for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. At this time, I call to order the schoolboard workshop for January 27th, 2026. Uh, welcome citizens of Klay
County. I want to take the opportunity to thank you for taking the time out of your busy schedule to attend today's school board workshop. This workshop is our opportunity as your elected representatives to collaborate openly among ourselves and make decisions that will decide the future direction of our public schools and education of our
children here in Klay County. There will be an opportunity for the public to ask questions at the end of the workshop presentation. Questions will be allowed. Public comment will not be allowed. If you wish to ask a question, please fill out a comment card with your question and hand that card to a deputy. Your
participation is welcome and appreciated. And I think uh we're gonna do the fleet first or Okay. Uh we're gonna start off with Mr. Superintendent Broki doing some financial. >> Okay. Before we do that, point of order,
we do have a new person at our table, Misty Massie. Down the end there is is the new Bonnie Onora. I I don't think I could say it that way. >> So, we we conducted interviews uh for Bonnie's position. Many of you know
March 13th is Bonnie's last day. Huge pillar of what we do at the district office. Misty comes as a principal secretary, great deal of experience in the district. Uh fantastic references
and um will do a great job. So I had to tell her about this meeting and I said, "Hey, come to this meeting." But uh by the time I described the meeting, I wonder if she was reconsidering today. Today I think I started off with a thing that
said bring snacks because there's a lot on the agenda. Like when I looked at it, holy crow, we got a lot to do today. I think that's kind of normal. December with the holidays, there's not as much information that comes out naturally and
then you try to double it up in January. So you're going to experience that. So the very first thing is and I appreciate the the uh the board chair letting me go first is what I'm calling financial renaissance. I think many of you that was a class with teacher for 10 years
and taught history and so the renaissance itself is you know the word renaissance a rebirth in history but this is a reook a re re-examination and a rebirth of finances because you know that many uh many things had to change
at the end of last school year heading to now for them and a lot of great work has been done I think it's important to try to give a presentation that explains that for folks One of the things that I heard consistently over the months that and I
believe that people just don't know. They just don't know. So I'm going to give a disclaimer before this presentation. Any good person gives a disclaimer. The disclaimer is this is not a wonky uh statutriven uh presentation. Other words I'm not
going to sit here and go well in account 5200 330 this is like no that's red book. This is more about telling the story and the story of of our finances. So you
look this will be a history of the last budget cycle and why it was so challenging right because people have asked me what's the difference this year from the previous year right so I I hope to demystify that for you today what action steps have you taken to address
the challenge where are we mid year it seems makes sense to me that if you're at halftime you should take an in-depth look of where you are at halftime because then that determines the strategy for the second half so we're at halftime so where are we financially right now? Okay, so I'll provide that
for you as well as what steps are we currently underway to meet the goals of the plan and what to do next steps for the future. There's no doubt this is a challenging environment. I think it's worth the time to explain not only for
all of us in the room but for everybody else but that's interested in this topic. I will also say that I will say this unequivocally. I've been in more budget meetings since this all happened than my other 36 years
combined. >> Yes, >> that'll be I think this I think this week there's four two-hour meetings >> at least. Yeah. >> For the like this is an intense focus and a big big challenge for Clay County
schools. So let's talk about it. First off, you have to talk in context. What what is the environment like around you? We don't operate in a vacuum. We operate within the state system. What this chart I found this chart I thought this would be a great chart to show people. If you
look at it, it goes from the 2007 and 8 year right before the great recession 2008. But what this chart does is it kind of symbolizes state funding and the funding gap that's existed in our state. So when
you look at this, Florida ranks 48th out of 50 states in in funding for K12 education. I don't know about you, 48 out of 50 is not a good position to be in. This metric kind of shows you that. And the difference
between funding us at inflation or not is roughly about $3,361 per se. So this has been a challenge that has been building but I'm going to maybe I should do some pop quizzes too along the way for a little right. to so
what the question would be what has changed if this has been an issue this whole time what has changed recently that makes it even more challenging right so you could see from that graph uh depending on what what statistic I've never seen a statistic where we're out
of the 40s the lower the lower 10 when it comes to funding of public education across the way this is just one that measures uh percentage of of GDP. It's done every 10 years. We were, interestingly enough,
we're 45th in 2008 and then went down to 48th quickly. So you see that the funding is not meeting the needs. Just a quick reminder of what's happened. So back in April, May, you you
started we started to talk and then we had individual meetings and then all of the things that have happened. So the state some things that happened at the end of the year, the last payment that the state was paying the district, they just didn't pay it. And when it when we
asked like what why aren't you paying us? We don't have any more money. We're out of money. That's the answer. Right? So that'll give you a clue to what's happening here along the way. In addition, remember that the federal government decided to withhold funds for
title one, two, three, and four at that same time. Then FRS went up 76 million. It went up again, by the way. So it that never seems to go down. There's no fourth calculation. So let's let's put
this in context. Never in the history of the state of Florida has there not been a fourth calculation. So, I'm trying to provide for you the context of why this year is different, right? It's never happened before, okay?
In in the entire history of the state. You take a look at where it says July vouchers, 30 million roughly 30 million U dollars in vouchers going out of our coffers. And then if you adjusted state funding
for uh Florida public school students about $400 million down from the previous year, right? So all of that certainly paints the u the picture of a challenging time at the end of last school year. Also, if you remember, the
legislature went into overtime. How many people remember that? the House, the Senate, and the Governor couldn't agree on a budget, and there was a lot of maneuvering that's going on. So, one additional thing that I'd like to
drill down on is is family empowerment vouchers. So, one thing I'd point out to you that you could see from this chart in 2324, that is the year of major legislative changes within that law. That's the year
that they said there would be no income cap in order to receive a voucher. What does that mean? You can be a millionaire and get a voucher in the state of Florida. It's not incomebased, right? It's not given to people who are in need. Anyone gets the voucher. In
addition, it allowed public school funds to go to private school. So, think about that. That's the first time that we said we're going to take public funds and we're going to give it to private schools. So, you could see the rapid increase in that. If you just
look at the chart, you have to know the numbers. You can see, oh my gosh, that like went up significantly. And now the current cost for us is is roughly $30 million. So you might say, well, how wellrun is
these vouchers? That picture that you see on the right is the audit that was conducted on the voucher system, the state of Florida. Okay, if you take a look, this is a $4 billion,
that's B for billion, $4 billion venture that we're in in the state of Florida. When you look at this document, I love some of the quotes from it. It's they're they're classic quotes, right? So, I quoted what what the auditor general for the state of Florida said about the
voucher program. So, the administration and oversight of the state education funding for 2425 school year was met with a myriad of accountability challenges. That's code for we don't know what we're doing. that left the state funding shortfall and a
system where funding did not follow the child. Right? So the myth of funding, you know, taxpayer takes their money and simply moves it somewhere else. They couldn't account for uh roughly 30,000 students.
So this is the auditor general for the state of Florida doing an audit of the program and finding these things to be true. This ain't us saying this. This is the state auditing themselves to say, "My god, there are a lot of problems
that are existing with this particular program." >> I I just want to say, Mr. Bowski, that my favorite quote, and I'm surprised you didn't put it here, was what could go wrong went wrong. >> So So, you know, I looked at this with great fascination. Like, why are PEOPLE
UPSET? LIKE, I'M UPSET. >> I don't know about anybody else in the room, but I'm upset, right? because as a taxpayer myself, I would want more efficient use of my taxpayer funds for this particular program. So some I try
to provide context in the presentation like you're not going to remember everything that's said, but you should remember a couple things. This is something that you should remember. So I decided let's take a deep dive into Klay County. What what's happening in Klay County? So roughly there's about 4,500
students in Klay that get a voucher. So, 4,500 students. Of that, 4,000 of them, listen to this, 4,000 of them have never attended Klay County Public Schools. Let that let that soak in for the
impact. Right? If you're missing $30 million and 4,000 of them never attended Clay County schools at all, right? You can see that the money, that $30 million is going directly from Klay County schools
to private school for private school vouchers. Right now, I have nothing against private school. Many people know I always talk affectionately about my Irish Catholic background and going to Catholic school. Went to Catholic school
till 9th grade and then went to public school after that. The difference is my parents paid for me to go to private school. And I think people don't really understand the context of that. And so what I want to do now is just provide you a different examp
I I don't understand what you're talking about. Right? So I'm going to use an example and I'm hoping that you you kind of see it differently. So let's just pretend. Just going to give you an example. Let's let's talk a little bit about
other public services. Let's talk about um safety of the people of Klay County. You know that we have a sheriff's office. The sheriff's office is responsible to ensure that everyone is safe within Klay County boundaries, right? Okay, shake your head cuz I want
I want you to be enthralled by this presentation. It's checking do false check. So when you look at that, you say, "Okay, there is no doubt the sheriff does a great job." Uh, and our county is very proud of the sheriff's office and the work that they do and and
they should be. And our community is a community that respects law and order. But let's pretend that there's u a you can pick any subdivision that decides, you know, in our subdivision, we want
additional safety and security measures. We want armed guards. We want to put gates up. We want to do this sort of stuff. The equivalent in education is to take money from the sheriff's office and to pay that.
So imagine if a bunch of communities say they're going to do that and they keep taking money away from the sheriff's office to pay for that. What happens to the sheriff's office? That is exactly what's happening in
public education, right? But I I think I'm trying to explain it in a different context, right? Everyone would say if the people of that subdivision want to have additional security, go right ahead, but you got to pay for it.
>> You can't take it away from the sheriff's office to pay for it. So why are they taking it away from public education to pay for it? Right? It's kind of thoughtprovoking like, hey, this is a problem when when you look at it that way. Now, don't get
me wrong, there's a lot of great private schools out there, but there's also private schools that lack accountability. Not every private school is a great private school. In public school, accountability is always present. It's put it's put out there.
It's put in your face. You can go to any school district and see every bit of data related to their school. You can't do that with many private schools. Again, not dissing private school. I went to a private school as a youth. That's not that's not what I'm trying to
do. I'm just trying to point out the inconsistency of that. And as a taxpayer, I would want to make sure that my money was spent efficiently, not with accountability, not I'm not really sure how it's being spent to be honest.
Okay, this is a statewide problem. It's not just a Klay County uh problem. When when you look at it, 71% of our budget comes from the state. 28% is paid by local taxpayers. So, let me let me phrase that differently. So,
uh, local taxpayers pay 28% of the bill to run Klay County Schools. The state pays 71% of it. >> 7128 >> 712 >> 78 Okay. >> 7128 >> 1% federal, right? So, when you look at
it, when the state changes the formula, does it affect us more than other districts? Yes. If 71% of your budget's from the state, that's that's pretty pretty obvious. So then the question would be why is that? Well, the taxable value of land in Klay County is
different. So in Klay County for example, we have 21 uh billion of taxable land in Klay County. St. John's County by comparison 63. So it's a 3:1 ratio between St.
John's County and Klay County, which makes our financial situation a little more challenging than others. Again, I'm just trying to point out to you why this is the way it is, right? So, the question is, what do we do?
Well, we started to run budget, what I call pre-budgeting, which is taking a look at what the House and the Senate and the and the governor put out, measuring it, and then saying, "Okay, if we went ahead and had the ideal budget, which would include things like employee
compensation increases, etc., what would the cost of that budget be? And then how much is the state going to give you? Expenses versus revenue. At that time, we saw a $60 million shortfall. So that was like Houston. Oh my gosh.
$60 million. So I just because I'm competitive, right? You guys know that I'm competitive. >> Mhm. >> I wound up reaching out to Mr. Woram this morning. I said, I'm just out of curiosity because we had a big um budget
challenge during the 89 during the great recession, right? And all of that. So, I'm like, uh, is my issue more challenging than his issue? Right? That's the competitive streak in me. So, he he remembers it just like it was
yesterday. By the way, if you see, he was traumatized about his situation. I'm equally traumatized. I will never forget this for as long as I live. His his challenge was 16 million. That's the number he was. Our
challenge was 60 million. It's not a competition, but I I am competitive. So I looked at >> inflation. Well, factor inflation, but I looked at I thought >> you got to be fair. >> Okay, guys. This is my point is simple.
This is a real challenge. This is not a madeup challenge. This is not like, you know, I just make stuff up. This is a real challenge. Like, oh my goodness. Like, as you know, that many of you saw that on my face and the way we spoke and
all of that. You can sense that cuz I don't I don't uh, you know, I never flinch. You know, whatever the mentality is, you anybody around me knows that that's my personality. So, then what do you do? Well, you have to institute a bunch of action steps. So when you take
a look, here are the things that we've already done. Reducing contracts. We reduced Kelly subs by 20%. Conducted return on investment analysis of all of our programs to see which programs pay for themselves, which programs cost the
district money. We reduced all district and and school budgets by 20%. We reduce ridership uh in transportation, put us in line with the current statute, paused all non-essential travel, reduced staff
across the district and schools, eliminated building subs, reduced professional learning opportunities, the all this sort of stuff. A lot of stuff had to happen. Okay, I just want to focus in on the staff reduction piece of this cuz here's some things you ought to
know. One, 82% of your budget is people. 82% of your budget. Only 18% is non people related. So people will say stuff like, "Well, you just need to cut your budget, but don't don't touch people,
whatever." Like, you kind of see the difficulty in that. You can't like do that. That's impossible. 82% of what we do is people driven by uh employee benefits and um and salary.
So what we did, we wound up reducing allocations by about 252. It's kind of a breakdown of that. How did we do that? Well, when we got together to decide how to do this, we wanted to focus on a couple of things. You see them in the building blocks on
the right, which is student centered. Like students in the classroom take priority. That's the reason why we exist. anybody around me and I think Kelly will vouch for me. That is always what I always bring the conversation back to students. How does this affect students? Like because so many times I'm
talking about things and I'm like like okay it seems not related to students. How do we break it down to students? So the reduction had to be proportional without affecting student programs. Minimize the greatest to the extent
possible on our employees. So when you look at that both the administrator class, the instructional staff and the sport staff for me it was important to have balance between that and the lion share should come from the district not
the school right so when you look at the percentage you can see that that that objective was was achieved with the numbers that were reduced right so when you look at it um This this to me was so
important how we treated our employees. I I can just tell you that um great deal of time and care was put into this and you could see that we didn't have an uprising of folks. Now I've been in the district where we've reduced four or five people
and people lined up at a board meeting like hundreds of people were being affected. We treated people with respect. In fact, I even did uh training. I think even Roger and I did a mock how to talk to somebody when you're
telling them this information. We I think we even had a script, a written script. >> Like there was great detail that went into this and I was very demonstrative in my approach with principles about how
you'll talk to people, how we act as an organization, training, all kinds of stuff. That's why it took a little bit of time. And at the end of the day, we were able to offer a job for every person, right? May not been where they wanted to be, but we're able to do that,
which that made the game difficult to do. Difficult. So the question is, where are we now, Frank? That's what happened in the past. We're now at halftime. What's the halftime report? So
at halftime we we're on track in certain areas. For example, belly subs, we reduced it by 20% and we're at 51% expended. So if you think of it this way, you're at the the
golden number here on this would be 50% expended. You're halfway through the year. Half of it should be expended at this point. But keep in mind that half is reduced by 20% from the previous year. So hopefully people got that. Electricity, we're at 50% expended,
which is amazing to me. Payroll, we're slightly over. One of the things that I'm particularly proud of, and I'll give Miss Miss Posie credit, is an accounting measure for payroll that tracks it each and every payroll cycle. Like where are
you after each payroll cycle? If 82% of your budget runs through that, it seems like a great deal of time should be spent analyzing that and where we are. So, we're right we're right there uh
with with that. So many other things that are positives. I I put this slide up and the one thing I wrote in my notes was simply make sure you tell them that this isn't easy. Like that's literally what I wrote. So, let me tell you this. It's not easy. It's really not easy.
Like I'm This is a one minute slide, but the work that was put into this and I thank the leaders at the school level, our principles who've done an amazing job, as well as the district leaders in doing this. To kind of be at this point is blood, sweat, and tears to get there,
right? So, and we're not out of the woods yet. So, let me kind of explain the not so good news, right? So, here's a balanced view of it. uh we just received our third calculation. So the third calculation is
where the state says to you your projected amount you're supposed to have this many students. This is how many you have and then this is your effect on your budget would be the easiest way to kind of point that out. Now each year the state is o has over projected the
state gives you three models. They say here you go you don't get to like pick a number like 40,000 or whatever our number of students are. The state says you're picking this one, this one, or this one. And all three of them are higher. So when you get to this point,
what happens is the number of students you actually have versus the number that were projected, it's going to naturally be lower if the state guessed high. >> Everybody getting that? >> So when you look at that in simple terms, the bottom line difference for
that $4 million. So that's a $4 million negative that goes in that column. I don't if you like the uh the concept of misery loves company then you look at St. John's 8
nothing by the way seeing this across the state. This is not Clay County thing. The projections are higher than the number you have actually have than the state writes it off in your budget. So, that's kind of where we are. In
addition, our health insurance uh has a a negative of $1.1 million, right? Because the cost of health insurance goes up, right? So, there's there's still challenges. So, what I wanted to do on this slide, I don't know how successful I was, but just kind of
say, hey, this is where we are at halftime. This is a lot more work than a single slide can point out to you and at the same time point out a lot of positive work and you aren't out of the woods yet. Like it's halftime, right? Games are won or lost in the second
half. So that's kind of the approach there. So that's where we are mid midway point. So strategic financial goals. Our very first goal, there's only three of them in this Renaissance plan is to
compensate provide compensation for our employees. Right? So, one of the things I'm going to do is provide you with some context of how we've done in the past in regard to this and what we need to do in the future related to this particular goal.
So, I always look for a new way to explain something because I think sometimes when you explain it a different way, something else clicks with people, right? So, this is a new chart. You've never seen this chart before, but what this chart illustrates is
is the cumulative effect of recurring expenses. So when you see uh the 1920 year, you can go over to the right. You can see that that the district paid an additional $6.3 million out of general
fund in order to uh pay. This is just by the way instructional employees. We still have the support employees and the administrative class also that's not even on this graph. So this is kind of misleading in in that regard. But you
can see the 6.3. Then the next year it's 1.8. So notice how it builds each year. So the the concept of recurring cost is once you pay it, you have to pay it in the next year, right? So a little fun
math if you wanted to do fun math is when you look at 1920, you can see 6.3. Okay, 6.3 million. Then the next year it's 1.8 additional dollars. Then the next year it's 3.6. So, if you were to add up each one of those, here's a
statement for you. $92 million additional since 1920 school year in recurring cost. And you would find that number by adding all of those columns up because the next year you have to pay that bill plus the
next year's bill on top of it. So, if you add them all together, it's 90 92 million. >> So, I have a question. >> Yes, ma'am. Just before you move on, so in 2020 2021, it only increased to 1.8. >> Yeah. >> But this year that where we've
technically hurt the most, we increased it to 5.3. >> Nope. >> That would be the 25 26 school year. >> It's not on there. This this year. >> So 24 25 5.3. That's not >> It's last year. That's what I'm saying.
>> Yeah, last year. >> Okay. So you have it. So this past >> Yeah. that this chart does not show. >> Okay. Okay. >> So when you look at that, you say, "Okay, well, let's so a couple things about the chart just so you know, right? It's only instructional. That's very
important, right? We still have to pay our sport employees." Uh when you take a look at this and you were to look at the additional uh challenges, no insurance increases in six years. So let's let's
kind of talk about that. So, anybody that's around, certainly anybody that has a company or business or whatever would say if you haven't increased your insurance premiums in six years, that is amazing. >> Heard that. >> Unheard. >> So, here's the thing that most people
don't know is that did insurance go up? >> The answer is yes. Who paid it? >> The board did. We didn't we didn't defer that cost onto our employees. we paid it. So when you look at that number and
you say, okay, hey, we paid 27.1 million of increased base salary for instructional. It's actually more than that when you factor in benefits, right? We didn't even put that in there. So the
the by the way those numbers for that time frame would be more than two times the all-time record in the history of Klay County. So to say that that's a good record would be an understatement. But also I
would caution you. Beautiful. We got to do better, right? But I think first you got to know what you did before you say I got to do better. Right? When you look at that, I look at that and I go, "Wow, that's amazing." Now, that's not the story that's, you know, that Facebook
warriors like to tell, but that's these are facts, not not Facebook, right? So, so just please know that that that you've done a a a great job. But now we're on we're in uncharted waters from what I told you at the beginning of the
presentation. The things that have happened to us at this year have never happened before. So now we're in uncharted waters. It's it's not the same. We're not playing the same game anymore, right? The rules have changed. So now we're trying to adjust
to the new rules. Okay. >> Real quick. >> Yes, ma'am. >> On the chart because I think this is a phenomenal chart that you guys made. >> Is there a way I know it all? >> Yeah. Well, you all I'm just trying to Yes. Thank you, Miss Watt. But I'm
wondering if that could be sent to me or maybe the board wants that graph. It's very easy to see exactly what we've done and I really appreciate that graph. >> You're welcome. So the second goal is to increase uh financial and operational efficiency. You know you do that every
year but now it becomes so paramount as fund shrink from the state and where we are financially you have to take a look at every operational aspect. That's why the next presenter is talking about the white fleet which is the white cars
that we use like how do we maximize that? How do we reduce that? How do we make money doing that? Because now every every bit of operation of what happens in the district costs something. So we have to examine
that for efficiency far more closely than we ever have before. We're doing that. We're doing that work. You can kind of see up there and on your piece of paper in front of you all of the rationale for why this is so important. It's in our our 5year
strategic plan also. Right? So I'd also point out to you that all of this is audited. I I always laugh because anybody that runs for office, particularly school board, first thing they talk about is we need to audit the school district. Oh, got to audit it.
Got to audit it. There's literally 11 audits that are listed there, including the board the board's internal audit uh as the new as the newest one. We we welcome the audit. Like that's not even a thing for us. Like there's always an audit
going on at any in a school year. It's highly audited and available on the on the uh the transparency page. And the third one is to strengthen the fund balance. And I know Vickiy's gonna
have to close her ears on this one. We'll tell the truth. >> The fund balance is is is a challenge. The state law says you have to have a 3% fund balance by state law. Uh and by the way, some districts have
within board policy a a different number of 5% or whatnot. But I just wanted to provide context. The beauty about being superintendent is I don't have to actually vote on this stuff. I just get to present the facts to you, right? So, here are the facts when it comes to fund
balance. And this this statistic really just kind of blows me away. And I thought it'd be important for the board to recognize why fund balance is important. When you look at fund balance, 3% in Klay County is 11.52 million. The
3% represents one payroll cycle, the January 15th payroll cycle that we just did. How much went out the door? $13.6 million went out the door. So, one
payroll cycle is more than your fund balance. Your entire savings account. >> Doesn't that sound risky? >> Yes. >> Can you tell everybody what happens if you go under this fun? >> Yeah. Yeah. So if you go under the 3%
fund balance, if you go between two and three, you you have to submit a formal plan to the state. If you go below two and the state comes in and takes over operations and >> in addition 3% as the minimum is the red light, the warning, right? 3% like you
cannot that's the bare minimum, >> right? Yeah, I get what you're saying, but I was trying to to paint a graver picture in the sense that if if you can't even pay your employees one time with that, that's not a good position to
be in. >> Yeah. >> Now, there's a balancing act between uh having a fund balance that's higher. For example, if we were a district that had a a 14% fund balance, I can see the argument for taking money from the fund
balance in order to compensate your employees, right? But when you're at when you're at a bare minimum and the warning light is on, it makes it more difficult to do that. So, if nothing else, I provide you a
rationalization for fund balance. In addition, you don't know what's going to happen, right? The purpose of a savings account at your house is what if the hot water heater blows out? What if the car needs repair? What if like all of these whatifs? You have to have someplace to
go. There is no credit card for school districts. It's not like, hey, we'll put it on our credit card and we'll pay off the debt later. The only debt the board has is when it builds new new buildings and has bonds related to new
construction. There's no like secret credit cards that you can go ahead and do that like you would potentially do at home which is not advisable but that's a whole another story. So what what do we student vouchers right? You don't know how many vouchers you have. You're not sure about
enrollment shifts. You're not sure the financial uncertainty at state like there's a lot of unknowns. This job would be so easy if everybody would tell us exactly how much money you going to get and how it's going to work and what are you not going to change next year, right? If we knew all of
those, uh, we'd be able to like nail it down to the penny. It don't life doesn't work that way and it doesn't work that way for school districts either. So then what is what is the plan based off of? It's based off of three pillars which are decreasing expenses, increasing
revenue, increasing enrollment. Like those are really the pillars to financial strength. If you said to me, what do we have to do in order to increase our financial strength as a district so that we can achieve the goal of compensating our employees at a
greater rate. Uh this is it. And this is so basic. decrease what you're spending, increase the money you get in, and also increase enrollment if that's how you're paid. That would make sense, right? It's a way of making or generating more
money. So, when you look at it, here are the things that are currently underway when it comes to decreasing expenses. All the things you see listed up there, uh, conduct a comprehensive review, allocation, and funding sources. We've already started the allocation process
for next year. that starts like right away as soon as you come back. It's not like it just happens at the end magically. So what are some things that you do related to allocations? Well, you want to make sure that you pay all of the allocations that can be paid for out
of a different funding source than general fund would maximize general fundability. Right? So that process is going on right now. um supplements. The board pays a little over $3.3
million in supplements. We're examining the supplement package, you know, open late. That will take a month or two in order to get to to that point. The budget controls, very proud of business affairs. Review of payroll happens all the time.
>> Mr. Broski, did something change in the supplements? I know it is attached, you know, this this week. I read >> we have not Yeah, the supplement package won't come until uh March, April. So, we still have time to examine that. >> Okay.
>> Um >> just the job descriptions. >> Oh. Oh, those are job descriptions for the supplements. >> Yeah, there was a chart in there about like high school, track, that kind of thing you evaluate later, >> right? >> Okay. So the job description is just
what do those people do? The allocation is we're actually going to get one of those >> uh at at some point. So So one of the things that we've done a good job through HR is making sure that our job descriptions are up to date. before we had job descriptions that were like 20
years 20 years old and when we did an audit opa audit that's when they said hey >> you guys got to refresh these and really examine those so that's part of that process >> Mr. Yes, ma'am.
>> If you can very shortly just because I've had some questions about this and people were under the impression that the board went in and um just kind of made cuts to to allocations essentially without recommendation. So
can you just quickly the process of how when we did the 240? >> Sure. So, so very quickly, you know, we looked at what what's the objective. You have to have an objective in order to decide what rationale you're going to use. One had the least impact on
students in the classroom. So, you would notice that there was a higher percentage of instructional people that are assigned to the district that were reduced. So, what are we talking about there? That would be people who are instructional coaches, those sorts of
people. It would seem to me if you're in a financial situation, the teacher that's physically in the classroom in front of students takes priority, right? When you think about the logic of of that, we we then took a look at what
percentage would be instructional, what part would be support, what part would be um administration to ensure that there's a balance between those three. Right? You can't reduce teachers and not reduce administrators. In fact, that
percentage should be higher if you take the lead. So you can see from that data, that's what happened. The district should take more than the school because that's where the kids are, right? So all of those factors are done. Then we went to principles and we said, "Okay, based on the number of students that you have
at your school, like an Oakleaf High School for example, versus a Swimming Pen Creek Elementary, this is the number that if you had to reduce based on the percentages of students that you have, what are those positions that you feel like you can go ahead and continue
operations maximizing or or minimizing the impact on on um students and staff? ordered those recommendations. Then we sat in that conference room how many how many meetings? I don't know 20 >> digits.
>> 20 and went through it line by line by line by line by line. The tough it's probably the toughest >> Yeah. >> process. I think we met one time. Where's Treasure? I think we met one time for two hours and at the end we said I don't think we did anything. Like
we literally we admitted to ourselves because we're so peopleentric. We care about people, right? This we're in the people business. It's very tough to do this. And so great care was so it wasn't a willy-nilly. It certainly wasn't the board because the people that actually
do the work at the school, you even I wouldn't pretend to know whether or not exposition at X school would be really necessary. I'm smart enough to know I should trust the people that actually do the work on that decision, which is what
the board did and to a certain extent what I did. So that was a very painstaking process, but certainly not the 20 meetings or whatever the number is. I certainly wouldn't call it willy-nilly. It's pretty much >> Yeah. >> eight people around a table looking line
by line at every position >> and impact. Can we actually do that? Like to make sure um and and a lot went into it. I I'm a lot of sound bizarre, but I'm very
proud of that work because I think we did it respecting the people that work for our district. We did what was necessary and we minimize the impact on our students, which is our primary responsibility, and our employees. So, we we checked all
of the boxes in my mind for success of that program. Now, I wish we never had good weight, right? That's a whole another story, but I'm proud of the way it was done. Let's put it that way. >> So, back up there to budget controls. You can see that budget meetings. I
think I got four this this week. It seems like I'm always like they're going to give me an office and business affairs. So, then in operations, you see uh the white fleet. You're going to see that here in a minute. reviewing the contracts and school boundaries. And one of the things we'll have to talk about
at some point down the road is school boundaries, like all of that, maximizing our boundaries and maximizing our schools, which is a whole another can of worms. So then increasing revenue, we get paid in a
bizarre way. So this is my best two-minute version of how we get paid, right? You get paid through a process called FTE, full-time equivalent. So students enrollment is different than what you get paid. Let that soak in.
Right? So you don't get paid based on the number of students you have. You get paid on the number of students you have and who those students are. And when I say who they are, I mean what is the cost to educate them. So, I thought this
was the easiest chart to kind of illustrate this point. And it's a very complex um oh gosh, I don't even know how many um parts to the FB there are. Probably about 20 calculations that are used along the way to come up with a number.
But essentially, the point I'm trying to drive home, if you look at the chart on the right, you can see that not every student is paid the same. So, let me give you some quick math because I'm not a good math person. I I'll Sister Sorica would have beat me back in Catholic
school. So when you look when you look at the chart, let's pretend the base student allocation is 5,000 per student. You can see maybe I should ask some math questions here. No, I'm not going to do that to you. >> So when you look at uh when you look at
where it says 112, see where it says basic 48 with with ESC services, it says 1.0. So, if the base student allocation is is $5,000, 5,000 * 1 is 5,000. So, for that
student, that student, you get paid $5,000 to educate them. Now, I'm going to take you to a extreme example. Let's pretend that the student is deaf or blind, which we do have students that are visually impaired. We do have
students that are deaf. Let's pretend that those students are a 254 on that chart. That 5,000 now goes to more than 15,000 because the blind student or the deaf student or whatever the category
is, it cost more to educate them than the other student. Then you can see it goes all the way down to 255, six times the base student allocation. Right? So enrollment
and how much you get paid are different. So it's not just the number of students that you got. Of course, that's important, but it's also what type of program they're in. >> Everybody kind of got the concept. Now,
that is very basic in in regard to explaining how you get paid. So the number of students is important, but also what programs they are is important, too. So, one of the other ways that I'd like to openly discuss with the board for the
first time to to raise revenue when it comes to compensation is is through the one mill. Our the citizens of Klay County from 2018 on have approved the one mill
primarily. We we used it for student safety and you can see examples of all the things that we've done over the years. We pay our police department contracts through there. So to give you an example, Clay County Sheriff's Office contract about 7.2 million million
dollars that is, you know, and then you got Green Cove and Orange Park. There is a a school um officer in every school within Clay County. safety. If you can't do safety, you really can't do anything because that is people send
their kids to school with the expectation that we're going to do everything we humanly can in order to keep their kids safe. We've done that to a high level. You know, in addition to the to the people involved in that, you
have fencing, mechanical gates, cameras, bging systems. There's all kinds single points of entry. There's all kinds of things that we do in order to keep students safe. I believe we've reached a point in the process where we we also need to look at
recruiting and retaining employees through that process. Now, I know uh we wanted to make sure that there was clarity from the voters related to this issue. So, I want to bring it to the board's attention that I'm I'm
recommending that we do this for a variety of reasons. I believe we can do that as far as the safety portion of it versus the employee uh compensation portion of it. In addition, our our neighbors all do that. By the way, St.
John's County does that mall does that. We have to compete with the people around us, right? So I don't I don't operate in a vacuum. I can only tell you the world that we live in. So we compete for other people to retain highquality employees. Employees are the lifeblood
of what we do. We don't at the district level actually do the work. It's people at schools that do the work. And so honoring that, that is one of the ways that I'm recommending when it comes to
increasing revenue. Not sure if the board if any board member has any comment related to that, but we've reached the point in the evolution of where we are that I've made the judgment that this is
the proper path for our district. And I want to formally tell the board that that is my recommendation. >> So, Mr. Superintendent, can I just um >> Yes, ma'am. >> give you my thoughts. >> Yes, ma'am. >> So, for about a year and a half, this has been on my mind, right? And there's
been so much disruption when it comes to our attempt to pay our teachers more. It's a it's a very volatile, emotional uh subject and we all know that our teachers need to have more money.
So, like from the bottom of my heart and also thinking logistically since our neighbors have all done this and I know our plan would look different than our neighbors because that that will depend on how we do it. But I honestly can't see any other way
to support our teachers. There's a lot of talk about teachers too, right? We all talk about teachers all the time. But I think the thing that really gets my heart is our support staff, right, who make very little money. People who
work with kids who have extreme difficulties in school, the type of days they have, like, you know, self-contained. So when we go through the process, I just want to make sure because I think the recommendation from you is an excellent recommendation and I
will support it wholeheartedly. I'm just hoping that everybody knows as we go through the process that yes, our teachers are important, but I'll tell you a quick story. When I was at Wilkinson Junior High and we got our FCAP money back then,
I always knew that teachers were important. So, when you got your bonus, I spent about eight years there making sure everyone was important. And that school actually gave up their FSA FCAP money every year. We donated every dime
to the school for the kids, right? Because I believe when I was a teacher that cafeteria workers and custodians and all those people are essential for me to teach the best I could teach. Like
they were as important as I was. And so I just wanted to say it's a great thing that you're thinking through this, but also that we need to make sure people are aware that we're a whole unit, a district, right, with all the people who
are in dire need of our raises. So, >> thank you. Appreciate that. Anyone Anyone else? >> Well, I'd have to say that we have all been on the same wavelength basically.
and Mrs. Tropman gave me some indepth understanding of our system compared to the other counties and obviously there's some other things that we need to do to get on track with being competitive. So >> I mean going back to 2011 when we trans
transitioned to the state's performance pay model and had elected not to maintain the grand audit system. That's something in itself we need to look at so we can be competitive. So I think we're all probably I hope we're on the same page.
But yeah, definitely supports that work. I think you know in all the quagmire um that hurts more than being at Bannerman at Christmas time and seeing two bus drivers leave. That was,
you know, just cuz they could get a supplement. >> That was hurtful. I think too it's it's what's fiscally responsible here when we talk about at the end of the day the board is responsible for paying our employees and when we look at our fund
balance and the situation that's that it's in and 3% of that fund balance is less than what it would cost to run one payroll. This gives us the ability to maximize the use of our revenue
um in ways that we're currently restricted and can't. Um so it allows us to do it with transparency and I think it also gives us the um flexibility that we need when we are so dependent on the state. We have to control what we can
control and give ourselves the flexibility that we need to to make our budget work. And I think that this is um a step towards fiscal responsibility and leadership. I would just like to echo Gilhousen which is his transparency because
there's been so much that has been going on the last couple months and I think people are just misinformed or just don't want to hear it or have leaders that um don't necessarily fully transparently say what's going on. So I think that a one meal is going to help
because we are so reliant on the state and I don't I don't think people understand that each county's pie chart is completely different than the next county. So comparing us to St. John's and other counties um
is not the same. And I think for Klay County's purposes, um, because so much of our revenue comes from the state, that this is at this point right now our only option, um,
in compensation. Uh, we've we've said it a thousand times. We've gave it when we've had it. And um I think it's taken real leadership within our board to say, "Hey, we have to pause because of what's
happening, all of the historical things that have happened in this one budget uh in one year and how certain decisions can be so detrimental um to to one's budget. So, I think that
this um this is going to be crucial in paying our employees, especially when, like I said, I mean, I don't want to fully blame the state, but I mean, when we're in the predicament that we're in um
in such a short little time, I think that um I this is our only option at this point. But I would just I I would have to pause to say and I know you and I have talked about this. We have to be very
intentional on our verbiage and then god forbid if this doesn't pass in the next 5 years, what do we do? Um so that's something else that I I wouldn't be responsible of a leader to not mention that and and saying that we need to be
prepared for that as well. I think that's an excellent point when you talk about what this 1 mill has funded historically. Um, and we talk about a $60 million shortfall that we experienced this year. Should that 1 million go away, that's an additional
essentially 20 million in a school year. So, so I would I'll say this openly. The the contract with the Klay County Sheriff's Office would have to be restructured or eliminated without the one mil to back that. So,
think about what that says. So, I I really believe that um well, first I I believe that voters will see the necessity to keep our students safe. That's step one. I also believe that they also would see that having high
quality people around their children is also a necessity and we've been blessed to have that because we do have fantastic uh employees in this district. Many people know I I talk cushionly about that fact. I think it's what why people
work in clay >> when they have a financial impact or could have a financial benefit >> by going somewhere else because we try to create an atmosphere where people feel valued. Um and that that's still important and I get it.
>> And where else can you win a car? >> Win a car for teacher of the year. Yeah. >> Who knew? >> Tax. >> Yes, sir. >> Yeah. I want to echo on what board member Richard Hansen said about staff employees when we at least in my
mind when I'm thinking about employee compensation I'm I'm thinking about staff at the same time. >> Yep. >> The staff employers. So >> yes sir. >> I agree with her that we we should take care of the best we can. >> Thank you so much for that. Now the question would be how do we make that happen? I got a timeline up on the
screen now that you you also have in front of you. Here are the like dates and milestones. It's not written in stone. Some of them are like June 12th is is the deadline for the BCC to put the referendum language. So, you can kind of see I've laid out how to get to
that point and major milestones along the way. Of course, the verbiage of the um of the ballot language be coming up. You can see a potential time frame there. the and then how to do that the
mechanics of making that that happen. Um I do believe that uh our folks in the community know that having a good strong public education system is important. It increases the value of homes within
our community makes businesses want to come here. Public school is important for so many reasons. Whether you have a child in public school or not, it's the very fabric of our community. So, super duper
important and there's a there's a process to get there and I'll have already exceeded my estimated time. So, I'll I'll move through it as quickly as I can. So, you see the increased revenue and then the third part of that is enrollment. So remember me telling you
about FTD. If you want to look at numbers of students and when I first saw this chart, I thought it looks the same, right? That's the quick estimation because it is our our our enrollment our number our physical number of kids that come to Klay County District Magnet
Schools not the same. Yes. >> Historically o over time. What we are seeing though from the FTE perspective is just that the growth when it comes to number of students increasing has slowed
down in FTE which is not number of students. It's how much you're actually paid what programs they're involved in which is much more complicated to figure out than this chart. So, one of the ideas that was brought forward was, hey,
you should tell people about all the great things you're doing within the school system. I think it was Miss Hansen in in our last meeting, right? So, I know that uh Sabrina is going to tell a little bit about that, but just a little preview of that. When it comes to enrollment, you have to several things.
You have to to point out what you have. Most people don't know what what opportunities are involved in Clay County schools. So when I talk about school choice, which I'm a proponent of school choice, not every family is the same, not every student is the same, right? So and every student has
different interests, but but the programs that we have are high quality and they cover the spectrum of every possibility as to a choice you may want to make all within Klay County schools. So telling the story of Klay County schools is one piece of it. and then
capturing the entry points, helping families find the perfect learning path for them. You know, I'll talk to a parent, they'll say, "I'm not sure whether I should do dual enrollment AP or ACE with my child." Right? There's a lot of options. There's a lot of choices. So, we should be guiding them
in a more effective way. And then what what we refer to as the family experience. We simply need to make it easier for people to attend our our district. Sometimes sometimes we over complicate things.
>> Uh the the the enrollment process and all of those sorts of processes. >> We should look at how do we make it easier for people to access us >> and and she'll talk more about that. So spoiler presentation wasn't there. So
97% graduation rate, highest ever in the history of Klay County schools. And when you take a look uh at this one of the things uh oh >> it was a cool graphic >> it was a >> all of that information >> on the website yeah
>> is on the is on the transparency the transparency piece and we'll update this plan as time goes along just wanted to tell you where we've been where are we now halfway what's the plan for the future and I appreciate the comment yes ma'am >> just real quick um some people have been
doing news stories or whatever about our graduation rate and um someone in my family said to me, "Oh, you're at 95% and Putnham's the highest in the state, but when you go to the website, you could look up the 97%." Do you have any idea where that confusion's coming from?
>> Sure. The 97% are our seven high schools. >> Yeah. >> Not the overall the overall rate of because we also have DJ schools ACE. >> Okay. So that's why it's 97% on the website, >> right,
>> reporting numbers versus what people are looking at. >> So even our our 95% statistic from last year was based on our high school. >> Okay. All right. >> So if you would look at the total including DJJ was probably around 93.
>> Yeah. I just needed some clarification so when I respond to people, >> not that I'm competitive, but it's not one of the top 10 graduation rates in the state of Florida. >> Yeah. >> Overall, so so a lot of good work being done. So now to kind of drill down deep,
if I could, is one item on that plan was the white fleet, right? There's one single item. We do have an expert here, uh, Jean Renee. Okay, he's impressed that I can say the
name, right? Renee from Enterprise is here. He's going to give a much quicker presentation than mine. Let me just say this. >> I appreciate you listening for a longer time, but that was important. It was important for us to not only be on the
same page, but for our employees to hear what he's saying and for other stakeholders to hear that, too. So, I greatly appreciate the amount of time that I had in the process. So, I'm going to give you the pleasure, sir. And would you like for me to pass
out that >> Yes, sir. >> And how about up front? >> May I use this area here to just >> a little >> And you feel free. Excellent. >> Go back to the gym.
A little bit more. Okay. Well, good morning. Thank you so much for having me. My name is Jean Bortis. John Renee is my name, but everybody here, oh, long story. I came here in fifth grade. I was about 10 years old. My teacher couldn't pronounce my name. I couldn't correct him because I didn't
speak English, so it ended up being G from that point on, but it's Jean Renee Bortis. Um, I'm with Enterprise Fleet Management. Um, I appreciate the opportunity to be here this morning to kind of share a little bit about who we are and the work that we've put in with your team over the last 12 months. Um,
everybody, most people are familiar with Enterprise Rental Car. Same company, just a different division. Uh our goal really is to leverage the infrastructure and the resources we have on the rental car side, go into our communities, find government entities for uh for-profit nonprofit organizations where we can see
if it makes sense for us to partner together and see if we can run a little bit more efficiently by working together versus them doing it on their own. So over the last several months, we've had the opportunity to work with your local team. And first we really wanted to make sure are we even a good fit because we
know we're not a good fit for everyone. So uh what we determine as a good fit are really two things. Number one is can we provide cost savings. So number one is if we were to partner together would it be an added cost? Would it be cost neutral or would it be cost savings? So
we ran some analyses to run to to figure that out. Second thing is operational efficiencies. Are there ways that we can help you operate a little bit better than you're doing historically on your own and where can we add some value? So we collected some data from your from your team. List of all your vehicles,
all the vents, actual mileage driven, um maintenance spend just to analyze and to kind of set a benchmark if you will. Where are you guys at today? And also understand your current situation. How are you guys operating currently without enterprise? That was kind of the benchmark to be able to see where we can
where we can help. So with that said, what we found was 42% of your 241 vehicles currently now 241 is what you have. 42% are over 10 years old. So that's 101 vehicles over
10 years old. 58 of those vehicles are over 100,000 miles. Average age of your vehicle is 10 years old. The average 49 of those vehicles, so 20% are over 20 years old.
Um, average acquisitions is somewhere around 17, but you can see some spikes here and there. Um, which equates to somewhere around 630,000 historically you spend on acquisition annually to acquire vehicles. And then your holding period
is 13.4 years. Um the what that means is that uh 13.4 years if you take your 241 vehicles and you divide it by 17 vehicles acquired annually it will take you 13.4 years to cycle through your entire fleet. Meaning your current age
right now is 10 years old. But if you continue at that same acquisition rate of 17 vehicles a year, your vehicles would end up being like 14 years old. But the problem is if you had all the money in the world, you would definitely replace. But having doing 17 vehicles a year, $63040,000,
that's a huge capital outlay. So now having to increase that to if we have, you know, 241 vehicles and we want to have 10-year-old vehicles instead of, you know, 14y old vehicles, now you're looking at doing like 24 vehicles, that would be a much significant capital outlay, which most government entities,
districts, cities, counties don't really have available right now. So that is the current situation. Now the reason I share some of this is there are some hards. So one of the things is safety concerns. I heard safety mentioned several times uh during the
presentation. The a lot of the vehicles currently are lacking some safety features. Meaning right now you have 129 vehicles that don't have backup cameras. Backup cameras were being standard in 2018. Um and you can see here some of the ways having some of these safety
features have decreased decreased that's where my accident starts kicking in has decreased uh you know collisions and accidents and different things like that right so and a lot of times people have it on their personal cars and they'll depend on it then they'll find
themselves in a company vehicle and not have it and all of a sudden you know things happen. So that's one. Number two is well, you have 129 vehicles that predate backup cameras. 102 predate automatic braking, which was made standard in 2016. Uh 76 of your vehicles
predate electronic stability control. That was made standard in 2012. Then 39 vehicles predate anti-lock brakes and that was made standard in 2007 and that's 16% of your total fleet. So there's definitely some opportunity is what I'm saying from a safety standpoint
there. Second thing is uh underutilized vehicles. One of the main things that we talked about when we first started our conversations was there are vehicles that are just sitting and they're not being used. How many vehicles do we have actually that are just there? Like let's make sense. And I see some smiles cuz
that was one of the biggest things that we talked about for sure. Um so I'll talk about that a little bit later, but there's definitely some opportunity there with some vehicles that are underutilized. Um third thing is operating expenses. So we found that age units are less efficient and they cost
you more. So you'll see more repairs and more maintenance poured into these vehicles. So there's some opportunity for us to reduce your operating expenses as well. And I'll talk about the impact of the partnership on capital and operating in just a moment. Um and then lastly also the loss of equity. So I
think in the government space there's a huge opportunity um when it comes to losing equity. These vehicles as as they sit are worth less and less and less and less. What we found is um one of your goals is really to to goal number two
was to improve, you know, efficiency. One of the things that we're noticing is that people historically are keeping vehicles just way too long. They're replacing vehicles when they've spent the most on it and it's worth the
least. And if you want to see what I mean, just go on Gov deals. You'll see all the vehicles that I'm talking about. You'll see that they're sell for they're going to sell for like 500,000 bucks, couple thousand bucks. And they've got, you know, luckily the district doesn't put a whole lot of miles, you know,
small, you know, uh, uh, area, you know, footprint. So, you don't have as much as a county necessarily would or a business that's putting, you know, 20 or 30,000 m a year on their vehicles. The data shows on average you're putting anywhere from 4 to 7,000 m a year. So having vehicles
now that are over 100,000 miles, I mean, those are really aged vehicles. But what we find is people are spend they're they're getting rid of the vehicle when they don't want to replace a transmission or an engine anymore because they're saying the vehicle is not worth it. Maybe it's a $6,000 repair. The vehicle is only worth two
and it just doesn't make any sense. But by that time, you spent the most, but the vehicle is worth the least. And we're like, there's got to be an optimal time to replace the vehicle so that you can get rid of the vehicle before you have to spend significant dollars, but then when you replace it, it's also
still worth something that you can invest import into the next in the next vehicle or use however um how you see fit. So that is where Enterprise kind of shines because we have 2 million vehicles of our own in our own portfolio. On the rental car side, we
manage another 800,000 for government entities and for-profit nonprofit organizations. So all that, not to brag, but just to simply say we have data. So if you operate an F-150 in the state of Florida, we may have 20,000 F-150s. So we know when a water pump's going to go, when a transmission is going to go, when
an engine's going to go, so we can pass that information along to you and say, "Hey, around 110,000 mi, we recommend getting rid of that vehicle." And then that vehicle is probably going to be worth at 110,000 miles and you know 3 4 5 6 years old whatever it may be based on your m mileage patterns it may be
worth $15 $20,000 $25,000. So now you got the best of both worlds. You don't sink a lot of money on the repairs and you get to walk away with equity and now you can lower what we call your total cost of ownership for that specific vehicle. So that was a mouthful. Now,
our your team and I were was able to create a strategy. Um, and first before we even worked on the actual strategy, we wanted to validate something. So, one of your team members mentioned and said, "Hey, what should our fleet size actually be?" Because we have way too
many vehicles. So, we ran we reached out to a couple of our current clients. So, St. John's County Schools is one of our current clients as well as Sarah Sarasota County Schools. We reached out to both of them, got some of their fleet data. They sent that over to us and we analyzed it. We looked at it by department to see how you guys ranked
and stacked against some of theirs and how many vehicles you have. So, because we wanted to make sure, okay, what is the target? What's the ideal number of vehicles for Klay County schools? Now, keep in mind Sarasota actually has a technical college and an in-house police department as well. So, their vehicles
are going to be a little bit more than yours, but your team and I agreed that somewhere around 150 vehicles would probably be be the sweet spot. So, with that said, we said, "Okay, well, we got a couple options." So, if we're if the goal
really is to get to 150 vehicles, then if we have 241, we can just sell 141 vehicles and just be at the, you know, 150, right? Um, no, that's not that's not right the math. So, if you have 241 vehicles, we can just, you know, sell
some vehicles and it end up being at He said he wasn't good at math either, so I'm I'm going go ahead and do that. But we can just sell, you know, some of your vehicles and then just say, okay, well, we'll just defle, right? Like, cool. Okay, cool. Let's get rid of 91 vehicles. That's fine. But the problem is, if you got rid of 91 vehicles, you
would still end up with an age fleet that um is still around 10 years old. And even if you replace some of the oldest vehicles, if you did not have the capital to buy enough vehicles to keep your average age at 10 or less going
forward, you would still end up with an age fun. Does that make sense? >> So our goal was like, okay, well then what's another strategy? So we spoke to our our government team here at Enterprise because we have a government team that works with government entities throughout the nation. And uh we said,
"Well, what if we kept 100 of your best vehicles and then we leased 50 vehicles?" So, we got you to the 150. That way, the 50 vehicles can have all the safety features and all the things and we can start working that process. And what if we sold 141 vehicles and be
strategic with those 141, not just your oldest vehicles cuz they're not worth a lot. How about we do some of the older vehicles, but then we al do also do some of your vehicles with equity. Meaning those that are around six, seven years old with very low miles on them, but they're losing equity that still don't
have some of the safety features. Use combine strategically both of those so that we can create some equity, an internal replacement fund, if you will, to help fund the program. If we sold 141 vehicles, what would that look like from a dollars and cents standpoint? Then if
you pull that money into the program, what would that look like? And I'll share that with you in just a moment. So the goal is keep a hundred of your best, lease 50 units, sell 141 uh strategically to fund the program. Here's the other thing, too, from an
operational standpoint. Selling 141 vehicles, that's 141 vehicles you don't have to pay insurance on anymore. And all the cool things that happen from selling all those vehicles, your operating expenses will go down. So we want to look at this both from a capital standpoint and also a operating
standpoint. So at any point in time if you have questions I will have some Q&A at the end but feel free to interrupt me and ask any questions at any point in time. So now we're going to take a look at the cost. So what we did was work with the team. We identified 50 vehicles and they
determine the vehicles. It's not me. They know how you guys use your vehicles. You know what you use them for. So that can be changed at any point in time. The type of vehicle that is purchased, but we wanted to put a dollar amount on it. So 50 vehicles. Um actually, let me do this before I go
over the cost. Let me explain leasing because a lot of times when people think of leases, they think of your dealership leases, right? So those are what we call closended leases, walkway leases. And I know it's tempting with all the numbers there to focus on the numbers and ignore
Jean, but please. So, so with with the leases, so what happens is most leases are you lease the vehicle, you have mileage restrictions, you have wear and tear penalties, and then when you turn the vehicle in, um, if you don't choose to buy the vehicle,
the dealership has all the equity in that vehicle, right? Um, this is not that. These are open-ended leases, which means number one, no mileage restrictions. Number two, no wear and tear penalties. Now, those things, they affect the resale value. Meaning, if
it's time to sell a vehicle, you know, at 4, 5 years, 6 years, and the vehicle's missing a door, you don't need a whole lot less than a vehicle with a door. Um, and that's just the way it is, right? But other than that, we don't penalize in any way, shape, or form. And number two is unlike a dealership lease,
you own all of the equity. So, because we are members of Sourcewell, we go through Sourceware for all of this. We've been awarded contract for the last decade or more. um we charge a flat fee of $400. So if the vehicle sells for 20 grand, so we take 400, the districts
gets gets 19,600 for you to and you don't have to port back into the program. We recommend doing that, but you have three options. You can get an invoice credit against future leases. You can get cash. You can put in your general fund, use it however you because
it's your money. Uh or two, you could put it down towards another vehicle and reduce the actual payment. So those are the options that you have, but they are your options and um it's something that you can do for each vehicle. So that is what it is. So our leases have a lot of flexibilities. I work
personally with a ton of government entities. Uh and we do police vehicles, sheriff vehicles, and we're putting lights and cages and bars and all kinds of things on these vehicles. So definitely you don't have any kind of wear and tear penalties. Now, regarding the cost, what we did was we estimated,
now keep in mind, average 17 vehicles a year is what the district has done historically. You've been spending somewhere around $630 to $650,000 annually to purchase these vehicles. Here, the lease payments on these 50 vehicles would be $613,000
annually for 60 months. But here's the thing. What we've done is we looked at your 141 vehicles and we estimate those vehicles are worth just under $900,000 is what you have in equity in all those vehicles that are just sitting right now
and year after year the value is just going down down down and down. We're saying why don't we leverage that equity on these 141 vehicles pour it into this program and what would that look like for the district? Well, I broke it down by fiscal year for you. So fiscal year
uh current fiscal year what we recommend is we can go to a dealer and buy a vehicle for you or we can go directly to Ford, Chevy, uh Stellantis and buy the vehicle on your behalf. It depends. We create a hybrid approach. If you need the vehicle today because
you have a new hire, you have a total loss or whatever it may be, then we have to go to the dealer and we have just about every dealer in our network that we can work. You still get your your your state pricing. None of that changes at all. So, you still get all the concessions and all the incentives, but if you go to the manufacturer directly,
two things happen. Number one is you bypass dealer fees, right? And usually that saves anywhere from $1,000 to $1,500. You don't have to worry about the advertising credits and some of those things. Number two, uh, and this is pretty huge, too, is you get to spec out the vehicle. So, when you go on a
deal a lot, it's already been specked and options have been added on that vehicle. When you go to the manufacturer, you can say, "I don't want this option. I don't want that option. I want this. So, between the dealer fees and being able to spec out the vehicle, we estimate that you can save anywhere
from $3,000 to $3,500 per vehicle on top of all your concessions and everything you're getting for being a government entity. So, that is huge. Um, so if you were to factory order, now keep in mind your fiscal year is going to end here in just a few months. By the time we got the vehicle in, we estimate only two
payments would be made this current fiscal year. So for those 50 vehicles, you'd be looking at $102,000 is what the spend would be uh for this current fiscal. And the next fiscal year starting from July to January, we would
and here you see May cuz that's when if we were fortunate enough to earn your business and work together, we estimate the vehicles being here probably around May or so if you were able to factory order them. Could be even June at that point in time. Some of the vehicles may actually go into, excuse me, your next
fis fiscal year, which means you wouldn't even see the $42,000 impact this year. Um, next year, you would see that the payments would still be the 613, but if we sold all the vehicles, you would have $800,000 coming back. So,
you'd be net positive $270,000. So, essentially 2 years where you would normally spend on acquisition. Got to keep in mind, I know this year because of the financial situation, you may not have budgeted to spend 67,000 or $30,000 on vehicles, but you may have
next year, but you wouldn't have to do that next year. So, that's savings already by leveraging your current equity and then just focusing on cash flow and making it more fixed and budgeted. Our goal would be through the partnership to make it where your
budgets year after year are more fixed than budgeted so that you can kind of know what your spend is going to be. keeping in mind what your desired fleet age is based on the data. So that if our goal is to operate 7-year-old vehicles
instead of 15 year old vehicles, how do we create a strategy work backwards to make sure that not only does it fit within our budget, but it also works uh efficiently for the for the district. Now, >> can I ask a question really quick?
>> Yes. Yes. So, I'm looking at these lease payments and for two vehicles, it averages out about 50,000 for the year. Correct. Am I understanding this? >> Sounded about right. >> Okay. >> So, what what vehicles are these? Do we
is just your This is just an example. Is this will it go up? Will it go down depending on the vehicle? And are these vehicles on the side what we have asked to look at like this Ford and the Ram and all that? >> Very very good question. Very good question. So these were based on your
current vehicle makes and models that you have now. And we kind of did like for like. So the next step would be getting with the transportation department which we do over the next seven days which would be okay let's look at the exact vehicles that you need the 50 and then let's put a dollar
amount to those. Now the thing is these dollar amounts are accurate and I don't see even with the selection that it would be any more expensive than what it is here because what I selected when I do this I selected the most expensive vehicles for that specific car class.
>> So that when we actually true it up it actually ends up being a little bit less and then when you apply some of the incentives that we're going to get from the manufacturer as well that number is going to be a little bit less. So underpromise overd deliver if you will, but you actually get paid you you pay what the actual dollar and round is >> if that makes sense.
>> Yes. I'm just trying I mean like okay if we're looking at a at a ram at 50 that might would would quote unquote be a deal but I mean if we do we need >> I don't know. I'm trying to think of things in my head.
>> No great question. So you're talking about >> I've been looking at cars lately and I can tell you they're expensive. And the new car market is crash or the old car market. Well, they're all crashing right now. But my point is is >> do we have to I know we need trucks.
I get that. Um we can't just say no, we we don't need trucks, but can we get the cheaper car getting us from point A to point B? and then sitting here thinking about a cheaper car. It's cheaper to I understand we're going to save in the long run with maintenance and
operational costs, but it's almost cheaper to buy a new car than it is to lease it. But I guess if you do dollar for dollar in the long term, but I mean you can get I mean I don't know. I'm just thinking maybe I should keep my thoughts. >> No, I look at the lease program
differently. You're always losing equity. I've leased only twice in my life and returned them. And the thing about what you're talking about, this open-ended lease, is actually a really I'm pretty impressed with the fact that
it's an open-ended lease because what that tells me, I don't know if it's going to help you at all, it might be a little cheaper to hustle around and buy a find a truck that's a couple thousand dollar cheaper, but in essence, with an open-ended lease, and correct me if I'm wrong,
it will be more valuable to us because we don't lose lose the equity. We don't lose any money when it comes to maintenance or mileage. And when we sell it, the equity that it does have becomes our down payment on another vehicle.
Correct. And so that doesn't happen. When we keep vehicles 15 years, they're worth $100. We continually lose that equity. So I'm I'm kind of excited about an open-ended lease. And I don't know if that helped at all. It doesn't.
>> I guess my train of thought I've always you pay off what you have so that you don't owe. And then leasing was always considered a waste of money. And I don't mean that in a negative sense. I know that's going to sound out very >> negative,
but I'm sitting and I and I'm trying to think of it as an organizational viewpoint that yeah, it saves us on insurance. And I guess I would just have to in my mind just to help me um cuz I know we did the bus leasing and that was
Anyways, so my point is I guess I would want to see it dollar for dollar for me. I know you have more in your presentation, but for me mentally I I would need to see like what it would be for like operational like insurance.
Then >> I'll tell you my biggest concern is the fixed cost the annual fixed cost. Currently when we own we are deciding whether we're going to purchase that year if we can afford it. If you have a fixed expense it's not flexible
depending on your revenue that year. So that's the part that makes me a little uncomfortable. I I mean I the money makes sense. It's if we are truly paying 600 and something every year currently >> this is a better deal. >> And here's the thing. And so there was a lot kind of shared. I'm going to try to kind of tackle the
>> I also just my last thought is I had to get my brain out of what I know about a traditional lease. >> Yeah. >> And jump out of that little box because that makes no sense at all. >> At all for a district or a government entity to enter into the only type of lease that would make any sense at all
would be something like this. Like and maybe that's where I'm unboxing myself in because >> the traditional >> and it's a lot of information. And prior to me walking in today, people didn't know this open-ended lease structure actually existed and it's what we do. So, like I said, for Sarasota, for St.
John schools, that's what we've been doing. I work with Madison County. We just brought on City of Green Code 6 months ago. They're one of our clients. Work with the police chief and we do some of their vehicles and they're putting like $20,000 of aftermarket equipment on their vehicles and everything else. Once you start understanding the concept, it makes
sense. But the biggest piece of this is actually the um equity piece. Without the equity and having it at the end, if you did not own the equity, this program would not make any sense 100%. What Enterprise does really well is we sell vehicles. And what we're helping um
y'all do essentially is what Enterprise the model is. People think we make our money through rental income. We don't. We buy 2 million vehicles a year. So if we've got an Ultima that's 30,000, we may buy it for 22,000 and then we'll sell it for 25, you know, and then all the rental money is kind of so we'll make money in buying and selling at the
right time. And essentially before co enterprise was like let's get rid of the vehicle before we put a we have to put a set of brakes and and and tires on the vehicle. We don't have we don't want we want to minimize our cost as much as possible so that we can maximize our you
know lower our cost of ownership to maximize our profit. So essentially government entities you're able to buy a vehicle kind of like Enterprise if it's a $50,000 vehicle you and I walked on the deal a lot we'll pay 50,000 maybe negotiate a little bit but with your state pricing you can get that $50,000
vehicle for like 42 43 right >> before co it was really nice um but you can get it for 42 or 43. Here's the unique thing is with the district only putting 10,000 miles every two years on a vehicle. You buy that vehicle that's
50. You run it for 2 years. You've got 20,000 on it. That vehicle is still very desirable and it's probably worth somewhere around 44 and you bought it for 42. You can walk away. Even if you even if you net it out, there was no gain. you you drove it for two years and
you paid 44 and you sold it for 44. It cost you zero. The traditional way is I buy a $50,000 vehicle. I run it for 10 plus years and it cost me 5,000 at a minimum. 50,000 divided by 10, then you stack on maintenance. You're like water
pumps and engines and transmissions. So the goal is s simply thinking about it a little differently and saying how can I focus on total cost of ownership versus just you know acquisition price and not put things in different buckets. Yeah we
do we have to but look at it holistically. So another thing too is most people do this they'll look at this here they multiply it by 60 and say here's what I'm paying for the vehicle or they'll take this amount right here divide it by 50 and say here's what I'm paying for the vehicle. But keep in
mind, we have a full maintenance that's included, which means you won't have to worry about transmissions, engines, or anything for the life of the vehicle >> cuz we cover it up to 100,000 mi. So once you back out the maintenance program that's in there, then the vehicle comes out a whole lot less. But
what that gives you is peace of mind and it fixes your operating expenses. So we don't have to worry about those spikes and having to come out because what I found in the government space is your capital is budget is kind of fixed but you're operating it just it can go anywhere until somebody says okay no
more. Um number two is you also have a management fee that is built into this. The price is somewhere around um it's less than a percent. It's a tenth of a percent of the price of the vehicle. So figure 40 bucks a month per vehicle.
It's on the least vehicles is what that is. So 50 vehicles, you have that management fee there, but we still manage the rest of your fleet as well. And what that does is if you go to St. John's County School, they have Andrew Marco. Andrew Marco is their dedicated
account manager. Their go their job is to look at the market, look at the industry, look at your fleet. They meet with your team three times a year. They look at opportunities. Hey, I think this vehicle, we should sell it right about now because it's worth this much and this is what you know the new vehicle
would be worth. Here's where you would net out. What are your thoughts? Y'all make the decisions. We're decision. I live in Georgia by the way. So when you hear the y'all just I'm trying to fit in over there. So therefore I have to So um
>> I mean I look at this too cuz I just bought a new car. I had two. I had a car that was total and when you buy that maintenance package on my car was like $4,500 for an additional two years. >> And so the maintenance has got to be the
gem >> I would think of the program. >> Equity first. >> Mhm. >> Budgeted maintenance where it's fixed is is number two because that eliminates those spikes there. So essentially what it means is you can more predict you can predict your cost of what it's going to
be. Uh but our goal is to determine whether four years, 5 years, 6 years, what will be the longest of what will be the ideal time to replace and then things the industry like I said Ford may come out or Chevy may come out and say hey we're releasing this incentive on this vehicle and it's very very
aggressive. So even though the lease term maybe 60 months that's just what we do for cash flow. If at four years it makes sense to get rid of the vehicle because you'll be in a better situation, then that's where the Andrew Marco, your dedicated account manager would come in and say, "Hey, this is what I recommend
doing at this point in time." So, the biggest part of this and included in this cost is you go to a dealer, you buy a vehicle, you get a vehicle. You go here, you get this, you get a dedicated account team that is part of your budgeting process. So when budget season starts, they're here working with you
and helping you predict from a vehicle standpoint, a fleet standpoint, what your costs are going to be. And we are part of every budget process for all of our government entities. And then at the end of the year, we provide a report card. Here's where you were without Enterprise, where are we today with
Enterprise? So that you can see the kind of savings we're able to provide. And then after a year or two, you decide that the program's not doing much or not saving or G made some promises here, Jean Rene made some promises here and he's not delivering on it. Then you can walk away from the program because our
contracts don't have a term to them. >> Meaning you can come in and you can leave as easy as you want if you get 50 vehicles. And I'm really deviated from my thing here. So but I'm answering the questions. So if I could just kind of tack on you know you know right now I
think the board chair just asked me and said hey do we have a program like this now that we're no there's really not an analysis of the age the board challenged us to think out of the box when it comes to finances and
how can we squeeze more money this is an example of that right because we don't have anybody Roxan's not sitting there analyzing the the age of the fleet and the potential maintenance costs for that, which is why you see 15y old
vehicles out there because we're following the old model. Um cuz like the skipper, I buy a car and then I just drive it until it doesn't work anymore. Then I go buy another car, right? That's how I do it. >> And financially,
financially for the district, it doesn't make it doesn't make sense financially. Yeah, >> to do that. So, this is a different way >> to approach that and you kind of you kind of see um John Renee was talking about you can enter the program and
leave the leave the program. So, this is an item that we wanted to bring to the board. It is a board vote. It is on the agenda >> by the by the way, which is why we're presenting this more. >> Well, I'm personally a big fan of hiring experts. Yeah,
>> you know, we cannot be experts at absolutely everything. So, >> especially in transportation, they get their own they got their own gig. >> Fleet maintenance is not one of their gigs. >> And buses are the most important, too. Like, not the white fleet, like your
buses is where a lot of your resources and attention goes. >> This tends to fall on the wayside. So, if we can kind of help here and we would our team would be working with your team. So it'd be like additional folks that's added to your team just off your payroll. Um essentially you're paying
through this. Uh but then you can leverage them as needed and you have access to them cell phone numbers. But sir, >> can we uh compare Roxan? Can we compare what he's offering and versus the
previous five years or what are the offering? >> I got that as my next slide. That's my next slide. >> Okay. >> I got you. So, and I'll go through the when I think I'll go through all these numbers. I'm just going to kind of high level share it with you unless you want. I mean, if you're analytical, we can go through it.
>> High level stuff. >> So, essentially what we did is we took um a benchmark of what you guys are currently doing. Now, just keep in mind the cost also. So, we're looking at the cost and we're talking about, well, this is a little bit more than it is at a dealer, but yeah, it has the full maintenance and it comes with a whole
management team. Uh cuz we're a fleet management company. We don't just give you the vehicle and let you do it. We're very hands-on. Um, so our goal with everything and the cost savings is to reduce your cycle from 14 years old to 5 years old.
So every year, every 5 years, your whole fleet in place essentially is the goal. So you can have, you know, a younger fleet with more safety features. So the yellow line here is your benchmark. Without Enterprise, what are you doing? So before Enterprise, you were averaging
14 to 17 vehicles a year. Got the 17 vehicles here. Uh all the vehicles were owned. Uh purchase price was about 623,000 for those. Keep in mind there are some times where we got a couple grants and a few things too. So we kept that in mind as well. Um right now what
you would sell the vehicle for on your own when you sold those vehicles a little over $1,000 a piece on gov deals or surplus site. what your maintenance is estimated, your fuel's estimated, and what your fleet budget was estimated without Enterprise. So, we're looking at about without Enterprise right now,
you're looking at $1.2 million or so with some current spikes. You'll have a little bit of shifts here and there without us. So if we were to implement this program, what we said is if we started leasing some vehicles and this model is if this was our fleet, like if
we just rip the band-aid, you have 100 vehicles right now that are over 10 years old and 100 or 100,000 miles. Enterprise says for us that would be the first to go because those are the ones that are just eating up at your operating expenses. So essentially if we did that you would have uh and we
removed some underutilized vehicles too from the 241 because you have a lot of vehicles that are just sitting. Something that was made aware to us in one of our meetings is you had some vehicles where they had to pressure wash it, jump the battery, turn it on and the
vehicle only had 28 miles on it. Right? So those are some of the situation not in heads. It's just this is the situation. So if you bring in somebody that can kind of help I would cycle one somebody's driving a vehicle that's really old and we have a brand new vehicle that's essentially sitting so we
can kind of help right size right type your fleet and make sure that we can have those vehicles being utilized more efficiently um or as efficiently as possible. So what we would do is lease these vehicles. You can see what the lease payments would be. Uh the equity
right now you can see a difference in equity. the first five years we'd be selling your vehicles and you can see that they're not worth as much. When year number five when we start selling the first set of vehicles, you can see that we're getting a whole lot more equity on the vehicles cuz now instead of selling 10 to 14 year old vehicles,
we're selling 5, 6, 7 year old vehicles. So you're getting a whole lot of money coming back into the program. So essentially your maintenance will get reduced because now most of your vehicles are going to be under warranty. You're putting 5,000 mi a year on these vehicles on average. So time is going to
come first before mileage for sure. So if it's 3 years 36,000, the 3 years will come before the 36,000 mi. Your fuel is going to go down because fuel efficiency is going to go up. It's it's this law. They have to increase fuel efficiency year after year on these vehicles. So essentially, you can see how much under
budget every single year is going to be if we're able to leverage the equity and we're able to lower your operating expenses. And we're predicting that over 10 years, you're going to see a savings of 667,000 by reducing your fleet from 14 to 5
years old, but it's going to be up to $1.4 million once we realize the equity from these vehicles here that are being sold as well. So, the data shows that there's significant cost savings. Now, the reason we didn't go with this model, this is kind of ripped the band-aid if this was enterprise. This is an
aggressive model. This is saying we're going to start with 100 vehicles and replace everything that is old. We work with your team. We created another model that said, "Hey, what if we just look at keeping 100 best, leveraging 50 leases and then selling 141 vehicles over a
period of time, not all at once because 150 may not be the number. It may be 160. So, let's kind of work slowly and and get there, but let's sell some of these vehicles to kind of help fund this program. that we may be able to if we lease 50 vehicles, uh it may take from
the manufacturer, it may take four months for the vehicles to get here. And think about four months, you're right there at the end of your fiscal. And that gives us four months to start selling some vehicles. If we can start selling some vehicles first and having some money there, then by the time you have to make your first lease payments, we could have some money possibly sitting there. So that's where the
strategy is for us to work together. But we can structure this program any way you'd like. Um, but at the end of the day, our goal really is to help you rightsize your fleet, get rid of some underutilized vehicles, help you operate safer, more reliable vehicles, um, help
you with cost savings, uh, and reduce your age from 10 year old vehicles to about five, and, um, see if we can help your budget be a little bit more predictable. So, I believe and I think the data shows that we can help you do all those things and that if we were
able to work together, the outcome would be better than if you kind of did it on your own. So, um I'm going to kind of stop here, open it up for some Q&A, but there are in the paperwork that I just gave you on the back last page that goes in a whole lot more detail, but the last
page you have references, people you can reach out to, current clients that we're working with. I know they've already reached out to Sarasota cuz your team was able to get the fleet data from them and they've reached out to St. John's and I know that someone in your team actually came from St. John's and was very familiar with the uh with the
program on the finance side. Um but uh but yeah, I'll pause here and answer any questions you may have. I tried to keep it short, too, but >> had a couple comments. Yes, it's probably one of the best lease systems I've seen. So, >> um and I won't say how long ago I've
because those companies aren't there. Um, of course we don't know what our operational savings will be until we get there. But, um, number one, I'd like to go back. It's sad to me that we've got
that many vehicles with that little mileage that tells we don't need the vehicles. But you said, what was it? 151 or so that we don't need. Can you give me an idea with this chart? because people will ask what
category that's going to be produced that many. >> Right. So, we have I don't have it um with me now, but I have an Excel spreadsheet that your team has cuz they've been reviewing it back and forth and picking, hey, we have this Tahoe here that is no longer needed. Let's add
that to the list. So, what we've done is we've been working on that strategically for several weeks on how many of the older vehicles do we take and how many of the vehicles that are 6 to 7 years old do we actually use um sell and what
vehicle classes are those in so that we can replace when we when we acquire the 50 replacements they align with the vehicles that we're kind of get getting rid of. But keep in mind also when we're looking at 141 vehicles to get rid of >> there. I mean that's a a whole lot of vehicles. So what what I really wanted
to do instead of also looking at the >> we have to look at the data from the past but we're going to work with your transportation department to say okay what is the ideal vehicle going forward for your team based on the use cases? Which one's going to have the lowest
operating expenses from a fuel standpoint? Because yes, you can get a truck and trucks going to have great resale value for sure, but they're going to cost you a little bit more too to operate if you unless you know you can get a a small little SUV that's going to be able to kind of depending on how you're going to use it. So that's where
your team is really they're going to determine the vehicles. But what we do is to your point earlier, you can say, I'm going to do a Ram truck. Okay, great. We don't just look at the acquisition. We ran the data and because we have all the data, we put all the
trucks side by side. Ram, Ford, Chevy, all the half tons, all the SUVs, and we can tell you which one's the lowest cent per dollar based on the miles that you actually drive. And then, so there's a lot more here. I just didn't want to overwhelm with too much data, but there's also what we did was we looked at the acquisition, but we also looked
at the end where the estimated resale price is going to be at the end of the term with the amount of mileage that you put on it. Meaning Ram may be the cheaper vehicle to get on the front end because they're really aggressive, but when it comes to the resale on the back end, it's the lowest of the Ford than
the Chevy. So, where do we net out? Ford may be a little bit higher on the front end, but it's going to give us a bigger resale on the back end. So, we look at all that data when we make that recommendation. >> And your trucks always have a higher resale value no matter what. >> For sure. Um, the only other thing I have it it usually
with insurance there's a difference between leasing and owning. So, we would have to to see where that falls to. Although that should be minimal. >> Yeah. And that's great because I usually get that asked that a lot. I was just at Jefferson County and they just asked me that uh last week. I was at workshop
there. They said, "What's the impact going to be?" I usually tell them, you know, their vehicles are a little bit older. Believe it or not, they're still older. 15 years on average there. Uh y'all are 10 year old vehicles moving towards 14. But
because of the safety features that are on the newer vehicles, you get some credits and stuff. So it all time just evens out in your unique situation. Your insurance should be better because we're getting rid of 140 vehicles that we no longer have to spend money on insurance
for. So you're going to end up in the positive for sure because now you're reducing your fleet to around 150. But I'm thinking >> right >> leasing versus anything. >> Correct. So we're not putting any kind of insurance savings on here. The only main three is going to be on the acquisition, maintenance, and fuel. But
usually that's that's kind of like either. >> Now, if you can tell me how to turn off the any lock breaking, I'd be very happy. >> Out of my way. I hate that. >> Yeah. You don't like it? >> No. >> My question is more of a district question. And do we need to also
alongside this look at um I don't know if there's a policy that governs um mileage reimbursement versus driving a district vehicle >> because the cost obviously the mileage reimbursement rate is actually set by the government.
>> They tell you what that is. the inside the complete salary schedule there is that's the location for the reimbursement the maximum reimbursement that we get for buffers depending on the job I looked at this from you know
granted out of necessity the many months that Bryce and her team have you could see a lot of lot of work behind the scenes you're getting the 45minute version at a workshop >> of that the idea would be one that I'd point out and I'll just freely admit
this. We didn't manage the the the fleet as effectively and efficiently as we should. So you hear that the board chair turned to me and said, "You know who does that now?" And uh nobody does that.
Roxan's busy running transportation. She's not analyzing this how much you can sell a a Ford versus a Chevy versus at at any point. Right? So as you see that wouldn't meet our goal of efficiency
goal number two. So and you see this being brought forward and I think you know openly and transparently they just have the expertise in this area. You just see that we do not have anybody within the district that has the expertise
that um Jean Renee has. Right. So, I would say this is his phone numbers on the piece of paper that you have. You also have other districts and their phone number. So, if you have questions and uh additional, we're we're looking
for a way to maximize funding for that. You kind of presented a way and you guys continually challenge me like how can we do it different? Here you go. >> This is different, right? and and I feel like we should do that and maximize uh
the efficiency that we have. This is an example of that. So I think there's other stuff behind the scenes, right? So so like the actual folks that actually get a car is a whole different thing, right? So that's the criteria for that.
Who actually uses it the most? Because don't forget we have a bunch of people that do a bunch of things. For example, let's take a school social worker. They're they're traveling to um 10 or so schools out there traveling
around. So, if you do the analysis of pay mileage versus a car, you would see that that would line up depending on the number of miles to be cheaper, right? So, there's there's other stuff other than this stuff that's face boring. What
type of vehicle? maybe maybe a less uh expensive vehicle because what they're not transporting in fact it's not a maintenance worker that has to have the truck with the tool box and all of the stuff right so an analysis of the job
what type of vehicle you know hoping that you're seeing like hey a lot of work before this and there's still more work to be done this is you buying into the concept and the idea because it is an agenda item and there's still work to
be done related to some of the questions you have. This is not like everything you needed to know is assigned here. That's not how this works. >> There's a constant analysis all. >> What I like most about it is all the work lies on them. And what I mean by
that, not once the district figure outs what we need, >> right? >> Everything's on them. And I I really feel like thank you for thinking outside of the box because I'm going to give Bryce credit. >> Whoever was thinking outside of that box,
>> in essence, they have to to keep our business >> 100%. >> They have to do the work to make it equitable for us. And so, I feel like that's a really really good match, you know, cuz they don't want to lose our business. So, they'll do the best they can for us. And that's that's kind of
>> I want to ask too is there a way which I know you're going to continuously be especially like the first year is there a way that we can once we decide what vehicles we need what we want when we get this thing started within a year I
would say a year can you make sure this is still cost effective for us that we're still um that we're on the up side of things and then maybe report back to the board a checkup saying Hey, this is actually working for us. This is the
money we've made. This is what we've done. Uh and maybe even like a mini one after you do it, >> like a yearly update. >> Yeah. >> Yeah. Just to make sure that we're not wasting kind of similar to what we do with our um electrical um efficiency
program. Electricity efficiency program. Um, I guess my question was, do we as a board need to also look at is there I don't know if it's administrative procedures or if it's policy about who gets a vehicle and if you're assigned a vehicle, are you also allowed to ask for mileage reimbursement? I just don't I
don't want to have duplication of costs. Like if somebody if we're paying for a brand new vehicle, we should not also be reimbursing mileage. >> Yeah. You can't you can't you can't do both. the who it's in the complete salary schedule the list of who can
receive a vehicle. Okay. >> It's it's a um it's an operational function as to who to get that. You can imagine now when you're reducing vehicles by that number, there has to be a re-examination against the vehicle,
>> right? And that's where I'm wondering what's the balance between mileage reimbursement. >> Yeah, that process is going to occur. >> And Miss Posey, did you have obviously I think you had experience with this program. >> It started when you were at St.
So you you've been through this before kind of. >> So uh on the accounting side of it, it was pretty much run through our purchasing department for the rest of it, but I I know everybody there and we've we've done it. >> Yes. >> Okay. >> So it's a good program. Yeah. I'm not
Yeah. >> Now it's a fiveyear lease, right? The lease is five year. >> Correct. >> If a year after we start this it doesn't work for us, how will we take care of that? because we're going to get rid of a bunch of vehicles. >> That's a really good question.
>> And then we it's a it's a 5 years. So, >> correct. So, so couple things based on what was and and she was one of the reasons why we looked at the fleet size by the way. So, want to give her some credit. She said, "I think we have too many vehicles here. So, can you guys
take a look into it?" And she halted our whole process as we were when she came in. She's like, "Let's go." So, we reached out to everybody and all that. So, definitely some credit there. But to answer your question, um the way our so we it was just mentioned that it was placed on the agenda for the
next meeting. When you vote, if you vote to work with us, just so you know, there's no cost there. That's just for us to engage in a partnership and say we're going to try this program. So when you sign, you're not signing and locking yourself into any number of vehicles or
anything else. All you're saying is we're going to go ahead and do this. Every lease has to go through who your team when they fill out our credit application. There's authorized signers. Only those people listed can actually sign for leases. So, we can sign and say we're going to do 50, but your team only
signs for 10 vehicles and we're only doing 10 because that's all that was signed. So, you don't we don't have any minimums or anything else. This is simply a strategy for us to implement. So, we can go at any point in time. And so if we were able to if work in our favor and we we were able to partner together, just so you know, you're not
locking yourself into 600 something thousand a year or anything else. Uh so when we work with your team over the next 10 days to really look at the five the vehicles we're going to start with, we can start and say we can do all 50 right away. Your team can sign or they can say let's just do five now. Let's do
10. Let's do 15. and maybe kind of like, you know, break it up over a period because we don't have to have everything done at one time and you don't have to lock into the 50. It was just kind of like the what the data shows and what we can do. To answer your question, when we uh start the contract and we have it on
a on a 60-month lease, you're not locked in. Meaning at year one, if you say, "I don't ever I don't want to do any more business with Enterprise," you have some options. You can say, "I'm not going to acquire." First thing would be don't acquire any more vehicles through Enterprise. So if you have 50 on lease,
keep the 50. You can just say now I can let these vehicles run for the next five years and then there's no payment. Right? Here's another thing about the lease that's really cool. This open-ended lease is at the end of 5 years normally, yeah, you can turn it in
and get the equity, but the other thing you can do is you can run it for another 5 years. >> You don't have to turn it in. No payment. You just keep running the vehicle at year six, seven, eight, nine, 10. Whenever you're ready for us to sell it, you just call Enterprise and say, "Come take your vehicle." Now, if you
want to get rid of the vehicle, let's say at year number two, you're like, "I want to be done with the program and I want to get rid of the vehicles." You just say, "Hey, Enterprise, can you sell these vehicles for me?" We would sell the vehicles for you. Any equity would come to you. Now, because it's 2 years of the vehicle, there may be some
negative equity. So if there's some negative equity there and let's say it's 500 bucks, then you would pay the $500 and then you'd be done. But we always structure the deals so that there is positive equity because the money is
enterprise money that funds all this and the only thing we have is the vehicles that collateral. So therefore, if we have all these vehicles and they're all in negative equity, we're in a bad situation. Kind of some of the numbers you guys are showing. Like if we have a whole book of vehicles and they're all negative, it wouldn't be great. So we structure it so the payments are a
little bit higher, but you get to pay off a little bit more of that equity, but that equity belongs to you anyway. So to recap, you can say in 2 years, hey, sell the vehicle for us. We sell the 50 vehicles. You don't acquire any
more vehicles. Contracts done. Or you can say, you know what, we're not buying any more vehicles from Enterprise cuz you're not locked in. It's not exclusive. Year one, you can get 20 from Enterprise and go to a dealer and still acquire vehicles. That's fine. You can say we're not going to acquire anymore from enterprise, but instead of selling
the vehicle, let's run the vehicle until the until the 5 years or 6 years or whatever it makes sense. And then we just once the vehicle is done, we can say, "Hey, Enterprise, um, give me the title or hey enterprise, sell this vehicle under my map." And we'll still
sell a vehicle that's 8 years old with however many miles on it for you as well. Did that answer your question? also goes on in very detail. >> All right. And and I just want to say this board in the last three years since I've been on it, we have really pushed the district
sometimes way outside of that comfort zone and outside of that box, right? I mean, I can think of several things right off the top of my head. I want to applaud the district for actually doing what we've been kind of asking them to do because it's not easy
to go outside of that box and just embrace something brand new. And I feel like when they do that, we should support them. So, >> um, if you guys have any more questions, we've got the numbers. We'll call you,
contact you. But I think for the most part, we're we've got it covered, right? No one major questions. >> And Bryce also said that she's available. She's been listening in virtually, and she said she's available, too. She's been working very closely with them for a few years. So, she said she's happy to answer any questions you all may have as well.
>> Okay. Um, we're going to take a five minute break really quick and then um at this time and we're going to have transportation come up. >> So, good morning. I'm Lance Addison, director of city plan construction.
Bryce asked me to come up and make an introduction. As you all know, I I was like, cool. I didn't do the hype man. So, But um I always start out with like the weather. For some reason, another time I get up here, I start out with the weather. Where can we go on Sunday from
82 and then flip those numbers on Tuesday and go to 28? How about that's kind of just think about that for a second. Anyway, I've had the pleasure of um sitting across the hall from offices of of the in my opinion is and is going
to be transportation director extraordinaire. And I think the resume speaks for itself. And without further ado, I'm going to introduce Miss Miss Roxan Sherante as the transportation director. >> Thank you very much. >> Appreciate it.
>> Good morning everyone or afternoon. I'm not sure where we are on that, but um we'll kind of get started into some of the transportation updates. I know there's been lots of buzz and conversations out there, so hopefully this will give a little bit of an
insight for everyone. Uhoh. Batteries middle button. >> Yeah. Okay. Bonnie to rescue Missy. >> To be seen. >> I'm learning here. >> Missy, please, please, please note Bonnie's roll.
Oh, there we go. No, I just did this so that you can see if maybe Let's just do this again. There we go. >> Any ideas, Kelly? Hold on. >> Here we go. Let's just try this way.
>> Okay, now it's working. >> Just started working. >> Okay. Warm up a little back one. >> Um, so just a little background on myself. Um, I did graduate from Klay County School District. I am from Milberg, Florida here. So, one of the
locals. Um, I did move to Alabama. I was there for about 13 years and there I got my bachelor's degree from the University of Alabama, Commerce and Business Admin. Um, prior to that, I worked at one of the nation's largest paper brokers for secondary fiber. So, we sold to all big
paper mills out there and I was their director of customer service. Um, and then brought it back home, had some kids, husband, all that fun stuff and started working for the district. I was looking for something that had flexibility for the family life and it
landed in transportation. So, transportation has always been my passion, whether it's buses or trucks. Um, cargo is definitely a lot different, I'll tell you that. Um, but transportation's always been my passion. So, started here in the area manager
position. Uh, worked my way into supervisor and I'm director now. So, just for today's presentation, just a little kind of snapshot of what we'll be talking about. Of course, midyear update, um staffing, um kind of where
we're at, what we're doing, and the Chipmunk app. I know that's the the highlight reel here, and kind of just some of the the good things we're doing together in transportation. So, some fun facts. So, 30% of our students actually utilize the bus. We
ride about 180 routes a day. Um we average about 200 to 250 miles um a day as well. So that's a that's a lot of moving parts on a daily basis. Our buses since we are moving them so fast, we run them through inspection every 30 days.
So that helps keep our maintenance costs down also um as our excellent maintenance crew is kind of checking all the buses for any issues that may occur and also preventing accidents. So, one bus can actually replace up to
30 to 35 cars off the road. So, in Florida, an average is about a twokid family. So, if you look at those numbers, um we can get about we don't like it to get any more than about 65 on a bus. So, that's a lot of cars taken
off the road if parents are utilizing the bus. So, first half of the year, so our first FFP count, we were at uh 12,840 students. This week we've started our second count. Um we're also utilizing our scan features as well and kind of
comparing those numbers to the paper sheets that our drivers are filling out. Also, um we do eventually want to get into a more digital FFP count using those scans, acquiring that information as well. Um some of our, you know, challenges are our open routes. The open
routes are linked to a pretty good bit of what you guys are probably hearing out there in the field as well. uh when we have not just people that may want to leave, but we have FML, workers comp. Um we've had some retirements also that have led to some of these open routes.
Currently, I'm sitting at 12 open routes. I will tell you from since the beginning of the school year, I've had to juggle about 35 open routes. Um for one reason or another. Um so now that's getting down to 12, I think that's a
pretty big success. um my office positions. So, it wasn't just drivers and monitors um that we had open positions for, it was my office staff. So, I was looking at about eight holes in the staff. So, that was management, that uh was supervisors, that was
payroll, um some of the others you can see here. And that plays a very intricate part into what we can service outside of the four walls. area managers being out there on the roads, being out there at the schools, um helping any issues that come from the school side of
it, having that quick response back to the community as well. So, um everyone, we've kind of been able to get all of our positions filled, so we're all rock and rolling again. So, some staffing updates here. So, as far as our drivers, I currently have 19
open allocations. So, an allocation is a contract. So, yes, I have 12 open routes, but I have the need for 19 drivers. Um, four driver trainees will be eligible for a contract coming up in February. I've got three trainees that
actually started this week. Um, so they'll be going through our fiveweek training process as well. I have one trainee that's in HR processing, six that are kind of what we call in our in-house screening. We do their um safe driving history reports, reference
checks before we submit them up to HR. And we've got 19 candidates that are being contacted for interviews. So reaching out to them, whether it's email or phone call, trying to get them in for an interview. Monitors, um I have no allocations. I
have all my monitors filled. So um we did start this year in a deficit, a monitor deficit. So, um, everybody is filled. And so, we not only have those allocations filled, I actually have about 18 sub monitors. And what does
that mean? That means I now have monitors that can go on our gen ed buses and can help with student management, not necessarily my ESC routes. Um, we've got, of course, if people call out sick, Lord knows there's the bugs and flu and things are going around. Um, that helps
us have a quick turnaround. Yep, I've got some subs. Now, you're going to go on this bus today. um or if we do have those ESSE routes that have those students where yes, you have one monitor, but I really could use another monitor, you know. So, we're in a position now in our monitors um where we
can kind of lend a helping hand. So, our kind of I guess breakdown of our open routes, I have seven ESC routes that I need a dedicated driver for and five gen ed. Currently, since beginning of school year, uh we do have our office
staff that hold CDLs that are helping to cover routes also. So, our driver trainers are out there covering routes. We are doing double ups and double backs trying to get creative with getting the students home as well as our area managers um and some of our other office positions where people have come up from
being a bus driver and still hold that at CDL. So, let's kind of get into the Chipmunk app. That's kind of our next piece. So why did we move away from here comes the bus? First and foremost, one platform. So when we had here comes the bus, that
was its separate, I'd say, program. It would have to talk to bus planner every night at midnight. And that didn't always happen. So as we are updating route information, if it did not talk to each other that night, that route information would not be available to
those drivers the next morning. What does that mean? that means I miss a bus stop because I didn't know I had to go there. So having everything on one platform helps that communication stream go a lot quicker and it actually happens. Um faster information sharing.
So as far as the updates um reducing the delays and the miscommunications and the continued use of bus planner, we already had bus planner. That is what we utilized our routing for. So, as we're building routes, as we're putting students on buses, that went through Bus
Planner. Bus Planner is much bigger than just routing software. They have Chipmunk, which is the the parent tracking app. Um, they have some other pieces I'll talk about that they're implementing like a dispatch module. So, as we continue to use Bus Planner and
use the additional tools that they provide, all of that information stays in one house. um in a better alignment with student transportation. So here comes the bus app is under Sovia. So is a large a
large GPS tracking system, but they are more apt to your trucking industry. So a lot of the needs and desires that we needed for bus transportation sometimes fell on deaf ears because it wasn't actually needed for the trucking industry, right? Truckucky dentistry,
they don't need to scan students on board. You know, they're just scanning their equipment in the back and closing the door and getting down the road. Um, with bus planner, they are for school buses. So, they have I'll tell you, their customer service is fantastic. Um,
we've had a lot of, "Hey, Klay County needs to see these things. Our parents really are requesting to see this type of information, and they are taking it back to their development team and working through some of those projects for us. Initial hurdles of course a learning
curve with the Chipmunk app as we are moving from one app to another. Understanding you know what is the communication flow from the information to the driver to the driver to the tablet and then the information back out to the end users which would be the parents.
Um and driver login. So of course making sure that our drivers are logging in to that app every day. that is essential for those parents to actually be able to see the tracking mechanism that this um app provides. So we also noticed that
as we all know in our apps, we have our app stores and there are versions that get updated. So when we were taking these parent calls at the beginning of the year, we were realizing that some of their versions were outdated. So asking them to go back into their play store and update their app so that they were
getting any of the new developments that bus planner had pushed through for the app. So that was helping us a lot at the beginning getting the parents to see some of these changes. And then student registration um we would get lots of calls. I can't track
my student um and the student wasn't registered yet. Um if they register that day, we can't see anything until the next day. So it does not happen instantly. It goes through lots of paperwork process. Um and again systems talking to each other.
So lessons learned of course as you with anything new and as you learn and you kind of work through it. Um, you know, we realized that some of the I'd say grumblings even from the driver perspective was I'm going to a bus stop
and the students pop up on my tablet and then they go away. Well, we realized that had to do with the precision of the bus stop in bus planner. So when you look into the routing software and you are creating a bus stop, it may look like it's at the intersection, but if
you zoom in a little bit, I have them in the middle of the intersection. So having that precision done on that bus stop, that was definitely one of our pieces that we've had to work through. So we'll call it bus stop maintenance. Um with some coding and system
challenges from bus planner to uh clay. I'm not going to act like I know all of the technology piece with that. Um but I think after this I will have a technology degree. Um but there was some pieces with what bus planner had coded for us that wasn't allowing the
information to talk to each other. Um and then we did a a soft roll out um trying to utilize the alerts feature which I'm about to talk about and we had to pull that in a little bit. Um it was a delay. So, I am going to put out this
alert and I'm going to say bus 2055 is going to be 30 minutes late. And that is supposed to go to the parents to their phone if you have Chipmunk app. So, we created a fake route. I put my own kid on the route. Um, we submitted it. It went out at about 7:30ish. It didn't hit
my phone until 10:30. >> That doesn't help. So, that was an internal kind of let's let's see how this works, how this looks. So we went back to bus planner as well and they were able to find something in the technology world that said the information highway was just bumper
bumper and the information couldn't get through. They may wave their magic wand and that went away. So I think we're getting definitely as far as with your push notifications um that'll be a lot faster. So some of the key features we are
definitely focusing on right now with the Chipmunk app as I mentioned alerts and substitutions. So alerts are your rooc calls but they are through the chipmunk app. So this will allow us to send it via text um email or push
notification straight to the app. So it's going to come up on the front screen of the phone. Oh my bus is being sub subbed out today. Great. They don't actually have to go into the app to see that message. Um the other thing is we can through alerts it allows us to do a
notification by bus stop. This was not an option and here comes the bus. Um why why is that helpful? Say a bus gets into a fender vendor um and they only got two stops left. Right now I would have to send an alert to the entire route. So
parents from stops one through six, they're getting this alert that their kids are already home. seven and eight. I can now choose I only want these parents to get this notification. So that that's huge for us in our world being able to really get
specific on who we communicate to. Substitutions. So I will tell you that's our greatest challenge right now. 12 open routes. We're getting creative with how with how we're covering them, how we're getting our kiddos home. Um the
system itself, Chipmunk H is is very um still some pieces to be developed. I'll say that when it comes to the open routes. So if you and I are going to cover his route, okay, we're going to take I'm going to take 10 kids and you're going to take 10 kids. So we call
that a double up split. Okay. Right now the app doesn't have the ability to give his parents visibility on GPS if we do that. They are working through that and that should be ruled out in hopefully the next month or two. Um, but they do
have something called substitutions. If you're not at work today and I'm going to cover her route, I can run my route. I'll put all the information in. My parents can see me coming on the GPS tracker and then when I finish, I'm going to go put in her number. Now her
parents can see their kids on the routing. They can see my bus. They can see the map. they can get the updates. Until just January, the parents were not able to see that. Um, and talking with Chipmunk and bus planner going, I need the parents to be able to follow the
bus. That is our biggest hurdle right now. This is our fix is our substitutions. Now, like I mentioned, our double up splits, that is still something we're working through. Here's a little visual. So, if you have the Chipmunk app, when I say you can see
my bus on the map, this is what it looks like. So, you got a little bus icon. The radius, this radius is set by the parent. So, there's a feature over here in the little corner. They would hit that. The radius is set by the parent. It can be big, it can be little. Um,
you're going to get ETA. So, you've got your student name that would be at the top, the school, the plan time. And now what's great with the substitutions is I am route 1702 but I'm in vehicle 2022. That's a great thing. That means that any bus can log into a route and now
those parents can see it. The other piece is scans. That's another topic. Um being able to see scans right now. If parents want to see scans, it's an option. There's a scans feature. If you are in my student information, there's a scans feature and you can see where they
scanned. You can see time. You can see location. Um each day should perfect world have four scans. On the bus, off the bus, on the bus, off the bus, right? Um by the end of this month, the push notifications for scans will be rolled out by a bus planner, which again means
it's just going to pop up on the front of their phone and they're going to know my kid just scanned on the bus or my kid scanned off the bus. Um some kind of upcoming things that like I mentioned earlier um bus planner has something called the dispatch module that will be our fix for our double up
splits. So that's not something that the driver does at the tablet level like everything else we've kind of talked about. Um this is a module that our dispatch team, our management team will have. Um, this module will give us the ability to
take his route and I can drag 10 stops and throw it on my route and I can drag 10 more and throw it on her route. And all of that information is sent to the tablet for the driver. There's no more guessing. They can simultaneously drop off my kids and his kids and her kids
and his kids at the same time and parents will be able to see that. Um, the other great thing about the dispatch module, it has an optimization option. So, grew up here. I know the area. I can just drop them off. I'm not going to use
the tablet. The great thing about the optimization is if we hit that, it sends it to the tablet and it says, "This is the fastest way to get these kids home. This is the most efficient way to get these students home and it will merge our routes together." Um, we do not have
that option. currently. Um, and that is not something that Here Comes the Bus or Sonovia was able to provide. Um, so once that is developed, that should be as we kind of round out the end of the school year coming into summer and we will do a
pilot program for this to work out any of the bugs um for summer school. We have less buses on the road. Um, and so that'll be able that'll give us an idea of what are some of the hiccups we're going to experience before we do a full roll out into next year. So this piece here, this is an internal
satisfaction survey that Bus Planner has in the app. So this is not to be confused with Google reviews of the app. This is their internal. So if I'm using it, a little popup is going to come up. How was your experience? You know, and then you give them how many stars you
need. Um you've got St. John's County that is in here. Miami date is in here. Um, school district of Klay County average for the app, everything's running great. Your bus drivers here every day is, you can tell everybody's
got fours. Um, out of our stars, we have 484 five stars from a total of 723. We'll tell you on January 11th it was 390. So, this is as of yesterday's date. So, parents are using the app. Parents are happy. Not all of them because it's not
perfect and we are working through it. But I wanted to show this to everyone just to say we are going to get there and when everybody's in a seat and everybody's running their route, it works fantastic. Questions about chipmunk before I move on.
>> I use it. I love it. So I appreciate the I like to know. >> Probably should have said that out loud. Um so just making a difference together. So um like I said we had a monitor deficit when we first came in uh to the
school year. I had a need for 12 monitors. We are at zero at that. Um additional sub monitors for our gen ed routes which is great from training for the summer. We've had 15 trainees obtain their CDLs. That is new people. Green
never got behind the wheel of a bus. Um, so our training team has done a fantastic job of getting those individuals up and running, getting them comfortable and behind the seat. Um, and of those 15, five of them started first day on their own route. Um, so we've had
37 employees perfect attendance for semester 1. So I'm very very proud of these individuals. It's been it's been a lot this year, but they are coming in every day. They are hustling. They are covering where they need covering. Um, so I'm round of applause for those guys.
>> That's right. >> We had our holiday lunchon. Uh, that was a really good success, too. That was a great time to just kind of let their hair down a little bit, fellowship with each other. Um, have some great food. We had some of our sponsors turned out for
us also. It was fantastic. Um, we had one sponsor, I don't know if you can see this picture here, they donated a 55 in flat screen TV. Um, so we do a raffle, you know, and that's great for morale, too. Um, everybody gets the raffle ticket and everybody stayed for the entire party because everybody wanted to
know who was gonna get the DVD. Um, so just time to bring everybody together. These are some of our sponsors that also helped contribute to um the lunch that day and some of the other raffles that we did have. We appreciate everything you guys do,
leadership, board members, management. Um, you know, we can't do any of it without you either. So, we're here if you guys have any questions, but I will open it up for any questions, >> Madam Chair. >> Yeah, go ahead. >> We do have a parent here that came for this. >> Sure.
>> I don't see where the question cards were, but she had >> she turned in a question card. I don't know if the question was answered. I took we took her original questions and presentation. >> Yeah. If I can >> Can she ask if she has a question? >> Thank you. Um, one of the issues that
the parents run into is a um, when there are double backs and that obviously takes longer, the uh, getting through to transportation >> is very difficult. Very, very difficult. Um, being on home for 20, 30, 40 minutes.
>> And the schools themselves, there's nobody at the front desk after about 3 or 3:30. So you have a double back that might be happening but you're not sure what time the kid arrives and then there's no one at the
school to talk to and there's no one at transportation picking up. >> Sure. >> So obviously that's a point that >> accelerates nervousness for >> Absolutely. Yes. Absolutely. So when there is chaos or or delays,
>> how do we communicate with the district? >> Sure. Um so we've got the the phone thing. Um I think that was a countywide. Um they're ringing in our office. I've set in dispatch and I've I've covered um the dispatch phones and they're coming
through. Um we'll look into that more to see if there are any more bugs in our system also. Um, but we also if there if anybody we've got our online form too that comes through to us also if you go to the website and fill that out. Um, I know a lot of times we need an answer
right now, right now. Um, I would say just keep calling. If you're ever on hold for 20 minutes, something's not right. Um, I have multiple lines ringing. So, I would just suggest just hang up and try to call again. Um, we also have our office staff that is also out covering routes. So, I think
sometimes that's also our issue. um is there really isn't somebody at that particular line to pick up the phone. Um so I would definitely keep calling the turning the substitutes on especially for the doublebacks. That is the habit that our drivers are getting into.
They've been at it for about 2 weeks now. So what should happen is they log into the tablet. I've got my route. I'm going to go run these kiddos home. And when I come back, I'm now going to log into your bus. And you should be able to see on your Chipmunk app, your bus is
now active and you'll be able to follow it just like I had on that slide. You'll be able to see it on the map. Um, and then see when your student scans on and scans off. So, um, that is, like I said, we're in week two, so everybody's trying to get used to I've got to log out of mine. I've got to log into somebody
else's route. Um, so that that should give us a little extra visibility. That was one of the main concerns. Um, I know not all of them. Like I said, we're still working through some of it. Um, but the majority, especially our double backs or double- ups, if they run a
double up as a full run and a full run, you can still see those two, it's when they have to do it simultaneously and they're just kind of dropping off stops at one time. Um, as far as just contacting someone, like I said, I if you're on hold, I would say if you're on hold for 7 minutes, hang up and call
again. Um, cuz that that's not right cuz my phone line's open. my secretary phone line is open and the way that it rolls through there's not a lot hitting this way. So, um we were under the impression and all was well. So, we'll look into that for sure.
>> I I have a technology question. >> Sure. >> I know we the phones that we have now are way better than they used to be back in the day and I don't know >> this is just going to be kind of weird, right? >> Okay. >> But, you know, you have a problem on two routes.
>> Mhm. When parents call in, it's just a quick recording. Hit two if you want to know what's going on with Route 20, 23, and they hit two and it tells them like, >> does it have to be just a manual person picking up the phone or is there a way
we can use technology? You know, everybody does this. Hit two for this, hit three for this, hit four for this. But I'm just wondering, it would take just a minute to make a recording >> and then have a parent able to, you know, press two for an update on that route
>> like and and that also alleviates a lot of that angst of answering phones and >> trying to I guess it's just efficiency on manpower, right? >> Yes. We have that app too. We can utilize our um
>> social media, our roboc call. What is that app that we ap nerve-wracking for a kindergarten or first or second grade parent. And so I'm not sure that the classroom app would work, but I know it only takes two seconds when I was a teacher to make a
recording >> sent to you. You not that it doesn't go straight to your It could go straight to your cell phone. >> How does that I'm just trying to figure out a way to address cuz I know many parents you try to call and I know you're doing your best, right? >> Yes. >> An easy simple way that costs no money
at all would be give an option just for them to hear that the route's okay. So we use the thrill share for our that's what I >> so for the robocalls um we have worked through that because our rooms we have lots of people in our thrillshare room
not like a classroom where it may be you know 30 40 um so right now we utilize thrillshare what we can't do what chipmunk in the alerts feature will do is we can go specific to that yes part of it is the manpower part of it is in
the afternoon, I have my dispatcher and then myself or one of my other managers who's on site popping in and out and helping. Um, as these routes are filled, a lot of this will subside. Um, we will have people back at the desks. Um, being
able to pick up those calls. Um I I do see where you're going with is there a recording we could do and that is something where we could think through that. But our routes change so fast sometimes where we don't even have time to submit something real quick, you know, cuz another call has come in or
we're at the mic. So I'd have to think through I would think it would be mostly like double backs like the ones that take a super long time. >> Not every route that has a delay but the ones that are making cuz I worked at McCrae. There was double backs and triple backs when I was out there. >> Oh, gotcha. >> So, I'm just thinking about the ones
that are most more most crucial. >> Yes. Yeah. And they're getting the thrill share notifications saying this route's going to be double back. Um, you know, even some of the schools are even sharing that information on their Facebook page, which I think is great. Um, for those that aren't getting it
through the phone, you know, or it may be spam and it's being blocked and not coming through. Um I mean we can look through that and see if there's something of like a real-time update but ultimately that is chipmunk app that is alerts um is the goal. Someone
>> someone asked me that for the possibility of maybe allowing firefighters driving school buses on the time off because the we drive air brakes vehicles and you know large vehicles, >> right?
>> And that will be maybe an option to cover for the lack of drivers you have. >> Sure. Yeah, absolutely. Um, and I've had some of those questions too, just even about cafeteria workers and things like that, you know, in between covering. Um,
that's it's a fiveweek process, so they even though they may hold a CDL, they're going to have to go through all the school bus training with us. Um, as far as your firefighters, that would be like a second gig for them. Um, they could come in and they could get on a route. That's up to them. As far as internals, I think that's a bigger conversation.
Um, because now you have an employee that has two jobs here. So they'd be a bus driver, a cafeteria worker, a bus driver, and a custodian. Um, so that's not can't answer that particular one. Um, but I do know that has been a question about it, but it would still be a full-blown training process. So having
the time to come through for 5 weeks to get trained questions, any other questions? >> So let me just say this. If there's one job in all of county that I do not want, It's Rox.
Yeah, I will say that over and over again. Very challenging. The idea of not having drivers, by the way, it's not a Clay County thing. >> It's a nationwide thing. Not just a Florida thing. >> Nationwide, every district short bus drivers.
>> Yes. you know, um, so the efforts there to to improve the situation, try to explain the Chipmunk app, try to provide some context as to how we're moving forward on it. Roxan is doing a great job. It's very challenging circumstances.
>> Thank you, Roxan. >> Absolutely. Any other questions? >> No. I appreciate everybody's time. All right. So, um, today we're going to be doing a presentation um, on bullying. So, wanted
to make sure that you guys all had the opportunity to look at the slides uh, as we covered the information. Um, hand out. All right. So, um, my name is Kevin Stafy. I'm with the uh, Office of
Student Engagement. And then we also asked, uh, Miss Brennan to come and present with us today as, uh, somebody that's in one of the buildings. and she can talk a little bit more about what's being done at the school level. Okay. So, with that uh make sure I
there we go. All right. So, the first thing I want to go over with you, this is a definition of bullying that's provided by the office of safe safe schools with the department of education. All right. So, they have a specific definition that they have and it's backed by statute. Um so, I'm not
going to read it to you. And I think you guys are all educated. But the a couple of the things I want to make sure that we emphasize is that with cessor bullying must include the three elements that are here. Okay. So one it has to be repeated. Two it needs to be
intentional. And three there should be an imbalance of power. Okay. So those are those are elements of bullying that have to be present in order for us to code it here in the school district as bully. Now, as we go through, uh, down
in the bottom right corner, I've got a couple QR codes that are in here, um, if you scan that, it'll take you to the Department of Education, uh, site that has the more information on what bullying is. The other thing, as we go through this, there we go. All right. On
the site, not only do they provide a definition of what bullying is, but they also provide examples and non-examples. Now, I'm not going to go ahead and put the entire site up, but they also provide ex uh frequently asked questions. How does this relate to cyber
bullying? Uh if there's other elements that are involved, depending on what those things may be, because when we in our student information system, all right, there's also elements that could be involved. Did it have to do with uh race? Did it have to do with disability? Did it have to do with sexual
orientation or preference? Any of those types of things. All right. But you can see here, these are a couple of examples of what the state says that bullying is. So, a student uses a cell phone to take a picture of another student used in the bathroom and then post it online. Okay.
Um, that would actually fall under cyber bullying. And there is actual specific state statute that goes along with that one. Student repeatedly spreads nasty rumors at school about another person. student repeatedly teases another person in a mean way, calling him her inappropriate name, making fun of his or
her appearance, or the way that they talk, dress, or act. Okay. Uh non-example would be a student calls another student an inappropriate name once. Okay. So, we'll go over a couple of examples of some things like that in a slide or two here, but these are the
examples that are used by the state. Now, the other thing I want to make sure that we understand is that not only does the state have their definitions, but in our code of conduct and in board policy, hang on, I think I skipped one here.
There we go. All right. Um, in statute and the information from the state, you guys have adopted it into Niola. And then during the adoption process last year, we were trying to make the student code of conduct get adopted in parallel with the language that you guys were
being presented and that you guys adopted. All right. So, if you look in the student code of conduct, uh, a number of the sections in the code of conduct that I have referenced here, the information was updated, like I said, in parallel to what you were all adopting
in board policy. Okay. Now again board policy is a little bit longer than what's in the code of conduct but the essential parts are there. Okay. All right. So one of the things that keeps coming up as a question is what
bullying is and what bullying isn't. So this is actually a graphic from part of the lessons from our one clay culture. Okay? And we'll go over what those lessons look like in a couple minutes if you give me a couple slides here. But when you take a look at it,
the the questions that we look at here and the criteria that we look at here, you know, is it something that was rude? Was it said one time and that was it? Moved on. Was it mean? Was it intentional? But it's not something that's necessarily repeated. Okay. Uh so again,
something that's rude, someone was called fat, ugly, stupid, whatever it happens to be. All right. something that's mean. Maybe the kid says something about the other person's siblings or their parents or maybe again about the way they they may act or something to that effect. But again,
it's it's intentional, hurtful, but it's only done as a single time. The bullying is something where again those three elements have to be in place. Okay? So again, it has to be repeated or repeatable. It has to be intentional. All right? And there has to be an imbalance of power. All right? So, if
Miss Brandon and I were get into some sort of argument, all right, and she's calling me names and I'm calling her names, there's not really necessarily an imbalance of power. We're just being mean and ugly towards each other. Okay? So, when the when the administrators at
the schools are being reported that these incidents are occurring, they're trying to make sure that all of the elements that are in the definition from the state are being met. Now, does that mean that those other situations like the mean and the rude are not being addressed? No. It just means that it's
not that particular situation is not bullying. Okay? So, we still address those situations and they're handled appropriately. Parents are called. All right? There's other interventions that are taken and we'll discuss those in just a moment. All right? But we're still addressing those situations.
Statistically for the county, uh, we don't have the 25 20, I'm sorry, 2425 data up on the the state site yet, but based on the 23 24 data, Klay County had about 30 bullying referrals from that
year. The state had somewhere close to about 3,045. Now, that's spread over the 67 counties. In that year, they also had about 107,000 total referrals, assessor referrals for the state. So if you look
at that 3,045 divided by the 1007 that was about 2.8% of the referrals for the state were bullying referrals. Okay. For Klay County we were about 30 of somewhere around 13 or,400. So we were
at about 2.1%. So we weren't far off of what the state numbers are. Now there are some counties that had super high numbers obviously because they have a super large population. All right. And then you had areas around us, for example, like Baker County and Bradford County who have a very small student
population who had singledigit reports for bullying. Right? So depending on where you are, the numbers fit in with what the state had. All right. The other part that I want to make sure and mention with this is a lot of times when the cases are determined to be bullying,
they may not necessarily be coded that way. All right. Let me explain what I mean by that. in the rules for cessor. All right, the way that it comes from the state is it says whatever the highest coded offense for that situation is, that's what it
needs to be coded. So, for example, if the situation starts as a bullying event, but then it winds up being a situation where I put my hands on somebody and now it becomes either battery or a fight. A fight is a higher level code than bully. Battery is a
higher level code than bully. All right? So situations that may escalate to something a little bit more, those situations get coded differently. Now, that doesn't mean again that the bullying didn't occur. We just have to code it the way that the state tells us to do that. >> Could I ask a question? How about last
year, the year before that, and and I'm pretty sure I read this. That's the way my brain reads. last year, maybe it was the year before that they understood that sometimes bullying, I'm just going to use your example, was getting reported but not yet being seen because
there was a higher infraction, right? So, it would be coded as the assault, not the bullying. But I do believe I do believe that there was there is a way to code secondary offenses. >> So, related incidents >> related. select. >> So like it might be bullying related and
it might have to like >> the the >> if bullying then resulted in an assault. >> Correct. >> You can do >> you can still click that box and it'll show that. Yes. >> Yeah. So >> okay on the state data um what's reported to the state and what they put out that information is not is not
present. >> Okay. So that's not information that can you know that the the rest of the state or you guys would be able to see. Um really >> in order we would have to pull a sec a a specific report in order to get that
information. The other part though is that some of the on the basis of right so if it is some sort of bullying type of situation they also so they have related events and then they also have on the basis of right so on the basis of race on the basis of disability on the
basis of whatever >> sometimes bullying right that's another that's another so like you can check the bullying related but then you can also check on the basis of but some of the situations when they talk about that it's it's it's really you know race, disability, you know, so forth. And some
of them don't necessarily fit the basis of part. All right. It's just a bullying related situation. >> Yes. I can come back to this when you're done. I just wanted >> Absolutely. Absolutely. All right. So, just to just so we're on the understanding there, the other thing I wanted to show is that and this is where
Miss Brennan can back me up on some things. All right. Is um these are strategies that are used to address inappropriate student interactions. So again, not saying it's bullying and not saying it's not, >> but if I can there when we started
talking about this, so much of this really comes down to discipline >> and whether or not it's coded one way or another. There's discipline happening and really the focus for us is as educators is discipline means teaching because we want to do is intervene through education and communication so
it doesn't happen again and it doesn't morph into something bigger than what it is. And I think that's really our biggest role as administrators is to make that happen. This is a menu of different ways that we might do that. It might be um an actual disciplinary action per the code of conduct whether
it's a loss of a privilege or whether it's in in school suspension or something like that. Or it may be really teaching meeting with that family meeting with a parent and a child or the parent or the child to say okay this didn't go the way that we wanted. How can we keep that from happening again?
because if this would continue that per the code of conduct could be considered bullying and I know that that's not how you intended this so let's not make that happen that way. Um, we a lot of times want to build on relationships. So that check-in checkout was an identified
staff member, some peer mediation. If we need to do it, then we're looking at something more kind of formal like a no contact contract. There's sometimes where kids just are oil and water and they do not get along. So we have to agree, you know what, I don't get along with you. You don't get along with me.
That's okay. But we're going to agree that we're not going to use an intermediary to pass a message. we're not going to tell so and so over in algebra class to send a message to me that I think my shoes are ugly that day. We're going to agree not to do that. And parents and kids then sign that contract
and we have something tangible then to come back to if they violate. Um we look very creatively at ways to separate kids. So again, depending on the size of the school and the availability of different things, maybe we talk about, you know what, you guys seem to be meeting at the bathroom, so you're going
to go that way to class. you're going to go that way to class. You know what? You're going to use this bathroom and we're going to use that bathroom and that way everyone has some safety and some separation. So, we're very creative about that. Um, and again, I think this part's really important and having Roxan just been up here in less structured
settings like your recess, transportation, change of classes, etc. That's where that supervision and um making sure that we're not allowing things to start there is really important because those are places where those opportunities happen with kids.
>> Absolutely. Absolutely. And and you know since you brought up transportation, one of the examples that we use sometimes when we're having conversations with parents about this is if if I'm driving a car down the road, right, and I have a flat tire, right? Everybody around the
car sees the flat tire, right? And a lot of them will come up honk at you. Hey, you got flat, right? All that kind of thing. But if I'm in the car and I'm driving the car and my check engine light comes on, who sees that? Just the driver, right? Bullying sometimes can be
the same way. Sometimes there's behaviors that happen that are just overt and they're out there and everybody can see it. Other times it's a comment between two kids in the bathroom, in the hallway, in the lunch line, at the back of the classroom, and
it's not always as, you know, as as observable as we would think that it might be, right? So, in those cases, you know, a lot of times we also talk with the kids and the parents of here's how you need to report it. Here's how you need to get that information out.
Because you guys know now nowadays with cars when that check engine light comes on, it's not as easy as popping the hood and looking under and say, "Oh, I I got a loose wire or whatever." Right? You got to plug it into a monitor, check it out, take it to a specialist. That's our administrators at the schools, right? They've been trained on how to handle
these situations. All right? They've been educated on it, you know, through Cessar. This the administrators receive training on that and they have to get that training on it. That's part of the red book that's at every school. Okay? So that's all part of this. Okay. >> And I know you're going to mention it in
the next page, but that's where that communication and transparency with families is so important, too, because when there's a situation that involves somebody's child, the the last thing they want to do is feel like they weren't heard or that they weren't communicated with. So regardless of what that outcome was, whether you found that it actually met the statutory
requirement of bullying or not, it's so imperative that we get back to families, communicate with them what discipline did occur, what communication and education has happened so that they know what the plan is moving forward and they know that there's recourse. That's that's a really important part of this. >> And just so you all know, even as
recently as last week, we had some training with our administrators at leadership, you know, talking about some of those things as well. So providing them more strategies that they can use as part of their toolbox. Okay. Um with the adoption of one clay culture, uh I I
have to tell you this. Um Tabby John's and Aaron Cologne, if you guys are not familiar with them, they are the secondary and elementary school counselors for the district. They have done they have picked this up since about April and they have run with it and they have created an amazing
amazing program with one clay culture. They've been out doing presentations at schools, providing resources to teachers and administrators. Um just a a a tremendous amount of work that they've put in. But in addition to that, part of the first day first 10day lessons that
happen at the elementary, the junior, and the high school is information about bullying. Okay. Now, um Mr. Onora, if you don't mind, uh, on the presentation here, if you click on any one of these down here, um, you'll see that there's
actually a slideshow. >> I didn't mean to do that. >> That's okay. >> All right. So, this would be an example of a presentation that was done, you know, at the kindergarten, second grade level, right? And it takes them through a number of different things that the
teacher can go over with the student. All right? So they they go through the lesson, they talk to the students at the level that that you know that is appropriate for them, right? So talking to a high schooler is going to be very very different than talking to a kindergartener, second grader. Okay? But
as we go through the presentation, you know, they have different conversations and they're given a script of, you know, some different things to talk about, but then also who can help, who do you need to go to for that help, right? And then when we get to the end of the presentation, all right, you know, this
is not just something that's being pushed out and says, you know, say, "Hey, do this and then it's not being tracked." When that gets clicked on at the end of the presentation, the teacher has to report that they actually did the presentation. Well, guess who sees that?
Aaron and Tabby at the county level and the principal of the school at the school level, right? So they know which teachers are doing the presentations and which ones are not. Right? So if that is not happening, >> here's your course.
>> All right. So we can go back to the presentation. >> Okay. All right. So again, you know, there were first 10day lessons. This was the August September community engagement part of it. And then through the course of the month of January, they've also been working on digital
security, which part of the digital security has been cyberbullied as well. All right. So, they're they're hearing this information more than just one time. It's not just in the first 10 days. They're being reminded of it. Now, on each of these uh pictures or diagrams
on the screen, um Mr. Nora, again, if you don't mind clicking on uh Unity Day, we went ahead and link, but these are district initiatives that we've been using to go ahead and show how we're supporting to stop bullying. So, the first one is Unity Day. It was on
October 22nd. It's Wear Orange, and that's through the through Pacer, which is with the National Bullying Prevention Center. But if anyone has questions about this, there's a number of different resources here. So, if you don't mind clicking on parents. All right. One of the things here is it has
uh a bunch of if you'll scroll down a little bit, there's different actions that uh that you can that that are resources for the parents, but working with the school, helping your child, mobile and online safety. So, the resources are out there for parents to
access both through unity day. But then if we can go back into the presentation again, >> Mr. Yes. >> I have a question real quick. Sure. Since you're talking about cyber bullying, bullying. >> Um, >> I've seen
comments online and I've seen uh or heard from from people out in the community. Can you address like I don't know how I want to word this. Um what is our legal one obligation and or
legal authority >> if there is cyber bullying? Because the fight is is it wasn't on campus. Why are we sticking our nose into it? Yet then the other >> the other hand people are saying hey my kids being bullied by this kid in school
but also outside of school. So how do we balance that and and what are we doing about that? Because like I said there's both sides of the parents. >> Absolutely. That's a fantastic question. So, some of the you know with the with the
Let me back up just a second here because I got about 300 answers to that. Okay. Um the first thing is is that as far as it goes like out in the community in law enforcement, there's not an actual crime of bullying, right? So, anything with bullying or cyber
bullying, things like that, it actually falls under stalking, right? So in order for law enforcement to get involved, it would have to meet their criteria for stalking, right? So on that part of it, that's where law enforcement, you know, if they can if it meets that criteria,
they can definitely get involved. As far as where we as a school district are involved, the if there's situations that are happening outside of school that are impacting the learning environment at school, that's when we have a responsibility to get involved. Okay. So
again, if my situation, if I have if I have something going on with Miss Brennan where I'm, you know, saying mean stuff about her online and saying that I'm going to do this or that or whatever it happens to be if it's not really impacting her environment. So, like in
other words, if I'm let's say I'm at Thunderbolt Elementary and she's at Tines, okay, if my actions at at Thunderbolt are not impacting her educational experience at times, it's it's difficult for us to get involved in at that point, right? If they're in the
same building, yes, then in those cases, you know, there's probably going to be an action that's taken, okay? But we have to investigate it to find out what exactly it is that is going to be the problem for you know little Sarah. >> So short answer that impacts learning at school.
>> Absolutely. If it impacts the learning environment. Yes. >> Okay. Now the other part though with cyber bullying is that again there are specific criteria that the state says it has to meet because we have had other
situations and and this actually happened this year where students at one elementary school made up a face fake Facebook page for their teacher that's cyber bullying right and that's specific in the statute right if they create a
page in the likeness of the other person That's a specific statute, right? So, it clearly meets that and that was actually those kids' teacher that they did that to, right? So, the teacher felt uncomfortable in that situation. So, you know, adults can be bullied, too. Okay?
And that is part of the definition as well. Uh I'm going to go back one page here just for a second. The other thing with Len Matise, um, if you guys look at your agenda, you'll see that actually ne this, uh, next week's board workshop, uh, they're going to be doing the fall presentations for the Len Matise
Foundation. All right. And if you're not aware of this, all right, the spring stop the bullying campaign for Klay County just opened up on the 20th and it closes on March 27th. Uh, and then the selection process will begin for that. And I believe it's either at the April
or board. I think it's at the uh May board meeting is when those last uh presentations for the Latiz Foundation will be there. The last part over here is the link to the bullying report page on Klay County. All right, so uh again, Mr. Nora.
>> All right, Vanna, if you can turn the letters for me, please. >> Thank you. >> Um if you click on that, that'll take us right to it. Uh any parents, if you guys are watching right now, if you go to onecllay.net net. And if you go here where the the uh magnifying glass is,
you can type in bullying and it'll take you to this page here. All right. Uh if you just type in bullying right there, it'll it'll the first option that'll pop up is going to be report bullying and you'll see that it's a mirror of the page that's right behind
it. Okay. So report bullying. If that gets clicked on, it'll take you to the page behind here. >> All right. Where is that located if you're not searching for it? >> Um, it it's going to wind up being under academic services. All right. And then report bullying.
>> So, departments to academic services, too. >> Yeah. Departments, academic services. But if uh if you go into this menu here, there's also a spot that has families. All right. And under families, all right, right here, this has an alphabetical listing of a
bunch of different support services for families. >> All right. And if you go down to B over here, I believe there should be bullying. >> Just a little bit further down, >> bullying prevention, and it'll still take you to that site. >> But the best way to report bullying is to call the school. >> Absolutely. So, this information that's
on here, if you'll scroll down a little bit, this Onora is it'll give you a the bully the form to report it to the county office and also a hotline number that's that it's my it goes to my secretary and then if you if the parent needs any assistance with the form,
she'll help get the form filled out. All right, but like Miss Brennan said, the best way to report bullying is to the administrators or to the teacher at the school. they can address it faster because if it comes to my office, then I'm reaching
out to Miss Brennan, all right? She's got to reach out to a teacher, whatever it happens to be. If you go straight into the the source of the investigation, which is going to be Miss Brennan, she'll make sure that it gets addressed a whole lot faster than what our office can cuz we're going to have to reach out to her and partner with her
to get that squared away. Okay. The other thing I want to make sure and bring up because I know everybody's concerned with this is safety and security. Please do not use Fortify Florida to report bullying. All right? Uh having conversations with Mr. Boyak.
Uh if it gives if it goes into Fortify Florida, it gets reported to his office, the school, and Klay County Sheriff's Office. Remember, bullying is not a crime, right? So, they're going to kind of toss it back to us and then it'll go
from there. Okay. Um, if we can go back to the last of our presentation again. All right. And then the last thing. >> Oops. Sorry about that. >> That's all right. We're good. I think we're double hitting it here.
All right. The last thing again, if it if there is a hotline report, the school gets notified, we will support the school's investigation. All right. Support services are offered wherever needed. All right? including counseling, anything like that, mental health services, all right, and then the school
will notify the district of the results of the investigation. Uh the last few years, the historical data for the bullying hotline, all right, is what you see here. We've had 19 for the first semester this year, all right, our numbers are roughly about where they've been, but as you can see over the last
couple years, they've been declining overall. All right. Again, this is the bullying hotline information, not the number of bullying incidents that we address as a whole district. Okay. So, please understand that that's just from the hotline. Okay.
Is that it? Any questions? I think one point that I would make as a former principal would be that a parent will report the league. I will take action in order to prevent bullying to happen again. But the toughest part
is yes, you've addressed it, but that doesn't that doesn't um create immunity for life. Like another incident could happen even though you've addressed that incident, the student. And so sometimes the parent feels like, well, you've done
nothing. Well, yeah, we've dealt with that situation. We addressed it. That doesn't mean that your child isn't going to run into somebody else over the course of their lifetime that might do something else. So, it's a very tough It's a tough gig no matter how you slice it. Yeah.
>> Were Were these procedures the procedures for investigation? I we did so many and it's been now seems like a lifetime ago. Were these in there when we did the bullying policy or did we add these with our procedures that are
supposed to be there? So I I'll can I cl a clarifying are you talking about in board policy or are you talking about a code of conduct? >> So in board policy um that is in there from if I'm not from the okay now what's in the code of conduct. All right if uh
if you have your copy of the code of conduct um in section 4 under 4.61 61. All right. There's a section here where it talks about procedures for investigating. All right. And we've essentially mirrored what's in the board
policy. Right. So the same information that was that was adopted in June of last year into board policy. Now, I will say this, the code of conduct already had a lot of that information in it. We just tweaked it to match the board um
the board adoption of the policy. >> Okay. And mainly, so I just want to say this out loud. I guess >> our state, whether we agree or not, has done, >> I I would say, according to this, a
decent job at defining what bullying is and programs and essentially state statute on what we have to follow as far as bullying is concerned and definitions of bullying. >> And then we have adopted that statute.
and then matched it within our code of conduct. Correct. >> Yes, ma'am. Yes, ma'am. So, each year when we So, each year when we go through the code of conduct, um there's a section at the back of the code of conduct that's an appendix and that's the you know there's especially for the
assessor items, right, which bullying is one of them. If the state updates the language on that, we update it to match the state every single year, every single time, including the examples and non-examples. Right? So if they take something out or put something in, we do
that. The other thing is if you go to the code of conduct actually online when you look at like bullying for example in that appendix or harassment either one of those those uh the titles of those definitions are actually linked to the
DOE. So, if a parent wants to go and see what's actually on the DOE, they can go to the student code of conduct, click on it, it'll take them to the DOE and give you the examples, non-examples, frequently asked questions, and additional information that may be necessary. >> So, how many programs do we have in Klay
County that address bullying like PBIS? >> Right. So, you know, >> PBIS, uh, MTSS, obviously our school discipline, um, the prevention, uh, one clay culture, right? So, you know, and there's a number of different aspects within one clay culture to address that.
All right. But then also any of the partnerships that we do, you know, like Len Matise and and some of the others to to make sure that we're addressing the bullying. So, those are all partnerships that we do, but as far as specifically addressing it with programs, that's
again like what what's been developed with one clay culture, you know, and that is contining continuing to evolve. I mean, right now it's really only about 8 months old, but as they're continuing to work with teachers and getting more resources and strategies, there more
information and more tools that teachers and administrators can use for that >> and they're free resources, >> right? >> State provided resources taxpayer dollar. What I will say is that the information is is in a number of different resources that um Tabby and
Aaron have basically collected and what they've done is they've taken the work away from the teachers having to go out and research it themselves and giving them essentially a ready to go package that they can apply to their sit whatever situation it is >> that's developmentally appropriate
>> that yes absolutely that's at the level for the student that >> I just want to make sure that we lay out exactly what we're doing where it's all at, what programs we have, is it working, which you're showing our numbers are going down, which that there's a lot of variables that can play
play into that, but >> um and and the money that we're spending on it as well, cuz these are things that people are wanting to know what are we doing, what programs and >> right. Well, here's what I can tell you. One clay culture is costing us our two
employees. All right. So, uh that basically one clay culture has replaced seven mindsets and our two people in our district have written the entire thing and they have done a phenomenal job. If you haven't gotten a chance to take a look at all of the resources that go along with the
>> climate and culture department assumed that responsibility into the contract with seven mindsets last year. So, Tabby and Aaron have done the bulk of the authorship, but they continue to maintain their role as secondary and elementary counselor. our mental health department along with Melissa Maurice
social workers have been integral in incorporating all of the lessons as well and it does cover all of our required instruction. So that statemandated statute that says thou shalt cover human trafficking thou shalt cover all these different components that clay one clay culture also delivered all of our
required instruction. So it covers first 10 days of school then they recycle through the lessons using the resiliency standards. So our students are taught continuously throughout the year along with refreshers and they come back right after Christmas break. But we own all of that. That's why we authored it within
our department to make certain that there's no cost associated with it. Um the reproduction materials are coming out of the mental health allocation because it was co-authored by um the mental health division as well. So that's how we're paying for the materials that go out to our teachers that are provided at trainings and
workshops. And then again, it's authored in house so that you don't pay any outside sources. We haven't come up with some free we the state can always provide some free resources if they want to continue to provide um information. They have bullying hotlines and that kind of but all of the information is is
completely owned by Klay County District Schools and offered in house. >> That's good to know. Thank you. Yes, sir. >> So go ahead. um whereessor assessor >> sessor yes must include the three elements. Can you
elaborate a little more on the involve the power imbalance like how is that going to >> so so if if there's a in those situations if the student feels helpless so in other words you know if if in my
situation I'm bullying Miss Brennan right and she doesn't feel like she has any other any way out of the situation right that would be that could be a potential power imbalance >> that has nothing to do with physical like the body body size.
>> Correct. Not necessar you know I mean that could be a part of it depending on because each individual situation is going to be you know we have to look at it um each situation is going to happen completely different from something else. So it's not like there's a cookie cutter. This is what bullying looks
like, right? So and that's where we really count on the administrators at the schools to take a look at the situation to determine, you know, does it meet those criteria, right? So if there's a student that, you know, again, um, and I'll I'll use harassment for a
second, but if a student gets harassed, that's a single time event, right? That's a little bit different than bullying. But if that student runs away crying because of what this the other student says, I mean there's kind of a power imbalance there too. But was it repeated? Not necessarily.
But there was a power imbalance on that one, right? So >> I was thinking more in the case of example. This is an example. Uh somebody who's a religious person. He could be a big person but he's humble and he doesn't want to >> act on somebody's bullying. Right? In
that case, that person can have a more power than the small one, but he's not >> right. They might have a bigger physical presence. >> So, >> but they, you know, they're not being relentless on, you know, that person, you know, going back after the smaller, you know, physically sized person. You
know, the smaller person is just constant and going after the bigger person. >> You know, that's Yeah, absolutely. >> Mr. Davy, do you see any trends in the data or any shifts um as far as um do we see this happening the events that we
have recorded? Are they more frequent in elementary school, junior high, middle or high school? >> It it's, you know, because there are more students actually in elementary school because you're looking at seven grades there versus, you know, six grades in the secondary. Um
>> it's probably happening a little bit more. Not probably. It is happening a little bit more at the elementary school or at least the reports are. >> Reports are that question too. Yeah. >> Okay. So, the reports are definitely more at the elementary level. Now, does it meet the bullying criteria? Not always. All right. But that would be
like on the one slide where we talked about rude and mean. >> Doesn't mean we're not addressing it. We're still addressing it. And there still may be some discipline that goes with it, right? But, you know, there's also that retaching of the expectations. This is allowed. This isn't allowed. if it continues to happen, here's how you
want to report it. And that's also again like what Miss Brennan said, we and Mr. Broski also, we're trying to educate the parents on how to address this too because, you know, I think bullying has become a very widely used term. All right? But please understand that, you
know, there's specific criteria that's given to us by the state that we have to make sure that it fits in that box. Right? Now, again, the other things are definitely getting addressed. All right? But it may not necessarily be bullying. >> I just in the world where I work in, I
hear a lot from mental health professionals and there's a lot of concern about that >> um age group that's 10 to 12 right now. Um they missed a lot of the socially developmentally important things because of co >> um in their lives and so they're seeing kind of a trend of how they don't know
how to interact with each other in a way that's um healthy. So >> I think there's a lot of stuff there that we could probably have some more discussion about some changes >> and they start to gain access to electronic devices. >> Correct. They did. They well and they did during co because of necessity and
situations. And so yeah, it's >> um it's a new day in elementary schools. >> And again, it's it's you know, all the kids now, you know, at this point, all of the kids that are currently in our schools. >> Cell phones have been around as long as they've been alive, right? So they're digital natives,
>> right? >> We're digital immigrants. At least for myself. I know that. You know, I didn't have a cell phone when I was a kid. You know, we were doing the little paper footballs. Do you like me? Yes or no? Right. So, >> so is there what when what is it that we weren't dealing address?
>> It wasn't. >> So, first of all, I left the classroom sadly already four years ago this month >> and none of this was in existence, >> right? So, I am super impressed with everything you said because
literally prior to that, I felt like at the seven schools I worked at, it was like throwing a penny in there and watching it fall to see what happened. Right. I think so. That's step number one, which you know I have just two a page of notes that I was going to read
from. The fact that it appears that we have universal bullying program that's very aggressive, well thought out, and principles are trained is really the first step. And I don't mean this to
lessen what you've done for us here, but the student code of conduct and the relationship of why that I wanted to talk about bullying. So, I'm not sure and maybe you you guys know this, but much like rape victims, half of people
who are bullied, seriously bullied, never report. Okay? So, it's not that we're not doing a great job when it is reported. But we are no different as the norm in the entire country that
this is a much more widespread problem than our numbers are going to show. And I'm hoping that we understand that the biggest problem is that many kids, and I'm going to tell you, I was bullied as an adult.
>> Many kids will never tell a single soul until it's too late. >> Right? >> Bullying, especially with those kids, directly affects academic performance. Okay? So when I'm looking at the student code of
conduct as an English teacher, I wrote on the top, who is this written for? Because this is not um I would call an accessible document
for most people. What I mean by that is the country newspapers are written at the sixth through the eighth grade level, right? And we have systematically done a good job of putting our policies in here, right? But if I want to read a policy, I'm a schoolboard member. I
understand everything that's in the student code of conduct. >> Most people I talk to have no idea what we're talking about. And and so I feel like the breakdown isn't what we're doing. I think what we're doing is great. It's accessibility to knowledge.
You know, I had thoughts about the principal's number being the hotline because it doesn't have to go somewhere. I have thoughts about it being on a poster where she comes in or a guidance counselor. I don't know what number it would be where you have more of what I
would call the rapid response team where people literally trust you and you are a great principal and I know this. I have good friends that work for you. But the thing is they trust her in her community versus calling a hotline where then it
has to go through somebody then come back to a principal. So I feel like there's a lot of work to be done. say because in my mind I'm thinking great we have all this training now but it needs to be when when we go through the student code
of conduct it needs to be written in such a way that the knowledge is accessible to everyday people reading it versus putting a policy I'm saying we summarize a policy so for example the bullying hotline is not even in our in this book right so if a
parent's going to it can't even find the bullying hotline if the parent is educated to the point where I'm going to go to the Clay website and search for bullying. Like that's the breakdown for me that we need to get it where principles are basically in charge of
the entire thing because they have a relationship. Some schools are harder than other schools. So when you're when you're when I'm looking at this, there should be a student code of conduct as I said for elementary different. I taught from fourth grade
through 11th grade and a student code of conduct for secondary where sixth grade falls in that would have to be a district and superintendent issue because I don't understand how we would operate with that area. But to me, this isn't a usable document.
>> And what I mean by that specifically is if we had the most important things we wanted kids to know and we wanted parents to know, >> right? >> There would be contracts. So for instance, you could put a contract in Google Classroom after all the wonderful
training right on their homepage where a student signs that contract and is reminded every day of their contract because there's a reason people do contracts, right? It puts a very serious esteem in the air when you sign a
contract. As lawyers know, contracts mean everything. I think for kids it they need that daily reminder. So, like if I had to go to my very last page because you're doing such a great job on everything else and just skip down to here, I firmly believe that we need to
have local reporting systems. We need to have separate student code of conducts separated from a family handbook because even for me, it's overwhelming to go through and read this and it's not very specific of what I would do as a parent
just because I have this document. So one separate out our student code of conduct. We make that user friendly. We have links in here where they can do who to talk to. I think the procedures you
described at the school level need to be universal in a handbook for a parent. I mean literally needs to be there. They need to know what we have in place. So after listening that is the breakdown if you want to know the truth. They need
some place to report in confidence because I didn't report and I was bullied as a teacher in Klay County and I left the school. I'm telling you it is a really really hard situation.
And so if we separate this out, we make it user friendly where everybody understands it. We have it uploaded at the beginning of the year for parents where it says a weapon is a year expulsion initial, right? These include
what weapons are. I mean, how many times have we sat in hearings and seen elementary kids bring something because they were afraid or because they, you know, felt they needed protection. I think we need to have bullying parent initials. It this is what it is. it
could be uploaded with the and I'll tell you we had huge success with the media pausy. We had some thoughts that it wasn't going to work but within the first week 98% of the parents chose people are used to doing it. We have to have so once again one elementary and
secondary separate two they need to be and I don't know if we need lawyer help on this but we need to make our policies user friendly for parents in their handbook and they need to acknowledge that policy I believe Mr. superintendent
at the beginning of each year where they initial the lines and we can say every student signed the contract and knows what a weapon is and knows how severe it is where parents sign the now we know they might not read it right not everybody's going to read it but it goes
through the contract process so everything I think that would turn your fantastic newly revised program and training into something special would be accessibility of understanding and that would occur the way we communicate our
policies and the way people acknowledge it. So that was really but thank you for that great presentation. I feel really great about it. Um, so for me, I've been really focused on the student code of conduct because I think that there's a
lot of room for growth when it comes to bringing in our students, making them, and I saw you shake your head because we know contracts work with kids, especially with kids, right? >> Practice in the classroom. A lot of times classroom teachers will have contracts through their PBIS and they do
sign and that way when a child breaks the classroom infraction, there will say, "Remember, we all signed this together." And I don't know if there was a way where you have like a little bullying contract on every Google classroom where they could click on it and report something. I just think we need to make it where they're not so afraid even if it's not bullying and you
might get as you go through your training each year more than you want. But um so I think here's what I really think I when I was at FSBA, this is the last thing I'll say. I remember sitting at a seminar and somebody getting up in front
and said, "You know what the problem is with your good ideas?" He was talking to the whole room. You know what the problem is? Is when you have an idea, the thought that the idea presented automatically
strikes a very negative tone because it means that somebody else isn't doing it right. I don't want to be to the place where I think this simple thing as we go through the student code of conduct will help that you guys think that it's not
because you're not doing a great job. I just think that sometimes outside perspective can maybe help us improve in an area that of understanding for our parents because this is not readable for me. So, that was what I wanted to say
and thank you for doing a great job and whoever these counselors are because this was page two and page three of my research was that kind of development specifically for Klay County students and teachers and parents. So,
>> and we'll definitely take your information into account moving forward with the code of conduct as well. So, >> school board members, any comments on the changes? Good, good job, Mr. Sh. >> So, do you guys want to talk about the
the changes that Hansen has proposed? Any good ideas? Should we focus on doing two separate um code of conducts? Any thoughts on that? I think there's a difference between uh elementary and
secondary. I think it's good idea to kind of discuss and more people might have more bullying in certain age. I think that's a good idea. >> And if you're interested in looking, Duval has a separate elementary
secondary. And I know that the district does look at neighboring counties and how they do things. And they also when they developed the student code of conduct, which is much different than ours, they had parent involvement. They did forums. They have a video on their
page that shows it was like I want to say 1,000 different people including all the district personnel, the teachers, the administrators, students, parents, and they literally have this video that shows you how they develop their student code of conduct is very impressive to me. The amount of time they took.
>> I think we're doing almost everything right. We just need a better way to maybe get the message out there. >> The way it's formatted and how you communicate. >> Yeah. Well, I think it's there's a lot to think about. I mean, we know
I I don't have a really a response today. Um, we know that too many students aren't reading the code of conduct. And I think that, you know, the more the individual teachers can respond and help, that's
that's going to be what gets them. but nothing solid. >> And Mr. Stapy, I'd like to give you these. Um, as long as you're not Don't judge me. It's in my notes, but >> cuz one of the things I didn't talk
about was our student bill of rights. It's kind of complicated, especially for elementary. So, like I gave a sample of what maybe an elementary student bill of right could look like for bullying. >> Yeah, absolutely. >> And then school level reporting, the training you're already doing. Don't think I mean everything.
>> Absolutely. We're we're very open. You know, when we do uh the review of the code of conduct each year, we usually bring in somewhere between 25 and 40 people. All right? And that can be anywhere from school administrators, district administrators, teachers. We actually
>> invite CCA to come and they bring a couple of representatives. We also include some parents as well. >> So the number the number one thing is make sure we remember the audience. I always tell students, right? You have to write an essay. You have to remember who you're talking to, who you're writing for. I think that's the number one thing
if we're looking at an elementary code of conduct or parents. We need to remember of what level of background knowledge they come from because they're not reading it the same way that we're reading it. This is one question I had. There is a level in our student discipline. Level zero minor offense
would be unsubstantiating bullying. Okay, that's what we have here. And I also highlighted unsubstantiated harassment because sometimes >> those are state codes. >> Yeah. Right. >> Right. State codes. And then it's very interesting to me. So if I'm a parent
looking at this, we have unsubstantiating bullying. And then if you go to cessor level three is bullying. >> So like there's no different level. Once you bully that's it. I mean it goes from unsubstantiated to cessor level three.
>> Correct. is that >> right? But but again like on the slide where we talked about mean or rude, you know, that could fall into like level two for inappropriate conduct. >> And I think that probably should be there as well, like specify maybe that type of bullying. Like I feel like
that's a a big leap between unsubstantiated and then level three, >> right? >> Um these are just my thoughts. I apologize. It's you know, Miss Gh, would you like to hear? Um, I mean, I have a lot of thoughts.
Um, I'm going to reserve them and we had it. Uh, let's just say it's close to home. So, no problem. I do agree with Miss Hansen as far as like uh when we talk about our forms on what we need to sign
and um our parents when we're doing the um policy for or the signatures permissions for books. I think that um I know this is something that we've discussed before. I think um showing hey this is
what a weapon is. Hey, this is what we believe the main things that we see in front of us every day and the main issues just acknowledging it so that um we can also reiterate hey you know we we let you know whether you read this
>> a cheat sheet for the most common >> like like the top top offenses or top things that we think as a board is very pertinent to know um because it does break my heart when we see these little kids come in and they're like I just threw put it in my backpack or whatever,
you know. Uh, and then the parents not thinking um cuz I know personally I I have discussions with my girls all the time like don't put anything in your backpack unless mommy sees it. We want to make sure that. So anyways, I do I do agree with that and I think um
we we should look at neighboring counties as far as the code of conduct is is how they do it. It would it be good for us here in Klay County? That's something I wouldn't be opposed at at looking at. But if there's nothing more
to add to this, um I think we need to move on marketing. >> Quick update on on marketing. Big pile of papers. We work a >> lot of papers. >> Y'all are in overtime.
They're working overtime. >> So, we are going to follow up our bullying, which is a very heavy conversation with hopefully a much lighter conversation about all the great things that are going on in our schools and how we want to um grow our district,
engage our parents, and support our staff so that we can continue to tell the great story of things that are happening in Klay County District Schools. So, first I want to kind of introduce you to our team. So, this is the community relations team. The community relations department is a
relatively new department in the district. Um, it's only been around for about one and a half years. Before it was just kind of the communications person and then graphic designer was added on and then our um family and community engagement came under it and a
family and community engagement specialist. So, I'm Serena Thomas. I'm the chief communications and community engagement officer. I do have um an specialist degree in educational leadership and I've been with the district for 25 years. I graduated from Middberg High School, went to UNF, came
right back home to our district to teach at Lake Asbury Elementary, Shvyon Elementary, and Tines Elementary. I love Klay County District Schools. My parents were military. We specifically moved to Klay County because of the school district. So, I think that perspective
of that's why we chose Klay County was because of its excellent rating and wanting to kind of continue that work because I know the great things that have happened for my family, for my friends, their families. We want to be able to tell those stories and engage our community. Um, we have with us today Tori Grenice. She is our family and
community engagement coordinator. And then we also have Trudy Bose Bozy is our graphic designer. She does all the amazing graphics that you see on our social media and our websites. Um, as well as like these presentations and things like that. She really has a great eye for that and a lot of the strategic
work behind the scenes of takes a lot of effort to be able to say here's a very complex idea that we can kind of put into an infographic that makes it easy for people to understand. We also have Paula Summers who is our family and community engagement specialist. Um
Paula has been a chorus teacher in our district. So she has a great way of involving our community, bringing them in um creating uh sponsorships for programs within our schools and really helping support those people. Um also we
have three I don't have children but Tori, Trudy, and Paula all also have children that are within our Klay County District Schools. And Tori's husband and Paula's husband also work within our district as well. So we bring to our roles lots of different perspectives, lots of different ways for us to gather
feedback from our community and from our colleagues on what's working, what's not working so well and ways that we can improve because what we're really looking at is we're doing really good, but how can we be great? We are reaching a lot of our community, but how can we
reach even more of our community? >> Sabrina, I have to stop you right up there. >> Yeah, >> you only look 25. I was like, "Yeah, add 20 to that." I was the youngest teacher in Klay County when I first started teaching. Like I got a little write up in the clay
today about being the youngest teacher. Actually celebrated my 21st birthday with my first grader. So that was a really fun activity. Um but yes, been around for a long time and in communications for a long time. It's funny just kind of thinking about I was kind of the teacher um at the school that the principal would come to and be
like, "Hey, it's the 10day count and we have to split classrooms. can you help me write a a letter home to the parents to let them know we're transitioning some students from one room to another classroom? Um I was our web master for our schools. Um I actually in this role
previously I was the um IT supervisor and actually worked have always worked really well with our communications department to bring on our social media. So all of our social media accounts um when we standardized our websites from everybody doing their own thing. So when I was at Shot along, I was the web
master and I was like, "Oh, that template looks pretty and you know, I got to just pick everything on my own with maybe I didn't even put a contact us button on there." So kind of bringing it all together to make sure that we have standardized ways to um to make it easier for our family to find the things
that they need. So for our community relations team, we're kind of divided into two different um areas. So the first area is the communications department. That's really kind of me and Trudy are on the communications department side. And just some highlights of the things that we um are
kind of responsible for that digital management and training. We we oversee our entire digital ecosystem. So our social media, our websites, our onecllay app and we make sure that we providing provide training to our staff to um to make sure that those are consistent
across all of our platforms. And really when we think about that, we think of social media. We have over a hundred social media sites that we are specifically responsible for because if you think the district has an account, a Facebook account, and an Instagram account, all of our 43 schools have a
Facebook account and an Instagram account. So, it really adds up when we talk about um all of the different avenues that we have to reach people. We also do media and public relations. So, we're the central point of contact for our media partners. So, if the news has a story and they need to know the district's perspective of it, they're
reaching out to me so that we can get that information out to our news partners as well. And then our creative content and branding, so those professional graphics, those videos, all of those kinds of things. Super excited for the Apple Awards. Thursday night was great um kind of night for our
community. So, we went out, we filmed at the schools and we created the videos for those kinds of things. We're also working on some ideas of a little short videos that we can do to help our community with other things. Um, I'll talk about in just I'm going to save that for the next slide because there is another exciting thing that we're doing.
I'm not going to read all of these. Um, but this is just some idea of our current work that we're doing. You can see there's lots of different buckets that our work falls into. So we're doing everything from the great news of all the wonderful things that are going on in our district like our teacher of the
year, our support related employee of the year all the way over to our crisis communication. So if there is an event that's happening at a school, we want to make sure that we're supporting Mr. Voyak and his team of getting that information out in a timely way to our parents. We've had some feedback too
from that. Um we have scripted new systems to where we have um a team member that does the hey your school's on a secure a hold or a lockdown. We have a hey in 15 minutes if they're still on that we're going to provide them another automated call and then when it's an allclear we're also now
doing that automated call as an allclear. So we don't have to wait and kind of get that information. And there's a lot of details to put together to make sure what we're saying is aligned to what the Klay County Sheriff's Office is saying and our principles on the ground are saying to make sure that's all we don't want our parents to have to wait. Are they still
on lockdown? Are they still on a hold? Because sometimes the hold has been lifted, but it takes us maybe 15 minutes to get that information all coordinated before we can send that out. So now we can send a all clear out and let them know you're going to get another message from your principal with that information as well. So a big variety of
things that we handle on that communications front. We also have the other part of our department is our family and community engagement department. They handle lots of amazing things with our district. So our volunteer management um Paula has done a great job with that with using
the Raptor system. So we actually know um all of the different hours that are happening. We can track that. We can give awards to our schools and our volunteers that are coming in and engaging with our staff and supporting our schools. um outreach and events. We have presents at lots of community
events like hometown holidays, coco and carols, all of those types of things. That's another great way for us to engage with our community and say, "Hey, stop by. Let's make a craft. What school does your kid go to?" Oh, they don't go TO OUR SCHOOLS. WHY NOT? COME ON DOWN. WE have lots of great opportunities. We find out lots of things there like it's,
"Hey, I'm going to a clay virtual uh I'm going to the Florida virtual school." were like, "Did you know we have clay virtual academy that you can go to that you could even have the opportunity to have meetups at a library and things like that?" So, lots of good ways for us to um reach our community in those. And
also our family education, which is one of the things I really wanted to highlight, is our new virtual parent academy. It's amazing. Tori does a great job of aligning all of that content. So, she does all the behind thescenes work for it. She meets with the partners that
are doing the talking on that to make sure they're comfortable, that they have everything prepared, they're ready to go and prepare for that night. We don't always have a lot of people that join us live even though we try to offer it at different times, but we do track the analytics on the back end of how many
views the YouTube videos get later on down the road and those are increasing every day. So, we do see that even if we don't have as many people join us in the moment, they are accessing those resources um after the fact. So, we love that that we're creating that library of resources that are going to be available
for our families. And again, here's some additional work that that group is currently doing. So, not only are they doing all that family engagement and support with um act uh places out in our community, our virtual
things, our volunteers, um working with our volunteer coordinators, working with our front office secretaries to make sure when parents come into our schools that they're there and ready to go and have all the tools that they need to assist parents when they come in. Um, a lot of that is around our enrollment and
our registration processes as well. So, we've done a lot of work in streamlining that, having registration rallies to support our families when they want to register their student. And those are some things that we're excited moving forward that we think we're going to be able to do even more of and even to a
higher level. So, let's talk a little bit about what we call the clay connection or the clay way. I know you guys have all heard that kind of terminology before, right? we're doing it the clay way and some are shaking THEIR HEADS LIKE YEAH THAT'S GREAT and we're like no the clay way is not the way. So those kinds of things
where we do want to um make sure that our branding when we hear things we want it to be a positive the clay way or a positive clay connection and how can we do that we can build trust through confident communication and engagement. So something that has been extremely
successful is our aptto implementation. So the board approved API in September of 2024. We first worked on our websites and our app and then over the summer we launched the rooms where our teachers have the rooms, our sponsors, our
coaches and they engage with our families through that platform. Um I would like to share we have 6,082 rooms currently. So if you think we have about 3,000 teachers, we have 6,000 rooms. So teachers are really getting on board and creating those rooms for their
classrooms. We've also had a lot of success with our athletics coaches, our band directors, our club sponsors using that. We've had a lot of positive feedback from our families about that streamlined communication and not having to get classroom dojo and remind me and
all the other things out there. They're coming to one place for that. Those numbers continue to grow. So maybe there were a few people that were holding out. They're getting on board. Now, as we continue to work with API to remove barriers for things like our athletics, we had sometimes we have homeschool
students that join our sports teams. We've now found a way to include them in our rooms as well. So, we're just trying to remove any barrier that's possible so that we can um include everybody in those rooms. I have a question because you presented and you said that you had one school at the time that was 100%
every teacher and I'm not sure but I thought you gave us some data about 48% of teachers at the time were in rooms. Do you have an update to the percentage of amount of teachers not how many rooms? >> Yes. So I do I can get that information to you. The last time I checked we were
at 94% of teachers had a room. So you've made huge progress because that was one of the biggest complaints of parents that actually wanted to do it and the teachers hadn't >> participated. >> So we took that feedback and we actually tracked it. So we sent out in the superintendent's weekly briefing a little spreadsheet of this is your
school. This is um how many teachers that have not yet activated their rooms account. Here's how you can find out who those teachers are. And our administrators were on it. They walked they talked to the teachers and they made sure that any barriers that were in place. We also had a big um training on
our inservice day recently to support teachers too because there's also that compliance piece of I created the room but we don't want them to just create the room. We want them to use the room as well. And so we are seeing um we've so far and this is only from July to
November. I haven't gotten our December statistics yet. We had 77,066 announcements made via rooms. We've had 1,00 167,988 messages initiated by staff, 192,832
guardian messages that are so and that's only through November. So, this is just continuing to um go further as we go along, as more people go on get on board, as more people realize, oh, this is easy to use, we're starting to see those numbers grow. So, that's been
really positive. And if you think about in terms of marketing, our biggest marketers are actually our teachers. That's our biggest group of people that have the most communication with our families. We always say as a as a
parent, you're going to first ask your teacher, then you're going to talk to your principal, then you're going to talk to the district. And it's that kind of mindset as well. Like we're not going to go straight to the district to get an answer or to look for communication. like they're not going to. >> You just don't email the superintendent. >> Yeah, you don't YOU DON'T JUST EMAIL THE
SUPERINTENDENT. YOU DON'T JUST GO LOOK on the one play website. You don't follow the one play. >> I never knew >> that was a thing. >> That was a thing. Chain of command. But I have a question and I don't know if you can actually track this, but with
this app, do you find um because I can give you personal parent feedback, but I don't know if other other parents feel this way. I'm in communication with my kids teacher way more than I would have been not with this app
>> because I'm getting either photos or or um class updates or you know obviously some are more >> goal. Yes. So that's absolutely the goal and kind of part of our marketing plan is to have that exact thing happen. I
don't have a way to track that per se because I don't have a way to look back in the past to kind of gather up all the ways that people were communicating before. So I don't kind of have the baseline of where we were before. I can kind of just take into account the statistics that we have now of how many
messages are being sent and how many things like that. But I feel like these numbers are very high and it does speak to the fact it's funny too. We we have our monthly calls with our API team. They're like, "Clay County is doing amazing." And we're like, "Hey, we
already purchased you. Like, we need to hear the truth. Like, tell us what's really going on. Like, what can we do better?" And they're like, "No, you guys are really doing very well." We did a case study for them on our implementation actually of our um our coordination between the communications department, the IT department and the
superintendent office because we are a small team but we worked together so closely in our um in our different departments to get this rolled out effectively. They're kind of using that as a model when they talk to other districts as well of of a way that that
could be rolled out. And that's what we really are trying to do is say parents are really wanting that communication from their child's teacher. They want to see the picture of what happened that day. Kind of a lot of work for the teacher to go, let me send it to the principal and then the principal put it
on social media and then the parent has to follow the social media account where now we can kind of close that loop and say, hey teachers, you can send that directly to the parents. Here's an easy way to do it. And then we still keep our social media pages, but really highlight the bigger events that are going on at
our school just as that window into the these are the cool things that are going on, but you don't have to follow our social media to get these. You're getting the updates directly from your teachers. You're getting newsletters from your principles. Um, and we're also the things that we're putting on social media with the tools that we have now.
We're also putting in the app as well. So if you don't want to have a Facebook account or an Instagram account, you can just open up your OneClay app and in the feed section, you're going to see the same things that you would see on the social media accounts. So we're also removing that barrier, saying you don't have to have a social media account to
follow us. You can get the information. We're trying to remove any kind of barrier or any kind of wall that would keep people from getting our information. So now we're putting things in so many different places. You might also see for things like um report cards are available today. I can now put that
out on all of our social media and our websites and our um app all at one time. So that's taking something off of administrators plates. They don't have to remember to send out that reminder anymore. And all of our families are getting that information at the same time. So that's helping with our consistency which is helping with our
brand as well. If you're all all our schools are consistently getting the information at the same time, that's really helping because if your elementary school remembered to post the report cards are available, but your high school student, their school maybe forgot to post that the report cards are
available. You might be confused and think, well, how come my elementary one is available, but my high school one isn't? In reality, they all are, but we all have busy lives trying to keep up with everything. So just trying to keep that consistency of letting everybody know that it's available at one time and really feeling connected to our
teachers, feeling connected to our principles and our schools and feeling connected to our district. That's going to be the biggest return on investment that we can have. Happy students, um successful students, engaged students, they're going to be more successful when
they have that parent involvement and that parent engagement. And now that we have the tools to do that, it's helping with lots of different areas. And then if you're at a soccer game and a parent next to you says, "Well, I'm trying to decide what school to send my kid to. I'm between this and that. Oh my gosh,
my school is great. My kids are having a great experience there. I get this kind of communication consistently. We're really helping to build that brand." If you think of things like Chick-fil-A is known for their customer service. Like that's kind of what we're going for is that kind of when you hear Klay County
District Schools, you know we have a 97% graduation rate. You know that we're an A school district, but you don't know all these little details that your friend is going to be able to tell you at the soccer game of like what it really means to be part of that school district. And so that's what we're
trying to to build up with our staff is here are the tools that we have available for you. here's how that we can use them to help make sure that our community is engaged because we do want our students to be successful at the end of the day. And we did some research and it does say that 93% of consumers trust
recommendations from friends and family above above all other forms of advertising. I think you'll see that too from the rise of things like influencers. if you are following influencers is because you're believing a person over maybe a company that's
telling you something because you want to hear that firsthand experience directly from the person versus hearing what maybe the company has to say about themselves as well. So, we're trying to kind of build that on all fronts. That people first connection from our staff to our families and right back to our
staff, too, because our families supporting their students helps make things easier for our teachers as well because if you have in informed families and engaged families, we also see things like kids come to school more. So, their attendance is better. Their discipline is usually better as well. So, it's it's
something like rising tide roes all boats, right? Like so this is something that can help in all different areas. >> And I just want to say before FG there was nothing. You could use uh remind but the district didn't really like us doing that like to contact track
students, right? You could use Facebook but there was legality issues with sharing kids. I literally have to tell you, I feel like other than calling somebody on the phone or putting it on Google Classroom, we didn't really have an effective way to communicate. So, I
think this is like really great if I was teaching right now. This is great. >> I think this is really great, too. And I think we're a little bit of a step ahead of some other districts as well because I think lots of districts were in the place that we were in with, hey, we had
email or we had, you know, these kind of other apps that were sort of approved, maybe not approved, that people were doing, you know, things like that. And so by adopting this and having this full complement of tools available to our teachers and to our staff, um, we're
definitely ahead of some other districts and we're definitely moving in the right direction. So, I think that's really great. So, the next thing that we're going to talk about is we have all these tools in place. How can we use them to strategically increase enrollment through targeted communication, improve
digital experiences, and a focus on community engagement? So, this is what Mr. Broski showed you in the financial renaissance plan. We've identified three key areas that we are going to focus on upcoming throughout the future. This is not to say there are other things that
we're going to be doing. We'll still be doing things like Apple awards and all of that kind of stuff, but this is kind of the plan for how can we take what we're doing that's good and make it great. Where are areas that we could um to just go up another level? So that digital excellence and brand
storytelling. So using API, we we're in there, we're using it. Now, how can we really do best practices? How can we take it up a notch? capturing the entry points, making sure that we are reaching our families where they are, removing barriers, making sure it's easy to find
information on our website and in our social media to to get parents the information that they need and that family experience. So, finding ways for parents to be able to come into our schools, to be welcomed into our schools through volunteer programs, through school tours, through all of those
things because we know that parents do want to be inside schools. They want to see for themselves what's going on and how can we embrace that and invite them into our schools. So the first one that we're going to talk about today, the first goal is that digital excellence and brand
storytelling. This isn't a comprehensive list. We just kind of picked three things that we're really going to focus on in the future. The why I chose Clay campaign. So this is going to be we are going to work with our community members to talk to parents
and say why did you choose Klay County District Schools? Like if you had talked to my parents when we first moved here, we came to Klay County District Schools because NAS Jack said Klay County District Schools was a great experience. We came here and we saw that for ourselves. I had a great educational
experience. We had great partnerships. So finding parents that we know are out there to be able to give their testimonials. so they can be our kind of influencers, right? Because we know that we want to hear from the people that are really in the system and have kids in
our system. So, this is going to be something that we're working on. This will be located on our website and in our social media um to have those testimonials from students and families that have those positive experiences within Klay County District Schools. can
also talk to students who are I'm in the course at Times Elementary and I love coming to school every day and I have friends and I'm learning math and all of those kinds of things all the way up to I'm in the CTE program. I um am doing an internship with this business partner
and I'm going to have a job when I graduate. So, making sure that we kind of encompass all of those things. Seamless enrollment. We need to refresh our website to include a high visibility enroll now path. We do have register up in the corner, but sometimes it's not
immediate immediately obvious to parents that that's what that is. So, we're going to have kind of enroll now added everywhere along our district. So, if you go to the BPK page, you're going to find the enroll now. If you go to the pathways page, enroll now. Maybe not on
the bullying page, I don't know, but um you know, we're going to make sure that we have more information on there. And then also our discover clay campaign. When we really took a look at our website, we think it's pretty. It's standardized. We've done a good job in
our transition using API, but one of the things that we realized is it is organized by our department. So like as you saw today, bullying is under academic services and that might not make sense to parents as that's the place that they would go to find it.
We've also seen I think Esau might fall under elementary education because we've structured the website to match our organizational structure. So, we're going to review our website with a lens of I'm a parent looking at this. Where does it make sense for a parent to find
this information? It doesn't matter if it follows our organizational structure or not. And we're going to launch the discover clay campaign which is going to highlight more of the pathways that are available to our students. CTE is one of those things too that's kind of buried
within academic services. That should be front and center. Our fine arts front and center. Our athletics programs front and center so that you can see we have school choice right within Klay County District Schools. We want you to come to our website, find all the options that
are available to you, and then enroll now right on that little button that shows all of the programs that we have. So, we're very excited about that. I'm going to preface that with this is going to take some time. We are a mighty team, but we're a team of four. So, that is going to take some time as we go through
that. Um, if you kind of want to get a preview of what that might look like on our homepage now, if you click on the little early learning box, like it's in the little buttons at the bottom, it used to just take you to VPK registration and it didn't have very much additional information. If you go
there now, it actually takes you to an early learning section that has our child care centers, our three-year-old program, our ESSE program, our um BPK program, our Monasuri BPK program, our BPK programs at elementaryaries, our BP
BPK programs at secondary schools. I didn't even know we had all those options and I work here. So, we really um worked together with our early learning team to get all those options consolidated and easy to find for our families and we're also streamlining the
registration process for the BPK and the BPK lottery as well. So, we're super excited about that and we're taking that mindset that we did for that piece of the website into the other pieces as well. >> Can we banner or a graphic that says uh
like our school choice? >> Yeah. people or you know what I mean so that people go hey let's click here and I'll you know >> school choice is really big but like you said and I know I've said it till I'm blew in the face we do have school
choices in our public education and a lot of people have no idea and I was going to wait until we got to this point but >> uh like on our CTE if and this is the suggestion I've talked to Mr. Rosski about when I go and talk to the
community and business leaders, they have no idea that I mean I keep going to this example that they can go to Blooming Broncos and order flowers. Um there are teachers who didn't even know that. I talked to them the other day about this. So, I don't know if we need
to put that in our CTE tab like um I don't know gift. I don't know what you want to name it, but essentially like you can go here to be able to contact these teachers for these services. Um I wouldn't put prices or anything like that cuz that would be subject to the
teacher, but the point is knowing that they could reach out and then that money that they buy flowers for or whatever goes back to that program. And so I think that that's going to funnel more money within our district and advertise
more for our school choice programs. >> Absolutely. We can definitely make a note of that and when we work with Allison Kelly for what that CTE section is going to look like, we can um definitely take that into consideration too because I think that could be potentially very helpful for both that
program and just in general as another option for our community as well. >> Cuz our community leaders, a couple of them are like, "Where do I go to even find that information?" and they're like I mean I could call the school and say hey what are your options and I go see that they have those options at that
school but if we had like a direct line or you know like who runs that program or you know that they can call directly so that we're not like >> yeah we're not hamster wheel and this person didn't call back and I can't email them and all that >> convenience. Absolutely.
And then um goal two capturing the entry points. So, we really want to make sure that we are if you have a three or fouryear-old, we want to get you into our school system now, right? Um because we think if you come to us first, you're going to stay with us for longer because
once you make that choice to join Klay County District Schools, you're going to see what a great place it is to um attend school, to have friends, to be part of different clubs and activities and athletics. So, we really want to make that easier for people. So, we've
already I did kind of I got ahead of myself. I got very I I'm very excited about the early learning web page. So, um that's kind of an example of what we worked on with that. But we are also working very closely with um Dwayne Weekes and the IT team for the focus implementation for the registration
process to make sure we're not asking the questions of parents in the way that the state maybe asks them of us, but trying to ask it in a way that parents would understand. Like we were just kind of laughing the other day. One of the I think one of the questions on one of the
forms was something like is your child um a multiple birth and I was like I don't even know what that is. Is it like this is my third kid or is it you know I figured it out from the choices because it was is it a twin a triplet but that wasn't my immediate like I was like I
don't know what this is and I'm thinking if I don't know what it is it might be a barrier for our families as well. So just trying to change the language on some things to make it a little bit easier for our families to understand as well. Um we will continue to do direct um outreach. So we do have newsletters
that go out to our families. Currently they're quarterly. We are um exploring the idea of making those monthly so that we can have um a little bit easier way to get things in so we don't have to wait maybe to the end of the year to talk about kindergarten registration. We might be able to do that quicker to the time that it opens. We do have our
social media and we do send out mailers too. So, we'll continue to do those things, but just thinking about we're really looking at everything that we do and thinking, do we need to keep it the way it is? Is there anything that we can do to improve it, to make it easier, to make it more efficient, to make it better for our
families? Um, that early enga- engagement, welcome to kindergarten events and school tours. So, that's something that all of our schools are going to be doing this year is offering school tours for um kindergarten students so that you can come in almost like have a signing day like come tour
the school. Are you going to come to kindergarten here? Let's sign up now. Take pictures with the I'm a pioneer now. All of those kinds of things. So, we're excited about that and really doing more to market the pathways. Again, all of those school choice things that are available within our schools.
So, we have ACE, we have pre, we have CT, E, AP, IB, dual enrollment, athletics, fine arts. Like, we just have so many different things that I think sometimes we forget because we're part of this and we know all the great things that we're doing. We want to make sure it's very clear to everyone else all
those great things that we're doing as well. And then goal three, goal three, that family experience. So again, we really want to make sure that every family has a very welcoming, very easy um experience with our Klay County District
Schools. So we are working with our staff on how to welcome, recruit, and retain families. So that idea of like all the things if you're going to a school to register your kid, we want somebody to be there at the front office to welcome you. We want them to say,
"Hey, okay, our our registration process is online, but here's a computer. I'm going to walk you through getting started. If you have any questions with it, please feel free to ask me about it, and I'm happy to help. I know I filled out like my I had to update my voter registration. I literally took it to the
elections office. I was like, did I do this right?" But like sometimes you just want that like confirmation that I did it correctly. So, I think that kind of experience um is going to be really helpful. our our teams are doing great jobs now, but again, we're looking at
everything to see how could we do it just maybe a smidge better. Are there any things that we could do differently? Do you not have a device in your front office? Can we help you get one? All of those kinds of things. Any barriers that schools might have to help them with. We are also going to ask we are going to
launch an Ask Clay concierge button. So, that's going to be also on our website. some of the feedback that we heard from like our transportation um form. It's a little bit hard to find in some cases for families. So, if we have that ask Clay button that's going to be available throughout the website, you can click
it. You can pick I have an academic question, I have a transportation question, I have a food and nutrition services question. So, instead of having a form for food and nutrition services, a form for transportation, a form for academics, going to kind of consolidate that all into one. um they could pick
other and type in, you know, whatever they thought it was and then their question and then our team will manage that on the back end to either answer the question for the family member if we if we know the answer or we can direct it to the appropriate personnel so that we can get the answer to respond to the parents.
And then um we're going to continue that community presence, those popupformational tables at hightra community locations, libraries, parks, local events. Um we've had great conversations with families. It's not only kids, but it's like, hey, do you need a job? WE HAVE JOBS, TOO. DO YOU do
you want to drive a bus? Come on down. We will we will take you and we will get you signed up. So, um really just kind of being out there and being a presence for our community as well. >> Are we doing anything at the fair? >> We are working on it. Yes. So, I know we
can have one day so far at the um on the clay fair day, but we're also working to see if we can have an expanded experience at the fair as well. like a booth rental for the week. >> That's what we're looking into. >> Yeah, we are looking into a booth rental
for the week. Um, anybody who had a permanent rental last year in the exhibit hall gets first dibs. So, those are all kind of taken right now, but we're looking and working with CTE to see if we can maybe get into like the actual toddler area or something like
that and then we can do a craft there. >> Okay. or like the barn or something empty kind of. >> I know you have to get those really early because they do fill up, but I was just curious that would be a great because you get Duba, you get St. John's County, you get Palaka. I mean, you can
get um which that won't matter, but I'm just saying like getting people into clay and then picking our schools as their their choice. >> Absolutely. I feel like there's always some space in the barn.
>> Yep. >> Always like willing to go. >> They like put them like in little corners or you know. >> Yep. >> I I feel like that's your that that's the bingo, right? The bingo card. >> Yeah. And typically whenever we do these events, we try to do a craft or something like that with the littleer
ones or even, you know, intermediate students so that we can actually have a conversation with the parent. get an animal and let pet then you don't have to worry about like hey glue this >> real quick we weren't successful with Near this year
>> not this year no um they did not have enough space for us this year but that is definitely something that we're looking for next year we were also looking into like the strawberry festival and things like that for this upcoming year. Um but >> well, we've got till October work.
>> Yes. And then some of those are a little bit more difficult because again vendors do pay a lot of money for those booths. So um >> well I think we can get it through one of them >> for that. Absolutely. Yeah. >> That presence between St. John's people. That's the best.
>> Absolutely. Especially since we still have controlled open enrollment opportunities. So if parents are willing to travel or they do work at, you know, in Klay County, they're able to bring their students. >> Yeah. >> Okay. So, just to kind of recap, um those are our three main goals that
we're looking at as we are looking to market um for this upcoming school year. And just a few other numbers to kind of round it out. Um so for um it was December 26 through January
22nd so that kind of like one month period. Our district homepage had 43,787 visitors to our homepage. Um our registration page had 2,634 and then our BPK registration page had
1,36. Um, but in very good news, um, we just launched the oneplay.net/bvpk. I keep talking about that one, but we that's the page that we pushed out via social media on our BPK lottery is coming soon. That page only came into
existence on January 15th. Um, we did push it out also on social media on January 15th and in one week, so January 15th through January 22nd, it already had 609 um, visitors to that site. So we are
kind of seeing that cyclical like we push out the links via social media, via our app and via our website and it is driving information back to our website. So we do feel like that website that information needs to be very easily accessible to our families, very easy to
understand for our families. We need to make sure like u Miss Hansen said earlier, we don't want it written in our educational language. We want it written um in a way that our families can understand it and try to take out the technical jargon from it and just make it easy with steps like step one get
your um get your certification for BPK, step two, enter the lottery. Like we're really trying to simplify it for our families. Um and again really focusing on let's try to get those entry points and make sure that that family experience is great and we continue to
track all of those things as well. The VPK post on Facebook um had 2412 views and on Instagram it had 691. That doesn't sound like very many. That's only from our district one clay page. I didn't actually do the math to
go into all 86 other social media sites that I um I've um posted it on because it comes through um for each site basically. So if you kind of take those numbers and and multiply them by the number of schools that we have, then we're kind of getting an estimate of
really high reach that we have just within our own methods of being able to get information out to the community. And then I did just kind of want to give you a little bit of the landscape for how much some traditional things cost.
So right now many of the methods that we're employing are kind of free. Like we do pay for an act contract. So that part is not free but the use of them once we've paid for them that part is free. We can send as many messages as we want, as many updates as we want. Our
Facebook and Instagram accounts are free. So we're really trying to be fiscally responsible and using the tools that we already have to their biggest extent before we move to some of these maybe more traditional things. Um, if we were to have two billboards in hightra
Klay County quarters, it's $5,500 per month. Um, to do a local radio, um, if you did like 40 spots, like one in the morning and one on one in the morning drive, one on the afternoon drive, um, it would be about $5,700 a month. To do
10,000 household mailers for the print, the postage, and the labor is about $7,800. And if we were to do the social media and search ads, um, geoen, so that would kind of say like, hey, send this ad to like 32068. Um, that could cost about
$1,500 a month. So if we put all that together, that could run us at about $325,000 um per year. So before we want to make any of those kinds of investments, we really want to make sure that the tools that we have that we are already
purchased with API with the websites and things like that are super clean, super easy for parents to um access and make sure that our families know how to use all um our families and our staff know how to use all those tools because I think one of the things that we don't
want to happen is like a giant billboard that says like visit onecllay.net and then you visit onecllay.net and you can't find what you're looking for, that's going to be a very frustrating experience for the people that are visiting that web page. So, we want to make sure that we kind of do all of the
things that we can to get all of that really really um pristine um before we move on to some of these maybe more traditional um landscapes as well. >> Oh, I I also just wanted to say cuz I did some research on this, districts don't use all this. >> They don't.
>> Districts maybe send out direct mail in the spring. Yep. Which is what we're and they don't even do it every month. They It's very specific, >> very targeted. And so that's what we're looking at is very targeted for like our kindergarten enrollment and things like that.
>> What if we did for uh what area is it that we're >> short short students? Is it cuz we said it wasn't high school, right? Did you say it was high school? What age? Primary or K2?
>> Yeah. birth rates dropping, eating other sometimes choosing other options >> and not not registering. >> So, um, what if we also did, this is just an idea. We're talking about mailers and direct mail, especially in the spring. What if we did a school
choice one, whether if it's K through 2 or K through 12 or six, these are our school choice options for elementary and you direct microtarget those individuals. And then for high schools, hey, this is our CTE options for high
school or our um school choice options for high school and microtarget and direct mail for them because the way to get people back who left is our secondary options because charter and private schools for the most part do not have
>> what our schools can offer in secondary. Now I understand we do need to recruit early, right? But the real place that you could earn people back, I mean, my granddaughter now is back in public school, right? Because there are things that are offered there that are better
for her in high school, right? So, I think those are our two areas, right? is that we are we can offer so much variety and things other schools cannot do and absolutely probably never will be able to do and then target those kids we need to get into the lower grades you know
>> and we do see that as a trend that we do see um students returning to us in in junior high and high school for those options um so I think that's a trend we track in our um uh enrollment council we meet monthly and we look at um students that are coming to the district what schools are they coming to what is the
reason for coming, if students are leaving, why are they leaving? It's mostly because they're moving out of county, um those types of things. So, we definitely track that and we are looking into what are ways that we can target, you know, specific area codes, specific
areas that we might want to um have some of those options for. So, that's definitely something that we can look at. >> But that number would be lower because you'd be microtargeting. You know what I mean? Yes, we did >> direct mail wouldn't go to all of one city. It would just go.
>> And that is actually what works and how you I think we get students back whether they left for school choice options elsewhere then we chase those by by targeted mail. But we got to be really good about our messaging what we have on it. Um you don't want to just fill up a
flyer with just words. Correct. And >> that's another thing that we are working on with um with our schools. We're getting ready to start sending out um Paula is going to be >> going out to our schools and working with them on like what is your elevator
pitch? What is what makes your school special? What options do you have available? Because we have different clubs, different programs, different activities at all of our schools and we want to make sure people are aware of those as well. Even at the elementary school, we have drama clubs, we have chorus, we have safety patrols, we have
lots of different things even at the elementary school for our families. So, we want to make sure that those are up to date. >> And I'll tell you something embarrassing. I got out after the last meeting. I was walking in the parking lot and I said to Miss Skipper, "This is really embarrassing. I didn't know we had a Cambridge program until Miss Gilhousen said it." And if I'm a
schoolboard member and I don't know, then that's embarrassing for me, right? So I I do think what you're doing is going to help, right? And and what you're doing is needed. So >> but doing separate ones and microtargeting I think is going to be
>> something good that we that we need to look at for spring whether it's enroll or hey school choice is really big. >> Yes. >> It's it's it's it's polling high. Okay. >> Yeah. So, we need to focus on that on uh
the lower grades and then like our secondary having a different one on micro gardening. That's my two cents anyways. Sorry. >> Yeah. No, that's great. And then um the other thing we want to talk about a little bit too um same thing like we we get information from likeiz districts or
districts that are kind of doing something really well. Um, so we did also kind of take a look at Sarasota County because they are kind of a model for communications. We looked at their website. We modeled some of the things on our website after them. A lot of
webinars we attend. We're members of Sunspra. We're members of um, Insp. So, we attend webinars with marketing specialists and experts and school communications experts. And so, we're we're looking at the trends. We're looking at the things that other
districts are doing as well. um some of some of the things that are different. So um in Sarasota they have 12 to 14 plus specialized allocations just for communications not even including their family and community engagement. So it is really just
sponsorships ad revenue corporate sponsorships um communications those types of things and we have for crossf functional um allocations. So they do have more people than we do. Um their funding source is also from their ad revenue. So they the district of
Sarasota sells ad space on their it's like welcome to the Verizon gym at Middberg High School or something like that. Um so they have lots of ad revenue that they keep at the district level to fund all of these campaigns. And our model in Klay County is much more school
focused and classroom focused. So we have um sponsorships and things like that, but our business sponsor, our business sponsors, business partners who sponsor things generally like to sponsor a school, sponsor an activity that they're tied to, and then that money
goes directly to that activity to classrooms, to students, to schools. So that's just we have different ways that we think about how that money is spent. And then um again that is kind of they're selling all those ad spaces and things and we're really our department
is funded through the general fund and maximizing our um FTE and then their annual spend is very high like in the almost million dollar range for their communications budget that they generate from their websites and things like
that. And ours is very low. So um ours we don't WE DON'T DO OUR FREE THINGS and things like that. So there's definitely there's different paths and it's not to say that we couldn't do some of the things that they're doing. We do have we
would be a we could introduce ad space based on our websites or things like that. But we really are focused on a lot of our business partners, business partners and sponsorships really being attached to our schools and to our students because we really want that
funding to stay focused on our students. And this is just kind of the um road map. So just to kind of recap, we have the power of four. We're a small but mighty team. We're we're very excited. We're a very new Tori is new as of July. I'm new as of October to these roles.
Um, it's been great. We have made lots of different um, perspectives, lots of different analysis of different things. We all bring those different lenses to things. Trudy has been a rock because she's been here for longer. So, she's able to tell us like,
"Hey, this is how we used to do this or this is how this normally works." Paula has been amazing, too, with supporting our schools and our volunteer programs. So, we have four people. We're doing great things. We have lots of great plans coming on. We do want to continue
to We've started a school communications weekly update with our school commu communications team members. We have about five members at each school that have elevated privileges and roles. So, they're getting a newsletter now kind of letting them know these are the upcoming events. Here's some things you might want to highlight for your school. So
really building that brand up and building those um school level folks that can be ambassadors of our school district and their schools and then really leveraging our owned media. So we're able to reach, you know, the parents of 36,000 students. We're able to we have a big reach with the tools
that we have just making sure that we're using them effectively and efficiently. and that word of mouth engine knowing that if we provide that great experience to our families and to our students, they're going to go out and talk about it as well. And so we really want to make sure that we're focused on that. So
the future vision from where we are right now, we want to we want to build a future where our message is both strong and wide reaching. We're starting right now using the platforms that we have. Once we have a very solid foundation of that, then we can continue to look forward to some of those more
traditional methods that we might want to build up to once we make sure that we have everything else really smoothly running and um updated. That's all I have for you today. Any questions? >> No, that was great.
>> I'm going to say Sabrina is doing a great job. Rockar. is too. I think trying to provide some contrast to what what we actually are doing relative to this issue. It's never been a thing before. I I can honestly say it was probably been about 18 months
um ago that we started to look at market share. How where where are kids going? Where are they going? Giving exit interviews to families. Why are you going to home school? What's going on? Collecting all that data, analyzing that data. You can
tell that one of Sabrina's specialties is analytics. There's not there's probably not a data set that she can't find out for you in regard to our website, our social media presence, and all those sorts of things. And I'm not very talented at She does a very good
job at that. So, that's kind of the move. So, um, thank you so much for the the work that you guys do. And I just wanted to add that social media is where people go and find information whether it's correct or incorrect. So I think that we um having
that social media presence, the short films, the advertising, what we have going on, whether it's academic, CTE, all that stuff is something that I've been rooting for. So I look forward to seeing those little >> reels or whatever and we can get more engagement off of that. that that has
actually brought people back in is seeing our CTE video um things like that. So, all right. Thank you. >> Okay. Thanks. >> All right. >> I just want to say that I'm not going to ever give up on having a marketing person. >> I think what we're doing is great. The
majority of that is with the people who are already attending our schools. There is a part that was in there that said we need to start doing that outreach. But I'm here to tell you, if you can get 400 students back, Mr. Superintendent, you
know exactly how much money that is. And so we're I think we're doing a great job internally. And I think we're doing a great job with the people that already love us. I'm still concerned about doing a great job with the people who left us. So I think it's something I realize we
are in a budget crunch, but there are ways to pay for marketing. you had it up on the slide. The traditional marketing ways actually do work, but I'm not going to let it go, but I think we're doing a great job at what we're
doing. So, >> I I never say never, just like fleet management wasn't a thing to analyze it. So, I agree. >> And I think if we strengthen it and then we um we do some of those ideas that we have,
I think it'll be good. Miss Hansen's going to give a very very very short >> yeah super short >> super short. >> I have a little a super short one paragraph so I don't get carried away >> explanation and we're going to review all we're going to do is say yes or no
we're going to do as a board. >> So I just real quick I have to give a shout out to district personnel um Roger Daly made me feel really good the other day because he actually said these are his words you all you did a great job. you're doing a great job. And I don't
know why, you know, the district used to tell me sometimes you just need to hear you're doing a great job. One of the things the board did a great job was our community rubric. And thank you for giving some input to about that. But I'm coming to you guys about our community standards. I'm asking for additional
language for the board community standards. You can see that language in red. The standards on the rubric have been immensely helpful for our review team at the district level. The addition additional language will address new
themes and strengthen guidelines for purchasing keeping not only the board safe but also our students. And I am encouraging you um I think it is something we should do once a year or so is look at our community standards, talk to district personnel and see what their
needs are. But we don't actually need to vote on this. And so, Madame Chair, I'm hoping we can get consensus to add some new language that will help our um district immensely. >> Thank you. So, we're going to give you
guys a minute to look over this and then um we let you know if you need more time. This is um >> Was that short? Was that short? Was that good? >> Thank you. This is recommended um so that they can do their job more
effectively and efficiently. So I don't need it. I touch a lot of stuff. Do we need any further time? >> It's it's no big deal really, right? >> So, yes or no? I'm going to start Mr.
Albero. Yes. And then Mhm. >> Yeah. You were saying that Mr. Dy's department >> was agreeable to this. >> Yeah. Well, they're the experts and so
when I got with them, it made total sense. And obviously in this world under our special circumstances, sometimes we have to tweak things. >> Yes. >> All right.
>> All right. Me. Yes. As long as Mr. blocker so he's not going to show us. >> Yes, ma'am. >> And then so you have consensus to uh continue your wonderful work of the people sir. >> We greatly appreciate you. >> Very welcome.
>> Really appreciate you. >> Thank you. If you need anything else, please stop. >> And Mr. Mr. Broski and uh board members, I just want to ask if there's nothing pertinent that you want to emphasize. I was going to say it's going up 5 hours. So you got a question on the agenda,
please call me. >> Okay. Is everybody good with that? >> Yes. As far as reserve, >> so at this point um this meeting will be adjourned and we have a safety this is a okay safety and security update with Mr.
Boy. Thank you everyone. >> Yes. I don't have it.