familiar I can go in depth about
it if you'd like to skip that today and just go to questions for that that is available. But there are about five slides dedicated to a proposed model for the House bill recommendation of setting uh middle school and elementary school
start times at a specific time instead of allowing the district to select what they would like to choose. Okay. So today today we're going over staffing challenges, rising operation costs, in inefficient routing model, and the need
for centralized routing. Basically, the transportation system right now, Broward County School Board continues to navigate ongoing operational challenges in student transportation, including driver shortages, rising costs, shifting ridership patterns, and the need for a
more efficient and sustainable service model has become increasingly critical. I'm not sure if you guys know, prior to 2022, we routed 90,000 students um based on their eligibility. However, after going through our FTE numbers and our
ridership data, we discovered only 55,000 students were actually riding the bus. So, we created an initiative called register to ride, which only routes students who register or indicate they would like to utilize transportation services. The proposed hub
transportation stop model represents a strate a strategic redesign of the current system aimed at improving reliability, maximizing resources, and enhancing the overall student transportation experience while saving 4 million. With the register to ride model
in 2002, we were able to reduce our budget by 9 million. So here we are again back at the table hoping that we can um come up with some more costa effective ways in helping the district save money as well as decrease ridership time as well as decrease the cost that
we incurs to sustain our buses mileage etc. Currently BCPS operates under a three- tier bell system that maximizes bus utilization across staggered start times. While the structure has historically
allowed the district to serve a large and diverse student population, it is now operating at full capacity with approximately 745 active routes that support support a fleet of about 1,200 buses. But without sufficient drivers to
operate them, the system faces daily service gaps. On average, 20 routes remain unfilled each day, compounded by an additional 25 to 30 driver absences due to leave or other factors. The ongoing shortage places significant strain on routing efficiencies and
service reliability, particularly during the afternoon dismissal. This narrative I'm going does not follow the slides in its entirety. Um, again, the slides are available for you guys to view, but this slide right here is is relevant simply because it lets you know that we are
still transporting and driving the same amount of miles since 2015 um to now. However, we are transporting less general ed students and we are transporting more special needs students. I'm sure you guys have heard that already before.
So, at the same time, as we're transporting this, as we are transporting these students and as the decline in student enrollment, but the increase in ESC transportation rise, we are placed under additional cost
restraints. Um, every each additional bus placed into service represents an approximal approximate annual cost of $72,000. With a recent boundary and bell-time adjustments, we've already generated nearly 2 to 2.5 million in additional
transportation expenses. These financial pre pressures combined with limited flexibility within the existing sorry within the existing tiered system make it increasingly difficult to accommodate new new initiatives without
substantial cost increases. So the hub model or our smart stop model is designed to allow our redefining efforts and our school closures and things that are are uh are set to enhance and entice I guess enrollment in the district. This
is going to help offset some of the costs with those changes. The smart stop model is designed to bring savings as I stated back to the district. address challenges by trans transitioning from a decentralized neighborhood-based stop system to a
network of centralized strategically located smart stops. Under this model, students, particularly those attending choice, magnet middle, and high schools, will be transported to and from designated smart stops such as high school campuses. These locations are
staffed, accessible, and capable of safely accommodating students at higher volumes. The total cost of transportation right now is aboutund approximately 103 million. As you guys can see, our ESC cost, as we've stated, it supersedes our
special needs cost. I mean, sorry, our general education cost. However, with the Smart Stop model, the goal is it's going to allow us to reallocate some of those resources from the general ed choice schools and allow us to uh restructure the model of our special
needs or our um our routes that are are struggling with arrival times. So, uh, from an operational standpoint, the smart model allows BCPS to move
to to sorry, from an operational standpoint, the smart model allows BCPS to more effectively utilize its existing fleet and workforce by consolidating stops and streamlining routes. Bessles can be reassigned across tiers, reducing the need for additional vehicles and mitigating the impact of driver
shortages. The model is projected to generate approximately 3.5 million in annual savings while also improving service consistency and system reliability. Importantly, the stops the smart stop model maintains the district's commitment to safety. Central hub locations were selected based on
accessibility, supervision, and capacity to ensure a secure environment for students. In most cases, these hubs are located at high school locations providing structure and monitor stat monitored settings for students arrival and departure. We selected high school which is open for discussion simply
because the high schools open up at an earlier time which means while the students are waiting there at the hub locations for buses or smart stop locations for buses, there will be the availability of possible camp campus monitors and staff on site. We are currently collaborating with those
departments though to see exactly how that's going to look. The success of the model is dependent on thoughtful implementation and strong community engagement. Families will need to transition from transition, excuse me, families will need to transition from transitional corner to corner service to
utilizing designated smart stops which may require adjustments to their daily routines. As such, proactive communication will be essential to clearly articulate the benefits of the model, including improved reliability, later pickup times, and enhanced system
efficiency. Framing this transition as a modernized effect rather than a reduc reduction in service will be critical to gaining your support and stakeholder support. In moving forward, several key actions are necessary. Bell schedules must be finalized in alignment with
start stop model to support efficient routing design. Already in play, we have like I stated cross functional collaborations between transportation, academic planning, regional offices. These are essential to ensuring alignment and success for the roll out. Additionally, detailed modeling and
phase implementation planning will be conducted to identify priority schools and regions for initial deployment. The HubSpot transportation, as requested by many of you, is a forward-thinking approach to re-imaging student transportation in Broward County. By aligning resources with current re
realities and future needs, BCPS can build a more reliable, efficient, sustainable transportation system that will better serve students and families across the district. So, in the slides, you will see that we did a we did some research from other districts. We chose uh four states that
that transport um let's red clay for instance in Delaware they transport about uh 13,000 students daily. Um Colorado Springs 10,000 students and then Austin does
about 20,000 students. We just chose these four districts uh simply because they align closest to the way we route and they have been highly effective in the hub stop concept for their choice schools. Now, >> so um I think the next two slides are
really um they they they really tell the story. So as we all know um the NOVA complex we um every child is afforded the opportunity to access transportation if if need be. This is the district's only full K through 12 contiguous all
assignment um school. And so currently for the two elementary schools, the middle school, the high school, we also um McFatterder Technical as well as the college academy at Broward College Central Campus utilize um the Nova Complex buses if you will. So for them
currently is 684 stops. If we go down to hub stops by placing um stops at each one of the high schools, we now take that 684 stops down to 32 stops. And um right now as an
organization, we spend on average about $2.5 million a year in transportation for NOVA um transportation with the 684 stops. Thank you, Dr. Wanza. So, it's important for everyone to really look at this slide. This really gives you a look at
the chaotic nature of picking up the students from the corner stop and how long they are on the routes. So, if you're looking at it, the triangle is a stop and the line is the route. There's at least, you know, 15 to 16 triangles on one route and you see it goes loop-de-loop topsyturvy. With the new
model with the 32 smart stops, you see how clean that design is. We're no longer cutting through neighborhoods. you're not I'm not going we're not going to receive as many emails about um you guys are stopping in my community but there's no kids here. We're going to be stopping at high school locations. Now, will buses travel through certain
communities? Absolutely. We still got to pick up our special needs babies, but there are also going to be pathways to the high schools. So, we looked at the the macro level. Now, I want to drill down to more of a micro level so you guys can see really what the difference is in routing. We
took just a little subset of an area south of Commercial, west of 95 and north of Davyy Boulevard, east of Florida Turnpike. And we showed how before there was an existing 67 bus stops with the smart stop, which is depot hub, whichever, but it's smart
stops. There's two smart stops created for that area. Now, it doesn't mean that the buses are going to reduce per se, right? Because if you have the example I always give is if you have 500 kids on a bus and they're separated by 10 routes
because we're going corner to corner, you still have 500 kids to pick up at the high school. So you're still going to have you it's going to lower travel time. It's going to reduce the travel time for drivers and students. It's going to hopefully decrease the route
time by about two hours and allow our kids to sleep in a little ear little later and get home a little earlier. That's the concept and the model for the design. We also broke down South Broward High. South Broward High, believe it or not, had 119 bus stops. With the Smart Stop
um comparison, it's 14. So, we already in magnet current cost right now, we spend about 5.5 to 6 million for magnet transportation. This will bring this down substantially as we show in slides further. Anything on that? Okay.
So, return on investment, we've been speaking about that the whole time. You're going to have a reduction in route time, your fleet life extension because we're not traveling as many miles. Um, overtime expense reduction. Our drivers right now, they're contracted for 7.5 hours. However, they
pretty much do about 10 to 12 a day based on the miles traveled and the stops that we make. This model will reduce that time by at least 2 hours. Um and our tiered B our tier belt schedule benefits the fact that we are on three tiers
meaning and it's again it's in the appendix if anybody wants to know how we currently route but the fact that we have our elementary our high and our middle on separate tiers allows us to efficiently um move our routes around seamlessly. So, the cost savings for smart stops,
that's also available if you guys would like to dive a little deeper. But, as I stated, we are we are looking to reduce about two hours off of every route. That's about a savings of 3 million, a little bit close to $4 million if you look at the second scenario with the
overtime that's occurred. The next couple slides they are going to go over um what the reduction in buses looks like with the smart stops and then also go over the cost benefits. So we just listed the estimated route reductions for middle schools that
actually had buses removed. So I'll just name out two or three. Um the the biggest one, let's look at the Nova complex. We had 121 buses. Now it's going to go down to 95 smart stops, which is 26 buses. Right. Then you have William Dandy. There's 10 buses, seven
buses after the smart stops. And then uh that's a difference of three. So that's just a overview, a higher level highlight of what removing the corner to corner requirement and making it a depot.
>> So the next slide. Oh, thank you Dr. Wansa. That'll help. I apologize. >> Okay. So the the the caveat to this is we are talking about the magnet high schools, but we're also talking about the magnet middle. The two have to be together in order to receive this $4
million savings. They are currently on our second and first tiers, and that's where you're going to have the most bang for your buck as far as saving money. So on this slide, it literally just shows you that we're looking at 3.36 million
um in savings. The next slide goes into as I stated in my narrative, there are some um there are there is a cost impact to the refining initiative. So this slide lists that the boundary changes
um in some instances they have a cost to them. Plantation High reconfiguring that. There's a a cost to that as well. We have to add a new bus on the road. You have ESC costs as well. But it's still with those with that cost impact
of 2.2 million, you're still looking to save, you know, close to 3 million with this new concept. >> We talked about that. >> Yeah, we talked about the rest. Um I really covered all the rest of the slides uh with my narrative but here but I also want to one of the conversations
was what are what is transportation doing right now what are you guys doing to um work on areas of improvement so we have constant continuous re redefining of here comes the bus we have basically created this app from ground up in essence there's a company Synovia that
runs it however because our district is so large they would love to keep our business um they have worked with us to create kind of like an allocart service for us. As far as when we do bus substitutions, as I stated earlier, we have call outs, workers comp, FMLA.
Currently, uh we have 740 routes. We only have 730 drivers. So, every day we start out at a deficit of -15. But with the Here Comes the Bus app, it allows us to let the parents know what we've substituted and what route or what stops will be on what bus. We also are looking
into opportunities to partner with Broward County Transit. We are rolling out or we've slowly started to roll out a pilot to test student ridership. We are utilizing these same um the ID badges to scan the students on
the bus so that the parents can now know where their students are, not where the bus is, which is one of the requests that we receive from some of the advisory committees and also the board. Uh we have an annual review of our magnet transportation zones. That's part of the cost savings as well. We were
able to consolidate some of the magnet zones as well as expand a couple that were needed so we didn't have any gaps in services. We also have some additional strategies to reduce ride time which was a conversation that was brought up earlier. Um we want to reduce ride time for special needs students as
well as general ed students. Uh we think it's uh a great opportunity to discuss that because nobody wants their student on the bus for longer than an hour. But as Dr. Wanza stated, if you are traveling, if you live in Coral Springs and you're going to a school in
Plantation and it takes you 45 minutes in your vehicle, it's going to take even longer on the bus. Then you have traffic delays. You have, of course, our students need time sometimes at the end of the day to unwind. So there's a little bit of delay getting them on the bus. Um, and then you also have there's
sometimes students have been, I guess, quiet all day and want to erupt on the bus, so we have to pull over from time to time. So, so with that being said, that could increase our the ride time, but it is not our intention to ever have anybody
or any student on the bus. I have two kids myself and I when they're on the bus for an hour and a half, I'm like, "Oh, is everything okay?" It's so we are work looking at ways to reduce that time and hopefully with the implementation of smart stops we'll be able to work better
and collaboratively with our special needs department and bringing some of the special needs programs back to their home schools that will reduce the travel time for these students. And then we're going to leverage AI um on other systems. We're working on
moving away from the well, we're working on creating a a a routing platform that really works to our needs where we create it based on what the district needs, the customer service components, and the ask versus being pigeonheld to
what the system can do for us. So, this is just a quick update on um the district's initiatives around Senate Bill um 296 from 2025. As we all know, this was the bill that inverted um start times around high schools starting later
um and elementary and middle school starting earlier. In case anyone did not know, um the the bill was repealed just ahead of the start time for July of 2026. So now districts and charter schools obviously can um implement
strategies that work best for them. So what we're doing just as um just as a quick oversight to the board, we are doing a um survey out to our parents because we still have to document that we did um uh survey parents. We will get
that survey done. It's going out this month and then we will um analyze that data. obviously work on uh school start times for next school year. And then we did model some scenarios of what it would look like and what it would cost
if the district were to implement uh the high schools with a later start time. So I'm not going to read these slides to you. These are the model slides. Model we did three uh models and slide 32 gives you that estimated cost impact depending on if we were to implement one
of these um three models. But the district does have the ability to implement start times that work best for the community and obviously for the organization. But we did want the board to see what that cost impact would look like. So we as I said administering um
electronic survey in the month of April. We'll finalize the school start times because we know we have to get that out by May and then we do have to submit to the DOE our processes and what we are doing um by the end of June. So, we're going to pause. May taking a little bit
longer than you wanted, but we're going to pause and um wait for next steps. Got it. We'll go to public comment. Leticia Greavves and then Jackie Liskum. >> Welcome. >> Okay. Welcome. Good afternoon. Um,
schoolboard staff, superintendent, colleagues, colleagues. I am a community member. I do not work for BCPS, but I feel like it. My tax solitude. Um, I just want to speak to the item, specifically the NOVA schools. Um, and
NOVA is a K through 12 school. Um, it's the only K through2 school in um, Broward County Public School. And I want to start with the safety of the children. One size does not fit all. by doing what the they plan on wanting to do will put children in harm's way. And
just want you to understand that forcing kids to walk further distance just to save money is placing them in harm's way. Brown has the most cases of children that disappear, kidnap. You have human trafficking going on, sex trafficking going on, and this
is in this in the state according to news and statistics. Again, human trafficking and sex trafficking are major issues going on right now. To target NOVA students, you need to actually correct the routing habits that you have. So, that's the problem. You have poor routing habits for NOVA
instead of targeting them and trying to redirect them. Um, having them go there. Sometimes there's parents that actually stays with their children. So, they have to go to the high school and the bus is not there. We don't want to put ownership on the school staff to be
responsible to make sure that transportation makes sure bus is there. Um, as far as I heard her say during the presentation that parents are calling saying bus are going through their neighborhood. I have not heard of that. I'm very active in the community. Um, I never heard of that. So, I'm not sure
where that came from other than people who are still upset because their kids can't get accepted into NOVA um to this day. Um if a also I just want to mention that the the community of Nova schools is not aware of this of what's going on.
They never had input about this. This was just added to the workshop. I may I was aware of it by going to Facebook. That's how I found out about it and even um students and staff from no one was aware that this was happening. So talk
about um transparency also in terms of the transportation. You said it's for choice programs and magnets 6 through 12. Nova is not a magnet school. It's a K through 12. So so you're impacting kids families who have kids in elementary, middle, and high that goes
to that school. So you're doing a split there. In terms of Senate Bill 296, NOVA is already in compliance. They do start after that school, the elementary, middle, and high. So again, not sure why NOVA is part of this. Um, so just want to let you know that no is already in compliance.
Um, BCT routes, I stay engaged with them a lot. You might want to be concerned. They're always stopping routes, having issues, whether is routing issues, construction going on. Also to compare Broward County to the tri county area, Miami Dade and Palm Beach, they're set
up totally different. Neighborhoods are set up differently. So, um, thank you. >> Thank you. Perception versus reality. >> Thank you, Jackie Liskum. Thank you. Yes. And I'd like to acknowledge the really difficult job that Dr. Claus and her team um have. Um
I really don't envy juggling all these uh buses and students and drivers and all the challenges. So, thank you for what you uh for what you folks do. I especially like that the phraseiology smart stop has been dreamed up. That sounds all very nice, but it's actually
code for less stops. Um, and I echo some of the um points that Latricia makes about the um impacts that those will have on students and parents. There was one slide that went up there for about a second, but um it talked about um about the requirements for parents to change
their routines and deliver their kids to further away spots. So, I do think more community engagement is going to be needed. I agree. I didn't even know this. Um I there's things buried in in 44 pages here that are quite um revoly and I acknowledge there has to be a lot
of innovation too. Um I do want to hark on again if I may to expand a little on the discussion about deaf and heart of hearing community because the pathway was open to throwing that into this discussion here too. Um, I can't emphasize enough that this can't be a
choice by uh um by the board and and by the district as to when and whether the the um problem of transporting um students particularly to the deaf and heart of hearing cluster where they're on a bus for up to three hours. um it
shouldn't be a choice to resolve it or to kind of um well let's leave it till next year and let's see what else we can do about you know regionalizing services and bringing services closer. This is an immediate problem it needed resolving years ago. I can't emphasize enough you
have lost students you are about to lose more because it isn't being resolved. So it would be easy to think well it's now only April whatever it is um and they've only got a few more weeks to suck it up. Um I think showing willing that you are going to preempt any more um uh
difficulty and and um hardship over this and pivoting now to provide some flexibility of transportation for these students or at least communicate with this community to tell them what you are doing to acknowledge the uh the pain and to tell them what is being worked on
would help preempt some of the problems that you are carving out for yourselves by not doing so. Um, I also want to um um uh point out that it was in the Evergreen report in 2014, which was an independent review of ESE in um in
Broward schools that was contracted by BCPS. Um it called out um in 2014 that bus times needed to be tallied uh that were in violation actually of state administrative code 6A 3.0171, 0171
which says to plan routes so far as practicable so no elementary students shall be on the bus more than 50 minutes or secondary students more than one hour. Thank you. >> Thank you. Board member discussion. Dr. Aeman.
>> Thank you so much chair. Um I have a couple uh questions that I just want to share uh please. Um the first um is really a comment and then I'll get into my questions which is you know for Broward County Public
Schools uh our transportation system uh is a real differentiator for a lot of people that are thinking about private schools, charter schools and public schools. So it is a real strength. It's uh great to learn that uh for gened students the cost to the district is
around $470 uh per student and uh you know to Miss Luncom's point which is always appropriate in front of mind with me. You know losing and gaining students is you know an important consideration when we think about uh what we want to do.
Um, it's interesting to me also that the cost for our ESSE students to Broward County Schools is $9,000 uh net cost to our district. Um, I would consider bringing that up u when we get to our legislative priorities for next year. Uh, it sure would be nice if the
legislature could help us out uh with those costs. I think that's really important. Um, a question chair u on this smart stops initiative. Would this include any of our ESSE students or would it be gen ed students only? >> Dr. Heeper?
>> It would just be general ed students. >> Terrific. So, our big cost driver out of that 103 is our ESSE students. Um, and what we're proposing today is for the gened students only, which is the $470 uh per. Um, I guess let me ask a couple
other ESSE questions. uh you inferred toward the end of the presentation I think uh that our ESSE services may not be in the optimal place when we look at our total costs and the total services we want to provide to ESC's. Is that analysis going to be done in time to
implement for next year? >> I apologize to the chair. Dr. Zman, can you repeat that question? >> Yes, it sounds toward the end of the presentation. I'm sorry about that. Um, I got to the quietest place I could get. Um, you uh uh inferred at the end of the
presentation that um part of the cost drivers for our ESC students is that we have their services where we have them. Uh, now that we're aware of the cost, uh, is there uh, any analysis that could be done by the end of this year about where our ESSE services are located?
>> Can I go ahead? >> Okay. Um, Dr. And this is um Valerie Wanza. So we we have been working with our ESC department, Miss um Hollingsworth and Miss Egan um about where uh programs and services could be
located. I think I I believe what they are looking at is the need for services and where they can strategically place the different programs and then obviously we can do our analysis for transport for for transportation >> that I I would love to see that it's a
very it's an incredible balancing act between providing the exact right services they need and having the right therapists and teachers and teacher assistants and and helpers uh in the right place. Uh but we actually have a district with lots of capacity in lots of places. Um and it sure would be great uh to put all of that including
transportation in it together and and make sure we're offering those services in the right place. Um the other thing that I'm frankly getting frustrated to hear about without a solution is this shortage of bus drivers. Uh can somebody in the superintendent staff do an
analysis of what we need to pay uh bus drivers so that we don't have this persistent gap? uh if we start every day short 15 bus drivers, uh it just seems clear to me that we're not we don't we don't have the right package, you know, to get enough people to come and drive our buses.
>> And so I I'd love to know what our what the right package is, but I I just haven't seen that analysis done. Is that something that we could do by the time this comes back? Um from my understanding it's been uh done a couple of a few years ago and I know we last year we just actually raised the the bus
driver minimum pay as well to be more competitive. Um uh pretty sure the transport not transportation but HR can do a a market analysis but there is a lot of competition um just for the sheer evolution of logistics with um uh
packages such as Amazon UPS where you know we're competing with those entities now that we didn't have to compete with in the past but we can certainly do a a market analysis and see what the competitive pay is uh currently uh but last year we we raised the the uh the
starting pace uh slightly last year as well. I I'll I'll log that as a followup for you, Dr. Zean. >> I appreciate that, Dr. Heeper. I I you know, it's not just that we have, you know, uh substitute bus drivers coming in, but we also have a pretty
significant overtime bill for transportation. And if we can figure out there, there may be a place where we can increase uh compensation so that both of those things uh get minimized or eliminated. But it's certainly part of the overall uh solution I think for what uh what the transportation system might
do. Um a rather big question uh chair, what what would it look like if we contracted out all transportation for Broward County schools? What what would a contractor come in and do that is different and maybe more efficient than what we do?
>> Dr. Hepper, >> u thanks for the question. We can look a little bit deeper in into that. I've been in districts where they have contracted out some some bus services just for the sheer volume of our transportation system. Um it's difficult to contract the whole entire um
transportation system. Is possible to contract out some u but we have to dive into the to those costs and see what those costs are now versus what we pay our drivers fuel cost, maintenance costs on our buses. >> I appreciate that. there may be an
opportunity at the very high end. Like I know it's a $9,000 average for ESE students, but I'm also aware that there are some ESA students uh who have very special transportation needs and we still deal with those transportation needs to my knowledge with a school bus.
Um and it may be that that is something that's perfect for a contractor, you know, that they can do a great job for our special needs kids uh and do it at with different vehicles and and at a different cost. So, I would just ask if we can look into that uh because that's
that's a way that we can save money. >> Is that it, Dr. Zean? >> No. No, ma'am. I'm sorry. I have uh one other thing. Uh just my general takeaway from this. If I'm right, there's about $3.5 million of savings, but there's
about $2 million of additional cost as a result of repurposing and changing boundaries. And I think that under this smart stops model, parents are going to be asked to drive further and students are going to be asked to wait in in hubs
in order to get uh to school. Um so I would like to see this when it comes back with kind of like a conclusion that has the pros and cons, all the costs put together. You know, making a change like this is difficult. Uh it may be very
difficult for us right now. We're doing a lot of things differently. Um, and if the net savings is $1 million and we're asking people to do more uh on something that is a differentiator for traditional public schools like ours, um, I'm not sure that the juice is worth the
squeeze. Now, if contracting out ESSE students or the most expensive ESC students saves us several million dollars, that's a great thing we can do independently. Um, but I would just love to see kind of a conclusion when this comes back that puts all of these things together so that we can see the pros and
the cons if that would be okay. Mr. Superintendent. >> Yes, that's that's a good >> Thank you. I appreciate uh all the work that went into this. This is we're getting we're getting close. Uh I just feel like there's some more analysis uh about these things. Maybe a little bit broader thinking related to contracting
out uh so that we can figure out, you know, what we want to do. Am I right, chair, that this is work that we're doing because we want to make changes for next school year for the 26 27 year. >> Correct. >> That's correct. >> I appreciate that. Thanks. Thank you very much.
>> Thank you. Uh Dr. Hoes. >> Thank you, Madam Chair. Um can I >> Yes. Go ahead. Go ahead. >> I ju I just wanted to re I wanted to clarify something Dr. Dr. Zean said and I answered. So, the ESC students that would be included are the ones that are
at corner stops, no door-to-door services. I just wanted to make sure cuz I said no, the answer is corner stop special needs students would be considered on in this model. >> Thank you, Dr. Cloud. >> Okay, so uh um Dr. Claus is um
these are gened choice students, correct? through the chair. Yes. >> Okay. All right. So, I know that students will be um picked up from different hubs, which means there'll be
quite a few students, right? So, um uh how will how do you plan or or Dr. Heepern, how do we plan to address safety um considering that they're going to be quite a few students at these uh various um hubs? >> Yes. So, the hubs will actually be on um
school campus. Uh so, we address safety with uh security staff being able to supervise kids while they're at uh a campus uh smart stop, a hub stop versus, you know, the usual while they're standing at a corner in their neighborhood. >> Okay. So, there will be increased
security staff to address these >> concerns. And doesn't that come with a cost? because I don't think that was included here in the presentation. >> With the security staff at at that site, we can flex time. We can start uh security staff uh person's time earlier
or later. So, we have opportunities to really uh adjust start and stop time for key um security staff at that site. >> Okay. So, >> we will minimize the cost. >> Understand. So are you able to bring back to us even with a minimized cost what that looks like for providing
security um should this move forward? >> Yes. >> Okay. So I know we have here comes the bus and my my my son rides the bus um and he knows where his bus is. Um sometimes he's a little late. I have to be driving a little faster than I should
but he needs to get up get up a lot earlier. Um so I was I had question um before when when we were at the um the meeting uh with the ESC um committee and I I mentioned Dr. flowers that often
times uh since we're talking about gened choice students here oftent times there are kids who um if you look at the not choice students but kids that we're picking up otherwise right um they may not need a bus for a particular day um and there are many kids like that right
there may be a few hundred maybe a hundred for any particular day that they're not there at the bus stop cuz they're not riding the bus that day but the bus still comes so and I I know we have the app, here comes the bus, but is there a could it be modified or could
the company do some modification where a student can go on and says don't need the bus uh for that day. Um so the driver is aware well I'm only picking up one student over here. I don't need to make that stop. Uh you know is there any
way that that can that the app could provide the option of don't need the bus? Um, so it minimize the number of stops. >> May I? >> Yes. >> Okay. So, we can definitely look into that. That's a great idea. Currently, we
use the system of where the parent notifies the school or the school notifies us that the child won't be riding and then the driver would not go to that stop. Um, but that is an option we can definitely look into. Thanks for the suggestion. Right. Because we're paying for the app, right? >> Absolutely. >> And and bus drivers have they have
access to the app, don't they? Yes. Well, it's it's a tablet on their bus. Absolutely. Yes. >> Right. So, if a if a kid if I'm picking up Johnny at whatever location and and the bus driver sees Johnny has don't need the bus, then I don't need to go to that stop. I can go to the next one. So,
I I mean, wouldn't that save some time? >> I mean, I didn't I didn't want to throw you out there, you and Matthew out there, but it would definitely help you guys. >> You don't need the bus, right? Well, he wish he doesn't need the bus every day cuz he wants me to drive him all the way across town, but I'm not
going to do that. Um, okay. So, um, what push backs do you uh anticipate should we move forward with um with having these stops? Because I'm assuming parents are going to have to drive further um some parents. Um, so what
what push backs do you anticipate and how do you plan to deal with that as far as the community push back? >> And I I um I apologize. I don't know the uh public speaker's name, Miss Greavves. Grieves. The points she made are valid. Um the push back would be the parents
would yes now be required to drive the students to the stop. Um there also would be the push back would be how many students are going to be at the high school. Some parents might have concern with that. You're going to have parents that who normally can walk their kids to the stop before they get to work to make
sure they're safe and secure. They're going to be a little nervous that they're no longer able to do that because the child is going to be at that depot stop or the smart stop a little later than earlier. So, your community push back uh will those are the the three different things that we see could
be a point of contention. >> Okay. So, these are major changes, right? because this is going to change the routine of a whole lot of families. It is >> um are we how are we planning on rolling this out? Are we going to um have some
sort of a um and I know we talked about town halls? We don't want to do a whole lot of those, but I'm anticipating there will be a lot of community concerns. So how do we plan to engage the community to ease their concerns and to to help
them to sort of um accept the changes that are coming forth? So, so depending on um when we would initiate, right, we obviously would have some conversation with some of our advisories and then and then the schools that are impacted, we would have to have conversations at those schools at their um at their
advisories, at their SAC meetings, at their area advisory type um meetings. And ju just to clarify, so um even though many people may not think that it is, NOVA is not a neighborhood boundary school. It is a choice school. people
make application to go to NOVA just like they make application to go to a magnet school. So that is why it is classified as a choice school. Um it is a full district assignment school. Um and and essentially I for years and some of you
u may remember in your time in other roles throughout the district for years um staff has been asked to look at doing something to realize savings with transportation not only to NOVA but to the magnets and so um we just wanted to
clarify that that we aren't just picking on you know what I'm saying particular schools or or particular communities. >> Okay. So Dr. Um I hear you in terms of the um the the the sack um and and you know these regular meeting groups um but beyond
that uh let's just say you're going to inform sack. How do you how do you plan to ensure that parents are aware to show up at the SAC meeting or whatever meetings as opposed to having an independent meeting for parents uh to discuss the specific issue as opposed to
being part of the general agenda for a sack committee? um do you feel that it would be more beneficial to have an independent meeting that address this one specific issue or to attach this to some other agenda of particularly established groups?
>> So it depends on the school community, right? Um and and for some schools it could be an independent meeting that we're just going to discuss transportation. And for some schools because parents normally come to meetings instead of instead of requesting that they come to another
meeting, we would add on to a you know and ask for a special agenda item. So it would be um it would be unique for each school community. But one of the things that we have to do whenever we decide to do it is we're going to have to overcommunicate that these conversations
are taking place. We need that, you know, we need parent input. We invite you to be a part of the conversation. We would have to overcommunicate that in multiple ways. So that um and and and then we would probably have to consider having like a morning and an afternoon, right? because you have people who have
different working hours and different family situations that we're very open um to having the conversation and making sure that they have the availability to get there. >> Okay. So, can you assure this board that every single parent of a kid being impacted by these changes will be
notified as to the meetings and where they these meetings will be so they can come and voice their input or get information. So we can ensure that they're notified but I can't ensure that they're going to participate. >> Understand? I am I am I am more
concerned okay with awareness. >> Okay. Yes sir. >> So uh every kid that's impacted we will make sure that those parents get that information regardless of whether or not they show up. >> Yes. Yes sir. >> Okay. So I have another question. Um um
what negative impact um besides the location um should families expect? Is there anything else besides having to take their kid to another location and the safety concerns that we discussed? Is there something else we're missing that
would be impactful to families? >> No, I can't think of any right now. But, you know, if if I'm not thinking of something and they bring it up, we'll make sure that we advise you. But I I can't think of any right now. It's it it's obviously, you know, I I was a student who rode the bus too from third
grade to 11th grade, but I was a neighborhood student. We didn't do, you know, it wasn't a choice type thing, right? >> And so th this isn't your um your uh children who are going to their neighborhood boundary assigned school. So that wouldn't be these, you know,
those students. These are um our different choice programs that people make application to that we will be having conversation with those parents around um some potential shifts in transportation processes. >> Understand? So with these changes we are
obviously might we may be reducing the number of buses because we're reducing the the the number of stops. Is that fair to assume? So, you're going to reduce the number of stops and then and then what you what you'll reduce is the time on the bus. You you you will
actually realize some fuel efficiency costs, probably some bus longevity costs. And then because we don't have to spend so much time on certain routes, we can reallocate those resources to now we are reducing ride times on other routes.
>> Understand? But will will these changes reduce the number of buses? you want to answer? >> So, not necessarily. However, they will allow us to work with our current constraints. As I stated before,
we're 15 drivers short. This stop, the smart stop model will allow us to align the resources to the appropriate places. It will not necessarily eliminate buses off the road. It would just allow us to rightsize our routing and instead of
some students getting up as we stated earlier, they get up a little later and instead of our driver for driver retention purposes, right? Nobody wants to drive a bus for 12 hours, it would allow them to be on there for 7.5 to 10. So there's cost savings and benefits in
that area, but not necessarily a bus reduction. >> Okay. So um the reason I'm asking that question because you did mention in your presentation that it would um resolve some of the concerns in terms of shortage of bus drivers. Um so if we are
going to resolve those concerns um I guess the the question another way then is will we need less bus drivers? >> No, you will not need less bus drivers. >> Okay. So, how does it resolve the problem with the shortage of bus drivers?
>> So, transparently speaking, right now we're we're short about 25 bus operators for absenteeism, as I stated, right? You have FMLA, you have workers comp. So, any given day, a terminal who's already short five drivers, right? We have five open routes. They're also going to be
short, let's say, five additional call outs or 10 callouts. What we do in those instances for substitution is we double back. So, and when we double back, we have to go to a corner stop, maybe three or four corner stops, and get those children. Now, we'll be able just to go
to the high school location, pick them up, and get them to school timely. So, it allows us to instead of having students, unfortunately, wait sometimes for a bus 15 to 20 minutes, they'll be waiting 5 to 10 and we'll be able to get them to school quicker. >> Okay.
>> That's the design. That's the efficiency in the model. >> I understand. So currently, how many bus drivers did you say we are short? >> Technically, uh 15 15. I was trying to get my numbers together. 15. >> Okay. So, with these changes, will we
still need to fill those 15 positions? >> We will we will need to keep our we can we can substain or we can we'll be able to sustain what we have going on at 745. If we keep our 745 routes, we'll have enough to cover even callouts. So we
still will need to hire about 15 to 20 bus operators and then we do need to hire about uh 30 30 to 35 bus attendants. >> Okay. So for the sake of the public and thank you madam chair I'll be I'm almost done. For the sake of the public the cost savings is going to be based upon cost in fuel and what else?
>> Cost and fuel ride time for the students and the drivers operational overtime. >> Okay. So that that those would be the areas where we would save money not not by reducing buses or bus drivers. Correct. >> Correct. Yes. >> Understand. Okay. Thank you, Madam Chair. Appreciate it.
>> Thank you, Miss Hixon. >> Thank Excuse me. Thank you. I have a couple of questions. Um on I I also was interested in something that Dr. Zean asked about and that was about the ESSE
students because we didn't really talk about how we're going to reduce the time. So, have we done any research on how if we used private transportation if that would save any money?
So, we'll have to bring that back to the table to discuss privatizing transportation. We did do this work up a while ago, but I would I would hate to give inappropriate numbers. Um, however, the the the key point you have to keep in mind when we transport special needs
students who are door-todoor services, they also require an attendant andor a unique aid. And then they also require that doortodoor because your private transport does not have stop arms to allow to stop traffic. So you are actually in some instances limiting the
amount of students that can get in get on the get in the vehicle for private transport and then you are limiting the amount of students they can pick up based on the time it's going to take them to get to and from. However, this is just me looking at as executive
director transportation and what our numbers are, but I can bring back what the cost would look like if we did privatize. I don't have that information right now. And and also like if we partnered with the county, they provide top service for special needs students.
Like is there a way we partner with them at a some kind of discounted c? Because I know it costs a person $3 to use one one way. Um and they're, you know, they're used a lot. Like my son goes to
a day facility and TOPS is what actually delivers a lot of those students to the program. So, just also another option maybe to see how we partner with the the county to use the TOPS program since it's something already in place. It
wouldn't have to be reinventing the wheel. Not in every instance, but where we could. Um, my other well, so I'm haven't been a magnet coordinator for a few years, but dealt with bus depots a
lot as the magnet coordinator at South Broward. So, I don't know if we still use this or not, and it's kind of a backwards model to what you said, but for South Broward, because that's what I'm familiar with. Students would be picked up at their home and brought to a depot, which was Broadview um elementary
for the most part, and then all of the students would collect there and then that bus would bring them to South Broward. So, it's kind of a a little different model than what you suggested, but in in light of the concerns of safety and things like that, would that
work in terms of um a model for what would that save? I I know you can't answer those questions right now, but is that something do we still use that? And is if we do, why couldn't we expand? I don't know if
we only do it for countywide. I'm guessing, right? only like South Brow, there was a few schools that are countywide in that instance, but I I just wonder if that would address the safety issue. So, I can address some of that. We do we
currently that's a hybrid model and we call it a transfer student. We do practice that model um in several instances. However, what usually occurs is you have to have the correct timing in order for that model to be as effective as you want. Which means that when that first bus gets there and drops
off those students there or the parents get there and drop them off at Broadview, the next bus has to be ready and waiting to go so we don't interfere with parent pickup the parent drop off traffic. So we do utilize that transfer model. We don't utilize it in every situation, but could we look into what
that would look like a more hybrid approach? Absolutely. >> Well, and I would also suggest there are some cities that have little shuttles. Maybe there's a way to work in cities where the shuttle picks the student up at the home, gets them to the smart stop
that we have. So, I think there are ways because the safety is a concern. You know, if you have to have an elementary student or any student going further, but I think there's also a concern when a kid's standing at the corner, right? I think it's safer to be at a school. So,
if there was a way for us to maybe partner with our our municipalities or Broward County Transit to to kind of work that hybrid model where it would pick them up and then bring them to the depot so that they're being supervised
across the movement. I think that would that might help with that. >> Um, >> my other I think my last well before I get to the last question, I just want to say thank you. We asked as a board that you bring us back less
transportation costs specifically for NOVA because that's where most of our our costs were. So my understanding of today is this is the first time you're showing this to anyone including us. It's not written in stone. It is to have a conversation once we shake everything
out and figure out what we as a board want to do moving forward. then you would go out to the communities and the principles and all of that. This this is not a done deal. This was just a conversation. So I appreciate correct you very much for bringing that to us because we did give that direction. My
last question and I should probably know the answer but I don't on page 21 um where you know I understand some of this redefining but my one question is um because I I know we voted to to have and
McNichol will um become the four day but there's a couple where it says bell time change and that's and Olsen is also another one there's two of them so Can you just remind us is that something we did we
vote on and I just didn't remember because I don't remember that in the redefining. >> So, um the bell time change came with Hallindelle, right? Because it's going to change because it's going to mirror the 4-day school week. So, that obviously um comes with the bell time
change because it's going to um mirror somewhat the bell time at um of Pompa. And so, um McNichol sometimes, most times they ride the bus with Halenell. So, we were just saying that. So, M. McNichol may or may not be impacted
because McNickel is going to stay on a 5-day week, but Hallland is going to go on a 4-day week. But, you are correct. There was a cost impact on that board item when it came. And then as we went through um finalizing um our redefining
work, the um Olsen item did not come as a board item, but it came up in um conversation and direction that we received. So that's why it is here so that the board can see it. >> So what does the bell time change mean
for Olsen? So right now um as you may recall Olsen probably starts around 7:05 or 7:10 or somewhere like that in the morning and it is a challenge for parents and for the employees and they
have um been pleading with us for a couple years to have their time changed. I believe it's about 8:30 8:00. Okay. eight eight o'clock would be they would go on that first tier. But that that's where that um difference
came. That's that's a pretty much that difference from what the total redefining item was at about that 1.6 or 1 um 7ish million that redefining came. That's where the um additional came is with the Olsen change.
>> Okay. So that Olsen time change will come to us to vote on. >> Yeah, it it will come when we bring final bell times and in late May for the board to vote on for next school year. >> Thank you. Cuz I thought I missed something. >> You didn't miss it.
>> Perfect. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Civera. >> Thank you, chair. Um I want to address some of the concerns that we heard from Miss Miss Greavves. um specifically the the issues with the
the distance that some of these kids would have to uh walk further and potential exposure um of being alone for longer periods of time for those kids that have to walk directly to the bus stop from their from their homes without a parent or or guardian. Um,
I know NOVA is very complex in the way that we get our students there and that they basically come from essentially all parts of the county, right? Um, has there been um any kind of any kind of data or any kind of input that we have
that will show, you know, the average walk time or the average distance time that these students will have to now uh engage in in order to meet these u quote unquote smart stop locations in the event that we uh adopt this plan and
take away the 684 current bus stops and replace it with the 32 smart stops. So um so there has not been a walk time if you will um study done. What what I can tell you is um for the majority of the students it would be like my mom did
drop me off to the bus stop on her way to work. And so that's why we would have to go out have conversations talk to you know communities before we brought back something final. And depending on what communities you know tell us and their feedback the board may say we're going
to pause on this or no we don't want staff to go forward. So that would be um the intentionality in those conversations. >> Well, that that that's a good segue, Dr. WA, because that's where I'm going next. Um I appreciate the fact that we are uh implementing perspective plans of action
and we're being proactive and creative. Um however, this is a major change especially for the NOVA complex, which of course, as you know, falls within district 6. Yeah. >> So, of course is always going to peique my interest as I represent Blanch Foreman, Eisenhower, Nova Middle, Nova
High, McFaturn, and College Academy. So, this is really in the heart uh of of my district and of the utmost importance to me. So, I'm very desirous to have this go out to the community and have parents, students, teachers, community
members engage in substantive input and have sessions in which they can be fully informed and have all of their questions answered because um I have no idea how my community is going to react to this. What I can tell you is that if
I if they don't like it, I ain't going to like it. So, uh, it's very important that my constituents get the, uh, the full picture here and the full plan and the full understanding as to what we're proposing because I mean, these these charts are cute and these diagrams are
pretty with all the colors on them. But the reality is, I mean, if we're going from 684 stops to 32, this is a major major overhaul. And I need to know what my community thinks about this. I need to hear every single concern. Um, you know, Miss Graves did a good job of of
raising the distance issue. I'm sure there's a hundred other concerns that, you know, we're not even thinking of because we're hearing this for the first time. So, um, I am very adamant about going into, um, the heart of Davey, if you will, and making sure that everyone
has an opportunity to be heard, every question asked, every question answered. And if this is a viable plan that we could help come to fruition, fantastic. But I imagine there's going to be some parents, there's going to be some students who are going to have some questions about
this. So, I thank you for taking the initial steps, but uh I think we're a long way from anything coming to finalization. Thank you, >> Miss Bulman. >> Thank you, chair. Thank you for the
presentation. Um, thank you for moving the Olsson start for allowing the Olsson time to start up. I will I think they'll be happy with eight, but you know, if we can get it up there even a little bit more because I think that will definitely help them retain and attract students and um so that's that's great
news. So thanks Mixen. Um, so I so I had a couple questions. The when from like the pool of money that we're saving from when we're looking at the savings, is that general fund operational or is that
capital? >> That's general fund. >> Okay. So that's great. Um, and maybe if you could maybe just walk me through I know that uh Dr. Holist did an example, but just for my um information. So, for
example, my son goes to addicts as he as a magnet student. So, he gets picked up down down the street right now. So, where how does that look for him? Because South Broward is our high school. That's But my but we're two
miles away from there. So, you get a bus to South Broward. So, how how would that look for for that particular scenario? >> For that particular scenario, his stop would no longer be on that corner in
front of your residence. It would now be at South Broward High School. >> Okay. So, I as a if I want him So, if I want him to go to the Magna School, then I would have to get him to South Broward. >> Yes. But as Miss Hixon stated, and so did Dr. Zean and it was kind of alluded
to by Mr. Serva. We're going to look into what those options look like for parents who are not able to take their students to the bus stops. Maybe there is a shuttle or tops that we can utilize to help offset the cost. Go ahead. >> Or I'm just thinking well just because it
because it's already the two mile you qualify for the bus from where we live to get to South. I don't know if that would factor into it or if you're just making a decision. Oh, to >> I apologize, Miss Bowman. If you're
boundaried for that school, then your stop will remain the same. >> You would not be. So, we're bound for South Broward. So, but we're more than two miles away from South Broward. So, my kids can get a bus to South Broward. So, if South Broward is the hub,
>> right? So, that it would be exclude the magnet. Okay. So, you'd have to get them to South Broward. Okay, >> I know. I'm trying to get it, too. I'm sorry. >> So, your child currently goes to Addicts as a part of the magnet or as a part of the
>> as a part of the magnet. >> As a part of the magnet and you get a bus from currently your neighborhood right now go to Addex. >> We go to Addex. >> Right. So, now the um the uh the hub for the Addex boundary, I'm sorry, for the
Addex magnet would be South Broward High School. >> Right. So then the parent would either um the the parent would get the child to South Broward because the the uh the hub concept would be for magnet students obviously not for kids that that's their
neighborhood boundary school >> right so I well so I'm just thinking practically so my next question is just you know like the practicality of shifting to that model and what that looks like in terms >> in terms of potentially losing students
students or losing magnet students because like I said my so my South Broward students get a bus so I'm not driving them to school in the morning. So that would put the onus on me to drive someone that doesn't go there to school while the other one's getting a
ride. So that you know that the attractiveness of that then kind of diminishes based on that fact pattern. Now, if they were going somewhere much farther, it wouldn't be as big of a deal. Um, so I I would like to just
and I don't maybe like a survey or whatever to kind of see what um you know what we would be looking at. It might be that people choose different programs and we regionalize it like we had talked about before and we kind of go um in that direction because I think that we
do need to >> I like the I like the idea in general of like cutting down the roots and you know like making this much more efficient and cutting down the time that the kids are on the bus. Um, but that's like a that's just an example of where if my other
kids are getting a bus to the same place, why am I driving this one? You know, so just but there's going to be a million different fact patterns to look at for that, you know, that's gonna But if Olsson's starting at eight, then I mean there's so many different things
to take into consideration. Um, so let's see. And then when you're when you're saying smart stop, is this >> a concept or is is it a program like a is this like a whole
>> It's just the name that we use for depot stops instead of saying depot stops. >> Smart. I thought there was like a whole like a logistical app behind this. So, okay. So, you guys have come up with all of this. You're okay. Okay. Well, we might need to, you know, >> look into that
>> copyrighting it. Um, >> and then, uh, something else. So, as we're going, I know you were looking at efficiency and I thought I think I saw something here about propane and different things. Are we we had talked about this last year a little and I
think we were getting away from it, but I don't exactly remember why. Like electric vehicles, is that not >> I'll yield to Vince. Vincent Herald, our operations manager. >> The district currently has 60 uh EV uh
buses in in service uh that we've acquired within the last two years. >> So, how so how is that working? Um in compar are are we >> we are seeing >> them or are they incorporating them in our routes? Our initial concerns was
just making sure that uh they could hold the charge based on our routes. So, we started them out on routes that are basically closer to our our hub and we're expanding that, but we are seeing savings for those buses. Typically, uh you're going we're saving anywhere
between four to $6,000 per year on fuel and maintenance for those vehicles. >> Okay. >> So, would we be looking at acquiring more of those? >> Right now, we're we're restricted based on our capacity. So, we're at the 60.
Um, we did acquire those 60 through a grant. U, we were able to leverage about $14.8 million. Uh, through a grant, uh, we had to put up about $5 million and the state allocated. So, we purchased 18 and through the grant, we were given an
additional 42. >> So, to add on to what Vince was saying, we're currently limited in infrastructure. We currently don't have a place to store the electric buses, additional buses, but with this concept, there will be a conversation for that in the future.
>> Okay. Yeah. Because there's other potential savings that because the maintenance is also >> much less >> that's also factored in. >> So that's definely something that we can incorporate. Um, and and then I I'm a little bit confused and I apologize if
this was answered already, but the in the appendix I know that the um the statute was repealed, >> but are we looking at do you have to take a survey of what the Okay, so is it
that would potentially really upend operations, wouldn't it? If everyone decides they want a different model, are we looking to do that or are we >> So, um, no. And thank you for the clarification. And it actually helps in making sure that when we disseminate the
survey that we're clear with the intention or or what it says. So, House Bill 733 was what was um up for debate and the Senate Bill 296 now gives the district the opportunity to decide whether or not they're going to go with
the mandated change or they're going to operationally choose the times they want. However, there's some caveats behind that. If we go to that model, we have to present to DOE that we talked to the community. We did a survey based on these two, the House bill and the Senate
bill, and that we had community engagement meetings as well as dissemination of information. And then what other steps are we taking to ensure that we are considering the mental health and sleep of the students that the study tested?
>> So, it's not mandatory, but there's a whole bunch of hoops that we have to jump through to maintain. Okay. >> Yes. we have to document our process so that we're we don't have to convert to that required bell time change. >> So, but is that still kind of in the law
then? Is it a >> it's just so this is a little >> you can do either you can follow that the updated schedule or you can choose >> so I would I would definitely need to
defer to uh John if he's available. However, from my understanding of the statute, you can choose. So, Senate Bill 296 allows you, the district, to now decide whether or not you're going to go with the recommended study changes or your district is going to do different
things to show that you're taking into consideration the sleep patterns of students. >> And is this something that we have to do every year or is this a onetime >> one-stop shop? >> Okay. So, that and that's what we intend to do. Yes, we plan on sending out the
survey this month as Dr. Wanza stated to let the parents know what's going on and what their options are and then drafting our PowerPoint for DOE and communicating to um all stakeholders what it looks like. >> Okay, great. Yeah, I mean I just I think
that we need to get a better idea from, you know, the parents and students, but the people that are transporting to the hubs um how what that looks like in terms of whether we're going to get people on
board with this model or how we can tweak it a little bit. Okay. Um I don't I'm not opposed to having change and you know improving things and changing things because we have to you know and the world is changing. So it's just a matter of finding that sweet spot where
it's um enough change that it's helping us but not um off-putting to our our parents. So anyway, I I really appreciate the presentation and I'll look forward to seeing the updated version.
Thank you. Anyone else before I go? >> Uh me. >> Go ahead, Mr. Rupert. >> Thank you. I just I might have missed it. I wanted to see if uh uh any of the student adviserss are still there and what did they think on this topic? >> Mr. Spelberg.
>> Thank you. >> Thank you, Mr. Rupert. This is Landon Spelberg. We have not had an opportunity to speak with students about this. Um, and we have not done any sort of listening sessions beyond SpeakUp, Speak Out with Nova High School. So, I'm not able to give um
any student input on this, but we'd be happy to work with Dr. Wans's team and Dr. Claus's team to set up a student listening session or some form of something like that, but today we're not prepared to do so. >> Okay. Thanks. I just didn't want to forget about you. Thanks. >> I appreciate that, Miss Rupert. Thank
you. >> Is that it, Miss Rupert? Yes, ma'am. >> Okay. >> All right. Um, I just have a few questions and comments. Um, to what extent have we exp I saw in the presentation there it's a collaboration
with the county, but I'm wondering to what extent we've done that collaboration. Um, what that looks like, what we're currently doing, what we could do. So, um, I do have a couple contacts over there and one one of the things that u my conversation was really with our high school students, right?
you know how a lot of times we um have uh we hear concerns about students not being able to stay after school because of activities and sports and things of that nature. So really looking to see if um if there's opportunities not just for bus passes but really if some of their
routes could be more along some of our high schools so that that can be an option for students. I know that um we definitely are going to explore more the conversation around how we can partner with them for services for our ES well opportunities potentially for our ESC
students. But I think that the the one thing that um will definitely have to be fleshed out is when it it's more than just the ride, but the services that we have to provide, right? So if we have to do a bus attendant, a unique aid, you know, what what does that look like and
um and and and how's that operationalized? So we haven't gone deep into the conversation. You know, I just got involved a month or so ago. So just trying to do that forward thinking. Miss Leonardi, >> when can So I I for me, I see like two pieces, the ES piece, but then also like
our high school student piece. um when can we expect like definitive information proposals to come back to us on that on those two issues? >> So, I'm going to say um at least probably about a I would say 3 weeks to
a month, right? Because we're starting to wind down for the year, but yeah, about 3 weeks to >> 3 to four weeks. >> I would be very interested in that. >> Um >> Okay. Have we is there a way to like do
an analysis or any modeling around the impacts to enrollment? Um and kind of like what Miss Bulman was saying that maybe instead like maybe the magnet programs experience a temporary decrease but then the homeschool programs experience an increase like is there any
kind of analysis or modeling we can do around that? Maybe like looking at other school districts that have have implemented this and how they saw their enrollment changes. >> We can do that. We we can look at doing some modeling around the the impacts of a hub model versus the Okay.
>> Yeah. I mean, just as a as a teacher, I saw, you know, at the school I did work at Nova High School and then even at Creek, a lot of my students were bus. Um, and so I just saw how important transportation was and what a barrier that was for them. Um, if they didn't
have an activity bus or things like that that they couldn't participate in extracurriculars. And so, um, that is like front of mind for me, like, you know, how that impacts enrollment. Um, and I just be curious to see because there could be a positive impact ultimately. Um, but I would like to kind
of be cleareyed and have all the information possible. >> So, I I I think when we do that, Miss Leonardi, one of the things that we probably want to call out is which districts don't even provide transportation to choice schools. If you're going to, you know, if if this is an option that a parent wants, it is
totally on the parent. And I see you bobbing and weaving down the hipper. >> I was having a side conversation with the chair and I'm as a high school principal in Orlando. Uh we had a very robust uh magnet and the district did not provide transportation for magnet students but that program was packed
parents every if it's desirable people figure out how to how to get there. Um and so yeah we do have I don't know if they still that's still the case in Orange County but at that time um it it was. I just I also, you know, want us to be cognizant of the equity piece there.
Like, you know, the parents that are able to that have access to reliable transportation are then able to transport their kids. And, um, that's why I think like the collaboration with the county is so important because if we can get kids, you know, city bus passes
and things like that, um, you know, that can alleviate the the equity concerns. Um, and I would just say like to the communication communication is going to be very important. Um, I I was having a side conversation with with the
superintendent saying that, you know, I think it's really important that when we move forward with this that before the start of the school year, we sit down with elementary school parents, middle school parents, high school parents, ESC parents, and talk about kind of walk them through all of it and then kind of
figure out get from them the challenges and barriers they see, any hiccups that could happen so that the first day of school is is smooth and easy as it can be um so trying to get their input on how to make this as successful as possible. Um you know just a different
set of eyes I think will be really important. Um and I just have to say like as a side note I remember when I first joined the board the first day of school like the first week of school we were inundated with emails you know transportation like my transportation is a mess and that has
really dissipated. um we barely I mean I barely get any emails about that. So that's a kudos to your department um and and the work you do um because it's really noticeable for me as someone who's been on this board for five years. So thank you. Um
the uh the parent Oh, the back to the communication. I went on like a tangent there. Um back to the communication piece though. So getting that parent input on like how to make this successful. um walking people through it, all of that I think is important. I think doing a
parent university on this before the first day of school would be really helpful. And then I I don't know if someone else asked this question. Is there would there be a dashboard for a parent to say like this is where I live. How do I like how do I get my kid to
school if we implement this? So yes, that would be available. We there's currently a dashboard in existence if you want to know like whether or not so let me backtrack. We could implement that. It's possible. We don't have there there
isn't a dashboard now that tells you whether or not you're going to get transportation. It just tells you whether or not you qualify for that whether or not you're in the boundary for that school. But we can definitely work on that. That is a a feasible possibility. >> Is it feasible? Like this may not be feasible but so I I understand it's not.
Is it feasible to set to also create something that like this is what your current transport like right now this is what your current or for the 2026 school year this is what your transportation situation looked like that year when we move when we transition like this is how it's changed or is that too heavy of a
lift for us to do >> what exactly would you be looking for like a map directions can you elaborate a little more so we can see what the lift would look like >> yeah so like right now so I'll give Miss Bulman as an example, right? Like she
>> we were confused on that one. I'm sorry. >> For this school year, her son goes to addicts. This is how he currently gets to addicts. Next year, how will this like how will he get to addicts? Like how how will that look different? Is that is that like too
>> Yeah. >> Yeah. We we'll have to work on that. >> Yeah. >> We'll see what we can come up with. >> Okay. I mean, I I understand if it's too heavy, but I'm just giving people information um is always beneficial. No, we like to overcommunicate. So, >> um but yeah, parent university like
small focus groups uh and dashboard. Cool. Um anyone else, >> Miss Bowman? >> I appreciate you bringing up the equity piece of it. Um and I think that that's something that we really have to be >> focused on. So, I appreciate that you
brought that up. I and I think that our transportation does provide that where other choices do not. And so we don't want to have a model where we're >> not providing that. I that would I don't think we would be getting our job done
if that's how it shakes out. So that's something just to keep in mind. So thanks chair for bringing that up. >> Yep. Thank you. Um all right. If that concludes for discussion Oh, go ahead. >> Oh no, I said thank you. at the Thank you so much for your
presentation, all your hard work, much appreciated. Um, at the direction of the superintendent, the following agenda items are tenatively scheduled to be addressed during the upcoming workshops. April 21st, 2627, organizational chart. April 28th, rule development,
information systems, five policies, rule development for policies 5090 and 5100, student code of conduct. Rule Development Policy 4390, childcare programs RFP owners rep agreements. Please note that the order of topics and the scheduling remain tenative and are subject to adjustment at the
superintendent's discretion. At this time, do any of my colleagues have anything to bring to future workshops or student successes to share? Miss Thompson. >> Thank you, chair. I have a couple for district 2. Um, I want to say congratulations to Flanigan student
Jorge Andre Perez Chachk who is the BCAA South scholar athlete of the year. Um, also Flanigan placed second in the world for their color guard team. >> Um, so we continue to dominate in
district two for color guard. Um, also West Broward, um, JOTCT placed first at the state competition and I along with Miss Rupert was able to attend, um, the
Craig and Barbara Weiner Holocaust Reflection Contest Award Ceremony. I know one of my colleagues wants to shout out their student from their district. Um, but so I will shout out the rest. So, the winners from middle school for
digital and second place was Kristen Espinosa from Pioneer Middle School with teacher Jill Gia Carlo. Uh for high school winners, first place was Danielle Elise from Marjgerie Stoman Douglas with teacher Darren Levan. And then uh for
digital high school winners, it was Katie Zingunda from Flanigan High School with teacher Brian Lynn. Thank you. Thank you, Miss Hixon. >> Thank you. Um, I also to Oh, jeez. To continue on, congratulations for the
South South Central Scholar Athlete Banquet that was held yesterday uh or last night. Thank you to um Mrs. Brown. Sorry, I had it up here and now it all moved to wherever. Um for a great event.
It was hosted again at Dillard Auditorium and I think everybody had a great time. So, congratulations to the trainer of the year, Miss Valerie Smith Cooper from I'm sorry, Miss Valerie Smith from Cooper City High School. As
um Miss Thompson already mentioned, the male athlete of the year was George Andre um Perez from Fl Yeah. from Flanigan High School. And the coach of the year was the track and field coach from Flanigan, which was Marvin Tatum. So, congratulations to
everybody and to all the scholar athletes. I think Mrs. Brown said they gave away $55,000 to students um seniors for their furthering their education. Also, congratulations. Shout out to Lauderdale
Lakes. I think that's right. um 6 through 12 for a and the quest for having teams that made it to the regional special Olympics that was hosted on Friday. So those students that um made first place
will have the opportunity to go to state in Orlando. The Hollywood heat team has a conglomerate of of students. They come from um they come from where did they come from? Hollywood Park Elementary, Apollo South Broward, and I think we have some from Addicts. So
congratulations to all of those students. >> Thank you Dr. Holes. >> Thank you Madam Chair. So um not relating to any specific school or students but I I have to say that a lot of our students and a lot of our adults
including myself was so inspired by our astronauts that uh came back from circling the moon. And some of their uh quotes were so inspiring to me and to many others. And um and I just want to
um you know hope that it inspires a lot of our students to be astronauts to be scientists. And a couple of the quotes that stayed with me uh is one by Jeremy Hansen. He is a our astronaut friend from Canada. It says the purpose of
humanity is joy and lifting one another up creating together versus destroying. And then we have our very own um Victor Glover who said, "Trust us. You look amazing. You look beautiful from up here. You look like one single thing and
no matter where you come from or how you look, we are one single people." And to me, that's very inspiring. And if if all of us could actually have those kind of messages resonate, just looking at the earth from space is a beautiful thing. And we are privileged as human beings to
be a part of enjoying the earth. Thank you. Thank you, Miss Bulman. >> Thank you. I had a um winner with the at the Craig and Barbara Weiner Holocaust Reflection Contest as well from
Beachside um Monastery Village. Lisa Bowers won second place out of over 500 submissions for her poem, The Significance of a Star, and her teacher was Teresa Moran. So, congratulations, Lisa.
>> Thank you. Anyone else before I go? Um, I just wanted to actually shout out our marketing department that uh took a little heat this morning, but um I I wanted to make these comments during during the advisories and I kind of it
slipped my mind, but um I have noticed like every time I get on Instagram, I see a new school doing a new interesting video. Um so that's very exciting. And I also was targeted for an ad for VPK. Um, so I was glad to see that plan come to
fruition. I had asked for a follow-up on that. So that was really exciting. Um, and uh, you know, I I know that we need to do a balance of like district communications and school-based communications, but for me, I I really do think that when communications, uh, and social media and things like that
come from a school, I think it's very powerful. Um, so kudos to everyone who's putting in the work to to make that happen. Anyone else? All right. The scheduled order of business for the school board workshop or the school board of Brower County, Florida, has now been completed.
Seeing no objections, I will now adjourn the school board workshop. Heat up here. Bellebody down. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. N.