down. Why? down. Down. again. Hey Heat. Heat. N. You're not Heat. Hey, Heat.
Down. Hey. Hey. Heat. Hey, Heat. Hey, hey, hey. Hey, that's Heat. Heat. down. Hey
Lou, doo. Heat. Heat. Hey, hey, hey. Hey, Heat. Heat. N. Heat. Heat. N. Let's June 22nd. Thank you.
>> Welcome to today's schoolboard workshop. This workshop of the school board of Brower 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. All please rise for the pledge of allegiance to the flag of the United States of America.
>> I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for it stands one nation indivisibley and justice for all. As we begin, we reaffirm our strategic
plan goal, 100% proficiency for all students, guided by our vision, educating today's students to succeed in tomorrow's world. As an A-rated district, we remain committed to sustaining this achievement while empowering every student to reach their highest potential. Our theme this year
is believe, empower, achieve, one Broward. We will soon hear from our registered public speakers. We ask that decorum be maintained and civility and respect be shown during public comment. Our general counsel will assist the chair in maintaining decorum during this period. We also want to remind our
public speakers of the rules and expectations regarding the agenda public comment portion of this workshop as well as board policy. Attorney Dupri Bruno, please explain the rules of public comment. >> Good morning and thank you, Madam Chair. Public comment is governed by schoolboard policy 1020 and is intended
to provide input on the board's duties, decisions, and the overall operation of the school district. The school board is viewpoint neutral during public comment per schoolboard policy 1020. The procedures are as follows. Speakers must state their name, city of residence, and whether they are a lobbyist before
beginning their remarks. All remarks must be directed to the board as a whole. The board will not respond to or engage with speakers during public comment and no action will be taken unless the item is on the agenda. This is a workshop so public comment
will be in relation to the agenda. During the agenda speaking time, speakers will have up to three minutes per item. A visible timer will be used and the microphone may be turned off when time expires. Speakers must limit their comments to matters related to school
board business and for agenda items must remain relevant to specific item. Comments may not address matters that are pending litigation, quasi judicial proceedings or active investigations or administrative hearings. Solicitation and lobbying activities must comply with
applicable school board policies. Abusive language defined as profanity, threatening or name calling is prohibited. In addition, clapping, hissing, booing, shouting, yelling, or other disruptions from the audience are not allowed. Speakers who fail to follow proper decorum in the chambers will be
ruled out of order by the board chair. Failure to comply may result in the microphone being turned off or recess being called after a boarding. The chair may also direct removal of the meeting or removal from the building by law enforcement or the sergeant-at-arms. Thank you, Madam Chair.
>> Thank you, Attorney Duno. The board wants to hear from you and we appreciate your cooperation in maintaining a respectful, orderly, and productive meeting environment. We will now proceed with the agenda. Today's workshop will operate in accordance with schoolboard policy 1020 and the board will review
the items as advertised and presented by the superintendent. Our first item is committee reports. And I know there are some people running late, so if um I call them and they're not here right now, I'll come back as they walk into the room. So, I don't see audit. Um,
Brower County Association of Student Councils and Student Adviser to the board. Okay. Sorry. Hello everyone. Um, first of all, ML and I are very excited. This is our first official committee report. Um, so obviously we're still kind of stepping into this role, so we don't
have too much to report on, but we did just get back from something called SFLTC, which is the South Florida Leadership Training Camp and is partially sponsored by BCPS. Um, and let me tell you, we had an amazing time there. I'm sure almost every single student who went there also agrees with us. Um, we truly learned so much about
what it means to be a leader and to really prepare for this role further. Um, additionally, we're kind of just setting up all of our meetings, getting to uh formally introduce ourselves to everyone and have a deeper understanding of this role. >> Uh, as Lily said, the SFLTC uh training
camp was something truly amazing. Um, you know, students really did have a great time. Students came in not wanting to be there and left in tears. So, >> in a good way. >> In a good way. So, it was truly amazing to see, you know, students having fun and, you know,
also learning and learning how to become a leader. Um, the BCAC new executive board is very excited uh to start working for the next school year. Uh, they're very very eager um and excited to start working and planning.
>> Thank you so much. Um, District Advisory Council North area, central area. Good morning to all. Uh my name is Broo Boury and I'm here to give the central area report. Uh Central met on May 21st.
We held elections and discussed several topics. One of those topics was elementary specials. The board's emphasis on prioritizing PE, music, and art as elementary specials has been really warmly received within the community. Um, there was a board
follow-up document that showed the antic anticipated specials for all of the elementary schools for next year, and we did notice that there are several schools that still do not have art or music, but do have a core special. So we think some follow-up at those schools would be appropriate to ensure that's in
fact what the stakeholders desire. Our staff chairs are deeply concerned about class sizes at all grade levels for next year K to 12. Um we're hearing that schools will have to wait until October to hire more teachers above the budget that they currently have. We were
initially under the impression that they would be able to hire teachers over the summer and I don't know if it's a point of confusion but I think we should have some clarification as to whether principles will be able to post jobs as their schools get enrollment over that
10% reduction. Um if we wait till October then we would have students in class for over seven weeks that are overcrowded and it will also disrupt student learning when they're reshuffled. Uh I'd also like to get some clarification on whether the district
intends to adhere to uh state statutory class size limits which are 18 for K to2, 22 for grades 3 to 8, and 25 for high school. Uh we also discussed um edtech screen
time 1:1 devices and the district's AI initiative. The stakeholders have continued to express concern about supplemental software, including I Ready and the plan to implement AI districtwide. At the time of our meeting, most parents were not aware of the details of the
initiative, but responded negatively to the prioritization of edtech over foundational academic skills, hand on hands-on manipulatives, group interactions, original composition, critical thinking, and project-based learning. There were some concerns about the AI symposium.
um registration closing and that it was supposedly full, but when parents arrived, there was a lot of open space. Uh we also learned that the Q&A session at the end was not held, so stakeholders were not able to ask questions at the end. Uh the DAC elementary subcommittee
has continued its work and would like to reiterate an alter alternative path for the district that more closely aligns to the budget reality, protects student privacy, and prioritizes effective teaching methods. The district has a massive one-to-one device program and well over 50 supplemental software
programs. Switching to a computer lab or device cart model while aggressively sunsetting non-critical software licenses could save an estimated $40 million each year. Uh we also suggest creating a BCPS data bill of rights for
our students uh and to direct staff to bring the district into compliance with laws such as SOIPA, Florida parental rights and education, Florida digital bill of rights, Florida technology and K to2 bill, the Florida objection to
digital materials, copa and furpa. These results can can result in a loss of funds, administrative salaries, and directed corrective action for the district. Um, but the lack of compliance also erodess
the public trust and perception of transparency. Uh, I see I'm running out of time. Uh, we'd like the district to take action to protect the cognitive core and teacher autonomy. We don't want to see teachers
uh have consequences for choosing paperbased methods that are highly effective. And we hope to see a genuine recommit recommitment to student well-being. One of the specific suggestions we have is to prohibit the use of YouTube and to move approved
digital content to district servers to protect our children from addictive and predatory algorithms. Uh see I'm almost out of time. Uh given that the NEOLO policy review of the board procedures and public participation policies happened after our last meeting, central area was
unable to weigh in on that item. To that point, it's fundamentally problematic to scale back public participation at a time when advisories are not meeting and your stakeholders are not here to comment. Having attended the meeting, I can say it was insufficient in this board should direct that an actual rule
development hearing be held where the public has sufficient time to ask questions about the 31 proposed policies. Not doing so would open up any new policy that comes from that rulemaking procedure to a legal challenge. Central Advisory's next meeting will be August 20th at Indian
Ridge Middle School. Uh we welcome any board requests to gather stakeholder feedback. Thank you. >> Thank you. South area. Good morning. I'm Antinet Bailey, South Area Chair. On our final meeting of the 2025 2026 school year was held on May
18. During this meeting, we conducted election of officers position for the upcoming school year. We have we were honored to welcome Dr. Fulton who shared her appreciation for the work of the council and provided important district updates including important up
information regarding delays in the budget approval affecting many schools throughout the district. Representative from the children's service council of Broad County also joined us to provide valuable information about summer program resources and services available to students and families throughout the
community. We engaged in discussion on several important topics including school budget, the organizational chart, the referendum, the AI policy review, meal prices increase, K through8 updates, policy 5090, and policy um
510 suspension and expulsion. One of the primary concerns expressed by parents centered on student testing requirements and the implementation of the district new AI policy. Parents voiced interest in having greater input during the policy development process and sought
clarification regarding whether the use of AI would result in increased screen time for students. I'd like to extend my sincere appreciation to our south area regional superintendent, Miss AOD at Pines Collegiate, her leadership team, and all our school stakehold
stakeholders from the south area who attended and participated in our meetings throughout the year. I also want to thank the school board for providing me the opportunity to present monthly reports and share the perspective and concerns of our families and community members. On behalf of the South area Advisory Council, I wish
everyone a safe and enjoyable and restful summer. We look forward to continuing our our work throughout the upcoming school year. Thank you. >> Thank you. Diversity Committee, ESC Advisory Council. >> Good morning. Um, I also have North
Area's uh report just texted to me. I'll do that afterwards. Or do you want it before? >> Um, I'll I'll go back to all the ones that aren't here. So, I'll come back around to that. If you could deliver ESC advisory, that would be great. >> Thank you. Um, I'd like to give a shout out first of all to our um, Down
Syndrome Subcommittee led by chair Bart Taddero and Andria Thomas, the curriculum supervisor in the ESSE department who co-organized the 8th annual exceptional educators training on June the 9th. This was a full day training open to all ESSE teachers in Broward to learn about interacting with
students with Down syndrome and other disabilities. Sessions included behavior strategies, assistive technology, modified curriculum, managing student mental health, and more. There were partners and sponsors who were valuable and participating teachers received a $90 stipend and eight ESSE inservice
points. This was an outstanding effort by both organizers and the participants and I'm proud of our DSE DS committee for being um at the head of this for the eighth year in a row. At our last ESE advisory meeting in May, we passed a recommendation that I did actually submit last week for inclusion on
today's agenda. It was 20 words, but because it wasn't in a PDF because I was traveling and I couldn't, it hasn't been placed on here. The motion called for the restoration of the ESC compliance director position to the ORC chart, which you voted to remove after just 2
minutes and 43 seconds of deliberation at the May the 12th schoolboard meeting. To recap, the superintendent's proposal had been removed ESC executive director role on the basis that the chief of student support services could cover that role. and then to add an assistant
director for ESSE compliance, which he said was needed to support and supplement the work of the existing ESE compliance director, a critical case load that needed more, not less, human capital. That shuffle would have ensured that no bodies would be lost from the
ESC department leadership and the wisdom you had in that department would be protected. However, a majority of you having determined at a previous meeting that that made sense, you then voted on May the 12th to dismantle the plan, reinstate the executive director
position, and instead of them eliminating the assistant director role you had agreed to add, you voted to eliminate the existing compliance director, the very position you who had agreed previously needed supplementing, not removing. It's a critical position.
It provides dedicated oversight to compliance with special ed law. helps ensure students receive their services and reduces the risk of systemic failures that harm students and expose the district to liability. We discussed at advisory how framing the elimination
of the ESSE compliance director position as a is this on as a cost-saving measure is a fallacy and the board's claims that you are making this move to help students rang hollow. In a large school district serving thousands of students with disabilities, compliance with
special ed cannot be treated as a secondary responsibility shared out among already overextended staff. The absence of this position will increase the risk of procedural violations, state complaints, compensatory education, awards, corrective action, litigation,
and due process cases which you were told by your student services chief on May the 12th are on the rise. Given the complexity and scale of ESSE, the question is not whether the district can afford an ESSE compliance director, but whether it can afford the risks
associated with not. Our recommendation is no, you can't. Uh, let me tell you also about preK ESSE evaluations. I heard from a parent the week before last that while they have an independent autism diagnosis for their 5-year-old who they were looking forward to
starting prek in August, they've been told by BCPS that she cannot and that she must likely wait until December or later to start school because now she must go through the childfind evaluation process and that's all backed up to Christmas and beyond. Um I thank Mrs.
Hixon for her um inquiries about this. Um I have passed the matter on to um actually the ESC compliance director um and uh have been told that the prek assessment team was downsized over the past couple of years due to reduction of district level positions and that that's
what's caused the backup. um that child and every child in her position needs a commitment here today that they can start school with their peers on August the 10th and that holdups will not be tolerated and that whatever resources your ESSE department needs to make it happen will be allocated. Back in
December, there was an elopement uh from a school that prompted us to revise the ES the um districtwide elopment plan. 22 of our recommendations have actually been adopted in the new draft. I'm thrilled to see the collaboration and I thank Thomas Dush from the um uh safety and security department for his
collaboration with us on that. Customer service, our report is still pending. We've had no response to it whatsoever despite the superintendent saying he was delighted with some of our suggestions five months ago. I'm dismayed at the delays there. And I would echo what Brook said about the policy review.
There has been no engagement with the with the uh community about the policy review. I too request a rule development hearing to avoid further legal challenges and putting 31 policies in one item is not community engagement. Thank you.
>> Thank you. Esau Leadership Council, Facilities Task Force, Gifted Advisory Council, >> Linda Ferrara, Facilities Task Force, Vice Chair. Uh we did not have a a meeting for June. >> Okay. Thank you.
Gifted Advisory Council. >> Good morning. Alan Bushkin, Gifted Advisory. I'll start off with we already talked about our last gifted meeting, but we did have our steering meeting and we're planning on our schedule and our possible locations coming up. This whole
Neola thing flabbergast me with the amount of policies and the timing. Please revisit that this time of the year where you've got all of us volunteers who could provide so much more information aren't as available as we are during the year. So
I think that's a mistake. I was looking briefly at the AI presentation that's coming up and yes there's a lot of information inside there but I'd like you guys to think about a few questions when you're listening to this presentation.
Think about the how. So when you see stuff about the ROI and they talk about what they're going to measure, how are they going to measure it? Does that seem possible? Does it seem practical? The same thing with some of the programs. Some of the things that caught my attention was the use of AI
for advanced academics. Okay. How I see a lot of theoretical items inside this list, but I don't see anything practical. no examples as far as what specifically is going to be done. It's more of the same information, more of the same talk,
but it's lacking a little bit of substance for my taste. So, I hope there's going to be something in the presentation that's going to expand upon what we've already been told. The next item is about some of our education, and I threatened, I think, the last
meeting in a kind way that there was some issues with handwriting. So, I'm looking at some of this. I don't know if some of you could really read a lot of that. You feel free to come up during a break and take a quick look, but this was from
my daughter's seinal middle school, 8th grade year. Here are some letters that were handwritten by students. Some seem legible, some are not. Some are good. There are some things that we need to
get back to working on. I also brought some of mine from 1986 which distinctly look different. I mean in this my daughter first thing she said was legible and there's use of
cursive writing. So clearly there was a lot more thought process hand eye motor coordination going on back then. My daughter told me that there wasn't a whole lot of writing that she did this last year in 8th grade which kind of
concerns me. And I remember exercises when I was in school every Friday in English class. We were given a random topic on the spot, our pencil and paper and our journal. We'd write about it for about 15 minutes.
I don't think I've ever seen anything like that. My daughter hasn't even told me anything like that. Not on a computer, but just a student given a topic that they know nothing about to write about it and the teachers took that, wrote comments on it. Every week
we did that. So, I think that's something that we need to think about more of instead of trying to use AI to help us with things. And since I've talked about my daughter enough, I think I'll give her a chance to defend herself.
>> This is my daughter, Allison. She's an incoming freshman at Western High School. And >> what am I supposed to say? >> Talk about the handwriting. Talk about the stuff we talked about. >> Go ahead. This is your time. You got a minute. >> Well, I want to start with the writing thing. in I remember in third grade it
was COVID year and the writing we wrote an essay I think like every two weeks and that set me up because then in fourth grade we barely wrote and we were all unprepared for our fourth grade writing fast and I'm pretty sure I got a perfect score that you're on writing so
I'm proud of that and then fifth grade we wrote a lot and then in sixth grade we did some writing and then in seventh grade we didn't really write that much until the fast and then we wrote essays from then until the end of the And then this year we only wrote one essay to prep for the fast. And then
after that we just forgot about writing. And we haven't done anything like with handwriting at all. Like I don't think I remember doing that except in fourth grade. This one time we had a week for cursive. And I could barely read half of my yearbook signatures. And also with the
AI thing, I know how to use like semicolons and m dashes and like when to use them. And I've gotten marked for AI multiple times on every assignment. and I've gotten zeros on that before. Um, yeah. Thank you. >> Thank you very much. >> Human Relations Committee.
>> Good morning everyone. Tough to follow that. Uh, Nancy Fry, uh, Human Relations Committee Chair. Uh, we, uh, first of all, uh, happy Pride, happy early Junth, and happy summer for everyone. Um, we had our final meeting for the year on
Wednesday, May 20th. And uh, I find it my duty to uh, profusely thank our staff that we've worked with uh, during the school year. Kissa Russell, Marian Williams, Tom Albano, and uh, Leticia Lur. We could not do what we do without them. They are a gold star for the
district. They are wonderful staff, and we are very happy that we get to work with them. Uh with that uh we briefly discussed at our last meeting uh some concerns that we have coming up that will kind of feed into uh our report uh wrap-up report for the year. Uh but one
thing that was brought up was uh some concerns about the effects of stress on staff as of late and um how that then impacts our students and also prospective families that are looking to come into the district. Um no solutions or anything that was just something that
was flagged. Uh we also discussed the uh survey that had come out from the um office of the student adviser this past year um the one that uh Landon Spelberg had put together and with his team and uh we really love the feedback uh and
it's a great instrument and we want to uh emphasize that its importance to continue on with that because a lot of students don't necessarily feel safe giving verbal feedback or giving feedback on campus and having this uh alternate
method to give feedback to the district is very important. Um, we have some uh impact summary that was generated for the year that I'll just delve into really quickly uh about how our human relations councils in the schools operated, what they've done uh and so
forth. So, uh, starting off looking at the participation, we had 466 students between grades 6 and 12, uh, that participated with a human relations council this year, and that was across 63 schools. So, we're really happy to see that engagement, and we're hoping to
grow it, uh, moving forward in the coming school years. Um, as far as activities they do, these aren't just clubs that exist for the sake of existing. These were very active, uh, councils. They uh participated in community service projects that students
organized uh to benefit both their schools and in the local community. They led advocacy campaigns and awareness events uh around mental health, bullying, prevention, and equity. They held open dialogue forums and peer discussions. They really focused on
youth advocacy. They uh their meetings were safe spaces for students to discuss social issues and collaborate on solutions. They also had surveys and feedback campaigns that they initiated in their schools and uh they went through leadership training and development. They had their college tour
and student advocacy through capital days. They worked on their public speaking, teamwork and civic engagement skills and they had a number of structured leadership activities to do that. Uh some of the key challenges they see facing our students are uh mental
health concerns was the top one. uh and they're asking for awareness, resources, and more emotional support in the schools. Uh they spoke about social media issues with online bullying and negative self-image, uh substance use and violence, uh vaping, drug use,
bullying, dating violence, and general school violence. And uh the one thing that I thought was very astute was they talked about the need for supportive interventions and students are asking for open conversations and preventative education and supportive not punitive
responses when students make uh less than ideal choices. Um a number of our um adviserss and students helped their schools achieve no place for hate designation. We're up to in the district 106 schools uh that are designated no
place for hate. Um the from the advisor's side, we uh received a lot of feedback about uh students had increased confidence and leadership growth through participating with HRC's and no place for hate. Um students were active in
planning events, were engaged in their community service, and represented their peers in meetings. And uh again, the HRC meetings were a safe space for students to share concerns and propose solutions openly. And um a couple quotes that we
had from both students and adviserss, uh one high school student stated, "HRC gave me my first real opportunity to feel heard in my school. I learned to speak up for myself and others." Uh and a middle school student said, "Being part of HRC helped me understand people from different backgrounds. It changed
how I see the world." uh from uh two of the adviserss. One said, "I watched students who were once shy become confident leaders who organized events and spoke at forums." And another said, "HRC meetings became a safe space where students could share real concerns and work together on solutions." So, uh
moving forward, we're looking at better collecting data, increasing student participation, and expanding, uh feedback initiatives. Thank you. >> Thank you. Multilingual Advisory Committee. >> Hi, good morning uh school board
chair and superintendent. Thank you as usual for this opportunity to report directly to you this morning. Um the multilingual advisory committee met for the last time um this year, May 13th. Um
at that meeting I'm happy to report that all of the positions that were open to be filled for next year um have been filled and the one remaining position is the superintendent designate and the district liaison is aware of our
recommendation for who that should be. Um at that meeting uh two motions were passed of recommendations to you all. Uh the first one was um to set a minimum
number of kindergarten classrooms for any dual language program. Um currently it varies between schools. Um, our recommendation is that the minimum be two. So that one side of a full
classroom of say 24 students would be with an English-speaking home room teacher, one side would be with a Spanish- speaking home room teacher, and they would switch either in the afternoon or every other day. Um, the other option which some schools are
taking is to have one classroom of a self-contained teacher who switches back and forth between Spanish and English. Um our recommendation was made and the motion was passed unanimously.
um based on a few things um anecdotally with members of the committee uh that we've noticed that um when you even when you start out with two classrooms which would be like 44 kids in kindergarten um it's possible to make it to 8th grade
and have only five students of that original class still in that dual language track. Um so if that can happen with 44 students, what then will happen if a a school decides to start only with 24?
Um the motion was passed based on the uh experience of our teachers on the committee who say that they've done both the self-contained classroom and the switching back and forth. And being a dual language teacher comes with additional responsibilities. uh that
much is known, but it's so much harder to do it yourself and to have to switch back and forth between Spanish and English and carry that whole load without um a teacher partner. Um it was brought up by people who uh participated
in the public comment portion of our meetings. We always have a public comment portion of our meetings and that's where we get a lot of feedback as well in addition to school visits. um that was very stridently brought forth at our last meeting. Um and finally,
what I wish I could say is that the recommendation was based on statistics. Um I did as chair request and worked with the district statistician um to try to understand how many of our middle school dual language students
actually started in the program in kindergarten or first grade. Um, I didn't ever get those statistics this year. Uh, the district doesn't know how many of its eighth graders started in kindergarten or first grade. They don't know how many of its finishing fifth
graders started in kindergarten or first grade. And I really hope that moving forward um, with the district revamping the program and uh, taking more control over it that they uh, will start to track those uh, very important questions.
The second uh motion that we passed was a recommendation that um across all uh elementary schools that have the dual language program um that they perform assessments of
students Spanish language ability, but that the results of those assessments do not then turn into grades or things that affect students uh eligibility for principal honor role or advancement. into the next grade. And the reason is
that at the elementary level, there's still a big disparity, of course, in Spanish language ability between students who are coming from Spanish-sp speakaking households and students coming from non-speaking households. And we want to do everything in our power to keep students together through
elementary school and not dissuade students and families from staying in the program because it might be uh adversely affecting their grade. And so the final thing I'll say is that um I hope that the district uh next year
takes advantage of the multilingual advisory committee and keeps it in the loop with their um plans uh to revamp the dual language program next year. >> Thank you. Parent Community Involvement
Task Force. Good morning. During our final task force meeting um of the school year on June 1st, we discussed several important topics that reflect both opportunities and concerns being raised by families and community members. One area of significant concern
was the experience of using Facilitron for reserving school and other district facilities. Task Force members shared multiple recent experiences involving complicated processes, unexpected costs, communication challenges, and barriers
to hosting school events. And while the system was designed to streamline facility utilization in a fair and compliant manner, many many stakeholders have reported that it is creating obstacles, delays, and frustration rather than enabling access. And I recognize that this topic was discussed
earlier in the year and that efforts were made to address some of those concerns. However, I can tell you that challenges remain and what may appear to be an operational issue is really an engagement issue. When PTAs, booster clubs, and other school affiliated
organizations encounter unnecessary barriers, it becomes more difficult to create the very events and opportunities that bring families into our schools and strengthen our communities. The task force believes it is important to continue evaluating whether current
practices are meeting the needs of both schools and community users. We encourage the district to gather feedback from internal and external stakeholders to better understand their experiences and identify opportunities for improvement.
A large portion of our conversation focused on the district's implementation of artificial intelligence. The parent our task force was grateful for the opportunity to participate in the a recent AI symposium and we hosted our
first ever in-person parent university session. As families continue learning about AI and its role in education, they are asking thoughtful and important questions about data privacy, student safety, and the development of critical
thinking and writing skills and how AI will be introduced across grade levels. Task Force member members emphasized the importance of communicating with clarity, creating opportunities for ongoing dialogue, and ensuring that families are partners in this work. As
this technology continues to evolve, we must be willing not only to share information, but also to listen, learn, and adapt based on feedback from students, families, and educators. We hope the conversation the board will hold today at today's workshop will be
continued at every level of the district on a regular basis um and with preemptive transparency, authentic collaboration and respect for all perspectives. Finally, members shared concerns about potential changes to policies around
committee participation and barriers that may unintentionally limit participation. The task force remains committed to ensuring that engagement opportunities remain accessible and welcoming to the the diverse families and community community members we serve. As the
district begins planning for next school year, I would encourage all of us to keep families and community members at the forefront of our thinking. Strong schools are built through strong partnerships. Whether we are using discussing technology, communications,
volunteering, facility use or student supports, our greatest success will come when families, educators, community partners, district staff and the school board work together toward a shared vision for students. As we conclude this year, I would like to thank
Superintendent Heburn, the school board, district staff, and my fellow task force members for their part partnership. A special thank you to Dr. Lorie Canning, Nadia Clark, Avansky Joseph, and the entire face team for their incredible support of family and community
engagement throughout the district. We look forward to continuing the important work of supporting Broward County students, families, and the community next year. Thank you. >> Thank you. Small Business Advisory Committee,
Technology Advisory Committee. Good morning, chair, board members, superintendent, Linda Ferrara, chair, technology advisory committee. Uh we started we discussed the ongoing development of the district's AI policy focusing on uh parental opt out
provisions, environmental considerations, and the process for board review with input from the TAC and other stakeholders being incorporated into the draft. Uh an update on the ERP system selection process was given outlining the current
RFP phase, upcoming software demonstrations, evaluation criteria, and the timeline for board approval and implementation with plant moran advising the district throughout a presentation from the recent Microsoft Build conference highlighting new AI
models, customization capabilities, and the district's approach to AI agent development, security testing, and governance. within Microsoft ecosystem was discussed. We discussed ongoing concerns about tax role in district technology decisions,
the need for improved communication pathways, early agenda item distribution and formal inclusion in AI related committees and task force. An update was g provided on the Maximo system rollout detailing pro progress on
mobile client deployment assessment data entry training efforts and the transition away from the paperbased work orders. Members addressed the transition from Raptor to Sententex for uh visitor management noting that their contract
was approved without TAC or IT input highlighting ongoing communication issues between departments. Uh one of the concerns not only that was um focused on by TAC but has been brought up a number of times was our raptor system. Evidently this system is also a
visitor management system and it uh I haven't looked through the entire contract yet but it doesn't appear that it addressed the issues the parents have brought up with the system. Some of the follow-up tasks we have are AI policy environmental impact add language to the policy addressing the environmental
impact and sustainability considerations of AI usage in the district. Um parent education on AI develop and distribute parentf facing educational materials or a handbook about AI use in the district ensuring collaboration with TAC and
addressing parent concerns and questions. Parent questions on AI. Collect top 10 questions from the DAC educational subcommittee and provide written answers to address parent concerns about AI. Communication of
board agenda items. Establish a process to inform TAC of technology related items before they are brought to the school board for approval. I would like to thank our committee and all who participate and every time I come across somebody who has any input,
any opinion or anything, I have invited to the meeting. They've attended and they have provided really great information, especially at our last meeting uh by Dr. Piper. At our next meeting, I recommend we have a conversation on school board and
committee expectations for the next year in order to clarify both of our purposes and our agendas moving forward. Thank you. >> Thank you. Audit committee, >> good morning. Sorry I was a few minutes late. Um, I did miss you all last month
as I was ill and figured you probably did not want to share. Um, so I'm just going to catch I'm just going to uh just just mention a couple things. I know those things have you've probably seen what we did and
just you know we do have um a court reporter at our meetings and we do have very comprehensive minutes which I know you get. But I'll just um wanted to highlight a couple of things from our May 7th meeting. We spent an extraordinary amount of time on internal
funds, probably more than our agenda had anticipated. So we actually set up a a a special meeting the following week. Um but I I just two a couple things I wanted to highlight and there were there was concern about the number of exceptions in high schools and we were
um and we've you know were focused on that some of them dealt with yearbooks and that's a whole another topic and and one which actually um was was very informative as far as what's is trends with yearbooks now and some of the things that are going on. But I um just
wanted to say that the our auditor our chief auditor's office is so efficient that they let us know that we actually had fewer exceptions this year than last year. Um but the bottom line on that is that we just wanted to emphasize how important training is for everybody, not
just the people at the top, but the people through everybody needs to receive the training on how to account for um whatever they're working with. So wanted to mention that we did set a special meeting because as you know we're coming up with the audit plan for
next year and um we had a wonderful conversation on both the 7th of May and the 13th of May and then we're following up again tomorrow and in the interim you all have talked about it. One thing I I I just want us to tell you that when we would bring these topics up and Mark
would so calmly say and that is why I have this on here, but the conversations in this room this year that we've had at these uh monthly meetings with with chairs from other groups were have been very helpful in in also talking about
things that we feel maybe should be looked at and that Mark has incorporated in the plan for next year. And um I I know it's not finalized. We'll know more to on Thursday, which is our next meeting on June 18th. And then we've set
a special meeting on the um 16th of July, anticipating an audit that will be coming in. We don't typically meet in July, as you know, but we will be. So hopefully you will have all of that by the beginning of August. Um want to thank Dr. Dr. Hburn and for joining us
and all of the staff who work really hard to put together the information. We have added at every meeting a conversation on the uh general fund balance and um there's much more we've talked about as this is our special
meeting as you can see. But um I want to thank you again for the people you're appointing to this committee. This is an outstanding committee with just such great input from so many different people and so thank you for that and um we will be meeting on Thursday if
anybody wants to tune in. Thank you. >> Thanks. >> Thank you district advisory council. >> All right. Good morning, chair, board members, superintendent, and staff and fellow advisory chairs. My name is Cynthia
Dominique. I am a parent and chair of the district advisory council. Our last and final meeting of the school year was on May 12th. Um, I want to thank Mr. Strauss, um, Mr. Sullivan, Mr. Hill, as well as Dr. Hoiss for coming out to that
meeting. I'd also like to thank our liaison Shelley Winter, our cabinet liaison, Vita Hudge. Um our previous um student adviserss Landon and Jier for their timeless tireless advocacy and dedication to district advisory council and the students of Broward County
Public Schools. And I'd be rem remiss if I didn't thank our parents and community members who sit on our council and show up every um month to disc discuss important issues and move our district forward.
We continue to have conversations about facilities and during the summer we hope that much of the maintenance and facilities work that needs to be done across the district is implemented so that come day one kids are ready to go into buildings that are ready for them.
Um we've had conversations about elevator servicing. I know we forwarded this issue to ESC advisory council to ensure that um there is a plan to that to make our schools compliant um with ADA and I know Mr. Dorset is on it.
Thank you for always um being responsive. We did not discuss the upcoming policies in detail as we were told that with this new NEOA process we would be made aware of the timelines and the community would be fully engaged. Um, policies of this magnitude that you
all saw last week should comply with rule development and maximize public input. We had unanimous support from the district advisory steering which consists of many of the people sitting here as well as many members of the community um to ensure that any changes
to these policies would preserve public speaking time and committee reports to the school board. We continue to have conversations about testing. The board did give the academic team directions to decrease, eliminate, but really look at
modifying um the amount of tests that are provided to students. Um, and we hope that um, the conversation will continue throughout the summer and be ready ahead of the next school year so that we can identify those assessments that are most statistically significant
and provide actionable data that helps us maintain accountability while also preserving um, the ability for teachers to modify instruction timelines and testing to best meet the needs of students. We hope that DAC will be continue to be included in these
conversations and have a seat at the table. Um, we also discussed student activities at our last meeting and it revealed several opportunities. Overwhelmingly, members shared a need to enhance communication about clubs that are available at schools, the disparity in the amount of clubs and activities that
are available at schools as we know this is a key attraction for many parents to stay in the school that they're in. Um, but also we know that um it's dependent on sponsors. One of the things that we learned was that
people who provide services on Broward schools activities um are not required to go through the same level of background screening as um club sponsors or maybe volunteers who are providing um that club. So that that
is certainly a recommendation we gave to doc Mr. trials to um remedy. Um and we do support the volunteer and level one background check of every single volunteer and we when we have trainings with our school advisory forum
chairs, that is something that we request that they do along with their ethics training. I'm not going to talk about edtech and AI. Um Brooke said it all so eloquently, but what I would ask is that DAC has a seat on that AI task force. Um and that as we prepare for
next school year, um we really prioritize the opt out of educational technology for those who want it as well as um providing for data privacy explicit consent um so that they can be
included on the back to school forms. And while we understand and chair, I'm going to ask you for just maybe a minute more. Um we understand that education is our primary mission and we know that this cannot happen unless students are physically, emotionally and mentally prepared to learn. Students face
stressors every day and they encounter unique challenges associated with the st current state of our society. Access to technology, social social media and at times harmful harmful content and algorithms. the instant access prevents them to be
able to isolate from those issues and a lack of safeguards or inability to safeguard them um from potential dangers is also a risk. I just learned that two of our students completed suicide in the last week.
Since 2003, suicide ideiation and planning has increased. The CDC estimates that 20% of youth have contemplated suicide. 9% of high schoolers have made a plan or an attempt. And in the LGBTQ community,
that jumps to 12%. One is too many. Every parent, student, or adult that interacts with children should know the warning signs. Be courageous enough to ask someone if they are having thoughts
of suicide. I promise you asking does not lead to suicide, but it possibly saves a life. We've previously talked about the surveys administered um in the schools, one of which is the youth risk behavior
survey. I'm asking the district that we use that data to create really clear strategies and implementation plans that focus on prevention, early intervention, and um provide our
community with the resources that already exist in Broward County Public Schools as well as the partnerships that we have in the community. And I hope that everyone remembers the number 988. If you are having thoughts of hurting yourself or you just need to talk to
someone, remember 988. There is someone on that other line that is able to speak to you and help. As we look forward to district advisory next year, we will be requesting meetings with all board members and the superintendent to identify priorities um that we would like that you would like
our feedback on and to better understand and collaborate on solutions to community concerns. It is imperative that the message that is being communicated is heard beyond the message how the message is delivered so that we prioritize student well-being and academic achievement. We look forward to
working with the new student adviserss, engaging and empowering more parents um as we know that this is key to student success. We also look forward to enhancing um our parent and communic community um engagement with the
legislative process. so that we could advocate on behalf of the BCPS legislative platform and um protect public education. Those conversations have already started with the communications team um and we look forward to continuing them. Our first
meeting of the school year will be on August 12th at 6:15 and we'll be having a leadership and advocacy training for our school advisory forum chairs on August 30th. Thank you board for allowing us to have um these conversations with you throughout this year.
North area. >> Yeah, I'm I'm reporting on behalf of um of uh Nicole, the outgoing chair, um and Mario, the incoming chair. Um I'm just going to go quickly over some of the um
minutes. Sorry. Um so, North Area last meeting, uh May the 21st. Um Lisa Maxwell uh president of um Brow Principles and Assistant Principles Association explained process previously used to
fund schools and how it involved principles looking at enrollment with the demographics department and then being funded based on their FTE and seeing funds in their accounts and being able to hire and fund staff accordingly. There's been a lot of concern out at um
Sachs and SAFS as parents have seen principles struggling to hire staff for next year based on um figures that appear uh to be under projections in some cases of the number of students that are going to be coming into schools and also the removal of their um
accelerated funding. So Cambridge and CTE funding which has hobbled them from being able to hire staff. Therefore uh somewhere along the line they are having to drop staff. I can tell you certainly at my uh school which is in the north um
there has been uh a weakening of um support for the ESSE students in the SVE classes um because of the funding stretch and they cannot be the most being the most vulnerable students in the district. They cannot be the ones uh
who have those around them uh dropped from the staffing next year. Um there was a lot of uh concern about how the district is no longer showing schools and money available based on FTE and instead are showing units and stating that a set number of units equals
staffing. Um enrollment numbers are coming from an alternate source than demographics and there's no confirmation of where the enrollment numbers are coming from or how they were derived. Principles have reported discrepancies with some schools not expecting a drop in enrollment being projected for
unexplained drops resulting in principles having to cut staff. Um there was also a lot of discussion about alternate ways we can save money as a district in order to better directly uh fund schools. One suggestion uh that uh
North felt warranted further research is the academics department that um Miss Maxwell said was has an $80 million annual budget with $25 million allocated for materials. Members had questions about formulas for budgeting schools and
we passed a um motion at North which went like this. Um if I can just find it. My apologies. I'm new to this document. Okay. Um the motion was to
um we move that the district we recommend that the district allow principles to make instructional staffing allocations based on funds generated by their schools through the Cambridge and CTE programs. um moved, seconded, and um passed with just one
opposing vote from a gentleman who said he didn't quite um understand the ins and outs of it. But the ins and outs of it are uh if you have a school that had $400,000 in accelerated funding that its kids and its staff had earned in order to help swell services and supports in
that school and uh staffing and to strengthen programs. Um and then that money is taken away and you can no longer cut code um your uh staffing salaries accordingly. Uh and there just isn't money there. Um your school is
going to shrink uh and not only shrink in its um in terms of what it can offer the community but shrink in terms of the community coming to that school. Um so the the motion was made in the hope that although Cambridge and CTE money I think is not going to be taken away next year
the money that has been taken this year is affecting uh school's ability to staff. And then finally, um, North as as with all the other areas has had feedback on this issue of, uh, of your wishes regarding or some of your wishes regarding public engagement and the and,
uh, the decision or the, uh, decision you're moving towards to eliminate uh, public engagement almost, but by 3 minutes in the course of an entire schoolboard agenda meeting. placing 31 policies in one agenda item for review
does not um constitute um uh rulemaking with integrity. Um the NEOA platform uh maybe you folks had a nice demonstration of of how funky and nice that's going to look, but nobody out here did and you may not be aware that all the areas and
uh DAC and other advisories had all been working really hard at your request on uh reviewing policy 1020. There had been no courtesy of reference to us when this NEOA thing came along. Everybody's very concerned about processes and what you're doing to public engagement. Thank
you. >> Okay. Thank you to our committees. I'll go to board member discussion. Um and just as a reminder, uh it is up to the board member who has the floor to call on the various chairs that they'd like to hear from. Um before I go to board
members, Attorney Dri Bruno, did you want to respond to anything? >> Yes. just to make sure there's a um there's some response to some of the concerns that have been raised with regards to the policies in Neola and the process as well as to make sure that we have some
things on the record. Um the first thing that I think it's very important to understand the policy conversion is a major project. it is utilizing the templates that are legally vetted
through Niola and then incorporating um some of the things that we want to incorporate that are Broward specific. Uh first and foremost, the direction was to review policy 1020. Policy 1020 has multiple different subjects in that
policy. When you are doing a rule, you're really only supposed to have one topic per policy unless the statute has a bunch of different things and there are statutes that do that. So that's why we have individual policies for an address or a seal and those types of
different things. Uh the second thing is the board is going to be reviewing policy 1070. That's going to come in August or September. Policy 1070 is the one that actually discusses board advisory committees. So the reporting
from the board advisory committees will be addressed in that policy because that's the policy that addresses board advisory committees. The other thing that's really important to understand uh the school district and I want to make sure this is very clear
the school board the school district followed the appropriate laws with regards to notice and what is required for rulemaking. There is no violation in terms of the rulemaking process that was utilized by the school district. It is controlled by the administrative
procedures act Florida statute 120.54 and we followed that process with the uh legal notices that were provided. We hear from the constituents when there is a concern that is raised and we feel
that it is something that we can address, we will address it. We do not have to put rule development on the um website because it's already put on the website with the legal notice, but a constituent raised it so we added it and we will continue to add
it. I also want to make it very clear that we are not eliminating public comment. There is no elimination of public comment. The formatting of public comment is going to be changed to be more in line with best practices not
only in the state of Florida but across the country in terms of how public comment is given. It is extremely important that the public understands this is a governing body and they have work to do. They are supposed to listen to your comments and I can assure you
that they do listen to your comments. How that is done is what the question is and what they're resolving so that they can continue to do their work as a governing body. The other thing I want to make sure that's very clear is you are actually
getting an hour and a half of public comment based on the board's discussion. You're getting public comment in the AM meetings. You're getting public comment in the PM meetings as you have now. And then you're given another 60 minutes on
agenda items. That is what is in the proposed policy 0169.1. In addition, you have the right to send comments via communication, written communication. That's the same thing that's in 1020. Feel free to send emails and written communication to the board
because they are read and anything that deals with policies I'm aware of and I read them. So you are not losing public comment. It's just being restructured on how public comment is provided to the board. You are also able to comment on
workshops and special meetings as you have this the same rules that you had in 1020 except it's all at the beginning of the meeting. So the board can then do their work as a governing body. The other thing that I wanted to um make
sure that was very clear is um during the rule making process 120.54 believe it or not does not require a rule making workshop unless it is requested.
What most boards do to be preemptive and proactive, they have a rulemaking workshop and this board did that and had a rule making workshop. In addition, um it is up to the to the um the the chair if there's going to be
any additional workshops. And in this case, because of the fact that you are able to send in written communication, you were able to provide comment at the rulemaking workshop and you will be able to provide comments during the public hearing.
There is no need for an additional workshop. The other thing that I want to make sure that it's very clear because of how Neiola is set up, you're going to have multiple batches of
policies coming forward. It's not going to be one policy. It's not going to be 10 policies. It's going to be large batches of policies. That's just the way the conversion operates and that's how it works. When we go to public hearing, what I
have done is to make sure that the public hearing is set up by chapter because Niola has multiple chapters. 1,000 is for administration, 2,000 students and so on and so forth. The zero zeros that you've been seeing,
those are considered the bylaws or the board's policies. That's why they're they're grouped like that because they actually belong in one chapter. And when you see the public hearing, you'll see that as well. So, I'm available to answer any questions that anybody has.
Some people have reached out and asked me questions. I'm I'm very happy to answer those questions, but the board has given a directive. We have so many hours that we have paid for for Niola's assistance, and we have a one-year timeline to do these conversions of
these policies. So, we're going to do it um as um applicable to the law in compliance with law uh and but with the process so that we conclude uh this policy in by June or May of 2027.
Thank you, Madam Chair. >> Thank you, Miss Thompson. >> Question about that. >> Um yeah, I can. Miss Miss Thompson has >> so Okay. I just I was unable to come to the workshop last week and in fact I read
the policy and I don't know how many people had a chance to read the new numbered policy for 1020. So, um I think part of your confusion as you go forward just as a something that might be helpful is when you're labeling
that you might put formally known as because I think it's very confusing to people. But I do want to make the comment as you're planning what you're doing with these policies and there are others besides that like I'm very curious as to what current policy 4.9 is going to be renumbered having spent many
hours on that over the years. Um, but the point I I wanted to make was that as you're doing these policies, I think you have to not only consider what potentially is in your state statute, but what the traditions of this district
and the district and what this district has come to to be. And so you have nearly 200,000 students in traditional schools. Is that correct, Dr. Heepburn? Probably. Maybe. Um, but let's just say it is, okay, 200,000 students. I don't
know how many parents that is, but okay, let's say that's a 100,000 parents. I, as you're planning how you want to hear from those parents, I would tell you it's great you're giving us 60 minutes. I don't think 60 minutes for 100,000
people is good. And my major concern for all of you as you're redoing these policies is we cannot afford to lose any more people. And if people feel they are not heard, they will vote with their feet. We know that. So I think that this
is a larger conversation. I I'm glad you're getting everything so organized, but in doing that, I think there has to be another way to work with these different committees to get some input before you come um to the point where
you did last week. So and but thank you for your explanation. Good. Okay. Good morning. Um, so I of course um I I hear the concerns about public comment and I'm only going to mention
this very briefly because I think there's other things that people brought up that I would like to spend my time on. I think one of the things that Dr. for wholeness's item last week about community surveys in that in that discussion there are multiple ways to get public comment and
for example in my district 2 which is about an hour from this building very rarely will anybody come to a meeting unless you are closing their school which is why I as a board member and even then there was not a lot of people
so that's why I as a board member took initiative to go out to my community and have community meetings there. So I think when we have this conversation about public comment, we need to look at it in the the ecosystem of there are multiple ways to be connecting with our
community and this is one component of it that we are trying to make our our meetings a little bit more efficient, more understandable for people who watch because I think when personally when there are public comments on motions and if the motion is just hey we should
change this word to that word then multiple people will speak and then the the relevance of that motion is lost and then the public gets confused and we get confused. Um again I think there are
multiple ways and I think as individual board members we need to be more engaged in our indiv or I won't comment on anyone else's engagement but my plan is to be more engaged in my community because that's where I think public comment is more accessible for who I
represent. Um going forward, I did want some um clarity about job hiring because that is something in class size concerns. That's something that we have gotten uh emails about. That's something principles have reached out to me about.
So what is that process going to look like? When can they hire more teachers? Um can we expand on why we switch to units instead of FTE? Um, and I think the the overwhelming
thing I keep hearing is the concern that in August we're going to have a bunch of high schoolers or a bunch of kids in a room with one teacher because they can't hire until October. So, I guess if I could get walk through a timeline on hiring um, and address the class size
concerns and then also an explan explanation on the units instead of FTE. >> Yep, absolutely. Um, thanks for the the question, Miss Thompson. So, um, I'll turn it over to Ernie in a minute, but there's no moratorum on hiring teachers, and I'll let Dr. Lozano go through what
HR is doing to support that, um, in a minute. Um, also for class size, we do follow U state statute when it comes to class size. Do we want them smaller? Yes, that's the part of the process that um one initiative that we kind of
sunseted um in December. We're going to have to start that back up this summer um because we we are a little high school centric u when it comes to um funding and that impacts class sizes for elementary um school grades. Um also uh
what was it was three things? >> Uh >> oh, the units versus >> Yeah, the units versus FT. >> Yeah. So, um, units isn't a a new concept. Every everywhere I've been, um, and in other large districts, we utilize units. It actually helps to ensure that
the dollars are fully being spent on the units, instructional personnel or even non-instructional personnel on on that campus. Um and if uh principles uh or school leaders want to spend the money allocated for a position, be it
non-instructional or instructional on something else, they just need to converse with their regional office and trade and see if it's uh adequate to trade that offer things instead of um an instructional person or non-instructional person. Um as well uh go ahead Dr. Lozano.
>> Thank you Dr. Heburn. Ernie Lozano, chief human resources officer. So, the HR team has been working fast and furious these past few weeks. Um, we just finished placing all our surplus teachers into positions and were able to
find all our surplus teachers positions. Um, as of this morning, the district is fully hiring teachers and principles are able to um create their requisitions and put in their ads. The early transfer window also opened this morning for
principles and schools. So, schools are moving full steam ahead to ensure by the opening day of school and that first day of pre-planning, they have um as full of staff as possible to meet the needs of of their students. When you look at um
throughout the summer, we don't we don't wait as as students continue to register. So we don't officially count students till they register at the school physically. And then as numbers go up, we have a comprehensive team with
demographics, teaching and learning and HR that monitor the increase and decrease of student enrollment because at the same time some students are registering, some students are withdrawing to other schools based on magnet. So we don't wait till October
throughout the summer. We're monitoring the enrollment at each school. We work with our school principles and as we see the need to add teachers. Um we begin that process because again we know the importance of students meeting their
teacher on day one and having a successful year with a teacher 180 days out of the school year. >> And and if I can add to um um one of the comments I heard was about um enrollment projections and using the demographers numbers. We don't get funded based on
the enrollment projections of our demographer. We get funded based on the enrollment projections by the state. Um and they've been pretty spot-on um in my career in education. Um and so the demographers numbers could be totally different because they're using different variables um gathering data from municipalities and also the county
as far as growth in the area or the lack thereof. Um this the state uses projection numbers based on what they see as uh the the trends of students entering and exiting the county versus also um enrolling in the charter schools, voucher systems and things like
that. And they are very whatever methodology they use uh that they keep uh tight it is very close to the numbers that they project every year at least for the past 20 plus years um I've been in education. So that's how we are actually funded. Um so we could build
our budget for the upcoming school year. So if we're if folks are paying attention to demographers numbers here, it's going to be off. We we fund we get we receive funding based on projections from the state for the upcoming school year.
>> And I just want to dive a little bit more into class size because like my second grader had 26 kids in his class and >> Yep. >> that is what it is. But I think when parents hear the recommendation of 18 in elementary and and 20 and then 25 and
then we say we're following class sizes but they walk into a school and it's not happening like can you just expand on what your perception of following that is? >> Yeah, absolutely. So for the uh in a nutshell, it's based off of school average per that grade level, right? For
K through two, the uh K through two, three through um five and then for middle school and high schools based on the actual school average, not so so much specifically from class to class. Um one of the things that uh we have to emark bark on um because it just hasn't
been done is like I said the high school schedule. Um, a lot of funding is garner on the high school schedule to make that work. A block schedule is very expensive versus a straight seven and all those other components um to actually pour
money back into elementary school so we can actually lower our class sizes, you know, to what we see as the best class size for Broward County Public Schools. >> And is that standard practice to take the average? >> Yes. And is that um so that's how we're
staying in compliance is taking the average and that's what every district does. >> Yep. Correct. >> I would I think all of us would agree that class sizes would be better smaller but I know that that's something that we are we are working on. Um I think
there's also something to to say when it's like a gifting or high achieving class they want to have as many kids able to access that curriculum. So maybe those classes are higher because of of that reason. >> Correct. So you will have certain u I
was call them specialty classes gifted in classes like that that usually are typically smaller um than your regular um a classes. >> Okay. >> And then um I wanted to touch a little bit on the
writing and thank our student for speaking up and and finding something to say. I know we can be a little intimidating. Um, I do think uh it it might be teacher specific as well because again my second grader does
I see his little writing notebook. Um, but having making sure we're emphasizing those um skills like holding a pencil and holding a pen because I think that's kind of a lost art. Um, and I think with the addition to cursive writing that's
now mandated, um, some of those skills will come back, but I think it's it's good to give teacher support, um, to do that. And then I did want to talk about, uh, the mental health concerns um, that the
chair brought up uh, or one of our chairs brought up. Um, I had asked for when we were changing the the structure of our mental health department for them to bring back kind of what the plan is to deliver services.
And I just want one to make sure that we're including suicide prevention and and um tier one level interventions across the district, but I wanted to see when that presentation will come back. >> Yeah, we we can u follow up because we're presenting and going over all of that in cabinet first. Um just to give
>> that was my Yeah. >> I I know it's going to take just so they know that we we're hearing this concern. So by August or se >> Yeah. Oh, absolutely. Before August. Yes. >> All right. And then um that's all. Thank you. >> Thank you. Our student advisor would
like to speak. >> Okay. Thank you. Um so I did actually have a question. First of all, Allison, hi. I heard you're going to Western. I'm from Western, so I welcome you in advance. Um, and then second of all, to our gifted advisory council, this is a genuine question because I know a lot of
times people will ask to try and like trip someone up. I'm asking genuinely. Um, what do you think would be the best way cuz with the AI, you had mentioned that you didn't really see any true implementation plans. It's just kind of like, oh, AI is good, but you didn't see any real depth there. So, I wanted to
ask you if you had any idea of what you would need to see to kind of show you because obviously if you're thinking it that means a lot of other people are as well. Um, yeah, I see people shaking their heads. Yes. Or nodding their heads. Um, so do you have any ideas as to what you would need to see to kind of prove to you that it's good?
>> It's not really proof, but it's more like here's a lesson plan. This is what we're going to talk about as far as science. This is the teaching methodology that that's going to be used. And it doesn't have to be in extreme detail, but have there been any careful thoughtout examples of how it's going to be used, especially with
advanced academics. Okay, that that's a broad topic that covers gifted, that covers high achieving, that covers a lot of other advisories that are here as well. So, I'm something a little bit more down to home, down to earth that people can consume and recognize, you
know, that's a really good idea. Something that brings a little light bulb moment and aha. It's like, you know, that's kind of cool. Not something like VR head glasses for certain topics. That not so much. That that's kind of
like what I think our parents are looking for as far as what's going to be used. Yes, we know what's here. We know what's going to be used. How? Give us some good examples, some ingenious examples, that type of thing. >> Thank you.
That's it. Mle. Oh, no. Okay. All right. Mrs. Alhadaf, question for Dr. Heeper is how are we con filtering out inappropriate content if one of our students access a
restricted YouTube website a YouTube video on YouTube. >> I would um I'll pitch that over to Mr. Bradford so they can get a little bit uh technical about how we actually um deal with those
issues. >> Thank you, Dr. He Matthew Bradford, executive director of technology operations. Um if I if I may, uh Missv, can you uh clarify a little bit more when it comes to your question regarding YouTube?
>> Yep. So student goes on to YouTube and class and goes to an inappropriate video. How are we like what is our line of defense to make sure they don't have access to that video?
>> Thank thank you for the clarification. Uh we have a tool uh called linewise that we use uh that monitors uh when it comes to uh any activity when it comes to our students from an internet perspective and we can you know thwart as many um uh attacks when it comes to
that if if if at all possible. So what we're using now from a linewise perspective allows us to monitor allows us to look at activity when it comes to students and th those types of situations we can address and if by chance we the tool that we're using uh
misses that particular uh site we can definitely get that site uh and make certain it's prohibited moving forward. So, when the student goes to that inappropriate video, will it block them from being able to watch the video?
>> Absolutely. >> Okay, great. Um, and my next comment is on the cursive. Obviously, I'm a big proponent of our our students learning how to write cursive and it really helps
with their brain development and making those learning connections. So, Dr. Hepin, are our students learning cursive? And if so, what grade are they learning it in? >> Yes, I I do know it's part of uh one of the grade levels um elementary curriculum. I don't know, Dr. cone if
you know specifically um what grade level. >> Yeah, it's in third grade. >> Third grade. Miss Alad, if you heard that. >> Okay. So, are are they so did they learn cursive this year in third grade or is
it starting next year? >> It go ahead, >> Dr. Eron. It is it's this year and we're also it's embedded in the IFC's as well in missed. Uh that's also why uh since hearing from the public uh during the ORC chart there is a specific position
that uh we created specifically that focuses on writing not only just cursive writing but integrating writing across curriculum in there and so there is a content expert uh that is emphasizing that we also have writable which is infused within the curriculum which
should have some daily lessons for teachers to implement writing within the curriculum. Uh but we obviously are hearing those are some things we're working on to make sure that teachers are using that time to be able to implement writing within the instructional day. >> What happens or could there be something
uh for students in high school who did not learn cursive to you know have some type of course that they can take something through our AI. I don't know if there's ability for them to even go
back and self, you know, teach themselves, you know, how to learn cursive or we are we giving them any tools because obviously it's a really important skill to have. And I want to make sure that when our students
graduate that they can do some minimum things, these life skills like signing their name in cursive for example. So that's something we can obviously look at when we do things like course recovery. Uh that is one thing that obviously we can do as far as a summer
camp or an acceleration camp. Uh we can kind of take a look at some programming and scheduling that offers something like that with an intervention. So absolutely we can do that. >> Okay. And then also is are we teaching keyboarding typing skills for our
students? it's embedded in some of the course content. It's not necessarily required. Uh one of the afteraction items that we're looking at obviously as we reduce our footprint of assessment in the earlier grades. Uh we did talk about the potential of making sure students uh
take typing uh skills to ensure that when they are taking the state assessed test that they are ready to perform and utilize the keys in an appropriate way that makes them successful in taking those. So we are implementing some aspects of keyboarding at the earlier
grades to where the reduction of assessments are happening. >> Okay. So do we have an actual plan to to make sure that every student has these keyboarding typing skills? >> Yes, we do. That plan is being developed currently for the summer and being
rolled out for next year. >> Okay. Could you send a board followup with the plan? >> Absolutely. >> Thank you. Thank you, Madam Chair. >> Thank you, Mr. Seivera.
>> Thank you, chair. A couple questions uh for me, but I do want to first start off by acknowledging um the ladies and gentlemen who came in and gave the reports. We always appreciate you guys, appreciate your efforts and appreciate the feedback that
we get from you um on a monthly basis. And to our rising freshmen at Western High School, welcome. Glad to have you in district 6. And I'm sure as as Lily can vouch for, you're at a tremendous high school. So, all the
best uh as you start your high school journey. Um Mr. Superintendent, I I've got some questions about the state statutory limits on class sizes. Um I've had some conversations with some folks
both in this district as well as folks up in Tallahassee and um I can never really get a clear answer on this. So, I'm hoping maybe today you can provide some some further ins insight that will help close some of
these uh ongoing questions. I understand what the numbers are. Uh I understand that the gauge is given and in in certain classes they have to have x amount of students. However, my question is what happens if those numbers are not being met? Do parents
have recourse? Um do they have an opportunity to go to some administrative body? Is there uh an agency up north or maybe in Broward County that they can file a formal complaint with? What can my parents do if their children are in
classes that are vastly overenrolled for whatever reason and they are quite frankly just not happy with the student teacher ratio. um that part as far as what opportunities for parents beyond talking to principles and and um
regional leaders and district leaders beyond that I have to provide a follow-up and do some research but there is a moment in time after I want to say like October um when students are still enrolling in schools that there is a after that after that date I want to say
it's October um right there's really no recourse because that's out of the control of the school and and the district if additional students continue to come into that class. If you have one or two or three um students continue to come into that class, um at that time
you can usually principles would look at the whole makeup of their school, see if there uh classes where they can redistribute the students to get the class sizes at a certain point or uh we may even award them an additional teacher as a as a strategy to lower
class sizes if that happens. But other than that, um there's really not any recourse after October besides leveraging whatever strategy possible to level out classes. Uh but before that, it's usually talk to your principal, talk to the regional leadership, district leadership, uh so we can
analyze and see what the situation is and and um react appropriately. But beyond that, I'll have to do research and get >> I I would very much appreciate a followup. And while of course I love our great principles, I I don't think respectfully, sir, that that can just be the answer. Just go talk to the principal. Um, if these are laws in the
books coming from either state DOE or the legislature or however we got to this threshold of what our uh student toteer ratio numbers are and we are not complying with that for whatever reason. Parents need to have recourse. They need
to be able to do something. If I'm not complying with a kid's IEP, we know what could happen, right? So, and I'm not um I'm not suggesting that this is uh apples to apples comparison, but parents need to have recourse if their kids are
sitting in a class with 28 kindergarteners and one teacher because to me that is really quite frankly not acceptable. So, I'm I'm very much looking forward to that followup, Mr. Superintendent. I appreciate you willing to take the lead on that. Um, next, if I may,
I believe it was Central area brought up a comment about paperbased instruction. I'm going to reserve um some of my concerns with this all this tech that's going on for the next portion of the
agenda here, but I did hear a concern that teachers are possibly being punished or disciplined if they are requesting or moving away from the teched and pushing more for paperbased methods of instruction, which
incidentally I happen to be a fan of. Um, is there any validity to that comment? Have we heard of any instances in which a teacher has said, "You know what? This is too much screen time for my kids. Let's get the notebooks out. Let's get the pencils out. Let's go old school on this, for lack of better
terms, and let's start doing more paperbased instruction." Are you aware of any teachers being disciplined for making such a decision? >> No, we wouldn't discipline teacher for anything like that. Um, a teacher has a lot of autonomy in the classroom of of how they actually provide instruction to
students. As long as they are following the standard um and the intended rigor of that standard, so the students are learning what they're supposed to learn, we're we're fine. >> Brooke, >> I do No, I did not mean that it is happening. It was a policy suggestion.
So, as we go forward and we adopt more technology or AI, we're suggesting that the district have a policy to protect teachers from potentially having discipline. I will say may there may not be formal discipline. There is incredible pressure on teachers to get
their I Ready minutes in to the point that if they get to the end of the week and they don't have enough, those laptops are coming out whether it's part of what they need to teach or not. So formal discipline, I'm I did not make that accusation, but we would like to
see a policy that protects our educators and their autonomy in the classroom to choose the best methods they see for their class. Um, and we would like to reduce the informal incredible pressure
there is to do internetbased testing where the district and the principal gets those results as well as the I Ready and other supplemental uh software. >> Thank you for that. Thank you for the clarification. Um, Dr. Con,
where you at? If I am a history teacher and I teach sixth grade history and I say, "You know what? I'm tired of these things and I don't want to do the laptops anymore. I want to go back to the way we did it when you and I were in
school." And um I make this decision as an educator. What for the teachers out there listening, can you explain the process that that teacher needs to go through with her individual school when she
makes a decision like that? >> So I would say that that is still teacher discretion. It's in the collective bargaining agreement that teachers do have autonomy to determine uh which teacher preference that they they choose to do and the modality that
they choose to do it in. >> So is that something I just wake up and decide? Do I need to put my principal on notice? Do I need to call the regional soup? Do I need to do I need to text Heburn? Like, what do what do I got to do if I'm a teacher and I've made that decision?
>> That's a that's a teacher choice. >> I can tell you in a in a in a world of a teacher, um, of course, usually groups of teachers plan. And if I'm a history teacher, I'm planning with my group of history teachers and we came up with this plan together about how what we're going to do and how we're going to
compare apples to apples um at the end of our lesson. So I would suggest that teacher talks with her teacher um uh curriculum group, right? So they make sure that you know instructional strategies are going to change and I'm going to do it this way because um usually it's a a high level of
collaboration when it comes to secondary teachers within a department. I I I understand that and and I'm I'm really not getting the answer that I'm I'm I'm looking for. So, I'm going to ask the question again and maybe history was a bad example. Okay. So, whatever class instruction you
want to put in this hypothetical, if I'm a teacher and I'm at uh oh, I don't know, Western High School, and I decide I don't want the computers in my classroom anymore. I want to go back to paperbased methods of instruction. What
do I need to do as a teacher to make that happen? Do I have complete autonomy to just walk into my classroom and do that? Do I need to call print in this hypothetical? Do I need to call Pedora and put her on notice about what I plan to do? What is the process? >> You you have autonomy. You are the
teacher in that classroom. You have autonomy. As long as you are teaching the standard, you have autonomy. And I you can walk classrooms at the beginning of the school year. You're going to see teachers teaching using different methods, different strategies. Some leverage computers part of the time,
some leverage computers probably once a week to supplement instruction. Teachers are doing it uh different across the board. So, you won't find one teacher teaching the same way as a as another teacher. >> Okay. Fantastic. And again, just to to tie the ribbon on this and make sure that everyone's 100% clear in my
hypothetical, I don't need to go to the principal. I don't need to talk to tumor and I don't need to talk to you if I'm a teacher and I make this decision about how I want to teach my classroom. >> Correct. You you have autonomy for instructional strategies. >> Excellent. Thank you for the uh
clarification. Madame General Counsel, I think if I was taking down accurate notes when you were speaking, um we've certainly heard a lot of push back on some of this Neola
stuff. And some of the greatest concerns that I've heard um in the past weeks on this since this was first really introduced to the public is number one the potential reduction in public comment and how our constituents feel as
though they're being cheated of their opportunity to come and properly and address this board in a timely manner and in a manner that they have become used to and accustomed to over the years. That being said, um I believe
I heard from you um in response to a request to have a rule development workshop that on the um NULA process, especially these these 31 policies that we kind of lumped into one agenda item at the last meeting that in order to
have a rule development workshop on uh Neola to address these concerns, we would need to have approval from Chair Leonardi. Did I understand that correctly? >> No, we've already had a rule development workshop. And the next step is the
public hearing which will also allow individuals to have uh make public comment on the different rules. >> If I may, and and I again I don't want to put words in people's mouths. I believe it was ESSE um who had made the request. Jackie, am I accurate with
that? >> I think Dr. Lynch Walsh put in a formal request for a rule development hearing. I I think we need to clarify what we're talking about. Rule development workshop you had. It wasn't run in conformity with how they have been run previously.
Secondly, if we're talking now about a hearing, I'm not clear what the hearing is. I've got some other points I'd like to reply to as well, if I may, in a minute. Um, but can you clarify what this hearing is that you're talking about? Thank you. >> Okay. So um Florida statute 120.54 is
the rule making statute right so it dictates and provides how rules are created. Now you have to remember that we are considered an educational unit per definition in that statute. So there's some certain things in that statute that is not applicable to a
school district. It's run by one of them for example is Florida statute 120.81 which talks about the legal notices. Now, rule development, the statute says unless there's a cost, um the district
may have a even if there is a cost, the district may have what they call a rule development workshop. What does that mean? That is an opportunity for the board to have a discussion of a proposed rule. We'll call that a policy. They're
interchangeable, those words. And the public has an opportunity to make a comment. That's that's what a rule that's in essence what a rule development workshop is because of the fact and most districts do this normally have a rule development
workshop without the public even asking for it. The statute doesn't require it. If the public asks for it, you're supposed to have it unless there's a good reason as to why it's not necessary. In our case, we move forward and we will continue to move forward
with rule development workshops so that the public has an opportunity to make a comment on the rules and the board has an opportunity to have discussion on the rule before we go to the next step which is the public hearing. The public hearing is when the policies are then
also brought forward. The public then has the opportunity to make comments and the board will vote on whether or not to adopt the rule as um revised. That's what the public hearing is. That's proper rule development.
>> I'm sorry, my friend to the left here is whispering exactly what was in my head. If I could just ask, are you talking about a school board meeting or are you talking about a separate hearing? >> Okay, good question. So, um, a lot of times it is a school board meeting, but
that portion of the meeting is is considered a public hearing. So, normally what will happen is that the school board will um recess the regular meeting, go into the public hearing, have the public comments, and then go back to the meeting. So, that's normally
how it occurs, but it does happen in most districts in a meeting. was the ask for an additional rule development workshop which I I agree madam general counsel that's that was the last goound that was what that qualified as correct >> that was a rule development
>> so I I what I'm wondering is I feel like a lot of members of the public didn't really have a good handle uh or understanding about what was going on prior to the last workshop now that we've had that workshop
things have have come out. There's been discussions. There's been, you know, internet posts and conversations about this. Uh I fielded phone calls. I fielded text messages on this. Feel like there's a better understanding of what's happening in light of that. And I'm going to ask uh I'm going to ask ESC
again. Is there request for an additional rule development workshop or is it just you want confirmation that the public will be able to participate in the hearing aka schoolboard meeting in which these things with nola are formally voted on?
>> I I know what the thank you for the question and I know what the response will be so let's not waste our time but the but really I think it's clear that telling us that well a a board a workshop was was held
And it was advertised. Nobody has said it wasn't advertised properly. It was advertised on an obscure website that the public hasn't even been told that's the place you need to go to if you want to see what we're actually doing. As opposed to what we're putting on our agenda and our own board meetings
website to say we advertised it in this obscure place that none of you look at and half of you even when you try it can't get on it. But so we met we met um statute um that but you know and we don't have you actually said Mr. Pri Bruno Bruno we don't have to put it on
the website. Well why wouldn't you and that's a genuine question. Why on earth would you I take shorthand we don't have to put it on the website. Um why on earth would you not? It wasn't even on your own agenda that that was a rulemaking workshop. There wasn't a
covering document that even said what all these policies were. There wasn't, as Miss uh as Mary said, um any comparison of right this proposed new policy replaces that one. Not one of you got out policy 1020 during the course of that workshop and did a side by side. We
work really professionally in committee when we're um looking at policies. We do sidebyside matrices and we do red lines. you have done red lines before, not so much the matrices, even though I know board members have asked for for a more um visually friendly format. Um there
was no red lines. It was so and I think the crux of this is that this is a policy conversion versus a review. And I'm not sure actually that all board members even knew that was the case when they voted on it. If it's a straight um replacement, there was no comparison.
There are other policies, take AI for example, that are just there gagging to be passed because you've got public outcry is going to creep up on you and overwhelm you. Our cameras in classrooms policy for um ESE that actually I and others at ESE advisory helped very
helpfully and collaboratively to craft with you. God knows what's now going to happen with that. I'm not clear whether that was calling that a rule development workshop but not even putting it on your own agenda that it was that is actually reprehensible. That's not just well we've we we advertise it somewhere else
quietly so we meet statute. Um to say that there is no elimination of public comment you're right there's no elimination but we have 12 minutes as members of the public spread across a whole board meeting. So to say that you're just restructuring it actually
isn't correct. You said you are not losing public comment. It's just being restructured. There are two different things. There's public speaking which is five speakers in the morning, five speakers in the afternoon and then there is public comment which is where everybody had 12 minutes. You've now
proposed reducing that to just three that people had to just garble it at the beginning of the board meeting. There would only be limited space for that which would be one hour. So let's face it, if President Fusco brings a bunch of her teachers, nobody else is getting a look in. um to say it's just being
restructured just is not an accurate reflection. Um it's still not clear when this public hearing would be and when. But I'm glad to see it's now seeded that it does need to be separately at least tagged as a public hearing. Um but I hope it will be advertised accordingly
on board websites and its own agenda. Um, and I think crucially now we're in the summer when honestly I'm afraid to leave Broward because I fear what's going to happen when we're not here to voice about things because this was sneaked out. Things are being sneaked
out at times of year and in ways that that are not collaborative. Anybody could have come to the advisories beforehand and said, "Hey, listen. We're looking at this Neola platform. What do you think?" Or, "It doesn't matter what you think, but here's what we're doing anyway." or here's a demonstration of what the platform will be. I'm sure the
platform looks great, but the process was not described or considered at a board meeting for $138,000 a year when we can't get a prek evaluation for a kid with a disability to start school in August and she's got to wait beyond Christmas. I think priorities are are
really poor and the optics of this and what the result will be is incredibly bad at a time when on one hand you're saying hey let's look at customer service and on the other you're saying we don't want to hear from our customers much >> so thank you so much for the comment I
appreciate that and again we do uh listen to what your concerns are and try to address them the best that we can first and foremost I will say this once the Neola process is completed, you're going to like the end result. I have
done this conversion before and I know what it looks like and the public likes it because they can find this the policies very easily. It's much easier to understand. The second thing I want you to know is that these policies 90%
of the policies are based on law. That's what policies are supposed to be. the processes, the operations, the protocols, how you do something are not policies. And that's part of the cleanup that we're doing. I think a lot of times we're concerned about how something ends
up happening versus the direction that the governing body is giving to make something happen. We're working on both of those things at the same time, which is something that is very unique to Broward that we were able to negotiate with Niola. So, that's the first thing.
Second, um we're not paying $138,000 per year. We're paying $138,000 for this conversion. And it is a complete conversion of the policies. The reason the policies are not redline is because they're not old policies. These
are brand new policies that are coming before the board. When the when you see the public hearing, you will see the red lines that are based on what the board's discussion was, including some of the comments that were made at the workshop
are included in some of those um red lines that will be coming on the 23rd. So, you're never going to see red lines at the onset because they're not old policies that we're revising. They're new policies. The other the other thing that I think it's really really
important to understand um the law prescribes how certain things are supposed to be done. Florida statute 120.81 for educational units says that we
publish on the county's um website. And I understand what your point is. Wait, hold on. I hold on hold on. I understand your point. Your point is that you want to see it on our website too to be legally compliant. We legally published it on that. And I will tell you on our
website, if you go to the front page, anybody who wants to know and follow this, you can go to the front page on our website, scroll all the way down and it says legal notices, you click that and it takes you to the county's website. So I I want to make sure that it's on the
record because the district is legally compliant. Hold on one second. Hold on. >> Hold on. Hold on, please. Number two, when it is advertised, because the the law requires us to do this, it is advertised 28 days prior to the
adoption. That includes the workshop, that includes what I call the public hearing, which is what the statute refers to. Both dates were on there two parts over there. They have both dates for the legal notices. So, it was already said way back at the end of May
that on June 23rd, there's going to be a public hearing on these policies. So, we're not sneaking. We're not trying to be deceptful. It's all there for the public to consume. Hold on. Let me let me finish the second thing to go directly to your point in terms of
what is advertised on our website. Normally what is advertised is a workshop and within that workshop there are multiple things and one of those things could be a review of policy. Now because we got feedback from the
public and because of the fact that we're going through a full policy conversion we went ahead and said okay we are going to advertise this. We're going to make sure it's clear that this is a rule development workshop from now
on. That's what we're going to do to make sure that the public understands. But I will also tell you that there's been discussions at the DEAS in terms of board are we going to have one workshop a month that is specifically for policies? Yes, we're going to do that.
And the reason that 1020 came is because there was instructions. This is not a surprise. If you're following the the meetings, this is discussion with the board. 10:20 Dri Bruno Bruno, please go and review that and come back with some policies for us to consider. So, I
understand the comments and the frustration. We're going to make sure that it is as transparent because there's nothing that we want to do to to be uh non-transparent. We want the public to participate to to have a voice and you
can also send written request. we will make sure that it's highlighted so you know this is a rule development even though it's not required by law. >> Thank you. And my comments were to the board and I would like to hear from the board as well. Um saying if you're following meetings I feel might come
across as well in that let's put that in the column of like not feeling too public friendly. Those of us at this table are probably among the people who follow meetings as closely as as as anybody's going to. And sometimes even we can miss things because do you know what? We have
full-time jobs. I'm doing mine at 3 4 5 in the morning. I'm afraid to even go on on vacation because all these things that are happening and I'm afraid that the may what you may not be aware of Mr. pre Bruno is that the manner in which things are done sometimes comes from
staff who are the staff that then actually laugh when we become distressed about it. It's just happened again right now in the last 3 minutes. So please understand that our frustration nobody has said you did not advertise it in accordance with statute. That doesn't
even need discussing and taking up time. We haven't said that. But why on earth would you not put it on your own websites and your own agenda? And I think it would be nice to say, you know what, you folks are right to be agitated about this. You're right. That wasn't
okay. And we need to be more transparent. We can't be saying we're transparent and being transparent just by saying it. We have to do it, too. >> But I I just want to make sure it's clear. When the public advised us that
there was a concern, we immediately added rule development to the website. It's there and we added it to the agenda. And I understand what you're saying >> after the fact. >> Yes. >> Because we heard from the public and we took action. And the other thing I I just wanted to um make sure also um with
regards to public comment because there was a question about 60 minutes and that's it. I want you to know that the board in their discussions gave directive that the chair can extend public comment if it requires more than 60 minutes more than an hour. So that's also in the policy.
>> I think part of the concern >> I specifically asked when I could come now could not come last week. I asked a a board member when and I'm not going to say who, when this would be coming forward for a vote so that people could
speak to the policy itself. My understanding was that a certain amount of time was required between the rulemaking workshop and the actual public hearing. I guess I was told the wrong time because I did not understand that to be next week when a good number
of people in the public will be out of this county. And so you're actually doing this taking away their right to speak. And just just so you I know I you know I and I know you're just doing your job here,
but let me just explain that at one time there was no limit on how often a person from the public could address an issue. It was three minutes per item, but there was not a and then it went to 15 and then it went to 12 and now in essence
you're taking it to three. And I I think if you're going to do that, it would have been good to loop it through the advisories or as Miss Thompson pointed out, loop it through the Sachs, let's loop it through your schools, do
something. But you all are literally doing this at a time when, you know, people are out of town. I think that sends a terrible message. And I I don't know that I I just I just think what you're doing with the policies, the organizational uh part that you're doing
with them, that's great. You're getting going to make sure that they're legally compliant. I all of that. Okay. But how you do, you're picking one of the most important, which is the right of the public to address the board themselves in session, and that's the one you're
choosing to do when the public may not be around. And really I I try to follow this stuff. I did ask because I wanted I couldn't come to the last meeting. I wanted to be aware obviously I'm one person. It doesn't matter. But I
just I just think this is being handled very poorly as far as taking a policy like 1020 which was not even advertised as 1020 last week >> and doing it. So thank you. Thank you for your explanation. And I know we're belaboring this and we're getting away from some other important issues, but I
would just request of board members who are listening to this conversation that you might want to hold this off until August when you can actually know that you're going to have people back in town because their kids are going to be in school. >> May I May I ask a question?
>> Mr. Sa has the floor. So >> or very quick comment. >> The the answer to your question about asking a question is yes. But if I may, ESC, I I don't think I got a response. Do you think it would be beneficial to have an additional rural development workshop? >> Yes, I do.
>> Okay, Cynthia, go ahead. >> So, I think this is an important conversation and I know that there are lots of board members who have questions about other topics and I don't want it to monopolize the time. I think that it's so valuable the information that you're giving um Miss Dup Bruno and I
think potentially we can create a landing page that has this policy project on it with information about the process and how we will move forward. Additionally, maybe holding an information session virtually that the public can attend so that we can you can
provide the information, the public can provide their um concerns or uh opinions to you as well as suggestions on what they would like to see to maintain this engagement um so that we can
move along. But I agree with everything that Mary and Jackie said. Thank you. >> May I miss Verdict? Do you agree that a an additional rule development workshop
would be beneficial to the public? >> Yes. >> Sorry. Yes. >> Parent community task force. Same question. >> Yes. >> Human relations. Apologies, I missed the question. >> Do you believe that an additional rule development workshop would be beneficial
to the public? >> Yes. >> DAC? >> Yes, but potentially in August. >> Technology, >> yes. >> South area, >> yes. >> Gifted? >> Absolutely. Yes. >> Madame General Counel, how does one go
about obtaining an additional rule development workshop at this stage? So, you're going to have to um vote on that um because right now pursuant to your policy 1,000. The chair makes the decision as to whether or not a second workshop is
necessary and the chair has already um a request came in for that and the chair has already responded that a second workshop is not necessary and that's per policy that you have. Does the chair have the ability to order or require an additional rural
development workshop without a formal vote at her discretion? >> Yes, that's what the policy says. >> Thank you. Um, Madame Chair Leonard, having heard what you've heard from the public, and I'm assuming you've gotten the same emails that I'm getting, will you commit to grant the public what
essentially they're asking for and allow an additional workshop for role development at this juncture? I'd like to put it up to the board. I'm happy to move forward with the will of the board. >> Chair, I believe it should be a formal vote. >> Okay. >> So, if Mr. Seo would like to bring that item,
>> then we can vote on it. >> All right. >> So, just just so we're clear, you have the ability to do it without a vote, but you are asking to send it to a vote from the board. >> I would like to take the I would like to move forward with the will of the board. >> Understood. Thank you for the clarification. Uh, last agenda item
before I turn my mic off temporarily. Mr. Superintendent, we have heard a lot about this opt out uh of technology over the last couple meetings. I spoken to some parents who've expressed uh a great amount of
difficulty in actually being able to do this. What I would like to see, and you tell me if this is possible, I would like a portion of our web page, the BCPS uh web page, to have a hyperlink or some sort
of clickable item that gives a detailed instruction, whether it's you have to fill out a form or whether you have to call somebody, but detailed instructions on how a parent can opt out of technology should they make the decision that that's not what is in the best
interest of their child. Can we get something on the Broward County Public Schools website, a very, very comprehensive set of instructions telling parents how they can opt out should they choose to do so? >> Yes, that's possible. >> Okay. How long will it take you to get
that up? >> Um, I have to check in with the team. >> Can we get that done before school starts in August? >> Yes, there's a a Yes, we can, but there's a a lot of um additional things we need to do. taught the principles, taught the teachers, uh figure out um
when we say opt out of technology, if it's not to the students detriment that they're that they're opting out of of uh said use of technology for specific purposes, you know, the the uh spectrum of curriculum and resources and instruction is is wide. So, I don't want to um you know, make it be a detriment
to a student's learning versus um some of the tools that may be actually assisting them and helping them excel in the classroom. And so and and um yeah, but we we could take a look um at that. It's it's a lot more um than just blanket opting out of technology though.
>> Whatever the provision is, whatever the protocol is, I want a detailed portion of the web page to be able to explain this to parents so there's not a thousand questions that they have to ask should they make the decision that it's not in the best interest of their child
to use technology. Um, you mentioned that we have to look at whether or not it's detrimental to the student. Respectfully, sir, I want to listen to what the parents think about what's detrimental to their child or not. And if they make that decision as a family or as a mom, as a dad, collectively, as
an aunt, as an uncle, whatever it is, they need to be ready to have the information to do what they need to do to make that decision and make it a reality with us without having to call 17 people. So, I would like to see that before uh school starts in August again, a portion of the homepage with
comprehensive instructions on how a parent can opt out of technology should they make that decision. Thank you. >> Is there consensus from the board on that? There's I just want to make sure before we move forward. >> I I mean for me I uh wanted to talk
about that with more nuance and in depth in the next workshop um on AI. I think so I I'm not ready to say yes or no. I mean I I think it deserves a much longer more detailed discussion and I know there's a lot of there's still a lot of
board members who would like to speak. So it was something I was planning on bringing up in the next workshop. >> Agreed. Because it is a a heavily nuanced um Agreed. I I can wait till the next workshop. >> Any other board members who want >> Wait, wait, wait, wait a second. Let me let me let me do something because I
have a feeling I know where this is going. Um I want to follow up Heern with detailed instructions. You could address it to me, the district 6 board member, from A to Z, how one as a parent opts out of all technology should they make that decision. You don't have to put on
the website for now. We can discuss it whenever you want, but I want a detailed followup in memorandum style from A to Z about how this is done. And I'd like this done within the next two weeks. Can you commit to that, sir? >> We we'll provide a followup. I'll get
with the team. >> Okay. >> Yep. >> Miss Bulman. >> Thank you. So, do we are are we offering absolute full technology? >> No. >> I guess I'm my question is just you know at what point are we making an undue
burden and I think we again I agree with the chair that we need to have a much um longer discussion about how this can work. >> Yeah. >> Um reasonably and I'm not against it. I just think that we need to be talking
about that before uh before Dr. Hubburn has to create something that doesn't exist right now. And I believe in our policy if we direct the if we direct the superintendent, we're allowed to do that unless it's going to create an undue burden at which time we have to take it
back to the board. >> Yeah. And that's why I asked for if there's board consensus because it is a heavily nuanced a classroom is just not totally technology. um and the teachers in the room and the students in the room can can um can voice that also. So I just want to make sure that when you say
opt out, a blanket opt out will be detrimental to students because there's a lot of components that help to accelerate. Go ahead. Go ahead, Lily. >> Okay. Sorry. Um I feel the need to speak on this. I would first of all like to point out that 92% of jobs in the US do require digital skills today. Um I think
Broward County schools it's important that um you know we have around what 230,000 students. Um it is important that we prepare our students properly for the up andcoming world. We are in the digital age. Um I know not everyone's a fan of it and you know
there are spectrums to it and it's important to tow the line and make sure that you know it's not our students entire life. I know we spoke about the writing skills. It's so important to write guys. How do people not know cursive right? obviously, but at the same time, when someone goes to apply for a job, if they don't know how to use
technology properly, someone's going to ask the same question. Someone's going to ask, "How do you not know how to do this?" In in this day and age, realistically, you cannot not know how to properly use a laptop and an iPhone. And I understand, right, that we don't want it to be overly used, but I think
entirely opting out of it is extremely damaging to a student's future. Right? I'm sure Myle can say something along the same lines that we are at such an advantage comp like in the job market compared to older generations simply because we grew up with this. I've had an iPad for over 10 years now. I have my
computer, my phone and because of that I have so much access to knowledge and when I come here as student adviser I didn't have to learn how to use my laptop day one. I already knew how to do everything. Think about all the emails we send each other, all the phone calls that have to get made, the meetings that get set up. We are in the digital era.
Our students deserve to be properly prepared for that. I understand that there might be differences of, you know, beliefs at home and if we want to speak about maybe opting out of the amount of digital education, I think that's a great conversation to have. But to give parents the option to completely take
that away from their students and their children, I just don't think that's right at all. >> Um, sort of what Lily said. Um, I just want a clarification. How how would that look like? Uh, superintendent, how would them opting
out? >> I I can't tell you that right now because what's spinning in my head, I have kids, too, is and I used to be a teacher and and everything above is that the the classroom is not a monolith of technology. >> It's variations of instructional
practices that teachers provide to students. And as Lily said um very well, we are in a digital age and um a large percentage of industries local and abroad require some technology literacy
and I do not want to create a huge detriment for students and and limiting their opportunities in the future. I understand the concerns of some parents um when it comes to screen time and all of that, but that's why I said it's heavily nuanced and the team would have to go back figure out what things are
required what things are required for schools that kids are going to for a magnet, a STEM magnet. >> Okay? >> Right? These all these are all kind of components um within our school district that we have to um be able to educate the parents that I understand you want to opt out but you know your kids in a
STEM magnet and they're using this technology for these specific purposes. what specifically do you want to opt out of? Um, and so that's why I say it's a heavily nuanced conversation and just a blanket not opt out could be very detrimental um to to students futures. >> So is there no policy set in place
currently regarding opting out or any information on that? >> Um not specifically. Um uh there are parental rights, right? Those are um current laws and whatnot um where parents do have options to opt out and to opt in is into certain things, but
we'll have to do some research and see how this is applicable to technology um in the classroom. >> Okay, >> chair, if I if I may, and he I'm glad you just said the last thing that you said because my request is certainly in
line with all requisite portions of Florida statutes and the parental rights statutes. That's what I want to know. I want a review done by the team of what rights are afforded to when it comes to technology opt outs for parents under state statute because as I've said a
thousand times on this day is we follow the law in Broward County and we'll continue to do something and we're not going to do anything that's contrary to the law. So in accordance with state statute I want to know what our policy is for opting out and what the parameters of that look like under statute. Research it with your team. Let
me know. figure that out and then I want a followup as to how a parent can achieve that should they make the decision that that is in the best interest of their child and I would like that within two weeks if possible. >> Um I know Mrs. Alf wanted to speak on
this on one of Mr. Seivera's points. >> Yes. So Mr. Sea brought up that he wanted uh to get the opinion of the board members to weigh in on doing another
session. Uh I forgot what we were calling it. And and then then someone said they wanted to make it as a vote. So I don't believe this necessarily has to be a vote. the board
members can weigh in on Mr. Cera's ideas, this one and the one he just spoke about. And then if Chair Leonardi, if you feel that you have board majority to move forward with another rule making
session, then you can do that. >> Yeah, that's what I asked for. >> We don't necessarily have to go to vote for it. >> Yeah, that's what I asked for and it was proposed that it just be taken to a board vote. So again, I will move forward with the will of the board if
that is taken right now or at a board vote next week. So is anyone objecting to a board vote next week besides Mrs. Alhidef and Mr. Seivera? >> No. >> And Mrs. Rupert? >> No, I'm good. >> So that is three objections.
So not a majority of the board. So we will move forward with a board vote next week. >> Okay. And I believe the information that Mr. Seivera asked for with regards to opting out um you I don't know that it was
asking for a review. So I don't know that that's creating an undue burden. Dr. Heep. >> No, the followup isn't an undue burden. Um typing it up right now so the team can get it. >> So everyone will get a copy of that follow-up. >> Absolutely. >> Miss Leonardi, could you just clarify?
I'm sorry I I'm if I've missed this. Is the board vote next week on whether to have another rule development workshop or not? Is that it? So are you moving ahead with voting on the policy next week or you're voting on whether to have a rule development? >> Mr. Dupri Bruno, I'm assuming there
would be two item. Well, there is the public hearing next week. But if the board votes to do another rule development workshop, then though that public hearing would be postponed, correct? >> Yes. Okay. Thanks. Sorry, Miss Thompson.
So maybe I misunderstood. I thought to that the general counsel had said if we wanted to have another workshop then there had to be a vote and since we don't vote in workshops which is why I said bring it to a vote. So I just need clarification because I
feel like it's going to come back on me that I demanded a vote but that was my understanding of what the general counsel said. >> Attorney Dup pre Bruno. Okay. So there's a couple things. We are currently in the statutoily required rule making process.
A rule development workshop occurred on I believe it was June 8th and then the next step would be the public hearing for adoption on June 23rd. Uh June 8th there was public comment. June 23rd
there will be public comment. The question that was posed was whether or not um there could be another rule development workshop. And how does that occur? Per your policy, policy 1000, it
delegates to the chair the ability to make a decision as to whether or not a second rule development workshop can occur. And that basically means that you go through the rules again and then you have public comment again, which is similar to what's going to happen in the
public hearing. Um the that's what your that's what your policy currently says and the chair has already made a decision that there would not be a second workshop because you're going to have your public hearing and you also
have the opportunity to submit comments and questions during this interim period. If the board wants to basically change that and have a rule development workshop, then my recommendation is that you have a vote because you're not in
compliance with your policy because your policy already dictates what happens in these scenarios. You've already delegated that responsibility to your chair per policy 1000. So if you want to change that, you can. But I don't you can't vote in a
workshop. So, do you have to do that in a in a regular school board meeting or special meeting? >> And just to add some uh additional context, um, and I think we've all received the emails, but I've been acting under advisement of our board
attorney. Um, she has provided clear guidance in email to us about this issue, but again, I'm I'm happy to move forward and I've put it to the board. Um, I'm happy to move forward uh per the will of the board. So then wait for clarification then. So could we do a
consensus to see if there's interest and then an item come back to formally vote if there is consensus for an additional workshop because that way when it if it does not pass then it does not delay the rule making on the 23rd. >> Attorney Dupri Berno.
>> Yes that that is correct. >> So can we get consensus? >> Yep. That's what I originally asked for Mr. Rupert. Uh, Miss Thompson, no. >> Miss Bulman, >> Dr. Holess,
>> no. >> Dr. Azimman, >> Mr. Ca? >> Yes. And I would renew my request for you to um order the workshop pursuant to your authority as chair, which you have the right to do.
>> And Mrs. Aladaf? >> Yes. Um and I would like to move forward per our general counsel's guidance. Um so that means that the majority of the board will not uh does not desire to do another rural development workshop into
the in addition to the one that we did last week. You still have the floor. Mr. Sea, >> I'll end with this just so we're clear. The request Dr. superintendent for the
followup um serves as a recision of my request for you to update the website. So, let's do the followup and I will revisit the website issue. I just don't want there to be um any confusion. So, the the ask of you right now is to just
do the followup with whatever our policy is based on the parental right statutes that exist in this state. get me that within two weeks and we'll revisit how we're going to disseminate that information to the public. Is that clear? Thank you, sir.
>> Thank you, Miss Rupert. >> Thank you. Um and thank you for all the the chairs here that um spend so much time really working for our district and our family and our kids. Thank you so much. Um I know sometimes it may seem
like we're not listening, but we we really are. And I I I try to listen, you know, even hurting my neck sometimes leaning all the way over because it's that important to have eye contact with the people that you respect and I respect you. Um
the first part I want to talk about is projectbased learning. Um, I think the AI conversation, which we're going to be having later, um, needs to be phased out as we talk when we talk about this with our elementary
school kids, middle and high school. Big difference. You know, I think there's more opportunity and better learning. And I'm a reading teacher, language arts teacher, so, you know, that's that's where I'm leaning with this. They need
pencil and paper. They need the ability to do that. They need to be able to make margin notes. Those are really important things to get in the elementary level because I can tell you as a ninth grade teacher and my students came in with third grade reading skills.
How do you make that all up in one year? It's difficult. Really difficult. Um and it's not fair for our kids. So, um I always taught them the basics and or my kids did really well on the on their exams and they were able to go on um a few work
for us which is amazing and I I think that's an important aspect of that. Um additionally, and I know I've mentioned this before, there's something called the summer bridge series. It's a workbook. It's a fabulous workbook. I don't know how much it is, but I know
it's still out there in paper. You know, it's it's a shiny little paper book. And what it is is um what it is is sorry, mom. She would kill me with the grammar there. Um is reviewing the year that you just came
through. So like it's called a two three book. So you're reviewing the the the second grade year over the summer, trying to avoid that summer slump that we all know, and then um previewing the following year, that one they're going to be moving into. So they're not
overwhelmed by looking at third grade stuff right away. They're reviewing their second grade and they're keeping it fresh over the summer. Um, did my kids play play video games? Um, actually only one of three did so much at that
time. And uh, but all of them had to finish their books before we got back from Canada. Uh, and each one of them did it differently because they're all different learners um, under the ESC umbrella. And I'm going to go back to gifted because one of the most difficult
kids to be able to get uh across that fin finish line for whatever future they want to have is our twice gifted, twice exceptional. So um I'm going to come back to that when we talk about writing. Um I may as well just do it now before I
forget. So, it's extremely important, you know, uh and especially important to uh make sure that our students are tested. And I had a push to get him tested for gifted. So he was actually
uh in I think it was first grade, end of first grade. He was in gifted and if I hadn't had that done with him, we never would have caught this the um SLD that he have disgraphia. So, he had
difficulty from the get-go, but we were able to understand and at that time, and he's 33 now, doing well, well, well well, super well, happy. And um it's difficult at that point to reach those minds of the gifted kids, keep them
engaged um in a fun, creative way that they're a part of. Uh it's extremely important to do that. So, why do I say that? Um because I believe students work better when they have a teacher in the classroom. The most important thing that
we could do but besides having their minutes to do on I Ready and it is done in elementary school. You can hear whatever you want to hear, but when you know and you hear from teachers and you go visit your schools that kids and the
parents and the teachers complain about mandatory minutes for I Ready and to say that that's not true is not true. It is happening. They do have I ready minutes that must be done in a weekly daily basis. um if that were their only
opportunity to do it, maybe we could be happy with it, but it's not. It's all the other things that we asked them to do as well. We need more autonomy on that and I would push it especially for our elementary school teachers. Um
it it's incredibly important. And okay, the second part, uh Jackie with the resolution for ESSE executive role. Um, I 100% agree. >> Yes, 100%.
Um, three, the preschool evaluation, it needs to be immediate and it needs to be done so our kids are ready to start school. I don't care if we have to hire specials outside our skit system. whatever gets it done. So our kids
aren't going to school in August and waiting all those months which comes out to no accommodations, no extra help, no things to give them all the tools that they deserve in their
toolbox. So extremely important um very important to do. So I want to share that especially with the the superintendent and and my my colleagues. So, that's incredibly important. Um, I don't like hearing about the use of um
money being pulled back for Cambridge and some other stuff. We need more clarification on that. Um, and uh, you know, I'll I'll say more later on that, but we need more clarification. Um, to the human relations uh, committee, thank
you so much. And um 466 participants for 6 through 12 students. That's a lot. That's amazing. And good for you. Let's keep it going. Um 106 schools. Can't wait to see way more that
get them. No place for hate. Um I was listening very closely to the um multilanguage and listening to the two teacher um two teachers. So teaching one taught uh English, the other taught
Spanish. very similar to well not similar because it wasn't language but um our fourth and fifth grade at the time Cocon Elementary they had one team that had um the English teacher and she had them for part of the day and then
the math and science teacher English and history math and science and they were a fantastic duo together. Um but also one teacher switching back and forth could also work as well. Either one uh would be important to look forward and see
exactly and listen to uh and read more more material that you guys would have on that information. Um okay more parent community involvement task force. It is a great force a force to be
reckoned with. That would be a t-shirt I'd make for you guys. um obstacles and concerns and challenges. I love that, you know, let's point out those obstacles and concerns and challenges and come up together with how we need to
move forward. Um talking about raptor and concentric, I think it's called. Correct me if I'm wrong. Um not being run through the tech tech committee. Um that's a problem. And I'm just going to say this because I only have a few more
months anyway and I said it all along so I'd be s you know strange by not saying it. Um the what is the word? The marginalization
of our advisory groups has been swift at times and then very slowly eroding. And as a board member that's been here for 16 years now or almost 16 years, I've
seen that process. I didn't like it in the beginning and talked out about it. I didn't like it in the middle and I certainly don't like it at this point. As a board member, it's incredibly important to hear all voices. And I 100,000%
agree with uh Rebecca. I go out and have town halls for mental health. It's incredibly important um to to have your town halls to get to your people to go to the schools, go to the games, and that's where people reach out to you. They'll walk up to you and reach out to
you and be open and that's when you hear the stuff. So, most parents in district 7 don't usually call and if it is, Ellen takes care of it like that and off she goes. But they don't do it. They wait to a football game. they wait till they see
me out at soccer. So, um you know, it's important. I know as a board we've talked about this about having um you know, more kind of table talk conversations in throughout all districts during the next year. And
that's incredibly important for me, too. Um congratulations to our our uh schools. Tech textbook trends and exceptions are down. So, that's incredibly important. Um, facilities, maintenance, elevator
service. I'm going to talk about that when we talk more about um specific schools coming up in the same in the same answer. And if I'm not here because I this is taking long and it should take long because this is extremely important. I have to be in the hospital
this afternoon. So, I will be leaving uh at some point, but I want to be on the record for saying that. It would be a travesty to not build Margate Middle, a brand new
school instead of continually doing a very slow process. Like, rip the band-aid off, make it safe, make it less hazardous, make it comfortable. Do not put more money into things that are just
going to delay the process. It needs to be its own school. We do not want to disenfranchise people and I'm 100% I know we're going to talk about it later and I believe our um some of our
commissioners are in the the other waiting room and um you'll hear from them later, but if I'm not if I'm not here, I'll hold on as long as I can before I get I would be late getting there. Um,
okay. We already talked about educational testing. All right. And then the last part was on suicide um, prevention. Like I said, I do town halls and we know and every board member should know and we used to get a a list of how many we
would get notifications, swear to you, when they happened. It's important as a board member to know that just happened in your school. It's incredibly important. Not just because of that student, but also suicide ideiations.
My colleague over here could talk way better than that. I I didn't have all the tools to start those conversations, but felt it was important to start them. and we've had them for several years because district 7 has one of the highest
suicide rates, suicide rates. And as every board member should be able to ask our student services and our suicide prevention, they need to ask what how is this district doing? And then we need to take
a look at what is our whole district look like? What are we doing to stop another one? And uh one thing that we do better now is not just considering that that child
in isolation, but treating that whole school, that whole class and other schools. That child who was lost could have had a brother and a sister in different schools. So just talking to
that school and giving them help, it it's not a complete answer. And as a district, we do do that. And I really want to stress that that department does a remarkable job and we need to do more.
And um I hope whoever comes um after me is able to um continue that process and that mantle um for the good of all all districts. Um and for that I thank you and hopefully I'll will be here when we get to the
other topics. But thank you so much. Thank you, Dr. Zean. >> Thank you, chair. Uh, unfortunately, she uh either stepped out or left, but Miss Bordy brought up something that we've got some interesting data on, and we have an opportunity to do something
which I think would be of universal value to Broward County Public Schools, which is to make a guarantee that every elementary school in Broward County have music, art, recess, and uh, excuse me, music, art, PE, and a full-time librarian. every elementary school. We
are 12 positions away. Uh we um are anxious to hear back from that uh that line of inquiry. Uh 12 when you have 24,000 staff positions is a small number. Um but it it means a lot. You know, there's a lot of things in Broward County that we can say about all of our
schools. We have 100% certified teachers. Uh we comply with state law. We comply with Broward County policies. We uh offer students one-on-one uh laptop computers for those that want it. Not everyone, it doesn't get forced on
people, but uh they're available. Um we operate in a system of Florida state standards, and we meet those state standards. So, um and they're going to go in a district that is making heroic gains in academic success. So, there's a lot of things we can say about Broward County Public Schools. Right now, we
can't say though that every elementary school child gets the specials that they deserve. Um, unfortunately that is not something that gets reported up in our budget that the board reviews, but it's something now that the board is aware of. Um, and I'm looking forward to um hearing back in the next few weeks about whether or not we can meet that
standard, but I'm confident uh that we will. The the second issue, which is incredibly important, and I appreciate Cynthia you bringing this up. Um, we have seen numbers in mental health in this country and in this district that are staggering. 40% of children have
teenagers in the United States have mental health illness >> sometime during their teenage years. 20% can tell you how they would take their life. And 10% of American teenagers and Broward teenagers have tried to take their life. Um not all suicides have
suicide ideation, but that that level of numbers is staggering. We have done some great research um as a school board on on what gaps we have in mental health. Uh we have over a year ago fenced all mental health professionals and said all you can be asked to do is mental health.
So you're not doing the carline, you're not doing lunch duty, you're not doing assessment tests, you are allowed full-time uh to do mental health. But we've also got a report that's made it very clear and it says our superintendent. This is not an issue between the board and the superintendent. This is an issue the
board and the superintendent including his specific comments that our ratios of mental health professionals particularly clinical mental health professionals, social workers, therapists, counselors that can actually help students is out of whack. We're probably 450 or 500 to
one. The national standard is 200 to 250. So we're out of whack big time. We're going to be doing that work. And just Dr. Superintendent uh Dr. He um with all due respect, we are I would just want to tell the community that this is something that we have not
solved yet. And I think is that a reasonable conclusion that you've come to as well? >> Yes. Um correct. Um you hit some statistics um on the head there as far as the ratio um of mental health service providers or or even um school counselors to to students is severely
high, especially for large school districts versus, you know, the nationwide average. >> Terrific. And I think during the budget process this summer and again the budget being a statutory authority of the board um we're going to see some options about how we can move forward uh either with
recommendations we've got from our staff and you or we got from uh folks that we've brought in to look at our thing. We're going to see some options about doing better on mental health for next year. Is that correct? >> Correct. >> Thank you very much. Um the third thing and this has gathered a lot of attention today. The process by which um we're
going through policy reviews from top to bottom. I want to kind of ground us though on a little bit about reality in terms of what we're going to end up with. We have 259 policies in Broward County that cover 1,700 pages. Some of them were written 50 years ago, some were 45 years ago. Uh there's internal
conflicts between policies. Um there are policies that are poorly written. There are policies that have forms jammed into them. Um, our general counsel has made it very clear that it is a risk for Broward County to continue with the
current set of policies we've had. She's explained that to the public. She's explained it to the board and we have set a pace to finish all 259 policies rewritten. It'll be hundreds more because it'll make more sense to chunk them uh as as is a standard practice.
This year, we've dedicated one Tuesday a month to come and sit. We welcome people to come and talk about it. We welcome people to look at our new policies, look at the changes. Um, we've asked our general counsel to be very clear about what's in and what's out and what was in this policy number that's now in there.
In fact, we even asked her last week, I think, uh, Miss Dewi Bruno, we ended up saying we're going to indicate at the bottom what what the former policy number is of our new policies, right? So that we make sure that we have an ability to go back and forth for a couple years so that uh, people don't
get left behind. I'm actually worried about the opposite case, which is if we don't make changes, we're going to continue to live with policies that are substandard and actually put this board in and this district at risk uh because we tell people what forms to use. We tell them what processes to use. We make
it incredibly difficult uh for people to comply with the policies. And what I'm worried about is people ignore policies because it's too complicated and it's too prescriptive. So, I'm really in favor of doing this. I'm very proud that this board has uh accepted the challenge of getting this done in 12 months because what you don't want to do is
take seven years to do it because then you have years and years and years where you have some of the old policies and some of the new policies and you confuse the heck out of your staff and you confuse the heck out of the community. So, I'm proud that we're going to do this. It's going to take a lot of work of this board. It's going to take
hopefully a lot of patience from the community to to put in the time and the effort to help us, you know, make them as good as we can. Um I recommend all advisory councils um stay a breast as they're proposed. U Mr. Dep Bruno to my knowledge when we did the first
public uh hearing workshop last week. We still have one more workshop and then these policies come for decisions. Am I right? Are there three meetings to review this policy? >> Two two meetings. >> So we do the the workshop and then the 23rd is the public hearing where you
adopt >> dynamite. And so we have time before the 23rd to hear from the communities. They're all out there. They're available online. Um uh we've announced this. We've done a a a workshop and we're going to do a second uh one where we
adopt these policies. I encourage people to think hard about them. Policies are a big deal. Um and we want to make sure that we get them right. It is a lot of work though and and the board's committed to do this and I think it's a way to minimize the risk and to move forward uh with best feet.
uh >> to misunderstand I personally think that what you are doing organizing the policies is good but don't don't ruin that by the manner in which you're doing
something I I mean you're picking a a couple of really important policies to bring at a time when no one's here and I think that what the process you're do you need to do what it's needed to be done for years. I applaud you. I thought we had kind of made that clear that you
this it needs to be done and we support it being done. However, we support it being done with the inclusion of conversation with the community. And in this case, you're voting on some major things next week, two weeks after you had a workshop. And all of this is occurring when parents are not here and
community members are not here. And I think >> just the look of that is not good. I just wanted to clarify. No, I don't think anyone has been critical of the fact that you are reviewing and organizing policies. >> Sure. I And I and I appreciate that. Um >> and see, even you didn't know that there
weren't two workshops cuz I thought it was going to come and after like >> I I was actually counting the notification and then the workshop and then and then the decision. So, uh I was in my mind there were three hops, but two of them were actually uh public meetings. And I appreciate the distinction. Um, and I appreciate, you
know, also kind of an identification of the risk of living with policies, um, and the like. So, I uh, I I I hear you and, uh, I understand, you know, kind of the speed is new. This board has never, you know, moved at the speed that we're
moving at these things. Um, and we still have a lot of policies left to go. So, I just encourage people to read them, get get us your comments, make sure that we are aware of them for those people that are in Talar and for the people that that uh want to participate. Um, the last point and Miss Leonardi and I have
talked about this a lot and and there's issues related to um data retention. Uh, Dr. Heburn, do you know whether or not um the contracts we have for supplemental software companies and other companies, do we
have a zero data retention policy? >> Expound a little bit. Zero data retention. >> So ZDR is kind of a a national standard where a software company promises that the interaction with your students, for example, is never mind for advertisers
or for their, you know, extensions and things like that. Basically, you can think about it as um a student's interacting with, you know, something on Canvas or Clever. Uh they're having that interaction. When they're done, uh the experience can be summarized and sent to
the vendor so that they can make the product better, but as soon as the the the computer is turned off, uh that data is never permanently stored by a vendor. Do you know if we do that yet in our contracts uh for software vendors? >> Yeah. So, sounds like more about privacy
and and the they need permission to actually use the data for any other um action besides for the vendor or for the district. Uh my assumption is is yes, that's uh pretty tight, but I'll I'll lean in on um the GC or even uh Miss
Jock Adams because she does a lot of our contract negotiations. >> Yes, I'm going to defer that to Miss Jack Adams because she's very familiar with that language. >> Hello. So within our contracts, we have very specific um data that we allow for
very specific purposes. So those um data cannot be used for any other purpose than is listed in the contract. >> Yeah. Terrific. So just if you don't mind, Dr. Hepern, as a follow on, could you could you let us know whether or not our contracts have a standard clause on
zero data retention? And and to um a process point which I think is very important as well is right now to my understanding we ask parents once a year whether or not they participate Miss Jack Adams on on uh allowing their data
to be shared with vendors. Is it once per year or is it once per software application? >> I want to make sure that I understand your question. Within our contract we do not have any language with regards to data retention. um within um the
software of the vendor um at the end of the at the expiration of the contract um any all data needs to be returned back to us. So there's no data that is being re um retained and there was another part of your question I I I don't think I fully understood.
>> So one if there's no data retention policy in our current contracts that's fine. Um I would just change my question Dr. Epern to ask do we want to think about that going forward because I for one don't think software companies should have the data available for our
students and I also don't like u if this is the case I don't like asking once a year for every software package in the world on whether a student's going to opt out of it um I I would advocate for something different than that and I would just ask you Dr. He what options
do we have about data data about participation in your own individual data being shared with companies uh on a on a software by software basis? I just feel like once a year is uh and maybe this is to one of Dr. Se Mr. Spar's
earlier points, you know, parents should have the rights to decide whether or not their data and their students data is shared with vendors, but if they just do it once a year with as part of the student code of conduct, I don't think that's a I don't think that's like a really fair relationship with parents. I think we should ask them in a different
way. And I'd leave it to you to think about some options and get back to the board. Uh, last point about screen time. I cannot wait uh to talk a lot about that. you know, to Lily's point, you know, yes, we have to prepare kids to live in a digital world. No, uh, tons of bad
kinds of screen time is not good for them, and we have to be careful. And what's difficult for a school district, not just Broward, is that we tend to buy products one at a time. We we have great intent for all of them, and then sometimes, like we did with um tests and assessment this year, we look at them
and the board says, "That's too much." You know, bring us an option for cutting in half. Um the same is also true of software. You can get software in instructional methods and things that by the time you look at it uh a student could be on it so much that it's actually impinging them. I think it's a false choice between software and
cursive. I think we can teach cursive and we can teach keyboards and we can teach computer coding and we can teach vibe coding and AI is not the devil. Uh it's scary sometimes but there's a lot of positive sides to AI as well. And we do have to prepare people to live not only in a digital uh world, but we have
to prepare them to live in an AI economy. And and there's competencies for that. There's there's things like critical reasoning and logic that you have to have in order to really be effective in the AI world and the AI economy. So that debate is going to be interesting, but it's very someone used the word nuanced earlier. Not sure if it
was you or someone else, but it is a complicated puzzle and we got to figure out the right way to do this as a system, not just do it, you know, one label at a time. So, I look forward to that, chair. Thank you very much. >> Thank you, Dr. Holes. >> Thank you, Madam Chair. Um, first I'd
like to commend Lily. Um, you certainly eloquently shared your concerns regarding technology. I actually had some similar points, but you've worded it so well that I don't have to go into my points. So, you certainly hit the ground running, right, as our new
student adviser. Um, Dr. Dr. Heburn, can you repeat um the uh direction given to you by board member CVA in terms of technology? >> Yeah. Um
so followup um about te technology, opting out of technology. What's the current opt out policy based on parental rights uh laws? Is it is there a current policy? What are state required resource? I ask some additional stuff that for information as well. What are
state required resources or assessments that are available only in technology? Are there options um to opt out of um those required state uh resources or assessments um that are technology based um to utilize um paper such as utilizing
paper assessments? >> Okay. So, Dr. Dr. Hburn, would it be too much to also provide information in terms of the full scope of impact on students should teachers choose not to use technology in the classroom
or potential impact? >> Um, I can we can add about impact of what we do and what we're our intentions of what we're preparing students for. um as far as um you know Lily said it beautifully um about her expectation and
going into the workforce in the future, right? So that's you know kind of individual per student, but we can discuss what impacts um of not utilizing cert certain technology resources may have on students and their preparedness for curriculum. >> Understand? So, you know, um my position
on this and um you know, I I believe uh Lily said it so well is that um should a teacher or teachers choose uh not to use technology in the classroom at all, I think this would
result in a total paralysis of a generation of students to be able to compete globally and nationally in an environment where increasing dependence on technology is so prevalent. In fact, I think it would
be a disservice um probably even more of an academic tragedy to our students and it would set them back. You know, um if I were to figuratively put this, I would say it's almost like breaking someone's
arms and say go play baseball. They won't be able to compete. they won't be able to compete with a whole generation of kids adults globally and it's going to be significantly impactful. Now while teachers may have autonomy
uh as a past teacher I can tell you we have an obligation to prepare students to be nationally and globally competitive. That's part of our obligation and if we do anything to inhibit that I
think we are doing a disservice to our students. So there must be a balance to ensure that our students is able to survive in an increasingly competitive society based on technology. Um
and I could even go further. I remember in and and Lily, you may not know this, but there was a time when we uh we had no cell phones, right? There was a time when when we when we had eventually we
had beepers. So, someone would beep you and you come off the road and you find a pay phone and then you go make a call and then eventually eventually they come up with a phone, portable phone that was about 2 to three pounds heavy. I had one of them in my car and then eventually we
had cell phones. So, I've been through that transition. But imagine a company trying to be competitive to say, "Let's take away all the cell phones for employees and let's give them all beepers and go back to where we were." You'd never be able to compete. You know, it's it's good to have
thoughts about what it was like, but it's also important to adapt to what it is in a very careful way. Um, so we can ensure that our students are successful. Um Dr. Heburn, regarding uh cursive writing,
uh what are other major districts doing in terms of emphasis on cursive writing? >> Um I'm not aware. I have to do some research with other districts. I know, you know, um it's embedded in some grade levels in elementary school, but the state just did a mandate, so I'm
assuming that all districts across the state will be ensuring that it's included across the board in curriculum. >> Okay. Can you um provide any input on why we had strayed away from this? >> Um as far as straightaway is still being
taught as Dr. Cole mentioned in third grade. So it hasn't been strayed away. I don't think um over time just you know anecdotally over time just the advancement of technology laptops and you know moving away from typewriters and utilizing computers for more word
processing and things like that. So um and also the ask of students be it K through 12 and and postsecary to turn in documents electronically versus turning in them turning in documents handwritten. So I think that's why you see the stray away totally from just turning in documents that were
handwritten. >> Understand? >> Yeah, I'm a kid who actually did shortorthhand as well too in in school. So >> well I can tell you um I was very happy when emphasis when Microsoft word took over um because I didn't have the greatest handwriting. was really an
awesome thing that they did. But how important is this skill in competing uh in all sectors of the job market to be able to have cursive writing? Is is it from from your knowledge? Is it important? Is it an important skill uh to be able to compete or is it a luxury
to have? >> Um anecdotally from my discussion with business leaders is a luxury to have. They're not talking to me about cursive writing. They're talking to me about specific skill sets for their industry. Um, and also soft skills too. Th those are the two points. Soft skills with
students being able to follow through on initiative, shake a hand, look somebody in the eye, speak um and advocate for what you need and speak boldly um and also the specific skill sets needed for um for their for their industries. >> Okay. So, if we place greater emphasis
on cursive writing, will it take away from any other aspects of the education process? >> Based on the state, we're going to be required to do that. Um, and I think there's there's always been an emphasis on writing, not not specifically talking about cursive writing, writing. Um, and
I can tell you our visit to the FBI, the FBI regional office down there in um, Myiramar or u, North Miami, the the person in charge pretty much told us the majority of their day is actually writing. It's not, you know, they have
to write a lot of information to close the case to get that judge to really um close it out for them. And so there's an emphasis on writing, but as far as cursive, this, there's a state mandate, so it'll be included in in our scope and sequence moving forward. >> Got it. And I have one more question. I
believe it it came from our um multi- uh language multilingual uh uh committee. Um I believe it was mentioned uh a suggestion for a minimum of uh two classrooms um for dual language for
kindergarten. Um do you have any feedback on that? >> We'll have to take that back to the team and review. Um I understand the recommendation and u probably some of the concerns as well. >> Okay. >> Y >> All right. Thank you, Madam Chair. >> Thank you. And I know the student
adviserss would like to speak again. >> Okay, guys. We're back. Sorry. Um, so I I did a little count. Um, and out of everyone in this room now, people have been going in and out. At least 39 of you have touched an electronic at some point while I was counting. Whether it
is a phone, a computer, anything. Hey, I'm not I'm not hating. I'm not like trying to say you guys aren't listening or anything like that. I'm just saying at least 39 of you while I was looking and counting um have touched some electronic. Right? So, now that I have your attention, I would like everyone to take that electronic, whatever it may
be, and go to the online Sunshine website where we can find the Florida statute on the parental bill of rights. Um, so I'll give you guys a second to do that. I'm not kidding. I want everyone to look at it. I'm not going to read the whole thing, don't worry. But I'll give you guys a second. Okay. Okay. I see some movement. Thank
you. Thank you. So, that's the online sunshine, and you're going to go, it's title XLIX, chapter 1014. online sunshine. It's the Florida statute website. Thank you. I'll I'll give you guys a second. Hold on.
Okay, I see you there. I see some people right there. You're going 1014 parental bill of rights. Um, so just that everyone's aware, this is as of 20 25 Florida statutes. Um, so if you look at is is majority of people there? If you
look at uh where is it D on there? Procedures pursuant to statute 1002.23D for a parent to withdraw his or her minor child from any portion of the school's district's comprehensive health education required under Oh, wait. Is that the right one?
Sorry, reading the wrong one. C. Sorry. Procedures pursuant to statute 1006.282 for a parent to object on instructional materials and other materials used in the classroom. Such objections may be based on beliefs regarding morality, sex, and religion, or the belief that such materials are harmful. For purpose
of this section, the term instructional materials has the same meaning as in statute 1006.292 and may include other materials used in the classroom, including workbooks and worksheets, handouts, software, application, and any digital media made available to students. And then if we scroll down to 11, um you'll see in
accordance with statute 1002.2221A, 222 1A the right of a parent to opt out of any district level data collection relating to his or her minor child not required by law. So um that's just to kind of answer the question. I know Mr. Sea had asked about it earlier and he
said he wanted to wait for the research. I said we can look it up that way no one has to wait so we have information present. I know a lot of times some some things are a little bit slow. So if we ever have questions about statute you guys can look on that website. Um but I think uh Mr. Zean or Dr. Zean touched on
it. Dr. Holmes also went back to it. Um, at the end of the day, just because we use laptops does not mean we don't know how to write as well. Raise your hand if you were using your electronic in the room today. And I mean it. I want participation here. People, you guys have all participated in classrooms.
Raise your hand if you also know how to write in cursive and know how to use a laptop. >> Does that mean we write well in cursive? >> You write well in cursive. Okay, put your hands down. Um, raise your hand if you feel that using a laptop has
hindered you from being able to write in cursive. >> Okay. Okay. >> Okay. Okay. Okay. But my point being is that clearly the two can work together. We're we're part of the younger generation, right? Allison, you as well,
right? I know how to write cursive. Do you know how to rank cursive? You know how to rank cursive? I'm using my laptop. You're using your laptop. Do you know how to use a laptop? Guys, we can do both. We can do both. We can do it. I believe in us. So, um, this
is just I'm I know I'm trying to be I'm trying to be funny with it. I think humor gets people to pay attention, but seriously, like I really hope this does prove to you we can do both in the classroom and students deserve to have both in the classroom. Now, obviously, if one teacher wants to use more tech or
they want to use more paper, that's up to them, right? But we shouldn't just allow it to be taken out altogether and we shouldn't make it the only way to learn. It's all about finding that balance. And Broward County, we should continue to push for us to have that balance so that students have all those
skills. Think about it. Job applications, my my you said it just now to me on the side. Almost every job application today is online, right? I I previously had a job, my application online. Our application for this, guess where we found the documents? Online.
It's it's unfortunate, right? I know it's not the greatest thing. I look back at movies from the 80s, I'm like, "Wow, that was so nice. They didn't have, you know, they didn't have all that. You could just focus on life. You didn't have to use laptops all the time." But at the end of the day, it's here. It is here. Whether we like it or not, it is part of society today. We cannot avoid
it. And it is not fair to our students to keep them from having the proper skills to work in today's world. Thank you. >> Well said, Lily. >> Where are you going to law school? Um so I wanted to touch base with
Cynthia. Uh she left though. Um she mentioned she mentioned um student suicide uh and also mental health awareness and I kind of wanted a clarification from her whether she was trying to say that maybe the district doesn't have enough resources uh for
mental health awareness. Uh I know she's not present or in the room anymore, but is there anyone that in over here that can kind of clarify that sort of clarify her her statement? >> Madam chair, may I? He's asking. Okay,
thank you. Um I've just been having a important conversation. There have been a couple of tragedies in uh recent hours and days. Um, and I think one of the things that we might want to look at as an immediate um, issue is how much
support is there for students over the summer. For some students, school is an outlet. Um, their home life may not be what everybody's is, and school is the place that they go to have support. They go to have food. They go to have folks around them um, that get them. And I
think that's pretty urgent that we look at what can be done over the summer. I may be wrong, but I seem to recall from the org chart debates that we lost some suicide prevention um specialists. I think we might want to look pretty rapidly at what the heck we were
thinking or when I say we, you folks were thinking when that occurred because there is an urgent need right now to look at what supports are available to students over the summer and how do we let them know about them. Um, mental health is is something that I believe everyone in here has as a shared
value and also a shared priority and you know the district has done multiple things to you know encourage uh the youth and encourage them and you know sort of uplift them because students go through a lot of stuff you know they may it may seem like it's the end of the the
world for them you know until they step into adult life. Um so I would like to you know look back to other things that we have done. Uh for example, the last year's alternative student advisor just uh they hosted at South Broward a youth
mental health awareness summit um and they had hundreds of students there, hundreds of students. Um, and you know, among other things that we have done to support mental health awareness. Um, and the reason the reason I I bring this all up is to say that our students should be
the the front and center of everything that we do and all the choices that we make. And mental health has unfortunately gotten worse and worse and worse. Um, especially with electronics now. Nowadays, they're able to look at
other people's lives. they're able to, you know, see other people having fun and say, "Hey, why am I not having as much fun as that person?" Um, so I'd like to also direct a question to Mr. Superintendent. um what what procedures
are in place currently for mental health awareness and things surrounding that, especially with, you know, her saying that with her saying that we lost um from the org chart, the org chart, uh some people from the suicide prevention
>> and student support specialists >> and student support specialist. A great question and and I'll have um Miss Hollinssworth um provide an answer to that question and also give specifics so of what we actually lost as far as um the suicide prevention folks because I think it was people who were not
directly supporting students but go ahead please >> good I think it's afternoon good afternoon Simone Hollingsworth chief student services officer and Muel um very good question um certainly um we do have support over the summer we send out communication we also have staff on
board that are checking on our students that have safety plans um that are both engaged in our summer experience as well as at home. Um we certainly are constantly addressing the communication and the support and although um there's some adjustments with the org chart, we're going to still be continuing to
engage with our student adviserss and our student voices group to ensure that we continue to hear that voice and get that perspective along with our schools. Um yes, the student um suicide prevention coordinators were eliminated. However, uh myself and the team, although they're still on staff right
now, are adjusting that work because re reallyigning the work and making sure that that is out there and prevalent because we know that is a concern. As well as the specialists really redesigning our entire department because the merging of student services and mental health back into one um
department is what we've been working on um before the individuals transition out. And uh for any student that's maybe going through something over the summer where they're not able to speak to a teacher right away or speak to a counselor right away, uh what resources
are available to them uh via online or whatever the case may be for them to reach out to someone who they want help from? >> Correct. We still have it on Canvas as well as we send out weekly communications uh through parent links through Canvas as well as um putting it
on our website so that we have that, you know, consistent messaging and support. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Thank you, Miss Bulman. >> Thank you, chair. Um and I think my colleagues have covered most things. Uh
I wanted to touch with base back to our student advisors. So, first of all, you guys mentioned that you had the leadership summit um or the training. My son actually participated in that and um it was amazing. He had a fantastic
experience and um so thank you and also under the leadership of Landon and Jere so in great hands. Um and so I just want to point I am just so impressed. I've worked with you a little bit so far, but I'm so impressed with
your comments today. And this is the why of why we have these jobs, I think. And to see you here defending your generation, making excellent points, um, is just invaluable because you can always find the negative, um, and find
things to complain about, but to be able to really make a cogent argument and to see um, both sides of what's happening, I think, is very important. As a parent, technology is scary. It's hard to deal
with um knowing that your kids are uh exposed to things that you certainly wouldn't want to have them exposed to that you really don't have any control over. It's hard to have your kids go to middle school and it's hard to watch them go and do all kinds of things that
you've experienced yourself and you would rather protect them from but you but you can't. And I think um the idea that we're going to shut down an entire part of what is the reality of the world right now um is unreasonable. And so I
just really appreciate your perspectives and bringing that because you're the ones that are living it. And there's nothing bad about what's happening in your generation. if we went and stayed in the generation that decided that they did everything right, we would never evolve as people and we wouldn't have
rock and roll. So, thank you guys. You guys are doing a great job. Keep up the good work and um I just appreciate the student perspective. It is really invaluable for us as we do our jobs. >> Thank you. And I'll be quick because I
think the the bulk of what I wanted to talk about in response to the concerns that were raised um really fits better into the the next workshop. And I just want to um highlight the elementary subcommittee
from DAC and the report that they issued several weeks ago. I hope all my my colleagues had an opportunity to read that. It was very well researched and and put together and gives us a lot to think about. And one thing that keeps coming up that I I maybe don't think comes uh fits so well into the next
workshop is access to YouTube on district devices. And I can say, you know, as a as a teacher, I used YouTube videos to to help supplement some of my instruction. I did, you know, it wasn't a regular thing. Um and sometimes I
would maybe have assigned it, you know, a video in small groups and things like that. But I am increasingly concerned because I don't think they had this when I was in the classroom um of the access to YouTube shorts on district advice uh
devices because that is very different than having students watch like a 1967 clip of Romeo and Juliet. Um, and I continue to hear from parents uh that they really don't want their children to have access to YouTube in general, but
YouTube shorts specifically on district devices. And I understand as well that like a kid can take out their own device and and watch that. But I think part of the larger conversation that we'll have in the next workshop is like what we as a school district are giving kids access
to, we have to have uh we have to in good conscience feel that it is safe and good for children. So I'm wondering Dr. Heburn if our staff has contemplated what that would look like restricting further restricting access to YouTube on
district devices. I want to be respectful of teacher autonomy. Um, but I'm starting to feel like and I think what I'm hearing from parents is that the risks or the disadvantages outweigh the advantages of of allowing access to
YouTube in our schools. >> Yes. Um, thanks for the question. So, this is honestly it's my first time I've heard concerns about YouTube on district devices. So, we can take that conversation back to the team, um, assess what kids have access to, um,
specifically the the shorts, um, and figure out a way to enhance filters or or whatever the the the case may be. I do know, um, this is previous two districts that there's certain content that is blocked. It can't get through YouTube, right, when you search for
certain things or certain videos on um on district um, Wi-Fi. Uh, so we can take I can take that conversation back to the IT team and and see how we can um if certain things are getting through the filters, how we can enhance the filters to make sure kids don't have access to that. >> Thank you. When can we expect that
followup? >> Yep. Uh, we can give that to you in two weeks. >> Okay. >> I'll log it as a follow-up so we can get it traditionally um in a week or or two. >> Thank you. And I tend to lean in the cerva camp when it comes to
parental optouts. um when it comes to technology and I understand that we have to be respectful of teacher autonomy. So you know as a parent if I had a choice like my children would be learning with clay and sticks and rocks all day long
outside but I know that that is uh not reality um forever but I would like to preserve their childhood for as long as possible. So, I think, you know, again, this this conversation I think we'll have more in
the next workshop, but um I really look forward to that followup about what parental opting out can look like. Um while also respecting teacher autonomy and I think, you know, I I would love to reference our previous student uh
advisor, Landon Spelberg. He he talked frequently about how he had a teacher, I think it was AP Lit, shout out to our English teachers. um where the teacher didn't use a single device the entire year and he would leave schoolboard meetings to go attend that class and
then he had teachers who used technology all year long and that was equally as as engaging. So I think you know it doesn't have to be all or one and different teachers have different teaching styles and we can't mandate uh one thing for
all teachers. Um so I think I Dr. Zean was one who used the word nuanced. Um, but this is a nuanced conversation that we we really need to have more uh detailed discussions on, but I I really want us to keep at the forefront um
obviously student safety and protection but also teacher autonomy. Mr. Sea, >> thank you chair and I appreciate the comment about the severa camp. The camp is a really good camp to be a part of >> sometimes. >> Sometimes, right? Yeah. There.
>> That's There you go. Exactly. Dr. Zay nailed it. Um, she left. I was going to give her kudos. I'm pulling up the statute. See that? Oh, well. Dr. Heer, you better watch out. She may be replacing you in a couple years. So, don't get too comfortable in that seat, sir. >> The seat is open. >> See that?
>> Um, real quick, I I I just want to make sure that that my ask is is is clear because I know Dr. Hullness had some uh some additional commentary on it. The ask that I'm requesting of you, sir, in a in a followup is very specific. What
is our obligations under parental optouts under the statute and what is the procedure for doing that? I'm I'm really in this particular follow-up, I'm not interested in a breakdown of what the district believes, what good comes of this or what bad comes of this. I
don't need the commentary. I just want a um a followup outlining the specific options for parents who want to just the facts who want to opt out. That's all I'm interested in. If Dr. Hullness needs a followup with his inquiries, that's fine. But on my follow-up, I just need
it specifically what I asked. Um and I and I would note and close with this. Teacher autonomy is very important to me. I've never taught, but certainly I've dealt with enough teachers uh throughout the course of my life, including the time on this board, and I understand that they are the the captains, if you will, of their
classrooms, and them having the autonomy to decide what their curriculum looks like is certainly something that needs to be respected, as well as the rights of parents in deciding what is best for their kids. These are all important mandates that we need to adhere to in
Broward schools. Thank you. >> All right. Thank you. Any other board discussion? All right. Um, thank you to our chairs and staff. The next item is Broward powered by AI vision and system readiness. We'll briefly recess just to
to transition. Hey. Hey. Hey. Heat. Heat. Hey, hey, hey. Heat. Heat. Down. Welcome back. Our next item is Broward
powered by AI vision and system readiness. I now turn it over to staff for a presentation. >> Thank you, Madam Chair. And now turn it over to Dr. Con and team um for the presentation. >> Good morning, school board members, uh
chair and superintendent. Uh I'll start by saying today is not simply a presentation about artificial intelligence. Um it's a presentation about leadership. So every generation faces moments when technology changes the way people work,
communicate and learn. Uh can we get the PowerPoint up? The question for public education has never been whether change will come. The question is whether we will help shape it. And today we will share how Brower
County Public Schools is approaching artificial intelligence with intention, with governance, transparency, and relentless focus on students. This is not a technology presentation. This is a teacher and student
opportunity presentation. And like most districts, Broward County Public Schools is operating during one of the most significant educational transformation shifts in workforce history. Artificial intelligence, immersive technologies, automation, and
digital transformation are reshaping nearly every position of our students and will and what they'll encounter as they move into the workforce. Our responsibility is not simply to expose students to technology. Our responsibility is to prepare them to
thrive in a world being transformed by technology. So today's presentation outlines our vision, our implementation strategy, our safeguards, our governance model, as well as our future innovation roadmap. Most importantly, it
demonstrates how Broward intends to lead responsibly rather than react passively. And this presentation unfolds three connected parts. First, we'll discuss why technology evolution requires educational evolution. Then we'll move
into uh how we demonstrate how Broward has built an infrastructure, professional learning systems, governance structures, and implementation supports necessary to respond and deploy AI. Third, we will share our vision around the NOVA innovation zone, which is a
transformative model that reimagines learning for the future workforce. I'd like you to take a moment to look at uh this particular slide. It demonstrates that our kindergarten students today were born in 2019.
Our middle school students were born in 2012, and our high school students were born around 2009. And many of our post-secary learners are born around 2004. Now look at the technology timeline beneath them. The students sitting in
our classrooms today have never experienced the same world. Our middle school students entered a world shaped by cloud technology and connected devices. Our elementary students are growing up with artificial intelligence, immersive technology, and digital
assistance already embedded into their daily lives. and our youngest learners will graduate into careers that have not yet been invented. That realization is extremely important because when we discuss artificial intelligence, we're not discussing the
future possibility. We're discussing the world our students already inhabit. Every generation of our students has encountered technologies that seemed disruptive at time. From television to cell phones and you heard from today,
beepers, smartphones, cloud computing, social media. Each arrival created uncertainty. Each arrival created concern. But history shows us something important. Schools and districts have to
adapt to those expanded opportunities. Schools that ignore change eventually find themselves trying to catch up. The question before us today is not whether artificial intelligence will influence education. It already has.
The question is whether Brower County Public Schools will help shape how students use these tools responsibly, ethically, and productively. Because our students are already interacting with AI when they search online, when they receive
recommendations on social media, when they use navigation tools, and when they communicate through digital platforms, and when they engage in emerging workforce uh technologies, the technology has arrived. Our
responsibility is not to decide whether it exists. Our responsibility is decide whether we prepare students to live, work and lead in a world where it does. That is why power by AI is fundamentally not the technology initiative. It is a
student readiness initiative. It is a workforce readiness initiative. It is an opportunity initiative. And most importantly, it's a leadership initiative because every generation of educational leaders faces a defining question. Will we prepare students for
the world we grew up in or for the world they will inherit? So today my hope is that Broward County Public Schools is choosing to prepare students for the world they will inherit. And so I want to kick off uh first we'll
transition a little bit differently uh due to timing. I'm going to have our students speak and then following that I'm going to have uh one of our community uh members uh follow that presentation. Uh so can we start with
where is our start with you? All righty. Good morning um superintendent school board members. As much as I wish I was still a student, I'm not. Um, my name is Joe Cox. I'm a president and CEO of the Museum of
Discovery and Science. When people talk about artificial intelligence, they often ask what AI will do to us. At the museum, we're becoming much more interested in a different question. What will we choose
to do with AI? Artificial intelligence is transforming our world. It's changing how businesses operate, how scientific discoveries are made, how we learn, and how we teach. These young students graduating from
Broward County Public Schools will enter a world where AI is not a future technology. It's part of the workforce, the economy, and daily life. This makes initiatives like Broward powered by AI incredibly important
because the goal is much more than teaching students and teachers how to use AI tools. The goal must be helping them to develop the judgment to question these tools, the creativity to improve them, and the character to use them responsibly.
At MODS, we've been exploring this challenge quite a bit. Our very first AI exhibit, a 2,000 square foot immersive Everglades theater, part of our new build a better world exhibit, opens this Thursday. We're examining in the exhibit
how AI can help communities address complex environmental challenges while encouraging visitors to think critically about the choices we make as a society. This coming school year, we're launching new AI literacy initiatives that will
explore both the opportunities and responsibilities that come with these technologies through hands-on learning labs both at the museum and in schools as well as at events like our free visit Lauderdale science festival.
Most importantly perhaps we are part of a national conversation and fingers crossed hoping to host a national conference in the fall uh among science centers, children's museums, educators, researchers and community leaders about
how we build not just AI literacy but public agency in an age of artificial intelligence. Because ultimately the future cannot be shaped by artificial intelligence alone. It must be shaped by the human intelligence, creativity and
character that we bring to it. At the museum, we are talking recently often about four essential qualities. The critical thinking needed to evaluate information and challenge assumptions. The cooperation to solve problems that
no single person or technology can solve. Caring to ensure innovation serves people and their communities. and the confidence to engage with new technologies thoughtfully rather than fearfully.
When we get this right, Broward powered by AI will do more than prepare students to use AI. It will develop citizens who understand it, question it, improve it, and ensures that it serves the public good. We're excited to be part of this
process because that's a future world worth building together. Thank you. Thanks everyone. Lily. >> Okay, first of all, I love that museum. I feel like I just heard a celebrity speak, so I I went to that AI exhibit. It was so cool. So, I'm just That's all
I'm going to say about that. Um, >> it clearly did something good. So, thank you. >> So cool. Everyone needs to go do it. Um, okay. So, I'm going to begin with a quote from Ralph Waldo Emerson. Uh, fear always springs from ignorance. Um, and I don't mean that in hateful way. I know ignorance is kind of thrown around in a
way. I don't mean it like that. Um but it is the lack of education and understanding of something. And um when it comes to AI, I think it's better that we teach our students that just because something is new does not mean it needs to be scary. Um so I have a question
guys. I I love asking questions. It keeps people engaged. Um how many people in this room have honestly spent time trying to understand AI? And I don't mean I don't mean you've played around with it for a few hours. You've read a little article. I mean weeks if not months on it. you have genuinely put in
time and effort to fully understand it. Okay, good. Good. Because me too. I've taken classes on it. I've written research papers on it. I am all about it. Um so with that, I say why don't we give that same time to our students, right? Why don't we allow them to deep
dive into AI and show them how powerful it is? Because if you all of you who are raising your hands truly have spent that much time on it, you will understand the power that AI has. Like we thought computers were cool. this is something completely different. Um, as our gifted advisory council who I think has now
left but had mentioned earlier, um, he wanted to see specific ways that it could be used, right? Because I think everyone talks AI is good, AI is good, but we don't get into the specifics. So, Los Angeles Unified School District has a 247 student advisor um, not student adviserss, but adviser to students um,
to help them better understand the college process. um along with Albuquerque who the schoolboard in Albuquerque who has adapted lesson plans specifically to students through AI and Miami Dade who has an AI powered SAT prep bot available to all of their
students. Um, additionally, AI bots have allowed students with autism and ADHD to practice real life scenarios and social settings. I think our ESC representative has also left, but I'm sure she would love Oh, have you heard about those? Have you seen those? No. It's a thing. It's coming for our students. It's
great. Um, and I think overall we need to show students how to use as a tutor. That's personally what I've done. I actually have an example to give you guys. I'm terrible at math. Terrible. And I'm incredibly embarrassed about it because I forget what math terms are.
And my teacher will tell me, obviously I know what fractions are, but just for an example, they'll say, "You have to use fractions." I'm like, "I forgot what that is." So, this is Copilot, which is what Broward uses. And I put in some old uh an old math lesson. My teacher would put up the presentation and the work on
a PDF. You download it, look over it. I looked at that for a second. I was like, I don't even remember what this is. I put it into AI and as I'm scrolling up here, I don't know if everyone can see. It gave me practice problems. It explained it in non-mathematical terms for me who does not always understand
them. And I went through and I fully relearned this lesson that I forgot what was going on. Um, and it's important that we teach our students how to do this. I've I've spent probably two years now learning all about AI and deeply understanding it and I can use it as a tool now and our students should be
taught to do the same. >> Great job, Lily. Great job. Um, over the past year or so, um, I've had a lot of conversations with students across the district and I would say one thing is very very clear. Uh, students understand
both the potential of AI and the dangers if it's used the wrong way. Um, I like to look at the bad and the good and kind of, you know, find them in in between. Um, so that's not just only high schoolers. Middle school students are also using these tools as well, even off
more often than uh we realize. Now, I was trying to find district related data uh surrounding this and I could not. So, I found a national survey that shows over 60% of high schoolers um have used AI for school work. But what surprises
people is that more than onethird of middle school students report using AI as well which usually without any real guidance can turn out really bad. Um and almost half of all of the students are saying they are unsure how to use AI ethically or safely. Um and that
uncertain uncertainty is exactly why structured guidance in schools matters. Um students know the risk. Uh, we know AI can generate wrong information confidently, very confidently. And we know it can reflect bias. We know it can make it easier to take shortcuts if
someone chooses to. Um, and we know that if students rely on AI instead of thinking for themselves, it will hurt them in the long run. Um, and that's why students aren't asking and we aren't asking for unlimited ask um, access. That is not what this is. It is not unlimited access whatsoever. We're
asking for a structured access with expectations, guard rails, and teacher guidance because when AI is used the right way, it actually strengthens learning. Now, for example, when I'm working on a a writing assignment, someone will use AI to brainstorm ideas
or get feedback on clarity, but the actual thinking, the analysis, the structure, the voice, it's still coming from that student. and it helps the person become stronger. Not to avoid the work because they're still doing the work themselves. They're just getting
more ideas using AI. Um, and even with those tools, teachers remain the center of all of our learning. This is not replacing teachers whatsoever. And when I was looking through um through the presentation, I was kind of skeptical at first and then I I was starting to see
things, see analysis. I'm also on the AI task force. So I was also, you know, in the process of reviewing these things and reviewing these um ethical things that they are putting forth. So students understand that these tools are part of
the future. Colleges and employers are already integrating AI into research, communication, design, and operations. So if we don't learn how to use AI responsibly now, starting early as middle school, we risk being unprepared. we risk having our students unprepared for the real world, which school is
supposed to do. So, from what I've seen and what I've heard, we want to learn how to use AI in ways that helps us grow, think critically, and prepares us for the world we're stepping into with the right balance. I believe AI can strengthen our learning in Broward, not weaken it. Um, and help us help ensure that all of our Broward students can
truly be future ready, and that's something that we all want in this room. >> Thank you. If we can put the slide deck back up. And so for for more than a century, schools were primarily designed around
seat time. And the future demands something somewhat different. Um success will increasingly be defined by what students can do with that knowledge as you heard from our student representatives. And it's not simply what they can memorize. Uh we're moving towards deeper
application, critical thinking, creativity, problem solving, collaboration, and ethical decision-making. And artificial intelligence does not diminish the need for those skills. It increases their importance. And because when information
becomes abundant, judgment becomes invaluable. And so innovation without governance, as you heard, creates those risk. Governance without innovation creates irrelevance and the policy exists to strike the
proper balance. The policy clearly establishes what approved tools, human accountability, ethical use, transparency, student protections, and parent communication. This is not a policy designed to accelerate
technology. It is a policy designed to pro protect students while enabling responsible innovation. And so let me be clear. AI is not replacing teachers. It's not about
replacing relationships. It's not about replacing human judgment. Teachers remain the most important variable in understanding student learning. And our vision is simple. Technology handles the routine task. Educators spend more time teaching, mentoring, inspiring, and
building relationships. Human intelligence leads, artificial artificial intelligence assist. And so one of the greatest risk districts face is fragmented innovation. And we've seen that uh in large
districts, separate initiatives, separate training systems, separate expectations, separate outcomes. But bar powered by AI is intentionally designed with one coherent system. AI, VR, XR, professional learning, governance, all
connected through a single blueprint. This ensures consistency, scalability, accountability, and sustainability. And this vision without implementation is merely aspirational. And so what
makes Broward different is the infrastructure already in place. And so we what we have is every school has AI leaison, professional learning pathways. We also have a leader p professional pathway with leadership AI standards. We
have stake stakeholder engagement. We have evaluation systems. We have implementation supports. Our goal is not deployment. Our goal is capacity building. And we are building educators who understand how to use AI responsibly,
effectively and ethically. And over the past 18 months, Bard moved deliberately. This work has included stakeholder engagement, governance, deployment, training systems, policy designs. Recently, we had AI symposiums
uh very uh well turned out. We had implementation planning and we had we have professional learning frameworks. This has been about not purchasing technology and we hear that a lot. It's more about building readiness. And I
would like to introduce two individuals uh who represent members of our stakeholder groups. Uh one a teacher Donna Majio uh and Aaron Go. >> Hi, my name is Donna Majio and I'm a media specialist and an AI liaison at Coral Springs High School and I've been
teaching for 29 years. Like many teachers, I initially approached AI cautiously. But this year, in my role as AI liaison, I introduced magic school AI and during professional development day and saw its impact firsthand. In a ninth grade reading class, after teaching a skill and reviewing student assessment
data, AI was used to create teacher generated student- centered activities to reinforce and extend learning. The AI platform helped to quickly create differentiated supports, vocabulary practice, and reading activities tailored to students at diverse levels that help them both remediate and enrich
each skill. This gave the teacher time, more time for individual feedback, and direct student support. The result was stronger PM3 performance than originally projected. AI did not replace the teacher. It created more time for meaningful instruction, individualized feedback, and stronger connections with
students while also making it easier to differentiate learning to meet a wider range of needs. The most important thing AI gives me is more time. More time for relationships, meaningful feedback, and the kind of instruction that truly meets students where they are. Thank you for the opportunity to speak. And I also
want to acknowledge I used C-Pilot to help refine the points I wanted to share with you today. >> Aaron, go. Good afternoon. Um, so one of my favorite things I'm chair of the parent community involvement task force for the district and one of my very favorite
things about serving on that body is that I get to listen. I get to listen to parents a lot and I get to hear what families are excited about. I get to hear what concerns them. I get to hear what questions they are asking and what they hope for their children in their
school. So, I I want to make sure we're grounding this conversation in in that as well. Um, over the past several weeks, I have listened closely to parents at the AI symposium and to the many conversations since then. And what I have heard is what parents have always
wanted from their schools is what they still want out of this. They want their children to be safe. They want them to be supported. And they want them to be prepared for for the future. Parents understand that AI is already here. Some are hopeful and enthusiastic
about its potential. They see opportunities to improve district operations and services to support personalized learning like Lily was talking about to increase accessibility and help students develop skills they will need beyond graduation.
Some are downright scared. This is really the tension we've heard here this morning, right? We want to make sure our kids are prepared, but we also want to make sure they're protected. It is complicated. It is nuanced. So, I'm really excited we're having this conversation.
It is really critical that we keep this full spectrum of parents in mind as we're making decisions. And often those things can live within the same person, too. It's not one or the other. Um, but I can say pretty confidently that everyone I've spoken to wants us to get
this right. Parents want to make sure their children are developing key foundational skills before we hand them a tool that can do it right. Things like critical thinking, communication, compassion, creativity, and problem solving. Parents are asking really
important questions. How do we ensure AI supports learning rather than replaces it? How do we protect student privacy and data? How do we maintain academic integrity? How do we teach students not only how to use these tools, but how to do it
responsibly, ethically, safely when they shouldn't use them? And we've talked about it here, but parents are really worried about replacing a teacher. Right? Teachers are the heart and soul of our classrooms. And so, we just need to make sure, and I'm so happy what I've already heard,
but that we're constantly having that at the forefront. This is supposed to enrich the learning, not replace great instruction from teachers. The last bit and I might go a tiny bit over but parents are hungry for information. They want to be informed. They want to be partners. Some are starting from I don't
know anything about AI. Some have PhDs in our the AI symposium. They want to know where they can find the implementation timelines, the policies and that needs to be ongoing. Um so I think we can do this right. I think we're doing the right things and we I
think we can also stay true to the values we've expressed here. And so I'm excited to see what this can look like going forward. Thank you. >> Thank you. Uh we now have a video uh that we want to introduce. Uh on the last day of school, we asked a couple
students at South Plantation High, what advice would you give the school district about implementing AI in the classroom or with students? Can we roll that? So I would say AI is the hope for the classroom, not
the classroom. >> It might be useful for teachers in a way where it could help them. It could help train them. Like I've already seen kind of like Zoom calls where like the teachers will learn with like fake AI students. Student wise giving them the power to use AI to be honest. I think
they should but like not too much power if you get what I'm saying. >> My main piece of advice would be to go through the models and discover the individual strengths and weaknesses of each one to figure out the best, you know, application process. >> They've already kind of started implementing it. Teachers are like
checking. I think Canvas has an AI like checker. I think they've blocked them on school computers. I think they're doing pretty good on that. >> Um, I would just really tell the district just start with the teachers like give them workshops probably and stuff like that to like how to implement it in their classroom in a better way.
>> Um, I feel like if you depend on AI too much and you're letting it and you're just letting it take control of your life and do whatever that you want, like you're making it do whatever it wants, it might not always get it right. And now if you're thinking that it is right and it really isn't, it's spreading off false information and it's not really good for the human person.
>> Try to embrace AI and say, "Hey, you know what? We're also going to use AI to have these assignments tailored towards you to help you. How can I help you use AI the best way possible?" >> Presentation, please.
So now we're going to segue into part two, which begins an important premise. Um, innovation without governance create risk. Governance without innovation creates irrelevance. And so Broward's responsibility is that the district has
to succeed with AI. And uh in that we will as a district be stronger through governance. Our commitment is to be responsible through innovation and not rapid innovation, but responsible innovation. And so this work was not developed in
isolation. Uh we spend a ton of time as you heard from many committee members uh uh who spoke that they were engaged in some of the work we did around uh policy and governance and guardrails. We collected a lot of feedback at the June 5th AI symposium uh from students,
teachers, administrators, parents. We will continue to get that feedback as well. We've heard from business leaders, community partners, research-based institutions all contributed feedback and that feedback directly shape both the policy and implementation approach.
This work will continue as BCPS has joined several districts to lead the way in policy and governance uh in two parts nationally through impact Florida. We've also joined the Helios Foundation. We're also uh co-sponsored in several grants
uh that uh help to champion principles around parent and teacher engagement and AI literacy and policy implementation and safe safeguarding how we roll out our student deployment initiative. Uh I want to hand it off to governance
around administration. >> Good afternoon. My name is Chanette Dean and I serve as an assistant principal at Myiar High School and as a member of Broward's AI leazison team. As school leaders, there's one resource we never seem to have enough of, and that's time. Every day, we're supporting
students, coaching teachers, responding to families, reviewing data, solving problems, attending meetings, and ensuring we're present in classrooms where the real work of learning happens. So, when people ask me about artificial intelligence, my answer is actually
pretty simple. The most valuable thing AI has given me isn't technology. It's time. In my work as an assistant principal, I've used AI to identify trends across classroom walkthroughs, analyze professional learning needs, and synthesize information from policies,
procedures, and other sources to support informed decision-m. Now, I want to be very clear about something. AI doesn't make those decisions. I do. The technology helps me process information more efficiently, but professional judgment, experience,
and context still matter most. And honestly, that's what excites me most about this work. Not because it makes leadership any easier, but because it creates more space for the parts of leadership that matter the most. More conversations with
teachers, more support for students, more engagement with families, more time spent in classrooms instead of behind a desk. In my work with educators, school leaders in the community, I always come back to the same idea. Technology should strengthen human capacity, not replace
human responsibility. What I've seen across Broward County is a thoughtful approach to that balance. We're building guard rails and ensuring that human judgment remains at the center of every important decision. Because despite all of the conversations happening about artificial intelligence,
there are still some things that AI cannot do. It can't build trust with the student. It can't understand the nuance of family situations. It can't inspire teachers. And it definitely cannot survive a day as an assistant principal.
That work still belongs to people. As both a school leader and a doctoral student studying curriculum and instruction, I believe our responsibility isn't to shield students from emerging technology, but to prepare them to engage thoughtfully, ethically, and responsibly. The future our students
will enter will include artificial intelligence. Our job is to ensure they enter that future with wisdom, critical thinking, and strong human values. From where I sit as a school leader, that's exactly the balance Broward is working to achieve. Thank you.
>> Thank you. Presentation. And so what you've echoed uh from many of our speakers is around purposeful limited use, quality over quantity. and in most importantly human- centered learning and that we recognize that through uh this discourse and the
follow-up conversations that uh we have to collect collectively think about everyone's perspectives and where they are and then come to a balanced approach in terms of how we look at AI implemented into broad part by AI and so
what AI should support and you've heard this is through planning and lesson development timely feedback back assessing multilingual supports, data analysis, and teacher administration. Uh, but what it should also recognize is that some learning experiences are best
done uh without AI and screens. We've heard that repeatedly throughout this time. Students must benefit from discussions, collaborations through reading, writing, and through hands-on learning. and technology has to help
shape uh the way in which classrooms look uh differently uh today. But there has to be this balance. And so now I'll turn it over to Manny uh executive director uh to take the next part of this. >> Thank you, Dr. Con. Manny Casta,
executive director of analytics and intelligence. And uh I'd like to talk a little bit about what helped guide the AI policy that we're currently drafting and going to present to the board uh in the near future. And there were five overlying
themes and these didn't occur as Dr. Con said in a vacuum. They were guided by a lot of work by a lot of very qualified people and I want to give kudos where kudos are are due. the AI task force which was established uh almost two
years ago and includes teachers, it includes uh district staff and administrators, school staff and administrators, AI liaison and most importantly it includes students and this group uh really had a uh really
came up with all of these ideas that helped inform it. And as you're going to learn in other slides, there's also many other groups that are contributing to the policy outside of that. So the five key themes that appear in the policy are the responsible and ethical use of AI
across both instruction and operations and having a unified vision for AI across the district. The fact that there must be human oversight and accountability for every AI supported decision. And AI doesn't
make decisions. We do. When we went with Microsoft Copilot, the name actually aligns. You have co-pilot, but you got to have a pilot. Third was student safety. Student safety, data privacy are paramount. Uh
not just student data, but staff data as well. And I I'm happy to say uh this district has some of the strongest data protections that exist. uh I came from another district so I've seen and have a comparison uh to make but our
collaboration here between ISD risk management and the general counsel have resulted in very very stringent data protections that are in all of our contracts especially the ones that are with our AI partners
and then also instructional integrity that protects the quality of teaching and learning and this also leads into the final of balance because there's been a lot of talk about focusing too heavily on technology and I think there's also been a lot of
talk about achieving that balance between screen time and between time when you get to engage in other activities that are just as important. So the policy needs to reflect that AI is not something you simply turn kids
over to as a substitute for instruction but something that complements it. So here we go to a slide where we talk about what our our fears that have come up time and time again.
The fear that is within all of us with something new especially AI is that it's going to take over jobs. It's going to take over human thinking. And the truth is that if AI is taught responsibly and ethically that is not what it's here to do. And I had all
these comments prepared about the feedback loop between human and AI. But uh Mikyle here, he stole all my thunder because he said it much better than I would have. But it's that connection between the human, between the pilot and the AI and the feedback and then the
reconnection that helps. A lot of it really has to do with what kind of tasks is AI really good at. And we can talk about instructional use cases and there were many that were brought up in the recent symposium that are are very valuable. And the one that Lily brought
up of differentiated instruction with mathematics, that's a great one. But I'd also like to focus on a lot of the things that I think Miss Dean mentioned. And quite frankly, when I became a teacher many years ago, I taught for over a decade. I didn't want to fill out
forms. I didn't want to read email. I I didn't want to digest 100page manuals. I wanted to teach. And what AI has allowed us to do and what this district is heavily invested in is in
giving time back to the teachers, giving time back to administrators to be able to focus on the higher order thinking and the higher order decisions. So that a lot of the operational use cases that Miss Dean mentioned of doing data
analysis of doing trend analysis of crafting communications and ensuring that the they're they're grammatically correct and they they uh convey the proper message of synthesizing information. All of those are things
that AI can help with and give us actual time back to spend with our students and making decisions. Now, a little bit about the process and what we call some of the the four pillars that I know Dr. Con mentioned
earlier that have gone into the policy itself. And again, they center on the human being, the decision maker. Uh those those stickers where you say, "I'm the human in the loop." Those are intentional. Uh humans are always and always should
be in control of the process. the focus on student benefit and instructional integrity, safety, privacy, and cyber security. Again, like I mentioned earlier, and then equity, accessibility, and bias mitigation. One of the
decisions this district made, and I think it should be highlighted, many other districts, and we're partnering with many other districts in the state in their AI journey, they've offered AI tools for staff to a few. you have some administrators,
uh, some principles, etc. We have gone allin. If we're going to teach students how to engage with AI, well, our staff should know how to engage with AI and how to use it, our instructional and non-instructional staff. That's why we
are the leaders in the world with the deployment of 20,000 premium licenses in the Microsoft C-Pilot platform that have been given to almost all staff in the district. So th
that is an important way of ensuring that everybody has access and equitable access and that as we work with students we're able to communicate and double down on that. Now, we didn't just roll out all these
licenses and let people to their own devices. There's significant support that is being provided or has been provided. I, as I mentioned earlier, the AI task force was critical and and it was spearheaded through the office of innovative learning through Dr. Cohen's
office and Dr. Sherry Wilson leading that task force. They developed the BCPS ethical implementation guide which is really the guide that helped uh helped craft the draft policy that uh that we're going to introduce.
Uh we have and are de and have developed and are currently developing AI governance and review processes. We have taken great effort in ensuring that any tool that we expose our students to are being tested at a higher bar than we
believe many others have. We are looking for real time moderation and real time threat detection, which is something most tools don't provide. And I'm going to be honest with you. Currently, Copilot doesn't provide at scale, which
is why we haven't deployed Microsoft C-Pilot to all of our students. It doesn't provide that level of protection. However, other tools that we've tested have and will be deploying them next year. So, we're we're we're ensuring that all those staff have are
all in and have access. But with our students, we're being very careful for how we deploy because again remember the pillar student protection. Always protect the student first. We have a significant investment in professional learning and AI literacy. We have a lot of work that's been done on the
instructional side through the office of innovative learning. Then we have a lot of work that's been done on the ISD side with operational use cases uh through uh through Dr. Daryl Diamond. And all of these are being all put together into uh
a hub that's being developed and is currently in pilot stage which is going to contain all of the resources so that all staff have one one-stop shop for getting any information and any resources on AI. And I wanted to close because I'm going
to talk about continuous monitoring in a second, but I want to talk about community and stakeholder engagement. And this goes to a lot of the work that we've done in reaching out the policy itself. We've reached out obviously the AI task force helped craft it. We've reached out to the district advisory
committee. We've received input from the technology advisory committee. We've sent it to BTU to principal and administ uh and assistant principal groups. We've sent it out to our actual CIT students that are participating in the AIMEISE to
get input on this policy. And soon when we present it for rulemaking then we'll have the input of the board directly on the policy and and how it can affect. But this is something that we've taken great great pains to ensure we get as much engagement as
possible. And we had the the privilege I had the privilege of participating in the leadership week this last week and in the AI symposium where we got some wonderful feedback and input from parents and stakeholders in the community.
So let's talk a little about our call to action. And I can't emphasize enough that uh and this Dr. Con said uh AI is here. It's changing the way organizations work. It's changing the way education is done. We can either
choose to lead and be proactive as to how it's taught and to ensure that it's taught so that students can use it responsibly or we can step back and then make like many other skills, they can learn it on their own and at their peril.
So, we've chosen to be proactive. We've chosen to protect students and staff first. Uh we've chosen to have clear governance and to establish procedures to to to test and vet AI tools. We've also chosen
to support innovation but responsibly. And here I I want to give some uh a shout out to uh to our students at Nova and the AI Academy because they are developing a chatbot and I I would ask our our student adviserss that did the research did LA Unifi, did their
students create that chatbot or the one in Albuquerque? Because when we release ours, it's going to be created by our students. But in saying that, we're not just having the students create the chatbot and publishing it. We're developing vetting
protocols around it to make sure that what's been created is safe, doesn't expose data. We're running it through the same development process that we run our applications to when we develop applications in ISD. And that leads me to the last part about
preparing students for the future. And again, I had a whole lot of discussion here about the false dichconomy between it's not technology versus traditional, but then Lily stole my thunder and said it much better than I ever would. So,
I'm I I'm going to skip much of that. Uh, but I do want to mention that we talk about preparing students for the future and and and there they sit. These these two students right here, that's the future we should aspire to
for the rest of our students. These students seem to me, and I hate to call you out, but they seem to be well adjusted, well-rounded. They seem to be good critical thinkers. Uh, I'm going to assume that they can write well. I already know they can communicate well, and I certainly know
they can use technology well. And that's what we should aspire to, that kind of balance in how we educate our students and and and work with our staff. And finally, I I want to talk about continuous monitoring and improvement.
Uh when I tell you that AI is changing, it it's not just changing by the year, it's changing by the day. The models that are being released now are exponentially better and different and can do more things than the ones that we were using three months ago.
It's very hard to keep up. But what we're doing here is we're ensuring that we have continuous review of the tools that are out there. Continuous testing and vetting of those tools on when to incorporate them on what technologies are evolving.
continuous reaching out to our stakeholder groups to uh through our AI liaison and our AI task force and through our uh community and business partners uh and our advisory groups and we're measuring things. Yes. And uh
one of the things that we definitely have doubled down on is measuring how AI is being used, how it's being used at schools, for what purpose, which tools are being used more than others. These are things that we've
baked in to our co-pilot deployment, and it's going to be integral in the Microsoft challenge coming next year where schools are going to be rewarded for AI engagement. And it's also something that we're building with our partners in Magic School to ensure we have metrics there that can measure and
since that will be our first studentf facing tool. Those are going to be critical into ensuring and seeing how students are using it and for what purpose. All of these things lead into the crafting of this policy which is why when you when we do present the policy
you're going to see something that is flexible and can change over time because that's what happens with AI. So now I'm going to turn it back to what I think is going to be my favorite part of the presentation to talk about the NOVA innovation zone. Back to Dr. Con.
>> Thank you, Manny. >> So everything we've discussed thus far uh today focused on system readiness. Now I want to talk about possibility. The NOVA innovation zone represents the next evolution of public education. This
is not a technology project. This is a redesign of student experience. This is a redesign of taking the current educational model that was designed during the industrial era. Students move through content largely based on the
Carnegie model. And so we want to take a look at how students in most cases are assessed the same ways that we all grew up and that the future requires us to think a little bit differently about public education. And that the NOVA innovation zone is designed around
competency, application, innovation, workforce relevance, and authentic problem solving. And so NOVA becomes our innovation laboratory here. It's a place where we explore masterybased progression, AI
embedded personalization, project-based learning, university supported pathways. The goal is not to abandon standards. The goal is to build beyond standards. Students will continue to master the Florida standards, but they will also demonstrate competencies that employers
and universities increasingly demand. The future of education cannot be built uh with the district alone. And so in this model, our industry leaders will assist us in co-designing the learning. Universities must become active partners where they have students complete their
field experience, their internships, and align to students interest. And this means our partner universities will have first choice to make connections and intersect with our schools, establish those relationships with our students and parents, and ultimately develop a
strong pipeline for students with the hope of enrolling in some of these schools uh such as NOVA, FAU, and Broward College. And community organizations must become contributors. And this opens the doors where the NOVA model becomes the first in-class 22nd
century model that is nationally recognized. Partner corporations will have a strong connection to this initiative where professional mentors will be enlisted by program and industry certification. They act as guest speakers, role models and eventually
students and b businesses could see this endeavor as future pathway for employment. The NOVA concept creates an ecosystem where students regularly interact with professionals, mentors, practitioners, and entrepreneurs.
This is where NOVA becomes transformational. The model combines five intersected pillars. AI accelerated, human- centered mentorship, XR experiential learning, projectbased studios, AI literacy and ethics.
Students will not simply learn about subjects here. Students will use subjects to solve authentic problems. And instead of asking what chapters are we on, we begin asking what problems are we solving. Instead of measuring only
seat time, we begin to measure demonstrated competency. And students progress through experiences that mirror the way learning occurs in universities, research organizations, and innovative industries. And one of the most exciting elements of
NOVA is the creation of innovative laboratories. Not just for students, but for teachers. And teachers become researchers. They become learners, designers, innovators, and problem solvers. University partners like Microsoft, industry leaders, and BCPS
educators work together to continuously refine instruction. This transforms professional learning from occasional workshops into continuous innovation cycles. And so success will not be measured by
technology adoption. Success will be measured by outcomes, by gaining teacher time, by allowing students to gain opportunity, increased engagement, improved achievement, expanded access, and future readiness. And if we cannot
dis demonstrate improve outcomes then we adjust. The goal is to impact not implementation. So the vision before you today is bigger than artificial intelligence. It is about ensuring B public public schools remains a place where innovation and
humanity coexist, where technology serves people, where teachers remain at the center, and where students remain at the heart, and where the future is not something that happens to us, but something we intentionally help create.
The question is not whether artificial intelligence will shape the future. The question is whether Broward County Public Schools will help shape it responsibly. And I believe the answer is yes. This concludes our presentation. >> Thank you. Um we'll go to public
comment. I do see some new faces in the audience. So I just want to rem uh remind the public um that uh when I call your name, please uh approach the mic. Please follow the staff's instructions. The board does not go back and forth with members of the public um during
this portion. So um I just wanted to make sure everyone was aware. And then when you hear the timer go off, please yield the mic so that the next speaker has the opportunity to speak. Uh so I'll call up five names at a time. Cynthia Dominique. Actually, I'll do like three names. There's for some reason the
podium is further back. Um Cynthia Dominique, Brooky, and Heather Velasquez. All right, mic test. It's good. All right. Uh, good afternoon. Brooke Bordy Plantation. Um,
I am a school advisory forum chair. I'm a PTA room coordinator. I serve on several district level advisories. I am absolutely plugged in. and the other parents who are here today. We're here in earnest trying to deliver you the
sentiment of the community that it's sometimes hard to get through. So, we're not here speaking for ourselves. It is our community that is profoundly concerned, which is why, you know, we're supposed to be on a road to Disney with medieval time reservations. We stayed
and we might miss that because we're here representing many, many families. In my pre-om life, I was a commercial litigator, which is something I I don't usually share, but I frequented the courthouse just down the street. And I see you, the board, here today as judges
that I need to convince of our concerns. Uh given that there's some debate in this room about safety and the appropriate use of AI in the classroom, I think it helps the decision-making process to focus on the law. And it will become very clear that this board needs
to reconsider the the direction of this initiative. The district is already not in compliance with SOPA which requires school districts to identify all the software it provides to students as well as the actual underlying contract. The BCPS web page that lists supplemental
software is absolutely incomplete. The district has had months to correct this deficiency. Given the simplicity of just posting the contracts for the supplemental software, I have very little faith that something as complicated and risky as artificial intelligence could be done in a way that
does not pose a risk to our children. Another law to consider is the forthcoming Guard Act, which is a bipartisan federal legislation that if passed will ban a AI chat bots for children under the age of 18. Florida is considering its own set of laws as well.
Perhaps we should pause the roll out to AI less this district finds egg on its face. I also see co-pilot pilot roll out as a threat to FURPA. Giving co-pilot access to BCPS email accounts will certainly lead to the capture analysis
and storage of sensitive student information and personally identifiable information thereby circumventing and violating FURPA. It's an obvious liability for the district. Legal adjacent is this board's policy 6313
which prescribes the institutional review board that is required for research performed on children. I want to welcome the student adviserss but I do want to say many of the concerns are coming from elementary parents and the survey tools available to the student adviserss do not reach elementary
students. Our children have access to different technology than current high schoolers. This board should know that there's no public facing implementation plan. I don't know what technology my kids will have come fall. So, this presentation doesn't constitute an implementation
plan. Thank you. Thank you. I remember I called Cynthia Dominique and Heather Velasquez. And then the next three names are Kristen Hope, Matthew Bour, and Trudy Dmanovich. Uh could someone from staff turn the timer off, please?
>> Thank you, Mr. Hill. All right. So, I'll just say the names again. Cynthia, Dominique, Heather Velasquez, Kirstston Hope, Matthew Bour, and Trudy Dmanovich. >> Welcome. >> Hi. >> Uh, good afternoon. My name is Heather Velasquez from Davey. Uh, I would just
like to take a moment to say that I had a really hard time gathering my thoughts to express how I feel about this because it is overwhelming. I am a parent who doesn't know a lot about AI. I do know that it has amazing capabilities and great strengths, but I worry about how I
can protect my own child and how other parents can do the same if they don't have the skill set and the knowledge on the technology and the tools that are being made available to our teachers and our students. So I just want to reference um slide 25 where it says that AI should enhance critical thinking,
problem solving, creativity, analysis and reasoning, collaboration and communication and real world application of learning. What does AI enhance? Cognitive offloading. And it is concerning to hear someone say that they
didn't remember how to do a math problem, so they just plugged it into AI. And that's no shade to anybody, but that is real. We hear professionals say all the time they feel like it's dumbing them down. And I want my elementary child to make sure he has the opportunity to develop those critical
thinking skills and those foundational learning skills that we all use today because the human can't be a part of the loop if they don't have those foundational skills. So I want my child to enter middle school, to enter high school and have those foundational
skills to still be an active participant as a human being, not just relying on that tool of AI. So I also am very concerned for our teachers and their ability to keep up with the rapid implementation of all of these different resources. I think that
we are expressing a lot of um support and offloading for them and and giving them time back, but how are we making sure that we're not overloading them with the skills they need to learn to be able to effectively implement the tools
and and have the time? Um my understanding and I would love some clarification on this is that while you say that the training is required, who's who's checking that? what what's the um accountability for that and how are we making sure that the teachers and the
staff are utilizing these tools um ethically e eicac the the efficacy of them if nobody's ensuring that they are trained before they roll these out and have their students use them that that's a big concern for me um I really want to
know what the district goals are and how they're measured engagement to me is is not totally an accurate measurement of effectiveness uh we approved last week or The board approved last week more more funding for prisms without any real data on how that you know improved uh
learning gains. I know that what was said was more of like well we know students were engaged they were excited to come to class while that is important it is it really improving their educational skills and their knowledge. Uh I'm running out of time. Um so I
think that I said a lot of what I really wanted to say but thank you guys for giving us this opportunity. Oh, I don't think that there has been a public facing parent plan um imple implementation plan. I went to the symposium and left with more questions. So, that didn't get a chance to be answered because they canceled the end.
>> Thank you. Next speaker. >> Good afternoon. >> Is this mic on? Welcome. >> Oh, good. How you guys? Uh good afternoon, superintendent, uh school board members, and fellow parents. Uh my name is Matthew Bordy. I have three, uh children here in Broward County Schools.
Um I'm an entrepreneur and I build products, physical products, and AI embedded systems and software for a living. Uh I'm not here because I fear artificial intelligence. I'm here because I understand it. Large language models like Chat, GBT, Copilot, Magic
School do not think. They do not understand truth. Uh they predict the most likely word based on patterns in data. Sometimes the results are impressive. Uh sometimes they're completely wrong. Spec especially in
product development uh and software development together. Uh in AI industry, we call this a hallucination. These systems can confidently generate false facts, inaccurate explanations, biased content, and entirely fabricate
information. Even companies that build them acknowledge this limitation. Yet, Broward is rapidly expanding AI in classrooms where nearly 40% of our students are still not reading proficiently at a grade level. My concern is simple. We're helping
students become stronger readers, writers, and critical thinkers, or are we normalizing technology that is increasingly does the thinking for them? I also have concerns about privacy. We hold these systems are uh furpa
compliant, but furpa is a legal requirement and not a technological safeguard that keeps AI within its boundaries. Parents deserve transparency regarding what student information, assignments, documents, emails, educational records may be processed by
these systems and how that information is protected. Before expanding AI further, this district owes the parents clear answers, meaningful oversight evidence that these tools are improving student outcomes rather than simply making uh simply
making providing technology companies with the data that they want. Um, can the district identify a single technical safeguard that automatically prevents hallucinated or factually inaccurate AI generated content from reaching students without a human catching the error. As a
product developer, the technical answer is no. There is no filter for hallucinations. So my question to the board is who is the human safety net? And my final question is, can the district guarantee that no student
educational records, behavioral information, emails, assignments, or personal data will ever be used in a way that parents did not intend to or expect? And if that happens, who's accountable, the software company or Broward County Schools? As a technology
professional, I know that most dangerous thing about AI isn't when it's obviously wrong. It's when it's wrong and sounds convincing. Thank you. Thank you. Next speaker, >> Madam Chair, what is his name? >> That was Matthew Bordy.
Um, >> thank you. >> I have Kirsten Hope, Trudy Germanovich, Rochelle Sofur, and Jennifer Dubbin. >> Welcome. >> Hi, good morning. My name is Kirsten Hope and I'm from Davyy. I'm here as a concerned parent of three children and
advocating for all children. In fact, I brought six children here today just to speak. Um, so if you ever wonder why you hear from the same people over and over again, it's because it's really difficult to get down here with children. Um, in April of this year, uh,
2026, Fair Play, a coalition of child advocates, educators, researchers, and organizations, put out a position paper. This 29page paper signed by over 260 organizations and experts call for a 5-year moratorum on studentf facing
generative AI products in K through 12. The authors argue that AI tools are being introduced in classrooms before the educational benefits have been proven and before adequate safeguards are exist for for kids. The key concerns cognitive cognitive development and
learning, social and emotional development, mental health risks, privacy and surveillance, misinformation and accuracy, impact on teachers, equity concerns, academic integrity and environmental costs. BPS uh the classrooms already util utilize adaptive
educational technology platforms. Despite years of implementation, these tools have not produced the transformational academic gains that were promised. In many cases, they have become substitute for direct instruction and human interaction rather than enhancements to learning. What evidence
suggests that AI will produce a different result? At its core, education is a human endeavor. Teachers do more than deliver content. They build relationships, provide mentorship. They inspire curiosity and understand the
unique needs of each of their students. Expanding the role of AI risks further widening of the gap between teachers and students while reducing opportunities for meaning meaningful human connection. At a time where young people are experiencing increasing social isolation
and mental health challenges, we should be investing in stronger human relationships, not replacing them with technology. Stating that over and over again doesn't that it doesn't replace teachers doesn't make it true. Employees are expected to review AI generated
content, verify accuracy, monitor an entire classroom of students, and uh exercise professional judgment. However, formal AI training is not required for all employees anywhere in this implementation plan. Without comprehensive and mandatory training,
how can we expect a reasonable implementation of ethics and safety and you know consistency across all classrooms. This plan is not thinking of the future like it states. We will not be able to afford these products when the money runs out. Focusing on the future would
be implementing actual foundational computer skills like typing. Screen time is not a hypothetical concern. Decades of research have documented its impacts on cognition, physical health, attention, and social emotional well-being. Pediatrician and child experts continue to recommend minimizing
screen time exposure whenever possible to it's not just the fear of the unknown. We know. Okay. Thank you. >> Thank you. Next speaker. My name is Dr. Trudy Germanovich. I began learning about technology by
attending a computer meeting at a garage in Los Altos, California in 1976. Unfortunately, it was not Steve Jobs garage. Since that time, I've been interested in what's being called
bleeding edge technology. The discussion today is similar to what we had when we first had access to the internet. And I'm glad we're hearing about it today. I'm also a longtime proponent of opting out. You can see from the back of my t-shirt, which is the opt out network.
The opt- out network was formed by parents throughout the country in 2014 who believed that online testing would be bad for their children. They were not anti-technology. These are hundreds of thousands of people around the country. They objected to the fact that it became
how teachers and schools were evaluated. It would be difficult to have children out out of AI because it will be ubiquitous. Unfortunately, our teachers and students will be training the AI programs you purchase.
There will be some teachers who will quickly adapt and use AI for lesson plans, but we should start with those who want to use it. It was mentioned that trainings would be within the PLC's which are where a professional learning community determines goals by consensus
supposedly of the PLC members as per the BTU contract. In other words, that's not where you should do training. They won't all choose AI. I believe for early elementary there should be little or no wasted time wasted on non-statemandated
programs on screens. By third grade, most students should have the manual dexterity to begin using typing and word processing skills. This is presently not occurring. I heard earlier it was. It is not. I have not seen a typing or a
simple word processing program come over for a purchase at any of your meetings. Why is that taking so long? I don't believe it's possible to manage teaching a class with some parents opting out of AI lessons or certain other technologies. I was very unhappy with
the lack of clear timeline within the presentation. I believe a group of teachers who are presently in the classroom should be paid well during this July to develop lesson plans for using AI for students in grades fourth
and fifth, sixth, and ethic examples from high school classes. I and I really mean pay the teachers well for the what they do. I also am concerned about the resources being equitably
distributed. When I heard the presentation, it appears that Nova schools will get much more than other schools. Good afternoon, Rochelle Sofer, Coconut Creek. So, I want to put out a disclaimer. I am not against AI at all.
I embrace it with caution. I have specific questions based on the slides that I read through and I'm going to present them so that way our representatives that are here can maybe address it in the future. So, we'll go by there. Slide seven, I'd like to know
what is the school board's definition of ethical implementation and where can we find it? What are the current and expected safeguards? Where are they published for view and are these viewable in the multiple languages?
Slide eight, please define screenheavy as it relates to students. What length of time would that be and by whose definition? As a parent with a child with a learning disability, speaking on my own,
screen time is a deficit to my child. So, I need to know what screen heavy is because five minutes to my child could be a lifetime and an eternity. and try to take my child away from that screen, you could have issues. And I know my child's not the only one.
Slide 22. How will we ensure minimal deviation from the AI platform as it's being used, especially with expected increases in class sizes? What measures will be implemented to alert teachers or staff to the unexpected tech use other than LiveWire,
which has its own issues? What about considerations for implementation with our students with disabilities population, especially in the self-contained classes? How will Oh, slide 23. How will BCPS address parental concerns for those who
want decreased or zero screen time? Slide 24. How will student data be kept safe? Where is all the I Ready data stored and who has access to it? Has anyone heard or seen of scrollingto death.com and the law lawsuit that's
ensuing as a result of that? What about the new lawsuit launched against the parent company Curriculum Associates? We need to ensure our students safety and security, especially their voices being captured. Slide 27. Where's the BCPS ethical
implementation guide? We'd like to see it in all of its languages, please. What about parent student uh community feedback that needs to be evaluated on a continuum? and not at the convenience of this district. I'd like to quote one of my teacher friends who's in the elementary schools.
It's interesting to me that the district wants to use AI, but they don't want us to use anything from teachers paid teachers. We have to use everything that's approved by the schoolboard, but we all know that AI makes mistakes. How is it better or different? Last quote. This is from a friend of mine who's got
her PhD and teaches at a local university. The faculty at my college don't actually want to learn all the good ways they could use AI. They want to use AI as a shortcut and they are putting out some pretty terrible quality presentations, images, etc. that are very obviously AI
generated and the students are on to it. >> Thank you. Um, next up I have Jennifer Devon and then Dr. Natalie Lynch Walsh, Dr. Nancy Romance and Donna Majio. >> Hello, my name is Jennifer Devon. I'm from Coral Springs. I'm a parent of a
second grader and I'm here to oppose the BCPS AI initiative. We are stepping onto a dangerous frontier without a map and our students will pay the price. I'm not afraid of technology or AI. I value thoughtful, intentional digital tools. But while technology evolves rapidly,
human biology does not. Children have critical developmental windows for acquiring foundational skills. By dep displacing vetted curricula with automated content, we are treating our students as test subjects in an unregulated experiment with no IRB. When
parents raise safety concerns, district staff advised us that if our children are harmed, we can simply sue the vendor. To suggest that our only recourse is to wait for our children's physical, mental well-being and privacy to be compromised before acting is irresponsible.
What is the responsibility of the leadership in this room to keep our kids safe? If BCPS were truly equipped to evaluate these algorithms, you wouldn't just look at basic accuracy. BCPS would be analyzing and publishing data on precision, recall, F1 score, area under
the receiver operating characteristic curve metrics as well as clear guidelines on false negatives. To date, Ber County Public Schools has failed to establish a transparent implementation plan defining what ethical and responsible AI means to for our community or provide a pilot study
report proving the efficacy and safety of Magic School AI and co-pilot. At least one of these Gen A tools has previously failed the district's tests. How has it now passed? What metrics were used to assess safety, security, and moderation? Moving forward blindly is an
unacceptable risk. This is especially true given the ongoing Florida lawsuit against open AI, the engine behind Magic School AI, which alleges severe psychological and developmental harm to youth, including the erosion of critical
thinking and the gener and generation of dangerous content. What risk are our teachers taking by using these programs that could see them fined or jailed if the algorithm behaves unexpectedly? and it will behave unexpectedly. As parents,
we have to demand accountability from the district and the board by funneling resources away from proven educational pedagogy into unsafe experimental programs. You are privatizing our children's education and enriching a few. What accountability will this board
take when this experiment harms the very children you are responsible for serving? I just board to halt the roll out of these AI tools until a rigorous, transparent, databback safety and efficacy framework is delivered to parents. Thank you. Dr. Natalie Lynch Walsh, Plantation,
Florida. So unlike a lot of the other speakers, I love AI for adults. That's where this should have started, not with the kids. I would love public records that function to be automated. I would love
follow-up logs to be generated automatically from the recordings of these meetings. Imagine how much time and how much more efficient you could be as a governing body. Oh, and by the way, I always have plan B and C in my back pocket. Don't you worry. Um because
there's a policy involved here and it hasn't even been advertised to initiate rulemaking. Um, so and there was a a comment about complaints. Some people's complaints are simply continuous improvement. You don't get continuous improvement by going
along with everything and everything is lovely in the garden. All right. So when I had to get my PhD, I studied adults and I had to do a 90page institutional review board application. There was no mention in the presentation
of schoolboard policy 6313 which after hearing a lot of parent concerns I said well why do they need that data what are they doing with it and where is the IRB in all of this because I know the district has one right yes they do it's 6313 is research
and program evaluation studies so just for fun um in here and I hope somebody's pulled it up by now we have definitions. It defines research studies, program evaluation studies, the institutional review board informed consent.
If a if someone is under 18, you cannot conduct studies on them without informed consent. So, I had AI prompt number one, policy 6313 governs research and program evaluation studies. What potential
policy 6313 compliance risks and audit risk issues as are associated with the Broward powered by AI presentation? A few, but you guys aren't interested when I try to stop you from getting in trouble. So, I'll just give this to the people, but I have at least three to six
of them here. Next prompt. Um, they tried to tell me there was a plan. I told Gemini, "Try again." Because sometimes they do get it wrong. and AI and Gemini had to admit there are no specific target dates, deadlines, or future scheduling timelines listed for
the plan's milestones. Guess what? It's not a plan. Then I had it check um I compared 6313 against the proposed AI policy. Oof, a whole lot of com potential compliance risk, bypassing IRB
review, um verification of auditability, failure to file mandatory final evaluation reports, um and that whole informed consent thing. And then just for fun, I came up with an audit plan and a risk assessment. And that's how I use AI. I don't think you'll appreciate
it, but the public will. Thank you. >> Thank you. I called up Dr. Nancy Romance, Donna Majio, and then Lorie Salerulo and Jackie Liskum. >> Good afternoon. I'm Dr. Nancy Romance from Florida Atlantic University, a former teacher and science supervisor in
Broward County Schools, and I'm here today to um talk about the NOVA Innovation Zone and what the universities are doing. Uh Dr. Con, is it possible to get these slides up there? I think it's slide 31 if it's the Nova
complex. >> I don't know that we're able to get the presentation back up, but >> Oh, okay. Okay. Well, I won't be able to actually see where you're at, but that's okay. It's that's fine with me. So, thank you for giving me this opportunity to meet and talk with you in the
district. I'm very very excited. Uh obviously, the district is near and dear to my heart and as an educator at Florida Atlantic University. For the last 30 years, we've been obviously very closely engaged with the uh school district. um our newest publication um
FAU, your hometown university, with our new president, Adam Hna, has really done a great job in moving forward in, you know, bringing um FAU to the South Florida, especially the Broward County area. And I just wanted to share some stats with you because at Florida
Atlantic University, we have over 32,000 students. All 32,000 students are involved in learning using artificial intelligence. It is now embedded in all of the colleges uh as a really important uh tool for learning.
Uh and indeed it does even learning and problem solving in particular. Um we are a Carnegie University um designate now meaning that we have um been declared as a Carnegie one meaning high level
research. that would suggest that all of our faculty are using pretty much AI for the kind of research that they're doing. We're also a Carnegie Opportunity University. Uh, another really nice designation which means that students that are coming from lowincome schools,
uh, low-income neighborhoods are doing equally well at the university, graduating on time. So, we're very, very excited about that. We also have a third Carnegie uh evaluation which is called Carnegie Community and we are one of 13 universities in the United States that
have all three Carnegie U classifications. So we're very very excited. The other thing I was going to share if the slides were shown I don't know if they see them but one of the things we're very proud of is that we are really a university very centered on first generation students. This is
really important to us. So I'll just read some of the things we have. So for example, we have wonderful facilities to really support academic success and careerbased readiness. So we are very career oriented here. We have the
science learning center, the math learning center, the office of undergraduate research and inquiry which actually invites freshmen to engage in college level research. What a difference that makes. We have over a thousand students. Our program for
undergraduate research has been number one in the nation for two years in a row. Um we have professional English sport. We have writing across the curriculum. So for all students that come in, we have all of these academic supports. But on the other side, we also
have sociological emotional types of supports too. For example, we have our first generation and student success office. We have our firstgen resources. We have the Kelly school emerging scholarship and we have new student transition. Um we have lots of PEL
eligibility campus food etc etc. Now we also just will be setting up quantum leap. We will be the first university in Florida with a major quantum computing system. Not minor in setting it up. It's been a very
exciting endeavor. And with this particular endeavor here, what we're really doing is um we're going to be able to process immense amounts of data, unbelievable amounts, not even necessarily defined yet. We'll have many
new opportunities for our students coming to FAU to be really working in industry and to be working with authentic problems and issues. This is extremely important. It really does support the district's effort at moving towards Broward AI powered. We have our
Styles Nicholson Institute in Jupiter. Some of you may be aware of that. That particular institute does tremendous work in neuroscience and brain sciences uh including obviously the disorders that we're all familiar with such as Alzheimer's and autism and so on. We
were the first university in the state of Florida to actually have a master's degree in artificial intelligence. >> Thank you. of Florida Power and Light. >> Thank you so much, Dr. Romance. Thank you, Dr. Romance.
Dr. Romance, thank you so much. If you could yield the mic. Thank you so much. Yes. Yes. Thank you. >> We very much enjoyed learning about everything going on at FAU. Thank you so much, Jackie Liskum.
>> Thank you. Um, and I'd like to acknowledge first of all the wieners are in the room and I'd like to thank them uh as a parent for their very generous gift to the district. I'm excited for the future of AI in Broward. Um, I do understand though some of what's been um articulated here too. I want to start
off with I'm going to hop all over the place, but there's been some statements made about how it needs to start with adults and not with the kids. It has started with the adults and not with the kids. um to Lily's um demonstration which I thought made a very good point about how AI can help uh walk walk
students through the processes of learning. Um it wasn't I believe Lily that you u brought up a math problem and asked AI to resolve it. AI brought up um a track for reteing it to you to remind you uh and it was not an erosion of
critical thinking. It was leading you through the steps of critical thinking. Um I do want to commend actually the symposium. Um I do concur with some of the views of it that I don't think parent um registration should have been cut off when it was. Uh it shouldn't
have been the afterthought. Um I'm grateful that we were able to be there and I learned a lot but I think that there is a lot also to be learned about where some of this has gone wrong is in the messaging. Um, anybody that attends technology advisory, which actually
isn't very many people, um, will know that I'm actually quite noisy there. And I'm noisy because I see that that technology advisory is not used for technology issues. Um the BCPS is repeatedly kind of bypassing TAC and I
feel we could have been a really good collaborative partner in helping to preempt some of the um uh when I say outcry we've we've seen here there's legitimate concerns or people that have concerns that can't be resolved. Um I
would like to suggest that um you fast track when I say fasttrack you got to follow policy prom making process or or not as the case may be these days um but for the AI policy to be put on the back burner um while you're looking more at
policies that say well what's the address of the KC right building I think the um priorities are in a little the wrong order that AI policy is crucial to the integrity of this program this initiative and to getting stakeholder
buyin. Um I think you too could have preempted and still can some of the community um suspicion or concern about it by not only having a policy. Uh I see there's mention of a manual that certainly I don't think came to uh TAC at all. I haven't seen a manual, but but
how about some kind of a contract with parents, a sort of our promise to you, our pledge to you, and and some bullet point um commitments as to what this implementation will or won't be. Um I've kicked up a lot at TAC about what is the
AI task force and why aren't we on it at um at TAC, I've had good conversation with Dr. Conn and with Manny, which I appreciate greatly. I think they've worked hard on this. I just um also as well want to see a lot more um ESE integration and for them not to be the
left behinds. Thank you. >> Thank you. Any other public speakers? >> Okay. I don't usually do this, but I would like uh the courtesy of my colleagues to be able to speak. >> Oh, sorry. My mic turned off. Um I would
like the courtesy for my colleagues to speak first on this. This is something that I've spent a lot of time over the last year uh investing in learning about and hearing from students and parents. Um so first I want to thank all the public speakers who came out. We did see some new faces today which is very
exciting to see the community so engaged on something so important. Um Heather Velasquez I like you continue to be overwhelmed by this topic and I'm glad we've all uh started to try to tackle this as messy as it can be. I'm glad we
we are diving in today. Um I also want to thank Wayne and Lucricia Weiner who are here who um continue to make massive commitments and investments in public education. So thank you. Um and so the the AI symposium has been
brought up several times today. I I had the privilege of getting to speak there and I going to echo some of my my same points that I I delivered to the parents and educators in the audience. Um I would like everyone here to take a
moment to remember what it was like to get on Facebook for the first time and to remember what we were promised in the as about what social media would do for us. We were told it would make us more connected with each other. But 20 years later, the consensus is that the social
media algorithms have made us more disconnected, isolated, and polarized than ever. So much so that people are winning multi-million dollar lawsuits in school districts, including us, are suing these companies for the impacts they've had on our kids' mental health.
And you know, as we have the discussion, it is imperative that we learn from the mistakes of the social media era. There are some of the same warning signs um represented in hard data for AI. The
rise of AI companions raises alarm bells we should all be taking action on. The impacts of cognitive offloading, something we've heard concerns about today, even on adults, should result in us making clear, strong, and bold policy
to protect our students. We all understand that AI isn't going away and that bans or moratoriums won't be effective. We understand that all students will grow up in a world in which AI is integrated into every part
of our society. We have a responsibility to prepare them for that world and we have a duty to ensure that world is safe and enriching as it can be. That means we have to take great care in the ways we introduce students to this technology and that the technology we
give them access to serves the purpose of facilitating their growth into thoughtful, kind, empathetic and well-rounded learners. That means that this technology is introduced slowly and strategically with students first simply building awareness
of it. They are taught holistic AI literacy frameworks. That means they learn about how it's created, what its uses are, what the risks are, and they're taught about ethical use and development. And I cannot emphasize enough the
importance of the actions we take now to do this right. Dr. Con at the beginning of this asked the question, are we going to prepare our students for the world we grew up in or the world we inher they will inherit? And I'd like us to think about it a little bit differently.
All of us at this table and in this room have the ability to shape the world our kids inherit. And we can do that in the days and months to come. So with that said, I have some questions and then I'll be asking for board consensus on
some proposals. Um, Madame General Counsel actually just told informed me of this, but I I would like the public to know when can we expect the AI policy to come back to us either to the general counsel or to staff. >> Go ahead, Dr. Con.
>> Uh, we're ready whenever it's time. I think we initially wanted Noah to go first with the policy and then we would schedule I think sometime in July I believe >> most likely it'll be like beginning of August because we only have a very short
amount of time in July. If we can schedule it in July, we'll do that. But I know that um we will be working very closely to come up with some drafts. We'll do some one-on- ones on those drafts as well to get board feedback and then present something um for the board's consideration.
And to that end, um, we are ready with the draft. We just need to confirm in terms of the Noala piece and the process document. So, we've gathe gathered all of the feedback from every stakeholder. This is the last um I would say last leg of that and getting feedback from you,
the board before we uh come back in August to present a final product or a draft of that. >> Thank you. Um, the AI task force was brought up multiple times. Can you talk to me, inform the public about who is on
the task force, what have they done, what have we implemented from their recommendations? >> I'll kick it off and then I'll let Manny uh dive deep into that. And so our our intention uh uh really was to that anything that's large scale of a
district this size is going to require implementation fidelity. And so every school had the opportunity, every principal had the opportunity to identify an AI liaison and that leaison would represent each the each school in terms of being able to receive the
training, the skills, the knowledge to be able to go back and implement that at the school level. We we done the same kind of framework when we did our instructional materials adoption that worked really well. Um in this case all of our AA AI leaison got all of the training all uh up until this before the
teachers left they met with the principles uh during June 5th June 8th and June 9th to come up with an AI implementation rollout plan to be delivered during pre-planning week that will be implemented with our uh with all of the staff and Manny if you have anything else.
>> Uh as Dr. Con said and what really struck me as as very important about the task force is a it's comprised of not just uh district administrators it's school staff school administrators district administrators teachers and students
and initially and this is just a personal experience when I was first introduced to the task force I was very impatient I was saying where's the policy let's get the policy out come on let's move but now looking back on it I can see the the thoughtful careful
approach that the group took in formulating what's a 60 plus page uh implementation guide which contains the core principles that go into the policy. We knew we couldn't take a 60-page guide and just publish it as a policy. So, it's been condensed and shared. But
that's my basic observations of how the task force has has has really helped craft the work and helped direct us into other research uh opportunities to craft the policy. Um Mr. uh Manning, can you
go back over the participants the the of the task force? I've missed that part. >> Uh school staff, district staff, we have teachers, we have students also and yeah, administrators. >> Thank you. um about how many people are on the task
force. >> It's it's it's rep it's one representative for every school and then there's district staff. So I would probably um without you know I would say close to two to 300 people. >> How many students?
>> I would say roughly about 20 students on that task force. And how were how were the these task force members selected? >> Uh well for the schools or just total >> so so how let me back up. It's my
understanding so each AI liaison for each school is a member of the task force. Correct. >> That's correct. >> How were the students selected? >> So I think we reached out to at the time Landon and kind of had uh him kind of identify people that had interest.
>> Okay. Um what's the meeting cadence for the task force? Like how often are they meeting? >> You can answer. >> I remember participating in monthly meetings. There was also a collaboration site that was set up in teams that the task force had access to and there was
some engagement through that asynchronously but the cadence was generally monthly from what I recall. >> Okay. Um I'm going to move in a little bit of a different uh direction. Something that I've heard over and over
from students and teachers is with with regards to AI is this issue of trust. Um sometimes teachers are not trusting that students uh are turning in their own
work. And then students on the other hand are sometimes not trusting that teachers physically or are themselves grading the work or creating the assignments. And you know as a teacher I understand the value in using AI to help you know
create assignments and differentiate instruction and all of that. But I'm wondering if if the task force or if we as a district have really contemplated and tried to tackle the issue of trust uh when it comes to AI
>> and specifically you're referring to the instructional materials or materials outside of the uh the content. So there is a tension, right? Like I I heard from students like one student who
um I met with at Fort Lauderdale High School said like if I have a teacher that is using AI to grade my assignment, I am disgusted by that she used that language, right? And I understand again I I am trying not to be I'm trying not to look at this as a as a very polarized
or black and white issue. Um I know that there is nuance and complication to it but I think that we have to try to think about the way we can build trust between students and teachers. both that teachers are trusting that the work that
the students are doing is authentic um and that they did their own thinking but also on the other hand that students can feel trusting that this that the teachers have been thoughtful about their assignments that they've they've some that they've assigned to the students and the work that they're
grading. >> Yeah. Yeah. I agree with you wholeheartedly and I think that that's part of where uh at the beginning of the year and during the summer we will have some hot labs around teacher efficacy and training. Um we are also in the process of building a mandatory AI
literacy course that will become required of all educators to um to take and complete before the the the first week of school. And I think to your point um this is a very nuanced conversation um to be honest with you uh and we are traversing on a very
uncharted territory uh when with something like this and so uh the feedback that we receive here and the feed feedback that we've received it helps us to kind of build some of this out um and so some of the professional learning that we are doing specifically for teacher rollout is with that in mind
when you use AI for things like grading or for creating instruction uction in content outside of the core and the core will be ingested into something like magic school. Uh how do you how do you navigate through that and what do you use and when do you use it and when it's
appropriate to use those things? Those are part of the professional learning pieces that we're building in for teachers and for administrators as well. And I think that that trust has to be garnered through uh evidence of what we what we do and what we say. And part of
the policy and the guard rails and the process that we're putting in place to ensure that that does happen that that in that that guarantee that students should feel trusted that when a teacher is grading their assignments that that is their the the expert teacher
providing that feedback and not someone else. uh the tool could be used to support and enhance the same thing for when a student is working on an assignment using AI and they're producing something that teacher should be vi providing guidance and direction on how to use that tool and for what
intended purposes. That's part of the training that has to happen as well. Thank you for speaking to that and I think one thing that you said is very important is the that we have to have clear expectations that are communicated
both ways. Um so teach you know I had some groups of students said you know I had a teacher that said I can use AI in this way and they made it very clear. Um, but I also think the communication needs to come from the teacher as well. Like I used AI to help me create this
assignment and be having clear expectations and communications both ways in which um this is the way you're allowed to use it. This is the way I'm using it I think helps build that trust. But I'm wondering have we implemented any kind of rubric um to help teachers
guide students in the ways that they can use AI for assignments? >> Yeah. So that's a really great question. Um we have not that has been part of the discussion uh with the ALANS that we look at rubric more around assessments
assessing um um student assignments. Uh but I think that I think that's a great point that we can take back to the AI leazison and talk about a rubric that assesses the quality and implementation of a teacher using it against um instructional materials, student
artifacts, but just using it as part of students engaging in teachers engaging in the process as part of PLC's as well. >> Okay. Um, also just saying to students like this is an assignment you cannot you you should not be using any AI on or
this is an assignment that you can use AI to help create something like I think those expectations need to be very clear. Um, >> we can do that. >> Thank you. Some other concerns I I have heard from
students are the social impacts of AI companions. Now, I know that we are not giving students access to AI companions, but they are engaging with them outside of school, and it is very much my belief
that as a school system, we will suffer the the negative impacts of of that eventually. Um, and I I I will be talking a lot about this in the future, but the need to give kids more
opportunity to play and do humanto human interaction to combat some of those social impacts that their AI use outside of school will will be um causing. Something that came up a lot today is an
implement implementation plan. Um, so I'm wondering like I when I think about an implementation plan and we've had this discussion with regards to magic school which um I I'll I'll speak to later on but what is the implementation
plan for um AI in our school specifically I guess magic school since that's the the big tool that um you know has been generously invested in. Can we talk about that like when students will have access to it, when teachers will have access to do it, what training we're doing?
>> Yeah. So, I think we start off from the beginning uh prior to us rolling it. It will be fully rolled out next year. And so, what one of the things we wanted to do is launch Magic School as a prototype. So all AI leazison had an opportunity over a year period to
actually play with magic school to enduser test it to look at some of the the key components of instructional materials. Uh and they gave us feedback along the way. We didn't just roll this out as we typically do some large scale initiatives because of the sensitivity
of AI and and what it can and cannot do. Uh we got a lot of feedback in terms of how that we wanted to design the plan for roll out. And so uh most of our AI leaison or I should say all of them are now what we consider uh experts in using
magic school. Uh they've fully gone through and gotten all of the credentiing. So our our fully roll out plan is to first allow the teachers to get trained on magic school uh during pre-planning week and then support them uh and then provide a level two access
in terms of teachers giving access to students once the teachers are comfortable and have access to it. So we're working with Magic School right now to launch the not only the teacher portion but the student component of it as well. And so it has to do with
readiness. when a teacher is ready and the assignment is appropriate for the student to have access to Magic School AI within the classroom environment. >> Okay, I will I will pro I will ask for consensus around this later, but I really do think that there needs to be a
written plan on our website. Um, and I think there needs to be school-based communications. Like I I've mentioned this before, Bay View Elementary does like a parent night where they walk the parents through each piece of software that the that their students have access
to so that the parents understand like the purpose of each tool, how to use each tool, um what their their students what their children should be doing um on the computer. And so I think we really need again an implementation plan
on the website but also communicated by the schools where parents can sit down and use these tools and practice them before they they so that they can feel comfortable with um their their child interacting with it. >> So I like that idea. I think one of the
things we can do to again further engage the community is create a AI communication toolkit um in a in a PowerPoint presentation that's consistent that every school will receive. It could be part of open house. It could be part of parent university uh
and it could be an expectation that every teacher received this and every administrator receives it and we can roll that out before the beginning of the year. I appreciate that and I still think that um the parent feedback is incredibly
important and giving parents access to these tools before their students have access to them to to be able to use them and understand how their child will be interacting with it I think is very very important. Yeah, I think we can also include on the parent portal um some
tutorial videos on Magic School on there so parents can readily go on and just learn about Magic School just uh to your point to feel assured that when it becomes available to students. Um they can they're more informed and more educated about what Magic School really
is doing. >> Okay. Again, I I think so I was able to sit down and and test out the test out Magic School from a student um perspective. And I can tell you in doing that, it
made me much more comfortable with the tool and much more comfortable like I feel good about giving kids access to it because I was able to test it out and see how it how it's used. And that is coming from someone who is concerned
about a the expansion of AI throughout our world, right? Um so I think being able to give parents access to practice with it um will do us a lot of favors in our deployment of it. Um so I will keep
saying that. Um to the NOVA innovation zone. I have a a quick question about this. Um, have NOVA employees been communicated with and or consulted with about this innovation zone plan? >> So, we've had communications with the
principles um about this this concept. Uh, we've not taken it uh any further down than the administrations. I know and speaking with the principles, they're extremely excited about this initiative. Uh, we have a lot of work ahead of us because this is more of a
four to five year plan. Uh, so nothing in the first two or three years is going to impact the school necessarily. >> Okay. I will just say from like an employee perspective, if I'm a teacher at NOVA and I'm learning about this in the paper or like by watching a schoolboard meeting,
>> it feels some kind of way. >> Um, and you know, these will be the people who are implementing this on a day-to-day basis. And so including their input and collaborating with them, I think is really important. >> Yeah. And and I do think um, and you're absolutely right. I think part of the
concept um that we were approaching this in the redefining piece is that it may not be for every teacher and it may not be for every student um because if we're technically redefining um because these are all these are not neighborhood kids.
And so I think uh and this is why we wanted to bring this to the board because we're we're saying we're taking this to a different uh level of really educational um uh system engagement. And so perhaps when we redesign this space, uh it may not be for all students, but
it will be for a lot of other students. And I'll tell you that when I shared this because I I tend to go on the road and I share this uh when I shared this with um with community members at the Broward Community Foundations, parents who were not student or had students in
public schools, they wanted to know how can they sign up for something like this. So when we talk about um redesigning and re-engaging the community and trying to bring back parents, um there's a lot of models that we currently have that look very similar to other schools in this district. This
will be the first model that doesn't look like any other school district uh in other any other school. And so we've had a lot of uh conversations with a lot of business partners and a lot of national experts to say if if you all are able to do something like this, this
is a national model. And so this is a courageous bold step to do something very very different. And so there's no uh holding back on something like this. >> Yeah. And I think, you know, I agree and I'm very excited about this and like the and I I agree that maybe it's not for
some teachers, but there are teachers there who are excited about it and they will be the ones implementing it and their professional expertise is invaluable and they should be a part of the the collaboration process of building this very exciting program.
>> Thousand% agree. Um the issue of measurable goals was brought up multiple times today. So I don't know that we can answer this question today, but I would really like us I would really like to see sometime in the next month or two. What do
measurable goals for implementation of magic school um of this NOVA innovation zone? like what are the the measurable goals that we can implement for these um different initiatives and programs because you know the question continues to be like what is the purpose of all of
this and I can answer that question and you can answer that question but how are we going to measure that um and I think it's important that we all have like a shared vision and goal for for these things >> um >> Miss Leonardi yeah >> if you don't mind so I know that when we
did bring the magic school agreement we did we did actually create measurable goals uh not only with our partner but also with uh Magic School and these are goals that no other district by the way is doing because AI is just so new. In the executive summary, we said our
return on investment was going to be on how do we save teacher time. We also looked at improving instructional differentiating using multiple tiers of uh support which is the MTSS. And we have a logic model built around there. And we had a commitment to um our donors
that uh we would provide quarterly and annual reports on these measurable outcomes. And so there there is metrics already out there for us to determine the efficacy around magic school. And it's simply not about usage.
I appreciate that. I think then the board and the district need to communicate that better to because we heard it multiple times today. Um and I think like when we go back to the implementation plan and communicating with parents like making those things
very clear. Thank you for clarifying that. Um I'm glad Lally is here because I think uh you know graduations this year had me thinking a lot about the career pathways we offer to stu students and specifically around
like commercial driving and things like that. um this technology is going to change the jobs that are available in 5 10 20 years and I really hope that we can think about the the certifications
that we're offering and re-evaluate those. So I'm wondering if we could get a followup on um you know evaluating the different certificates and and career pathways that we're offering and whether or not we need to phase some out or or
reduce some of them. Hi everyone, Lai Formoso, career technical adult and community education director. So we are actually in our second year of our artificial intelligence CTE pathway and Nova High School was actually our first school
that we launched last year. This year we're up to five schools and next year we will have 13 schools on board. Uh our students this year actually passed almost 700 artificial intelligence industry certification exams already. So
we are very excited about that. And so they're using co-pilot. So we have a a group of about 380 students that have co-pilot access. And then at the end of their curriculum, they are taking the Microsoft Azure. So they're practicing with Microsoft Copilot to then take the
Azure uh exam, which is the the industry standard. So we have just under uh 700 students that will graduate with that industry start. Thank you. Thank you. And so much thank you for reframing that because I talked about like jobs that are going away, but you're talking about jobs that are going to be created. So, I
I appreciate you bringing that up and bringing up the the AI career pathways, but I still would like a follow-up to to see, you know, if there are some things that we need to maybe refocus or re-evaluate for the future. >> Yep. I'm logging that followup for you.
>> Thank you. Um, I have a question about a board followup that we got um about technology that we've discontinued um and that's saved the district money. Um, so in the followup it said that we have
high engagement in New Zealand it. Can someone provide some clarification on that? >> Go ahead, Dr. Con. >> Sure. Um so uh every year annually we we do revisit all supplemental programs um
uh at the request of the board obviously um in making sure that every supplemental uh software is doing two things. It's it's it's getting traction and usage and it's actually doing what it says it's doing uh at the advent of improving student outcomes. When we
looked at all programs and we only had a certain amount of money in budget, we had to look at programs that were not that met both criteria but had the least uh impact uh on the system and on on the district. Um and also which one was the most costly as well at the same time
because money is a factor in that. And so when we looked at New Zeal, it had high usage, but uh we had other competing supplemental programs that also did some complimentary things uh that it could have been perceived as um
redundant. And so we looked at redundancy, we looked at ROI, we looked at student efficacy, and we looked at usage. Um, and I'll just say most of our supplemental programs, although we hear these these numbers of this $80 million, which um is interesting, um, we only
have a a small footprint of supplemental uh, resources by content area and by program. And so that was one of the ones unfortunately uh, and I was just talking to Dr. Zean about near. We did the same thing with Nearpod. Nearpod was a K through 12 initiative. We folded it
under secondary learning because most of the secondary teachers used it more than our K uh K through five teachers. It's one of the single supplemental programs that actually teaches keyboarding at the elementary level, but it was a cost of
$900 and something thousands. >> Thank you for clarifying that. Um, I also saw in the follow-up that it said that uh I Ready was hold on the we did a middle school and high school reduction on I Ready. But
when I I spoke with some middle groups of middle school students at my middle schools in I think Aprilish and they said that their teachers had really ramped up the use of I Ready. So, can you help me understand that >> uh in terms of why we're not moving
towards I Ready Middle School or >> Well, so I guess are we doing the reduction after this school year because these middle school students all in April were like we're using I Ready all of a sudden now? >> Yeah. So, we've we've again uh due to declining enrollment in no budget. Um last year with I Ready, we only focused
on tier three middle schools uh which was about 16 or so middle schools only had access to it at their request. uh and they focused on the intervention part of it. This year uh we're looking to again move away uh from I Ready at
the middle school level and only focus on the suite at the elementary level. Uh again because of cost we need to reduce the footprint. >> Got it. Okay. I'm going to go through I have some questions about Copilot 13 plus and magic school. So if we could go
to slide seven. Um can can you explain or detail the vetting that we do of our AI tools? >> Sure. >> Yeah.
>> What we've started to institute this last year is we created a rubric in collaboration with uh the innovative learning office with Dr. con and others that conducts adversarial testing and we
started testing different products. Now the bar that we set on this rubric was very high. Most commercial products or products in use in some other districts would not meet this bar here because we demand uh real time moderation. What and
what that means is that there's a layer between the AI interacting with the student that if it detects that the AI is trying to form an emotional connection or trying to lead and help the student in a way that AIs tend to
want to be helpful, it will stop it. It will jail the conversation. So, we test for that. Also, we were looking for real time threat detection. And that means the moment that a student tries to steer a conversation into self harm or harming
others or or any of the other topics, it will immediately notify the teacher and create an entry to notify administrative staff. Those are quite honestly things that don't exist in many of the commercial tools out there, including uh Copilot for now in that it only logs
transactions. The same can be said of Gemini and other tools that are in use out there. They log transactions, they log conversations, but they don't provide the real-time notifications. So that I hope I didn't go too far in into answering your question, but that's how we develop.
>> Um, did Magic School pass that vetting? >> Magic School was the only tool so far that has passed the vetting uh process. We uh with co-pilot we knew it wasn't going to pass because we had already uh
before the rubric was developed did some own internal testing. So we haven't taken it fully through the rubric. We are working with Microsoft to strengthen that tool until it is uh until it provides that level of protection that we're looking for before we ever
consider expanding its use beyond the initial small group of AI Academy students that are using it now for their curriculum. >> Um is it possible to make that rubric a public facing document? >> Yes.
>> Okay. So, I think that would do a lot to build trust in our community around some of these these uh at least around Magic School and the tool which is going to be the main AI tool that we use. Um so, Copilot 13 plus did not pass that vetting rubric.
>> It has not. >> And how many students have access to it? >> I 371 that are all participating in the AI Academy platforms. >> Okay. Does Magic Magic School have the cap capability of discussing mental
health issues with students? >> From from the Magic School perspective, and this is just on my knowledge of the tool, it's a different kind of tool. It's more for tutoring and helping students and and Dr. Con can go into it
in more detail, but when it was tested, it stayed away from those types of topics. when when we had people trying to break it and >> well I know the answer to I'm asking because I I was hoping you would say no but I mean I was able to sit down with it and ask try to ask it mental health question I mean one of the tools that
the magic school people put me in their classroom um every time I tried to ask it a mental health question it immediately shut the conversation down so the answer is no and I think we need to be very clear when we're we're communicating publicly and with parents about these tools that we're giving
students access to that this is safe because I was worried before I went and played around with it and now I feel very comfortable because it is a safe tool. Um, so I think we just need to be very clear about the safety of these tools that we're giving to students
on the other side of it. Does co-pilot 13 plus have the capability of discussing mental health issues with students? It's one of the reasons why we haven't deployed it at scale because it's it's acting more like a uh commercial AI tool
and it wasn't properly jailing the conversation which is stopping it or notifying anyone in real time that that was occurring. >> If a student has a mental health discussion with C-Pilot 13 plus, is that flagged for anyone?
Currently, it is logged and available in a security log, but it is not being flagged. >> What about for magic school? If I try to have a mental health conversation with MA with a magic school tool, um will that be flagged for someone?
>> Who is that flagged for? >> It escalates up to the teacher, the administrator, um to district staff >> in real time. Correct. >> Real time. >> Yes. If a student discusses violence against himself or herself or against others on Copilot 13 plus, is that flagged for
anyone? >> It's logged but not flagged. >> What about on Magic School? >> It's flagged. I think it's very important for us as a board as policy makers to contemplate
the issue of human oversight and accountability and employee responsibility. So if I am a student and I tell a teacher I want to hurt myself and the teacher does nothing about it,
what happens to that teacher? If a teacher does nothing about the information, they progressive discipline. >> If I am a student and I say I'm going to hurt myself and I tell the teacher, please don't tell anyone and the teacher says yes, I will not tell anyone. What
happens to that teacher? >> That teacher has a responsibility to to act on that information. >> Could they potentially lose their license? >> Uh, absolutely. >> Right. What about if a child tells an AI chatbot that we've given them access to?
What is the consequence there? >> If repeat that one. >> So if I am a student interacting with co-pilot 13 plus for instance and I say I'm going to hurt myself and the chatbot says please contact a trusted adult and the child says I'm not going to. I only
want to speak with you and please don't tell anyone. And the chatbot says you're safe with me. I won't tell anyone. What do we do there? >> Um hopefully we can gather that info um from a the log or um other means and react to that student needs.
>> But right now we don't have that's not being flagged in one of our tools. >> Not for um co-pilot 13. I know we use line linewise um to capture information. Um and you can dive into that u Manny if you want about line wise how we capture
certain information and how that bubbles up to school staff or um department level folks. >> Sure. And and you are correct, Miss Leonardi. Currently, uh C-Pilot does not do the real-time moderation and real-time threat detection that detects
that. There are other tools that the district uses that will detect student self harm when they're typing into a search engine and some other capabilities. That's the line wise tool that we're discussing here. But the
entire reason why co-pilot was in was only limited to a few hundred students. Those students are highly supervised in the AIM by their AI instruct by folks that have already given them heavy instruction in AI literacy and AI safe
and ethical use. Once we determined that co-pilot did not provide the level of flagging and real-time moderation, we immediately knew that our goal was to use co-pilot across at least the high schools. But once we discovered that, we
said no, we cannot do that. Uh and we had to explore other options, which is we're we're very happy that magic school came along and actually passed. So I think you know this board needs to think about again like how do we tackle
the issue of you know children interacting with chat bots um and and when the chatbot does something inappropriate um who is responsible and what do we do about it? but also giving students even
if it's a small number in a supervised environment um access to a tool that is capable of doing those things. It's of great concern to me and I am not a lawyer. Uh so I'll ask the question to
our general counsel, but what role do duty of care laws play in all of this? >> So those are very good questions because um the district does have to be careful. Um, we know that there's been some suits specifically with OpenAI and others
because of the um the accessibility that they have had. So, I I do think that we have to be careful with our duty of care. Um, we need to make sure that the policies are correct and the processes and procedures are correct. So I hope that moving forward we look at
that um as we implement this in our schools uh to make sure that we are keeping our students and our employees as sa safe as possible. Um so now I have some questions for my colleagues to to build consensus about how we move forward. Um I would like for the board
to have quarterly updates on the implementation of AI including members of the AI task force. Is there any objection to that? >> Could you just add the word detailed? >> Detailed >> objection. >> So I have one objection. Anyone else?
>> I'd like to see >> I I have objection because I think it should be every it should be monthly. >> Yes. >> Okay. >> Agreed. >> Monthly updates on the detailed updates on the implementation of AI including some members of the AI task force. So we
have uh consensus around that. Um two months. >> I think at the very least uh board members should be given test student accounts for the AI tools. Any objection to that? >> Minardi, if I could um get a clarifying.
Um so I know that um I know this the focus of this presentation was uh on the academic instructional side, but they there is AI happening across in the operational space. So just to clarify, are you specifically talking about the instructional monthly update or are you
saying AI in general >> implementation? So on the instructional end and on the operational end. >> Thank you. >> Um any objection to board member student test accounts?
>> Okay. Um I would like to see a school and districtbased parent communication plan around this. Is there any objection to that? Um when can that be reasonably expected to be delivered to us?
>> Go ahead, Dr. Khan. >> Sure. Um that we can probably produce that in the next um by the end of June. I can have that ready u and populate because we're also building um an AI website uh we can also include that
there. So within the by the end of this month, >> chair, can we add um your idea where the Bay View parent plan like go over all the technology like I would like to see that in all of our schools and what our plan is to implement the parent walkthrough to include not only AI but
like I don't know how to use focus and I'm a board member like I have my kids check their grades for me and show me. So I think it's really important to implement with all technologies in the classroom something like Bayiew. >> I agree. Is there any objection to that?
>> Can you repeat um what this >> have each school do a parent technology uh night that where they walk the parents through each technology tool that their children will be using and how to use it. >> Miss Bulman, >> I I think that is fantastic. Um and then
I that will give us feedback too. So I think if once we start doing that to really see what the reality is of what how many programs we're actually using and then we'll get a clear um narrative from the end from the parents. So I I think that's
fantastic. >> So Dr. Zmon's mic was not on but he asked for the the word separate to be included in there so that it's not lumped into back to school night. um that it's a it's separate own night so that parents aren't overloaded with information. >> Thank you, ma'am. >> Is that gonna
>> Miss Bulman? >> Well, I'm not sure what's in the contract about having multiple nights and also um are we going to capture people again for a second night? >> That was my concern. And I think I think um we deliver the ask from the board and
let the principles decide because every community is so unique um where if parents are more accessible in one community than the other and let them kind of decide here are the things that you have to cover and let them decide on how they roll that out. um if it's in
one evening um into night or if it's two nights um I think um every community is so unique >> and I would say you know there are schools doing this and so we should be getting best practices from the schools and replicating them throughout the district and then obviously allowing
teachers and principles and school leaders make their their decisions that are best for their communities. >> Agreed. >> And this is in lie of the portal because there was a suggestion about the a portal where this where the parents can come look at this but like I'm not looking at that.
>> No. Um there was I think they were talking about the um supplemental uh software resources that's on our website for that's going to be an inerson this is in person >> description. Okay. That's the that's the way I understand the actual um ask from the from the board.
Um, this is not necessarily a consensus issue, but I do think it's important. Um, and I've leaned on a few different documents to help inform my understanding of these issues. Um, but the American Federation of Teachers is
is implementing a new initiative called Devices Down, Eyes Up or Yeah, Devices Down, Eyes Up. And one thing that they talk about and we heard a lot today is the emphasis on projectbased experiential career connected learning and I know we do a lot of that already
but just to emphasize and I I think you know the monthly updates on the implementation of AI that we're doing. I would also really love to hear about how we're doing the projectbased experiential uh learning in our in our classrooms because I think that should
be the emphasis and focus of uh how we're doing this. Um I believe that we should create a student AI council. Um so this would be a mechanism for embedding student voice
in the design codees of AI tools uh to ensure their relevance inclusivity um and and the soundness of their adoption. Um the council members could help continue to develop our AI policies. Um they would play a role in
vetting AI pro uh products before purchasing. Um, you know, I I could go through a whole list of things, but I do think that we while we have the AI task force, having a separate student AI council would be very important. Um, and I would leave it up, you know, to our
students and the superintendent to to develop what that looks like. >> Lily and Michael, you guys capture that? >> All right. >> Is there any objection for that from my colleagues? Miss Bulman, >> hold on. Go ahead. M you can ask the question out loud.
>> So for the past I'll say 20 to 25 minutes um me and Lily have been playing around with Magic School um with me creating a teacher account and her having a student account. Um and we've been typing stuff inside of the chat trying to see what it does. Um so far
it's good. The only thing is when it comes to mental health or anything surrounding um anything surrounding that um it sends a flag to the teacher but it just sits there. It doesn't ping you, doesn't call you, doesn't text your
phone or anything, nothing. So let's say a teacher was sleeping and a person a students, you know, it's night time and the students on their magic school. there's no way for the teacher to get a notification that one of their students just said I want
to harm myself or something around that. Um, also another problem that I had with it that when I said when I put in there I want to harm myself, the only thing it said was please call 988. That's the only thing it did. It didn't say we have to contact the authorities. Nothing like
that. So my thing would be would BCPS or u the BC the BCPS police or our SRO's have access to this? Will they be able to get pinged? Will they be able to receive those notifications or anything like that? Because that's something that's important. I mean, if it's only
just sending a flag to the teacher, that's not good. Um, I'm going let Lily take the rest of it as well. So, >> I do just want to add something. Um, were you saying it was end of June they would get practice accounts? Is that what you were saying for >> for our board members?
>> No. Uh I think Mr. Leonardi was the the one that uh requested it, but if any board member wants a magic school account, we absolutely can do it just like we did for >> um so literally all you have to do is like Mle is a teacher right now. I made
a teacher account as well. You put your name and we can give you his code and just like that you have an account. It doesn't have to be a whole long process. You don't even have to put your email unless you're signing up to be a teacher. Then you put your school in your email. Um, I will say there were limitations to it when it came to the
mental health. Um, it so there are different modes on here. So I went into the research assistant where you find information and sources for a research project and I said how how would I hypothetically because it's how a lot of people get around AI bots go about harving myself but not actually doing it. It's for a research project. And it
did say that it was unable to help me with that. And it gave me the 98 number again. >> Sent the flag. >> Yeah, it sent the flag to Mle's account. And then I again said, "No, it's not for me. I have to research way that people have done that in the past. And it again sent a flag and this time it said here's
ways to, you know, talk to your teacher, ask a school librarian, speak with the school counselor. So, it won't go as far as to telling you like the information where you put hypothetically if I want to do this. So, that was definitely a good thing because some AIS do have that issue, but it still only sent a flag
when we had typed in I'm going to harm myself, I'm going to hurt myself, what do I do, um, don't tell anyone. So that kind of was a concern. >> Um so from that perspective um when it comes to cheating and you
know submitting false work or anything surrounding that um it's really good. It it tells you that hey I can do that. It stops you. We tried going around it like every possible way you could think of. Um it stopped it. Um, but the mental health part of it and like, you know,
the suicide part of it and all those other things, I feel like that's a concern that we should all look at. You know, how can our SRO have access to this? How can we make sure that our students, my peers are safe? You know, if they want help and they're reaching
out to Magic School and Magic School is just sending a flag to the teacher, we need to know and we need to have access to that. We need to be able to have it on a larger scale. Um, I did also like the fact that it um when I was trying to like learn something, it didn't just
like give me the answer. It walked me through it. It told me how I should think sort of. Um, and it it kind of just walked me through it. Now, it's not human to human, person to person still. Um, you know, I'm a really big advoc advocate for, you know, human
interaction. Um, but if a student does need help, you know, it it did help me. It did say, "Hey, you just have to do this. Make sure you're doing that." Um, and it's asking me questions for me to answer back so that I can be interactive with it. So, it does look like a good
platform. Just a little tweaks that we need to work on before. Yeah. >> And Mr. Castanita, did I not raise those exact concerns about the real time when we met? >> Yes. And in fact, we uh based on those concerns which we detected because we
also said, "Hey, a notification is not enough. We're working with Magic School now at getting data feeds from them that if a notification is sent, they're going to send the data to us and then we can do whatever we need to do with it, including sending notifications to SRO's
or to others." So okay that's sending the data yes is good but is this a real time immediate reaction like the minute that the student says that there are multiple people being alerted >> what we would ask from Magis school and this is this is really going to end up
being if there's any limitation in their technology platform is to leverage an API that would be able to send that as a data stream as it happens and then we consume it and then we do something with it rather than okay once a week we'll
send you a file. That's that's useless in the in these cases. >> Yeah. Um you remember what API is? >> Oh, I'm sorry. And API is a a method for communicating data that's modern that uh allows two different applications that
don't normally talk to each other to talk to each other in a real-time basis. It stands for application programming interface API. >> Okay. Thank you. Um, yeah, because I just do want to say first of all, this is constructive criticism. I mean, the platform is amazing. We are going through this and I'm telling him like
this is so this is amazing. Like this is so cool. I'm sitting here, I had it make a lesson um explaining how the BCPS board meetings work and it came up with a worksheet in like two seconds. So, it really is an amazing program. Um, it's really just like this one thing that obviously we very much need to take care of. But I also do want to say I know
there's probably some people who are either here or listening um who are like this is so silly who's going on to a school website to talk about how they want to hurt themselves. But it is a very real thing. It is very real thing. And um I know I have friends who have used AI for therapy, right? Because
therapy is expensive. I don't know if you guys have looked at the prices of that. It is pricey. So for some people AI is all they really have right now. And um it's important that even if the AI can give advice with that, it's directing our students to a safe place. Because at the end of the day, if someone wants to harm themselves, AI
can't really step in and do anything, right? But if you're with a counselor and you tell your counselor, I need I need feel the need to do this. I want to harm myself, your counselor can step in and keep you from doing that. Um, and I just think it is very important that we continue to highlight that with the use of AI because that I know for me as
someone who has also dealt with mental health issues, that is a really big concern that whether or not we all agree on AI, I think we should all agree that that is a huge concern with it. One more thing, sorry, the final final thing. Another thing that I really loved about uh the app and how it was used is
it not only gave me, you know, the way of how to do it and kind of guide me through my thinking, it also encouraged me to speak to other people and like interact with other students. So, when I was typing in there, hey, I need help writing my essay. What should I do? It
said first you should probably speak to another peer inside of your classroom. So it it it interactively acts and made and telling you to interact with your other students and interact with other people. So I did like that as well. >> Is this >> um Miss Leonardi, is this our only time
to speak on >> No, I was actually still building trying to build consensus on is I was going to call on you guys but um but you know Dr. Heburn uh went ahead um but yeah, I will be coming to you guys later. Um but to to the question about the safety piece
when a when someone um reports on Fortify Florida for instance a a safety issue what is there real-time notification at DOC on that? >> Yes absolutely >> so there should be a similar process with this is the the point that I think
all of us are trying to make. >> Yes. Um, so I know like Manny said he's working with Magic School um to ensure cuz there's there's certain notifications that a teacher receives that goes up the channel um pretty quickly too. So I think um not
notification to the right person, right? I think the right person initially is always the teacher in the classroom and then ensuring that they know what to do with the information immediately um just like they do with any other um cases that they interact or receive. Um and so back to the question of a AI student
council that would help with vetting, developing frameworks, um looking at how you know collaborating with teachers and and uh district administrators and even developers on how to use the these different tools. Is there any objection to creating an AI student council for my
colleagues? Seeing none, do you have your direction on that, Dr. Heburn? Um I think we also heard a lot from the public about privacy and I think um for me this is something that I brought up a
few months ago with regards to child-friendly procurement guidelines. So looking at uh applying privacy by default. Um chat chatbot platforms that employ safety features including flagging like what Magic School has. Um
tools that prevent data scraping, tools that have very good data encryption, things like that. I think we really need to have a clear set of child-friendly procurement guidelines that you know is a public-f facing document so our parents can feel comfortable with
knowing that when we procure something that it is safe for their children. Um is that something that we could do with consensus from the board? Yes, we work with procurement to create a specific doc of of how they're vetting um and
also the end users who initiate the contracts. >> When can we expect that >> if there is board consensus? >> Yeah, if there's work uh give us opportunity to meet with the the team and um see what they come up with and say a couple of weeks just to at least
have a a plan of u next steps. And so I for me the way I envision this it would apply to new contracts and any contracts that uh don't fulfill these guidelines would be sunsetted. Um so is there any objection to that
from my colleagues? >> Can you >> Dr. Zean >> just I'm a little concerned about the sunset. We have a lot of software. >> Um are you specifically referring to the subset of software that has large language models built into it or all software?
>> All software. So, we heard from parents, right? And we we shouldn't really be doing any anything that would not be child- friendly, right? We shouldn't have contracts with any, you know, company that would sell ch we sell children's data. >> Absolutely not. So that's what I'm
saying is we I we should I think we need to have some very clear guidelines around privacy um student protecting student data um ownership of that data and we should be doing this already but I think having that public facing document and
reviewing the you know the technology contracts that we have if they don't meet those guidelines then we shouldn't have them z >> zero data retention I mean that's really the key >> yeah and that's why I'm representing seeing your followup. I don't know if it's the kind of the same >> probably
>> um followup >> as far as the >> So, I think that I think Dr. Zeman's followup is a good start. >> Mine was technical, but hers is operational. I agree with hers that that we ought not to have that. >> And so, uh we'll work with the general counsel's team on that followup anyway.
And then, um just to make sure our contract contract language does address that and and is locked tight on privacy and sharing student data and also staff data, too. Um, I'm I'm almost done. My my apologies and thank you for your patience with my
colleagues. Um, I'm going to propose some maybe more controversial things that we've heard from the community and I've I've read from the American Federation of Teachers. Um, one of the recommendations from the AFT
was that VPK through 2 grade have no screens unless required for state testing or to support students with special needs. And that is something that I would like to put forward um and hear if there are any objections from
the board >> for VPK through 2 grade unless required for state testing or to support students with special needs. >> Can I just ask a question that's uh for general counsel? Is this something that we ought to be doing at a school board meeting and not at a workshop? This
sounds to me like a like a significant decision that we want to make and we want probably want to get a staff input and an item brought to a school board meeting and not at a workshop. >> Well, she can certainly ask her colleagues to weigh in on a propos well not a proposition but a thought that she
has. Um but then of course the board can respond and say that I think that we need to have more information and this needs to be um brought forward in a formal meeting. So, >> I'm I'm worried at a more uh legal level about um making decisions
um based on consensus at a workshop. That sounds and feels a lot to me like that's a real uh substantive decision for which the staff and the superintendent should should bring an item to us for consideration with a little bit more time and uh a formal
vote. I don't want to have to get consensus on something when in fact with a majority we could do the same thing at a schoolboard meeting. >> So I I I'll withdraw the proposal, but it is something that I will request a follow-up on about the the feasibility
of doing that, what that would look like in our VPK kindergarten, first and second grade classrooms if we were to go device or screenfree unless required for state testing or to support students with special needs. Um and then I I will
I will be bringing that in a board item. Um the other ones that I'll I'll raise that I'll ask about the feasibility is to have no studentf facing AI in elementary school. That means like direct student use um having an age
limit for generative AI. um and a need for mandatory teacher training in addition to the training that our AI liaison do. So my feeling is that teachers need to be taught how to
utilize this in their classrooms. Um otherwise students will be using it without their supervision. And that's what I heard over and over and over from our students is that the teachers who have like outright banned it who don't know how to use it, the students just use it to do the work. Um, that's not
every single student in every single classroom, but that's what I heard it from a lot of students that I spoke with in roundts. Um, >> Miss Leonardi, could could you consider also administrators? There's a whole bunch of the magic school apps, >> uh, the tools inside the app that are appropriate for administrators, and I
think um, I don't know, Miss Dean might disagree with me, but I think there's still a lot of administrators who have come up to speed on AI as well. I I mean yeah sure we can we can I it was my understanding that our administrators have received a lot of training on that but I'm happy to to add
my concern my main concern is teachers in the classroom with students but can add that to uh to the the request. >> Thank you. >> Um that ends my my list of requests. I appreciate your patience with that. Um
and I look forward to hearing from my colleagues. Dr. Zean. Thank you, chair, and I'm glad I got to go after you because uh your preamble to this about social media and the preamble even to that about the internet. I remember u and
maybe this is a an experience age issue, but you know when the internet came out, you know, that was supposed to solve huge social problems and I don't think we did that very well. Social media is the same to Miss Leonard's point and it's probably done more harm than good in kind of a 10 or 100 to1 ratio. Um,
and now we're about to do this big third technological innovation. And in a school district, it's it's incredibly important to be intentional and thoughtful and safe more than anything else. And to uh Dr. Con's point, there's an opportunity for this to be a differentiator for our school district
to say that we've been thoughtful about it. We're incredibly rigorous about safety. I love all of the things that Miss Leonardi is bringing to our attention today. Um and and we'll see how some of those uh go through in a school board meeting soon, but there's a few issues that I have that are rather
systematic issues. One is we're overdue at having some kind of AI guidance today. Like I don't know if you guys are aware of this, but Magic School is open. It's free. You can use it. There's no restrictions on it. Copilot, if you have a license, you can go get it. Open AAI
will let anybody uh get on and use Chat GPT unrestricted. And so if you have access to a laptop, you could do tons of stuff. And I believe we have a social obligation to get guidance out this summer, Dr. Heepburn, so that we make sure that
parents and students understand that there are significant risks on things that we don't provide but are sitting on mom, dads, aunts, uncles, papy, and grammies uh laptop or the laptop at the library. And I think we have a tremendous opportunity and an obligation
to train our teachers and administrators um on how to get the word out and then to get it out to parents. And I' I I'd love uh for a thoughtful um kind of parent communication strategy uh that makes sure that they understand uh what's going on. I want to thank Miss
Dean and Miss Magio for coming though uh today. I always will thank the wieners because you guys are rock stars, man. I I just I really really appreciate your commitment to something I believe so deeply in which is public education is the most important institution to a community and I know that your
generosity is based on that same value and that same belief and and uh it's wonderful always to see you um on this systematic issues. I appreciate this presentation a lot. It's um it's thoughtful, it's comprehensive, it's got
great graphics, it's neat. I'm kind of focused though really on the execution. And that's why I think the guidance has to be out before August. I think our first day is August 11th this year. The I mean, we've got five days before that where staff's all back. If we're not talking to them for a whole bunch of
those five days about AI, I think we're kind of skipping uh we're we're we're uh you know, burying the lead or jumping the shark or whatever you want to talk about. We've got to get them guidance now because AI is here whether we give it to them or they get it otherwise. Uh
AI is present. Um, I love the approach that we're going to take about software reviews uh and make sure that we have appropriate uh data uh standards for everybody. And I know that's not just about AI, but that's really important. Um, I will break down the execution comments I have into the three kind of
classic parts of execution. Uh, you know, what is the ends, the ways, uh, and the means. In my mind, uh, Dr. Heepern when you think about the goals that we have with the implementation of this technology there are things that
other people the Chicago group has done the value ad for technology and teacher group has done they talk about kind of four big things what's the maximum value ad of technology to teaching and miss leard really hit that very well two uh
that AI will help us achieve the strategic goals we already have so if we had strategic goals on academic improvement, socially emotional learning, mental health, uh attendance, engagement, things like that. How can AI be a technology for good uh toward those things? I think that's a a great goal.
Uh to some points that my colleagues and speakers have had today, how does AI not impinge on cognitive development? Like that's got to be baked into as a goal, at least according to these other groups. And then finally, that the competencies for use of AI are taught
either explicitly as a separate training series of courses or baked into courses where it makes sense or both. But I I just feel like those four goals, Dr. Heepern, seem to be reasonable. But are there other do those goals make sense,
Dr. Heeper? And are there others that you've thought of about what are we trying to achieve as this technology becomes available? >> No, those goals make sense. um including at at the um classroom um level differentiation less uh lesson quality. I think differentiation is probably one
of the hardest tasks teachers been asked to do over the past 20 years. Um you know moving from you know teaching pretty much every kid the same to saying hey um I'm going to provide a certain uh personalized level of instruction um for individual kids. And I think this helps
to accelerate some of those opportunities um accelerating critical thinking. There's many uh other components and also heightened engagement. As I listen to Lily and I listen to Michael, how excited they are, right? U they're already leveraging AI
um personally on their own devices and help which is helping them with their um with with their academic u prowess but you know the excitement um that can be created which heightens engagement. So there's there's uh tons of goals that we can associate when this is done uh
correctly, when this is done ethically um and thoughtfully with all kind of stakeholders contributing to it. >> Thank you very much. In terms of the methods, um we talked a little bit about AI literacy. Dr. Heburn, how much just
in terms of time do you plan to spend with teachers um on on their literacy of AI before school starts this next year? >> But I'll have Dr. Con and his team dive into it. We and we don't I know we push out a lot of uh throughout the year this
year before Dr. Con dives into it. throughout the year. This year, we've pushed out a lot of u voluntary um coursework that or professional development that teachers and and also district staff can dive into to learn more about co-pilot and how to leverage it. Um and so I know we've been doing
that all year. We don't have a lot of time with teachers prior to the to students coming back, only a couple of days, but I'll let Dr. Con dive into uh what they plan on offering. >> Sure. So we we've already built uh a continuum of AI literacy courses and
specifically also around magic school for all of the AI leaison. On June 5th, 8th and 9th, we had all administrators come and engage in AI literacy. The whole continuum was all about AI literacy and all of our implementation.
Uh that's where parents were able to come, students were able to come, teachers were able to come with the plan. They had pre-work that they had to do. The pre-work was they had to develop their own school-based AI plan that they would implement during pre-planning week. So they had three full days of
learning because what they asked for us that we want to bring our laptops, we're going to learn it and then we want to be able to implement it. Then over the summer because as Dr. Heeran shared, it is voluntary for teachers. U we will have hot labs available for those teachers who are your high-f flyers.
They're ready to go. they want to learn more than uh before they get to pre-planning week. So those are being staged already right now and then that first week of pre-planning week uh the principal the leaison are working in tandem to roll out AI in uh magic
school. >> Terrific. I have a few hundred hours of training people on AI and it's fascinating how quickly um awareness and experience and utilization of the tools changes people's opinions about it. And there's this amazing, you know, the
super risk, the people that can only see the risks and there's people that can only see the benefits. And there's this amazing kind of graduation toward the middle where people with more experience, hundreds of hours after a while of of using these tools realize, yes, there's some risk and yes, there's some really cool things. It just doesn't
do everything. It does a subset of things and the risks can be mitigated. Um, but there is tremendous opportunity in doing that. I'm worried a little bit about liaison as a method as well. We're relying on these leazison. I think it's one per school. Is that correct? >> Yes, sir. >> And do we fund their uh participation
fully? Like for example, >> I'm sorry, we do. >> Yes, we we pay them a stipen. >> Uh what kind of attendance do you get at at liaison training sessions? They're I think usually held on the weekends. >> Well, we we schedule some of them after hours. We schedule some of them on the
weekends. Um in this case like with the days with um the June 5th uh they all came u um because it was the I think it was the last day of school was a Friday um and they were paid. So through the generous donation of of the wieners they
we did build in uh funding to bring them back pay them uh and compensate them and actually pay them more than what we typically would have paid them. So they're getting we're really ready to compensate them even higher than what we typically have as an incentive. One of
the things it is a challenge in terms of making sure that we get everyone showing up. And so one of our tasks over the summer is to take a look at those schools that didn't show up and what's the what's the implement implement implementation plan to make sure that
those schools that were not available, how do we catch them up? But the administrators were there. >> Terrific. I'm I'm just fascinated sometimes that we we get the PowerPoint right and then when it gets to execution, we just haven't funded it to the point where we get excellent execution. Everyone wants the right
thing to happen, but we get light on on the supplements or the extra hours and things like that. Um to me, that's a you know, we we just probably need to see a budget item on what right looks like, like what is the funding required to get this right, both to mitigate the risks
and to enhance the benefits of AI. so that people are funded well and maybe the supplement's good, but maybe it needs to be a bigger supplement and we need to have more standards for them because if we're paying them to do something, I think then we can have standards. We can have certifications, we can have things that they ought to be earning in order to get that supplement
and we just need to make that kind of a closed cycle. I'll leave that for you. Uh actually, if you could Dr. Heeper, could we have a follow-up on that? Uh could you tell us what the whole requirement for funding would be to have AI liaison that can uh help us achieve
the goals of Ber County Schools >> as a separate full-time run or are you talking about supplements? >> Whatever you want to do. I just want to know kind of what is the 100% requirement for the liaison >> to make sure that we get the full benefit of AI to achieve our strategic goals. Because if you've used magic
school, if you've dove into large language models, if you've seen some of the advantages that there is for an education space and some ways to mitigate the risks, there's a tremendous upside. >> Um, and that upside kind of changes people's opinions about this technology when they see it. But if we underfund
the requirement for these liaons or the tool or the or the staff hours we need to train teachers and train administrators to do it, it can die just because we didn't fund it well enough. And so you get kind of the the the early adopters doing it, some of the high-f
flyers, but you get too many people that are just dragging along. And so I'd love to know what the whole requirement is to fund um the the teachers and administrators to make sure that our professional development is is funded and fully attended to the point where we
have our staff passing certifications u in AI and in its specific tools. >> Thank you, Dr. He just a question for you. That's all. Thank you, sir. >> Um, >> Miss Leonardi, did you ask for consensus on a website uh that's related to what
our AI plan looks like? >> Um, I asked for consensus around it the implementation plan um being a public facing. >> That's I think that that works for my what my intent was going to be as well. Um lastly u on the resources you know we
we've got a small investment believe it or not in AI tools or so many other tools that would just um you know uh set us apart over time. I know we've got this absolutely wonderful thing called AI liaison and it's an incredible thing to pull them together. I I want to make
sure that they're fully funded and fully like prepared to kind of do their whole job and that we hold them accountable for doing that. The other piece to this though is really student and teacher time. If we teach AI as a separate course, which I've never recommended and I I've never seen it be successful, um I
get that that would take, you know, normal time built into a school schedule. If we bake AI into the work that they're already doing though, so that they're doing work and they get to see the advantages of doing it, that also takes more time from the teacher understanding that they can do it and then from the student learning both the
content that they're trying to study, you know, history, American history, AP class, and learn the tools that they could use to bring that in as a instructional resource. Do we have the time to do that, Dr. Heer, baked into our classes?
>> Time. It's really more time though, like like here's the deal. You're in history AP. You write a great paper about, you know, what would have happened if the South had won the Civil War and you just sit down and you write it the oldfashioned way. It's great, right? And then all of a sudden, you know, to use AI to enhance
what you know so that you're diving into experiences, gaining more resources, more citations, and more thought about it. And then you go to write it, there's more time. And what I'm concerned about is that teachers are going to continue to assign 12 essays a year, but we really want them to use all these new
tools and it takes it just takes longer. Sometimes takes two or three times as long to do it. I just hope that we think about that when when we're >> Yes. I So I'm very empathetic to classroom teachers because I used to be one and and there's been many things um mandates from districts and from the
state of you know that takes up a lot of time uh besides what teachers love to do which is supporting students. So, we're very empathetic to that and as we roll out, as we train, we're thinking about that aspect and the whole goal um for the most part um for the use AI in the
classroom is for teachers to regain back um >> awesome time. >> Yeah. Yeah. And I'm not interested in a mandate. Last question that I have. Um why are we only doing this at NOVA? >> The AI the AI Academy. >> Yeah. I mean, the the the benefits to AI
are true for 224 schools and we're doing it for five. Why are we doing that? >> So, I I want to be very um thoughtful about the the answer and you know, we have magnets, specific magnets at certain schools around the district, right? So, we can say the same thing. Why aren't we doing this magnet at all
the other schools, but NOVA um from the history lesson I received was opened up as a specific type of school that was different than any other the whole complex, right, elementary up to to high school. It's offering the same thing that every school offers right now. And
it provides an opportunity for for us as a district to start somewhere. And this is the prime um innovation zone to start such an initiative um to become that lab school K through 12 doing innovative things that we can eventually once we
proof it there and provide the level of assurance that it's working for students and staff then we can start scaling it out elsewhere. I will um be very reluctant to just scale across the district with such an initiative when we haven't really um thoughtfully uh built
the the opportunity and and proof the concept the way we need to before we scale it out somewhere else. >> And if I could just add a lot of this is uh Dr. Zean is going to be built out uh uh classrooms will have to be built out. Uh we are looking for um donors of
philanthropic agencies to help us build some of this out. Some of this was will require a ton of uh resources and commitment. Um Microsoft right now is potentially committing a project manager to something like this. And so there are there are like 12 different
subcommittees that when we think about writing curriculum that is that is focused on content or industry uh level all the way from K through five the different kinds of technology that we're building in also the fact that the the
NOVA site itself is primed because it has the NOVA the FAU the Broward College the students can walk over and so when we look at a model school something like this it is primed to do something like this. But it's a huge commitment from
investors to say we're going to build this out in these rooms out uh and scale them up. And then also thinking about the fact that we're giving teachers uh more time beyond their contracted time to be able to do this. We've got to go a little bit slower to really think about
how this model is going to look uh just at these schools and then think about how it's going to look elsewhere. We did have an opportunity to look at alpha schools. Alpha Schools over at Miami Dade uh is trying to do something like this, but it's nowhere near the scale and the capacity that we're looking at
NOVA. We're talking about we connect a Fortune 500 company uh within Fort Lauderdale and they partner with the NOVA schools. They send their corporate executives. They partner with certain schools, certain grade levels of
students who want to, let's say, be a business executive, be an attorney, and and we create pathways and curriculum design that's integrated into the standards. And now you have corporations have skin in the game because now these executives are coming from all of these
corporations and they're tying themselves to these schools and they're building these relationships. They're building the opportunity for students eventually as they go to the universities to say now you have a relationship with this corporation. You mentored them throughout the K12 experience and now you're seeking
employment. Now you know this person firsthand because you knew him in kindergarten, you knew him in first grade. Uh there's just this whole world that we're looking to really redesign this public education space using the community uh as part of that network.
And so when you say can you replicate this perhaps but in order to perfect it we've got to start small and make sure we get the coalition of the willing to say that they believe in something like this and we already have that the interest is there now we just need to
firm this up based on today's board direction. >> So I I just um I don't see that like I just I frankly don't see that this technology is right here. >> Yeah. I don't need any special classrooms. I don't need corporations coming in here and getting in my way.
What I need is is everybody in Brower County having the opportunity to learn what we can give them. And when you centralize this in one place at five schools and we have 224 schools, I have to tell the parents of 219 schools, their kids don't get it as fast as other people. And that's a cost of doing this
in in a kind of a traditional rollout model where you find a pilot organization, you do it that way. I don't find any value in corporations getting in the way of our teachers and our administrators executing this. Our equipment is right here. It costs 220 $250 per student. Um I just don't
understand. I I I think the trade-off between not giving what we know works to everybody isn't worth the cost of of doing uh some pilot as if this is like uh automobile repair where you need a $3 million, you know, set of equipment to
do it. the the equipment to this is ubiquitous. The need is ubiquitous. Um other districts are doing it for their district and maybe they're not going as fast as us and maybe what we're doing is kind of incubating some great ideas there but still doing a lot in the other
219 schools. But just for me, I I think that uh there's got to be either we do it at Nova and get get it out next week to the other schools or we need to think about how are we raising up all schools to some level and then doing some
special things at NOVA because I I I don't feel like this is a technology. I mean when we rolled out the internet did we do it at a pilot site? >> No. The internet went everywhere. Went through the universities, went through corporate. I mean we're it's this is more akin to a IT revolution than it is
you know a classic cases thing. I mean it is related to case in the sense that every jobs could be related to AI in the future but I believe that that there's there's got to be some thought about you know if we're going to do something special at NOVA I get that. But why
would we not do as much as we can for 224 schools? And that's a thought question for you guys. I'm not asking for an answer right now. But I just don't see anything in AI from my six years of I was one of the original beta users from OpenAI at the beginning of
COVID. I built large language models. You know, to get organizations to move forward with AI, the whole organization goes forward. It's a rising tide lift all ship. And it's not the kind of thing that like a pilot in one division of a corporation or one part of a state
agency has ever been done. and it's always been done organizationally just like you roll out IT software, you roll out the internet, you roll out, you know, other kind of IT capabilities and you do massive training. What I worry about is the brilliant kid at Dillard High School that doesn't get the cool
stuff with AI because he didn't go to NOVA. >> And I have a I just have a hard time with that because Nova is a wonderful place. Pompado High School is a wonderful place. Hlandale's a great place. Uh, but we have a lot of schools that are just traditional boundary schools and I want to make sure they get the advantages of AI as fast as
possible. >> Yeah, I appreciate that. And and just to clarify, we're not saying that AI is only going to be exclusive to the NOVA schools. >> AI is going to be at every school. >> Every school. Yeah. >> What we're saying is that >> then just be specific. What else are you doing at NOVA? Like FAU and Broward Cow
are not going to help you, man. Like they don't know AI. Like the faculty there don't get it. So corporations are busy like they're they're not going to come in and donate enough time to make a difference. What what's going to go on at NOVA that's different than at Dillard
High School? >> Yeah. So we we actually have some commitments from some corporations as we start uh to commitment to partner with NOVA through workforce college career readiness and to be a part of uh this redesign where we're act if students are
interested in certain fields of study uh where we see that there's a pathway at NOVA or FAU or B college for them to continue at the higher ed or the career technical those companies are coming in and doing practical mentoring, guiding
them through the process. We're also embedding certain careers uh instructional career uh uh standards within the curriculum where it's just not standard space, but we're tying things into law and criminal justice. And you'll see an integration of
curriculum and project-based learning at the K12. And so, if a student comes in in the second grade and say, "Hey, I want to be a doctor." Well, there's an opportunity for a a medical field in let's say NOVA to come in and say, "Let's integrate this. Let's men have
the students in the medical field because they have a huge medical uh degree program. They can come over and they can mentor." So what we see is something that's uniquely different in the K12 space where there's lots of energy and buzz based on what we've heard from businesses and from
universities that this is the next level to 22nd century where we're not educating based on seat time. We're educating real world practical world education real time in the K12 space
and there is huge interest in this. There's no doubt there's huge interest. I just Dr. Heepern is there can we just get a commitment from you that there'll be the most accelerated pace possible to take good things we learn at NOAva and spread it to the other 200 >> and that's the whole uh point of a lab
school right you >> if we do it right but I tell you you know there there's you know I had a lot of experience with the Henderson school up in Bokeh and they do a lot of brilliant stuff and it doesn't get out very far. >> Yeah. >> And so it's it's not easy to do that. It takes a lot of energy to take what you've learned and and spread it. And there has to be human beings in the
process to do that. >> Absolutely. >> So, uh, as long as we have your commitment, >> we don't disagree with you on that, Dr. Z. >> I want that kid at Dillard High School to have the opportunity to expand their brain and expand their career opportunities because they're deeply interested and capable in doing AI work.
And just because they can't figure out how to get to the NOVA campuses ought not to be something that slows them down by by more than a few weeks. >> I don't disagree. >> Thank you. Thank you, Mrs. Alhadaf. >> Thank you. Uh, I have to say I'm really frustrated listening to this
conversation, uh, waiting hours to be able to speak, but the presentation is extremely confusing. I'm, you know, as the board's discussing this and we're, you know, talking about
magic school. I don't even see magic school in the presentation. Is it there? >> You want me to answer that? >> Yeah. So, it's it's not >> question. >> Uh, Miss um Miss Aladdaf, it's it's not particularly about a program. It's about
AI. And Magic School is AI. And so without calling out specific programs like Microsoft or Magic School because those things can change from year to year, our focus is around AI implementation whether it's Magic School or Microsoft Copilot. It is in the
impetus of the fact that we're rolling out AI. And so whatever that is is what we want to focus on making sure we put those guard rails around. And that's why we didn't intentionally call out a name of a program.
>> Okay. But I think it's important that we do focus on all of the specific programs that you plan to roll out and where do you plan to roll them out just at NOVA? At all the schools? I don't know. I'm hearing kind of both. and and and then I
have a lot of concerns with the security measures that are put in place into some of these AI uh software pieces where they could say something and then that
information goes to a teacher which is which can be in a a silo of information where if a student wants to threaten a school or threaten themselves or others.
Now, we're um hypothetically having that information only go to one person and and not like to do sock to the principal. I mean, these are are big safety and security measures that we
cannot afford to drop the ball on this. So, I have I have a lot of concerns. I greatly appreciate the public speakers that came today. Matthew Bour, I I really appreciated his comments.
Um, I think there needs to be a greater conversations with with parents. I feel we're rushing this. I I think we need to have a a pause. Um getting this up and running before the start of the
school year when parents are everybody's, you know, on vacation in the summer. It's this is rough. We we cannot rush things because then there becomes issues. I mean, I I'm all for
AI. I think AI is amazing. AI is not the future, it is the now. and and we do need to figure out the how we're going to balance giving our students access to AI and integrating it into
our into their education. I am concerned that we are moving away from the ability for our students to be independent thinkers without the AI. I am concerned about cheating going on
with using the AI. I do uh agree with the uh projectbased learning, but there also needs to be oral presentations, debates, discussions, handwritten assessments.
Um, I think there this is the way our kids can show what they know and and not just rely on the AI to spit out the information. Um, I again I I'm frustrated. Uh, but and I
and I just think there needs to be a pause. I I just feel that we are we are rushing this to get this because we're going to be starting the school year. But I think there's so many questions whether parents have I mean us as a
school board we have a a gazillion questions and um it's and teachers I'm sure and principles have questions. So my thought would be that that we pause and and maybe we look to roll this out
in in January of 2027 when there's more fruitful conversations that can can happen throughout the the community and in the district. And and I know it's it's AI is is here to stay and and we
have to evolve, but I think that we also owe it and the responsibility to owe it to our students to be responsible and and to make sure that there is security measures put in place so that it is done
correctly. Thank you. >> Thank you, Mr. Seivera. First and foremost, I want to thank um all the speakers who came in. You know, we've been at this for a couple hours now. Uh I also want to thank the uh
wieners for their generous donation to the the district and their willing to uh their willingness to invest in our in our kids. We do appreciate that uh very much. So, I will um acknowledge that when these AI
conversations started, I I was initially excited. Uh however, I like most now have some some real concerns about how this is going to be affecting uh our students and uh our teachers as a whole.
I will certainly acknowledge that AI is is here to stay. uh we're not going to stop this from continuing to develop and and grow as a platform and we certainly cannot ignore it. However, um this does not mean that we have to blindly accept
it without ensuring that there are proper safeguards and guard rails in place, especially when dealing with our students. I want to be clear on this. I I am not in any way, shape, or form calling for the elimination of technology,
but this technology really should be used when it is clear that it is improving instruction to our students and helping them with their coursework and helping them with grade
improvement and actual physical learning. I do have great concerns about diving into this AI technology without seeing um full studies and the data on the benefits and the risks of a full
integration into this technology into our curriculum at BCPS. It is no secret that um I am in favor of grade level screen time limits. Uh I've been saying this for for quite uh some
time now. I think kids spend way too much time in front of screens. I have three children at home. I see this firsthand. I know how addictive these things can be. And if we fail to acknowledge the dangers of too much
screen time, we are really not doing um our best with managing uh our students. We spend $und00 million plus on these software contracts. This is a whole separate issue, but I am going to touch on it very briefly. uh most of which I for the record do
vote against, but I certainly acknowledge the fact how much money we spent on these software contracts. And perhaps if we lessened up on some of the screen time, the need and necessity for these hundred millions of dollars in screen time contracts would perhaps um
be reduced substantially and could help us get out of the deficit that we're currently in. I really truly believe that we are in greater need of more pen and paper work as opposed to doing everything on a computer. Now, it seems like to me after listening
to this presentation that we're really betting the farm uh on this type of technology, and I'm not really comfortable in doing this without ensuring certain safeguards and guard rails are in place for our students and
for our teachers. There is real danger in relying on this type of technology. The obvious one is the cheating aspect of this. However, I have been doing my research on this the oldfashioned way. I
did not use chat GPS or any of the the Grock things or anything like that. I I did the research the oldfashioned way. And uh I've learned a lot about this cognitive offloading. And for those of you who don't know what cognitive offloading is, it's this
notion that basically your brain will forget how to do a task if you do not continually remind it how to do it. Or in some cases when you never learn the skill, your brain will not absorb it because you are relying too much on technology.
There was a really good example on a on on a Zoom presentation that I I picked up recently about this cognitive offloading. And for those of you in the room who can remember a time before we had cell phones and we ran around with pagers, you remembered everybody's phone
number, your girlfriend, your friends, your mom, your abuela, everybody's phone number you had committed to memory. Fast forward to the invention of the cell phones. Um, if you gave me a $100 to tell you what my wife's cell phone number is right now, I probably couldn't
do it. And the reason for that is because we rely on our cell phones to store information. So, I have effectively cognitively offloaded the portion of my brain that memorizes cell phone numbers and telephone numbers
into my Apple iPhones that I carry around with me. So, certainly this is a real thing. I've seen some studies on this and it is very um troublesome for me to think that if we are getting these kids to rely so heavily on the AI and on
these chat bots throughout the course of their day in their curriculum, they are not going to be able to learn the skill sets and they're not going to have them committed to memory on how to, I don't know, write a proper sentence or
research and cite to proper references when writing a research paper because all of it can be done for them by simply writing something into a a textbot or a chatbot as they are called. We are literally interfering with brain
development with our young ones if we are allowing unfettered access to these things and are allowing on them to rely this heavily on the technology. Now, I am not calling on a total ban for tech.
Uh, and I will be the first one to admit that we cannot totally ignore the AI. Um, and I appreciate the fact that it is very far from perfect. And a great example is this morning I went on to the um the Twitter version and I asked them
to tell me what is going to happen in the NBA finals and one of the responses I got was that they are going to be playing in San Antonio or the San Antonio Spurs and New York Knicks are going to be playing in a game six. Now for those of you who follow basketball, you know that the Knicks for the first
time in like 200 years won the championship on Saturday night 53. But who's counting? But the reality is the fact that I was given this information from one of these chat bots when I was doing some some simple research to prepare for my
remarks today, I think is a little scary because even my 8-year-old daughter knows that the Knicks won on Saturday and was well aware that it was in game five. That being said, we really need to learn more about how to use these programs responsibly for our students.
First and foremost, they cannot and should not replace or be seen as a substitute for our great teachers that are in our um hundreds of schools throughout the county. I really need to see some serious guard rails in place
with any type of formal policy that this board is going to approve if you want my vote on how we are going to do such things as preventing overuse, preventing this cognitive offloading, preventing data uh excuse me,
implementing data protection methods to make sure that sensitive student information is not being housed by big tech and sold off to foreign countries. for a profit. I'm also very interested to seeing on how we are going to continue to balance this increased
screen time. If we're giving kids access to additional chat bots and things like that, we need to make sure that we are not giving them um more um unnecessary and unfettered screen time. I think it's too much as it is. So adding this in is
a little scary um for me. And perhaps more importantly, what are we doing to make sure that these platforms are actually verifying the information that they're spitting out um to our kids? Again, using my my NYX example from this
morning, um I am smart enough to know that the information that I got was was incorrect, but perhaps some of our younger kids are going to rely heavily and they're not going to properly vet and research and verify the information that's coming out um in the chatbot.
That being said, I do want a couple things specifically answered. And if I may, chair, um, Miss Offer, will you come back to the mic, please? Ma'am, you had I believe three or four questions and I was I was trying to
write down but you were speaking um not quickly because I think your pace was fine but perhaps I wasn't listening fast enough and they were very good questions and I want answers to them. Will you take it from the top and direct the questions to the superintendent? And Mr.
Superintendent, I would request that um this speaker be given an answer to the questions that she asked. Thank you sir. Um speaking slide by slide is what you requested. >> I think you started with seven and >> slide seven. What is the school board's
definition of ethical implementation? Where can parents find it? What are the current and expected safeguards? Where are they published for view? And is it viewable in all major spoken languages? So um thanks for the the question um I
guess through Mr. Sea and I just want to yeah uh but this workshop is the epitome of all of those questions. This workshop is to it's the it's not the starting point but it's the point where we're bringing all of this content to the
board to discuss next steps. All of those things are actually next steps that the AI task force um the liaison and and the leadership team have been working on. So there won't be hard answers to those questions right now. Those are actually next steps based on
board feedback and what's to come. I heard her questions when she asked them um earlier and I says, "Okay, I I I think everybody kind of understands based on some of the questions, based on some of the feedback, based on some of the concerns, based on some of the accolades that I've heard. It's the
epitome of what this workshop is for. And it's to garner all of that feedback, not just from the board, but from constituents that are coming up and and um speaking um during public speaking time. All of that is actually next steps. this is what a workshop is for.
So, we won't have answers um to many of the things that you ask because this is what the workshop is for to listen um to hear the questions, to hear feedback, to hear concerns, to hear accolades so we can tighten up this process so we can tighten up what's going to be presented
to the public via website, via other vehicles, just to make sure everybody fully understands how Broward County Public Schools is going to implement AI um instructionally at schools and also um operationally. So, just to give you a broad answer because I heard the questions um before and and you know
this what uh was ringing in my head. >> Mr. Superintendent, if I may, these were good questions, >> correct? >> The speaker asked. >> I want answers to these questions. >> And that's the answer. >> Well, is is this something that we could
add to the mix in Dr. Conn's uh work as he hopefully pushes us towards >> a a a policy as a follow-up? what is the best method? Because when I have speakers, when I have parents, when I have teachers come here and they have questions like we've heard from uh Mrs.
Offer here and my antennas go up, I want to know the answer to it. My constituents want to know the answer to it. I think the general public, a great majority of them also want to know the answer. So, I I appreciate what you're saying and that this is what the workshops for and that's great, but I don't want this to get lost in the shuffle.
>> No. and it's and it's not lost. And um just to ensure it's not lost, Miss Soffer, you can um easily email myself or Dr. Con those questions, but I I heard the questions, many of the questions align to what the AI task force and the leadership team have been working towards in preparation for this
workshop and in prep preparation for what we're going to roll out to entire staff at before the beginning of the school year before students actually come back. But just to make sure nothing's lost in translations, you can you can also email the questions to us, too. >> And Miss Offer, if you'd be so kind in
taking up the superintendent's recommendation, make sure I'm CCD on that email as well. I'll put in my own internal clocks to make sure that we're getting you a timely response because they were good questions and I certainly appreciate you bringing them. Um, chair, if I may, I've got a couple more. I
heard and I I apologize. I believe it was Miss OD. I mean, it was a while ago raised some concern about Furpa and potential violations of of of FURPA. I believe she referenced co-pilot and
some compliance issues. Is there any validity to that statement? Is that something that's on our radar? Have we researched that? Obviously, as I like to say, we follow the law here in Broward County. And if we're engaging in some sort of AI technology or AI program that
is going to run a foul of FURPA, I need to know what we're doing to potentially correct those perspective violations. >> From my understanding um and correct me if I'm wrong, Manny, there's no violation of FURA um with this tool. Um
specifically, I think he's referring to Copilot 13. um and many of the things that have been isolated based on that small group of students that are utilizing it and also Miss Leonardi um with her feedback um to us one-on-one and in a group that we're working with Microsoft um to try and address that.
Hence why the co-pilot 13 is not a going to be considered for district scaling to all of our students because of some of the issues that we've isolated um while a small group of students have have used it versus magic school will be scaled out throughout the whole entire district
because they actually pass many of the tests that we have. >> So as we sit here today is Magic School Bus fully in compliance with the regulations of FURPA? >> Yes. >> Yes. >> Okay. I also heard
one of the speakers talk about um either pending or discussed federal and state legislation regarding the use of these uh chat bots by individuals under the age of 18.
So maybe this is perhaps better directed at Mr. Sullivan, although I think he may have just exited the room. Um, is there any validity to those claims? Are there any other states in the union that have laws that prevent individuals from under
the age of 18 from using chat bots? And the reason I'm I'm bringing this up is we are putting a lot of a lot of capital, a lot of time, a lot of effort into these things. And if something is coming down the pike, whether it come from DC or Tallahassee, that is going to
prevent miners from using chatbots, I don't uh know that we need to be running with great haste to be finalizing something like this only to have it be deemed illegal potentially or against statute later on um down the
road. So, from a legislative standpoint, is anybody aware, has any research been conducted on any federal or state legislation that could potentially bar minors from using these chat bots? >> Not familiar with any um current
legislation um on chat bots. >> I'm familiar with discussions around social media, but not um chat bots. >> Mr. Sullivan, did you hear the question? >> Yeah. >> Yeah, I believe I heard most of it. And yes, the superintendent's right. >> Okay. So, there's nothing that we're
aware of. >> No, there was no AI bill passed this session up in town. >> I'm not I know what bills passed this session. I'm talking about something that's being discussed or something that'll be coming down the pike or are there laws in other states that bar the
use of these chat bots by minors? >> I can only speak federally in the state of Florida and no. >> Okay. >> Dr. Con? >> No. No. Okay. Miss Reed, I saw your hand. Do you want to address the question?
>> Yes. Senate Bill 482. Um it was to talk about the artificial bill of rights that um it was sponsored by Senator Tom Leak, but even though it passed in the Florida Senate, it died in the House. >> It died in the House. >> Yeah. So, it did not pass. >> Okay. So, nobody as we sit here today is aware of any perspective or talked about
litigation both federally or in Tallahassee regarding a bar at least chatbots for minors. >> Okay, I see a lot of head shaking. Mr. Superintendent, um specifically
talking about Magic School Bus. Uh, I >> Magic School. >> Sorry. Magic School Bus. >> I know where you were talking about that. Everybody knows about Mag School. >> Do you need Magic School? I enjoyed that cartoon when I was a when I was a child
many years ago. Um, apologies. It's late in the day. Um, Magic School. Uh, I was provided with an article um over the weekend, staying on the on the chatbot front regarding a bot that was being
integrated into Magic School called Raina or Rainia and it was rolled out with the platform and up until March of this year was used in all of their uh school-based platforms that they were using around
the around the nation. Well, it turns out that for whatever reason that chatbot was deemed harmful to children and they ended up pulling it uh I believe in March and replacing it with somebody else, excuse me, some other type of bot. Uh I'm happy to disseminate
the article. I was just wondering if anybody was aware of this uh in any manner and if they could provide any details on what the fix was after this Rainia bot was pulled from Magic School.
>> I'm not um personally aware of it, but what you describe it sound like Magic School did the right thing after they found something that was deemed harmful harmful for for students, which I expect any company to do big if it's technology or not. While I agree, I would prefer
that the screw-up doesn't happen in the first place, but I I just want to know, is anybody because I read a very quick tech article um that was forwarded to me by a parent. Is anybody aware of this mishap with the chatbot? Rea,
>> I'm not aware of it. We can research it, but I'm not a aware of it. >> Okay. When I yield my time, Dr. Con, I will forward you the article. I'd ask that you take a look and um give me your two cents. >> Sure. >> Lastly, if I may, going back to the
presentation, let make sure I have the right page here. The magic school testing analysis on slide 48. It appears that six out of 19 interactions which were intended to be inappropriate
were missed during our testing. Uh if my math is correct, which it often is not, but if my math is correct, that's 31% of the time inappropriate content was missed um on Magic School during this testing analysis.
Respectfully, and I'll address this to you, Dr. cone. That's too high. 31% is too high. I don't want six instances of, you know, something pornographic or harmful to students or whatever slipping through on an
interaction and getting to, you know, a next level or wherever it goes without properly being flagged for teacher review. What can we do to ensure that 31% of the time bad things are not being missed for
uh teacher review flagging? >> So, one of the things that we do, we're constantly in contact with Magic School uh and there that's a reciprocal relationship. So, as we provide additional uh feedback to them on things that that raise to our levels, uh they
are part of the conversation. and they're making adjustments uh to their platform and uh and they're fixing those things. And so we have a very great relationship with them that they've been very responsive uh to the feedback that we had. But um but again, I I'll go back
to what Manny had mentioned. We we did a very comprehensive assessment with the rubric uh and that the majority of the time that we have uh done an enduser testing, they've come out uh positively. But I understand your point and it is the relationship that we we've been
consistently working with them to ensure that that 30% gets to almost nil. >> Okay. >> I would like to clarify if I can uh regarding and and this is something that's going to come out. Uh I think a suggestion was made to make sure that we make the rubric public which we have
shared it but making it public so all parents can see it is going to help but that specific rubric the way it was designed there were several categories that it was if you failed it that was a hard no. Uh, I could provide more I could share the rubric and provide more
details as to which ones they were, but I'm pretty sure they were self harm, violence, the the major categories where if one would have done, it wouldn't have passed. As far as other types of interactions, because this rubric was
more than just a safety rubric. It was also checking to see how it interacted from an educational standpoint, how it redirected conversations. There were other things that were rated on a scale. I believe we use 0 to three on each of these and some of those were just
averaged out, but some of them were hard nos. So I can safely say that the interactions that you're discussing, none of them were on the categories that would have resulted in a complete failure of the tool. >> I don't want any inappropriate content
making its way through. 31% is too high in my book. If my son were to go on Google and search 19 times for something inappropriate, of course he never would because he knows his his dad would have a word with him. But if he were to do that 19 times with our internet blocking
technology that we have at home and he was able to get through six times, I would be very concerned and very upset. So, while I understand that it may not have been the worst of the worst type of searches that were missed, 31% of the time of anything inappropriate for our
students is way too high. So, we need to have some serious conversations with these folks and make sure they're doing everything they need to do to protect these kids from this technology. And it it's not good enough to say, "Well, we only got the worst of the worst, right? We only got the hardcore
porn, but the softcore porn, you know, that was that was something different." That's not good enough for me. And obviously I'm boom bin bubastic to draw emphasis to this, but I want 100% proficiency with this. I want 100% flagging when inappropriate comments are
made, not 70%. 100%. So if this thing is going to be integrated into our into our schools and with our young ones, we need to strive for better numbers than that because 31% of the time missing, that's not acceptable to me.
I'm going to switch topics if I may. Um, moving on to the NOVA uh platform. I apologize. I don't remember what number on the slide it was. 31 or 30, I'm sorry. Thank you,
Dr. Conn. Did you talk to um Principal Ripple from Eisenhower Elementary School about this uh Nova Innovation Zone? >> Yes, we actually had um a team's call with all the principles. >> Did you talk to Principal Schwarz at
Blanch form? >> Yes, he was on the call. >> Did you talk to Mr. G at Nova Middle? Yes, all principles are on the call. >> I'm going to go through my list. Did you talk to principal Awafa Deu at Nova High School? >> She was on the call. >> Okay, fantastic. And how would you
describe their enthusiasm for this uh prospective Nova innovation zone? >> Uh they were very curious. Um they wanted more information uh about it and we said that we wanted to bring it to the board because no decisions could be made until we get board consensus and
direction on this. Um, so it was more of an exploratory conversation. We went over the NOVA concept with them uh in the deck that uh we shared with them. So they had that piece and they were very excited. I had an opportunity to speak with Mr. Schwarz uh at the June 8th um
uh principal convening and he was extremely excited and enthusiastic about it wanting to know more knowing wanting to know what more he can do to be a part of this uh initiative. >> So principal Schwarz was excited. Yes. >> And everybody else was curious.
>> Yeah. Yeah. >> Okay. Nobody else was excited. Just curious. >> I'm sure they were all excited. It was hard to tell online. >> Okay. Well, sometimes sometimes it is difficult to gauge emotion over Zoom. I get it. >> Let me ask you a question, sir. How many town halls did you have with parents and
community members in and around the Nova campus about this perspective innovation zone? >> We have not had any community town halls. We were waiting to get direction from the board. How many community outreach uh emails or social media blasts or anything like
that uh did you participate in in regards to the NOVA innovation zone? >> None yet. >> Okay. So the extent of your outreach for this is to have a Zoom call with the four principles who make up the NOVA community >> to make them aware. Did you do anything
else >> outside of the different agencies, the colleges, the businesses uh to garner some feedback, input around this initiative? Uh stakeholder groups we had internally with BEF and other external
people. Not nothing beyond that. >> Um where in the district is NOVA located? >> Central. >> What city or excuse me, what town? >> Davy. And who represents the town of Davyy?
>> Dr. Zean, you have your hand up. >> Well, the question was >> talking about board, mayor, commissioner. >> What who on this board specifically represents the town of Davyy? >> This is a layup cone. >> Uh you Mr. Sea,
>> thank you. Miss Leonardi made a comment about how she didn't like when teachers found out about things from media reports and things like that. You know when I found out about this >> when >> on Saturday when I printed this out to prepare for the meeting today.
>> We've had workshops. >> Yeah, we've had workshops on this before. Mr. Sea. >> No, no. The the specific zone on all of this. My point is I wasn't involved in the conversations that you had with the principles. Okay. My parents weren't involved in the conversations that you had with the principles. I don't know
specifically where I sit on this yet. Uh this is going to get fleshed out. But before it does, I think we need to do a better job of communicating to our constituents, to our residents about what we plan on doing. Okay? So people
aren't seeing this because remember the bus route thing that we went with Nova where we were going to divert 17 different routes to NOVA. Um, I got a lot of a lot of angry parents calling me after that. >> Yeah, >> a lot of angry parents. And I don't want this to to happen here where more people
are pissed off that they weren't involved in the initial workup and perhaps losing track of the prospective benefits from doing something like this, >> right? >> I agree. >> So, we need to do a better job, okay, collectively as a district, we need to do a better job of making people feel
like they're part um of the process. I would have loved to be on that on that team's call with you learning about this. I would have loved to at least get something out. You know, I do a a weekly um newsletter update that comes directly from my office. I could have put
something out uh about this to just let people know what is going on, right? Because when people are fed information, they feel like they're part of the process and generally they're less angry about they may not agree with it 100% of the time, but they're less angry about
it. So, I I use this as an example only to let's not go into this already behind the eight-ball because people feel like we're doing this behind closed doors, right? And uh let's be perhaps a little bit more vocal about perspective uh
plans with this because I assure you um when we leave today, I'm going to start getting the text messages and phone calls about this from my Nova parents just like I did with the bus stuff. >> So, Mr. Sea, you make a if I can interrupt, you make a good point. >> I generally do have burn I want clarification from the board on this. Uh
because our cadence normally before we go out and have large scale meetings with community members, teachers and all of that, we bring that to the board in a workshop first to get consensus because the board we can go out and do all of that and then the board says, "Oh, you know what? This isn't something that,
you know, we have consensus on or we want to do." Um and staff has, you know, u put in a lot of time and effort and um gotten community feedback or whatever the case may be. Normally the cadence for us is to bring it to the board. I understand the um the in talking to
individual board members and we we could definitely improve on that when initiative is coming that impacts your area or any board members area but for the large scale part of going to go talk to a massive amount of people staff teachers community members before we bring something to the board to get
feedback directions. Um our cadence is normally to do that first, get the feedback, the direction so we know what exactly to communicate um to the stakeholders um just to make sure there's no change um and what if we did it the opposite way around of what I'm hearing. So, I just want to get
consensus from the board on that because we're we're fine doing it either way, but the cadence that we've used um thus far is to make sure we bring things to the board because many of these largecale impacts to the district is a board decision as well before we go back
out um to the community based on the feedback that impacts changes sometimes or no support at all for an initiative. when the board is tasked with making these decisions, I'm very interested to know what my community thinks. >> And so I I get what you're saying, but
as far as the consensus for the for the board >> and and that's fine. That's fine. But NOVA is in district 6. I have an obligation and duty to represent the constituents in district 6. >> They need to have an obl they have need to have a right. They need to have an outlet to come. And it doesn't have to
be anything fancy, right? We don't need lasers and fireworks. We can open up a gym somewhere and invite parents to come in. I'll do it. You want me to do it? I'll get Lisa involved and we'll do it. But just to have the opportunity for them to come and say, "Hey, listen.
We've all seen this now. We've all seen the presentation. Here's what's being proposed in your school." Right? What are your thoughts? >> But what I'm saying is the proposal ultimately sometimes changes when it
comes to the board. So, I just want to make sure we're not being premature going out having a conversation that ultimately changes and then we're back to square one or nothing um you know there's no support for the initiative. >> But it's always going to change, Dr. Hepper, because if it comes to the board
and we vote no, then everything is scrapped anyway, >> right? >> I got I got it. I just want to, you know, I hear the concern. I just want to make sure that staff is taking the right cadence when we're communicating with constituents. I I understand, but I I I say this a lot and I will say it again.
A lot of times on things like this, we have communication problems. We don't engage with our community members, with our constituents enough, and lots of times they're seeing this for the first time in a workshop, at a board meeting, whatever it may be, and they're like, "Well, wait a second. There's this
proposal for innovation zone. This is affecting a lot of these kids go through the NOVA pipeline. So, a lot of the little ones that are in in elementary school right now are going to go to middle and they're going to go to high there. they stay in that pipeline. I'm sure they have very strong feelings probably on both sides, right, about what's going on here.
>> And before we before we vote, before we see, however you want to say it, >> I need to know what my community >> in the NOVA pipeline thinks about this proposal. >> Yeah. And thank you, Mr. Seivera. I think that um to your point, if given
the direction from the board, that's where you all want us to go, we're happy to do that. Uh but this is not the first time we actually shared the NOVA concept. We actually shared it on May 12th during the redefining board workshop. So this is actually the second time we're bringing the NOVA concept um
to the board. But I hear what you're saying and I agree. >> This is a lot more elaborate. This is a lot more full scale. This is a lot more detailed. And this ties directly into the AI project. I I understand what was presented at the redefining, but you and I can both agree this is a little bit of a different animal. And all I'm saying
is listen, I'm not saying I'm pro or or against, right? I honestly I haven't made up my mind yet. I will tell you that the my level of concern seems to grow on a daily basis about the AI risks, okay? But I'm I'm not indicating
one way or another. All I'm saying is let my constituents, let my community members, let my my NOVA parents come in and tell us what they think about this. I mean there this is going to be a first of its kind right probably in the nation
right for public schools right don't you think this is important it's critical that we get this right if we're going to be trailblazers let's check every box let's do everything we need to do to make sure we get this right and it starts with what does our community want if I hold a town
hall on this and I have 1500 parents coming in screaming at me with pitchforks saying over my dead body that this is going to happen at NOVA guess But I'm not going to vote for this to happen at NOVA, right? But if it's the opposite and everyone's saying this is the greatest thing since sliced bread,
you know, that may sway my decision as well. I need to know what my constituents, I need to know what my community, I need to know what my PTA moms think. I need to know what my parents think. I want to know what the students think, incidentally, as well. Right? And I don't want something like
this, a first of its kind in the nation, rolled out without enough interaction from the community to make sure that we are adequately and properly representing our constituents. >> We can commit to that. >> I appreciate that, Dr. Con.
I yield my time, chair. >> Thank you, Miss Thompson. Thank you, chair. I didn't know if there was going to be board consensus, but I do think it is our responsibility as board members to go out and educate our community on the things that are happening in our district. It's not a
responsibility of district staff, especially when we've had these proposals. It's what I did with redefining to have specific meetings at each school that would potentially be impacted. and then that way I can communicate their concerns, our excitement, but to put that on staff to
then come back and things have changed, it is our responsibility as schoolboard members to host those town halls and to figure out that timeline. So I believe the way we are currently doing community engagement is the right way. Thank you.
>> Thank you, Miss Bulman. >> Thank you. I'll try to keep it brief. Um, so thank you for all your work on this. Um, I appreciated all the public comments. I think, you know, since I've been on the board, this has been an
ongoing conversation. I think we started the whole conversation around AI at a very heightened alert um with people not being having a lot of buy in and being very afraid. And through the process,
um I think you guys have made a ton of pro a ton of progress of reassuring how this is going to how this is going to work. I really appreciate the chair um all the work that you've done and um really leading off this conversation
today. I think that uh the directives that were given are going to be very helpful and I feel a lot better about that. So I think collectively um everyone's been doing a good job on that. Appreciate the wieners of course. It's um
very appreciated that you are so involved with the youth and you know making sure that we have the ability to be uh at the forefront of the tech of technology and what's happening for the future of the students. So thank you very much. Uh and you know I think that
that is one of the things that's very important. I we have to keep up with progress. Um, you know, I'm just I was just thinking back when I was in high school, I took a computer class and it was on Apple 2 eco computers. The last year they offered
it, no one was using Apple 2 computers anymore, but that's what they had in the lab. I did very poorly on that because why would I want to use it? Because that's not what we're using anymore, you know? So, no one's interested in staying in the past. All of the students want to be keeping up with what's happening in
the future and it's our job to keep them safe while we're making sure that they're able to compete and they're up to date with the technology. So, um you know, I think we've basically kind of I think we've asked a lot of these
questions. You know, I I had talked to Dr. cone about um kind of the the plan in terms of screen time for like how we're going to reduce screen time for students and now we have the directive that we're going to look into that until
second grade. I think yours was more first grade but we can we'll we'll um wait for that to come back. But I think you know so the communication part is so important with the parents. I think the more that they understand what's happening, the less they're going to be
afraid >> and that's really probably our biggest job because everyone's afraid of the things that they don't know. So, as long as they know exactly what is happening and we're not sneaking anything in on them and you know like if you if we're committed to advising them when we add
any kind of programs or whatever, then they're going to then then we will have the parents with us and I that's very important. And then and another part of it and I you know I come here as a parent of three teenagers and a near
teenager so I'm in the thick of it with all of the technology and the things that you can control and the things that you can't control and I've had many experiences with this. Um but we have a responsibility as a school but there's also a responsibility of
parents and and I don't know how we communicate that but people have to take responsibility. you know, we're talking about screen time. We can control the screen time in the schools. Um, that's a parental and it's a it's a challenge. I mean, it's a it's a
constant daily battle to to try to overcome that and figure out how you're going to do that. But, um, you know, as much as we can help parents or guide them with that, too. And again, that comes to the reassurance piece. So, I think if we are tackling that, I think
we're going to be moving forward in the right direction. So, I um I think that we've made a lot of progress and commend your efforts and look forward to the next iteration of it. Thank you. >> Thank you, Miss Bulman. Um before I go
to ML and Lily, I just wanted to um first see if there was any objection since our vice chair is not here and our former chair is not here. Uh is there any objection to me designating Dr. Zean as vice chair? Seeing none, Dr. Zeman, you are now vice
chair. Um and then just so the public is aware, uh with board consensus, when we are done with this workshop, I would like to go to item number six, which is um the comprehensive discussion on select locations as there are several public speakers um in the in the
overflow room uh waiting to speak on that. Is there any objection to going to item number six after this workshop? >> Chair, >> are we um are we going to do following items after that or are we going to >> That was the plan unless uh the board
would like to do something else. >> What items need to be completed today? >> Meal benefits and the capital program. Considering we're already running about four hours behind schedule, um is there a possibility of doing item six then
going to the meal debt and then moving the other items to the next workshop? >> Um so I will I don't want to get into this whole discussion but there are the next workshop is is very very packed. Uh so I guess can we just agree that we'll
go to item six and then and then decide what we want to do with the rest of the item. see what time we get done with number six. >> I mean, we can go we can go down this road right now. I'll read you the workshop uh schedule for the next
workshop which is July 21st. We have advisory committee reports redefining our schools 2627 OSS quarterly report uh annual compliance visit report KC right operations
multi-year staffing alignment plan ERP transformation project rule development AI cyber security acceptable use and other relevant policies. So, I mean, I was already contemplating like things we would have to get get rid of on or push back on the next workshop
in July. Um, but I think, you know, for sure we need to go to item well, my my proposal is that we go to item six after this. >> Let's go. >> Okay. >> Great idea, cheer. >> All right. Go ahead, M and Lily.
>> All right. I know everyone's kind of falling asleep, so we're going to try and be quick and concise and all of that. Everyone wake up, move around, get excited. Um, okay. So, first, I'm not exactly sure who to direct this question to, so I'm just going to kind of put it out there and see who can give me an
answer. Um, with Copilot, would the district be able to control restrictions, like safety restrictions, and also be able to have the teachers read the students chats with the chatbot? >> With C-Pilot, it logs the conversation.
So they're available to be viewed technically in the uh security system which is called purview from Microsoft. But because it lacks the flagging of those interactions is inappropriate and because there's no real time uh
detection or moderation, the decision the district made is not to pursue using co-pilot for all students. So far it's only for those 371 students that are in the AIMMIES because of the risk imposed uh of having those
that moderation and detection not happening in real time. >> Okay, awesome. Thank you for that. Um and then also a lot of what I was going to ask went over already. Um, I did want to comment on what was said about how
every time new um, electronics, sorry I'm a bit tired now. Um, new electronics come out, we say they're going to be great and then they fall kind of flat on expectations. Um, the main point that was brought up was social media, how everyone said it was going to be great and you would meet people and it's awful. Um, honestly, I
think that media um, and electronics and all of that are what you make of it. Um, I know myself personally, yes, I scroll on Instagram sometimes just to watch reals, but I also have connected with 1,200 people on my Instagram. A majority of my Instagram followers are not my
friends. It's people I'veworked with over time. And whenever I have questions or I need a speaker for something or I kind of need someone to help me out, um, anything like that, I my go-to is Instagram. Um, it's a quick way to message someone cuz people are weird about their phone numbers today. I don't
know why, but I'll go on Instagram and it's someone's entire portfolio when you think about it. Like you go to my professional Instagram, I have all the events I've taken part of in the probably the past two years on there. You know, it's a professional portfolio because that's what I make it to be. That's how I choose to use it. So, if
other people are choosing to use it differently, that's up to them. But I don't want to make any form of technology out to just be evil and it doesn't do what it's supposed to because it's how you use it. And following up with that, AI is the exact same way. Um, so I kind of thought of a good example
to say why I think AI is so important because I also don't want to just say, oh, you know, we should just give students AI and let them do whatever because that's not what it is. There needs to be safety on there. But the main thing that I'm arguing for is we need to teach students how to use it, right? So, we have a lot of parents in the room um or we did before everyone
left, but um we had a lot of parents in the room who were arguing about the safety for their children. Correct. And we still have quite a few parents in the room. So, um I'm hoping that all of you either plan on teaching or have taught your kids how to cook, right? Even if it's something super simple. And when
you're cooking, sometimes you use a kitchen knife. If you just give your kid a knife and you don't explain to them that they can get hurt with that and you don't show them how to properly use it, they're probably going to get cut a few times, right? If you just say, "Hey, there you go. Take that. Figure out what to do." And that's not what we should be
doing with AI. Instead, when you're teaching your kid how to cook, first you explain, "Okay, this is the knife. You got to be careful. If you put it on you the wrong way, you're going to get cut and it's going to bleed and it's going to hurt. This is how you do it." I remember when my mom taught me how to cut. I was sitting there, guys, I could not figure it out for an hour. I'm a pro now at at cutting my apples. Don't
worry. But it did take me quite a few times and I did get cut a few times, but because my mom walked me through it, now I can cook on my own and I can cut things on my own. And AI, it sounds stupid, but AI is the same way. If we show kids how to use it properly, we're gonna avoid so many scenarios of kids
not knowing how to use AI and doing stupid things with it. It's better to teach them. >> So, >> thanks so much. And Mle, we're at the point of the meeting where we're trying to wrap this up and land the plane. So, if you could be succinct, I'd appreciate it. >> Very, very Yes. Um, so I only have one question. Um, and it really follows back
off what Miss Leonardi said about a written plan. Is there uh a timeline of exposure? And what I mean by that is does a elementary student have the same level of access that a high schooler student has to the app? And the reason I
I bring this up is because a elementary student may not be as developed as a high school student. So them having the same exact access and the same exact, you know, tools of exposure um may be a problem and that comes in with the
written plan as well. >> Yeah. So great question uh Cal and so no they will not um part of the phased in process is for the elementary level that the teachers will have access to it uh only and at the secondary level our approach is to give access to students
and teachers but once the teachers get the certification and the credentials to then be able to uh give access to students within their classroom. So there is a phased in approach. >> Thank you Dr. >> Thank you. >> Yes school member se >> is this
I could just say Adam then. Hey Adam, your turn. Yeah, >> real quick. I I just want to make sure that that I'm clear. Um despite how Miss Thompson does her town halls in her district, I am looking for district help
in what I suggested. Um, I do plenty of town halls myself without district help, but I also am smart enough to realize when there are subject matters that I don't have a great grasp on, like AI, I will lean on the district. So, I'm not sure what my colleague was talking about
about wanting to do this herself. If she wants to do one herself in her district, that's fine. But as far as District 6 is concerned, when we ultimate do this, I do expect assistance from you, Dr. Conn, and your team when we go out and speak to our community members. You don't need to comment. I just want to make sure
that my instruction was still clear despite whatever Miss Thompson's thinking was about how she does things in uh her district. Thank you. >> Thank you, Mr. Spar. And thank you, Dr. Con. This has been a long session. Uh I don't want anybody that took all the work to put this together to think that
this was uh possible to do in a short period of time. Maybe we misplanned a little bit, but a lot of great content, a lot of excellent work on the point. And I know Dr. He take you have some follow-ups that we'll get back to and then we'll we'll readress it the next meeting. At this point, we're going to go to item number six. So, we're jumping
a little bit on the agenda to our next uh meeting on repurposing option with Dr. Wanza. Thank you. And I've got five public speakers. >> Thank you, Dr. Wanza. We're ready. >> Beacon, can you load the presentation, please? >> Now, we got to jump.
We're on six, right? >> Yes, sir. >> At the will of the board, Dr. W is ready to go straight to decision points. >> You mind taking a recess? >> Nope. No recess. We're ripping. I like
it. And Dr. Wanza, unless the board objects, I believe the chair. Okay. The uh decision points. Yes, >> ma'am. So, if >> if I could, Dr. W. What we'd love is a one minute summary of the presentation leading us to the decision points, then we're ready to engage.
>> Okay. So um good afternoon everyone or yes I'm Valerie Wanza the chief strategy and um innovation officer and my colleagues at the table with me today are Mark Dorset who is the task assigned um chief of of operations and that
facilities and operations Sonia Co is the executive director of capital programs and Chris Aabuso will be joining us shortly um and he is the director of facility planning and real estate so essentially um Dr. Zean, board members, public, the way that this
presentation is laid out is it is a uh um it is intended for a comprehensive conversation around some um the usage of certain sites here in the district. We know that we've gone through redefining. We know that some of the schools properties are
going to be repurposed for other uses. So, this um conversation actually gives the board greater information around that. also provides for the board some um information and options around one of our sites that we need some direction
today that and it's Margate Elementary School. I'm sorry, Margate Middle School. The current facility conditions assessment as well as all of the financial resources that it will take to bring the school up to current codes and
standards. um it is the recommendation of staff and they will they will explain it that we look at another option for that campus. Then we need some um some direction from the board if you will um on two parcels of land in particular.
There's one um adjacent or on the property of Deerfield Beach Elementary School as well as the um trails in site up in Parkland. And so we need some direction there and then we were just going to let the board know what we intend to bring and Miss Leon already talked about it for the next workshop on
July one to see if the board wanted anything added to that. So essentially that was um that's the crux of the presentation but the actual decision points or direction that we need from the board they are on slide
number um 37 of the presentation. We do have representation from the Cy Trunk Rising project. They are here because we know that that is an added um I'm I'm sorry that is an attachment to the presentation and that is specifically
around the North Fork Elementary School site. And then we also know that we have representatives from Broward Health and they are here as it relates specifically to the Trails in site up in Parkland. So, um, I'll start with the decision
point for the North Fork Elementary site. As we know, back on May 12th, the board did see some proposals from the city of Fort Lauderdale. I'm sorry, for for um, that's the next one, Seagull. But when it comes to North Fort which is in the city of Fort Lauderdale, we had a
proposal from Cyrunk Rising, their initial proposal. They have given a revised proposal that is um in greater detail with some um some actual figures and data attached to it. They are here or they should be parking um to come into the boardroom. So we need some
direction around um that site. JA World did express interest but they have told us that you know the the um leasing land at market rate present a challenge for them. Um so they have not given us anything further to consider. However um
Cy Trunk Rising did and so the board has that presentation if they need any further information. The representatives are here. So we do need direction around if we are going to go forward and actually get to a conversation around a ground lease and and then bring that
back obviously to the board for the board to give us greater direction. And then the second piece would be around the seagull alternative high school site. The city of Fort Lauderdale has withdrawn its interest and so we have three options for the board to consider there. Um, one would be to um our own uh
Broward School's police safety and security division are interested in perhaps creating their own um uh public safety complex training complex where it could be a re revenue generating opportunity for the district. So that that's one option. The second one would
be to um actually utilize it for um additional administrative space capacity depending on what we do in this building. And then lastly, it could be once the policies and procedures are developed, and I know our general counsel is moving us through that swiftly around looking at potentially a
P3 opportunity for that site. So, we would need some direction on if we would look to um allow our own safety and security division to build out a districtowned, managed, and operated public safety training complex that we could then utilize as a revenue generation source because we would have
other agencies um pay to utilize and and take training. So that's the options there. So I can probably pause on if you want to do those two and then we'll do the next two decision points and then go from there. Or if you want me to do the um Broward Health one for um the Trails Insight and then that way we know that
we have at least given all of our um um all of the individuals here from the community who came to speak an opportunity. >> Um so you're done with your presentation? >> Well, I was asked to give a high level and I did. Yes.
>> And so then I was asked to go to the decision points and that's where I am on slide 37. >> Got it. Um does the would the board like to take public comment? >> Yes, ma'am. >> All right. Cynthia Dominique, Rochelle Sofur, Rebecca Jarquin, Stuart Greenby,
and Cindy Seltzer. Good afternoon everyone. Rochelle Sofur almost. Good evening. Real quick, I've read through the presentation. Um just a couple questions. I saw the list. I didn't see Dearful Beach Elementary and I want to say it might have been Margate
Middle on the original form, but when I did the deeper dive, I did see as I went into the PDF. >> So, my questions are this for the Margate middle area, especially because that's just a skip and a jump.
>> I I think the speaker may be on the next item we're handling. Please speak to the the item which was what we just gave a presentation on. >> Was this not six? >> I'm sorry. Is this referencing item number six? >> This is >> I apologize. Keep going. >> Okay. Making sure I'm not the one
because it's been a long day. Um with the Margate Middle. So I read somewhere in the different pieces that we have that we have a high school that is going to be upgraded updated for many millions of dollars.
But it's said specifically in there that almost looks like there's going to be a band-aid project on Margate Middle. We're going to keep it barely I can't remember the verbiage that was used, but just it's going to be barely operational. They're going to do the least amount possible to keep it going. The city of Margate, it's literally a
hop. I said hop, skip, and a jump from where I live. >> The residents there, they need better than barely operational. They need better than a band-aid. the fact that my husband's best friend went to this middle school, the fact that very close
family members went here and everything, this school needs a lot more. This community needs a lot more. They don't have their own high school. So, I think, and it's been talked in around some community members, we need to look at doing more than just a band-aid operation on Margate Middle. We really
need to look at investing more. And while the other high school that might get the upgraded auditorium, it's a great idea and they do need it. I'm not saying that they don't, but at almost 60 million for that and just a little bit for Margate, that speaks volumes about our lack of respect for that community,
a community that really does embrace their school. And we're talking about losing kids. If we're just going to band-aid these schools, we're going to continually lose kids because who wants to go to a school that's held up by
band-aids? I don't. The last piece was Derville Beach Elementary. I like the idea if the land does not need to be utilized by the school or the district. Selling it off is a great idea. It'll give you income. But was that discussed with the community of Deerfield Beach?
Was that discussed with the people who live close by? Was that discussed with any other vested members in Deerfield Beach? Those are my questions I present to you and I thank you for allowing me to ask the questions. >> Thank you. Next speaker we have Rebecca Jarquin, Steuart Greenby, Cindy Seltzer,
Baron Channer. >> Do I have to have my name written down to be a public speaker to to step up? I'm with Broward Health. Yes. >> Yeah. Go ahead. >> So, um, we're happy to be here. uh thank you for allowing us to uh take some time and work with staff to get to a point
where um we think we satisfied uh the commission's interest for this the Parkland uh property on North Charles and University. So um we have talked to staff and general counsel and we do have an letter of interest on the floor right now that's consistent with the what what
we perceive the terms and conditions of the the condition of sale for that property. Um, we've also uh directly engaged uh Jaffo and Eagles Haven directly along with the Children's Service Council um of South Florida to to take a deeper dive into some of the
services that they currently provide um some of the uh growth that they they they have desired for in addition to how to satisfy them beyond beyond this. So, I'm going to be here and open for for questions and answers and I think they can um talk about their interests as
well. Thank you. Any of the other speakers that I called? >> Good afternoon. Thank you. My name is Stuart Greenberg. I am the chairman of Jaffco Children's Village and also Eagle's Haven. And I recognize some of
you from the February 14th commemorations that Eagles Haven holds every year for the tragedy at Marjgery Stone and Douglas High School. I'd like to tell you that our board is 100% behind Eagles Haven and the continuation
of this amazing program. For those of you who are unaware, Eagles Haven charges nothing for our services. We have saved probably dozens of suicides over the last number of years. We've
helped countless thousands of families both who were victims, the friends of those victims, people who live in Parkland, members of the school board, teachers, faculty, first
responders, and people in the area who need help with wellness. We are thankful that Broward Health has gone ahead and offered us certain dollars to help us continue our program.
We're currently located in a small strip center space. Our program, we'd love to grow it. We can't afford to wait the seven years really until this property that Broward Health wants to develop is
completed. our clinical staff has met and it is not the best place for the services that we provide upon a medical campus. Therefore, we would hope that you would go ahead and accept Broward
Health's offer to purchase the property from the school board, make the donation to Eagles Haven to allow us to continue to serve the community that we do. before it was mentioned how expensive it it is for people to seek help or
therapy. Eagles Haven doesn't charge. We are open seven days a week. We help everyone who either calls or walks in our doors. As many of you know, during the trial of the shooter, we had staff
in the courthouse full-time to help the victims get through that tragedy and that trauma. I hope that you go ahead and endorse and accept the proposal from Broward Health. I thank you for your time and your consideration.
Good afternoon. Cindy Arinberg Seltzer. I'm the president CEO of the Children's Services Council of Broward County. Thank you for allowing me to speak on this proposal today. So, as you know, the Children's Services Council was the creator of Eagles Haven, and we have
been supporting this effort through JAFCO since the tragedy at MSD. When this was presented to us a couple of weeks ago from the North Broward Hospital District as a way to meet the
conditions of their bid for your property, it struck us as a great opportunity. So, I am really appreciative. The Children's Services Council first began funding this with help from the federal government
through the AeAP grant. when that grant ran out, the state has stepped in to share the cost. We have been told that this is probably the last year that the state will provide funding for Eagles
Haven. So, getting this uh opportunity to to support the program and join with us in keeping it alive is very welcome. So, I'm happy to answer any questions about the funding or how or why uh this
proposal meets that obligation. Thank you. >> Thank you. Any other public speakers? >> Good afternoon. Thank you, Chair Baron Channer, representative of the Cyrunk Ryzen team and a member of the team and
I'm uh here to talk a little bit about it. I think your presentation you would have received a little bit of more background on the project. This is the second time that we've been in front of the board in a workshop to discuss this item. The last time we were here, the
board provided unanimous consent to direct further negotiations with staff. we have the pleasure of doing so and what you have before you is the byproduct of that which includes more details building on top of what we presented the last time around
substantially the presentation and what we're offering is the same I'll touch on it a little bit but there's one nuance that's specific to be called out we have increased the square footage of training space that we are offering to the district and so now our proposal in part
a reflection of the conversations that have been had, including dating back months ago with the superintendent and subsequently with staff. We recognize that the district could benefit from training space particularly located in that area. We are offering 5,000 square
feet. 5,000 square feet for the district to own if you would like to. If not, then we it'll be available to you. So, that's one part of our offer that's a nuance that wasn't obvious from the last offer. What we are asking for you to consider is consider a designation to
negotiate. Uh we think that what we've presented to you gives you a good perspective of what we are offering and I'll walk through that and we are at a point that uh for us to add additional detail and get to something that you can specifically deliberate on. We would
welcome the opportunity to negotiate with your staff. That negotiation we believe would yield two things for you to ultimately vote on if if your discretion were to allow. One, there would be a lease. So we are proposing to
lease the site for 99 years. You will maintain ownership. Two, there would be a development agreement. The development agreement would essentially cover the terms of the project as you understand it so that you can be clear that what we would attempt to build would be
consistent with what we have proposed to you. So you would have those two things. A third document that would be attached would be a housing preference plan. And so we have suggested to you that there will be 300 units of affordable housing. The details you have before you outline
the fact that all of the units would be made affordable. uh they would be made affordable for levels of income that range from 30% AMI up to 80% AMI. So a broad swath of your employees would be able to afford the units. One bedrooms, two bedrooms, and three bedrooms all
would be available at all of those various income categories. And so what we are proposing to do is in order to give you confidence as to what would be offered in the preference plan, what would be offered in terms of the affordable housing? There would be a preference plan that specifically
stipulates the terms of that. Thank you. >> Thank you. Any other public speakers? >> All right. Uh Dr. Wanza, did you want to present anything else before I go to board discussion? I think we're ready to start board
discussion and then as needed we can um you know provide you know um respond to questions provide information as needed. >> Got it. Okay. Any other public speakers? >> Yes. Sorry. This is from Cynthia Dominique.
As I was pulling out of the out of the garage, she asked if I could come down and read this for her. >> Yeah. Please state your name for the record. >> Oh, Linda Ferrara for Cynthia Dominique. Uh I'm Cooper City. She's Carl Springs. Uh the current scope of work has exceeded what was previously planned and
because of uh I'm sorry I'm asking you to support the building replacement for Morgate Middle School. The current scope of work has exceeded what was previously planned and because much of the building and infrastructure is at the end of life
require oops uh sorry it's flipping here um end of life requires spending consider considerable more money to complete and not doing this will have a negative impact on
school operation and student enrollment. The district spend approximately $3 million putting temporary modulars on the campus that are not always used because of various challenges. This money could have been put towards the larger project. In 2018, approximately
$9 million was allocated to this project which included upgrade single point u entry fire alarm sprinklers conversion of music and art lab space, electrical exterior building envelope, HVAC and the
media center. Since then, some work has been done but the building remains in need of significant work and in pretty much the same condition as it was over 10 years ago. But the cost of the work has increased tremendously. Currently, the smart future shows 23 million was
allocated to the smart project renovations, but I believe the current number is 33 million that has already been encumbered. Is not financially prudent to continue pouring money into the infrastructure that we can can't see when there are other areas that are at
the end of life and need to be upgraded. We cannot keep doing these change orders and putting money into a failing building. we can build a brand new uh state-of-the-art building without displacing students or disrupting operations. The students in this community deserve it. Additionally, the
school community has had conversations about grade level changes to convert to 6 to 12 school as well as the addition of a civil engineering magnet program which receives strong community support. Thank you. Thank you.
>> Thank you. Any other public speakers? Mr. Sullivan. >> Uh, yes. I just wanted to let the board know that, uh, uh, Broward Health did send us a letter of intent, which does, um, honor the motion, but is different from what was spoken by the public. Uh,
so just wanted to mention that so when the board's uh, giving staff feedback during the discussion to keep that in mind. >> All right. Board member discussion, Miss Hixon. >> Thank you so much, chair. Um, and thank
you to everybody for coming out today. Um, I first I want to I don't know like what consensus you want, but I'm for the cyst drunk um moving forward. So, I'll start with that. Um, but I also want to ask my colleagues to um give consensus
for Broward Health to be able to give the donation that they're suggesting to Eagles Haven as opposed to the space. Although our B item that we approved did ask specifically for space, it was in the spirit of making sure that Eagles
Haven longevity continued and based on Eagles Haven um and Jaffco having discussions with Broward Health, it was determined that giving them the space where it's been suggested maybe is not the best thing um for Eagles Haven
moving forward. So, they did prefer to take that donation and be able to move into a space quicker and and to have that longevity. So, I just want to be sure that my colleagues understand that it's still in the spirit of what I believe we all voted for, which was to
give longevity and make sure Eagles Haven continued. Although we thought it best to be a space in the new Broward Health building that they were going to um put in in the area that they're purchasing. It turned out that after
discussion that's really not what's best for Eagles Haven. So I would hate to um make someone stay along the lines of what we thought was best and not be able to give Eagles Haven what they've all determined is the best. So, I hope
consensus moving forward is to allow Broward Health to move forward with the contract to buy the the land at the purchase price and then give that donation piece to Eagle's Haven to allow them to find the space and be able to
continue on. Um, and you know, Broward Healthwood still with the internships and all of that, that's still part of what that deal is. Um, but I just wanted to make sure we all understood that they weren't backing out of anything. It just came from a conversation that they had and is what's been determined is best
for the community in Eagles Haven. So, thank you. >> Thank you, Mrs. Alhadaf. >> Thank you. I agree with Mrs. Hixon. I am honestly I'm I'm really upset and shaking right now to possibly hear that
Eagles Haven would lose their funding after this year. Eight years ago, 17 people were murdered and 17 people were shot and lived and the trauma that my community has is still there and it will
continue to be for years. So this donation that Broward Health is going to give to Eagle's Haven will allow for the financial sustainability of Eagles Haven Haven to continue.
There's been five suicides since the tragedy and this is very much needed to provide the services for our community and to deal with this trauma that we all still
have. So, I hope my colleagues support this donation so Eagle's Haven can continue for years to come. Thank you. >> Thank you, Dr. Holes.
>> Thank you, Madam Chair. Um, can you hear me clearly, Madam Chair? >> Yes, we can hear you. >> Okay. So, um I uh support um board member Hixon as well as board member Alhadev in terms of allowing Broward
Health to go ahead and purchase um but support Eagle's Haven with the donation. So, I'm supportive of that. Um regarding uh Seagull, um I am very interested in an option that will uh generate uh uh
some kind of funds. Um it appears that option one and three uh could do that. But I have a question for Dr. Wanza um or Dr. Heepern for um seagull um in terms of option one. Couldn't the
district safety, security, emergency preparedness division um be located in some future um uh schools that might be redefined or repurposed or closed as opposed to Seagull? Because I believe Seagull has a
a huge property value because of its location. So, is there alternative options that the SS division could be located in? >> Mr. Sullivan. >> Uh, Dr. Wanza, please. >> Thank you. So, um, thank you, Dr. Hoes.
So, the SP division is being relocated to Plantation Middle School. This is something separate and apart. When um, initially the board received a proposal from the city of Fort Lauderdale who they were initially interested in um,
developing a public safety training site. and um Chief Gregory is here so I don't want to speak for him but once that um once the city withdrew its interest with that for that particular um piece of property district property
to do that then our um safety and security arm of the district said wait a minute this may be an opportunity that the we can develop for the district to offer develop its own training site and then it would be a a resource I'm sorry.
It would be an opportunity to generate resources for the district because then they could lease out um allow other agencies, whatever is the proper term to um come and receive training for cost. So, Chief Gregory is here. I don't want
to speak for him, but this would be um a training facility for a variety of public safety um opportunities. >> Got it. And Dr. Wanza, before Chief Gregory speak on that, um have we done
any sort of um uh assessment or any kind of determination as to the needs of this type of um service? Has there been any needs assessment done to ensure that option one would be successful as a safety training site? So, I think Chief
Gregory needs to speak to that because I think that they have um done some of that work and that and that's what um piqu their um interest in looking at this opportunity for the district. >> Okay. So, I'll wait to hear from Chief. >> Okay. Mike Gregory, chief safety and
security officer, Bard County School District. Uh as stated by the city of Fort Lauderdale, there was interest by other agencies also expressed dur police chief association for a training facility uh that could be used for school safety uh with regard to active
shooter training and evacuations and rescues uh for both police personnel as well as fire personnel. So that was an opportunity that was being presented by the city of Fort Lauderdale. We were looking forward to partnering with them and uh participating in that that u that training. Once the city of Fort
Lauderdale was no longer interested in that site and wanted to shift gears, uh we still saw the value and offering that capability uh to our 200 plus SRO's in Broward County that don't have the access to that type of training readily available
uh here in Bard County. Uh so that was a a gap that we thought we'd be able to fill if there wasn't a use available for uh or a u a use identified for uh seagull. So that's the extent of it at this point and if there this school was
available others were not. So uh that's the reason why it came on the radar. >> Okay. Uh thank you uh Chief Gregory. So Dr. wonder would it be problematic to also explore option three simultaneously
with option one uh in terms of the formal proposals to see what kind of um interest and whether or not it would be more beneficial uh financially uh uh for option three versus option one.
>> So I don't see where it would be a problem for us to do it. We just need to get direction from the board. Are you um more interested in the district having its own um public safety training entity where there can be a variety of um safety training and and protocols and
procedures and things offered for agencies that do come in and assist with school safety? Is is that a direction the board wants to go in? or do or or would you be more interested in potentially um you know doing some kind of ground lease or going through a a a formal proposal process to see if there
are other um opportunities that the board would want to consider. So there there isn't I I don't think there's an issue if you will with us looking at both and then at and then in the end the board would tell us which direction it wants to go in.
>> Okay. So um madame chair uh our district has financial constraints and for me uh I would be interested in the option that can bring us the most financially. So um in order to determine that I believe we would have we would need to take uh the
formal proposals done in option three and do a comparative with option one as to what would be best suited for the district financially. So that's my position on the seagull. Um, and I'm thinking that it could be done uh
simultaneously. We could take formal proposals. We could compare and see what would be more financially beneficial to the district. >> So, Dr. Holus, just so I'm capturing this correctly, you want to pursue option three or you're wanting to pursue option one and option three simultaneously?
>> I would say option one and option three simultaneously to determine which one is more financially beneficial. >> Got it. Thank you. Okay. Now, regarding um regarding North Fork, uh I am very supportive of uh the
North Fork Cistrunk Rising uh proposals and um it's very nice to see uh that uh they came back with um um minor changes but beneficial changes in terms of increasing the the space for as a
training center for Bar County uh public schools. Um, I was very pleased as well to see that they came with a lease option because I don't think any of us on the board uh had an appetite for $1 lease or Z lease. Um, so it's very nice
to see that they have this in here. I think the benefit of having affordable um apartments for our employees, uh supply store for teachers, uh counseling centers for employees and we get to maintain ownership of the land and we
don't have to worry about the maintenance costs for the facility. I think these are excellent benefits and I would encourage uh my board members to also support this um proposal and I am very supportive of moving forward with it. And madam chair, I think um did you
need my input on anything else, Madam Chair, or we're going to take second rounds? >> Uh Dr. Wza says Margate. >> So um on on page 37 is what we need um direction from the board. Slide 37. So,
so that covered um three of the definite five of the items that we actually because we're going to need some direction on the Margate Middle proposal as well as the easement at Deerfield Beach Elementary. We definitely need direction on that and then obviously any input the board wants to give us on um
what they want to see in the presentation for July 21st. >> Okay. So, Madam Chair, um I will wait for the board to comment further on Margate and Deerfield, especially don't um if Miss Rupert is still here.
>> She's not. >> I'm not sure. I can't see. >> She's not. Okay. So, I wait for further input and I'll give my input on Deerfield and Margate. >> Okay. >> Um All right. Other board discussion. Miss Bulman.
Thanks. Thank you, chair. Um, I support the Cyrunk Rising proposal. Um, I support the Eagle's Haven. That's a great solution. Thank you so much for
coming up with that. Love that. And I think I I think I kind of fall fall in the wholeness camp in terms of seagull. um you know with option one it's like what's the cost to us to do something
like this and what would be the payoff I guess we don't have enough information at this point did you guys just say that >> Chief Greg oh so Chief Gregory can you expand so Miss Miss Bowman's question is for option one so obvious obviously
option one of the seagull property is for the district safety and security emergency prepared preparedness division to build out its own training center. So what is the cost? But then and then what would be the return on investment for the district if we went that route? >> I can start with the return on
investment. That would be incre increasing the safety of students on our campuses in our schools. Increasing the training abilities received from the officers who patrol our schools. It this is not a money-making opportunity. I I would I would shy the board away from thinking that this is a rich a
get-richqu scheme for a training facility at Seagull. If that's the goal, then then we look should look at a different option. >> Well, it says generate revenue. That's why I correct what kind of revenue it would be. >> Yeah, the cities would pay for the
classes, but as far as a highle high income uh source, I I don't see training facilities for safety uh filling into that category. >> Okay. I have a question to yours. >> Yeah. I mean, >> is there any construction cost required
in order >> that's what I'm asking. I mean, if we're going to have to build a training facility, what's our capital outlay in order to get to a point where we're getting any kind of revenue at all? And then what how long would it take for our revenue coming in to pay off what we put into it? And then
>> at this stage, we haven't definified a revenue cost. This is a new proposal for us to explore. Uh so we could identify that. Right now, it's in a school configuration. And that configuration is what would be used for the active shooter training where officers would come in and go room to room, do room clearings, do room searches, do rescues.
Uh so the current configuration would be appropriate for that. Additional training areas for classroom instruction for the officers who participate. Uh I haven't gone room by room, but I assume that most of the classroom facilities would be acceptable for that type of a use. I don't see a large capital outlay
required, but again, this is an initial um exploratory conversation and we can actually go back and do more detailed uh um exploration if it's something that the board is seriously interested in in pursuing. Well, I would I would be interested in seeing how we could
partner, you know, what the use would be with other municipalities and how if we could find other partners and safety uh partners that could make this um very useful to the entire county or maybe to the air to the region. There's there's
potential there for sure. I think we need to flesh out that what that deal looks like. >> I agree. Ideally, uh we would be looking for grant support for to fund training. There are grant opportunities that are out there. I just saw one I believe from the Department of Justice um last week uh where they're offering uh training
dollars to host active shooter training and Alice type classes. Uh we would the concept would that we'd be the host and we would offer seats at those classes to local agencies in Miami Dade, Bard or Palm Beach County and we'd actually have a fullblown CLA uh school facility to
actually conduct uh real time scenariobased training for those officers. They have best of breed and and training. Uh again, it would be hopefully funded as much as we could for the courses through grants, but we're not. We'd look for the students from the
other agencies to pay for uh seats in the class to participate. And it's it's a rare opportunity to have a facility such as that to do real scenario-based training. So, I see uh it would be a great amount of interest uh periodically for agencies to come there and take different types of courses. But as a
training facility, uh I just don't see a large see it as a large revenue generator. Uh we would look certainly to break even, but without >> Yeah, I mean I think that's what we would like to see. I mean at the very least that this isn't going to cost us more money because I think we're trying to save money, not spend more money. So
um and then with the the option two, and I apologize if I if this has already been answered, but there's not a need for extra district room. Okay. So, I you know I I would like to see option one fleshed out so that we have something to really make a decision about. And then
um I'm also open to option three for that. Then let me go back here. Um, and then uh I I'll wait to hear from everyone else or I'd like to hear from Miss Rupert about
her positions on Marin and Deerfield. >> I don't. >> Is Miss Rupert on the line? >> No, she's in the hospital. >> So, but before she left, she did say that she may have to leave, but she did Go ahead, Dr. He. I was going to um
speak uh um Mr. Dri Bruna, I don't know if it's appropriate, but uh what we talked about in oneonone and I did hear her support for one thing, but um she did exercise her support for both Deerfield and Margate um when we spoke
yesterday or or I guess that was yesterday. Yes, yesterday was Monday. Just FYI, I know it's not official for the board, but just to give you >> just a word. >> Yeah. then give you feedback of what she supported when we when we spoke. And I know she's >> she spoke publicly before she left here today. >> For Margate for sure.
>> Yes. Yes. >> For Yeah. What she talking about? >> Uh she said yes for for u a pause on Margate with the idea of a of a replacement of of a replacement school and um yes for the um easement uh for Dil Beach. Yep.
So we're so we're right now we're just directing to pause on further renovations at Margate Middle and then we would decide later if we were going to do a replacement. >> Correct. >> You want to speak? Go ahead. >> Well, yeah. Mark Dor said, uh, chief
facility officer task assigned. Yeah, that was one of the requests, but based on what we were looking to spend in Margate, um we thought it would be beneficial to to to look at another possibility. Um right now, the school is
functioning. It's an old school. It was built in 1966. So, whatever we do to it, it'll still be a 66 building. So what we thought about doing is looking at replacing Margate Middle School. That
that was the discussion we had with the redefining team with Dr. Wanza and some of the my team from office of capital programs. We really really looked into what they've done so far, what they're asking for additional dollars to do and
we didn't think it was prudent uh to pursue that any further. We thought it we we would stop now uh and and and look at a different way of of of of supporting uh the kids at at Margate Middle >> and and I appreciate that. So, thank you
for that. Um is this a is this the type of project where we can continue to have the kids at school while we're building other buildings? >> Yes, the school right now can function as it is. the the the site has enough um
real estate to build another uh uh a complete middle school on site while they occupy the existing building. >> Okay. All right. I I don't object to that. And then the Deerfield Beach um c can you just explain that really quickly?
>> Sure. So, um, so Deerfield Beach Elementary School is a large footprint, but there is a a parking lot area that the, um, that has been rented, uh, by the district, rented from the district for decades for parking space for the
library that's right there. Um, and I kind of put the map, it's on slide 29. And so basically they um instead of entering an agreement every single or every so many years for that space for parking, the the city is interested in
purchasing that shaded area at the bottom right um for the parking for the library. >> Okay. Yeah, I have no problem with that. >> I support that. Thank you. >> Thank you, Dr. Zean.
>> Thanks so much. I'll I'll start with yours more that you just finished with. Um just in general, um bad business practice to sell land. Uh if they're happy with a rental and they're going to do it every year, um it's really better for Broward County schools to own the land. Particularly every time you give
up a little bit, um the value of land is disproportionate to the total size. So, uh if you take two 10acre slots and put them together, they're worth four times as much as they were separately. So just as a principle, uh I wouldn't be in favor of this because if it ain't broken, uh why do we want to fix it on
Seagull? Um you know, Seagull's a really interesting piece. Again, total business practice type thing. It is contiguous with WDEN. Uh WDEN has amazing programs. We're always going to offer those programs. They may actually be better somewhere else someday, though. And and Whitten and Seagull together again
becomes a much more valuable piece of land. It's in a commercial space. commercial space a lot more valuable right now than especially light industrial space much more valuable than residential. Right, Ryan? We can make more money doing that. I know you're nodding for me. Thanks, Ryan. But the um but we have to be thoughtful about it.
That's why I like the idea of using option two at uh at um Seagull. Um, if you can use three with the chief and not put in any money and just it's almost whether you put office space there or you put public service center with no
improvements, no capital improvements, I think that's great. There is a boatload of federal money um available for law enforcement training and there's just not enough sites in the world. So, if we have a site, you can come in and do the cool stuff, you know, the close quarter drills, the little people that pop up around the corner and everything. Uh,
that could be great for us and great for our kids everywhere. uh because SRO's and local police and BSOs can all practice in a school site. Uh so that's not a bad option, nor is a bad option for Dr. Hepper to move a another division uh to that site. But if we hold on to that land for a year or two, we
can figure out what to do with Whitten as we get the FCA done, as we get our master planner here. Boy, I cannot wait for the master planner to show up because right now I feel like we're pausing on Margate Middle. I definitely agree with you. Pause. Let's get a real,
if you don't mind more, I'm just gonna add to your recommendation. Let's pause on Margaret Middle, but let's get like a good estimate of what it would cost to build a good one. Not within 20 million, but within 5 million U so that we actually know what we're committing to that site. My understanding of Margarate Middle is there's plenty of students in
the boundared area. They just choose to go to other schools because that facility is I'm a little offended, Mark, that you said things invented in 1966 are no good anymore. Uh but but uh I I'll let that slide today. Um, so, um, that's great. On the, uh, um, trails
ends site, I want to thank, uh, Broward Health. I want to thank, uh, Miss Hixon and Miss Aldaf, uh, for everybody that came together from JAFCO, uh, to to really put this together. Thank you, Cindy, for coming. Uh, and thank you for your support uh, to this from the very
beginning and to your support to all of our kids and so many programs. Uh, but that is a good deal for us. But what you what you love about this deal, by the way, Mora, $14 million in the bank in the next 60 days, and it's all capital money. So, it's, you know, we've got capital money, but it's great to have
$14 million quickly from Bard Health rather than to wait around uh forever. To my knowledge, Dr. Heepern, that money is going to move pretty fast soon as we get the contract signed. I think they have 30 or 60 days. >> Yes. Correct. >> So, uh that's terrific. Look forward to to helping them. >> Is it 120?
>> 120. >> Okay. Yeah, I know it's a 30 days for something in the >> but it's not 60 days. I just don't want us to walk away think okay >> I'm I am confident that Broward Health is going to write us a check even faster than the uh the minimum requirement.
They're afraid some crazy schoolboard member will haul them in here to negotiate again or something. So, uh am I right, Dave? I'm not right. Thank you, sir. I appreciate that. Yeah, we can negotiate the payment terms if you like. My colleagues would kill me. Um uh so we
did seagull, we did Deerfield Elementary because it just doesn't make any sense. And Margarate, what we're asking for Mr. Daret is to pause this change order. Let's get a good cost estimate, bring it back to the board. Um and let's figure out where we want to go. Love Broward
Health North. Um the only thing that I mean I love the Cyrunk Rising. Let's rip it and grip it. Let's let's go right. But but I'm curious about the mix of one, two, and threebedroom. It's been a real eyesore for my developer friends to get people to do onebedroom studios at
any price. They just don't want them. So, I would just be careful of the mix that you do there. I know it's pre-construction, so you can move things around, but onebedroom studios, 600 square f feets are there, people just don't want them. They'd rather have a two-bedroom and pay a little bit more. Um, so I'll just ask you to be careful
with um, you know, people that are building in the area. The question that I have, Dr. Heern, is all is this are 300 units reserved for Broward County School employees? Dr. Wanza, >> oh, do you want to speak? I I believe I know the answer, but go ahead. I don't want to speak for you. If it's okay, can
they answer the question, Madam Chair? Okay. >> I can talk in any of my meetings. >> Okay. >> Thank Thank you. >> Um, in terms of the units, I I want to be careful about the wording because we're trying to make sure we fully comply with state laws and state laws were recently modified to allow for us
to provide this preference. Prior to that, the Fair Housing Act would have essentially mandated everyone. So that's the only reason I'm being careful about the wording. There will be a priority preference plan. And so what that will mean and what we can do legally is we
can offer first choice for an extended period of time to the employees that you tell us are qualified. Whether that process is a simple process or an extended process, there would be a preference. And so any unit that's available, the plan that I mentioned
would stipulate the way that we make it known to your employees and they would have first choice to come. We would stipulate a certain period of time those units would be available for your employees that would consist that would continue for the entire term of the lease. So every unit every time it's
available would be made available with a priority basis to your employees to the fullest extent of the state laws. And the second these state laws allow us to guarantee and reserve it and preserve it for you, we'll do that as well. >> And if we need the lawyers that are doing the Dave Thomas thing to come talk
to you guys about how they did it there, they did 100% forever. So we can uh we can give you their phone number. >> We welcome. >> Uh this is a 99-year lease. Will this be affordable housing for 99 years? >> Yes. So we are off in per peruity full term of the lease. We will keep it
affordable. I I have the developer in the back room and we've confirmed that. They actually corrected me and told me perpetuity. I said an extended period of time and they said perpetuity. So, thank you. >> For as long as we're there. Yes. >> Last question. There's a clause in here about potential purchase of that
townhouse land. I do not support that. I I appreciate the 99-year lease that would allow people to move from rental to uh a version of ownership, right, with the 90-year lease without us having to give the the right for you to as a
developer to own that land and sell it to the people, right? There's nothing that stops somebody from buying a piece of property that's on a 99-year lease property. >> We're we're not making it. It's not a make or break. It's it's important to us. We're going to try to figure it out. I think your staff, Mr. Aabas who
particularly specifically highlighted some of the challenges to provide home ownership on deed land I mean on lease land particularly owned by a government agency as we said to him and we'll say here is whatever the terms we will try to maximize the opportunity so if and we
would like to purchase it but I respect the perspective that you've offered if we weren't allowed to purchase it we would go to the next best option and we think there are two pathways one is to do as you say pursue de, you know, pursue ownership on a 99-year lease to
the extent that the banks and the insurance companies will approve it. And if that's not viable, then we will go down the path of rental, but still a townhouse configuration for a family unit, but rental. >> I totally understand. I appreciate the effort. Last question on the public land
available that's uh right now potentially of high archaeological value. Regardless of what the final determination of that is, do you are you in your proposal uh leaving that to be public land? >> That's our intent. Absolutely. Yes. Terrific. >> And so we've programmed it in our site
plan as public land. We would anticipate that the development agreement, if we had the good grace of the board to negotiate the development agreement would include an attachment of our master development such that no materially significant changes could be made without us consulting you. And so
one of our offer is meaningful public land in addition to the inclusion of a transportation hub assuming the collaboration with the county. >> Terrific. And Dr. Heer, the 5,000 square feet of training space is of some value to you. >> Yes, absolutely. >> It's a nice place to get
>> centrally located easy to get off of 95 for many staff. >> How many people can fit in 5,000 square feet? Is that a 100? >> Depends what you're standing or sitting. But >> okay, it's it's all good. I Dr. Wanza, anything else I missed? Um I don't think so unless you're good
with the workshop topics what we um included on slide 36. If you're good with those then >> and dear I don't know if you mentioned a deer beach. >> Um >> he did he said that he's in he lease dear beach. You said lease do not sell. >> Absolutely. Yeah. We're not not in the
business right now. >> Um I'm sorry. Are you asking about items on 36 as well? >> Yeah on slide 36. That's what we have right now um um planned to talk with the board as we begin as we kick off
redefining for next school year. And so I didn't know if um this we just wanted the board to know. We always like the board and to see if the board wants to add any other topics or look for something specific in these items, but we just wanted the board to know that when we come back on the 21st of July,
>> the the only thing I'd ask is to elicitate a little bit more on the question that I asked getting us to 110% of fish. >> Yes. >> I think that the board deserves to know what the art of the possible is. Okay. >> For us to redefine how many schools and what specific feeder patterns would be
affected. I I'm not going to prejudge what this board's going to do, but I think it's very important for the board to know the answer to that question in some detail. >> I appreciate it. >> Thank you, ma'am. >> Dr. Zean, just to to clarify, where were you on the seagull? I heard you express
interest in option two. And >> one, if they don't have any construction requirements, if they can just move in as it's currently built and do the training, that's another way to hold on to that land for a year until we figure out what to do. space there. >> Got it. Okay. Thank you. Um I have Miss
Thompson. >> Thank you, chair. Um I'll be quick. I um am also in favor of First Eagle to look at option one R3 like Dr. Ho and Bulman said. Uh for North Fork, I would like to
go forward with Sunk Rising. I do think home the home ownership component is something that is so important and very much lacking in the affordable housing workforce development housing space. So if in order to make that possible, we
need to sell that piece of land to them, um I would be for that because we're still leasing the other part. Um and it's hard to build home ownership on land that you don't actually own. Um, as far as Margate Miller Middle, I am in
agreement with doing a new building. Um, Deerfield Beach Elementary. I think I would like to see how much that they're willing to pay for that land and then determine whether the lease makes sense or not because are
they still I get the question are they interested in continuing the lease if we don't want to sell it or are they going to find land elsewhere? >> Just a point of correction, it's an easement. is not a lease and that was done a long time ago. Um it's kind of a
weird arrangement to use an easement. So um the easement is still continuing and it's not really negatively impacting the school. So the the the um the I'm sorry Chris Aabusu director facility plan real
estate the city has been using the parking area for a long time. They just thought they'll purchase it, but it was conveyed, not conveyed, but it's via an easement, which is kind of weird. >> Okay. So, are they paying for the easement?
>> Well, they would like to No, no, no. They don't. No, they're not paying for the ement, but but they would like to buy it. >> So, right now, we're getting nothing, but we could get something if we let them buy it. >> Correct. >> All right. So, I'm in favor of that
plan, then. Um, and then as far as uh Broward Health, I think that's a good solution and I'm happy that that has come to fruition. And then I had some questions on the three or
four potential sites for um housing. How are we going to go about like talking to those communities because I think at least one is a pretty high traffic could potentially do tra some traffic impact. Same with wellab um
because I was a social worker there. So what is that process if we give the green light to go ahead with those? >> Okay. So um it it would kind of mirror the process that we are doing now with the Dave Thomas site. So the the first
thing Mr. Akabuso has actually um in he's in conversation with the city managers of the three cities to see first of all where where would the city sit in this and then once we know where the cities would sit then we would have the conversation obviously with the
local communities and have and see um if that is something that you know they would w want to see. So we will follow kind of the same um methodology that we are doing with the current um plan up at Dave Thomas. So first so our first conversation is is
with the cities to see if that's something that the municipalities are interested in in even going down that path um as far as um a of opportunities to erect affordable housing in the community. And then we would then have to go in those local communities and
have the conversation to see to see where um what their input and what their thought processes are. Obviously um we've had some conversation with the school principles. Um and then we would have to we would certainly have to then
come back here to the board and explain all of the feedback that we've received and then get direction from the board on next steps. Yes, Chris, you may add to it. We've already spoken to the city manager for Plantation and Sunrise. Plantation
seems to be very receptive and they're willing to work with us. Um the city of Sunrise is going to get back to us in 30 days. They just want to do some additional due diligence but didn't push back. We are still trying to get a meeting with the city of Marget city
manager. So that's where we are. >> Okay. I I think there's a need in in Broward County for housing and just to be clear, we would never be ma managing this housing um for anyone who's going to start writing that. But I remember
from previous conversations that there was a lot of push back about housing um in particular from one or two of the Margate commissioners. So I don't know how that would go over and I don't want to I want this to be a partnership with
our cities. So I think if they are against it um then I would not be able to support it but if there seems to be some some interest from those cities then I would like us to explore it further. And then last comments I think
for the presentation on the 21st that that looks good. And can we also just include um an update on how the district assisted with the closed school staff like moving locations and kind of the
impact bargaining that we did with the unions like what the outcome of that was and how the teachers are feeling about re being reclocated. Yes, >> I would appreciate that component. >> Okay. >> And then that's that's all for me. Thank you, chair.
>> Thank you, Mr. Seivera. >> See if we can land the plane here. Right. So, uh I'm in favor of Sister Rising. Um yes to Eagle Haven. The um idea that Dr. Jersey had which
seagull I thought was a good one. Um on one and or two depending on uh costs on one uh pause on Margate Middle and yes to the easement. I'm just confirming because I' I've heard lease and I've heard easement. Just confirming it is an easement agreement. Correct.
>> It's an easement. Okay. >> I'm in favor. Thank you. >> Thank you. Um and I just had a few questions and a few comments. So I want I want my colleagues to be kind of
cleareyed about what option uh one would look like at Seagull. Um I would want to see like many of my colleagues what it would cost for us to invest money um to make option one happen. I know that when the
city of Fort Lauderdale was looking at turning it into a public safety training complex, um it was going to be over a million dollars just to plan the design uh for that facility. I know that what or at least what I'm hearing from Chief Gregory is it wouldn't be, you know, as
extensive as what the city of Fort Lauderdale was talking about, but um I would need to see the amount of money we would have to invest to create to make that a public safety complex. But also um again, I want to remind my colleagues
that there is a daycare on campus um or there will be at Whit Whitten right now. Um, so hearing that we would be doing active shooter trainings at Seagull or on the Seagull site, I have some
questions about that. Like would that be after school hours? >> Go ahead, Chief Gregory. >> Mike Mike Gregory, chief safety and security officer. Uh, no, it would we haven't f fleshed out a schedule yet. Uh, we'd have to get back with you what that would look like. Ideally, it would
be at uh the times that the the uh different agencies officers were available. So, that's typically the dayshift hours, but they obviously have officers that work night shift as well. So, it'd be at different hours. I would uh be mindful to say that they aren't actually shooting uh live ammunition
during uh training. It's uh simunitions which are much quieter in in nature and they aren't quite as disruptive. uh there would be sound effects inside the building uh to simulate actual uh uh training a real live training environment but it wouldn't be such that
it would disturb the neighborhood. It wouldn't be that to that extent. >> Um okay. I would really in order to feel comfortable with that, I would need to be assured that like the students at Whitten
um would not feel the impacts here in mostly like sound would not hear the impacts of such training. Um and then I would also want to know how much we would be able to charge uh external
agencies for taking those classes. Um, so I don't know if Dr. Hepper, you've captured that. >> I'm capturing it now. >> Okay. Um, and I'll just say like as a teacher, I participated in active shooter training
where, you know, it was obviously not uh live rounds, but the sound effects were quite quite loud. So, um, I just I have concerns. Um, I am uh well, so I had some questions for the Cyrunk Rising
team. Um, and you know, I I had a meeting last week, so none of these questions are are a surprise, but I I think it's important for the public to understand uh the answers to some of these questions. Um, where is the financing coming from for this project?
>> Absolutely. Thank you for the question. The project as proposed includes a couple of different components that are going to be isolated projects and so I have to address them individually. The biggest single biggest component would be the 300 units of affordable housing
and the financing for that will be as a lowincome housing tax credits uh likely bond some bond money 4% bond money and then also other typical funds that are usually available for affordable housing. The county no guarantees but
the county offers funds for support of affordable housing. Select cities do. I know the city of Fort Lauarddale is considering it and so in short that would be financed in the same way that traditional affordable housing is financed. It is structured between the
30 and 80% AMI to be optimally attractive to that funding mechanism. So that's one component. the town houses of which there will be 18 town houses. Uh you know we we're we're talking about the deed or not deed but let's let's
assume there's uh ownership component they they would be financed by in the same way that typical workforce sort of single lot housing is financed. Our partner in that regard has actually
undertaken multiple transactions within the city of Fort Lauderdale within the last 5 years. So the intent would be to use many of the same programs that are built for middle class individuals to own houses to do just that. Uh just so
you can understand a perspective from a timing standpoint, the site currently is not zoned for commercial andor residential development. So there would likely be a 10 plus month period of time with which we would navigate the process with the city. We would also in parallel
use that time to line up financing options for the projects. Finally, the final component of significance would be the hotel. That would be finance using traditional market rate funding mechanisms. uh a hotel of that nature
likely in the range of 125 rooms would consist of somewhere around 60 to 65% debt that would be offered by the market. We would bring in a we would have to ultimately get a license agreement or a franchise agreement with a national hotel company to come in and
that would likely come with a developer who's done multiple of those properties to build that out. None. To be clear, there would be no expectation uh of any funding being provided by the district. No request, no expectation of
that. Uh you would be offering the land and we would then subsequently lease the land. We expect that if you were to give us a good grace of negotiating a a lease agreement that the lease agreement would have some provisions in there that say if things are taken too long and that
there would be repercussions to allow the district to move forward with the property. Does that answer your question, Chair Leonardi? >> Yes, thank you. Can you um go over the timeline for this? So if we give direction today that we want to move
forward with cyrunk rising um what what are the next steps? When can we expect shovels in the ground? When can we expect this to be completed? When can we expect the district to start earning money from the lease agreement?
>> Sure. And then I I could hear the smiles behind me already, but I I'll I'll hazard an attempt to be responsive to you. So first, if we were to get a uh I'm not going to be presumptive, but if as we go forward with consensus, we would proceed to negotiate with your
staff, negotiating in the comprehensive agreements. Can't speak about timing, but I given the way these things are, we're prepared to negotiate expediently. So, we think there's an opportunity to have that back to you for consideration by the fourth quarter of this year, uh
potentially the third quarter of this year, and you would have a lease agreement and a development agreement. If that were approved going forward, we would then immediately spring into two things. As you've alluded to earlier, there are some considerations relative
to uh seminal Indian uh seminal Indian artifacts potentially or or sites of significance that are there. There's a state process that is stipulated. You all have started that with some of your studies. So, we would undertake that process. In parallel, we would start to
work on the entitlements process with the city. We expect that process to take 10 months. So, it was going to take us 10 months to get the site zoned so that we have the right to build the kind of uses that we are proposing. uh you know
as I mentioned before in parallel and overlaid with that we would be undertaking to explore the funding market with a high priority being to get the affordable going as quickly as possible. Uh yeah the process is somewhat uncertain. Our belief is that
inside of two years after you have allowed us to one and very likely more of the components, the three components, town homes, affordable apartments and hotel, one or two of those components would have been started within that time
frame. But the first year or so, we will be working through diligently the uh entitlement process and whatever agreement we would enter with you would stipulate level of effort to give you some comfort and there would be coordination with your real estate team so they're aware of our movements.
>> Thank you. Um and then my next questions are for the general counsel. Um do any aspects of this uh project qualify or meet the criteria for a P3? So,
the way it was solicited is the only question that I would have on that one cuz it's I'd have to look at the history a little bit more to determine whether it was not an unsolicited proposal. It was an unsolicited proposal. >> Correct. >> Okay. So, if it was an unsolicited
proposal, then yes. >> Okay. So, I just want to make sure that we're in compliance with all of our policies and all statutes. >> So, that would be something that I will get together with staff. I know that we
now have a policy coming and we have processes. We'll just make sure that we are in compliance um with whatever is required. Okay. Um All right. For seagull, I am
in the minority, I guess. Um, I would like to pursue option three for now, but I would like the, you know, since I'm in the minority there, I'll I'll go with option one and three. Um, I would really like to the information that I requested for option
one. I'm in favor of a Margate replacement, in favor of the Deerfield easement. Um, I support Miss Thompson's proposal for how including, you know, how we've dealt with the closed schools in the next um in the next workshop. Um,
I am in favor of the Eagles Haven request like everyone else has said. Um, and I am in favor of Cyrunk Rising as long as we follow like all of our policies and state statutes and and all of that. Um,
oh, and then for for a slide 36 again like I would very much like to see a formalized process for um how we accept proposals or how we deal
with our our the properties of the schools that we are consolidating. I find it really uh I struggle with the fact that, you know, land is probably one of the most valuable resources in Broward. And we
really only have one proposal for for a very very uh valuable piece of land land, a very good proposal. Um but one nonetheless when I think there should be much more competition for our land. Um, and I think that says something about
how we are going about this process that I think needs to be improved. Like people should be begging us to in competing for for our land. Um, so I would really like to see in the next workshop and you know I'll keep saying it because I've asked for this, but I
would really like to see a formal process for how we deal with our our schools um and how we accept proposals or whatever you want to call it um moving forward. Miss Deprio, did you want to I saw you and Dr.
>> Well, thank you, Miss Leonardo. What I was going to say is is that's what um the general counsel has been working on as far as policies are concerned to to ensure that we do have a formal policy as well as procedural um the standard operating procedures, procedural manual
for how we then implement um the intent and the language in the policy. So yes, Miss um Leonardi, that will definitely as we launch redefining this third year, that will be a very intricral part of um the process. So the policy is coming to
the board for the final adoption on the 23rd. That's the public private partnership policy and there's already a draft of the process as well as standard operating procedure that staff is fine-tuning. So we can come and share that with you when it's finalized.
>> Thank you Miss Hixon. >> Thank you. Thank you for giving me opportunity to weigh in again. I will just say chair, you're not necessarily a loner on that. I also think for seagull, I would rather look at option three first. Um although I do know that a
training facility is necessary because I had had a number of um law enforcement and officers and and detectives and stuff asking about the opportunity to use some of our schools after you know after school to do some of that training
because we know the training is really important. Um, I I do share some of the concerns that you have and I know this sounds maybe a little less, but they're still traumatizing. Um, and again, I know it's such an
important training for students to have, but um, anyway, I mean, it's important training for for the police to have in order to be prepared. Um, but I do think that even the slight possibility of it
being able to be heard is concerning. I'm not saying no to it exactly, but my order would be to look at option one first and then I'm sorry, option three first and then bring us like what would how much money would that garner? Is there anybody even really interested?
And then if that doesn't pan out to look at option one and then option two. Um so for Margate I'm okay to to halt for right now especially because
um I think we have the facilities assessment stuff. I do agree that spending my pockets of money here and there don't necessarily help overall when something is in the distress that Margate Middle
is in. And you know, we were already getting ready to spend money on a cafeteria because it's way too small for the students. But my question I have on that is, have we I mean, I don't think we have based on the presentation, but I just want to be clear. Have we spent any money on design for the cafeteria as of
yet? >> Uh Sonia Coley, no. Executive director, no, we have not spent any uh money on the uh design for the cafeteria. >> Okay, perfect. Thank you. But I do I mean listed on there if we vote if we if we say yes to Margate the proposal
that's here we are still going to finish some of that work and that's being done like the restrooms and we're going to make sure that they have proper working air and all those pieces that will allow them to be comfortable and not
distressed in the school. I just want to be really clear that that's part of of saying yes to this. Am I correct? Yes, that is a part of the overall uh proposal. Uh we did talk about setting aside some of the dollars to keep the
school functioning until such time as we can decide what we want to do going forward. >> Okay, great. But I would just like to add I think we do need to do more than just keep it functioning, right? We want it to be comfortable. We want it to be a place where students want to show up.
So, I'm okay with halting for now and coming up with a better plan because honestly, I think building a whole school might almost be cheaper than just the cafeteria. Although, I know that that's not the case. But, if we're already looking at the cafeteria, when
you fold that into a new school, I think it it works out to be what way less than what we're trying to figure out here. So, I'm okay with that. But, I I don't want it just to be functional. I wanted to be comfortable in a place where students and staff are happy to go every
day. Um I'm yes to Deerfield Beach. Um on page 31, just a couple of questions about the the other p um using other spaces for housing. It says that these spaces were identified. So who
identified the spaces? >> Hi um Mrs. Hicks and this is Valerie. Um, so there was a workshop presentation that the board did on um it was back in June June 10th of 2025
and in that presentation these three schools were called out in that presentation. I'm sorry. >> Okay. >> Well, so Margate and Wellby were specifically called out and at that time um school
board member current vice chair Dr. Dr. Hoes asked for plantation to be considered. >> Okay. I just because it just says they were identified. So I just want people to know, you know, how that happened. So it also says that there's the RFP for
Dave Thomas will go out. So I'm just a little confused because I thought we were already working with someone to to build out the Dave Thomas. >> So I will let um Mr. White, our our executive director of procurement, speak to that. and so that he can give the
board a little um additional information. >> Good afternoon. John Wesley White, uh interim executive director of procurement, task assigned. Want to give you a brief uh 20,000 foot overview on
where we are with the P3 project for uh Dave Thomas. The Office of General Counsel, as you've heard earlier, did share a draft P3 process, standard operating procedure and policy for review and comment on May 27th. The
procurement and real estate and outside council, Oscar Sodto, have been collaborating on the scope and requirements for the solicitation. As of early this week, we feel that we are about 80% to 85% complete with drafting
the solicitation. Uh we've already gone to EDOC and they have submitted some draft language uh to be incorporated in it to address local small and minority business participation in the project. And we are currently working to issue
and advance public notice of the pending project. And I think this also addresses some of the concerns of the board that uh you want to see an adequate amount of competition uh for this very valuable uh set of properties. And so what we're doing is we're going to draft up a short
notice and then post it and let them know that hey this is something that's going to be coming uh in the near future and so go ahead and start getting your teams together to be able to uh uh bid on it. Mr. Sodto, our outside council is
currently updating the draft P3 comprehensive agreement and drafting a determination for Dr. Heepburn to sign indicating that this is a qual a qualifying project per Florida statute 255.065
and the draft board policy. Um, and this all relates to this being a facility that's uh being used as for educational purposes. um and for the public good. And so that determination is required before we can formally proceed. Uh real
estate is moving forward to have a Florida licensed architect or engineer prepare a required design criteria package. We don't anticipate that this is going to be a major timeconsuming effort as this information is pretty readily available in the draft scope of
work. It's going to address things like the number of units which is approximately 90 1 to fourbedroom configuration lowincome residential units not a mixeduse property 50 to 100% low income based on agreement that has
yet to be finalized with the city of PMPO Beach community room playground area on-site parking hurricane windows and doors perimeter fencing security lead or equivalent certification. So, we've got all that information. We just need to get an architect to pull that
together in a formal design criteria package. And as as far as a preliminary schedule goes, if we continue to make progress at this rate, I'm hoping to be able to get this out on the street approximately the 23rd
of July to the end of July. We'd have a biders conference about 30 days later, assuming uh July 30th. Questions would be due August 4th. Responses uh to any questions we would get published by the 13th of August. Proposals would be due
tenatively September 21st. Depends on what feedback we get from the developers saying that they may or may not need additional time. We've already built in about 60 days there for them to work on this oral presentations uh the first week of October and then we would look
to come to the board for approval by the uh 10th of November. >> Okay. Thank you for that. But so just to go back to my original question though the people that came and presented that's not that's not moving forward. We're now
going for out for RFPs and there could be a number of other people that have the opportunity to to present something. Is that correct? >> Jump in here. >> Yeah. >> So, so Mrs. Six and Urkabusu. So, we've
been working and Mrs. Bruno is really uh things are converging right because we are almost done like he said with the P3 RFP template one of the things we're doing um m Mrs. Bruno Mr. So is going to take the policy. We had a meeting
yesterday and then incorporate this is where the design criteria is coming in to incorporate that into the package for the P3. So we're actually incorporating the policy requirement into the P3 before it goes out. Definitely you're going to be seeing
everything. Um so Mr. 2016 the presentation that was done last year we've been working and there's a lot of steps and those steps uh nobody to my knowledge has come and presented you
know meaning interested in doing any development of uh Dave Thomas site so we've just been on this road to make sure that we are doing what we're supposed to be doing and things converge whereby now there's going to be a policy and then the
template is definitely ly addressing the statute requirements. >> Okay, maybe I'm not remembering right, but someone came and showed us a design and you know what could be done there. So I guess I'm just confused. >> No, let me clarify. I know what you're
saying. Now when when the presentation was done, we retained there was a three conceptual layouts that was a component of that presentation on June 10th of what it could look like. So that's what that's what you're referring to because we wanted to present what the conceptual
layout may be but those are intellectual properties. So it just what could be that's what was presented to the board but not somebody presenting saying this is what they want to build. >> Okay. I appreciate that cuz I guess I got it jumbled. So thank you for that.
Um I would also say so if cities are interested in um having these discussions I think yes we should go forward but I just want to bring up a point that I think is is really important for us to consider. We have
some development that's happening in the city of Hollywood and they're right next to schools and I don't think until they started building them they really understood the impact that those buildings would have on the privacy and
safety of our students because how adjacent they are. So, I have some concerns with building housing so close to our schools because they're actually right on the school land and these are actually buildings that are across the street from the school. But when you
build up too high, the balconies now have access to seeing our students. And and I I don't want to get too detailed in here, but I will just say there is a big I personally have a big concern
about allowing housing to be so close to our students on school grounds and the height of the building. So if we do have these discussions and however that moves forward, I think it's really important that we take all that into account as we
roll out how we might use these spaces together. Um so I um agree with the chair about a formal process for proposals for lands because things kind of came at us halfhazardly. Um so I'd
like to see more formal and if I'm not mistaken, I think there's a policy coming forward already. So, I appreciate that. And my last question is, it seems, and I will thank all my colleagues for um consensus to move forward with the new Broward Health proposal with um
Eagle Haven. And I just was wondering when we can see that contract coming to the board so we can get moving on this. >> Uh our intention is to bring as soon as possible, but Mr. Akabuso how much time do you need?
>> So I had spoken to the outside council as a proactive um if the component it depends on what finally the board gives direction regarding ego saving is taken out. So we've pretty much come close to the
actual sale has been nailed down in the agreement of sale and purchase. The student engagement agreement is going to be a component. So we may I spoke to the outside council. We may be able to bring it on the 23rd if you choose. That's what he told me.
>> That that's the goal, Miss Hixon, is to bring it on the 23rd. And then if I may, Madam Chair, just add a little bit to the discussion of Broward Health and GC, please uh jump in as needed. Uh now that we have board consensus, uh Broward
Health now is going to uh issue a new letter of in of intent. Uh their original letter of intent included uh the value of the space that they were going to give to us that we're going to sub lease to uh Eagle's Haven. Uh so since that's not going to happen uh that
that's going to be taken out and the purchase price is going to be $14 million. Uh anything outside of that uh in terms of donation will be done between Broward Health and Eagles Haven. it would not be part of the letter of intent or uh the purchase of of that
land. But GC >> and the only other thing that I would add is that the board really does need to understand that this is not our negotiations. Um basically this is a donation from Broward's Health and they're the the
only person that can really enforce anything would be um Jaffco through Eagles Haven. This is not a board transaction. The only transaction that we're involved in is the sale of the land for the 14 million. >> Yes. And I appreciate that and I I think
it actually makes it cleaner and easier. Um, and I'm sure everybody is going to come through with what they're supposed to do. So, thank you again to my colleagues for giving consensus. And I think that's it for me. Thanks so much. >> Thank you, Mrs. Alhida.
on page five of the presentation, can staff give a board member followup and put in I guess I on Whitten Win Rogers where the preschool is located on the the map and then my question is this
orange line is that showing what is that actually showing is that just showing like that's where the schools are divided. So, uh, thank you, Miss Ahad. This is Valerie Wanza. It's okay. I'm sorry. I just started talking. Um, so,
uh, on page five, what you see is initially when, um, the city of Fort Lauderdale entered a proposal to potentially do a public safety um, training complex there. That's where we
actually drew the line for separation between everything to the right is what the city would potentially occupy on the um seagull side of that parcel of land because as Dr. even said this entire
parcel of land is really one parcel of land. Seagull and Whitten. Everything to the left of that orange line is everything that is being occupied by Whitten Rogers to ensure that they have the space and the capacity to um operate
the school that is now consolidated, Seagull and Whitten. Um we will put on the map exactly where the child care um uh wing is. And it's hard for me to kind of tell you, but I I physically know where it is. Um, but we will certainly
do a followup and delineate for the board where it is. If you see those um just adjacent to the um the orange line, there are two buildings and the ch the the babies, the the nursery is to the left of that. So, they are they are not
in those two buildings that are right there by the orange line. They're a little bit further west, but we can provide for the board um a a cleaner depiction that shows you exactly where the babies are on the campus.
>> And then is there a a physical fence that separates the two schools or no, it's just one? >> So, there will be and there there always was some type of fence there that separates them. Of course, we would have had we we were going to move the fence
to allow for this the appropriate space that we need, but yes, there will absolutely be a fence um that would go up so that there's clear separation of what would be on that um quote unquote seagull sign side and that clearly
separates it from the Whiten Rogers side. >> Okay. Thank you for explaining that. So, I'm for option one having the school safety training center site. I think that the board also needs to not only
look at the the financial part of it, but the the value that the district will gain to have a training center for SROS and our guardians for them having a
place to go to actually do the physical training. uh because we all know that in a life-threatening situation that your body goes into fight or flight and you fall back to your training. So there is
such a high level of value of us having our own training center for our SRO and our guardians to go to to have their own place to train. So, I really would um like the board to reflect on that part
of it with creating this as a training center and not only for for our district, but then to allow other districts potentially or agencies to come in and them to be charged something to do the training there. But, you know,
we I think it it shows a lot that the board is values the training part of making sure that in a lockdown situation that our officers know exactly what to
do and and where to go to take down a potential threat. Thank you. Oh, I'm sorry. Hold on. and Deerfield Beach. Um, I would like to see the two options to lease or sell and Margate Middle School.
Let's hold on that. And you know, I'd like to see what it would be to uh build a new building and the cost to doing that. And I just um for feedback to Dr. Heepern uh with staff is u on page four
with the options that was really helpful. I would have loved to see that, you know, throughout the document for all the other schools because it just makes it very concise and easy. Thank you. >> Thank you, Dr. Zean. >> Thanks so much, chair. I I worried that
a little bit we're talking past each other. Chair, when you brought up the point about a process for disposing of land and then we talked about a policy for P3s. P3 is one way to dispose of land but I believe chair that we actually need a better policy for disposing of land like um other agencies
have figured out how to say okay it's disposed and then they put it up for sale they have a process that uh allows multiple people to come in propose different things even though they also chair have to get the city's agreement on zoning and permissions and all that ahead of time uh but but then you get
more than one and I think that's really important for us to get the best value in the future so I just don't want to talk asked ourselves. I think right now, chair, we could ask for a process for disposal of land that is separate from the policy on P3s. Is that fair, general counsel?
>> So, if I may, >> policy 8020. So, that's probably I'm sorry, 8030 is probably um if um and I just say that to the general counsel as you're looking at prioritizing policies through the Neola process, policy 8030 is our policy for the disposal of land.
So that may be something if you want to prioritize based on the feedback from the board. >> So So you have a policy that is also coming forward um for review next week which is about the surplus of land.
>> Terrific. And then what we need to do from that point is to also create the processes and the SOPs that go along with it. >> And that's my point is that we are now shifting to a new management structure where uh John Sullivan and the superintendent and staff are responsible for creating the process. They can do
that right now and that would satisfy the chair's interest and I think the board's interest to be honest with you about let's modernize our disposal of front of land. We didn't do a lot before but I think we're going to be in that business for the next half a dozen years or so. So, why don't we get the process
right now? So, uh, Mr. Sullivan, can we take a followup on that on whether or not we can get the process done for disposal of land since we're we're moving it out of policy and putting it under the superintendent? >> Yeah, we can provide a follow-up. >> Thank you. Um, uh, actually, chair, I I
think, uh, can we get consensus on just asking for that process to be developed? >> Does anyone object to that? >> Thank you. >> Anyone online objecting? Nope. >> No. >> I just might want to make sure, chair,
we weren't uh because because P3 and selling land is really distinct things. Second thing, when we did Dave Thomas as a P3, it was 100% affordable. So, I'm not sure why uh Mr. White is talking about 50 to 100% now. Uh when did that
change? John White, director of procurement. We've got to get final agreement with the city of Pompo Beach. That's what that's why we're going for 100%, but Pompo Beach might not allow us to do 100%.
>> So, uh, >> so that's ongoing discussion. >> Uh, we have already gained consensus with the city of Pompo and you can go back and look at some meeting notes from our former chief facilities officer to that extent. >> Okay, I'm I'm good with that. >> Yep. I just don't want to ask twice
because then they then they might think they can go back. >> Okay. >> I'm coming in a little >> and the reason is that the housing that's being built around the city hall complex, all of that entire massive complex they're doing is market rate. And so they said yes, it's okay. And
they have a special zone that they could do 100% affordable because everything across street is marketplace. They really like our employees being there uh partaking in the transportation and the city hall uh you know uh mixeduse property that they're building across
the street. >> And I mean to Dr. Zemon's point I I feel like I keep saying I don't love getting proposals in my junk folder for a piece of land that is millions and millions of dollars. Like that is not how a serious
organization >> sells or leases or does anything with their land. That's I don't know how else to say it. Miss Bulman, just two little questions. Um, in regards to the Eagle's Haven, if we're
getting a new letter of intent, then how are we I'm I'm agreeing to this because we're there's an a donation. So, how do we know that that's happening? Mr. Sullivan. >> Um, they've made public commitments to
that. Um, but it won't be part of our agreement that the board would vote on. >> Okay. I mean, if everyone else feels good about that, but I'm personally putting on the record that I'm agreeing to this based on them publicly stating that they're going to do this.
Otherwise, I might have a different opinion. Um, and then my second question is I wanted to revisit Deerfield because I um I wasn't really clear on what was being asked. So, we have a there's currently an easement that they're not they're not paying for.
>> Correct. So, >> and so is are we is is the option either to sell the land to them for an undetermined price because there's nothing I didn't see a cost or to lease it to them. >> So, um it's to keep the easement
agreement. So, and I was kind of getting little um interchanging words that I should not have been. So, we currently, if you look on slide 28, and if Beacon can put up slide 28, um for approximately 60 years, there has been
an agreement in effect with the city for the use of the easement for parking. >> Okay. >> And that is at no cost. Correct, Mr. Okay. That is at no cost. The city approached us about possibly purchasing that. We have not done an appraisal. Correct.
Okay. We we have not done an appraisal to um uh determine the value. So, we were we we came to the board or we're here today to see is that something that you know you want us to go ahead and look at. Do we want to go ahead and go through the appraisal process and go go
down that route or do we want to just continue with the easement agreement process that we have been doing for the better part of 60 years? >> So, now that I'm thinking about this a little bit differently because I didn't understand at all what was happening before, so I apologize. Um, it I guess
it begs the question of why this would be coming up all of a sudden after 60 years of using the parking lot for free. >> Go ahead. Yes, you may talk. >> So, there's two components of that school site that his that's an historical building that's been boughted
up and the city manager um that building is historical, so you can demolish it. Um I'm trying to remember, it's pretty big. I'm trying to remember the square footage. So, the city was interested in
renovating the building and then they're interested in buying the building and trying to do like a cultural community facility with us being able to utilize or they want to lease it. So, administration through the
superintendent preferably we want to lease it. So, then the city said, "Okay, we have this little piece over here. We also want to buy it." So that's how that conversation. So it wasn't just they came to us for the parking. It was starting with a historical building that's on that
school site, same school site and it's building one. >> So I guess we would need I would need more information. I don't even understand. There seems to be more complicated than what was initially presented to us. So, I'd like to see the whole story and what we're looking at so we can make a educated decision about,
you know, because I I don't immediately have a a problem selling it to another municipality. I I would feel more comfortable sending it to a municipality than for a private developer. I wouldn't want to do that at all, but I would like to know the details of this before I
make a >> We can we can um we don't have to do that today, right? That's not an immediate decision. So we can absolutely bring back additional information um for the board to contemplate. >> Okay. >> That item. >> Thanks. That's it,
>> Mr. Prio. >> So I I want to make sure that um the board understands and that members of the public also understands there is a very specific process for both um public private partnerships as well as sales. And next week when the board hopefully
the board approves the two policies, you will have to go through the bidding process for surplus land. It cannot be sent something that's just sent to the board. It has to go through procurement and the same thing for your public private partnership. So the policy is
there. It has some instructions in there and there will be additional processes that are created. So I wanted to make sure that is on the record so everybody understands that. >> Thank you, Miss Hixon. Thank you. Just to um address board
member Bowman's concern. Um, I believe if Broward Health were to do a formal agreement with Jaffco, who represents Eagles Haven, and maybe that could be that agreement with them or whatever they draft up could be attached as maybe
backup to our item that comes, we could all be very confident that it's not a a suggestion that it's definitely a donation that everyone is committed to. And even though we're not part of it,
maybe it could just be the background information given with the item so that we are very clear that that is moving forward. There's no chance that it's not going to happen. >> Dr. Wza. >> Oh, I thought you wanted to.
>> No, no, no. I I'm No, ma'am. >> Okay. >> I think the general counsel >> Yeah. And I think I think Broward Health is is willing to to do that formal agreement. So, so we have to be really careful with the transaction. This is a sale of land. So, we don't want to
co-mingle the transactions. Um, if we do have correspondence from JAFCO um accepting what was offered by Bard Health, um, we can share that with the board. Um, and if there is a contract that is drafted, it could be shared with
the board, but we, excuse me, do not want to uh comele the transactions and have it attached as an exhibit to the agenda item. >> Okay. Yeah. As long as there's something that's provided to the board where we could see that it's it is a formal agreement. If you don't think it's
appropriate to attach it, I get that. But maybe just send it to us. So, we're very clear that again, it's not a suggestion. and it's it's written in stone if it moves forward. >> Thank you, Dr. Holes. >> Thank you, Madam Chair. Um, so I just
wanted to um give my input on Margate. Um, I support um the recommendation. Um, also regarding Deerfield Beach, um, I am glad Mr. Akabuso um clarified uh that we're not getting any money. So I think
getting money would be much better. So I am for the sale of it. Um Madame Chair, I am not sure if you have um gotten consensus. Uh I know you felt like you didn't on the on the seagull option
three but now getting clarity that option three um option one is actually not overly um financially um beneficial in terms of um um you know producing revenues. Um I am more for option three.
Um, you know, Seagull is a prime property and I don't have an issue with um, safety training, but I believe that as we continue to redefine schools, we're going to have other attractive sites that are not necessarily prime properties that we could have the safety
training uh, you know, uh, option um, exercise on those uh, other properties that are not necessarily as expensive or as prime as Seagull. So I would much uh prefer option three for seagull. And madam chair I think um I would probably
encourage you to take consensus on that again because um I was glad to hear your input um with the noise factor as well um with having um you know uh younger children uh there. Um so it was well
taken and I am more supportive of option three. I'd just like to make a comment as well on the cyst trunk rising. Um I don't believe the cy trunk rising project should be delayed or harmed by the by P3 policy. Um you know that
proposal was an unsolicited proposal that was then publicly disclosed to invite other proposals. I believe we received at least four multiple proposals were received and then filtered down to two. Um this was discussed in prior workshop before
coming to uh this workshop. Um you know I don't believe North Fork should um be delayed or forced to restart uh as a result of a new P3 policy. So I'm hoping that we can move ahead with it. Um my
understanding is that P3 process can be expensive. Um uh you know so there are many concerns uh to that. Um so I don't believe the the North Fork should be delayed um as a result of P3 policy um because we went through the process uh
we received multiple proposals and we filtered down to two and we're down to cyrunk rising. So I hope that we can move beyond that and um and continue the process with cyrunk rising and uh Dr. Dr. Wanza, I am okay with the um the
future workshop um topic. Uh and I think I covered everything. Thank you, Madam Chair. >> All right. So, just real quick, I want to retake the consensus on Seagull. Um I heard me uh Miss Hixon, Dr. Holess, and
Miss Bulman say that we wanted to pursue option three. Is that am I capturing that correctly? And then I heard option one or two. um Dr. Zean and Mr. Cera. Option one, Mrs. Alhadf and option one
and three simultaneously, Miss Thompson. But please correct me if I'm wrong, colleagues. Sorry. >> Oh, okay. So, sorry. So, Miss Bulman does not want to pursue option three. You want to pursue option one and three. Okay. So, that gives us three board
members in support of just option three. Two, Mr. Vera, >> since we've been at this for what seems like 10 hours now, can you please repeat option three? >> So, option three is to uh look at um
either selling or leasing the I have to go back to the exact slide. Miss Dr. Wanza, yes, are you doing right? So, so option three after formal policy and procedure development receive um formal proposals to either enter into a P3
opportunity with interested vendors or into a facility or land lease agreement with um interested parties. >> Okay, thank you. >> Okay, so again option one and three simultaneously, Miss Thompson, Miss
Bulman. Option three only, Miss Leonardi, Miss Hixon, Dr. Hoes. Option one or two, Dr. Zean or Mr. Seivera. And option one, Mrs. Alhadf. Am I capturing that correctly? >> I think so. >> Do you have your direction, Dr. Wanza? >> I think so.
>> Okay. Um, I heard a majority of the board in favor of the Margate replacement. A majority of the board uh in favor of the Deerfield easement. Is that correct?
>> Anything else that >> just on the Margate issue? I think there was a discussion about it's a pause and getting the the cost estimate before we decide on the replacement if that >> a little bit more accurate. >> Sorry, Margate. Pause. >> Thank you, Chair.
>> Anything else? Uh, Dr. Wanza. Oh, Miss Bowman. The the Deerfield. I think we're going to >> come back with more information first so that you all can see come back and lay out Deerfield um together >> what the ease meant what the when it was
an appraisal for Yes, we're going to come back Deerfield for a followup. >> Anything else? All right. Um >> Madam Chair, can you clarify what the decision was for Seagull? >> Dr. Wanza. So for Seagull,
the way I interpret what the board is saying is to really um probably come back with what option one and three look like so that the board can probably have a little deeper conversation, bring back what option one and what option three would look like. And we would bring that
back and a you know in a relatively um uh as expeditiously as we can. And at that same time, we will bring back the Deerfield um Beach Elementary School options, too, so that it is a true followup to this conversation.
Does that conform with what you have? Yeah, I mean I'm not really sure how we make sense of the the split, but yeah, I'm not opposed to what >> So, I would just bring back both and then the board and you know, hopefully we won't be at this hour and the board can really sit down and have a meaningful conversation about. >> But for for the seagull piece, I I do
need the information for option one like how much capital investment we would have to make, we have we would have to invest. >> Um how much money we could potentially how much revenue we could potentially generate. Um and the the safety piece, you know, that there would be no
intermingling of the babies and the active shooter trainings. >> Perfect. >> All right. Anyone else? Anyone online want to add anything? >> Well, and the value that the training
brings to the SROS and the guardians. >> Did you capture that, Dr. >> Yes, ma'am. >> All right. Anything else? All right. Our next item on the agenda is voluntary pre kindergarten pre kindergarten orientation.
>> Hey chair, I just um I have to go in 10 minutes. Are we um we're are we do we have some intent of trying to to um do VPK ahead of the capital or what are we going to try and accomplish here for the rest of the day? >> Mr. Sullivan, what do we have to
complete today? So, I believe we need to do the VPK item because they need uh that uh board feedback before um July 1 and then the meal prices so the board can vote on it uh on the on the 23rd.
>> In terms of the capital budget, I don't believe it needs to go today. And what we could do if the board likes um although there is a lot of items on the special, I don't believe they will take uh the entirety of the day. We could add that to the special as a presentation.
>> I'd love it. >> Second. >> Yeah. >> Is there any objection to adding a workshop to next week, Miss Bulman? >> No. If we can get out of here, it's soon. >> Anyone online want to add their input? But don't don't we have to do We're
doing power up, right? >> It's fine. >> Yes, madam chair. >> Yep. >> I'm fine with Oh, sorry. All right, >> Madam Chair. >> Yes, Dr. Holess.
>> Uh, yes. So, um, can John also look at the items we have on the 23rd, um, to determine if any of those items could possibly be delayed just in case the workshop >> and the current items will put us beyond 8 hours.
Svin. So the majority if not all the items on the 23rd have to go because they're items that expire at the end of this uh fiscal year. Uh but again most of them are small amounts and I don't anticipate a lot of those items uh having a great deal of discussion. So I
believe although I might live to regret this that there should be enough time to do the budget presentation uh capital at the end. >> Okay. Madam Chair, um can John comment on whether or not the meeting should start earlier to exhaust all the items?
>> Mr. Sullivan, >> uh that's at the will of the board. I believe the special is uh scheduled for 9:00 a.m. 8:45. Um we could do it at 8 a.m. if that's up to the board or we can keep it 8:45. >> I'm seeing everyone in the room who is a
minority shaking their heads, but uh anyone online want to suggest or want to I would like it not at 8 a.m. >> Yep. Me either. >> 8:30. >> No, it's 8:45.
>> Um, so we could either do >> 8 8:45 or 8 a.m. >> 8:45. >> All right. We will keep the meeting at 8:45. >> Yeah. >> VPK. Here we go. >> All right. Would we like the
presentation or go straight to board discussion? I've read the whole of presentation. I'm ready to talk. Chair. >> All right. Go ahead, Dr. >> Chair, if you don't mind. I believe that uh Dr. Cohen does have to just share something very briefly so they can make sure we're in compliance and then we'll be ready to take questions if that's
okay. >> We uh we're going to jump right to the end of the deck. Um and if the board wishes, we can come back and present uh the entire deck. I know that uh it was made it public so everyone had an opportunity but there's one essential question we do need to get answered. So
if we could go right to that question and get that answered we can schedule this for another meeting. Uh I'm going to introduce uh my team Shironda Bailey director of BPK Head Start and Paul. >> Thank you Dr. Con. Um good evening
board. Thank you for giving us the opportunity to address the one important question we need answered today. Our Head Start preschool program has been experiencing underenrollment as we have in our K through 12 um enrollment trends. And what we are proposing with
the office of Head Start is to be able to submit an application for us to convert our Head Start preschool slots to early Head Start slots. So, we are right now facing um reducing those slots as I mentioned on the Head Start
preschool side for our four-year-old program so that we can open the opportunity for our students or our children in the infants and toddler side of the house. Therefore, allowing allowing us to meet enrollment requirements for our Head Start preschool side of the house and also
meet enrollment for our Head Start uh infants and toddlers. So, I wanted to have that conversation with the board to see if they are willing to allow us to move forward with that application. >> Thank you, >> Miss Bulman.
>> So, um we're your proposal is that for the empty Head Start slots, we would change them to early. Are we changing all of the Head Start spots to early Head Start? So right now for the Head Start preschool side of our house, there are the three and four year olds and we
have 2003 seats. We're required to be at 97% uh for full enrollment and we've been hovering at 92% all year. So, we're proposing to reduce on our three to four year old side 77 seats on that side of
the house to bring us closer to being compliance for full enrollment, but also allowing us to convert those seats to open up 32 additional slots for our early Head Start program. >> All right, that sounds great. Thanks. Thank you.
>> You're welcome. >> Anyone else? Dr. Zean already gave his feedback. Anyone else? All right, we are good to move forward. Are you >> you have the direction you need? >> Oh, go ahead, Mrs. Alhadf.
>> No, this is Rebecca. >> One, I would really like this presentation to come back at some point because I think there is a a much bigger conversation on how we approach BPK and our our early learners. Um, so it's a
little frustrating um that this agenda has happened how it has. Um, I'm fine with this suggestion, but I just I think it's really important that we spend time and and invest in this program and I would like it reut on agenda in the future.
Thank you. >> We're happy to do that. >> Anyone else? Anyone else online? All right. Thank you. Our next item on the agenda is the food and nutrition services
meal benefits update. >> They'll be uh in about 30 seconds and I'll ask Dr. Wansa perhaps to go straight to the superintendent's recommendation unless the board wants a an elevator speech of the presentation.
Nope. I'm ready to talk. >> Chair. >> Yes, Miss Thompson. I think it is important to at least expand on the impact that C will have on other funding like title one and just make sure that the board is particularly
clear on on the consequences of each option they're proposing but otherwise I'm fine with an abbreviated presentation. >> I agree. >> So Dr. Dr. WS if you can just highlight the superintendent's recommendation and the importance of the uh funding impacts
on other uh revenue sources. >> So I will go to so um this is the team from food and nutrition services as you can see >> guys. Thank you for waiting. >> Yes. >> Yeah. You got power up and um I'm not certain if they're still on the line but
our partners from the Council of Great City Schools were on the line at some point um throughout the day. They're still on the line. This is >> explain why that membership is important. >> They're still here, Dr. Zan. >> Nice to see you, Ray. >> Pleasure to see you all as well.
>> Thank you for being here with us. So, I'm going to um go to page 22 of the presentation, the superintendent's um recommendations. So, the the superintendent's recommendations actually ask the board to um consider
four things. The first one is to implement some version of C which is the community eligibility provision which will allow for whatever number of schools the children in the schools as we know all
kids will have free breakfast but all of those kids will have free lunch as well. And then for the schools that are not included I'm on page 22 or is that right? Um, can you go to the revised presentation?
Okay. And then um for whatever number of schools that do not qualify for the community eligibility provision for all of the children to have free lunch, those um those schools we will still go through the traditional meal application
process to qualify as many children as possible for free, as many um students as possible for reduced and then the remaining would be full pay. and we can talk about how the groupings and the configuration at what percentage we do for that. Um the second um
recommendation is we are at a place where we do need to increase meal prices and the recommendation is to increase lunch at elementary, middle, high and adult by $1. And then um the uh we really want to encourage the board to uh
for us to return to our historical meal charge processes and we can talk about that a little bit. I've also been in um conversation with our colleagues in it to look at some kind of way how we can integrate the meal balance with something in focus so that kids can see
before they get to the cafeteria that whole conversation about you know do I have money before I actually get in the line and then u more than anything and we hear this more and more is whatever the decision that comes out of whatever direction comes out of today and then
ultimately board item next week that We must immediately implement a robust communication protocol across the community that involves the schools that involves everyone so that parents and families know the options that we are
moving forward with. That's the long and the short. >> Thank you, Miss Hixon. >> Thank you so much. Um I have to Miss Thompson's point, it was brought up to
us that the schools, let's say I I forget what option um three was in terms of numbers of schools, but let's say it's 80 schools. It might have been 96, but um it those 80 schools that are part
of the CPE, how does that affect their title one funding? because we would be helping ourselves to do CPE with them, but then we would be hurting the school. So, I think it's really important that
we understand what that um effect is. >> And yes, >> good afternoon. Oh, thank you so much, Mr. Sullivan. Good afternoon, board members. Lwanda Wright, director of federal programs. At this time, uh the federal government allows the 1.6 6
multiplier which is in your presentation to be tied to the direct certified number of students and we've been using this tool for our current schools identified as C and at this time it does not have a direct correlation or impact
on their allocation. The only mitigating factor that's impacting the allocations for our school is the decline in enrollment. that is the major factor that's impacting their allocation as it relates to their title one designation. I hope that was helpful.
>> Well, the can I think the concern principles have is if we're CPE, they don't have to fill out the form. And so then how do they determine that they're still title one schools? We have always used in the past our
dashboard indicator that gives them the number of direct certified students with the multiplier and they use this dashboard to determine their FRL percentage. All of this data has been provided to our principles for the last
eight years and the title one the federal programs department will be more than happy to onboard and meet the needs of those principles that need the necessary technical assistance and guidance. Okay. Awesome. So, if we move to CPE, what you're saying basically is
that it should not affect those schools in their title one funding. >> So, what I'm saying is if the district makes a decision to move back to C, >> there are various factors that impact
their Title One eligibility, i.e. low enrollment, i.e. the district's decision on how they will use their title one funding and leverage that to serve. Back to the high school conversation, there are mitigating
factors that may impact the title one designation if we were to increase the threshold like we did previously from 50% to 61%. There are various factors that will impact their title one designation. This
is why we encourage our principles to redu review the dashboard and educate themselves on the number of students they have review that information and then they will see the correlation of direct certified students at their school and the 1.6 multiplier that will
give them their FRL percentage. I hope that was helpful, Miss Hixon. >> Okay. Yes. Thank you. Um, and then the other piece that I just wanna, which will be no surprise to anyone, the return to historical student charge procedures. So, when we had our
one-on-one, I got a lot of push back about how it is that we can identify that a student um owes money or, you know, isn't eligible for free and reduced lunch. so that we're avoiding taking that that tray of food from them,
throwing it away after they've already gotten it, and giving them a wow sandwich. So, Dr. Wanza, you said that you had reached out to it. Can you tell us what did they say and is that possible? And then in our one-on-one, you had mentioned you were going to
reach out to other counties to see how they avoid the issue that we ran into this year. So, can you tell us what information you gathered? So it um is going to explore they are committed to partnering with us to determine how they
can come up how we as a as an organization can come up with something where um so let let me say this Miss Hixon. So um particularly at the middle school and the high school level and I know well I'm going to go to high
school. We know at high school during lunchtime or whatever, students can use their cell phone. There is um the ability for students to have the My School Bucks app on their
phone and the students know whether or not they have money in their account. I mean, we and and and some of this, as much as I am a 100% proponent of feeding as many children as possible
who cannot, you know, who cannot afford to um pay for meals. Some of some of this we do have to put back on our families because I had a conversation with a number of children this weekend particularly at church and I asked them about this whole thing with meal charges
and stuff and they said to me, "Well, Miss Wanza, the district was paying for it. There wasn't a reason for me to need to have money or to check anything because we always knew that the school's going to give us the meal. So, there wasn't a reason, right? So one of the things that we are going
to work with it to see how we can do something so that children have the ability to see either readily and focus or something um coming into the cafeteria. So we're going to work on that. The other part is so no other o
other districts actually um make a concerted effort where the district funds the difference. whatever the difference is, the district funds it. And I know that that may not be our place right now and we certainly respect that. And then the last part is, as I
said to you, we're going to have to actually work with some building level leaders around what this will look like in their building. I think the um again, the greatest challenge will probably come at the secondary level more so than
the elementary level. >> Okay. So basically when you checked with other counties they they do what we did this year and that was just cover the cost. >> Well well they have um some version of C with universal free where the district
covers whatever is the deficit and so um that is something that I know we would as an organ as a district have to decide what is it that the board um what direction does the board want to take. >> Okay. Thank you. So, I would say yes to
option three um with making sure that our principles know what they have to do so that they don't get um the issue with the title one reduction if possible. Um I'm not sure how I feel about meal price increases, but I you know, everything's
increasing. So, I guess if we have to do that, um, I would I'm concerned about the historical student charge procedures because that's how we ended up where we're at now, and I don't want to continue to be in this place. So, I
would only say yes to that. >> Can can can we just explain what the historical charge procedure was? It's not every kid comes through and they automatically don't have to pay, don't have to pay, don't have to pay. There are things that we did strategically at the elementary level. There was some
discretion um at the secondary level with middle schools and high schools and and in our highest year of having meal charges at the um at the historical practices that balance may have been $28,000 at most. And then we work with
community partners through donations to have that balance covered. It is true that this year the balance is just over $728 or $29,000 because students were of the mindset it
doesn't matter. It's free for me. It doesn't matter. >> Yeah. And I I appreciate that. That's partly why I was frustrated with us just early on paying off that percent, I mean that money instead of waiting till the end because it continues to look like
the district's just covering the cost. But I appreciate the explanation on that. So, you know, yes to whatever was working better before. Um, and I will I'm okay with the initiating a robust
communications plan, but I just would like to add a caveat to that. I think we had a robust communication plan this year. They just didn't hear it. So, I don't want to come across as a board member to staff thinking that I didn't think that you all did everything
possible to make them understand that they were not getting lunch for free anymore. I think we lost >> a communication plan would be better suited there because it isn't as if we didn't do something and I I do
appreciate what was done but I don't want to land in the same place next year. So um thank you. >> Thank you. Before I call uh on our student adviserss, I did uh need to call for public comment. Michelle Sofur, I don't think she's here anymore.
Um, Lilian Mle. Okay. So, um, from the student perspective, the biggest challenge with this shift, uh, is that families have gotten used to not doing anything for school meals. Okay. for several years
and my my mom is guilty of this as well. For several years, because of the federal um COVID era waiverss and the higher C eligibility, um we were able to offer free lunch to all the students without requiring any applications or anything like that, right? So parents
didn't have to fill out any forms and students didn't have to worry about whether they qualified or not. That became the routine for them every single year. Right? Now that those waiverss have expired, families are suddenly being asked to go back to a process that many have not done in years, right? And
some of them have never done it at all. Um, a lot of the parents don't understand why these things are happening and many of them don't realize that by them not submitting their application applications, um, the reimbursement drops to 55 cents per meal. Um, and that's a major reason why
our student um, meal debt grew from 94,000 in September to $735,000 in May, which is around $80,000 per month and a 30% increase every single month as well. Now, through skipped
lunches, shared foods, or avoiding the cafeteria because they don't want to be embarrassed, right? What we see in the schools is simple. Families aren't ignoring the application on purpose. Many of them just think meals are still free for everyone. Some of them assume they won't qualify. Others don't
understand that the application affects school funding. And a lot of families have never seen the emails or the robocalls that have been sent out. So from a student and operational standpoint, the district's communication plan is very important. Um but we need
messaging that is clearer, shorter, and also more visible so that we can reach all the students so that they can all understand and the parents as well. Um and a realistic step would maybe be like a one minute one minute um information video that explains in plain language as
well uh why the meal application matters and how it supports the schools. Um but the key is where it's shown. It should appear in places uh that students can see and families actually look at uh like morning announcements, cafeteria screens as they had stated uh canvas
dashboards and even QR codes that are placed in the lunch line or what whatever the case may be. Right? These are small lowcost changes that make the message heard and hard to miss so that everyone can share it at home and share to their families so that our district
doesn't end up like this again next school year. Um, this is not a new program. It's just a way that families have to adjust from a world where they were automatically free to a world where paperwork matters again. Um, so if the
district does move forward with option three, uh, students want to make sure the rollout is clear, uh, accessible, and also supportive. So, no students should be choosing between learning and eating. That that's number one. Um, and improving how we communicate this change, uh, can make a real difference
for our students. Thank you. Um, all right. So, I do have um questions. So, first of all, um I'm looking at the pricing that we're talking about that's pending board approval for 26 to 27. Um would there be
a way for the reduced lunch amount um to be like reduced even more? Um just because I think it is, you know, very unfortunate that we have to raise the cost of um lunches for students. You know, Mle, you had said that you had dealt with the free and reduced lunch. I
know I used to do that when I was younger. Luckily, I no longer have to. Um but I think it is just unfortunate, you know, with how the world is today and how the economy is today that we do have to raise it. So, is there a way for that 40 cents reduction to be higher, if that makes sense, like further reduced?
not per the USDA. So it would have to be at 40% I mean at 40 cents. So the only thing that we would be able to do with the PLE tool is the lunches like raise it a dollar or what the board decides. >> Okay. Um and then additionally, this is
just something I want to comment on kind of a question kind of a comment. Um because this is something that I know I've dealt with with school lunch. I buy it pretty often. um is if you have like if you didn't put money on your account and then let's say you have a $3 debt. Um I don't know if you guys have fixed
this. I have not seen it fixed at my school is I can put like $20 onto my account but that $3 debt you have to pay back in cash. So I can keep putting Yeah, it it's happened to me and the worst part is it won't take the money out of my account. It keeps adding on to
the debt. So like let's say I had a $3 debt and then I have 20 in my account. if I go buy another lunch, it adds onto the debt separately. So, I don't know if that's a school thing or if that's a you guys thing, but >> so I could I could speak to the meal obligation in regards to the monies being taken out due to the quick
turnaround of implementing meal obligation and implementing the structure behind it. The removal of the debt is something that was not automated. We are still trying to work on an automated process to make it where if you have a debt either to the school or to the principal account, it would be
taken out automatically. What we were able to do in the short time that we did have it enacted was give you the balance shown on focus and on my school book so that when you did make a payment it would surface it up and then through through training and meal operations we taught the staff on how to take those
debt off. So if your school was not doing that on a daily basis depending on the training provided that was another issue we needed to address. So thank you. >> Correct. We go. >> Yeah. just cuz it was like really annoying when I would have money in my account and they're like, "No, you need to pay it back in cash." And it's like, "Well, I have I have money on there, but
I Yeah. So, if you guys can do something, >> but it has been taken care of at the moment." >> Um, yeah. No, my debt was fine cuz I paid it back in cash. Like, it's not like It's not like the debt stays in there. But, it's just like if I had bought lunch before I put money in my account, it'll be like a $3 debt, but
even if I put, let's say, $10 in my account, it doesn't pay off the debt. You have to pay it back in cash. The other the system also prompts you the next time you go through the line. So you had the debt and you never went back. >> That's what I'm saying. Like you have to bring the cash. You can't like pay it off online. That that's what I think it should be like. You can pay it off online. >> But that's definitely something we'll
look into just to make sure for you know the next student you that doesn't occur with them. >> But thank you so much. >> So the question becomes what are we going to do to ensure that all of the students and parents um understand that these forms and these applications do
matter? um because this can't happen again next year. >> So, so I can mention that we did start back in May um when we knew we were transitioning back because as you stated, it's a perfect example. You know, some kids started in kindergarten
with the pandemic. By the time, you know, fifth grade, they knew the kids were getting the meals for free. So, we started in May. Um, we did news media interviews with Channel 7, NBC 6, Telmundo. Um, we did moments with the
mayor. Um, we did conferences. We did a lot of openhouse um, backpack giveaways, outreach to the community. So, we were out there with applications, our purple shirts, Saturdays, events, um, just to reach out to parents.
>> But if you can recommend or we can hear better ways for students. Yeah. you know because the issue would be we were out there but then the parents really didn't show up. So any way any suggestions that you guys have especially with high school students that we can get out
there open house or any events we will be happy to be out there because the whole goal is we want to not only educate the parents but we also go out with laptops and the big thing is we want parents to also understand that citizenship is not a factor when it
comes to completing the application. um the with the social security they can list the last four digits. So we have some parents that don't feel comfortable with that and they just check the box no social. We just want parents to know that there's an option for their students when it comes to an application and not just thinking, wait, I'm in a
hardship and I'm not going to do the hour. I don't know about the application. So yes, we we still want to get out there. So as soon as we know what decision the board will go, we want to get that out there to parents right away. >> Okay, beautiful. So, it does sound like you guys did do as much as you can when
it came to communication and trying to reach out to the parents and the students and stuff. So, yeah. On my Yeah. >> Okay. Is that it? Okay. Miss Thompson.
>> Thank you, chair. Um I think do we have a breakdown of how many students that switching doing option three or switching to option one with D? What is the actual student benefit or the number of students will be able to feed as
opposed to the traditional meal applications. So that would so we have number of schools right and then the and then depending on how um what variation of groupings that we use at the p the
various percentages whether it's a the 100% free full reimbursement the 40% or the 25 um that would then be predicated on the students enrolled in the schools. So we have um the number of schools that
would qualify and then the number of students is just based on the enrollment in those various schools depending on the groupings. >> So if the goal is to make sure the most amount of kids are fed, what is the
option staff was would recommend? So the goal to make sure the most amount of kids are fed are at the 25%. However, the goal of making sure the most amount of kids are fail are fed but
also we have to look at the financial responsibility that you know comes with and all of that. We would say it will be at the 40%. But we are here to listen to the board. That is why we gave the uh revised slide
15 because when you see the um the uh column that says local sources of revenue loss. So basically that's the when when parents have to pay right to pay for the full pay the things of that
um and you know to pay for the meal. So when you look at um what would be the option that would provide food free meaning free lunch to the most amount of children but also in a very fiscally um
um you know conscious way it would be grouped at the 40%. >> And that's what option three is. So option three is we do some variation of C with the meal applications. Meaning we
do whatever variation we can of feeding the most amount of kids in the most fiscally responsible way. And for the schools that do not qualify for C, then those schools we would do the meal
applications for. And so how are we determining that grouping and what factor because I'm getting and I we talked about this on my oneonone. I'm getting push back from principles about the harm the
unintentional harm that this will cause. >> So >> so miss >> how are we making that an factor? And I know you it was told to Mrs. text them. That's that's not a problem. But I still even with explaining it to principles what I got explained, they still feel
like it's they're they're concerned. >> So So this is >> so how do I address that? So, what I will say and obviously um um Miss Wright can come back up at any time to either elaborate or clarify anything that may not be um um you know
consistent with what she said or that may not be aligned to what she said. So, C is ensuring that you know the maximum amount of kids at whatever percentage we um identify have free lunch as well.
What principles are concerned about at the end of the day is probably yes, they want kids to eat. I I'm a former principal. They do not want kids to be hungry. However, they also know that they get a title one allocation that
allows for them to do other supplemental things in their school to um to ensure that their academic program, the services that they're providing for children, that all of that remains intact and they can continue to do it at
a very high level. What Miss Wright explained is that a school's title one designation isn't solely based on is the district doing C or not. Is is that a correct statement? Okay. Um so what she
was explaining that so what what um impacted some schools was whether we were doing C or not. If the if the district made a determination that you know meals free and reduced lunch status is going to percentage rather is going
to change from 55% to 62% and I'm a school that had a 58%. The fact that I'm not at 62 I have I I no longer qualify for federal title one
funds and that has nothing to do with C. That has everything to do with the families in my school. Only 58% of the families there or the people who submitted applications actually qualify for free and reduced lunch and that is
what then impacted my school's title one designation. Is that an accurate statement, Miss Wright? >> Affirmative. >> Okay. >> Thank you. So when we're doing the grouping of eligible schools for C, are we going to
go to the principles before we designate them as C to let them know about, you know, the positives and potential consequences of this or the is the district just going to decide what school is going to be C or not?
the percentage. >> So we will definitely have a conversation with principles. However, their percentage is their percentage. We can't change that. Their their percentage is their percentage. But we
absolutely to your point, Miss Thompson, um and you know the board's uh point as a whole, we have an obligation to inform and to educate, but we can't change their percentage. Well, and and of course I want to I just
I'm I it's just a challenging decision. I will go towards staff's recommendation only because of the reassurance of um title one that you guys have given. I cannot
support an increase of meal prices. Uh we have found money for other things that is not as important as feeding children. Um and I have talked to high school students as recently as a week ago that have said their sons don't eat
because the meals at the current prices are too much. Um so I can't do that. Um and then the other recommendation I agree with and I agree with Mrs. Pixon um on saying not initiate a robust
communications because I think we did a really good job >> communicating but just consistent communication and and not flip-flopping on how we're doing meals I think will be a benefit to everybody. Thank you.
>> Thank you Mrs. Alada. >> Option three. Thank you. >> Um Dr. Dr. Wanza, do you need us to weigh in also on the 40% versus 25%. >> Yes. And the the one thing that I will
add is if the district does go with the um 25% option, then we must present as a district, we must com we must submit a um what is called a meal reimbursement coverage plan that really talks about,
you know, if we're if we don't have this money as a district, we're going to um incur the responsibility for the fund. So that is why the recommendation is at the 40%. And then and then madam chair um and Dr. Heburn I'm not sure but since our
colleagues or our partners I'll say from council are on the phone and they've been on since 12 o'clock. So I wouldn't I would be remiss if I don't you know didn't ask if they wanted to weigh in because they've been waiting for six hours seven hours. I'm sorry. >> I'd like to weigh in too Dr. wants
whenever it's going to be. >> Oh, okay. I thought that was council. >> Yeah. I mean, does anyone from the council of great city schools like to weigh in? >> Uh, this is Ray Hart. I'm the executive director for the Council of the Great City Schools. I'll let my colleagues I'm joined by Willie Burroughs, who is our
director, our director of operations services, and uh uh David Palmer, who is also uh joining us. Um just want to add that any if the district um um if the
district chooses either of the options and you'll see our recommendations there. Uh I just want to make sure the board is clear that both uh with a reduction in um meal costs. So, if you don't increase your meal cost, or if you
add additional schools that don't fully qualify um through C, which is the 40% that they're referring to, uh if you go with the 25% option, the district then is going to continue to incur uh meal services costs uh that you'll have to
budget for separately. So, just want to make sure that's clear to the board. Uh our recommendations were to try to get um putting in several different things in place to try to get the district back to a place where meal services uh was as
close to break even as possible. Um given all of the recommendations that we made uh Dave or Willie, do you have anything that you'd like to add before we turn things back over? I thank you uh Chair Leonardi and also Superintendent Heer for allowing us to provide support
to the district. Nothing for me. >> Nothing for me. I think you covered it well. Thank you. >> All right. Thank you. Um and Dr. Zean, uh before you go, I think we just need some clarification from Dr. Heepburn
what Dr. Heepburn's recommendation is. Uh because there is a board member who is asking for that. >> Yes, absolutely. Um so definitely the um 40% and also let me catch my bearings
because I want to make sure uh in option three and the also the uh 40% um recommendation. >> Thank you Dr. Zean. >> I um agree with Dr. Heepern that three and 40 is going to work really really well for the district. Um but I also
think that we need to be thoughtful about whatever we can do to feed as many kids. I think we need to think really seriously about the quality of the food. Um, you know, there's a there there's a need uh when you think about the real
raw issue here to feed our kids so that they can learn. You know, in some schools we're feeding kids three times a day and in some cases more than we probably want to admit. It's the either the best or the only food that they're getting. And so I I'm just really feel
very strongly that if we have to find the money to make sure that kids have uh food um that that's just something we're going to have to find in the budget this year. The the the moral hazard problem, you know, kids who who buy food knowing
that we're going to pay it off under option three 40% would equal about $300,000. And if I'm right, Dr. Wans, option three, 40% is already costing us 3.4 4 million or so. So with the $300,000 moral hazard, it would be about
3.7. Is that roughly right? >> Yes. Yes, Dr. Zam. And I and and just my vote is always going to be for whatever we have to do to feed kids uh make sure that they you know are uh filled with nutritious food uh that meets USDA
standards and that they can come back to class after lunch and after breakfast and pay attention to their classes. I think it's uh all part of our strategic goals. You know, kids that don't eat are not learning uh in the morning or in the afternoon. And I think we have a real opportunity with $3.7 million to just
fulfill a commitment that we have to the community to make sure that these kids are eating either two or three meals a day uh 5 days a week. So that's my vote. I know it's uh it may not be the most popular uh view of things, but if we're going to do option three at 40%, that's
3.3 million. If we pick up the tab for people that don't uh you know get money put on their cards, um I'm in favor of that. I know it's going to cost us another $300,000. Uh, but I would rather pay that money and just feel better that we're ensuring
that everybody that comes to our schools gets a meal. >> Thank you, chair. >> Thank you, Miss Bulman. >> Option three. >> And the 40% >> 40%. >> Mr. Seaend
>> also the superintendent's recommendation. Does the Dr. WZA do you have your consensus? >> I I do, but I just have one question, Madam Chair. I don't want to belver the time. I I need to know on the second um uh recommendation because that will determine whether or not we're bringing a board item next week around meal price
increases of the $1 for and it's and it's only at lunch because obviously the all the kids will continue to have free breakfast. >> Um is there any objection to increasing the meal prices? No objection.
>> One. >> Anyone else? I also object to raising the meal prices. >> Mr. Sea also objects to raising. And so, Miss Bulman, >> is there an alternative price range than
just $1 too, I guess, is the question. if that's is that what's permitted by the law and that's why we want to charge that or is that >> so I think we have to remember that food prices go up. >> No, I I I know. >> Right. And so and and um and that was
and I I don't know if Dr. Hartin Dr. Hart and um the team were still on on the team's call, but that that was one of the recommendations from our um partners at the Council of Great City Schools when they did their tabletop review of us as well cuz we put in the presentation for one at one point we had
gone 12 years without raising prices. Last year I think we went up a dollar and then this year we're um trying to go up one more dollar. But we certainly will, you know, work with the we'll follow the will and the direction of the board. But what we also got to be
cognizant of is we can't keep the price of a meal the same and expect greater quality with less amount of with less dollars to work from. That's all. But we're going to follow the will of the board. >> Okay. I mean, and it seems like it's not that big of a deal, but when you have
multiple kids and you're buying lunch every day and over the month, it does add up. So that is a concern that I have if if we >> So recommendation >> you have to bring it back. Sorry. >> Oh. Oh, he's calling.
>> I'm so I'm sorry. Uh, board member Bowman. I'm I'm from overhead. Our recommendation was uh to increase the meal price for uh the reason that was given. But I think also it's important to note that the district is already well below uh the actual cost of the
meals and the cost of the services. And so uh by not increasing the meal price again that is that has budgetary implications. So now the district is going to have to cover uh that additional meal cost um for the entire for every day for the entire year for
the number of students that uh that are paying for meals. >> So let me share just a little bit of the financial aspect of it. we are required to meet um the paid lunch equity tool which means that every meal where if
it's paid it must equal the same amount of money that a free meal gets. So by not raising ourselves up to a dollar this year as well we are under the dollar amount that we should be at. So currently the free lunch reimbursement
is 471 and we need to get ourselves to that level according to the PLE tool. Now next year the reimbursement rate should go up slightly. It it depends. They start in July. We haven't got any new information on that at all. But I also
want to share the fact that when you calculate out a perial cost, we are not receiving enough funding through the federal dollars of reimbursement. So we are short in a um a lunch meal by 84
cents. So it doesn't seem again like you're saying it doesn't seem like a whole lot but that 84 cents times the number of meals that we that we um actually produce creates that shortfall that we're experiencing as well. So the the increase in meal prices is a
requirement to be looked at every year according to the National School Lunch um application and act that we do. Um, we can always say no, we can maybe get out of it or not do it, but we um can talk to the the National School Lunch um
USDA and see what their their take is on it. We were required to bring it up um last year and also the adult meal prices are part of the agreement that we do and they have to be brought up to the same standards. I hope that helps a little bit. >> Yeah. No, I mean thank you. I appreciate
that. Um so we had talked about alternative ways to bridge the gap too with meal debt and everything else. So if we if we increase the the meal um we would still be pursuing th those avenues and trying to get
community support. Um okay. >> Yes. >> So I'll support that. If we're operating at a deficit, then I don't know that we have a lot of options there unless we have some like a
guaranteed way to pay the debt a different way. I'm not hearing any right now. >> Thank you. Anyone online? >> I'm in favor of raising the price a dollar >> increase a dollar to
All right. >> Do you have your direction, Dr. Wson? All right. Anything else? Anyone else want to say anything about this? >> All right. >> Power up. Thanks. >> Do any of my colleagues have any student
successes or items they'd like to bring to the board for the good of the order? >> I have a very quick question. >> Miss Thompson. Um you had mentioned that you were interested in bringing an item um to not have spring fine from
kindergarten to second grade. >> What do you think your >> Sorry, after a followup from staff. Yes. >> Okay. I just have community members that have already reached out and are very excited about that. So, I was just hoping to get a timeline, but we will
wait for the followup. It sounds like >> it would probably be in July depending on when I get the followup >> for the item. >> Yes. >> Okay. All right. Thank you. >> Thank you. So, just to clarify for
everyone, we have a workshop now planned for after the special school board meeting on the 23rd that will address the capital program. Mr. Sullivan. >> Uh, yes. Uh I I misspoke before about the 23rd special being uh lighter. Uh
although it's a multiple items, I forgot the GC's um through the policies through no neola are also going to be part of that special. Um so point being it might be a long meeting. So I don't know if the board still wants us to do a workshop perhaps at with the goal of
starting at three or wants us to find another workshop date. But I I believe with the Neola items, it could be a potentially longer agenda. So, I just wanted to alert the board to that. >> Does anyone have a change of heart uh
with this disclosure from Mr. Sullivan? >> Madam Chair, >> Dr. Hoes. >> Madam Chair, I suggest again that we start at 8 with the added disclosure. I think we're going to be there for quite some time. Um, and I think 8:00 would
would help to alleviate some of that problem. >> Does anyone now object to the 8:00 start time? >> Mr. Sea is objecting to starting at 8:00. Anyone else? Okay. So, we'll start at 8 a.m. hearing
just one objection. >> Madam Chair. >> Yes, Dr. Holes. I would also like to just caution that for the workshop we're only including one item and there will be no added items to the workshop. >> That is correct.
>> Thank you, Madam Chair. >> Um so again at the direction of the superintendent, the following agenda topics are tenatively scheduled to be addressed during the upcoming workshops. uh for July 21st uh the advisory committee reports redefining our schools
OSS quarterly report KC write operations multi-year staffing alignment plan ERP transformation project and rule development AI cyber security and acceptable use and other relevant policies Dr. Hepern is there anything
that we can take off that agenda >> um Yes. Um possibly the multi-year staffing plan. Um because that's about the staffing realignment. Um that will ultimately be in implemented in the spring. So that can be discussed at a
later workshop in August. um ERP transformation. I'll get guidance from um has to go where's uh >> to ERP trans that that has to go right because we got time frame. Yeah. So that
one has to go. Um so the one we can definitely shift to August is the multi-year staffing alignment for sure. >> All right. So, the August 11th board uh workshop is board direct report evaluations, committee reports, and a
rule development policy review through NEOLA. Um, and then I guess the multi-year staffing alignment plan. Is there any in input, Mr. Sullivan? Um, I was just going to say the Casey Wright
site operations, uh, that that's already going to be in the redefining deck. So, that's one item that's not going to be, um, a standalone. So, we can take that out. >> Okay. So, um, that's going to be combined into the redefining. >> Yes.
>> Okay. All right. Any other input or anything for the good of the order? All right. Without objection, the scheduled order of business for the school board workshop of the school board of Broward County, Florida has been completed has been completed. I
will now adjourn this workshop. Hey, hey, hey. Down down down down down down down down down down down down down down down down down down